I've used this location numerous times and i never received better than a 3-star experience. Their customer service is terrible and slow; the employees are rude, short, snippy, and have no clue how to run a front-desk business with prioritizing customers and tasks. This most recent time was the worst, and is what prompted this review.
I drive a 2009 Mercedes GL 320 with an onboard computer that controls the lighting wiring for the trailer hitch. It's a fairly advanced system, and it doesn't work correctly with LED lighting. Despite the fact that trucks and trailers is what the U-Haul employees do all day, they didn't know this. On 5/26/13 I drove my truck to the Poway U-Haul to rent a trailer. When we attempted to explain the LED issue to them the older gentleman helping us was quite rude saying that if his trailer wasn't working it was the car, not his equipment. Despite the fact that his tester lit up, indicating our wiring was correct, he maintained we could not rent that day. We tried their wiring system as well, instead of the cable that came with the truck, to no avail. We purchased a new ball for the hitch anyway, which they insisted on and installed, and we left; the experience took over an hour and a half, and we left frustrated.
We did more research online that night, bought our own tester, confirmed that it was definitely not our truck, and returned the next day, 5/27/13, to try again. This time, we were helped by a very nice man named John who, at the behest of the manager, hooked up a trailer that had regular lights (not LED) and we were in and out within 30min. John is the only reason this location even deserves one-star. We made sure to tell the front-desk that he was great and that the guy who helped us the day before was not; to which she replied that John was brand-new and the other guy was a veteran. All I have to say to that is: out with the old and in with the new.
Funny story, though: the Escondido location on Mission was great when I went there last night, except they had to take off and reinstall the hitch ball we had bought and had installed at the Poway location. It apparently was not installed correctly in the first place. Seriously Poway U-Haul? You can't even install your own brand of hitch ball correctly? For shame. read more