
Kristina of Superior, CO on Oct. 27, 2009
In August of 2009, my husband and I relocated to the Western part of the United States. We hired PODS to meet our moving and storage needs. This decision was based on the unique idea behind the company: a box would be delivered to our apartment, we would pack it and lock it, PODS would pick it up, transport it across country, store it for a month, and deliver it to our new address. Had it gone this smoothly, it would have been an ideal moving experience. Unfortunately, it did not. As a result of our horrendous experience with this company, I addressed a letter to the CEO and mailed it to the PODS headquarters. The letter follows:
Upon arranging for moving services, the PODS representative specifically asked me what time I would like for the POD to be delivered. I told him 7am and he confirmed that the POD would be sitting in front of our apartment at 7am. Either your company representatives need to go through training, or they lie simply to get a customer. On August 7th, when I called to find out why our POD was not there, I was informed that delivery times could not be guaranteed and that it would be delivered between 11:45am and 2:45pm. I was furious to say the least. We had people standing at our apartment at 7:00am to help us move. In order to express my frustration, I was transferred to Platinum Services where I waited on hold for more than 30 minutes. I spoke to a man named *** at extension ***. He assured me that my initial call to PODS would be reviewed to determine whether the representative did actually tell me 7am. As expected, no one ever called to let me know the results of reviewing the call.
Our apartment had to be cleared out on August 7th. Not only was the POD not there at 7am, it wasnt delivered until 2:50pm (5 minutes late). That set us back 8 hours and made the moving process quite stressful.
On September 2nd, I received a PODS email stating that our POD was scheduled to be delivered to our new address on September 3rd between 2pm and 5pm. At 5:20pm when it still had not arrived, I called the customer service number only to find out that our POD actually wouldnt be delivered until September 4th and they had no idea what time. The excuse was that they were short-staffed and one of the trucks had been involved in an accident. I realize that there were unforeseen circumstances. However, that does not excuse the fact that no one called to inform us.
PODSs end of the deal was to have the POD here on September 3rd. I wouldnt have scheduled it for that day had it not been imperative that it be here. Because all of our furniture and mattresses were stored in our POD, my husband and I were made to sleep on the floor of our new apartment. As you can imagine, we were both very annoyed by that. It was 4:30pm the next day before our POD was delivered. PODS should have had their employees working overtime that day to get the jobs done. When you assure people that their POD will be delivered on a certain day, you should do everything you possibly can to get it there. That is how a competent business is run.
When I asked about the results of the supposedly reviewed phone call, the woman told me, with a nonchalant attitude, that there would be no compensation. She didnt even bother to give me an explanation. I would like to hear the phone call myself. I dont believe it was ever reviewed. It seems to have been a form of temporary placation in the hopes that I would forget about it.
My husband and I have encountered a great deal of problems in our moving process due to the incompetence of PODS. Considering how much we paid for these services, I am completely unsatisfied and unimpressed. PODS refuses to acknowledge their own mistakes, and substitutes excuses thinking it will appease the customers. The impression I get from PODS is that you do not care about the needs of the customer.
I do expect an apology from PODS in the form of some monetary reimbursement for the inconvenience and aggravation afforded us. Otherwise, I will not even consider PODS for future moves.
After mailing the letter, I received a call from a woman at the PODS headquarters saying that she would be looking into my concerns. Funny, since I addressed it to the CEO. I can understand that he is a very busy man, but I addressed it to him to make him aware of the issues within his company. I doubt I am the only unhappy customer. She called me again about a week and a half later to inform me that she had not forgotten about me, but that she was still in the process of retrieving information.
Another week went by and she called me again, profusely apologizing for the miscommunication about the delivery time of the empty POD to our old address. After some argumentation, she finally admitted that the recording of that initial call could not be found. Hmmm Im sure it couldnt if it wasnt ever recorded. She also informed me of an accident that one of the trucks had been involved in, which caused the delay of our POD being delivered. I promptly told her that I was already aware of that information seeing as I mentioned it in my letter. Still not admitting fault to any of the issues they caused my husband and me, she offered a monetary compensation in the amount of $75 (4.5% of what we had paid).
I was furious and said I couldnt believe that was the best they could do. She apologized yet again. I got sick of her pathetic apologies; it was obvious that she didn't care. They were just words falling indifferently from her lips. I was just another problem that needed to be resolved. She asked if I wanted the $75 compensation. I responded by saying, Well, I guess I dont have a choice if that is all you are willing to do. My credit card was credited the $75. This review is to warn prospective PODS customers about the customer service that they will likely receive and the types of problems they might encounter if they go with PODS. Buyer Beware!