- Report: #884156
Complaint Review: ubox
Related Reports
Featured Ripoff Reports
Ripoff Reports
Ripoff Report on CBS 19
Ripoff Report on CBS 19 - Global Marketing Alliance
Ripoff Report on ABC 15 - Smart Shopper
Ripoff Report - Girls Gone Wild
Ripoff Report on Fox 11 - Car Repair
Special Features
-
Doctored Reviews is designed to help patients, doctors, and websites understand the problems created by Medical Justice, a company trying to restrict online patient reviews, and to offer some ways that let patients freely talk about their healthcare experiences. -
The government should serve voters, not corporate special interests. Public Citizen works to empower ordinary citizens, reduce the influence of big corporations on government, open the government to public scrutiny, and hold public officials accountable for their misdeeds. -
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BBB: NOT a government agency as listed in your local phone book. Instead the BBB is a private non-profit / franchise operation. 20/20 exposes the BBB, Hamas Terror Group Gets 'A' Rating - BBB is running a "pay for play" scheme.
| ubox
Internet United States of America |
|
ubox u-box, u-haul, uhaul unexcusable price increases for ubox shipping, Internet
*UPDATE Employee: U Box's
*Consumer Comment: Striderq and Ashley
*Consumer Comment: Storage fees
*General Comment: Information...
*Author of original report: it's a rippoff because of the unreasonable price increase
*Author of original report: Update: more info
*Consumer Comment: How is this a RipOff?
Does your business have a bad reputation?
Fix it the right way.
Corporate Advocacy Program™
Wife and I moved from Albuquerque, NM to Daytona Beach, FL in late December 2011. We opted to store the stuff we weren't taking in our car in a UBox in Albuquerque, figuring it would cost less to have it shipped later than to rent a U-Haul truck and drive it over at the same time as we moved... and we'd be able to relax and enjoy the road trip together rather than driving separate, and avoid feeling hurried to deliver the truck at the destination ASAP. Good deal right?
In December 2011 the price for shipping a UBox was a little over $1,000.00, by late January 2012 it had increased to about $1,200.00; which was still cheaper than renting a truck large enough and paying for the gas to transport the goods ourselves.
At this point my wife hurt her wrist at work so I decided to hold off a little before shipping the UBox to FL: just in case we needed the money because she couldn't work.
After a couple months went by, and lots of tests and doctors visits, I decided it was no longer worth it to wait. My wife was working still, and we had enough dough saved up that I felt secure having our UBox shipped over. But what? The price had jumped up to over $1,400.00 for no apparent reason. $1400.00 was almost exactly what it would have cost to rent a truck and pay for gas back in December 2011. Gas prices were basically the same, so I found myself wondering "what gives?"
I also decided, at this point, to wait a bit to see if the price went down at all.
Today, May 17th 2012, about a month after I encountered the unreasonable $1,400.00 estimate for shipping, my wife decided it had been long enough, that she wanted the UBox shipped. So she called UHaul, and was quoted $1,971.00 for shipping... THAT'S A $500 DOLLAR INCREASE FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON!! And it's also $400 dollars more expensive than it would be to just rent a truck and pay for gas; and that's with today's cost for rental and gas... not the prices from last December.
NOTE: $1,900.00 is also about $400.00 more the the estimated worth of the belongings in our packed full UBox.
UHaul's explanation: they use a third party service for shipping and can't control the costs.
But if they can't control the cost of shipping enough to make the service viable in comparison to the more complex services the provide, why provide the service at all. After all a UBox is just a cheap plywood box nailed to a pallet that they often toss around with forklifts, and occasionally strap to a flatbed that gets towed by a semi. A UBox is not a rental van or truck that requires regular maintenance, it's not a heated and highly secured storage space... UBoxes are often left outside with little but specialised tarps and a lock to protect them. These price increases appear completely baseless or otherwise simply ridiculous. Buyer please beware!
In December 2011 the price for shipping a UBox was a little over $1,000.00, by late January 2012 it had increased to about $1,200.00; which was still cheaper than renting a truck large enough and paying for the gas to transport the goods ourselves.
At this point my wife hurt her wrist at work so I decided to hold off a little before shipping the UBox to FL: just in case we needed the money because she couldn't work.
After a couple months went by, and lots of tests and doctors visits, I decided it was no longer worth it to wait. My wife was working still, and we had enough dough saved up that I felt secure having our UBox shipped over. But what? The price had jumped up to over $1,400.00 for no apparent reason. $1400.00 was almost exactly what it would have cost to rent a truck and pay for gas back in December 2011. Gas prices were basically the same, so I found myself wondering "what gives?"
I also decided, at this point, to wait a bit to see if the price went down at all.
Today, May 17th 2012, about a month after I encountered the unreasonable $1,400.00 estimate for shipping, my wife decided it had been long enough, that she wanted the UBox shipped. So she called UHaul, and was quoted $1,971.00 for shipping... THAT'S A $500 DOLLAR INCREASE FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON!! And it's also $400 dollars more expensive than it would be to just rent a truck and pay for gas; and that's with today's cost for rental and gas... not the prices from last December.
NOTE: $1,900.00 is also about $400.00 more the the estimated worth of the belongings in our packed full UBox.
UHaul's explanation: they use a third party service for shipping and can't control the costs.
But if they can't control the cost of shipping enough to make the service viable in comparison to the more complex services the provide, why provide the service at all. After all a UBox is just a cheap plywood box nailed to a pallet that they often toss around with forklifts, and occasionally strap to a flatbed that gets towed by a semi. A UBox is not a rental van or truck that requires regular maintenance, it's not a heated and highly secured storage space... UBoxes are often left outside with little but specialised tarps and a lock to protect them. These price increases appear completely baseless or otherwise simply ridiculous. Buyer please beware!
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/17/2012 12:03 PM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/ubox/internet/ubox-u-box-u-haul-uhaul-unexcusable-price-increases-for-ubox-shipping-Internet-884156. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report.
Click Here to read other Ripoff Reports on ubox
Search for additional reports
If you would like to see more Rip-off Reports on this company/individual, search here:
Search Tips#1 UPDATE Employee
U Box's
AUTHOR: Matt at Uhual - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, January 01, 2013
U-Haul adjusts all prices monthly in acordance to demand, and marketing prices nationaly. If you have a gander at your Ubox contract it will state that the originaly quote may change if you do not ship your box's at the listed time.
Respond to this report!
What's this? #2 Consumer Comment
Striderq and Ashley
AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Thanks for pretty much confirming what I suspected from the beginning that this increase had something to do with storage fees.
Now, before the OP comes back and tries to point out that they state the quote is the "final price", they have to remember that THEY delayed the actual shipping. So if the quote was for a fixed time at a fixed price the quote is no longer valid because they have extended the time.
Also, it has now been 6 months and it does not appear that they are paying storage. There is a good possibility that there was something in the agreement about "abandoned property". So if he doesn't be careful and get his items shipped he may be seeing them up for sale on a reality show in the near future.
Oh and one more thing for the OP. There is not really any "review" of any posts on this site so don't think that once it gets posted that gives you some validation of your claim. If you read some of the other posts on this site you would realize this.
Now, before the OP comes back and tries to point out that they state the quote is the "final price", they have to remember that THEY delayed the actual shipping. So if the quote was for a fixed time at a fixed price the quote is no longer valid because they have extended the time.
Also, it has now been 6 months and it does not appear that they are paying storage. There is a good possibility that there was something in the agreement about "abandoned property". So if he doesn't be careful and get his items shipped he may be seeing them up for sale on a reality show in the near future.
Oh and one more thing for the OP. There is not really any "review" of any posts on this site so don't think that once it gets posted that gives you some validation of your claim. If you read some of the other posts on this site you would realize this.
Respond to this report!
What's this? "" What is included in my quote?
Cost for delivery to and from your home (trailer rental or truck delivery fee).
Cost for shipping (transportation charges).
Cost for storage (monthly fee to store your U-Boxes in our secure facility).
The low cost rate is guaranteed to be the FINAL price. You won't have to worry about unexpected costs like fuel, hotel stays, extra driving time etc. Using U-Haul U-Box provides the convenience of knowing you can leave your items with us until you're ready. "
I gauruntee a good chunk of your cost increases are long term storage fees. it clearly states on their website that there will be a monthly storage fee for your items. I requested a quote from them and on 1 box it states a 80$ a month fee from them. They've had it for 5 months now, going on 6. So your fee would be 400-480$ depending on your time. There's your unexplained 500$ increase, storage fees.
Cost for delivery to and from your home (trailer rental or truck delivery fee).
Cost for shipping (transportation charges).
Cost for storage (monthly fee to store your U-Boxes in our secure facility).
The low cost rate is guaranteed to be the FINAL price. You won't have to worry about unexpected costs like fuel, hotel stays, extra driving time etc. Using U-Haul U-Box provides the convenience of knowing you can leave your items with us until you're ready. "
I gauruntee a good chunk of your cost increases are long term storage fees. it clearly states on their website that there will be a monthly storage fee for your items. I requested a quote from them and on 1 box it states a 80$ a month fee from them. They've had it for 5 months now, going on 6. So your fee would be 400-480$ depending on your time. There's your unexplained 500$ increase, storage fees.
Respond to this report!
What's this?
Taken from AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report: Average Price for Regular
So according to AAA the average price increased from December 2011 from approximately $3.30 per gallon to April 2011 to approximately $3.90 per gallon. With prices dropping in May. Since the price of gas was going up, the price of UHaul delivering the UBox would go up. The only time the price would be locked in would be after you had contracted with UHaul to deliver your furniture. If you had called in January for them to deliver in February, the price would have been established and then any change in cost due to gas prices would come out of their profit. Since you haven't set a delivery date, any change in price is not a rip off, it's just natural fluctuations due to cost of business.
Additionally, going to UHual's site & getting prices for UBox from NM to FL gets a quote of "$1,971.00
plus $79.95 per month". So the original quote was if they had delivered the UBox in December for you. Each month you delay adds $79.95 in storage fees. This fee for the 5 month delay (December to May) works out to $399.75. What was the quote you were given in December for the per month storage fee? Not a rip off, just not figuring in the additional storage fee you're costing yourself by delaying the delivery of your furniture.
So according to AAA the average price increased from December 2011 from approximately $3.30 per gallon to April 2011 to approximately $3.90 per gallon. With prices dropping in May. Since the price of gas was going up, the price of UHaul delivering the UBox would go up. The only time the price would be locked in would be after you had contracted with UHaul to deliver your furniture. If you had called in January for them to deliver in February, the price would have been established and then any change in cost due to gas prices would come out of their profit. Since you haven't set a delivery date, any change in price is not a rip off, it's just natural fluctuations due to cost of business.
Additionally, going to UHual's site & getting prices for UBox from NM to FL gets a quote of "$1,971.00
plus $79.95 per month". So the original quote was if they had delivered the UBox in December for you. Each month you delay adds $79.95 in storage fees. This fee for the 5 month delay (December to May) works out to $399.75. What was the quote you were given in December for the per month storage fee? Not a rip off, just not figuring in the additional storage fee you're costing yourself by delaying the delivery of your furniture.
Respond to this report!
What's this? #5 Author of original report
it's a rippoff because of the unreasonable price increase
AUTHOR: hellure - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, May 22, 2012
it's a rippoff because U-Haul dramatically increased the price for a service that many people have invested in because of the reasonable pricing they encountered upon choosing to order the service initially. In most circumstances many customers would simple choose to do business elsewhere, but in these circumstances they are literally locked in.
Some of the information I included in the original report was included specifically to aid in the readers ability to empathise with our decision to rent a UBox, or otherwise understand why we made that decision, rather than utilising the alternative services available at the time; and understand that doing so was reasonable then, but has become unreasonable due to the unethical behaviours of the service provider after initially obtaining our business: namely hiking up prices dramatically.
People order UBoxes instead of simply renting storage units because they are mobile and can often be delivered from door to door when necessary... and at a reasonable price. Whether they can be delivered from one location to the next and it's cost can generally be determined ahead of time. But I've read that people have been informed after purchasing the service that what they were promised can not be delivered (after they are locked in; packed up, moved, and waiting on delivery).
In our case, the rippoff is simply the massive increase in cost, so much so that the service no longer becomes a cost effective option at all; not even in comparison to the other services that U-Haul provides that require more work for them and should thus cost them more to provide.
It's simple math really: If in December 2011 the Cost Of Shipping (COS) a U-Box is say $1,100.00, and in May 2012 the cost of fuel has increased by n amount, than the COS in May 2012 should be approximately Decembers COS+n... but it's not, it's Decembers COS+n+$800... and they won't explain the inclusion of the $800, they refuse, they place responsibility on a third party (which is irresponsible behaviour in and of itself), then refuse to refer their customers to that third party so they can obtain an explanation.
It sounds like a ripoff to me... I'm not so sure why you're having trouble seeing it. Apparently the person who reviewed my report was able to, or it wouldn't have qualified for posting.
Please also note my other update where they charged us for the price of shipping without us authorising them to do so. U-Haul customers and those contemplating utilising their services have a right to be aware of these behaviours and protect themselves from becoming victims of them.
Some of the information I included in the original report was included specifically to aid in the readers ability to empathise with our decision to rent a UBox, or otherwise understand why we made that decision, rather than utilising the alternative services available at the time; and understand that doing so was reasonable then, but has become unreasonable due to the unethical behaviours of the service provider after initially obtaining our business: namely hiking up prices dramatically.
People order UBoxes instead of simply renting storage units because they are mobile and can often be delivered from door to door when necessary... and at a reasonable price. Whether they can be delivered from one location to the next and it's cost can generally be determined ahead of time. But I've read that people have been informed after purchasing the service that what they were promised can not be delivered (after they are locked in; packed up, moved, and waiting on delivery).
In our case, the rippoff is simply the massive increase in cost, so much so that the service no longer becomes a cost effective option at all; not even in comparison to the other services that U-Haul provides that require more work for them and should thus cost them more to provide.
It's simple math really: If in December 2011 the Cost Of Shipping (COS) a U-Box is say $1,100.00, and in May 2012 the cost of fuel has increased by n amount, than the COS in May 2012 should be approximately Decembers COS+n... but it's not, it's Decembers COS+n+$800... and they won't explain the inclusion of the $800, they refuse, they place responsibility on a third party (which is irresponsible behaviour in and of itself), then refuse to refer their customers to that third party so they can obtain an explanation.
It sounds like a ripoff to me... I'm not so sure why you're having trouble seeing it. Apparently the person who reviewed my report was able to, or it wouldn't have qualified for posting.
Please also note my other update where they charged us for the price of shipping without us authorising them to do so. U-Haul customers and those contemplating utilising their services have a right to be aware of these behaviours and protect themselves from becoming victims of them.
Respond to this report!
What's this? #6 Author of original report
Update: more info
AUTHOR: hellure - (United States of America)
SUBMITTED: Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Not only was the $1,971,00 way too expensive for the service... the manager at the Albuquerque U-Haul location where our U-Box was being stored apparently didn't understand the meaning of, "Um, I'll have to call you back." when she asked my wife if it was okay to charge our account with the shipping fee of $1,971.00.
So despite my wife not ordering the service, and certainly not authorising the charge to our account, and myself obviously not authorising the charge to my credit card (with a $2,000.00 limit and a $600.00 balance), my credit card was immediately charged for the total $1,971.00... and now I have to deal with the possibility of either an overdraft charge from American Express, or insisting on a refund from U-Haul despite our U-Box possibly being shipped already...
I suppose unreasonably hiking up prices just isn't enough for these people, they've had to start processing charges against customers without their permission too... perhaps just hoping the customers will just roll over and take it?
So despite my wife not ordering the service, and certainly not authorising the charge to our account, and myself obviously not authorising the charge to my credit card (with a $2,000.00 limit and a $600.00 balance), my credit card was immediately charged for the total $1,971.00... and now I have to deal with the possibility of either an overdraft charge from American Express, or insisting on a refund from U-Haul despite our U-Box possibly being shipped already...
I suppose unreasonably hiking up prices just isn't enough for these people, they've had to start processing charges against customers without their permission too... perhaps just hoping the customers will just roll over and take it?
Respond to this report!
What's this? #7 Consumer Comment
How is this a RipOff?
AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)
SUBMITTED: Thursday, May 17, 2012
If you had it shipped in December it would have cost you a little over $1,000...but you didn't.
If you had it shipped in January it would have cost you about $1,200...but you didn't.
If you had it shipped in March/April it would have cost you about $1,400...but you didn't.
At no time do you say that told you they couldn't ship it, it was because of your situation that you decided to hold off.
Is there anything in your agreement about the costs?
NOTE: $1,900.00 is also about $400.00 more the the estimated worth of the belongings in our packed full UBox.
- So what you are saying is that even from the very beginning you were willing to take the time to pack and store items that are worth only about $500 more than it would cost you to ship them?
As a thought, are you paying them separately for storage? Most of these types of places will charge you for storage while they wait to have it shipped. If so I would not be surprised if the increase in cost you are seeing is for the storage fees. If that is the case you can expect the cost to increase every month until you have it shipped.
If you had it shipped in January it would have cost you about $1,200...but you didn't.
If you had it shipped in March/April it would have cost you about $1,400...but you didn't.
At no time do you say that told you they couldn't ship it, it was because of your situation that you decided to hold off.
Is there anything in your agreement about the costs?
NOTE: $1,900.00 is also about $400.00 more the the estimated worth of the belongings in our packed full UBox.
- So what you are saying is that even from the very beginning you were willing to take the time to pack and store items that are worth only about $500 more than it would cost you to ship them?
As a thought, are you paying them separately for storage? Most of these types of places will charge you for storage while they wait to have it shipped. If so I would not be surprised if the increase in cost you are seeing is for the storage fees. If that is the case you can expect the cost to increase every month until you have it shipped.
Respond to this report!
What's this? 
