Unfiltered Story #230354

(I work in a equipment rental job and often need to get extensive information about a customers vehicle if they want to try to pull something. This often times leads to some very frustrating conversations with clueless customers who basically just have a vehicle and want me to do all the guess work to see if they can actually pull something. This guy takes the cake though.)

Me: “Thank you for calling [rental location] this is [my name]. How may I help you?”

Caller: “Yeah, I need to book a reservation to haul my car.”

Me: ” No problem at all. I just need some information from you. First, I need the year, make and model of what you intend to pull”

Caller: “Yeah, its a [year] and [brand] car”

Me: “Ok, and whats the model of the vehicle?”

Caller: “Its a car. I think it has rear wheel drive.”

Me: “I need to know what type of car it is.”

Caller: “Oh, its [model]”

(At this point, I have a feeling this may go poorly. I try to shrug off people not knowing too much about what they are pulling since it could be for a friend.)

Me: “Alright. Now I need to know the year, make and model of what you want to pull this with”

Caller: “Its a [year] [brand] truck. Its the big one they made that year. Only a few of them.”

Me: “Ok, and what is its [model]”

Caller: “Its a [model]. I think its got bigger breaks then the others of that year and some other features”

(I check the information, only to discover that this model is not a part of that year. I check a few other years, but don’t see it listed)

Me: “Ok, so it doesn’t appear that that is an actual model for that vehicle in that year. Are you sure its for [year] and its a [brand]?”

Caller: “Yeah. It was like a 1500 or something. I know its bigger then the others. Think its a [lists a few letters] make of vehicle”

Me: “Ok. Let me see if I find anything that that could be”

Caller: ” I mean, if we can’t figure out what it is, I don’t want to waste my time coming down there just to be turned away”

(Just to note, I wouldn’t be able to give him a booking at this point anyway. So He wouldn’t be told to come down anyway. I look at the list and discover that one model matches what he said.)

Me: “Ok, I see [model] that has what you just told me in it”

Caller: “Yeah, that’s it!”

Me: “Great. Now I just need to know your hitch rating”

Caller: “I don’t know. I think its a lot. I know the tongue weight is pretty high.”

Me: “Do you have the owners manual you can check? I need to know the hitch rating”

Caller: “I could come down there and we can figure all of this out together. I don’t think I have the owners manual anymore”

(At this point, the call has taken far longer then normal so I guess the weight without telling the customer and put it at a weight I know is typical for those types of trucks. Not shockingly, his vehicle isn’t allowed to haul our equipment. I tell him this and he thanks me and hangs up. Word to the wise, if you’re going to try to tow or haul anything, please know what you’re working with!)