4 ms·

U-Haul's site really looks like a domain parking page. Just sayin'.

20 points by mcantor 16y ago

byoung2 16y ago
It sure does! I half-expected to see a warning about blocked pop-ups!
jgoewert 16y ago
Yeah... feels that way to me. The original Digg page did that as well - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Digg1.6.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Digg1.6.png I had to fight my anti-DP instincts to sign up on it back then.
jswinghammer 16y ago
I never know whether or not to post comments like this but why was this submitted to this site? It's not news and no one regularly discussing moving trucks here.
- three14 16y ago
  It was interesting to me because it didn't occur to me that there's a "domain parking page look" that would still look like a domain parking page even with real content.
percept 16y ago
It does, but maybe those stupid parking pages are actually doing something right. I think U-Haul did a good job of presenting essential information upfront, simply and cleanly. There's no giant logo, or a screen-hogging masthead with pictures of people wearing headsets or shaking hands. Everything I'd want to do is listed there on the page.
- fname 16y ago
  Completely agree. The links for information aren't hidden behind animated menues and drop downs. Though, interestly enough, the Favicon on the site actually blelongs to ucarshare -- https://www.ucarshare.com/secure/Home.aspx https://www.ucarshare.com/secure/Home.aspx -- which looks like a zipcar competitor.
- chasingsparks 16y ago
  I think people who visit HN -- myself included -- experience cognitive dissonance because we immediately see a domain parking page. Judging from the persistent profitability of domain name parking, most people don't share our experience. It's really quite usable.
powrtoch 16y ago
Sharing a color scheme with GoDaddy certainly doesn't help.
krschultz 16y ago
If the OP was looking to rent a truck when they came across this - from past experience Penske is better even though it is more expensive, U-Haul trucks are pretty beat up.
- thetrumanshow 16y ago
  My last experience with UHaul involved an old truck that broke down in transit. While its inconvenient to break down any time, its doubly-so when all your worldly possessions are packed in there.
dogas 16y ago
It's pretty well documented that uhaul's online reservation system is 100% a scam. They take a $50 reservation fee, and never actually perform a reservation. Then when you go to pick up the truck that you "reserved", no such truck exists. I've gotten bitten by this and we basically had to get our local news station involved to get my $50 back. Very shady company. http://dontuseuhaul.com/ http://dontuseuhaul.com/
fr0man 16y ago
U-Haul has some right ideas when it comes to their website: You Searched for: uhaulsucks.com WHOIS results for uhaulsucks.com Registrant: U-Haul International U-Haul International U-Haul International 2727 N. Central Ave. . Phoenix, az 85004 US Email: webteam@fc.uhaul.com I had been burned badly by their awful pricing, trucks, and customer service about 4 times in a 1-year span back in 2001 and had the brilliant (to me at the time) idea of starting a site for posting U-Haul horror stories and warning people away. I just laughed when I saw this. Well played, U-Haul, well, played. For what it's worth, rent their trailers but stay as far away from their trucks as you can. Go Penske or even Ryder if you have to.
- mattwdelong 16y ago
  Interesting, out of curiosity I tried to visit the website. Of course, they don't have a page up. Instead, chrome recommended http://uhaul-sucks.com http://uhaul-sucks.com Secondly, I'm in the process of planning a move from Eastern Canada to the midwest. Uhaul will only rent me a truck for as little as 6 days for 1600. They have determined, for safety reasons, that it will take me that long to complete my trip. It`s a 17 hour trip, of which, I'm young and can do that in a single day - two days, worst case scenario. Needless to say, I won't be using their truck and their service.
- percept 16y ago
  That's funny. Maybe GoDaddy can add that to their (lengthy) checkout process: Don't forget to register 'YourBizSucks.com'!
jpeterson 16y ago
This belongs on reddit.
dmlorenzetti 16y ago
It may look bad, but compared to others, it's functional. I had to rent a truck recently, and visited websites of three major companies. Two of them have wonderful query pages that allow you to specify the day, type of truck, and geographic area. Those queries then produce a full screen of results. However, when you pick a specific rental location, you can be told "Sorry, this location doesn't have that type of truck," or "Sorry, this location is closed on Sunday." U-Haul's web site, by contrast, showed me what it promised to deliver-- only rental locations open on the day I requested, and only locations with the type of truck I requested. For what it's worth, the truck was in great shape, too.
bsstoner 16y ago
I just tried to rent a truck from them last week, but switched to penske because of uhaul's website and reservation workflow. Godaddy tries to sell less add-on services than U-Haul. They seriously have like 10+ pages of add-on's that no one wants.

20 points by mcantor 16y ago

It sure does! I half-expected to see a warning about blocked pop-ups!

Yeah... feels that way to me. The original Digg page did that as well - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Digg1.6.png http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Digg1.6.png I had to fight my anti-DP instincts to sign up on it back then.

jswinghammer 16y ago

I never know whether or not to post comments like this but why was this submitted to this site? It's not news and no one regularly discussing moving trucks here.

three14 16y ago
It was interesting to me because it didn't occur to me that there's a "domain parking page look" that would still look like a domain parking page even with real content.

percept 16y ago

It does, but maybe those stupid parking pages are actually doing something right. I think U-Haul did a good job of presenting essential information upfront, simply and cleanly. There's no giant logo, or a screen-hogging masthead with pictures of people wearing headsets or shaking hands. Everything I'd want to do is listed there on the page.

fname 16y ago
Completely agree. The links for information aren't hidden behind animated menues and drop downs. Though, interestly enough, the Favicon on the site actually blelongs to ucarshare -- https://www.ucarshare.com/secure/Home.aspx https://www.ucarshare.com/secure/Home.aspx -- which looks like a zipcar competitor.
chasingsparks 16y ago
I think people who visit HN -- myself included -- experience cognitive dissonance because we immediately see a domain parking page. Judging from the persistent profitability of domain name parking, most people don't share our experience. It's really quite usable.

powrtoch 16y ago

Sharing a color scheme with GoDaddy certainly doesn't help.

krschultz 16y ago

If the OP was looking to rent a truck when they came across this - from past experience Penske is better even though it is more expensive, U-Haul trucks are pretty beat up.

thetrumanshow 16y ago
My last experience with UHaul involved an old truck that broke down in transit. While its inconvenient to break down any time, its doubly-so when all your worldly possessions are packed in there.

dogas 16y ago

It's pretty well documented that uhaul's online reservation system is 100% a scam. They take a $50 reservation fee, and never actually perform a reservation. Then when you go to pick up the truck that you "reserved", no such truck exists. I've gotten bitten by this and we basically had to get our local news station involved to get my $50 back. Very shady company. http://dontuseuhaul.com/ http://dontuseuhaul.com/

fr0man 16y ago

U-Haul has some right ideas when it comes to their website: You Searched for: uhaulsucks.com WHOIS results for uhaulsucks.com Registrant: U-Haul International U-Haul International U-Haul International 2727 N. Central Ave. . Phoenix, az 85004 US Email: webteam@fc.uhaul.com I had been burned badly by their awful pricing, trucks, and customer service about 4 times in a 1-year span back in 2001 and had the brilliant (to me at the time) idea of starting a site for posting U-Haul horror stories and warning people away. I just laughed when I saw this. Well played, U-Haul, well, played. For what it's worth, rent their trailers but stay as far away from their trucks as you can. Go Penske or even Ryder if you have to.

mattwdelong 16y ago
Interesting, out of curiosity I tried to visit the website. Of course, they don't have a page up. Instead, chrome recommended http://uhaul-sucks.com http://uhaul-sucks.com Secondly, I'm in the process of planning a move from Eastern Canada to the midwest. Uhaul will only rent me a truck for as little as 6 days for 1600. They have determined, for safety reasons, that it will take me that long to complete my trip. It`s a 17 hour trip, of which, I'm young and can do that in a single day - two days, worst case scenario. Needless to say, I won't be using their truck and their service.
percept 16y ago
That's funny. Maybe GoDaddy can add that to their (lengthy) checkout process: Don't forget to register 'YourBizSucks.com'!

jpeterson 16y ago

This belongs on reddit.

dmlorenzetti 16y ago

It may look bad, but compared to others, it's functional. I had to rent a truck recently, and visited websites of three major companies. Two of them have wonderful query pages that allow you to specify the day, type of truck, and geographic area. Those queries then produce a full screen of results. However, when you pick a specific rental location, you can be told "Sorry, this location doesn't have that type of truck," or "Sorry, this location is closed on Sunday." U-Haul's web site, by contrast, showed me what it promised to deliver-- only rental locations open on the day I requested, and only locations with the type of truck I requested. For what it's worth, the truck was in great shape, too.

bsstoner 16y ago

I just tried to rent a truck from them last week, but switched to penske because of uhaul's website and reservation workflow. Godaddy tries to sell less add-on services than U-Haul. They seriously have like 10+ pages of add-on's that no one wants.