PODS (Portable On Demand Storage) was founded in Florida by Peter Warhurst in 1998. His family owned a moving and storage company, but he wanted to take it a step further. He invented the mobile storage unit, more commonly referred to as a shipping container or pod.
In 2007, Pods was acquired by Arcapita for $451.4 million. In 2012, Pods sued U-Haul for using the name Pod when referring to their U-Box product. U-Haul ended up paying Pods $62 million for infringement of copyright.
The new PODS containers have a steel frame construction with completely recyclable panels made of steel skins and a high-density polyethylene core and are produced in three sizes: approximately 8-by-7-by-7 feet, 8-by-8-by-12 feet, and 8-by-8-by-16 feet. The top is a translucent polymer, which allows some filtered light into the container.
Pods maintains a corporate office in Clearwater, Florida.
0 star experience and terrible customer service. We have used POD for the first time and it has been no where near our expectations:
1. We have hired top rated movers from HireAHelper that POD recommend on their website. Movers came in without any protections with our flooring and no facial covering. Text and make phone call all the time and obviously finish 1/2 amount of work expected within the hired timeline. We hired another company to complete the job same day for 1/2 the cost and 2 times more precessional. Thurber out that the top rated movers only have 2 reviews one star on Yelp.
2. We have put the house on market and scheduled to pick up POD container. It is not available until a week later which won’t work for our timeline. Called customer service to ask for 2 piece of information: if we can have a sooner pickup date? If no, can we tow the container by ourselves? The agent have filled a ticket and asked us to wait till 2 business days for any answers which is 3 days later( filled on Friday and we have to wait till EOD next Monday). According to the agent, this is the highest priority ticket and there’s nothing they can do for any urgent issues other than fill a ticket. Throughout the conversation, agent tried to explain how their process works and how they are overwhelmed, and asked us the be patient without solving any issues/providing any helpful information.
Right now, the Pod is sitting outside of our driveway, leaving us tons of worries for our selling plan. I have no ways to make my voice to be heard and hopefully there’s someone in the company who truly walks in customers’ shoes.
Very unhappy with PODS services and customer (un)care department.
I normally do not do these types of posting but in this case, it is the only available avenue I have found in attempt to communicate (and escalate) with any upper management ;not just my dismal experience over the last several months as a loyal customer but also to hopefully make those relevant senior mgmt. persons aware of a trend I see that can very well spell failure on several levels of the business itself.
I have heard and experienced an abrupt and significant erosion in PODS customer service (in the personal consumer segment); a type of erosion that can signify an overall decline to the continued success of a company. While most may be focusing on sales, growth, cutting costs, the size of the deal or next quarters performance, this issue is as critical or perhaps more so (think about the only relevant question on any survey….would you refer us to anyone? or will you continue to do business with us in the future?)
Being previously in hi-tech upper management (both in Finance and Operations at several notable hi-tech Fortune 500 businesses as well as start-ups , I know of what I speak. I am well aware of what can trigger or cause such a rapid erosion and significant drop of the quality of customer service. Incidentally, I have been a loyal customer virtually since PODS’ inception and have referred not just to family and friends but also to many of my business colleagues. I had been happily struck not just by the novel and creative and improved approach to the nasty business of moving but also to the good value financially and the awesome personalized customer service department .
Over the last 1-1 1/2 years however, I have sadly seen PODS quality of service and the overall value decline consistently and significantly. While common reasons include rapid growth and the accompanying growing pains, extreme market expectation of company performance and/or valuation, added to this, I am sure, is the COVID-19 pandemic where poorly trained or underqualified (or underpaid staff i.e. poor hiring practices) are not being mentored or supervised properly with no , working from home with little or no supervision. There seems to be no answerability or outcome to bad customer service in this case.
Some quality of customer service erosion is expected I suppose and somewhat understandable under the circumstances but this rapid a change is bad and is ultimately the result also of poor internal management. I say this because I have seen it and mark my words, if these practices continue, the company will suffer and a competitor will emerge as the market leader.
Not just me but several people (including business colleagues) I have referred have experienced this same issue during their entire process; not just one or two mistakes; but virtually every step fraught with errors resulting in time wasted, the breakage and loss of items, billing mistakes and the list goes on. Finally and perhaps worst of all is the absolute inability of the customer to resolve or even to escalate any of thus they are left with no solution to fixing any problems; to something substantial as big a life change as a move… and with their lifes’s belongings. It does not leave a slight impression.
By this time, the customer has had to contend with the average reps ineptitude, negligent performance and complete lack responsibility. 9 times out of 10, we have found them insultingly disingenuous and typically silent as to how to resolve. This is amongst the worst result a customer can experience; an experience that doesn’t just cause that customer to take his/her business elsewhere BUT normally triggers those to talk to others about how awful it was; not the kind of PR you want.
While you might expect this of a shoe salesman at a mall store (who when too lazy to locate your size, simply tells you that the store doesn’t have it in stock-), to have the care of ALL your personal belongings in the hands of staff like this, it is simply unacceptable.
I am saddened by this development and I indeed know that going forward if this continues, you will see only bad news for the company. I have seen it happen. Whether it is poor staff training, or hiring, or poorly executed cost savings or sitting on your laurels as the market leader, or perhaps it is a series of bad internal business decisions, it is likely to be forgotten, but I guarantee you that your customer will not see it that way.
Regards, SP
Do you have cell numbers or email addresses for John Koch (CEO), Darrin Campbell (COO) or Tim Preston (GM)? I had a very similar experience to yours recently and were summarily dismissed by a entry level agent to get even an Incident # assigned. The agent just said “no” to my talking points and then ended the phone conversation abruptly. Please share your contact info if you have them.
Did you call the corporate office number in our listing?