UHaul is in trouble. And no, I'm not talking about how it's doing financially, which is also not so great. I'm talking about its low customer satisfaction rates, and I'll start with my personal experience, then move on to some numbers.
On June 30th I moved to my new place in Manhattan. I was thrilled, but what should have been a very pleasant experience turned into a grueling nightmare, in great part because of what seem to be some shady but routine practices at UHaul:
My reservation was for 10am, but when I got there at 9:45, there was a huge line of maybe a hundred people going all the way from the store, out to the parking lot in front, and all the way to the main road.
"Huh," I thought to myself as I passed through, "all the poor people who didn't get a reservation." Alas, when I reached the front of the line I was told that that was indeed the line for the people who in fact did have a reservation. The woman at the front of the line outside the store had one for 7:30am, and indeed was waiting ever since then. She still had about an hour to go before she would be able to get a truck.
So, I went back to the end of the line, and after about 3.5 hours in the sun, I finally reached the entrance - only to discover about an hour's worth of waiting inside. Like many who move at the end of the month, I had no choice: I had to get a truck, and it was too late to get it anywhere else. UHaul did it fact provide the truck, which I was supposed to get at 10:00am, but it provided it at about 2:15pm. Over 4 hours later. I had to reschedule with my friends who helped me move, and with the old landlord who was supposed to pick up the keys before I even managed to get a truck.
The worst about this whole thing, is that UHaul employees admitted to me that this regularly happened every end of the month. As far as I can tell, this could only mean that the company routinely misleads its own customers: promising to deliver at a certain time, knowing full well that they will not actually see a truck until hours later.
The UHaul staff seemed unapologetic in the least. In fact they seemed bored. And when those of us standing in the sun looked for ways to keep hydrated, they completely ignored the highly uncomfortable situation that they created themselves! People might have forgiven an unintentional mishap, had the company, through its actions, shown some slight discomfort, or acted to make the situation less unbearable - but that was not the case.
An old Spanish woman came by and sold us bottles of water and pastadillas. She seemed more worried about the situation than the people who caused it.
The long-term effects? After telling the story of my personal experience to a friend, he changed his mind about UHaul and canceled a reservation already placed, only to rent a Penske Truck instead. He also knows some other friends who will be moving soon, and made a point to let them NOT to rent a UHaul. Other outraged consumers post their stories in consumer forums, blogs, and other media.
How does it translate to numbers? Google shows 93,700 results for the expression "uhaul sucks." Compare that to only 90,100 results for "microsoft sucks" for Microsoft, which is one of the most vilified companies of our age (and for reasons not half as good), 122 results for "avis sucks," 150 for "hertz sucks," and only 3 for "budget truck sucks". I also found 23 recent blog posts with the quote "uhaul sucks," on Technorati, and that is only one possible formulation of customer frustration.
How does a company get such a bad reputation? By not paying attention to detail. While investing in the biggest fleet of trucks, the infrastructure, and the pricing schemes, UHaul seems to have forgotten the importance of experience. After all - how much would it have cost to invest in a reservation system that actually reserves a truck for the right time? Or to at least be honest about expected delays? Or to put up some shades in the driveway for people who are forced to wait outside?
After all, it's much easier to buy these things than to buy back lost reputation.
***
Another UHaul Story (Strong Language Included):
0 comments:
Post a Comment