I made the serious mistake of using PODS. I needed to move a bunch of stuff from Seattle to Monterey, CA. I did the move the opposite route using Budget Rental, but was thinking about using PODS since I didn't need to drive, and they could store our stuff while my wife and I hunted down a new place to live—her workplace set us up in a temporary living facility. Budget costed me on $500 including gas, and if I needed to rent storage, it would have costed me $40/month at a self storage facility. PODS was alot more expensive. Their storage fees are 104/month, and the entire transport costed $1500. My wife's workplace is covering the charge, so it was ok by me. Regardless, even with no real loss of $ to us, using PODS has been an exercise in frustration:
1) They were late with their shipment, and it took over a week and a half for them to do the move! It only took me a day to do that move with Budget. I understand they have an economy of scale to work with, and they DID tell me that it was going to take 6 days, but those idiots got delayed before the weekend, and the 5 days ended up turning into 9.
2) They NEVER call you back. Almost NEVER. They never call you to let you know that your container arrived. They never call you back to address complaints. They will HOLD you hostage. It's the most weirdest customer service I've ever had to endure. Most companies will bend over backwards to keep their customer base. They need to, because you can easily go somewhere else. But with PODS, they HOLD your stuff in storage. And if you don't pay, or succumb to their flakey ways, they reserve the right to hold your stuff until you meet their demands. It's almost ungodly how terrible their customer service is. Case in point, I noticed that they charged me for insurance, when I specifically told them I did not want it. I said to take it off, and that I would like for them to confirm that they have taken it off. The PODS risk management team was supposed to call me back, and they never did. Their Platinum Service dept was supposed to have called me back 3 times to address previous complaints, and they never did. I don't understand this company.
3) It's such a pain in the ass to get access to your stuff. You need to call it in a day before you need access. It's almost not worth the headache.
4) If you have important stuff, I wouldn't leave it in the PODS container.
Bottom line, don't use PODS. I've moved around many times in my life, and have always used UHaul, and Budget. Never had problems with em. PODS was by far the worst.
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