PODS Moving & Storage

This Minneapolis-​based PODS has turned out to be the worst moving experience of my life. Everything was fine with delivering the POD and loading it, but when we received the PODS our mattress had terrible water damage, our belongings had obviously been moved around and damaged, and the door would not shut so we had to hire movers to move our belongings inside at the last minute costing over $ 500. Worst of all, PODS has failed to take any responsibility for their actions. They truly could care less that our stuff was damaged and we have spent hours trying to get someone to help us recover for our losses but PODS does not seem to care about their customers at all. Here are some pictures to prove the water damage to our mattress (which was basically brand new when we put it in the PODS) and the fact that their door wouldn’t open or close and was jammed and they could do nothing to help us (leaving our belongings open to the public)!

This review is about PODs corporate not one specific location. If I could give PODs 0 stars I would. They were expensive and service on the corporate level was sub-​par. After being on the phone with PODs about twice a week for the month before my move across the country confirming that the permits were all set, the morning that the POD was supposed to be delivered they said that I needed to get more permits. I talked to 3 different people on the phone who all told me different things when I had questions. I also talked to a manager at PODs corporate who was as unhelpful as one could be. Luckily, the city of Minneapolis was incredibly helpful and helped me get things worked out quickly. Working with PODs could not have been a more frustrating experience.

So many unhelpful interactions with PODS: training employees and providing customer service are NOT a priority. Their entire system is designed to avoid local contact with complaints, service changes, and requests:
I’ve posted photos of how messed up our 16′ container arrived back from PODS last week. The container must have been dropped or hit HARD in order to have tossed everything around and like it did. And they stonewalled my attempts to complain.
The worst part was trying to get PODS to respond to this nightmare: The would NOT put me in touch with a local rep, they would NOT send someone out to look at this obvious problem, and passed me off to a 3^rd party insurer 20 hours after I called. I Lost an entire day of unloading due to their stalling and evasion.
I finally got one of their call center people to flag the local manager to call me back. That was three days ago. No return call.
What’s more, is how PODS responded when I posted a photo on their Facebook page:
«HI Jamie, so very sorry to see this. Your post has been flagged and a member of our Executive Response Team will be reaching out to discuss with you! Thanks!»
That was six days ago and not a person from PODS has contacted me.
See the photos yourself.

I had no trouble with scheduling, delivery, etc. that others have complained of. Our problem is that when we got our POD back everything was covered with a layer of almost greasy dust. I thought it was supposed to be stored in a climate-​controlled facility, but It looks as though our clothes are covered with something like diesel exhaust dust. Now my wife is going to have to wash or dry clean all the clothes she had in there and I’m not sure even that will help on some things. We will probably have to throw some things away. Very disappointed in PODS.

I was extremely upset with PODS. The billing was not clear to me when I ordered a pod to store my furniture until I was able to move into my condo. Since they charge for delivery and storage separately, I thought the month’s rent for storage was when the pod was actually in storage, not including the delivery and pickup days. Therefore, I was 2 days over the pod «rental» and they charged me an extra month’s rent. So, I paid $ 167 for delivery and pickup and $ 442 for 2 months storage, when I had the pod in storage for only a month. WHAT A RIP OFF!!! Plus the added cost of the movers. AND when the pod was delivered, it took the movers 45 minutes to open the door, because the furnitured shifted. It was a very costly and unpleasant way to move8-(

I don’t know about anyone else, and I am not a PODS employee trying to stack the reviews, but our experience was fantastic.
We live in an extremely busy area, there is tons of construction and street parkers who hog any and all spaces.
Tony from PODS and I probably talked 6 – 8 times. He was always available and understood the unique challenges we had: even with a Right of Way permit (no parking signs), there were numerous cars parked in the spot and construction vehicles.
He worked with us (as did his driver) to time the tiny window of time that the PODS could be placed.
We haven’t had the PODS picked up yet, but our initial (and most difficult) challenge was met with great service.
Again, extra kudos to Tony.

I would not recommend pods unless you own a house with a huge, privately owned lot that is clean, accessible.
The pods people assured me they would be able to get the pod into the parking lot when I signed up, but it took three delivery attempts to do it because the road was steep to the lot. It seems some drivers are more skilled. They also make you purchase a permit for street delivery but provide no service to make sure people don’t park in the intended space.
The customer service people are rude and don’t know their own services. The guy I had kept telling me to call the Minneapolis office for a street permit when it says clearly on their website that PODS can facilitate that. Ultimately he handed my call to someone else who was far more helpful.
Unless you have time to babysit this pod’s pick up and deliveries, don’t do it. If I would redo it-​I would literally move all my stuff into storage and move it out again.

If there was a rating lower then 1 I would leave a zero. This company has rude customer service people, no people skills, and just in general could be the worst company in Minnesota

The IDEA of this place is great. They bring you a big box to fill up with all of your stuff, they take it away and you never have to think about it again until you move, which they will then drop off right when you need it and pick it up when you’re done. Great idea, right?!
Wrong. First, they didn’t have my request on file to have the POD picked up on 8÷29÷10. The day before closing! Legally, I needed to get that thing out of there before closing or the new owners could have charged me RENT! Their great idea to fix this was to order a rush (Extra $ 75 charge) and «split the cost» with me. So I have to pay more because you guys made a mistake?
Next, after moving last week, we ordered the POD to be picked up. The driver called and told me he couldnt get it out of there because there was too much snow (it was snowing a lot @ the time). Ok, thats fine. He then calimed to have spoken with a man about all of this, and when I told him he didnt, proceeded to tell me that I «must sound like a man.» Wow. REALLY?!
Then, (nope, not done yet!) on the second try for pickup, they tell me it couldnt be picked up because the driveway wasnt «completely free and clear or any ice and snow. The driveway needs to be dry pavement». Well why wasnt I told this the first time?!
Lastly, on the final pickup, the driver called (the same one who said I sounded like a man, who I requested never to have come to my home again) and said we needed to get the car out of our three stall driveway so he can get to the POD. I turn around from my way to work, go back home, and get there just as he is finishing loading it up. Really, you couldnt have called me to say you didnt need it moved after all?
This company, or at least the MN location, is terribly run.

As a previous poster stated this company takes absolutely no accountability.
I would not let them near my house ever again.
When the driver came to pick up our empty pod he slammed it into the corner of our house causing about $ 12,000 damage. These things happen, right? Well… can you believe he drove away without knocking on our door to let us know what happened?
Calling the customer service line is a nightmare, they are rude and inconsiderate. They refused to give me any contact information for my local pods office and said someone would contact me next week???
WTF?
I’m waiting for the police to show up as I write this review.