The van I rented was great, but the customer service here was awful.
When offered insurance, I asked if it was required or just recommended, and got a surprisingly condescending response: "Well what if you get in an accident: are you gonna pay for it yourself? I don't think so!" It was a simple question that didn't merit this attitude. When I asked again, calmly, "I understand the risks but please just tell me if it's required or not," I finally got my answer: "As I already said, of course it is!" That was a bad start.
Then I was told to swipe my credit card, but I wanted to pay by debit card. I asked if this was possible: another condescending answer: "Do you want to give us a huge deposit? I doubt it. So just use your credit card." She assured me that it was just to have my card on file, and that they wouldn't charge the card (so I could pay by debit at the end). The next thing I knew, she told me that I had just agreed to a $1 charity donation which I never accepted.
Then there was an issue with the gas: the representatives gave me a diagram that showed the amount of liters required to fill the tank from one level to another, so I used this diagram at the end of my rental. The numbers were completely wrong, though, and advised me to refill only about half as much gas as I actually needed to replace. The gas station attendant, right across the street from the U-Haul location, said this happens all the time: I think it's their way of trying to charge missing fuel fees.
In fact, this suspicion is supported by the fact that I got a missing fuel fee even though I went back to the pump and refilled the tank with way more gas than necessary just to be safe. To be clear, I rented the van with 13/16 of a tank of gas and returned it with over 7/8. When I asked about the charge, I was simply told that I had returned the van with insufficient fuel. Luckily I had taken a picture when I dropped it off, and this charge is now being reimbursed. But in line with the previous customer service, the person I was in contact with grumbled about the angle of my picture even as she reimbursed the charge, as if it were my fault that U-Haul was wrong about the gas level and needed my picture to prove it.
So if you need to rent a van or truck, I'd recommend looking somewhere else, like the Discount Location d'autos et camions right next door: https://www.discountquebec.com/localisateur/succursales/jean-talon. But if you do have to deal with U-Haul for whatever reason, prepare for some hostile customer service. read more