PODS for Cross Country Move??? (relocation, moving company, Uhaul, truck)

[maja]

Okay. Now the movers are renegging on their offer to delay delivery of our stuff and the cost to store it is ridiculous because of the loading and unloading (essentially another move involved). So we are back considering using PODS. We had thought about using them for all our boxes. (We have a LOT!) But what about furniture? Has anyone ever transported their good furniture in a POD across the country? We would ship our piano separately by professional piano movers and we really only have a few fine pieces of furniture (china cabinet, a couple dressers & armoires) that I REALLY care about. Husband checked with UHaul and found that they have movers who will help load and unload...but I am reticent about using PODS for furniture. However, the cost to transport and store it untouched for 30 days is an incredible savings. Anybody have any experience with this? TIA

[sskkc]

Years ago, I moved from Michigan to CA using a "professional moving company"... they stored my belongings in a warehouse storage for 6 months before I called for it... things were uncertain and I didn't want to move it all to CA and put it in storage just to possibly come back to MI a few months later.

It was a nightmare... I called October 13th, but was told they couldn't deliver until 6 weeks later... the day before Thanksgiving (My contract stated that it would be 2 weeks from that call to delivery, but they refused to honor it. As they had my stuff, I didn't see me as having much choice). We had made plans to travel for Thanksgiving that year (huge family reunion, we are the ONLY ones missing from the professional photos taken - the last year Grandpa was alive), and changed our plans to fly out on Thanksgiving morning.

We were told they would call 72 hours before delivery. That didn't happen. We tried to reach them the day before delivery was expected and were told that everything was on schedule for delivery the day AFTER Thanksgiving and given a delivery time of 8am. I asked for a one day to one week delay, but was told that if I missed delivery, it would be another 6 weeks and the delivery charge would be doubled.

The family had changed the professional photography session for the day after, which we now learned we would miss. We made it for dinner but had to leave before the pies came out, so we could be there the following morning.

We began calling when the driver was 4 hours late. We were told delivery would be "any minute". At 4pm, the driver called to say he couldn't make it and would be there the following Monday! I was furious and let him have it. He finally agreed to deliver and said he'd be there in 2 hours because he had to pick up the guys who would unload.

He showed up at 10pm that night. He did not bring any help and my dh & I had to unload the stuff from the truck - the driver wouldn't touch it. Not everything arrived, but it was an "all or nothing" deal... if I didn't take delivery of what he did have, the stuff would go back to MI and the additional 6 weeks and double charge would apply! I ended up with 2 boxes that weren't mine, mysteriously labeled with my "special number" and on the BOL... as I did not have children at the time, I KNEW those boxes of Barbies and Barney toys weren't mine! In addition, my "brand new" bookshelves & wooden futon (bought weeks before the move - it was a "surprise" move) were gouged and scratched. All of my glasses were broken and my TV screen was cracked.

The big problem with my claim, despite the insurance I purchased was that sometimes moving companies do not store your belongings... they give them over to someone else. Once they all got over blaming me, both began claiming the "other" company was at fault. After 18 mos, I gave up on my $2k+ claim and moved on with my life.

Despite the inconvenience, if I had it to do over again, I would've moved everything into storage myself in MI and flown back to supervise the loading and moving to our new place.

And I have never used that company again... and we move VERY often (former Military family). But we've learned that despite the inconvenience, there is MUCH less damage and loss during a self move.

BTW... despite constant promises (and 2 appointments), they never picked up the children's stuff. After moving it with us during a PCS, I finally donated the boxes to Goodwill (actually, they were two large Rubbermaid storage containers).

I removed the company's name to avoid TOS violations, but if you DM me, I'll DM you back with their name.

[GloryB]

Those PODS look like a cool way to go......if it works like they advertise it.

[whitem3]

I'm in the process of moving myself cross country and have found these sites to be helpful.

You might find some info here:
Moving: How to avoid Moving Company Scams

If you're thinking about transporting a car look here:
http://www.transportreviews.com/directory/

[BenJones1234]

I dont know about PODS but have found this great website that is proving to be brilliant when planning my relocation this time around.

www.world-of-relocation.com is a great site to use to find providers in and area of the world.

I am and will continue using it!