Family runs into $5,700 problem when company says they didn’t return rental truck

CHARLOTTE — A family who moved to Charlotte last summer ran into a problem when the company they rented a truck from said they didn’t return the vehicle.

Shontia Strickland and her husband rented a U-Haul truck when they moved to west Charlotte.

Strickland said she returned the truck and left the keys in the drop box like she was supposed to, but a month or two later the company called and asked her when she was going to return the vehicle.

“And I was like, ‘We’ve already returned the truck,’” she said.

Strickland told Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke that U-Haul charged her more than $5,700 for the missing truck.

She says she went to the police to report a stolen truck, but officers told her that it was U-Haul’s truck, so the company would need to report it.

“I said, ‘Fine. I’m just going to see what else I can do to get this resolved.’ And that’s when I reached out to you,” she told Stoogenke.

Action 9 emailed U-Haul and a representative told Stoogenke that Strickland did not follow the self-return process as closely as she should have. Strickland said she thinks there was some confusion over the company’s app. Regardless, U-Haul said its Charlotte team “should have been more diligent in following up” with her “immediately after the scheduled equipment drop-off.”

U-Haul also said it believed Strickland was telling the truth and that she “has an otherwise spotless history of rental transactions with us and returns our equipment on time.” The company canceled the extra charges, and it sounds like the truck was located.

“I knew once you got in there, it was going to be resolved. As soon as I got an email back, I was like, ‘Yes, it’s going to be fixed,’” she told Stoogenke.

If you plan to rent a truck, Stoogenke suggests making sure you know the drop-off process, no matter what company you use.

Use the links below to find information on each company’s return procedure:

Budget

Enterprise

Penske

U-Haul

(Watch below: Dented, damaged and dirty: BBB takes action against Charlotte-based moving company)

Dented, damaged and dirty: BBB takes action against Charlotte-based moving company

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