PODS Moving & Storage — Local services in City of Rochester

My experience story is sooo long that I'll try to sum it up so that people will read to the end. On 4/19 I loaded my entire home in container. I used PODS because I didn't want to load truck unload in storage, and then load and unload at my newly purchased home. Reason of Pods is to avoid this right? On 3/20 peak of Covid the bank got my ppwk rushed due to shutdowns. When the driver arrived with pod he took at least 30min in the street turning pod around to face opening for us to unload. My drive way is long fits 3 cars and towards the back can fit 2 more cars side by side. =5. He pulled in dropped pod, but then said he couldn't leave it there because wire above it. Tried putting it end of driveway , because width in middle to close to gutters so it was partially on sidewalk. He said needed.permit to leave it there. It's COVID world shutdown!!!! I called and asked to be connected to someone Superior over a Supervisor a woman named Kendra said "sorry you need permit" again "Covid" whole world shutdown!!! I asked if they would just leave it in place and we would unload immediately and they can come get it in a couple of hours, no one's coming to fine for no permit during Covid and we don't need it to stay for more than few hrs. Her answer same "permit" then she offers $120 to pay for a moving truck during COVID not including pay for movers. How many truck companies do you think was available during "COVID" I figured it out and had to find ppl to help make trips back and forth load and unload truck that we had to rent from a family friend who owned trucks at his corner store, didn't receive a dime from Kendra at Pods. HERE'S THE FINALE after my items fully unloaded my helpers tired while trying to social distance while moving LOL. Four months later I find out my account is still being charged, I called they said the lock was still on the container, OMFG I tell them it's empty mix up helpers must left on. Told them just cut it off it's empty. Thought it was handled filed for refund of 4months it was denied through email but Lyell Woods dispute guy from pods. It's 8/21 and just found out PODS still was withdrawing $189 month out of my account all this time, and I wouldn't have known if my bank card hadn't got lost last month. Waiting for Lyell Woods or Pods to return my phone calls about getting the money they should refund me!!!! Forgot to add I did have Pod put outside on the pod premises and bought a bolt cutter that didn't work. After knocking on garage door of the warehouse no response, I sat and waited until someone open the garage. I ran inside explain situation to employee inside, whom by the way wasn't working their when the rude supervisor refused to help. This guy Anthony went and got a saw and cut lock of, seen it was empty and was very very very humane. Others should try and learn how to treat people because everyone has at some point ran into situation not in their control but so simple for another to fix in 5min which is how long it took to cut it off. While I was billed...

DO NOT USE PODS OF ROCHESTER. If I could give them 0 stars I would. If you look at some of the reviews from other people you will see the same thing that I am going to explain in my review. I ordered 2 PODS, the second to come two days after the first. I specifically asked them to email me or call me when they were on their way to drop off the POD and no one called. It was supposed to be delivered in the morning and by mid afternoon I had not gotten a call. When i called them they said that the drivers were backed up so they had no idea when the POD would be delivered. My wife called a few minutes after I got off the phone and said they had delivered the POD. They didn't even know it had been delivered! I had plenty of room to put the pod in my driveway and measured even, there was plenty of room. The driver tore up about 8-10 inches of my lawn. When I called them they said I had to put in an inquiry so I did and it took a week for them to get back to me. During that time they took the first POD away dropped off the second. There was no damage done when that one was dropped off so it clearly showed that the first driver was at fault. After going back and forth with them for a few more days waiting for them to "investigate the situation" they came to pick up the second POD. That driver tore up my lawn even more, now it was almost 2 feet of lawn destroyed! I lost money to the new people that bought my house because I had to negotiate getting it fixed. After sending many pictures and having to follow up with PODS for over a week after the incident they denied my claim and said "PODS placed the container in an area pursuant to your instructions" (yeah, sure, I told them to tear up my lawn) and that "damages to the lawn was caused by normal operation". They also said the driver told them it was wet out which was complete BS because it hadn't rained for days!! I attempted to call them many times since and haven't gotten any response. They are a bunch of crooks.

** Update: PODS came back and gave me a corporate answer saying they didn't do anything wrong despite the overwhelming evidence. They bent the truth about the agreement that i signed and said all the liability was on me. I never once got a phone call back from anyone, they told me everything through email. Terrible organization, do...

What a nightmare. If you're trying to decide between moving with Pods and paying thousands more to hire full service movers - hire the movers. If you don't think you can afford it - hold a bake sale, a rummage sale, sell off a child - whatever you have to do. It will be worth it, I promise. Pods is helpful if and only if, you have the most standard, easiest local move of all time. If you don't have a perfectly paved driveway or if you need to move anything out of the ordinary or if you need to move out of state or if you think you might encounter any weather of any kind - hire the full service movers instead. If you have anything tricky to contend with in your move - PODS will not be proactive with you - they will just let you figure it out (cause you're probably a moving expert, right?) and tell you the right thing to do after. They say their drivers and pick up folks are actual employees, but you'd never get that feeling. I did all the right things for my pick-up - followed all the checklist instructions and still got yelled at by my delivery driver. The pick up driver had no problem whatsoever and was out and done in minutes. I was then yelled at by their manager at the final location due to weather and driveway issues out of my control. You will never be able to schedule the pick up and drop off times - there is no flexibility. And even when you do get your window at 10pm the night before - the drivers will still just show up whenever they want. You absolutely HAVE to be there for pick up and delivery, because there will be problems and you won't be there to deal with it and you'll spend hours on the phone later. Their customer service agents on the phone are about the only nice thing about their service. They were a delight. Although - when it came to getting my refund - all that went out the window. My whole experience was an absolute nightmare. Just hire the full service movers. I wish I had and I'm...