Penske® Reviews
Penske was a diesel truck and the 26' was a dog uphill. The Cottonwood AZ dealer I used for pick up was not great. He delayed my 10:00 am pick up for some personal reasons and failed to provide the moving blankets I ordered. The extra cost of diesel fuel and DEF exhuast fluid made the travel per mile more than a gas truck from uhaul.
There was a discrepancy from what I was told out would cost and what the local place tried to charge me. After I produced the email from when I booked it, they fixed the price. Be mindful, renting a dolly is extra. I thought it came with the truck. I haven't returned the truck yet. I'll do that tomorrow and update if there is an issue, but so far so good.
Our reservation was for a 26' truck with a lift gate for an out-of-state move. When we picked up the truck, we were told that a truck with a lift gate wasn't available but would be there soon so we went home and waited to hear from Penske when our truck arrived. We didn't hear anything after 2 hours so we called and were told that a truck with a lift gate cannot be rented for out-of-state moves. I'm not sure why we were given a confirmed reservation for a truck with lift gate if that is the case, and it certainly was frustrating to be delayed on our moving day by the miscommunication.
I was disappointed in the larger truck! Requested a 22 got a 28. The truck drove nicely and was great with gas mileage. The problem was it was raining and the truck had a couple of leaks dripping on my belongings. Luckily my loaders saw the leaks and covered up some of my vintage furniture. Also some items were in plastic tubs so items in there were okay. Some of other items got wet! Why would Penske rent a truck that leaks? Booking , pickup and drop off of truck was good. I choose this company because it is backed by AAA and I use to work at AAA and new there reputation. I’m sure if I complain about the leak, Penske ask would me if I purchased any insurance thru them! I shouldn’t need to purchase any insurance for a leaky truck. The jury is still out if I would use or recommend Penske again or to anyone else. WHOA!
I posted a poor review about Penske earlier. Their customer service on the national level is great. At the local level, in Marietta, GA, (Kennesaw, GA dispatch center), is terrible! Our truck was more than 2.5 hours late arriving, even after I had verified it the prior day. Service failure by Penske!
Penske promised to have our truck ready for pick up at the Home Depot. I even double checked by calling their national number and having a 3 way call with the national rep, the local distribution dispatcher in Kennesaw, GA, and myself the afternoon prior to the move. Despite this, the truck was not there at the Home Depot the following morning. It was over 2.5 hours late, and they had forgotten the moving blankets and had to rush them over, too. I'm very disappoint in Penske. A big service failure!
1. Silas, the gentleman who helped me with the initial rental via a phone conversation was excellent - a pleasure to work with and was professional. I was originally thrilled with how inexpensive this overall rental was compared to UHaul - which has always been who I've rented from for my moves. Silas gets 5 stars. 2. I picked up my Penske truck and car transport from a Home Depot in Seguin, TX. The truck was fine but the governor on the truck almost got me killed - when you're attempting to pass someone and the truck suddenly loses all acceleration, that's damn dangerous. MINUS infinity stars for the governor BS. 3. The car transport did not have a working hitch jack when I picked it up and I was offered no other alternative car transport. The 2 men at the rental counter in Home Depot spent 15 mins. FINDING the keys to the truck. Home Depot is not any good ambassador for your rental business. 4. 1 hour into the trip, I needed to use the wipers to clear the windshield of bugs (San Antonio, TX) - there was no washer fluid in the truck - also very dangerous. 5. Then, the two tires on the passenger side of the car transport blew up on the highway on my first day of travel. I spent 3 hours on the side of a highway while roadside assistance repaired the two tires and the hubs and had to remove the step on that side of the transport so I could continue to travel. 6. The roadside assistance men were fabulous - they arrived quickly (1 hour) and worked their butts off to get me on the road again. They were polite, professional, and did excellent work. 10+ stars for them. 7. But, this is the first time I've ever rented from Penske and it will the the last - I've NEVER broken down on the road with a moving rental before. 8. Last but not least: the IDIOT manager at the CubeSmart facility where I was supposed to drop of the car transport and truck wanted me to LIFT the car transport off the truck hitch myself (I'm a 120 lb woman) and told me if I couldn't do that, then she couldn't assist me in any way to return the car transport at that facility. Then, she sent me on a wild goose chase to find the other Penske drop off location across town. When I mentioned this experience to my moving help here in Albuquerque, they told me they've heard that same feedback on that CubeSmart location from several other customers. 9. The Penske rental office was not open at either time I was at the location @ 1400 Candelaria NE in Albuquerque - no matter what hours were posted on the office door, no one was there. 10. And then, I get an email with an inspection report on the returned car transport that I had damaged the left rear of it. I most certainly did not damage anything on it - I have no idea what happened after the tires blew up. But no one inspected the car transport with me when I dropped it off - then I get the "damage" email. What a ridiculous operation! Most definitely NOT a stellar experience and I will not do business again with Penske.
I reserved a truck and it wasn't available for pick up when I arrived. I had to go to another location for pick up and it wasn't available there either. But the team did a good job to accommodate me for the inconvenience. The only issue was that I was delayed about 2 hours from my arrival time to my destination.
Pick-up at Home Depot was because they did not have a truck at the Self-Storage where the reservation was made. Service was slow and the clerks were working multiple rentals at once so everyone had to wait. Truck was filthy inside the cab and the back (which they did blow out before I left). The truck worked great and got great mileage. Except for the Home Depot pick-up everything worked out.
