Friends don’t let friends rent with U-Haul

When we told our neighbour we were renting a U-Haul to move, he said, “friends don’t let friends rent with U-Haul”, then told us a couple of horror stories from his own experiences with the company. We looked into other rental companies, but U-Haul was the only one that offered one-way rentals, so we went ahead and booked a truck, but also booked one through Hertz as a back-up. As the date approached, we felt guilty about holding two bookings, so Ray left a message cancelling the Hertz rental.

The day before we were scheduled to pick up our U-Haul, Ray called the pick-up location to confirm that our truck was available.

1st call: Our system is down so we can’t check it right now. I’ll call you back. (She didn’t.)

2nd call – We’re trying to reach the people who have the truck. It’s supposed to arrive tonight. I’ll call you back. (She didn’t.)

3rd call (different person) – I guarantee there will be a truck here for you tomorrow, even if I have to drive to Cornwall myself to pick it up. I’ll call you back once we have more info. (He didn’t.)

4th call – We’re trying to locate a truck for you. Someone will call you when we open at 7 tomorrow morning to confirm. (No one did.)

5th call (the morning of our scheduled pick-up) – We’re just the pick-up location. It’s out of our control. You have to call the central U-Haul number. Getting through to a real person at U-Haul dispatch on the last business day of the month is a myth, but the guy at the pick-up location called a secret direct number and they said there was a truck available but it would be at an east-end Ottawa location. He said he’d call back to let us know which one. (He didn’t.)

6th call – I didn’t forget about you, just haven’t heard back from dispatch yet. He called the secret number again and said dispatch would call us before 11 (our scheduled pick-up time) to give us the new pick-up location. (They didn’t.)

In between phone calls we tried to come up with a Plan B since we had a full house that needed to be an empty house within 24 hours. Ray called Hertz and said, “Don’t laugh at me, but is there any chance you have a large moving truck available for this afternoon?” It turned out they did…because they hadn’t cancelled our reservation when we’d asked them to. Finally, a screw-up that worked in our favour.

Around 11:20, U-Haul finally called. “It’s about the truck you reserved. It’s not available any more. I don’t know for what is the reason.” They did have a truck available in Quebec, an hour and a half away, that we could go pick up. Our move helpers were scheduled to arrive at noon, so Ray walked to the Hertz location near our house and picked up our truck.

The moving crew – Tim, Gary, Russ and Murray. Ray and I helped too…

Once we had a truck, loading it went smoothly and the weather cooperated. Afterwards, thoughtful neighbours delivered dinner to our door. Otherwise, we were looking at dill pickles, a half sleeve of crackers and some sardines. We’d been using up our food to minimize how much we had to pack (though I must say there was some mixed messaging there as Ray didn’t seem pleased when I ate the Mars Bar he’d hidden in the freezer).

The next morning we drove to Brighton, Ray in the truck and me following in the car with Juno. Nick had our second car in Kingston so he met us at our new house at 2:00. And then we waited. We’d been warned by the lawyers that if the house didn’t close by 5 pm, we’d be homeless until Monday. Fortunately we got the keys with an hour to spare. My sister arrived from Mississauga soon after that and she and I unpacked boxes while Ray and Nick unloaded the truck.

Ray was up early the next morning to drive the truck back to Ottawa and then Russ…the friend who’d told us that ‘friends don’t let friends rent with U-Haul’ drove Ray back to Brighton. I didn’t ask if he said, “I told you so.” but I suspect it crossed his mind a few times.

In addition to helping us unpack, picking up dinner, grocery shopping and entertaining Juno, my sister was in charge of Halloween. She brought a carved pumpkin, Halloween treats, decorations, a COVID-friendly candy delivery chute, and even a lovely pink princess costume for Juno…mostly because she wanted to see Ray’s reaction. Both Juno and Ray were less than impressed with the costume.

When we moved into our house in Ottawa, our neighbour across the street stopped by with cake and a jug of iced tea to welcome us to the neighbourhood. She became a close friend and a wonderful neighbour. Yesterday our next-door neighbour, an elderly woman with a King Charles Spaniel, stopped by with a bottle of sparkling wine and some Halloween treats so that felt like a good sign. We also met a couple of other neighbours and their dogs, so Juno is already making new friends and helping us to do the same.

Juno helping Auntie Karen set up a lamp

Fitting in a hike on a bonus summer-like October day

Evening bonfire with pizza and music

Daytime bonfire with long-time neighbours

Goodbye Ottawa. Until we meet again…