PODS - tell me about your experience

[Toonces]

Has anyone used or looked into using PODS? If you have looked into it, but didn't use PODS, why didn't you? What did you do instead? If you did use PODS, were you pleased with your decision?

We're thinking about putting our house on the market but we really need to put a TON of toys and other misc clutter in storage before we show it.

TIA!

[twinnyme]

Hi Toonces - I've never used PODS but a good LJ and IRL friend of mine (brady) used it to move to her house this past fall and loved it. I was actually there with Becca when they came to pick it up and it was very efficient and well done. I think she had a good experience. I can't offer any details, though.

[laura]

I work at a university and a bunch of students on campus use PODS to store their stuff over the summer instead of lugging it all home (like furniture, etc). Everyone I know who has used it has had a good experience.

[amorey]

I just used PODS for my move. They're still in my driveway. We just sold our old house and bought a new one. We refinished the floors in the new house and stored our stuff in PODS until the floors were finished and we could move in. The only trouble we had was at our old house, where the POD couldn't fit in the driveway. They wouldn't put it on the street even if we got a permit from the city, saying the county would tow the POD. We had to drive all our stuff to the PODS warehouse in a truck and load it into the POD. We actually ran out of space in that POD, so they pulled out another one for us.

Getting the PODS dropped off at the new house was really easy. I ordered the delivery online. As long as the PODS get picked up tomorrow as promised, I'll be pleased with the experience.

[Foley42]

A few folks talk about PODS in this thread (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6829&page=2&highlight=PODS), maybe you could PM them if they don't respond here.

[Toonces]

Thanks ladies! It definitely sounds like it's worth getting some pricing info from them.

[Jenyfer9]

We used them when moving from our old house to our current house, and it was a great experience... no complaints other than the fact that we had to move the crap ourselves ;) (as opposed to hiring movers, which dh was too cheap to do). We didn't have them store the POD, we just had them move it from point A to point B, so I can't comment on the storage part.

[ManteoChik]

We looked into it, but ultimately didn't use them because they were just way too expensive for us. We were moving from FL to NC, and because we're out on the coast it was going to cost of a buttload for them to deliver/pick up to our location.

It seemed like everyone I saw in FL used PODS so they must do something right.

[Brady]

We were very happy with our POD. We had a situation where we had sold our condo and were moving to temporary housing for a few months while we found a house. So we were able to have everything stored away for a few months and dropped off to unpack when we bought our house. I liked that everything was at our leisure, you know? They dropped it off when we asked, and then we called whenever we were done with it to be picked up.

So, thumbs up here- in our situation it was perfect.

[j*east]

PODS was too expensive for our cross country move a few years ago; we ended up using UPack (http://www.upack.com/). We were very happy with it. :)

[Katie1]

I really want to use PODS for our move in September but the quote I got was on the high side. I called UPack but they don't service the area we're moving to. Anyone know of any other similar companies? Also, I haven't even looked into full service moving companies since I assume they are a lot more expensive, but did anyone compare quotes between PODS and full-service movers? Is there a big price difference?

[mpc863]

I really want to use PODS for our move in September but the quote I got was on the high side. I called UPack but they don't service the area we're moving to. Anyone know of any other similar companies? Also, I haven't even looked into full service moving companies since I assume they are a lot more expensive, but did anyone compare quotes between PODS and full-service movers? Is there a big price difference?

Try ABF - they are similar to Upack: http://www.abfs.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1

We used Door to door which is similar to PODS to store some of our stuff. It's in storage right now and the pick up was very easy. We are getting it delivered in 3 weeks.

[pixielou]

i considered PODS for our latest move. the quote was about $900 to have a 16 foot pod for 2 months. we didn't use them because 1) a 16' pod would not be big enought for all our stuff - we ended up totally and completely filling a 24' truck and 2) we would have to load the pod ourselves. and dh and i just don't have the strength or willpower to lift a lot of our furniture - especially things on the 2nd floor.

i then considered getting a smaller one for all of our non-essential stuff. but then a 12' pod would have been too big. and why pay for a pod if i was going to hire movers for all our essential stuff?

fwiw - we ended up paying about $1,600 for our local move in massachusetts - about 15 miles along the 128 belt. i personally found the additional money to be well spent. we would have ended up having to get the pod for a 3rd month due to last minute delays in our closing. and at the rate i'm unpacking, it pobably would have entailed a 4th month! moving day was exhausting enough without me having to do the hard physical labor!

~pixie

~pixie

[meggiedarlin]

PODS saved my life!!! I had exactly 5 days from the day we signed the purchase agreement to the day I needed to be out of the house (I agreed to those terms because it was the house I owned with my Ex-husband and couldn't wait to be un-tied to him). I ended up needing to store the PODS at their warehouse since I was homeless for 2 weeks (and over Christmas too!) I called them up and got my first month's storage FREE. How's that for a deal?!

The PODS showed up at both houses on schedule. No problems. The only complaint: it didn't fit as much stuff as they say it can (and I had professional movers filling it). I ended up having to rent a U-Haul at the last minute and filling my cousin's garage (where I was staying for those 2 weeks).

I'm looking to sell my house in Spring 2008 and I plan to rent a PODS then to pack up and store all of the extra boxes and stuff so the house is uncluttered for selling.

[MrsBeckyLP]

We are looking into PODS for our upcoming move. We have to move into an apartment until our house is built, and it will probably be for 2.5-3 months. PODS is the perfect answer for us (I think) since we will only take necessities with us to the apartment. The rest can go to the PODS storage warehouse, and then it will be delivered to our new driveway. This saves us loading, unloading to storage shed, loading and unloading again. It will cost about $450 for us, but that is totally worth it to me! I am really excited for this, actually. Until yesterday, I had no idea PODS also stores the container at a warehouse!

[bethnjim]

We are looking into this option. We are hoping to settle on our house on 8*24 but we don't settle on the other house until 8*29 and even then, we need to store our furniture while we do LOTS of repairs to the new house. We will probably need the storage container for 2-3 months. We can't figure out what else will work at this point so we think this is the way to go. Hopefully it will work out well!!

[Jen309]

*bump*

We are looking at a move that will require a bit of offsite storage while we show the house and then a 2 state away move. Any more experiences or a ballpark amt of $ to do this for either PODS or your own other co./DIY move? I know PODS has a quote generator, but it keeps telling me to call the number and I just don't want to b/c this isn't set in stone yet.

[bug]

We used PODS in Jan for a move of about 600 miles between bordering states. We waited about a week between delivery of the POD to pack & delivery to new destination and then kept the POD for about another 2 weeks. We got the big size--can't remember exactly but I think overall it cost about $1900 (maybe a bit high). One extra cost that we hadn't thought of was buying moving pads/blankets. We had to buy a lot of them. Also, the POD people suggested (and we did) bug-bombing the POD prior to putting our stuff in it. You never know who used it prior to you or how long stuff was stored in it.

Overall, we were really pleased with the POD and would use it again.

[bethnjim]

I wanted to come back and write how our experience was. We ended up getting a SAM instead of POD. It was delivered to our house on the day the company said, we had a moving company come and load all of our furniture on to it, the company came and picked it up and we didn't see it again for 5 months. They kept the SAM in storage for us while our house was being worked on. We then called after five months and they brought the SAM to our house, put it in our driveway and we unloaded it. Everything was in great condition and they then came over and picked it up. LOVED, LOVED, LOVED our experience and this company made the process so easy. I highly recommend!! www.getasam.com is the website and they were MUCH cheaper then the POD.