Location: 939 E. El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, 408-735-7060. This is on El Camino, just south of Wolfe
Getting a tow hitch installed on my Saturn has been a total nightmare. Admittedly, some of this is due to my slowness, but during the course of this nightmare, I discovered other issues which have brought me to the conclusion that I will never do business with this location again.
I initially went to order a hitch, and was told it would take 2-3 weeks to receive the hitch, and that I would get a call when it arrived. I put the receipt aside and forget about it until about 4-6 weeks later. No phone call, so I call the U-Haul myself to see if the tow hitch had arrived, but there was none. So, they rush-order another one; 1 week delivery estimate. Still, no call from the U-Haul location after a week, but when I call in, they indeed confirm that a hitch is there. I schedule an install for three days later.
I show up in the morning, and turns out that they've double-booked their hitch install guy. There's two of us signed up for the same 11am slot. Not only that, but the air compressor is broken, and they can't do the installation. Frustrating, but that's beyond their control, so we check, and there's no available installers in the next week. Since I'm about to go on vacation, I put it off until after the trip. Two weeks of vacation, I return, and the following two weeks are disastrously busy, and can't even call the U-Haul to see what time is available. Finally, I do call U-Haul, and there is no hitch in stock; they've apparently sold mine! Additionally, it's been so long that they no longer have my receipt in the computer, and they have to have me physically come in and initiate a new "purchase" so that the paperwork is in the system. Again, another rush order, and it should arrive by Tuesday, and am promised a phone call. I go ahead and schedule an appointment for a Wed morning. Tuesday afternoon, no phone call, but I decide to show up Wed morning anyways, assuming that it's there.
I show up Wed morning for my install, with an appointment for 10am, and was told "The hitch install guy doesn't get in until 11am". At 11, they did indeed have more people, and was told it should take 3 hours. Three-and-a-half hours later, and they still had 30 minutes more work. Not terrible, but still, unexpected. While I was waiting, I observed two disturbing behaviours of the staff behind the counter.
The whole time I was there, the phone would constantly ring, but nobody would pick it up. From personal experience, it would take over 45 minutes of letting the phone ring and waiting for someone to pickup the phone before I could even start doing business with this location. Since the staff was busy, it's not wholly unexpected to have the phone ring for awhile. You can't put the entire world on hold. Since over half of the calls that were answered ended up with "Sorry, nothing on Saturday" perhaps they should invest in a automatic answer system that initally tells people "Saturday is sold out, but Sunday still has a few 14 footers available."
After getting the hitch installed, I peeked under the car and into the trunk to inspect the work. They had not put the spare tire back into place, nor had they screwed it down. Shoddy workmakship. Also, part of the heat shield around the muffler was cut away. That can't possibly be good for the car. I wonder if U-Haul has ever been sued for car fires due to removed heat shielding.
Staffers who won't answer the phone, shoddy workmanship, and terrible work estimates - all reasons why I will never go back there again.