ABF Relocube® Reviews
The driver was absolutely polite and professional and was extremely helpful in showing the truck features and discussing pick-up and scheduling. Drop off and pick up fit right in with our needs and transportation timeline is flexible to help us take a lot of stress out of rushing to out of state location. All the cargo is safe and secure and in great hands.
The relocube is great for boxes and other items but do not recommend it for furniture. We only moved two pieces of furniture (IKEA shelving unit and a brand new filing cabinet with outlets and a metal supported shelve). Both of these items broke into many pieces during our move and are not usable. We secured all items with bungee cords and were told to pack high. We packed every inch of this cube very tightly and it was secured before pickup. Bungee cords did not do the trick for the jostling the cube endured during the ride. A few other boxes were smashed and a few other broken items occurred as well.
What I got will work, but I had some issues. I was specifically told "a 10 foot trailer" and instead got a 28 foot trailer which wouldn't fit in a convenient place. The inside was splintering, and the trailer didn't have handholds to climb in or a way to keep the doors open while loading. If I weren't on a tight schedule, I would have arranged another company after what showed up to my door.
I found UPACK staff, when we first called to reserve the pod, very helpful and professional. Staff delivering and dropping off on both sides of the move were polite and professional as well, and the pod arrived earlier than expected at our new place. This was our second time using this service and they were great again. Highly recommend this service for long distance moves!
We had a really good experience with ABF and the UPack Relocubes. Local vendors delivered and picked up cubes timely, answered questions about delivery / ability to place in street vs. drive, and drivers provided good instructions to ensure doors closed properly/water wouldn't get in, and were professional and friendly. Used 2 cubes to move approximately 2 rooms worth of items.
ABF does not appear to communicate with their own subsidiary, UPack. This is a problem. There were weather-related delays for the shpping containers. I had NO PROBLEM with the delays. My issue is the lack of communication between the two parts of the same company and with me. This is what lead to the cancelation notice, I guess. I would not use ABF-UPack again.
I would have spent less money if Upack provided the option to store the container before relocating the cube. I unfortunately had to pay twice because I temporarily stayed out of state trying to figure out if I wanted to live on the West Coast. After several months, I decided to go elsewhere; hence costing me more money than I would have preferred to spend. If there were more size options, that would great.
This is the 2nd time I used ABF U-Pack CUBE service because my 1st experience was so positive! I, again received superior customer service from the initial phone call to the delivery of my cube, to the pick up of my cube. I highly recommend ABF-U-Pack - the customer service culture of this company is the best I've experienced in years! (Transportation from Florida to AZ, plus storage.)
Disconnects with the customer service value at service centers in the origin and destination areas. Spoke to a consultant they said didn't have to have a destination address it would just stay at the local service center, also told me same day delivery and pickup was something I could arrange if necessary. Once address was determined I was informed that it needed to transfer to another facility due to the address I chose, incurring an additional fee and 4 extra days (it was 25 minutes away). Also, no same day drop off and pickup could be arranged. This was needed as I was using a storage facility. The origin facility was better as I was able to arrange 2 hour timeframes for drop off and pickup and better plan. The destination stated no drop off until after noon, but ended up dropping items off early in the morning. I didn't get a text until hours later that it was dropped off, thus throwing things off as I had scheduled professional unloaders. My advice is to call the anticipated service centers a week or two beforehand to see what their capabilities are. Though the consultants may claim one thing the service center may not be able to. Also, unlike PODS you can't access the cubes while in storage so you would have to ship to an actual storage center if you want to be able to do that.
I was nervous about how much of my stuff was going to fit in the Relocube but thanks to my movers we managed to get a queen sized bed, desk, dresser, nightstand, coffee table, bar cart, tv piece, kitchen table, and all of my many boxes and pieces of luggage. I definitely wouldn't have been able to fit all of those things in by myself and to maximize the space it really helps to have movers who are "Tetris experts" and can figure out how to best use every last inch. But with the right movers, this worked splendidly!
UPack did a great job with our cubes - every step of the way they were on time, friendly, and professional. We took 2 weeks to pack the pods, then they were transported 800 miles, put in storage for 30 days, and then delivered to our new home after we arrived. Excellent customer service and easy to work with. Our pods made it safely to their destination.
