No seriously. Gang, I need your help. My buddy Dave Palmer is in various levels of hell. First, he’s driving all of his families belongings and towing the family car from San Diego to Nashville in the middle of a heat wave. Second, the Uhaul truck he has rented can only be described in words I can’t publish. Third, Uhaul has left him stranded in the desert, his dad passed out from heat exhaustion, and he’s now stuck in the middle of Texas less than halfway to Nashville.
Here’s his post. Please get involved.
I need your help. You know how there are times that you can’t seem to get help from a company you’re working with, and you don’t know what else to do but write and post? Well, it’s that time for me. You see, in the past 52-ish hours, my U-Haul rental truck has had 4 mechanical issues needing to be addressed, including one that necessitated me calling 911 to get medical help for my dad, who passed out from heat exhaustion as a result of the truck overheating and not allowing the AC to work.
In that time I’ve spent 4 hours on the phone with U-Haul representatives and their affiliate companies trying to get help, find solutions, and arguing to ensure that I could safely get my dad to the nearest airport (170 miles away) in a vehicle with air conditioning so that we would not be in a situation to need emergency medical assistance again. As of this writing, I am sitting in a hotel in Pecos, TX, awaiting word about what sort of help U-Haul can give me. This is where I need your help to apply pressure to U-Haul. I’ve tried to be as gracious as possible on the phone, and I believe that the recordings that U-Haul does will bear that out. Nonetheless, it’s time for U-Haul to stop finding the lowest-common denominator solutions and to do the right thing and take care of the situation for real.
If you would, please:
1) Post to Facebook: @uhaul: do the right thing. help dave palmer, Ref # 47123. #freepalmer http://bit.ly/N0j8ny
2) Tweet: @uhaul: do the right thing. help dave palmer, Ref # 47123. #freepalmer http://bit.ly/N0j8ny
3) Email publicrelations@uhaul.com and ask them to pay attention to this case. Please include the link to this post and the above reference number: Ref # 47123 http://bit.ly/N0j8ny
UPDATE: After about 400 tweets, thousands of retweets, many emails to various sources, Dave is back on the road with a new truck and a new plan. He’ll update himself later but I just wanted to pass along a word of thanks to all who helped. Thanks to U-Haul, who needed a million voices to listen but finally did. I hope they’ve learned their lesson and begin updating their fleet ASAP.
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