This isn’t my usual type of content here on my site, but I really hope to save another family from the horrible time we had renting a Ubox. I honestly saw a barrage of great experiences with Ubox before we ordered, but after our experience I want to be clear with what we experienced. It wasn’t just a mistake (I totally understand those) it was a pile of mistakes and “this isn’t our fault” along with “we guarantee it” — that I hope make you pick a different way to move.
The Situation
My son was moving from Arizona to Wisconsin. He didn’t have a car yet (well, he did have a 2003 Honda Odyssey but that wasn’t going to make it, and we gleefully sold it once he was settled). He didn’t have a lot of stuff, but what he did have mattered to him, and it would’ve been tricky to ship. He’s just out of college, and headed to his first job (which provided some relocation funds).
We looked into a Uhaul truck, and it was about $1,800 but we knew that gas would add a sizeable amount, and we also knew his stuff would basically line the floor of a truck. We also didn’t have a car that could tow one of their small trailers. And frankly, my husband wasn’t jazzed about driving the 26 hours to Wisconsin. Were there better options?
Moving companies were a lot — sometimes even up to $4,000 (which is crazy considering what he had was a VERY small amount).
So, we looked into pods. They varied in pricing also sometimes into the upper 3k range, and Ubox, while having the smallest box, was the best priced at around $1,400.
As a note: UPack did have a cheaper option where you get a small amount of a truck already headed there — like, part of a truck not already used — you drop your stuff and they put it in one of those trucks. This may have been a good option. It was just a bit less and the idea of taking and picking up our stuff didn’t thrill me.
Of course, once you go to book it, that price goes up. I’m not 100% sure of all the fees, but that price is just to load your things at the facility and then they take it and you unload it at the next facility. We wanted it delivered to our home, picked up from our home, and delivered to his apartment complex in Wisconsin. Each of those stops was $100 added to it. Plus, there is ZERO insurance with the base price, so adding it was about $80 I believe.
But, it still seemed our best option. It was smaller, so we could pack it in better, and the price was pretty reasonable even when we added insurance bringing our total to around $1,800.
Also, I should that Uhaul is based in Phoenix — so somehow that made me feel better (I have no idea why).
Why We Picked U-Box
Just to be specific:
- Smaller container (this was a plus for us)
- Best pricing
- Could fit into our moving dates
I will say that Ubox had our things the longest of the other shippers. It took them longer to ship, but we had time for that, so it worked for us.
I do want to add that we’ve done cross-state moves a couple of times. I was very aware that by choosing this, we let go of a lot of control from the move. I knew it might come late and that it might be hard to get hold of them… but the price seemed worth it.
Drop-off & Pick Up
Drop off at our home went easy. I was impressed by the ladies who both brought and picked it up. They were super skilled and easily put it where we wanted it.
I felt like this was going to be a good move….
The Easy Part
So, once they got it we sort of let it leave our minds. We figured they had it. Uhaul picked up our U-Box on June 14th. It remained on site until the 17th when my son got a notification that it was on the shipper’s truck.
We did put a Tile in the box — and it had registered a few times here in the Phoenix area — but didn’t pick up a ton in transit.
If I had to do it again I’d put an Apple Airtag in it — I think more people have those and they would probably read better along the way.
Uhaul U-Box App
It never worked. Not once. He couldn’t sign in. It would constantly shut down. It was horrible. He was supposed to load photos of his stuff in there, he couldn’t. He was supposed to take a photo of the spot to put it, he couldn’t.
It didn’t track, he couldn’t see the dates they’d promised. Nada.
And often the website told us to just look in the app. {can we see some foreshadowing here….}
When we asked about it they just said there wasn’t anything they could do (this is a theme you’ll see)…
It’s Late
It was supposed to be delivered to Wisconsin on June 25th and delivered to his home on June 27th. My husband and him flew into Wisconsin on the 25th and he got a notification asking where they should put it. He called the Ubox office on the 26th asking if there was any way they could deliver it early and they said it wasn’t there yet.
{insert impending doom music in my son’s ears}
BUT it should be there soon!
I was well-aware that we may have a few days of it being late and we needed to sit tight.
However, we noticed that at some point the tile registered that it was in California on the 26th — near Los Angeles. The day after it was to be delivered in Madison. It was in the completely wrong direction.
He got notifications several times that the ubox would be delivered the next day, but he would call and they’d say the ubox wasn’t delivered yet. But, they were sure it would be here the next day.
Every day was the same thing — “I’m sure it will be here tomorrow.” He’d get an email asking him to confirm the shipping address the next day….
I figured they’d realize it was late, that it was in CA and they’d re-route it quickly to get us our things.
I kept trying to let my son handle this (always a tricky situation with adult kids being on their own). He even went to the Uhaul location and was assured it would be here “tomorrow.” He would ask to speak with someone else who could tell them where it was and was always told they could not do that. (?)
He also asked for the shipper’s information so he could contact them, and was told they couldn’t do that – Uhaul was his only contact.
I was REALLY trying to let him handle this on his own! (tell me in the comments if you’ve been a mom in this position before… it’s just really tough for them to be able to vocalize things and get help without getting irate)
However, when I arrived on Monday to help out (the hope was that I was helping with finishing touches) I asked for him to give me the # and I wanted to call them. I demanded to speak with someone else — and they’d transfer me, and I’d spend an hour on the phone when finally someone admitted the Ubox had accidently gone to California and it would not be there until the 2nd.
I. lost. my. mind — but I kept it inside and said that was pretty unacceptable but it was what it was….
U-Box Guarantee
We were consistently told us that U-Box guaranteed it would arrive by the 25th — but I want you to know that what they do guarantee is that they’ll give you back $50/day that it’s late.
That is honestly the only guarantee. There is no guarantee that it will arrive on time, simply that they have a very small penalty if it does not.
The $300 they ultimately gave us doesn’t begin to compensate me for my time on the phone with them (between me and my son I’d say it was about 6 hours of time on hold) or the fact that it was so late.
I just want you going into this knowing that is all their guarantee means.
BTW, I finally got the number to the late U-Box people. They at least were a bit more on top of things… the # is 623-231-2488 in case this story feels familiar.
They were able to give me some small updates along the way and could assure me it would arrive by the 2nd (not sure why I believed them at this point).
It Finally Arrives
So, on the 1st our tile registered it in Chicago. Hallelujah.
As soon as it did that, I called Uhaul and asked that they save us a spot to have it delivered tomorrow afternoon to his apartment.
She was sure that they could do that and would leave a note about it.
So, it finally arrives in Wisconsin and my son gets an email that it’s at the facility. He calls and they say they are happy to deliver it on the 7th. he was calling on a Thursday, and they could get it to us the next Tuesday.
And they acted like that was entirely sufficient and were providing the best customer service. My son just hung up so angry.
I then got the number and just kept saying that’s unacceptable and it was already 6 days late. They said their schedule was filled and they were unable to accommodate us until the next Tuesday. I said that it was late, and they could bump someone else and she started yelling at me on the phone. Literally yelling — my daughter could her her across the room.
I mentioned I had called in the days leading up to this begging them to leave a spot for us to get the U-Box delivered, as it was already late and they said they could probably do that but there was no way for them to actually communicate this to anyone. She said that they can’t save spots for late boxes even if they’ know they’re arriving (?????). She could only do what the system allowed.
At no point did she apologize, at no point did she offer to make some alternate arrangements. She did say we could go to the facility and move the items out of the container ourselves.
I finally said we would be to that facility in 30 minutes. She then told me it was a lot of effort to get the box out and she wasn’t sure it could be available — it might take 45 minutes.
In a fun turn of events I called the late ubox people and they actually gave me the supervisors’ direct line which she was REALLY mad about. And again — not apologetic at all. Just that it’s not her fault and she can’t do anything.
Now, I’m not here to say that I was a delight during this conversation, but I hope we can all agree that we’d been pretty wronged at this point — but she was literally screaming at me on the phone during this. Multiple times she told me it was not her fault and then told me we would get the $50/day that it’s late (although once it gets to the facility you no longer accrue the $50/day — it’s only based on facility to facility not to your actual home).
So, we go to the Uhaul place…
Emptying the UBox
We go to the Uhaul store and ask to get our box at which point my son is told it’s not there and won’t be there til’ the 7th.
And he. quietly. loses. his. mind. He was obviously frustrated (and frankly, not great at handling tricky stituations like this) but immediately the person behind the counter goes on the defense. She’s like — sir, this isn’t our fault and I need you to calm down (mind you — he’s not yelling he’s just like rubbing his hands through his hair and saying we have our tile showing that it IS at the facility).
A man came over to look it (also telling us to calm down) and says she was mistaken, it is there but it won’t be delivered til’ the 7th. He also says they need 24 hours to allow us access to it.
At which point I say I just spoke to a supervisor who said it would be ready and asked to speak with his supervisor.
Who comes out and says they will try to get it and that we will need to wait until they can. He then reminds me that this is not his fault and that he can only do what he can do. He’s extremely defensive and condescending to me from minute one of our interaction.
I then ask him who’s fault is it? It’s clearly not my fault as we haven’t seen the items since June 14th. He tells me it’s the shipper’s fault and we should speak with the shipper if we are upset.
At which point I say that at no point did I ever speak with a shipper (although we’d ask to get in touch with them SEVERAL times to find out where they were) and that my card was charged by Uhaul, not a shipper. I also pointed out that he managed a Uhaul store and while I didn’t find HIM personally responsible, I very much found the company Uhaul responsible — whom, he represented.
So, finally we go out to look for the box (they don’t take us to it — we’re just stuck out there looking at the bar code numbers on the Uboxes) and it’s there.
We open it, only to find the hinge has fallen off (another part of the lock is visibly out of place).
My husband and my son start unloading it and my daughter and I walk into the store to tell them the hinge is off.
He tells me that’s fine, they noticed it upon arrival — but I say that the door is just hanging there, it won’t open right and I’m afraid someone’s going to get hurt by it.
So, he comes out with me to the box. I ask him if this happens often, and he says no. He seems to have softened a bit and said he looked into our move and he hadn’t realized it had been shipped on the 17th and that was a long time ago.
He fixes the hinge and walks away.
{I should add — in a good turn of events all of our stuff was good — we packed well, and I don’t think there was anything broken in the move — so, there’s that — but, when we saw the broken hinge we were nervous….}
We empty the box on our own. Luckily, my son had bought a small SUV and we also had rented an SUV so it only took us about 3 trips and 3 hours between the two cars to get it emptied.
I went in to the Ubox store to tell him it was emptied and the blankets were all folded and in the truck. I then asked to make sure the $300 for it being late was put onto our card and asked that someone from corporate call us. He said that he had put in for the credit (never said a credit always used some weird Uhaul terminology that I didn’t understand until I asked for a clarification) and that he was sure they’d give us a call after they saw that.
As a note — I tweeted Uhaul and sent emails to anyone in the upper management during this experience. I got no response other than the call the customer service number (who, per them, was not at fault, and our delivery was guaranteed).
He asked why I wanted to speak to someone and I said that their customer service was appalling for something they were SO in the wrong about. And he said he hoped it wasn’t his customer service and I said his wasn’t great. But I was glad to be done.
And we were done with Ubox (btw, we did get the credit back for the $300). No one from corporate ever called though. So, now I’m here spreading the good word to you.
Uhaul Customer Service
Now, in my other moves I always had someone I could call for updates but at Ubox we were consistently told they could only see what was on their computer screen and they could do nothing about it (I’m talking we were told this DAILY by MULTIPLE people — even when it was VERY late).
Now, I guess for Ubox shipping — they don’t do it themselves, they hire an outside shipper to takes the items. And apparently, during that time frame they have literally ZERO clue where your items are.
It’s just a hope and a prayer they get to the right spot (they literally say they don’t track them at all — as if they’re proud of that).
And, even when it’s late it doesn’t seem to flag it in their system to check to see if, perhaps, it mistakenly went to California — no, they just continue to cross fingers.
Honestly, I don’t think it was until I called on the 29th that they actually put any plan in motion to get the box to Wisconsin.
There is literally maybe 4 people at that corporation who care about doing their job right (and realizing they’re handling people’s things — which is an important job). The rest just look at a screen and tell you they can’t do anything.
Now, I understand that moving is a tense situation — moving is hard and I get that. However, I spent my career in an even more tense situation — delivering babies. I get it. People get worried, and hostile and you’re doing something that’s important to them. You also don’t really have control over everything (although more control in moving a Ubox than giving birth) so you can at least validate people’s feelings and do what you can do!
There are several things they could’ve done — offered us a free U-Haul truck to move the items to his apartment, offered to help us empty it in the cars, or at LEAST show us where the box was. At no time was an accommodation made.
Honestly, at one of the offices a lady said she already knew who I was because I had called so many times with questions. She assured me they would be able to deliver it the next day, even though they apparently had NO spots to deliver until the next week and she literally was just blowing smoke at me. She had no idea, but wanted to “guarantee” me again.
I have literally never heard a company throw around “guarantee” so much and entirely not mean it at all.
Absolutely ABYSMAL and I don’t think I ever had someone apologize it was so late. Ultimately, the box was 6 days late and was not delivered to our apartment as we had ordered.
I’m sure for a lot of people 6 days isn’t a big deal as the box is going into storage anyway — but I think most people without their items for six days would be really upset. Feel free to tell me in the comments if I’m in the wrong here. Especially when it says ALL over the marketing that they GUARANTEE it will be there by the 25th.
Mostly what I look forward to is Uhaul saying it wasn’t their fault and there wasn’t anything they could do because that will echo what we heard the entire. time.
What I’d Do Instead
Honestly, I’d go with another company (hard to know if they all have these isues) or get a truck.
Or, maybe just rent a larger SUV one-way to Wisconsin. Honestly, I think that’s probably what I would pick given the options now.
Or, possibly just ship the items to his apartment. I can’t imagine how much it would have been to UPS it all (the big concern was his computer — he’s a software developer), but at least we’d be able to track it.
I also would have used an apple tracker instead of the Tile…
And I would have been on top of where it was at starting about 3 days before it was to arrive. I do believe if we’d spoken to someone who actually cared on the day it was SUPPOSED to come they might have been able to get it to us earlier.
But there is literally ZERO chance I’d use them again. I’d pay hundreds more to not use them, because they do. not. care. at. all. Not a whit. Not a little.
It’s no one’s fault and they guarantee it.
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