LiveJournal ethicist
Jun. 24th, 2004 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sanpaku_backupYeah, we're homeowners. Whoopde shit. I been hauling boxes all day and the Mrs. and I spent all of last evening not speaking to each other. Congratulate me when this is finished...
In the meantime, please remember that if I move again and do not use movers, you'll have to kill me, because you'll know that giant pods have replaced my brain. Why do I never learn.
The one frickin' time in my life I don't pay for the CDW waiver -- something happens with the U-Haul. I dunno, I was backing out of the new driveway, and the van is very long, and I turned the wheel a split second too early, and heard some kind of grinding noise.
I didn't get a chance to look at it for a while because I was driving to Warwick and in a hurry because the Mrs. was angry with me and I wanted to get home... but I look at the thing, and yep, the bottom of the door is crumpled a little. There's also a piece of metal over the wheel missing.
But, I look for the piece of metal and I can't find it. It would be there if I really caused that, right? And when I checked out the van she said "the damage on the van has already been noted." But they probably say that to everyone.
Jesus, and fucking bodywork costs a fortune. I THINK my collision covers it, but I have a $500 deductible.
So when I check the van in I hold my breath, but the guy doesn't even bother to look at the thing except for the gas gauge.
I was gonna walk away feeling like I dodged a bullet. But then the Mrs. made this little Jiminy Cricket conscience voice come on, and I'm wondering what to do.
This would be ideal for an LJ-poll, but I am too cheap to be a paid member. But let's pretend this is one. Just give me the letter. You don't have to explain why.
A) Lawrence, you should call them up now and say "I dented your van -- at least I think I did. You might want to go out there right now to see. And make sure to add anything else that anyone has ever done to the thing to my bill."
B) You should wait for them to call you tomorrow and threaten to kill you over the van. Or not. If they say something, admit it "might" have happened and offer to pay. But if they don't catch it, they don't really give a shit -- or maybe it was there when you rented it, because that metal piece never showed up. They probably don't care. It's just a god damn cargo van, not a Mercedes.
C) You should forget having any qualms over some corporate shit squad like U-Haul. It makes no sense that if you had given them $10 yesterday you would owe them nothing today. They screwed you on that 59 cents a mile thing anyway. Fuck U-Haul!
... so those are my options. What do you all think? I think I know what I think.
Update: I forgot to mention that I'm also renting a cargo van again on Sunday. SO, option D) is...
D) Rent the van on Sunday and buy the CDW and this time be extra-careful with it. The CDW is really just their price figure on "damage-the-truck roulette" -- they obviously think $10 or $15 is a good deal for them odds-wise. If you'd paid that before and done the damage you wouldn't feel like you owed them anything, so you can pay them for the cost of the risk, even after the fact.
Specious? Maybe.
In the meantime, please remember that if I move again and do not use movers, you'll have to kill me, because you'll know that giant pods have replaced my brain. Why do I never learn.
The one frickin' time in my life I don't pay for the CDW waiver -- something happens with the U-Haul. I dunno, I was backing out of the new driveway, and the van is very long, and I turned the wheel a split second too early, and heard some kind of grinding noise.
I didn't get a chance to look at it for a while because I was driving to Warwick and in a hurry because the Mrs. was angry with me and I wanted to get home... but I look at the thing, and yep, the bottom of the door is crumpled a little. There's also a piece of metal over the wheel missing.
But, I look for the piece of metal and I can't find it. It would be there if I really caused that, right? And when I checked out the van she said "the damage on the van has already been noted." But they probably say that to everyone.
Jesus, and fucking bodywork costs a fortune. I THINK my collision covers it, but I have a $500 deductible.
So when I check the van in I hold my breath, but the guy doesn't even bother to look at the thing except for the gas gauge.
I was gonna walk away feeling like I dodged a bullet. But then the Mrs. made this little Jiminy Cricket conscience voice come on, and I'm wondering what to do.
This would be ideal for an LJ-poll, but I am too cheap to be a paid member. But let's pretend this is one. Just give me the letter. You don't have to explain why.
A) Lawrence, you should call them up now and say "I dented your van -- at least I think I did. You might want to go out there right now to see. And make sure to add anything else that anyone has ever done to the thing to my bill."
B) You should wait for them to call you tomorrow and threaten to kill you over the van. Or not. If they say something, admit it "might" have happened and offer to pay. But if they don't catch it, they don't really give a shit -- or maybe it was there when you rented it, because that metal piece never showed up. They probably don't care. It's just a god damn cargo van, not a Mercedes.
C) You should forget having any qualms over some corporate shit squad like U-Haul. It makes no sense that if you had given them $10 yesterday you would owe them nothing today. They screwed you on that 59 cents a mile thing anyway. Fuck U-Haul!
... so those are my options. What do you all think? I think I know what I think.
Update: I forgot to mention that I'm also renting a cargo van again on Sunday. SO, option D) is...
D) Rent the van on Sunday and buy the CDW and this time be extra-careful with it. The CDW is really just their price figure on "damage-the-truck roulette" -- they obviously think $10 or $15 is a good deal for them odds-wise. If you'd paid that before and done the damage you wouldn't feel like you owed them anything, so you can pay them for the cost of the risk, even after the fact.
Specious? Maybe.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
B B B
Date: 2004-06-24 08:45 pm (UTC)Re: B B B
Date: 2004-07-01 02:59 pm (UTC)Moving, well, that several thousand dollars spent on nothing especially fun or useful will dissuade every time. Still, I sure hope this is the last "we-haul" in my lifetime.
Thanks for the advice!
no subject
Date: 2004-06-24 08:59 pm (UTC)Don't worry about it. Seriously. The damage may very well have already been there, and they obviously don't care that much about it or else they would have looked harder when you turned it in. The grinding noise you heard could have been anything.
Good luck getting settled in!
no subject
Date: 2004-06-24 09:10 pm (UTC)Anyway, thanks for your advice!
no subject
Date: 2004-06-24 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-24 09:18 pm (UTC)They are a ginormo corporation who make billions of dollars by taking advantage of people who are so desparate to get through the moving experience as quickly as possible that they'll cough up many extra dollars and put up with lots of extra shit just to get it all done. They don't care about YOU, so why should you care about THEM?
Don't be a chump, don't turn yourself in.
(HAHAHAHA, now if you DO turn yourself in you'll forever hate me for calling you a CHUMP!)
no subject
Date: 2004-06-24 09:27 pm (UTC)But I am worried about bad karma or something.
Anyway, thanks for the advice!
C!
Date: 2004-06-25 12:32 pm (UTC)Oh, our van had non-functioning windshield wipers, and it rained ALL DAY LONG the day we moved, so they waived the $19.99 fee and we ended up paying the per-mile thing only (which was plenty).
Please enjoy your new home with your lovely wife. Congratulations to you both! enjoy it! it is pretty exciting!
Re: C!
Date: 2004-07-01 02:56 pm (UTC)How is YOUR move going? And when are you finally coming here for real?
no subject
Date: 2004-06-25 07:46 pm (UTC)I don't think the identity of the other party is relevant to evaluating this. U-Haul may be evil, but you chose to do business with them, so I can see why saying "screw it; they're evil anyway" isn't particularly convincing for you. On the other hand, it's obvious that they aren't doing squat to actually protect themselves from minor damage, and such damage is prevalent among their fleets, so it's reasonable to assign a fair bit of the responsibility to them.
You are required to help your fellow unload his overburdened donkey, but you are not required to do it yourself if he is not helping.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-28 02:23 am (UTC)Unfortunately for me, when I came back today I found out that the CDW only is for damage over $150, so I probably would "owe" them at least that much, and I can't very well put that in the door slot. (I also had the idea of putting an extra $10 or so of gas in the tank as a way to repay them,but the van was full of fuel when I got it.)
So I don't really know the answer. On the other hand the van I had was right there (they could have given me the same one) and no one's called me about it yet. I guess I kind of thought this whole thing would take care of itself because someone would notice and would call me. I still kind of can't believe that didn't happen. So it is becoming harder to believe they will really care. Maybe I'll forget about it and then years from now the U-Haul goons will show up at my front door one night...
Anyway, I really wanted to know what you would think, so thank you...
no subject
Date: 2004-06-26 05:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-01 02:57 pm (UTC)