[net.general] Truck Rental Problems

west@sdcsla.UUCP (Larry West) (08/26/83)

ittvax!dipalma submitted a (justifiably) angry description of his/her 
experience with a truck rental firm known as ``Jartran Truck Rental''
in which she/he was unable to get a truck despite placing a deposit
(of which the receipt did warn) and calling ahead.

My comment is that this is not particularly unusual.   I've called ahead
at a U-Haul shortly before leaving to pick up the truck, been assured there
was no problem, and then arrived there 1/2 hour later to find no truck.

Since these places are generally run by independent operators, and since
they DO warn you in advance, and since it is my impression that this is
not an atypical situation, I think your [ittvax!dipalma] complaints
are overly strong.   The avoidance procedure is to get the vehicle
a day before you really need it.   Yes, this costs you an extra, and
not inconsequential sum, but it's one of those precautions one should
take if one wants to avoid more serious problems.   Besides, it will
almost undoubtably take longer than you think to pack the vehicle, and
getting a few hours of packing done the evening before helps.

In general, my feeling is that people should restrain themselves from making
highly negative comments on businesses in cases like this; one experience,
and apparently no comparison to performance at competing firms do not make
a convincing case... if what Jartran did is in fact according to the
``industry standard'', and since they did warn you, they have done no great
wrong (other than apparently overbooking, which is not unusual).   Also, if
you are going to make this sort of specific comment, please note what area
of the country you're in.
				-- Larry West, UC San Diego
				-- sdcsvax!sdcsla!west

preece@uicsl.UUCP (08/30/83)

#R:mgweed:-296300:uicsl:5400014:000:1185
uicsl!preece    Aug 29 13:45:00 1983

			"...  THat's good.  It cost that Jartran
	weasel $0.00 to screw ittvax!dipalma out of his/her truck.  
	Why shouldn't he/she have an equally costly opportunity to 
	screw him right back?"
----------
The tone of this note seems to suggest that Jartran is in the
business of not renting trucks. Maybe that's why they went into
bankruptcy a while back. I very much doubt that they were happy about
not having a truck available. I don't see what you expect them to
do about it, call the police to go out and collect the truck that
they thought was going to be brought back in time to be rented out?

As for your comparison with Ryder, I'm curious why you think that
the fact that they had a truck when you needed one implies they're
better at this than Jartran. Surely the vast majority of the people
who use Jartran also got their truck when they wanted it.

I'm not saying Jartran may not be mismanaged, I have no knowledge
of that or of their scheduling procedures and I have never used
them myself. But I think the best way to get through life is to
assume they're doing their best and that your experience was just
bad luck. One observation is insufficient grounds for complaint.