Why is OnTrac So Bad? Uncovered!!
OnTrac bills itself as a competitive regional shipping carrier, but ask any customer who has dealt with delayed deliveries, inaccurate tracking, missing packages or unhelpful customer service, and a very different picture emerges.
So why does OnTrac have a reputation for being one of the worst parcel delivery companies out there?
This in-depth post will uncover the array of customer complaints, analyze OnTrac’s chronic service problems, and determine why they remain in business despite their abysmal 1.2 star overall rating. Buckle up for an inside look at the operational deficiencies and apathetic attitude that makes customers ask: “why is OnTrac so bad?”
Specific problem areas we’ll scrutinize include:
- OnTrac’s shockingly negative customer satisfaction metrics
- Consistent issues with late, damaged and missing deliveries
- Unreliable tracking and notification processes
- Difficulties getting assistance from customer service
- Questionable practices that point to possible package theft
- Theories on how they survive as a company
By the end, you’ll have a thorough understanding of why OnTrac is synonymous with delayed packages and frustration for those with the misfortune of having their items shipped through this carrier.
Abysmally Low 1.2 Star Rating Highlights OnTrac’s Awful Reputation
For a delivery service that promises “industry-leading speed and reliability,” OnTrac sure has amassed some impressively bad customer satisfaction metrics. Reviews paint a picture of total operational dysfunction that routinely fails at basic delivery standards.
On Trustpilot for example, OnTrac has a dismal overall rating of just 1.2 out of 5 stars. That’s based on nearly 1,500 reviews as of March 2023, of which 92% are negative. Most shockingly, only 3% gave OnTrac what could be considered a good rating. That is an almost unheard level of dissatisfaction.
The situation doesn’t improve when looking at other review sites either. The Better Business Bureau gives OnTrac a pathetic “F” rating while their Yelp reviews average out to just 1.5 stars. No matter where customers turn to share their OnTrac horror stories, extreme negativity abounds.
Clearly once you have a delivery moved to OnTrac, prepare for endless aggravation and disappointment. But why exactly are so many people left seething after encountering this company?
Constant Issues with Late, Missing and Damaged Packages
Delays appear hardwired into OnTrac’s business operations. The number one complaint across the board centers on severely late package arrivals that play havoc with customers eagerly awaiting time-sensitive orders.
Comments like “my package is weeks late with no updates” and “OnTrac is absolutely unreliable” echo repeatedly in their mountain of negative reviews. Even when no hiccups occur, deliveries often arrive 1-3 days after the original estimated date.
But the situation deteriorates markedly from there. Many customers report packages marked as delivered that simply never arrive. These eager recipients are left stunned to find reassuring tracking notifications of completed delivery despite no packages showing up at their door or in mailrooms.
Understandably this prompts grave concerns that OnTrac drivers may be stealing some percentage of goods entrusted to them. Expensive items often seem to be the primary targets. Why else would so many tracked packages have ghost delivery scans?
Other customers receive notifications that a parcel was delivered to the wrong address. However given OnTrac’s already atrocious accuracy rates, such explanations are taken with an enormous grain of salt.
And even if your package finally emerges from the OnTrac void, the condition may be questionable upon opening. Reports of damaged boxes, items broken in transit, and missing pieces are uncomfortably commonplace.
Clearly they need to invest heavily in improving how parcels are handled, transported and secured across their logistics network. But first OnTrac management may want to get a grasp on why their service reliability seems mired in quicksand.
Unreliable Tracking and Notification Processes Further Frustrate Customers
The chronic delays and missing packages are difficult enough for customers to swallow. But OnTrac also manages to bungle the basic duty of keeping recipients notified of order status through accurate tracking updates.
Complaints abound over tracking notifications that are disjointed from reality. Customers speak of seeing no updates for days or weeks, only to suddenly get a blip that their parcel was delivered earlier that morning. Except it somehow never actually showed up at their address.
Other times people report packages constantly bouncing between regional sorting facilities well past expected delivery windows. The tracking progresses start and stop like a broken roller coaster.
When deliveries do finally occur, it’s common to still see accurate status not reflected for 1-2 days afterwards. So problems exist across the entire cycle of scanning and reporting.
The culmination leaves an impression of extreme inefficiency muddling OnTrac’s backend processes. Whether due to gaps in staff training, faulty barcode scanners or outdated tracking software, the problems run deep from a technical operations standpoint.
Of course calm customer relations often hinges on transparent visibility into order status. By failing at this baseline necessity, OnTrac cultivates understandable frustration from those relying on their questionable delivery services.
Dreadful Customer Service Compounds Operational Deficiencies
In instances of delayed or missing items, effective customer service becomes the last line of defense for retaining some semblance of consumer satisfaction.
Yet based on the tsunami of scathing anecdotes, OnTrac drops the ball just as badly on supporting users as they do actually shipping products. Expectations for adequate responsiveness or resolution should be kept in check.
Reviews commonly detail waiting on hold for hours only to receive vague answers or outright misinformation. Promises of callbacks or package tracing rarely materialize. Just securing any meaningful help seems contingent on navigating an impenetrable maze of apathy.
When customers do endure the gauntlet of contacting OnTrac repeatedly, reports indicate the usual outcome is a dead end. They may be told the package is still in transit, only for it to eventually be declared lost without further explanation.
Those fortunate enough to have missing items turn up gain no insights into what blackhole the parcel emerged from after days AWOL from tracking updates.
The barriers erected to achieving accountability for fixing mistakes leave many customers resigned to accept whatever dysfunctional service OnTrac feels like providing. And for expensive or truly urgent deliveries, such complacency poses real problems.
Questionable Practices Point Towards Rampant Package Theft
Examining the totality of chronic delivery delays, nonexistent tracking, and consumer packages that mysteriously vanish, an obvious question emerges. Specifically, are OnTrac drivers and sort facility workers helping themselves to customer shipments?
The volume of missing parcels coupled with the evasiveness surrounding their whereabouts seems indicative of theft. When considering the employment conditions such as low wages and intense quotas faced by workers, temptation surely arises.
Especially when considering how inconsistently OnTrac scans packages during processing, significant opportunities exist for divert packages out backdoors. Their accountability systems would have to improve dramatically just to be considered lax.
And the management attitude towards always blaming nebulous transit issues leaves nobody confident that internal theft concerns get addressed appropriately.
While falling short of outright accusing OnTrac employees of stealing, many customers insinuate that packages get “lost” under highly suspicious circumstances. Ultimately recipients feel their items end up in worker’s homes rather than the intended addresses.
Certainly OnTrac does little operationally to deter such blatant “inside jobs” from occurring. When your consumers overwhelmingly mistrust your integrity as a delivery service, much deeper problems exist than the occasional late truck.
OnTrac Survives Due to Low Rates and Regional Strongholds
When stepping back to digest the absolute barrage of dissatisfaction and ineptitude on constant display, a fair question is how does OnTrac manage to stay in business?
By all rights their reputation should have joined the ashes of history long ago. Yet OnTrac hangs on despite clear indicators of being an ongoing calamity. A few key factors allow this shaky enterprise to maintain a market presence:
Low Prices – Compared to national players like FedEx and UPS, OnTrac undercuts standard market delivery rates substantially. For the budget conscious, such discounts may help offset the “hidden costs” from damaged goods and late arrivals.
Regional Dominance – Concentrated mostly across Western states, OnTrac enjoys substantial market share in areas like California. Their saturation provides convenience that makes them hard for residents to avoid.
Ecommerce Relationships – OnTrac forms partnerships with major retailers and ecommerce platforms to become an integrated shipping option. The friction of embedded carrier selections keeps business volumes stable.
Essentially OnTrac has entrenched themselves enough regionally combined with predatory pricing that they remain an inevitable nuisance. But most customers advise avoiding their trap unless you care little about packages arriving intact or on time.
Should You Risk Using OnTrac Delivery as an Option?
Given the overwhelming consistency of negative service quality and customer experiences, only the most desperate or disinterested should willingly opt into OnTrac delivery. The headaches and frustrations simply aren’t worth the minor rate differences compared to other couriers.
As a rule of thumb, never select OnTrac shipping when order timeliness or completeness carries any importance. Particularly for high value, fragile or time sensitive items, subjecting your parcel to their haphazard network becomes an unnecessary gamble.
Of course consumers don’t always have a choice if OnTrac ends up as the surprise handling partner for an ecommerce order. But whenever possible based on their reputation, take preventative steps by:
- Actively avoiding retailers that use OnTrac as their shipping carrier
- Selecting alternate shipping options even at higher rates
- Providing delivery instructions to minimize missing parcel risk
- Purchasing additional insurance when forced to use OnTrac
No perfectly safeguards exist to protect against their systemic dysfunction. But mitigating exposure by being an informed consumer offers a sound start.
Can Tracking OnTrac Packages In Real Time Provide Peace of Mind?
When dealing with such uncertainty around if or when a package gets delivered, customers understandably cling to shipment tracking as an assurance lifeline. However in OnTrac’s case, that tool provides fleeting comfort at best.
As outlined earlier, their tracking notifications have nearly as bad a reputation as their actual transit operations. Updates commonly lag or share inaccurate scan status when checked in real time against a parcel’s physical location.
Rather than receiving actionable indicators of in transit progress, the reality is customers mostly just receive the constant runaround. Which leaves recipients refreshing tracking pages in vain for any tangible updates.
The hard truth is placing confidence in data from OnTrac’s tracking system proves a losing bet more often than not. Until scanners connect accurately to databases that relay precision customer notifications, anxiety skies remain the norm.
What Recourse Exists for Lost or Damaged Goods?
When delivery calamities occur, all parties undoubtedly want the same outcome – promptly getting customers the items ordered or appropriate reimbursement. However achieving accountability from OnTrac can test even the steeliest of resolves.
Filing claims for missing or damaged shipments starts as an exercise in frustration tolerance. Be prepared for plaguing questions with no clear answers given the original parcel often lacks reasonable visibility.
Assuming you overcome initial denial and attrition tactics, OnTrac may issue a modest payout on lost item claims, but usually only after extensive battles. Securing refunds for more than the base transit cost is rare regardless of actual damages.
For the best results, experts recommend working back through the original retailer as much as possible in addition to contacting OnTrac. Discussing options like shipment replacement, refunds or credits tends to gain better traction through the seller’s integrated agreements and policies with their wayward delivery partner.
Just brace for likely disappointing results regardless when OnTrac drops the ball on a customer’s order. Getting proper accountability from them poses long odds based on experiences.
Key Takeaways – Reasons Why Customers Ask “Why is OnTrac So Bad?”
In closing, clearly systemic business operations and culture issues foster OnTrac’s awful reputation amongst those reliant on entrusting them with deliveries. When evaluating their chronic customer dissatisfaction, several root causes stand out:
- Abysmal 1.2 star overall rating across review sites
- 92% negative reviews on Trustpilot confirm atrocious service
- Late arriving packages by 1-3 days considered “on time”
- Failure to meet basic standards around delivery precision
- Nonexistent or lagging shipment tracking notifications
- Impenetrable barriers to receiving customer support
- Brazen inventory “shrinkage” hints at employee theft
- Incentivized primarily by predatory regional pricing
Essentially OnTrac checks nearly every box for operational negligence and apathy towards consumers – a remarkable achievement in the worst possible sense.
Despite a marsh of negative commentary, OnTrac plods on by exploiting their niche strongholds. But customers deserve far better than bottom barrel prices at the cost of endless frustration.
So next time you find an OnTrac delivery in your hands, get ready for elevated blood pressure. And if the shipment contains anything you actually care about arriving, consider taking your business anywhere carriers grasp the meaning of reliability.
