PODS® Reviews
Not clear on all the charges. Delivery person was rude and drove off with my container because he “did not have time to put it in the correct location” . It’s easy to get a POD but if there is a hiccup along the way they are not set up to fix the problem in a timely manner. Would not recommend for across the country moves.
Be careful about this company. The logic is sound and the prices are good. They send a lot of neat looking email to reassure you that everything is on tract but they did not follow through on calling me when they said they would and when I try to call them I get one of those “push one for this, push two for that” systems that didn’t include what I was calling about. They didn’t return my calls and still haven’t. I have a POD in my driveway right now and have no idea when they are coming to take it away and I have tried calling to no avail. If you can live with this type of customer service, they go for it. I rather like knowing that there are people behind all those glossy email and auto texts that they send. I think they have one tech person who makes them look good and there are really no people there. My container turned out to be too small and half my stuff is still in my garage and no one will return my call tonight. How happy do you think I am?
Overall the POD container itself was excellent. I had some trouble with their website updating our order and getting customer service to fix it. They were always kind, but I had to call 4-6 times to be sure our information was correct because it was not updating on their website. I also had a very hard time proving that we did not need to pay for City Service in Chicago because there was space at the loading doc. In the end, the POD was delivered and our belongings were protected and without much damage (mild scratches to a few items were mostly due to the loading moving company not using the ratchet straps we provided correctly).
PODS charged me for locks however they did not leave them when POD was delivered. I had to call and they wanted to give me credit, however, I could not leave the area to go purchase and leave the POD unlocked. Duh. I requested that they have them delivered before day ended and they managed to have them delivered. Pick up of the POD driver was an hour late and I received no notification that they were going to be late.
This was my first time using PODS, and there were parts of the process and billing that were not very clear at first. Once I figured out the system it was better. Generally, I had good customer service both on the phone and chat. Recently, the wait time has been very long, and that's frustrating when the move is imminent or in progress. All in all, the move went well and they were right on schedule for drop offs and pick ups. One of the PODS was in new and very good condition. The other seemed older, and it was difficult to work the lock mechanism. I chose PODS because I'm doing a two-part move, and one of the PODS is in storage for a year. We hired movers to both load and unload, but it was nice to have time after they left to take care of last minute items.
I liked being able to get price estimates and make arrangements on their website. Very convenient to have the POD dropped off and have the option of keeping it at our home or stored (for a major remodel). Driver showed up hours early to drop off; exactly on time for pick up. Drivers very nice and helpful. However, their customer support is understaffed. I needed to reschedule to a day earlier since they don't tell you the delivery time until the night before and I needed to ensure it would be onsite when our packer/movers arrived. No way to make changes in schedule on the website. I called twice and was on hold for more than 20 minutes and had to give up. One time wait time was 2 hours; just hung up. I tried the chat support and even saved the transaction but realized a few days later that the change did not go through. Finally got through to customer service by phone and the guy was super helpful and friendly and got things straightened out. Also, I reserved storage for their facility in our city. We went by the location and could only find one "employees only" door with PODs name on it. When driver came to pick up POD, we found out it was being stored in another town 30 minutes away. So website is out of date on theri storage locations. Theoretically, we can make arrangements to visit our POD if we need to retrieve anything but it is so hard to contact them that I dread it if I actually need to do this.
Customer service waits on the phone were sometimes close to an hour. They did not pick the pod up on the day they said they would. They also waited so long to pick my pod up from the location I was leaving that I got a call from the manager. The random 3-hour window in which they tell you when your pod is going to arrive is ridiculous, and it caused me problems. Their redeeming value is they're cheap. I wouldn't use them again.
I was driving cross-country and was not available when the driver dropped off the pod. It was so far from my apartment, we had to rent a uhaul truck to move things from the pod into my apartment. That 3-hour delivery window that they randomly assign you the day before over which you have no say is ridiculous. I almost got into trouble with how long they left it at the place I was leaving, and they didn't pick the pod up on time. Also, the movers who loaded my 10x16 pod did a horrible job packing, so it took about 30 minutes to get things that had slid into the door back so we could even open the pod. It was awful. Furniture was broken. And these problems cost me about $500 extra, not counting things that were broken in transportation.
Pods does a first class job of communicating and tracking all phases of the move. Their drivers are professional and do a good job of updating timing for delivery and pickup. I am very appreciative of the on-line portal for checking in on status of the delivery and availability of the phone comm's as well. Not the cheapest service but I'd recommend and use them again simply based on the above and beyond service provided by every touch point along the way.
The Pod took longer to arrive than I'd hoped and there were a couple of delays and reschedulings, but all of our things showed up intact. We also happened to move during a hurricane and there was some flooding at the Pods storage center but they took the situation very seriously and were professional throughout.