U-Haul Class Action: Company Doesn’t Honor ‘Reservation Guarantee’

U-Haul fails to live up to its reservation guarantee policy to provide customers with the equipment they order at a specific time and place or offer compensation if it is not available, a class action lawsuit alleges.

Plaintiff Seth Newman says U-Haul Co. of New York and Vermont Inc., U-Haul International Inc. and Amerco actively promote the reservation guarantee policy on their website and marketing materials.

The U-Haul reservation guarantee policy reportedly states: “When you make a truck or trailer reservation, we guarantee to provide you with the equipment size, location and pick up time, as agreed. Should you not receive the equipment size, location and pick up time you agreed to, U-Haul will pay you $50.”

According to the U-Haul class action lawsuit, the reservation guarantee policy was implemented following earlier litigation that accused U-Haul of promising customers that their reservation was confirmed but then forcing them to wait inconveniently long periods of time or travel long distances to pick up the rental equipment they ordered.

As a result, U-Haul has left consumers “bewildered and disappointed” with the company’s refusal to address problems caused by its own failures and dishonest advertisements.

Newman says he placed an order on the U-Haul website and was promised a 15-foot truck at a specific location but U-Haul failed to deliver on its promise to guarantee the reservation even though Newman followed all of the steps required to reserve the truck. Instead, he was allegedly notified the day before his scheduled pick up that a 15-foot truck was available at a location that was 20 miles out of his way.

U-Haul also failed to pay him $50 as promised, the U-Haul reservation guarantee class action lawsuit says. Instead, he was offered a $20 discount.

When he called U-Haul’s customer service line to complain, Newman was reportedly told that the reservation guarantee took effect after he was contacted by the U-Haul representative that his truck was available at a different location, not when he made the initial reservation online.

If he had known that the 15-foot truck would not be available at his selected location and that U-Haul would not honor its reservation guarantee, he would not have ordered the truck, the U-Haul class action lawsuit says.

Newman alleges that his experience is not unique and that hundreds of thousands of U-Haul customers may have relied on the moving truck company’s reservation guarantee when deciding to rent vehicles and trailers from the company. They reasonably expect that their equipment would be timely available at the location they select or that they will be paid $50 if the equipment is not available at that location.

The U-Haul class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Newman and a proposed Class of consumers who did not receive $50 when the equipment they ordered was not available at the designated time and place. The complaint asserts claims for violations of New York consumer protection and false advertising laws, common law fraud, and breach of contract.

Newman is seeking compensatory damages, statutory damages, punitive damages, equitable and declaratory relief, restitution and alternative damages.

The plaintiff is represented by C.K. Lee and Anne Seelig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC.

The U-Haul Reservation Guarantee Class Action Lawsuit is Seth Newman v. U-Haul Co. of New York and Vermont Inc., et al., Case No. 7:18-cv-04751, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.