PODS Moving & Storage Review: Worth Price Charged
This Saturday we had our first experience with one of those fancy new moving PODS (Portable On-Demand Storage). Yeah, I know, we’re a little late to the game on this one; PODS have been around for a while, but this was our first chance to use one.
Our good friends, Mary and Eric, just bought a foreclosure in a neighboring county and are moving out of their townhome into a 4 bedroom fixer-upper (good fodder for a houseblog). Instead of going with the traditional moving truck, Mary and Eric chose PODS. They had two PODS delivered to their house over the course of several weeks; we helped them load the second on Saturday morning. They chose large-size PODS (8×8x16) for their move. PODS also offers two smaller sizes, 8×8x12 and 7×7x8.
PODS Review
PODS are great. They can be dropped off at your house the night before you plan to pack them. You can take as long as you want (or as long as your neighbors will tolerate them in your parking spaces) to fill them up. Then, when you’ve finished packing, the nice PODS folks will take them back to the secure storage facility until you’re ready to have the POD delivered to it’s destination.
How do they get the POD on and off the POD truck? One word: PODzilla. You can see the PODzilla video here.
How Much Do PODS Cost?
POD pricing varies based on how long you’ll need the POD, how far you’ll need the POD transported, and whether you use a PODS secure storage facility. For local moves in the Maryland area, PODS charges $229 to deliver the POD to your current home, pick it up at a later date, and drop it off at the new home. They charge an additional $39 fee to remove the POD from your location after the move is complete. You’ll want to finish your move in less than a month, or PODS gets another $179 per month until they retrieve their POD from your premises. While the pricing is reasonable, a 24′ budget rental truck will hold nearly as much as 2 PODS for around $200/day. Of course, with the Budget Truck, you must complete the move in 1 day, where PODS will let you pack and unpack at your leisure.
How Much POD Do I Need?
At 8×8x16, a large POD holds 1024 cubic feet or about 38 cubic yards. In plain English, I estimate it takes about 2 large PODS to move a moderately-furnished, medium-sized, 2 story, 3-bedroom townhome if you can also make a few runs with a truck/van. If you aren’t moving locally and EVERYTHING has to fit in the POD, you’ll want to disassemble as many things as you can and pack them in boxes. You’ll probably still need a third POD to move all the odd-shaped stuff leftover (think lamps, large kids toys, odd-shaped furniture, etc).
We managed to cram a lot of stuff in this POD. I didn’t take an inventory, but here’s some of the items that fit into the second POD:
- 2 full size couches
- 1 queen bed (headboard, footboard, rails), mattress, boxspring
- 1 set bunkbeds w/ 2 mattresses
- 1 trundle bed frame
- 1 womens dresser
- 1 mens dresser
- 1 toy chest
- 1 large entertainment center
- 1 bookshelf
- 15+ medium-sized boxes
- 1 large TV. 1 small TV
The Bottom Line
PODS is a great alternative to the traditional moving truck if you’re willing to shell out a few more greenbacks to move at your leisure.
What do you think? Have you moved with PODS? What kind of experience did you have?
Comments & Conversation on this Article...
18 Responses to PODS Moving & Storage Review: Worth Price Charged
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May 19th, 2008 11:04 pm
I’ve never used them, but it sure seems like a good idea. I remember when we moved into our house how nice it was to have 10 days between closing and our lease end for slow moving/unpacking.
May 19th, 2008 11:12 pm
Jennifer – it was definitely a cool experience – the ease with which you can just stand around, realizing you’ve got days to pack this thing
I still think I’d choose the 24′ moving truck option – a good deal cheaper – but you have to do ALOT of coordination to make it all happen in one day.
May 22nd, 2008 4:00 pm
I have to agree about Home Depot’s return policy being awesome. I always buy too much then take back what I don’t use, which usually is then spent on new stuff. I’ve also returned stuff months later without the receipt, just the same credit card I used, and they gave me cash.
Nice site, btw.
May 14th, 2009 5:14 pm
PODS is definitely the way to go if you don’t mind packing yourself and you want some flexibility, We used PODS to move across the country and it worked great for us. Not only did we save money by packing everything up ourselves, the best part was that it wasn’t a big deal storing our pods (we used 2 as well) with them when we arrived and our house wasn’t quite ready to move into. We stayed in an apartment for about 2 months while they held onto our pods .Then when the house was finished they delivered them right to our driveway (with Podzilla — neat!). It took about a week to empty all our stuff — our pod was absolutely crammed full of stuff.
June 5th, 2009 10:27 pm
Hi,
I used PODS in a move from Wisconsin to DC and I have to say that they are not as great as they seem. We packed our stuff pretty tight and secure (we have pictures) and when we got it, the stuff was shifted. PODS swears it was our packing and not their movement, but how can stuff that was secured move? And don’t bother to get the insurance because they won’t honor it. Basically, it’s just another way for them to scam 200 dollars out of you. Lastly, PODS is notorious for quoting one price and then charging 20 percent more after they have your stuff. If you have friends and can rent a U-haul, I would suggest you move it yourself or figure on having broken stuff and paying at least 20 percent more than what PODS quotes you.
June 13th, 2009 10:52 am
Caveat emptor! First, make sure your driveway is wide enough, long enough, and level. The wonderful staff at PODS neglected to inform me about these potential problems. I even asked about how much space was needed and was told that a PODS container will fit in a parking space. While this is true, the unloading mechanism on the truck requires a lot more width than just a single parking space (15 ft wide X 15 ft high). When my driveway proved too narrow, the enterprising PODS delivery driver decided to just drive off with the container rather than leave it curbside. Apparently, PODS requires that a permit be obtained for this, which they didn’t mention. I would have been glad to arrange for this had the driver arrived at the scheduled time, between 8 and 11am, which he did not. Thus, at 4:15pm on a Friday, I was already 15 minutes too late to get to my town’s municipal building. Customer service was apparently powerless to help me, and wasn’t remotely apologetic or concerned. They re-allocated my container and canceled my order without telling me. I spent much of Saturday morning on the phone with a string of unapologetic customer service reps who told me the soonest they could arrange another delivery was Thursday. At this point I utterly lack confidence in PODS to do their job, so I’ve arranged for storage space and a moving truck from a helpful, local, inexpensive company.
Thanks, PODS, for making our move, which is never easy, that much more stressful!
July 7th, 2009 11:35 pm
To move from Chicago to Oregon with PODS will cost $3,294.00 per a quote I got today
July 14th, 2009 2:42 pm
From Cincinnati OH to Glendale AZ cost $2,645 for the large POD. I called today.
August 2nd, 2009 8:19 pm
Yeah, $2400 from CA to CO, 1100 miles. Forget that. Website and phone service were lame. I enter my info on the web site, then I have to enter my phone number on the website, then I actually have to call anyway. During the call you have to enter your phone number, so it can jive with the web site info you enter, then wait for an operator, then you have to give your phone number again (don’t they have caller id??) And in the end it is what??? $2400. This is such a good business idea, should be way cheaper. You would be better off buying a truck and selling it where you are going.
August 10th, 2009 1:20 pm
PODs central has no control over the local PODs sites to adjust delivery schedules and won’t give out the phone numbers to the local PODs handlers. The local PODs sites have total control over delivery schedules which puts the consumer at considerable risk as each individual PODs site schedules as they wish. For us that means the delivery date we were promised by PODs central wasn’t honored by the local PODs site. We hired movers and now will have to pay a cancelation fee and try to find new movers as the others are booked up for weeks. We are very angry that PODs won’t even try and honor the original delivery date. They said they’d review our phone conversation where they told us we would have our POD delivered and then give us $100 for our trouble if they did give us the wrong date. Bottom line, don’t believe the delivery dates that PODs gives you. Expect to wait at least 2 weeks to get your stuff.
August 26th, 2009 12:56 am
Do not use PODS. I moved with them from Oregon to CA with the intent on just avoiding having to drive a moving truck with my own car in tow.
As stated previously PODS has no control over the local PODS nor do they have any control over the distance haulers, which should be stated are not related to PODS and are third party carriers.
The POD was delivered to my address in Oregon but could not fit in my driveway due to space restrictions I was not informed about over the phone so the unit had to be placed in the street. This was not a problem until PODS said they couldn’t pick it up for three days at which point the city stopped by on multiple occasions to inform/state that a POD can be placed in the street and that it was a fine if it was not removed. After a frustrating conversation with the PODS associates regarding this information they finally agreed to pick the POD up.
From here the story gets really fun. Monday after watching my POD get picked up I drove down with a few items (things I would need in case the POD was delayed) four days later PODS called to tell my my shipping container was not going to be delivered on time due to a delay. Their new estimate was that it would be delivered the following Monday. This is a drive from location to location that takes about 8 hours, I know this because I had just finished it. After pressing why this was the case through several “associates” it turns out that my POD had never left OR.
Later in the weekend I was informed that the POD would be delayed again and not arrive until Tuesday for reasons. Again after pressing them for information and going through several “associates” the reason I discovered was that the driver didnt show up to pick up my POD until Sat. Then asking what took the POD three days to move 8 hours I was told they couldn’t contact the driver. Which was the case each time I called for the next three days.
My POD finally did arrive on Tuesday (later that the expected delivery time I was told on Tuesday morning). Since then for the past month I have been attempting to get some sort of refund from PODS related to the experience and the fact that I had to lose salary and pay for things that I would have had had my POD arrived on schedule.
Recently I checked my billing statement from my CC and it now appears that PODS has also overcharged me for the service based on the initial quote. I strongly recommend that you never use this company. There are significantly better alternatives and competitors.
October 1st, 2009 3:53 pm
PODS has had a container of mine with the contents of my house for 9 months now. When I went to schedule delivery of this container to my new address, I called their customer center and was advised by a rep that I only owed $15. Although I thought all monies were paid at the beginning of the contract ($468), I agreed to pay that amount. When I called back to firm-up the delivery, a second representative first advised me that I owed the $15. Later in the conversation, he retracted and said “wait a minute, I am confused” and put me on hold. She then advised she thought I owed more than the $15 and put me on hold again to speak to someone else. When she returned, she told me that she could not figure out my account and that I needed to speak with her supervisor. I was transferred to one “Ba” that advised me that I owed them $900 additional!!!! After an hour of back and forth, he told me he would request an investigation on this case and issued a case number (495404) that would require 72 hours to pull all recordings. Three days later, I called them back (they did not call me as promised). Now I speak with one “Kyle” that confirmed what “Ba” told me. Not only that, in addition to the $900 that all of the sudden I allegedly owe, I would now owe an additional month’s rent of $220 because this delay puts the delivery of the container after my monthly cycle ends! During this conversation “Kyle” promises that he can give a courtesy discount but later retracts and tells me that I need to pay both the $900 plus the additional month. I have paid them over $2,300 and they want another $1,000! Insane! These guys have absolutely no customer service skills whatsoever. Please stay away from PODS. Do not surrender any of your assets or property to them. They will hold you hostage until you pay. Had I checked the web before I engaged them, I would have found all these complaints and not be in this big mess.
October 16th, 2009 12:05 am
Take your money elsewhere! What at first looks like a bargain ends up being a nightmare! As previously stated, the PODS company has absolutely NO control nor will take any responsibility for what their individual franchisees do with regard to delivery and pickup times. They do not honor the times they set.
The individual franchisees do not care a fig about you since they answer to no one at PODS. PODS customer service reps paint a rosy picture of how you will be able to have the pickup and delivery schedule you choose with a 3 hour window when in fact the delivery folks don’t have to honor anything the reps say.
PODS needs to get their act together. They need to have complete control over their franchisees or disclose to their customers that it’s a crap shoot when they sell them their services. It’s deceptive on their part to give the impression that they are a cohesive company when if fact their rogue franchisees do what they want. The idea was and is a great one but it’s not working IMO.
Next time I will call a moving company and save myself the stress as well as my back.
October 20th, 2009 6:08 pm
ABSOLUTELY DO NOT USE PODS!!!! It was a living nightmare. I have never had
such poor customer service, such terrible confusion nor such anxiety in any move
I have done and I have done a few. This company is very poorly run and when you call with your concerns there is no empathy, there are only excuses. I started
feeling like I was some crazy customer. I have never even done an online review
before but I feel like I need to spread the work to not use this company. I am so
exhausted from my experience with them, that I will wait until a later date to fill
all the details but basically I had similar or worse experiences than the other reviews on this site.
October 22nd, 2009 9:23 pm
My experience with PODS was great all the way to the re-delivery. BUT…I received an email the night before they were to be delivered stating that they would deliver one between 5:30-8:30 PM!!?? and the other between 7:30-10:30 PM!!!??? These delivery times were completely unacceptable! Great way to meet your new neighbors… have the POD truck banging around at 11:00 at night.
I asked these to be delivered on 10-23-09 assuming they would be delivered during the day so I can actually unload them. I had help scheduled for Friday (day) not night. So my whole day was wasted! NO ONE communicated that it would be Friday night when these get delivered. Especially since I scheduled one to be picked back up on Saturday since I can’t leave the POD on the street for longer than overnight. If I would have know this I would have scheduled them for Thursday so I know they would have been there.
I paid over $4000 to have them stored, shipped and delivered… the least they could have done was deliver them at an acceptable time or give me a heads up on the time. The problem is that when you call customer service they have no control because they are in Florida. They have no local numbers to give only that they can submit a incindent report.
November 14th, 2009 1:28 pm
I set up PODS for my elderly parents move. The day of delivery the driver was extremely late and delivered supplies I had not ordered but did not ask my Dad if he wanted them. They also billed us for blankets not ordered or received. We took back the extra supplies to the Sacramento PODS unused. I called several times to get my parents credit for the supplies returned and for the blankets. The accumulated time on the phone lasted hours and they were totally incompetent. Promising to check for me and never getting back to me. It has been over a year and I have never heard a thing. However, the driver that delivered our POD when we ended the storage was on time, courteous and very helpful.
December 15th, 2009 12:41 pm
PODS sounds like a great idea, and it was helpful rather than renting two uhauls, storage space, and having to lift everything 4 times. I was unsatisfied with the company policies. First of all… I placed my order and then came across a 10% off coupon. The company refused to honor it at any point during my involvement. The company also charges you a month fee of about $250. They will not agree to charge you a fraction of that cost should you have your pod for less than a month. In my situation we were trying to close on a house while my things were in the pods storage. My monthly cut off date was the 21st of the month. We closed on the 4th of the month, had the pod dropped off, unloaded, and had the pod picked up on the 7th. PODS still charged me for the entire month as though I had the pod until the 31st (because I could have “had the option of the pod sitting in my drive way for 21 unnecessary days”). There has got to be a better way to please your customers. In addition, they throw in multiple fees you are unaware of. My drop off invoice had a $50 charge for unpaved surface fee. Mind you, the pod was placed on my paved driveway. I assume they also charge you if there are too many trees or power lines nearby. PODS really needs to re-evaluate their customer satisfaction policies. It would likely bring them more business during this economic crisis.
January 25th, 2010 4:02 pm
YES! Pods is an excellent company with excellent service. They will call you at every step of your move to confirm. They even work with you on payments and deadlines. This company is worth the extra money. Use them!