PODS

UPDATE 1÷19÷16: I finally talked to someone who *might* be helpful. (Note to Unilocalers: he specifically said that his call was prompted by the Unilocal reviews I left.) Kyle from the Office of the Executive called, listened to my saga, and said that he would investigate the invoice issue and try to get it resolved today. If nothing else, this means I won’t have to spend the day listening to hold music and getting disconnected over and over. But we’ll have to see what actually happens.
My household belongings have been in a PODS container at their Manassas, VA facility since April 2015. In early January 2016 I contacted PODS to alert them that I would be having the container delivered to my new residence in Chicago. Called back on January 8 to place the order, but they were closed for a «system upgrade» and not accepting orders. Called back on January 11 to place the order and was given a quote of around $ 1,700 and a delivery estimate — 3 days for «processing» and 6 days travel time, meaning a delivery date of January 20 or 21.
On January 15 (last Friday), I found out that the container still had not shipped out. I called PODS and waited on hold for more than 90 minutes. The «customer resolution» specialist had no information on the delay. I later talked to another person, who also could not explain the delay.
Yesterday (¹⁄₁₈) afternoon, I got a call from Kira [not sure that’s quite right], another customer resolution person at PODS. She told me that the container had still not shipped, and that the reason was that I had not «accepted the Rental Agreement.» I told her that none of the 3 or 4 people I had spoken to in the past week indicated that there was any such problem, even though I SPECIFICALLY asked them what was holding up the process. Nor had I received any emails or other notifications that there was an issue. In addition, PODS has had no problem accepting my payments for the delivery and pickup of the container in April 2015 and for monthly storage. She simply repeated that the delay was my fault because I had not accepted the agreement.
Kira also told me that my account was «past due.» I knew this because that morning I got an email to that effect from PODS. When I looked at the web site, I saw that there is an invoice in the amount of $ 3,999.84. The description of the charge: «Transportation Mileage,» with a service date of 1÷14÷16. That was all the information contained in the invoice. Kira said she couldn’t give me any further information on that; I would have to talk to the billing department. When she transferred me, I got a message saying that my hold time would be more than 15 minutes — and then I was disconnected. I have tried repeatedly to get in touch with the billing department, but each time I had to hang up after waiting more than 30 minutes on hold. Oh, and the «chat» feature on the web site doesn’t work at all.
This morning (¹⁄₁₉) I took a deep breath and started trying to call PODS again. First I tried calling the billing department. The hold message informed me that my hold time would be more than 15 minutes, and suggested I leave a message. I chose that option — and got a message that the mailbox was full. So I called the regular customer service number. Someone finally answered, and when she looked into my situation, it turned out that the $ 3,999.84 invoice was actually for the shipment of my container — and that this might be the thing that’s really holding up the shipment. I pointed out to her that that price is about $ 2,300 more than what I was quoted. She then saw that a note had been added to my account on ¹⁄₁₈ saying that the invoice should be changed to reflect the quotes I had received. But correcting the invoice would take 3 to 5 business days! She then said that she would connect me with the accounting department, who might be able to expedite the correction.
And then, she just put me back into the queue for the accounting department. You can guess what happened: I waited on hold for 10 minutes, enduring the Muzak and the repetitive hold messages. Then the Muzak stopped. After about 10 minutes of silence, the call was disconnected.
So, I called AGAIN. This time I talked to someone named Kevin. He found the note about correcting the invoice, and said he would have to transfer me to the accounting department. I BEGGED him not to just transfer me, and told him about the previous call. He just talked over me and transferred me into the same fecking queue. And I got disconnected again.
When I first did business with PODS I thought it was a great company. But since the «system upgrade» this month it’s gone to hell.

Below is a list of the issues I experienced working with PODs (specifically the franchise based in Landover, MD). To get straight to the point … it was frustrating and I cannot recommend PODS to anyone, particularly anyone with an apartment and time constraints on the POD/container’s location. I cannot say whether my experience was typical or not, but it seems like many of the issues were the result of normal business procedures and not circumstance. The origin and destination of the POD move were apartment buildings in Arlington, VA.
Here we go …
Scheduling: PODS did not make a single one of the four delivery/​pick up windows that THEY assigned to me. This created multiple issues. On the origin/​loading side, my apartment allowed me to reserve the loading dock for a 24hr period. The POD arrived before their stated window, so there were other vehicles occupying the space. I had to track down the owners of these vehicles, so I could beg them to move. After loading it, the pick-​up occurred several hours after the stated window. Another tenant had scheduled the loading dock and I was unable to vacate it. The driver arrived at least an hour after the stated window. The delivery side was not any better. My new apartment did not have space for me to drop the container over-​night, so I had to secure a street parking permit. The container was scheduled to arrive between 1−4PM, but did not arrive until 630−7PM. I wasted a day of vacation, $ 50s on a parking permit, and $ 100 on two movers (who I released after I realized the container would be over two hours late). I then had to unload the entire container overnight, because my street permit only went through the next day. I have no idea when the empty container was picked up, because, again, the window was missed and I never received a call.
Field/​Local Management: I blame none of the above issues on the drivers. They were all courteous, professional, and extremely competent with the equipment. However, they seemed incredibly poorly managed. Every service window provided was missed and worse yet there was very little communication. I had to reach out to the centralized call center to follow up after service windows lapsed. Often the call center could not reach anyone at the field location and could not provide me updates or any further information.
Call Center: The call center operators were all professional and courteous, even when dealing with me at peak frustration. However, they seemed completely unable to help with any issues that arose. As a customer I was completely stuck. I couldn’t contact the local office or the driver directly (not provided to customers), and the call center (only number provided) could do little for me. Often the only option was to leave a message for the field office through the central call center. The whole POD business model seems to lack of top down management. Great direct customer service operators, but completely poor planning/​management.
«The service window is just an estimate» is the repeated response you will get if you call about your container being late. The operators will also deflect any effort to speak to management. I probably don’t need to explain why this is incredibly frustrating. The call center was unsympathetic and seemed completely comfortable providing the above explanation. I am not sure why they even provide an estimated time window. Missing by a few minutes is understandable … but missing by a few hours (repeatedly) with minimal communication is not a result of circumstance.
Storage Facility: I visited the storage facility three times between pickup and delivery. The local office switched locations in the middle of this period. Both facilities were very poorly labelled and difficult to find. There was no signage anywhere … particularly at the new location. It was just a generic warehouse facility not visible from any of the roads surrounding the property. The actual POD location was in the farthest back corner of the facility. I do not recall seeing a single sign indicating I was at the right location until I was basically on top of the containers.
Proration: only storage company I have ever used that does not pro-​rate monthly fees. I paid a full months fees because I had the container delivered three days into the month. It’s my fault for not seeing this in the contract, but it was just my final indicator that PODs does not care about its customers.
In Reference to Amanda (PODS) comment below … I could not figure out how to directly respond to your comment.
Customer ID: 13 548 719

OMG. This place has horrible service. I requested a pod to be delivered to my home for a coast to coast move. The delivery was AWFUL. They placed the pod in the wrong direction — facing away from the house. The delivery man said we didn’t give proper delivery instructions and the only way he could place the container facing the house is if he put it in the grass. Absolutely not. He was rude and claimed he had to work until 9 o’clock at that night and could not wait 10 minutes for me to arrive. Rude ass old man. If he didn’t want to do his job, he should quit. I called at at least 5 times on Saturday, 3 times on Monday and all they want to do is charge me an additional $ 110.00 to come reposition the pod. Are they crazy? Very unprofessional.

My POD was just delivered and the guy was amazing. So friendly, very professional, on time and completely efficiant. Cannot thank him enough for making a stressful day, less stressful!

Used a POD for our long distance move to the west coast and were pretty worried given all the bad reviews on Unilocal.Our experience was smooth and we had absolutely no complaints.
The POD was successfully (and impressively) dropped off in a brief lull between two snowstorms. The driver was on time and quick. It was picked up just as easily. All of the drivers were polite and efficient.
We’d definitely recommend PODS to anyone who needs this type of service.

Drop off went fine, pick up, not so much. The return driver was completely rude to my wife. He raised his voice and used profanity because there were cars on the street that were in the way. Nevermind the fact that he did not mention anything the previous day about needing to block off space. Bottom line, the guy was a jerk — I’d not use this company again.