PODS

Not worth the hassle. I am only writing more because Unilocal won’t let me post just the first sentence.

If you also have a time sensitive issue and need to speak to customer service or their billing department, they will leave you on hold for over an hour and a half (I gave up after that amount of time yesterday and am now on hold yet again), and the extension set up to take your name and # to call you back is full, and there is no one to reach.
Yet, you better believe someone will pick up the phone in their SALES department in less than a minute. YOU DO THE MATH. This company cares only about acquiring new customers and doesn’t care AT ALL about their existing customers. You would think they would realize these customers are their bread and butter with monthly payments, BUT NO.
Who on earth has time in their day to be left on hold for over an hour and a half? Good thing they record their calls for improving their process. Why do businesses bother?
Pods will drive you to drink.

I decided to go with PODS because of the connivence, load your own stuff at your own pace and call for a pick up.
I contacted PODS and I was quoted $ 2,500 for a 16 foot container to move my stuff from the San Francisco bay area up to central Oregon. I was told the trip would take 5 days, and I needed to give them 3 days notice before pick-​up.
As a USAA member (former military) I was discounted $ 450. ($ 2,150 OTD)
So I had the POD delivered, no issue there — but that is where everything went wrong and it went wrong in a hurry,
I filled my container and called PODS and told them to pick it up. I was told it would take 16 days before my POD would arrive in Oregon. No concessions offered, just take it or leave it.
Kinda upset me because I was told «anything» to get me to order the POD oppose to just going with a moving company or a UHaul. Their justification is what really upset me, as I gave them the zip code for both locations prior to the order, and I was still told it would take 5 days (plus 3 days for pick up) for a total of 8 days. Fast forward one week (After I loaded the thing to the brim), and then they said, «The location your moving is really rural, so we don’t offer rural service but on Thursdays, and next Thursday we’re booked, so it won’t ship until the following week.»
Of course the following week puts me into the second month, thus an additional expense. Needless to say I will never go with PODS again.. .. But thats what I get for not checking Unilocal first.. .. so if your reading this, your already ahead of the game.

The worst customer service! After two hours on the phone with less than helpful people, I finally agree to the price and delivery dates. The manager I am talking to transfers me and when I get the next rep they increase the price by nearly a thousand dollars and add two weeks to the nearest delivery date! go with pack rat or better yet, ABF u-​pack who still remembers the importance of human decency!

Five stars for the local team in Santa Rosa. My deliveries and pick-​upa were executed flawlessly by the local team. Totally stand-​up folks who I’d love to so business with again.
Less impressed with the national call center. Everyone I’ve spoken with there has been nice and somewhat knowledgable, but seems like they don’t have visibility to the same detail as the local folks.
I guess this are just symptoms of growing pains for a very successful national business and PODS is lucky they have excellent local folks who really improved my confidence that everything was truly taken care of.

delivery of the POD today, very nice delivery man, placed exactly where it needed to be! easy online set up.

I had movers deliver some things to the facility without me there. A few weeks later I called the national number because that seems to be the only way to get in touch with anyone. I wanted to set up a time to access my pod. The guy I spoke to was nice enough and said my pod would be accessible all day (8am-​3pm) on said day.
The day came and we drove to the facility. The parking lot gate was open, which I thought was normal. We went to what we thought was an office, it was locked. We looked around a bit but weren’t able to find any open doors or people. It was on a Saturday. I called the main number and told them the place appeared to be closed.
As I am on the phone, we drive around the side of the building and see an open cargo door. We parked outside and my husband went in to look for employees, meanwhile I am still on the phone. The guy at the main number is trying to get in touch with the local facility. We have been here over an hour by this point. We have a truck full of stuff for the pod and need to offload. I am still on hold when we a actually drive into the warehouse and honk. We parked there.
Someone who identifies himself as the manager calls me and tells me he is sorry but forgot to tell his guys at the warehouse I needed access today! I told him we are here now and no employees are in sight. He tells me he has two guys there and they are both on deliveries but will be back shortly. Manager assures me we will gain access to our pod today.
My husband takes over the phone and tells him we are inside the warehouse and the cargo door is broken. They had some more extensive conversation which I didn’t hear, then hung up.
A truck arrives and is shocked to find our truck in the warehouse. He questions how we got in, even into the parking lot. Everything was wide open. There were visible and accessible bolt cutters and a forklift with keys. The driver was clearly irritated.
He calls his manger but eventually breaks out our pod.
We begin to unload when a second driver returns to the facility. He drives his truck over and asks if we are the ones who were trying to access out pod. I told him yes and he proceeds to tell me some huge lie of how he was expecting us and left he gate open on purpose. I know this is untrue because his manager didn’t even tell him we were coming. We were clearly in a rush and he continued to make excuses and lie. We were not even engaging in his conversation.
We loaded the pod, locked it and left. We have no other options now, or my stuff would be moved from here.
Terrible security, terrible service, employees are far to lax with poor work ethics. I do not recommend this facility.

Individual pods locations are not really the issue, I think, because its all messed up at the national level.
When I first got sold on the phone it was ok but not terrible. It was a bit hard sell and you should know they will negotiate.
But once you are a customer, it’s ridiculously bad customer service.
They even tried to pick up my pod before I told them too. With my stuff still in it, before I emptied it!
Luckily they called because it was locked.
But phone calls take a long time, several transfers and several disconnects.
I’ll never use them again.
Uhaul has a similar service that we used in addition to pods. It’s WAY better!

So I was going to use PODS when I sold my house and needed storage for a month. It sounded like a pretty easy way to store/​move my belongings for a little more than a month. The day before the pod is scheduled to come, I call and ask when it’s going to be delivered. The guy says he can’t tell me. Then I ask for the pod to be picked up 3 or 4 days from the day I called. The guy says that he can’t pick it up for more than a week. I explained to him that the new owners would be taking possession of the house, but he said there’s nothing he could do. So I had to cancel and scramble for a Uhaul and public storage container. Then I look on my credit card and see that PODS charged me the full delivery fee and first month’s storage fee… over $ 330! I tried calling them and they were closed. I’ve already started a dispute with my credit card company and I’ll call PODS every day until they reverse the charge… but it’s a hassle that I don’t really want/​need to be going through right now. It’s bad enough that they screwed me over by making me rush to get a Uhaul and public storage unit (thank god that I was able to find one at the end of a month and right before 4^th of July), but then they go and charge me for delivery and first month’s storage of something that never made it to my house… when I gave them plenty of advanced notice??? Putting me in a panic was bad enough; charging $ 330 (and making me call both PODS and my credit card company) is just kicking me while I’m down. It seems that if I call so far ahead that they can’t even give me a window of time that the pod is expected to be delivered, I called far enough in advance to not be charged. Horrible, horrible experience.

The National customer service and quote process is the most frustrating thing in the world. No one listens and they just read a script to sell sell sell. When I thanked them for the information I got the HARD SELL AGRESSIVE «So What is the reason you aren’t doing a container with me today.» I will never do business with these people.
The Storage charges aren’t bad and local move is reasonable, but long distance is ridiculously expensive. This is a great idea, but their customer service makes it hard to actually use them and get information.

So originally I posted a scathing review — basically because of a pick up issue and mostly because of the handling of my call to PODS — their customer service agent was less then helpful and went so far as to tell me that it was my fault for everything.
Right after I posted the review I received a phone call from a rep who was empowered to get some things done. I have to say that I was impressed by the handling of the issue as of this moment. The POD has been pulled from the site — saving me from any fines from the new owners.
I appreciate the fact that PODS reads reviews and takes actions on them. I just wish there was a easier escalation system than posting my frustrations on Unilocal!:)
Anyway — other than the pick up hiccup (and now the delivery delay) I can’t complain too much about the service. The POD was dropped off on time and at the correct location.
So just know that if something goes wrong you might have to push a bit on customer service — but I do think now that if you get the right person any issue has a reasonable chance of being solved.
I am retracting my earlier statement of not using them again — especially since I have several offices I may have to move again in the near future and really the POD concept is the easiest way to go.

I called the National phone number to use this service. I have a neighbor who said he used them and I saw the POD on his driveway for 2 months. The national rep said the Santa Rosa branch serves our zip code– he gave me the direct number. I am not lying when I say I called them 30 times! Finally a message left said «we do not serve your zip code «WHAT? My neighbor is one street over– how did he get his? I called national again– they said .“oh sorry.» That was it! Crappy customer service!

Delivery of the POD was OK. The pick was awful. They damaged my neighbor’s building and they refused to discuss it with me. Without talking to me or returning my calls, they decided not to dignify my claim.
Horrible customer support, terrible billing practices, long waits on the phone, and could never speak to a supervisor.
They offer a nice service, but give poor service.
DO NOT USE

These guys were great and PODS in general was outstanding. I had read a lot of negative reviews and reading between the lines decided to use this company to move from northern CA to AZ. They were on time (every time), friendly, professional, and apparently careful as not one thing was broken or damaged. I would definitely recommend!