I like this company. They are not perfect but they are honest and working to improve.
I moved my stuff with them from Bethesda, in the DC area to Portland initially, and then had a change of heart to where I was moving and had everything re-shipped to Boise ID.
I'd called around and got quotes from other pod companies (packrat, pods.com), and let me tell you they are sharks. I find it extremely dishonest when someone says "your quote comes to $6,600 sir, how does that seem to you? -Hm, it's a little higher than I expected - Then how about $4,500". REALLY? You were about to take $2,000 from me just because I sounded like I could afford it??
ZippyShell didn't do that. They gave me their real price right away, $2,800.
Wendolyn who I initially spoke with on the phone was very knowledgeable, patient, gave me all the details I asked for, including links to videos, and never tried to push me.
The containers are cages that get shrink-wrapped and that worked out just fine, no issue with security, or moisture or anything.
Be aware that their containers are somewhat shorter (on height) than containers from competing companies and that counts. Things like couches, un-assembled beds, are best to be positioned upright; I couldn't fit my small IKEA couch like that so, laying it down flat it took more of the floor space so I had to stack boxes/other things on top of it.
My moving coordinator was Teryl, she was always wonderful when I spoke with her on the phone, generally returned phone calls, though there were delays sometimes (possibly due to office workers being overloaded), and emails sometimes went unanswered in the beginning.
There also seems to be some major disconnect in communication between the office and the drivers.
The day that I made the deal, I was told the moving coordinator would contact me shortly and set up details about when the container would arrive (I had to make arrangements with my building's manager). I didn't get contacted that day, even when I called to ask and was promised was going to get a call back but didn't. The next morning, sometime between 6 and 7am the driver was there and was calling me, I was asleep and missed a couple of the calls, but he insisted for a good half hour, until I finally heard the call and picked up. I told him I never was informed of what day and time he would arrive, but he didn't seem aware of anything other than telling me what other places he had to go to that day. Otherwise he was very accomodating and not in a hurry to take the time and find a good spot to place the container.
For pick up, the same disconnect in communication happened, the driver would show up hours earlier than I had agreed with the office, and again not seeming aware of any of that schedule, it seemed that he made his schedule himself, ignoring what office had set up completely. So this happened two times that I wasn't ready with my stuff fully loaded.
The company wanted to charge me $200 for the two pick up attempts when I wasn't ready with the containter, but I managed to have that waived after describing the situation to them. I did not appreciate the time I had to spend on all of this.
The company and the offices are closed on weekends, so on Friday afternoon, all communication would stop, everything would be put on hold and would resume on Monday.
My stuff arrived in perfect order to Portland (they have a partner company there, it's not ZippyShell's own warehouse) - I was able to go check out the container there while they kept it in storage for a while for me. I had packed and tied everything up very tightly though, otherwise things would have probably moved around.
After that I decided I was moving to Boise ID rather than Portland after all, and asked for a quote for that move. I was given around $500 the first time, agreed to it, right away, but the shipping didn't happen, weekend came, things froze, and then the week after that Teryl informed be it was more like $700. She explained the difference and she also had her supervisor call me at my request who went through the bill with me, and she too was very courteous and knowledgeable.
The problem was that unloading was included in the initial price for Portland, but wasn't for Boise. Portland is a different company that's contracting with ZippyShell, whereas Boise is a ZippyShell franchise.
Wade from ZippyShell in Boise was a pleasure to work with, he delivered the container on a Friday evening, allowed me time to unload myself, and picked up the container the next day, a Saturday, after I called to let him know I was done.
Overall I don't think another company would have beat them for the price and customer service, so I'm pretty happy I went with my gut feeling and chose ZippyShell. They have a personal touch and like I said they were always honest regardless of the hiccups. read more