Don't use PODS

Well, I've been posting on how much I like PODS - Portable On Demand Storage.  They're portable container units (8' x 8' x 16') that get dropped off at wherever you tell them; you load them full, and then they take them away to storage.  When you want them back, you tell them where to drop them off, and you unload them.  Then they haul away the empty PODS unit.

Cool, I thought.  Drop some off here at Chez Borepatch, I'll load them up, and deliver them down in Atlanta.

But (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) the experience has been (ahem) less than stellar.

The minor irritation was the driver who managed to crush my downspout when he dropped off the PODS unit.  Damage to the house right as we're doing the final close is super cool, but as I said, this is the minor irritation.

The major irritation is that the PODS guy who spec'ed the job told us we needed "two, maybe three" PODS units.  Having experience with project planning (everything takes longer and costs more than you expect), we went with three.

This morning, our crew of movers showed up to load the heavy furniture onto the PODS.  As it turns out, we need four units.  The crew cost $150/hr.

Oops, says the PODS guy, we'll have another unit out to your place "early afternoon".

Not hearing back (and having sent the crew home, with a bunch of my furniture out on my lawn), we called them to find out the estimated delivery time.  Six o'clock.

By 1800 hours, it's pitch dark here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts.  Too bad, says the PODS escalation guy - hey, we got a unit slotted for delivery on the same day you called.  What do you want?

I want never to have called you guys in the first place, if what I want.  If I had had the slightest idea how "accurate" your estimates are, I'd have never done business with you.

I recommend that anyone reading this do likewise.  That company's made of FAIL.