Uhaul Ticket Fiasco
A woman gets parking tickets for the van she rented, but on dates she didn't have it!
Queens resident Ruth Galarza was at her wit's end when she contacted Help Me Howard.
"The first one said March 4th, then March 5th, and March 11th and I said, what's going on?
At first I thought it was a joke, I laughed. I said this has to be a mistake."
What Ruth is talking about are parking tickets, addressed to her, for a Uhaul van she'd rented. Problem is, the tickets were for dates after the date she had returned the van and gotten a receipt.
Back on February 28th, 2010, Ruth rented a van from the Manhattan Uhaul center located at West 23rd Street in Chelsea.
Because Ruth only had a learner's permit, her niece, who has a driver's license, drove the van. They were helping Ruth's daughter move from the Bronx to Queens.
The move took place on the 28th, without any incidents, then Ruth and her niece returned the van the very next morning, on March 1st 2010, so as not to be charged an extra day.
Than about a month and a half later, Ruth began receiving parking tickets for the van from the Department of Finance. Parking tickets for violations taking place, "after" March 1st.
Ruth immediately went back to the 23rd Street Uhaul center to inquire about why she was getting tickets. She says the Uhaul employees took her information and refered her to their citations department.
In the mean time, Ruth received another ticket, this time for running a red light in Brooklyn on March 26th!
Ruth couldn't believe what was going on. "I'm saying whats going on here? This is crazy!"
Now facing some $600 in parking tickets and moving violations, Ruth contacted Uhaul again. She says after calling the 23rd street Uhaul center several times, she was not able to get a response. She also contacted Uhaul's corporate offices in Arizona. She sent them her paperwork and waited for a response. None came. That's when she called Help Me Howard.
Howard and Ruth went back to the 23rd Street Uhaul center for answers. It took about 30 minutes to find someone there who was willing to talk to them and deal with the situation.
Ruth got a promise and assurance in writing that the violations would be removed and taken care of by Uhaul.
About a week later, we heard back from Ruth that the tickets had indeed been paid for and she was off the hook.
Comments: 3
Howard, my husband and I watch you every night. We love how you handle every situation and applaud you for helping to solve these peoples problems when they have no where else to turn. However, and I say this with love, please talk to your editing crew about the background music. Sometimes it's so loud we can't hear you or the complainants speaking and it really gets frustrating.
xoxo
Sharon Dhom
thats my aunt go ruth!!!
I'm surprised you weren't botton-holed by the people on line at U-Haul. After years of credit card info being lost and/or not being input, endless waits on lines to pay a bill, I moved down the block to another more expensive storage place. Service is bad, lackadaisical, inept and bad. OLnly when a scene is made to they think to act.