Renter finds out 'guaranteed' U-Haul reservation isn't guaranteed

Sam Everitt was well prepared for his move from Montreal to Toronto. The Concordia master's student knew July 1 was Quebec's famous "moving day," when tens of thousands of rental leases expire across the province.

So he reserved his truck nearly four months in advance. He received reassuring emails from U-Haul about his "guaranteed" reservation.

But when Everitt showed up at the Montreal location to pick up his truck on the afternoon of June 30, staff told him there was no truck for him — and their explanation, he says, was baffling.

"I was in shock. I remember asking what the purpose of the reservation was? They told me that my truck was reserved for that location, but that it hadn't been assigned to me, whatever that means. 

"I assumed that assigning the truck was their responsibility, not mine." 

The issue has been around forever, and was even featured in an iconic episode of the NBC series Seinfeld which questioned when a reservation is a reservation. 

But what followed wasn't very funny at all to Everitt. He was left to make the phone calls to secure another available U-Haul truck.

The staff "just kind of absolved themselves of any responsibility on their end," he said.

U-Haul's website promises if the company is "unable to meet [a customer's] preferred time, place or size," it will pay $50 and "still attempt to fill the reservation."

But that wasn't Everitt's experience. Instead, he says staff left him scrambling for a Plan B. 

"I had little to no choice, since I had to be out of my Montreal apartment legally, actually, by midnight that night." 

As it turned out, the only truck available was some 292 kilometres northeast of Montreal, in La Tuque. The drive would take about three and a half hours each way. 

The clock was ticking before he had to be out of his apartment for the arrival of the new tenants.

"I really was scrambling at that point. I posted an urgent message to my Facebook account, into my Instagram account, seeing if anyone I knew in Montreal would be willing to drive," he said.