“I figured I needed to move. I’ll call U-Haul. Isn’t that what everybody does?” said Long.

But this last time will be his last time renting from U-Haul.

“I definitely won’t rent from U-Haul again,” said Long.

Long needed to move his family out of their home early January.

So he rented a truck from his Bellingham U-Haul facility on Guide-Meridan and dropped it off two days later, being careful, he says, to follow the guidelines of U-Haul’s after-hours drop-off policy.

“I asked if it was OK to night drop and they said it would be fine, so I dropped it last Sunday night, locked the doors and put the keys in the key drop. The next morning at about 10 a.m. I get a phone call that I had never locked the truck,” Long said.

Long says the general manager of the U-Haul facility text-messaged his wife that the truck was overdue and told Long on the phone that the truck had been stolen and that is was Long’s responsibility to file a police report, which he did, even though Bellingham police told KIRO 7 that it wasn’t Long’s job to report the theft because he’s not the owner of the truck.

“I called the general manager of U-Haul and I said, “Boy, I’m glad I was able to help you out. Can you close my contract?’ And he said, ‘No way.’ I asked why, and he said as far as he was concerned, the truck had never been checked in,” said Long.

“I was flabbergasted and I said, ‘Well, I have done everything you have asked me to do. I dropped the truck, I dropped the keys, I went to the police at your request and the police have said I am not a party to this other than as a witness. What possibly could make you want to keep this contract open?’ And he said, ‘You never returned the truck,’” Long explained.

But Long and Bellingham police say U-Haul had proof that long returned the truck in a surveillance video the facility gave to detectives investigating the theft.

In it, two dark figures, which police believe are Long and his wife, are seen dropping off the truck late that Sunday evening.

About two hours later, two other dark figures drive off, police say, in the same truck.

After enhancing the video, Bellingham investigators conclude that there "is no doubt" the U-Haul truck was stolen "by someone other than Michael Long."

“When he dropped off that truck at 10:15 p.m. at night, and he said he dropped the keys in the drop box, I would assume my responsibility was over at that point,” said Lieutenant Flo Simon of Bellingham police.

According to the incident report, Long told police he heard the key hit the floor after he put it through the key drop.

“We believe Mr. Long returned the keys. That’s what he tells us,” said Simon.

But in the same report, U-Haul told investigators that the key was not found when employees arrived at the facility Monday morning. And not one of the seven surveillance cameras is trained on the key-drop.

So, Long says, U-Haul charged $500 to his debit card.

And even though the truck was found in Everett three days later, Long's $500 was not returned.

So KIRO 7 went to the U-Haul facility. No one there would say why Long was charged $500 on top of his $150 truck rental fee.

But after KIRO started asking questions, U-Haul's corporate spokeswoman in Phoenix said Long's case was simply an "oversight,” Long will get his $500 back and that the parent company will look into why that Bellingham U-Haul kept Long's money even after surveillance video showed he had returned the truck.

"Why do you think that U-Haul, at least this office of U-Haul, is holding you responsible?" asked KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy.

“I think they think they can. And in a lot of cases, $500 either isn’t a lot of money, or they think, ‘Oh my gosh, what can I do, where can I turn,’ and I think maybe U-Haul thought I would give up,” said Long.

“But you’re not?” asked Clancy.

“No,” said Long.

In fact, Long filed this small claims suit weeks ago, suing for $500 – his legal fees and lost wages.

After Clancy started asking questions, U-Haul offered to cover the amount in Long’s suit and did return his $500.

But, at this point, Long says he’s still suing. Long believes now it’s a matter of principal, not just money.

He has a court date in May.

Bellingham police say there are no leads in the truck theft case.

Meanwhile, U-Haul tells Clancy if you're ever involved in a dispute and can't get satisfaction on a local level, call U-Haul customer service at 1-800-GO-U-Haul and lodge a formal complaint.