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Updated by user Apr 15, 2013

After contacting the state's Attorney General's office, U-Haul issued a satisfactory refund to me.

Original review posted by user Mar 15, 2013

Good morning,

Allow me to vent my experience with U-Haul installation of a trailer hitch.

On 8/9/2011, my wife went to U-Haul on 878 Memorial Dr, Chicopee, MA to have a trailer hitch installed on our 2006 Jeep Commander. It seem, while waiting, two of installers were having an argument, and in the process, was using profane language, yelling and swearing as it went along. The manager at the counter was also cursing at these two guys to quiet down, but it continued_ After a couple of hours, my wife paid the bill, and left. She relayed what happened to me, and I shrugged it off, but thought how unprofessional and tacky that was for a customer to have to witness this nonsense.

A few days later, I hooked up my trailer and checked the lights, but they were not working. I didn't want to go back to the Chicopee, MA U-Haul, so I went to the Westfield, MA office to see if they could straighten it out. While there, the installer pointed out to me that the installer in Chicopee hadn't installed a ground wire (he even admitted that was a *** mistake!) I also purchased the hitch ball, ball drop and pinclip assembly from Westfield.

Because the Jeep isn't used on a regular basis, I was stopped by a local police officer, and he informed me that I had a taillight out. The bulb looked ok, but I replaced the bulb and fuse just in case. Then, I noticed all kinds of strange things happening to the rear lights. For instance, if you put either directional light on, both would blink (like if the flashers were on,) right rear bulbs were dimmer than the left side. I checked all the fuses, bulbs and ground wires on the taillight housings, but everything was ok. That's when I decided to go to the Jeep dealer, and have them run a diagnostic check on the car to see what the problem was. The mechanic informed me that what was causing all the strange taillight problems was the trailer hitch wiring. Some wires were not even connected, some were connected wrong, and some were corroded due to exposure to the elements under the vehicle (I live in the stormy Northeast.) After the U-Haul wiring was disconnected, the lights all worked fine, so I had the mechanic remove the trailer wiring, and I am now looking to find a qualified installer to wire my hitch.

I keep going back to the initial install in Chicopee, were the two idiots were arguing, and realize why this kit wasn't installed properly_ What would have happened if my family was involved in a rear-end collision because of the rear lights not working correctly??

To sum up here, you need to examine your installer's credentials before allowing them to splice into a vehicle's lighting system, because someone's life may depend on them doing a competent job!

Monetary Loss: $322.

Location: Oxford, Massachusetts

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Guest

Same thing happened to me when I had hitch installed in Seattle. Never thought the would have such unqualified people performing these installs.

Guest

I had a similar experience. I had a hitch installed two years ago with no problem.

Then I changed my car battery two months ago and the next day the turn signals went haywire. Upon taking my car in to the dealership they informed me (at $150) that the trailer wire harness had been installed in/on my bar battery and a blown fuse was causing the issue s with the turn signal.

They detached the trailer wire harness and now my car works properly. Going back to U-haul to have them fix the wiring (hopefully at no added cost).

Arly Dvw

I too have just had my brand new path finder lighting in the rear go out for the third time! Iโ€™m toyong with class action! Anyone want to join?

Guest

This just happened to me at the Manchester, ct store only my brand new car was rendered useless due to awful wiring job. This guy tied into my battery the wrong way and nicked main wires to my alternator and melted the fuse to the alternator. I will be submitting a claim to get it all fixed and paid for.

Guest

Just had a similar issue with Florida U-haul trailer hitch install! This is not good when safety of human beings and monetary issues that included us renting a van to take a long trip we were planning! Will have to take this to our Florida AG now to try and get a settlement!

Guest

same happened to me last night on way home from work. troopper stopped me and said the back of my 2016 tacoma was black, no lights.

3 months ago went to uhaul in north hampton mass and had 400.00 hitch installed.

joke, i was warned, but did not listen, never again. stay away, pissed consumer

Guest

I had a trailer hitch installed at U Haul in Skowhegan, Maine. They dropped my tail light and, unknown to me, my insurance company was billed for the damages. Wrong on so many levels.

Guest

Had mine installed by UHAUL, wiring harness didn't work, so they graciously offered to fix it. THEN I had to pay an EXTRA 100$ to get the keys back, to pay for the wiring fix that he screwed up, and the wires were all hanging down, a couple months later all broken and damaged, 4 pin connector didn't work anymore.

Eddies Garage in Sudbury is a bunch of crooks, UHAUL affiliate.

I called UHAUL they might as well have told me "we have your money now and we don't care, go tell a priest".

Avoid UHAUL is possible.

Guest

I purchased a hitch kit for my Toyota corolla and when I went to install it I first tried a bolt in the frame first. It was not going in so I cleaned the hole again and tried again.Good thing I only did this on one of the frame holes because as I found out later they gave me the wrong studs with the wrong thread pitch.

I had to order a tap to fix the thread before I could install the curt hitch I purchased that came with the proper bolts.

I cant help but wonder if I had got them to install the uhaul hitch would they have just put an impact on the studs and forced them in. Needless to say I don't trust uhaul for any work.

Guest

I just had a hitch installed by U-haul in Saddle Brook, NJ on my 02 Suburban. I normally install them myself but felt I couldn't pass on a $30 install price for scheduling on-line.

What the heck right? No laying on the ground, no dirty hands, seemed like a no brainerโ€ฆโ€ฆโ€ฆ.WOW was I in for it. First, it took over an hour to install the hitch and the holes are already drilled in Chevy frames, but when I got home and took a closer look I realized what caused the delay. Class III hitches for Chevy have a brace welded to the top of the receiver with 2 holes which bolt upward into the bumper for extra support.

The tappings are already there but the problem was the brace on the hitch which wasn't welded straight at the factory. Instead of getting me another hitch, the installer forced the bolt in with an impact driver and the bolt is now driven in on an angle which I can only imagine destroyed the threads in my bumper. THEN while installing the bracket for the receptacle which my truck has a direct wiring connection for, he didn't leave enough room to snap the unit into the bracket which then hit the body of the hitch when he tried to pop it in place. Instead of moving the bracket forward an inch, he bent the plate which caused the wires from the harness to be kinked against the steel frame and the unit to be sticking out from under the bumper on a 45 degree angle which looked like *** I know complaining to these places does nothing, so rather than waste the time and gas to go back, AND have some pissed off lackey with an attitude trying to fix something he couldn't get right the first time, I removed the wiring and relocated the bracket myself which now looks perfect.

As for the boltsโ€ฆโ€ฆ.I guess I'm stuck with what I have to avoid having to re-tap the factory threads in my bumper. I'm sure U-haul has employees who take pride in what they do, but they surely don't work at this particular location.

Guest

I had the absolute worst experience for a U haul installation of a hitch on my Jeep! My monetary loss was $1,492 to fix all the damage that was done to my car!

When Uhaul originally did the install the tail lights did not work we took it back and the very unprofessional worker swore in frustration because she could not figure it out. I took my jeep back twice after that because the lights on the back of my car stopped working and they installed new wiring saying that there was a problem with it. The last time my car was sparking and so I finally took it to the dealership. There they told me that my car was unsafe to drive!

Uhaul put the incorrect wiring kit on and shorted out all the wiring and fuse box in my Jeep! I am a single mother with two children with sparks flying out of my car and to top it all off Uhaul denied fault and would not pay for the damages. My car was only 1 month old when I had the installation done and now it is only a year old. Only Uhaul had done any kid of work on the car.

I thought that since Uhaul advertised that they did installations they would have somebody that knows what they are doing do the installations!

Most unprofessional business I had ever experienced!

Guest

Trailer wiring is pretty straight forward. First, I'll say that it's NOT unusual to have SOME wires not connected at the harness.

For instance, there's an extra wire that is ONLY used when there are electric trailer brakes. If your trailer doesn't have brakes, this wire would be unconnected. Bulbs in the trailer need to be "HD, Heavy Duty since they are being powered from the same wiring harness that originally only powers your truck lights. Adding another pair of lights puts an extra load on your electrical system.

You can notice this if your dash lights dim as the turn signals flash. Other things, like a weak battery can cause issues when the extra load of trailer wiring is added. The alternator works harder to keep the battery charged with more loads on the system. You can see this on cars with big amplifiers that once it's connected and used, the headlights are dim.

There isn't a standard wiring format for trailer kits.

Many times, it's a matter of using a volt meter to determine which wire goes where. Trust me, the installers probably have NEVER used a meter. Their method would be to connect one wire, see what they get, keep trying until they get one feature to work, like the left turn signal, call that good, then go to the next wire. If they messed up and watched for the left turn single, saw it, and didn't check the right at the same time, they wouldn't have seen that both were flashing.

Hacks to say the least. "Qualified" installers?

Check credentials? There aren't any credentials short of an ASE certification for automobile wiring/electrical systems and that doesn't cover trailer wiring.

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-627588

Cannot speak for others but this is not how I install wiring at uhaul. I work for them and can tell you that they do have very good training available to employees that have some pride in their work and use the training. Sad to see lousy reviews as I know that my store provides excellent customer service....

Guest
reply icon Replying to comment of Guest-640268

As I'm the one that originally wrote this complaint, I can understand how you would feel offended by negative comments, especially if you take pride in what you do. But, every company has its bad apples, and it's up to upper management to sense the problem employees, and remove them, if for any reason, to protect the reputation and integrity of the company name, but more importantly, to prevent shoddy workmanship that may cause someone to be injured, or worse!

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