PODS® Reviews
PODS Moving and Storage is simply too easy to utilize in meeting personal moving and storage needs. Communication with the company representatives is easy and pleasant. Delivery and pickup is on time; drivers are professional, courteous and attentive to the customers needs and requirements for POD placement. I will gladly utilize PODS Moving and Storage to meet any future moving and storage needs. Furthermore, I would highly recommend that anyone who is planning on relocating utilize them as well.
PODS is excellent for local moves and short term storage. But we decided to use them for a long distance move (2400 miles), and discovered that they are not as efficient and don't seem to save you much money - especially since you are doing most of the packing yourself. Next time we will pay the extra to get a professional moving company to do our long distance move.
So far, using POD has been okay. I had to buy a padlock because they were out of padlocks, but that's okay. I still have a month before my POD is delivered to my new address (my new place will be ready in one month). The delivery of the empty POD and the pick-up of the loaded POD seemed really efficient and smooth so far. I hope when they deliver it to my new place in one month it will be the same type of experience.
Did not accommodate for placing pods appropriately in the driveway even though we had measured and assured them that pods would fit. Pods do not include any boxes so you need to purchase them. Then you need to hire loaders especially for furniture you did not want scratched. The blankets for that furniture was supposed to arrive on a date prior to the loaders and arrived after the pods were already picked up. The cost of pods, loaders, boxes, and then the additional trailer because the loaders left so many items behind ended up being the same cost of getting professional movers to do it all in one day.
We used PODS this summer for a house move. POD staff ( phone representatives and POD drivers) were friendly and, for the most part, knowledgeable. The POD web site has a learning curve but there is a lot of on-line help and you can call a PODS person too. In fact, you must speak with a POD representative to set the dates for POD drop off and pick up. We also recommend verifying those dates well before the scheduled service. We corrected delivery/pick up date errors twice! (The date errors are why we only rated PODS as "Good"). The cost was a bit high because we took time packing the PODS ourselves - we paid for the convenience which was important to us. The PODS are clean, strong and easy to load/unload. Tie your items well so they do not lean/fall against the roller door during the move or you won't be able to open the POD door at your destination - which is a big hassle.
We needed a16’ and a 12’ container but pods wouldn’t let us have a 12’ for long distance moves. We thought, after the guys packed the 16’ so full, that an 8’ might work, but after it was filled, we had a mower, patio furniture, several more pieces which would not fit. Had to store it at sons house til we could get it all later.
The dropoff and pick-up of our PODS were smooth except when it came to having our PODS dropped in the parking lane of the street in front of our new house. They questioned us on whether or not we had a permit to do so. I had sent a copy of our approved permit from the city to the email of the person I was instructed to but obviously, it wasn't communicated to the drivers. It appears they have a communication issue within their company. Additionally, we wanted to access our container. We called, set up the appointment, and were told the storage site was open until 3:30. We arrived at 3:00 and were told we were too late, that they were already packing up and that we needed to come back tomorrow. We had driven quite a distance and we were not going to come back tomorrow because we were told they were open until 3:30. I started calling the PODS Customer Service and suddenly the guy said he would go check to see if our PODS was still out. He came back a few minutes later and said we were okay to access it because they hadn't put it away yet. As it ends up, things we were told by the Customer Service people didn't go as told they would. Also, we went 2 days into our next month of rent for our containers and they charged us the full monthly rent... even though it was only in storage for 2 days!! We had no choice because our sellers weren't able to move out until that day. The only reason I can think of as to why they don't prorate it is simply that it would cut into their profits. We used 2 PODS to move, one 16' and one 8'. Should have had two 16' containers instead.
Missed the delivery time by 6 hours. Chat and phone specialists were no help for 4 of those hours. They require a 4-hour load for long-distance city moves (no drop off service), so everything has to be carefully timed. Yet they can blow off an appointment no problem, no communication, no update. Went with them because they seemed to offer the best service/price combo, but really wishing I had gone with someone else.
The delivered the wrong size POD, 16 ft instead of the 12 ft POD I ordered. Then when the problem was fixed, I didn’t have the lock and blankets I had ordered, because those were in the 16 ft POD and not the 12 ft POD. It was a disaster and nightmare. I cannot comprehend how it is that difficult. People don’t pay attention, are mindless and careless.
PODS was great. Going with PODS plus movers to load and unload the container was significantly cheaper than a full-service moving company would've been. I had zero issues with PODS, and the drivers and customer service representatives with whom I interacted were super friendly and competent. I'll definitely use them again for my next move.