Monday, July 22, 2013

PODS

When I decided to renovate my house, the best solution for what to do with my furniture seemed to be PODS. I checked them online and found them to be reasonable. For 30 days, according to the quote, I would pay $200.45. Wow! How reasonable was that? They do warn that the quote is good for a week.

When I decided to actually reserve a PODS, the price had jumped to $365. When I questioned why it had almost doubled, the agent said the tornadoes in Oklahoma and flooding in San Antonio had increased the demand for their containers. Dang! They offered a discount, for which I was grateful. The total would be $329. I had already made plans and lined up the workers, so I felt like I had to reserve one. I arranged for the PODS to be delivered on May 30, which meant I would have it until June 30. The agent told me to call at least a week ahead of when I wanted them to pick it up to make sure someone was available to get it. Otherwise, I would have to pay for another month.

As they promised, the PODS was delivered on May 30. But the lock wasn't included. When I called, they said they would bring it by the next day. So I lost a day of being able to use the PODS.

The PODS was so dirty that my packer didn't want to put the furniture on the floor. We put a couple of rugs and blankets down first. We were able to pack quite a few things in the PODS. Between that and my garage, we emptied the house.

The work inside the house took longer than I anticipated, and we hustled so we could empty the PODS and have it picked up. I called the week before like I was told, and that's when I was told that since June 30 was a Sunday, they would pick it up the day before, and I had to have it empty and swept out by 7:00 a.m. WHAT?

Now, I was losing another day! What the heck? Oh, and there would be a $71 charge to pick up the PODS. But I would get a $29 refund because I wasn't storing it.

I asked the agent, who was obviously reading a script, why they told me it would be from May 30 to June 30, and now it was going to be a day earlier. Was there a way they could pick it up in the evening so I'd have the day? She kept repeating the same thing over and over. She said she would request a PM pickup. They would call me the evening before to let me know the time they would pick it up.

Just in case they were going to stick to the 7 am pickup, we hustled to empty it Friday evening. Then I got the call that evening saying they would pick it up between 10:00 and 1:00 on Saturday morning. Since the pod was practically empty by the time I got the call, it was no problem.

On Saturday, the truck picked up the PODS at 11:00. The process was fascinating to watch.

On Monday, I noticed that $187.89 was taken out of my checking account by PODS! What the HECK? When I called, they said it was a mistake and immediately reversed the charge on my PODS account, but of course, it took 3 days for the money to return to my checking account. I was livid. I had that money in my account for my medication, which was cancelled because of the lack of funds.

I had the opportunity to do a survey for PODS. I let them know exactly what I thought about their service and the way they treated me. It probably didn't mean anything to them, but it felt good to get the frustration off my chest.

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