Smartbox Portable Storage of Chicago

I wish I could give zero stars. Buyer beware… you’re better off renting a truck and storing your belongings yourself!
I hired Smartbox on ⁶⁄₅ to deliver storage units to the house I was moving out of.
Fast forward to ⁹⁄₁₁; I had a scheduled drop-​off of my storage units to my new house. Smartbox called me on ⁹⁄₁₁ in the late afternoon informing me they could not deliver my units & would have to wait until ⁹⁄₁₇. I begrudgingly agreed since I had no choice.
⁹⁄₁₇ came and went with no delivery. I called Smartbox again & they stated I would have to wait until the next day (Friday ⁹⁄₁₈). ⁹⁄₁₈ came and went with no delivery. Once again, I called Smartbox and they stated ⁹⁄₁₉ they are scheduled to be delivered. ⁹⁄₁₉ came and went with no delivery. I called Smartbox (again!!) and they stated they had NO clue when I could expect my units. This obviously irritated me. I have now gone 12 days without furniture.
We were able to escalate the matter to a manager named Bob… After attempting to contact him 5+ times, he finally answered and told us the truth: He doesn’t have a delivery driver and didn’t know where my storage units were in his warehouse. They still have to find the units… meaning, I don’t have any access to my units even if I drove down there! In addition, I would have to rent a truck and unload/​load the truck with my property in order to bring it back to my house, since they DON’T HAVE A DRIVER!
This is the worst experience I’ve ever had with a business.
Attorney General’s office has been notified and I am forced to hire a lawyer to get my belongings back. These people have been nothing but liars & no help.
This is NOT Smartbox… more like Stupidbox!

Economical solution and everyone I’ve interacted with at Smartbox has been very nice and helpful. Ubfortunately, the low budget nature of this business really shows in a pinch. I’m currently waiting at my city’s permits department to get a permit to have my box delivered, but I can’t because Smartbox’s insurance isn’t up to date. They’ve tried to fax it a couple of times now with little success. A 10 minute exercise is turning into half a day of missed work, very frustrating.

This Company Is Horrible,
I Called 3 weeks in advance to schedule my move, they made me all sorts of promises to get my money and never delivered. Day 1: Boxes were delivered DAY 10 Boxes were still sitting in my driveway, Moving day Spoke to BOB, the Company’s «CFO, Manager, Cohan Artist» he says that basically he had one person call off and was shorthanded and did not know when he would be able to move my boxes to the new address. Meanwhile they took full payment out of my account day 1 before they would even send the boxes out. He strong me along for 3days after until I had to unpack all 4 boxes and have my things moved in a UHAUL. My kids and I had sleep in my car a night based on the poor management of this company and currently suing them for the UHAUL rental and the inconvenience and a 2^nd nights Hotel stay. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY

As a long-​time SmartBox customer it pains me to write such a negative review, but I feel it is warranted and I want others to understand what I previously did not about the Smartbox business.
On a positive note, SmartBox is very economical when compared to all of the other Portable Storage options out there; and indeed is competitive with the traditional storage facilities (especially if you are within the free delivery zone).
My recent negative experience outweighs a year of good times though. We called fifteen days ago to schedule delivery of our two full boxes to our home. As of today we still do not have them as the delivery truck (yes — one truck) is broken down. I had not realized that SmartBox is a franchise operation. Apparently the Melrose Park location has one truck and no contingency plan. Neither the Arlington Heights nor the Corporate Office has been able to offer any assistance when I have reached out to them. While my first priority is retrieving my contents (for which I still do not even have an estimated date), I did request at least a partial refund of the month’s storage costs given the situation, and neither the location nor the Corporate Office was willing to do that. While the Office Manager of the Melrose Park location has been courteous, she does not seem to be empowered to deliver any solutions or compensation, and four voice-​mails left with the Franchise Manager have gone unanswered. Upon checking with the Better Business Bureau I now see that this location has an «F» rating.
When everything is going well, the service is a value. The lack of a contingency plan that can leave you without your goods for weeks, and the poor responsiveness from management, is a deal-​breaker for me though.

Hidden Fees galore. They won’t even send you an invoice without charging you another fee. They will suck you in with promises and then when it comes time to deliver, there’s extra fees. After 7 months I owed more in late fees than the contents of what I was storing were worth. This is NOT the company you want to do business with.

I used Smartbox for one of my clients who needed to remove everything from their basement. The process of ordering the box and delivery was flawless. I did not have to be there when they delivered, but I had a specific area I wanted them to place the box. They hit it perfectly. The process of having them pick it up was again very easy. Prices are very affordable. Customer service is excellent.

I’m using Smartbox for a long distance move… Maryland to Florida. My interactions so far are good… everyone is very professional and seems to want to please. I have a good feeling and like the way they will be able to use a small loader to operate around my long and hilly driveway. A big truck alone, would not be able to do that. We will see if they are able to keep the 5 stars.
Expect my feedback by the end of June!

in May, my fiancé and I were moving from the suburbs to the city, and we were faced with the challenge of geting all our stuff from two different suburban locations to their final destination in Chicago. Smartbox to the rescue! Greg helped us set up everything very quickly (we were working with a quickly-​approaching move date) and made it convenient for us to receive the boxes a few days before the move. This was way easier than getting a moving truck the day-​of because we could pack on OUR schedule (and those of the people that were helping us pack). Greg arranged for the boxes to be picked up a couple days before our move-​in date and kept them safe at the Smartbox storage location. On the morning of our move, one of their staff called to let me know he was on his way with the boxes, and again when he had arrived. We were impressed with how close they were able to park the boxes at our new place, especially with how difficult parking can be in the city. We were allowed to keep the boxes for as long as we needed, and they called to let us know they were picking up the boxes just to make sure we were finished. The customer service at Smartbox is excellent — the staff is friendly and willing to work out a solution to fit your specific needs. Plus, I found them to be just as affordable as getting a moving truck. BONUS: you don’t have to drive the truck yourself! I would recommend this company to anyone interested in a convenient, stress-​free move.

I moved out of state. I had my stuff in storage for a decade. (They bought out Public Storage’s pods, which I had my original contract with).
I can’t believe I can’t get in on Sunday. They aren’t open. I have dealt with lots of storage places. Weekends are when you want to be there to deal with your stuff. Not being open on Sunday is enough to cause me to rate 1 star.

I came across their website while looking for an alternative to Pods and Smartbox came up to be an option. I emailed and called their Chicago office –they responded quickly and they are very friendly people. when you call there is no waiting and if you leave a message they call you right back. I was in contact with Thomas and Chris from Chicago-​the service was to deliver 2 containers for Chicago to Los Angeles-​the deal they offered was convenient and it included 1 month of free storage once my containers reached LA. So, we drove our car independently from containers and we forgot about them until we found a place to leave in LA!!! Once we signed a new lease and got into the apartment I called Smartbox and got transferred to an LA office-​local office and set up a delivery time to my new address in LA. Both the manager-​Brian (LA Office) called me to confirm the appointment that was set for the next day between 9:30 am to 11:00am and track driver –Tony called me the next day in the morning to tell me he was 20 minutes away. Everything was perfect and smooth. We planned to unload the containers during the weekend and they’ll came back on Monday to pick it up. Than we realized that it’s easy to unload than to load stuff in (because you don’t have to think and manage which boxes fit where) and I called Brian and told that the containers could be ready to be picked up the same day if Tony is still in the area. We estimate that we’ll be done unloading in 4 hours. Brian plus someone else (I’m sorry but I forgot his name!!) were so nice and came HELP me and my hubby UNLOAD the second container, because they were working the area –I was so thrilled-​I could not believe the service-​I understood that it was a fortunate and coincidentally good thing that happened to us-​they refuse to get the tip because we help them with the scheduling-​I love this company so much– I wish it was mine! I highly recommend their service and I’ll use them again. The unloading was done faster with their help and spare me to carry heavy stuff.
Love you Smartbox guys from Chicago and Smartbox guys for LA!

There are many portable storage businesses in Chicago. I like Smartbox because of the level of service you get for the price. For $ 59 per box per month for storage, I would expect ZERO in terms of customer service, accessibility to the boxes & limited overall flexibility. None of the above with the Smartbox, at least the Chicago franchise. Living out of a box sucks big time, but at least these guys have made experience a lot more bearable.

Hmm, I’m surprised that I have to write this. Initially, when I began working with Greg at Smarbox at the end of September everything was great. He answered all of my questions and was really nice. I haven’t needed to get into my 2 boxes since that time. I just called now to find out if I could get into them on Saturday and told him that I needed help opening one of my boxes. The heavy wood and latch make it difficult to turn (and/​or you could say I’m not that strong). Regardless, Lee is who I spoke with and he was rude and unwilling to help. He acted like it was a big deal that I’m going to get into my unit on a Saturday??? He said they would have to staff on Saturday. What the hell? My contract says that I can get into my unit Mon-​Sat 8:30 am — 5:00 pm and you’re meaning to tell me that not ONE person is going to be there!!! Who is getting my boxes? He told me they wouldn’t staff labor on Saturday and that I would have to bring someone with me. Had I known this would be an issue to get into my own storage boxes, I would not have worked with Smartbox. I’m so disappointed and SHOCKED that this is the service I was given. There are so many good people that have lost their jobs and Lee gets to keep his and provide shit service. Unbelieveable.

I needed to move into a temp apartment and I didn’t want to move my stuff in and out of storage and back onto a truck multiple times. I was short on time too. I love the Smartbox solution. Greg was helpful and and the process went fairly smooth.
I used the moving services when I finally moved into my permanent residance. The guys were great about moving my things into the 3^rd floor walk up. However, they were not prepared for sofa bed I had warned them that needed to be moved. In the end they had to deliver it on a different day. They took the couch back to their warehouse and when they delivered it a few days later it was filthy. Greg was very attentive to fixing the issue and had the couch cleaned for me.
Overall it was a good experience and I would use their storage services again if the need arises.

As you can probably surmise from my «yelping», I’m quick to criticize but also expedient to laud. Long story short, in a crunch situation we needed storage and moving ASAP. Operating between two countries and a 6-​hour time difference my wife and I comparison-​shopped on-​line and settled on looking at two potential companies. I called SmartBox, my wife called Pods then we compared notes. She was indifferent at best, fearful and pessimistic at worst. I, on the other hand, was not only confidently optimistic but actually looking forward to what had been the dreadful prospect of moving/​storing 2 rooms of furniture, furnishings and some heirlooms.
The whole experience from the Internet search (
) to the initial consultation, the callbacks to the on time delivery and pick-​up, everything was smooth as silk. Be sure to check for on-​line coupons/​specials and don’t be afraid to ask for custom or unusual solutions. Highly recommended!