SMARTBOX of Richmond

Simple reservation process. Prompt reply from the Customer Support personnel. Box delivered exactly on the day requested. Found a 15% coupon online which was accepted. Called for removal on the weekend and received a confirmation call about retrieval, also on a weekend, even though they weren’t open until Monday. Reasonable pricing and prompt service. Kudos to the Richmond, VA location.

My girlfriend and I just moved to Oakland from New Orleans and had multiple issues on the delivery end once we got to CA (oddly, new orleans had its $h1t together). The pod arrived with no cover, making it a much more obvious target. On top of that, the chintzy plywood box, stapled together, was so warped in transit none of the latches would close, so the door was permanently 6″ open. Luckily the padlock was still attached, barely, though even that latch had bent so hard we needed a hammer to pry out the lock. We had planned to leave our stuff overnight since we were exhausted. but given the pod’s contents were essentially free for the taking we had to move everything in that evening. Super fun. The only positive here is they were generally on time with their delivery and pickup.
But once the pod was gone the real fun started. Shortly thereafter we started noticing small bites on our arm and legs in the morning. We thought it was bugs from the windows we left open at night, but after my mom stayed, noticed bites, and saw a doctor about it, our worst nightmare was confirmed. Bed bugs. The bed was totally fine before, and no neighbors in the building have ever heard of a bed bug issue in the building, leaving only 1 place our mattress could have gotten them: in the f’ing SmartBox. We’re now being hit with a $ 2.500 Orkin bill to have the place heat-​treated to kill the budding infestation. All this because we cheaped out and didn’t want to spend the extra $ 300 to use Pods and their larger, steel containers. Horrible mistake, lesson learned. This company is generally awful and will hopefully go out of business soon. Definitely steer clear.

Thank you Smartboxusa for sending me an email the morning of 21 Apr 2015 (my scheduled delivery date) of 2 Smartboxes (for my cross country move from NV to VA) informing me that I can expect delivery sometime today.
Thank you also for sending another email shortly thereafter clarifying that the Smartboxes will be delivered between 2−6pm.
Finally, thank you Smartboxusa for following up those two emails with a phone call informing that NO, there will be NOT be a delivery today. In fact, you just informed me that the Las Vegas business apparently went out of business/​closed? How could that be when your email to me, not more than 2 hours prior to your phone call, stated «I spoke with our location in Las Vegas today and you can expect your delivery later today.»
I don’t know what’s really going on or what the truth is, but one thing I know for sure is that I boarded a plane and flew from VA to NV to receive and pack 2 Smartbox containers and have them shipped to VA. Here I am in NV with no Smartbox containers and no offer or suggestion from Smartbox on how to rectify the situation.
Very classy Smartbox. The quickest way to succeed is to cancel on customers the DAY OF the service being provided.
ps. thank you also for the email on the following day (22 Apr 2015) asking me to «Please keep us in mind for future moves or storage needs by calling us at 1−877−627−8269». You have got to be kidding me!
You just screwed me over with no recourse or consideration whatsoever and you want me to consider you in the future?

I’ve made several local moves using Smartbox in Richmond, and am always happy by how easy they make it. I’ve been complicated a few times as well, and the local office has never given me a hard time about deliveries, or storage, or anything really. I have a couple boxes in storage currently, and I’ve never had an issue accessing them at the facility either, which is awesome. The driver I’ve met a couple times has always been really nice too, and never made me feel like I was irritating him about my odd placement issues. Definitely recommend using this company if you need any kind of local moving or storage around Richmond! :)

Same experience as Kathleen! Horrible experience.
Horrible customer service and service. We went with them because they provided a lower estimate. Never again. They took forever in confirming the pick up of our stuff in St. Louis. Then when they did pick it up and when it was in route, they never got back to us about confirming the delivery in Boston. When we finally got a hold of them, they said they could no longer deliver to Brookline, MA! This was confirmed in the contract from the start. They said they had switched ownerships and the new owners did not have a license to deliver/​move in Brookline. Why didn’t they tell us that when we booked them?! They said we had to pick up our stuff in Amesbury, MA! This is 50 miles outside of Boston. We only lucked out and were able to deliver our stuff after all because our place was on a state highway (Rt. 9) in Brookline in which our movers could quickly unload the stuff and SmartBox could drive off. If we had not been on Rt. 9, we would have had to hire movers and a truck to move our stuff from the boxes to a moving truck and then have the movers drive to Brookline and unload the stuff. Can you imagine the costs and stress? Moving cross country with two young kids is stressful enough, but Smartbox definitely added more stress. My husband was so furious he couldn’t talk to them anymore and I was nearly in tears when I called them. Very unprofessional! And not so smart!

This may seem like a ⁰⁄₁ questionmark head rant, but I can assure you that everything said in the following review is truthful… Smartbox should know better than to mess with an Elite Unilocaler!
I needed to figure out a way to move my stuff from Washington, DC to Atlanta, GA on the cheap, but I didn’t want to bother with a UHaul. The other problem lay in that I hadn’t yet found my new apartment in Atlanta, so I was going to need to store my things for a few weeks. I had heard of PODS, got a quote, and it was ridiculously expensive. A friend of a friend recommended Smartbox, and I immediately gave them a call.
About $ 1000 less than PODS, smaller boxes (I don’t have a house full of stuff!) and incredibly friendly over the phone. Once I had confirmed my move date, I called back and they guaranteed my prior quote. I’d like to make this clear: they quoted me a price to move my things from Washington DC (I provided my home address) to an undisclosed location in Atlanta, GA. They then confirmed that quote and sent me a contract, which I filled out and emailed back.
I never heard a response after sending the contract, but I had verbally committed over the phone, as I heard Chris, I believe, enter all of my information into the computer. Everything was «no problem» and «of course» and I was preparing myself to write a 5 star review.
…and then came today. When I arrived in DC at 1pm, my boxes still had not arrived. No worries, I thought, they’re guaranteed by 5, I’ll just call to check and see where they may be. No one picked up at the main office so I managed to snag a quite rude woman on the 1 – 800 number. She said she couldn’t help me, as all of the offices were closed due to it being Saturday. She promised me it would be there by 5.
Then 4:00 rolled around and I started to get nervous. My day had already been pretty horrible so I was expecting the worst. After quite a run around, I managed to get a cell phone number for a member of the Baltimore office (the closest region to DC, and the one who supposedly handled all DC deliveries), and he informed me that they had received no communication about a delivery in DC. In fact, they rarely even deliver to DC. I was completely speechless, to say the least. He wasn’t even that apologetic.
So here I am, 36 hours until my flight leaves to head back to the ATL, and I have no way to get my stuff home. Thanks, Smartbox! You RULE.
I would like to note here that I am INCREDIBLY appreciative of Dean at In & Out movers… expect a 5 star review of him tomorrow… as long as he shows up.
If it isn’t clear by now, avoid using this company at all costs. I managed to find movers who will pack and load everything and then unload it 600 miles later for about the same cost.