Zippy Shell Reviews 283

Zippy Shell is one of the worst companies I have ever worked with.

My initial drop-off for the empty container went fine, even though it was about 3 hours late and, instead of a Zippy Shell, what was dropped off was a more typical type of moving container from their sister company, 1-800 Pack Rat. While I was not told this would be the case, I didn't bat an eye because I knew they are sister companies.

My container was picked up on time after 3 business days (the longest length of time this company will let you have), and we were ready to move a week later, with the expectation our container would arrive in 6-8 business days, per the contract.

Well, my family and I moved to our new house without furniture, fully expecting that to be fixed in a few days. However, the 8th business day comes and goes with 0 correspondence from Zippy Shell - no updates and certainly no delivery.

I called the company, and they have two options when you call. Either wait on the line, or schedule a callback. Waiting on the line yields, on average, a 20-30 minute wait time. If you do decide to schedule a callback, don’t expect a call within the hour.

After a lengthy wait, I was finally given the opportunity to talk to someone at the company. At this point, I explained how long I had been waiting on my things with zero updates. Following this, I was told by their customer service representative that, because my things were loaded into a 1-800 Pack Rat container rather than a Zippy Shell, they would have to wait to get a Zippy Shell in which they could transport the Pack Rat container or else they wouldn't be allowed to transport it to their storage facility in my destination. With that in mind, after 9 business days, my container remained at the origin location, unbeknownst to me. This was NEVER disclosed to me, so I was certainly unhappy at this news.

After another couple of days with no update, I called once again. This time, I'm told that the parts of the company who deal with customer service don't have any way to get live updates from their logistics department. I'm put on a brief hold, at which time I was told my container is still at the origin location and they had no update on when it would be picked up.

I told them that the lack of transparency was unacceptable, and that this delay should be sufficient enough for a refund or some sort of compensation to remedy the delay that extends beyond any reasonably expectable delay, as laid out in their contract. The customer service team told me that they do not discuss finances on the phone, and that I would need to pay in full before any discussion could be had on the fiscal side of things. They will refuse the conversation with you until they get their money entirely, giving them all of the leverage.

I called a couple more times to get status updates, and their customer service team again told me they have no updates, but would have someone from the management team give me a call. I was told 3 times I would get calls from management, yet I never received a call from a management team member. I, instead, forced the issue and had a team member transfer me. After a 20 minute wait, I finally had the honor and privilege of talking to a Zippy Shell customer service manager.

Their manager told me several things in order to completely deny any wrongdoing or mishandling of the situation, including:
1. There is a driver shortage, and specifically in my origin area, they cannot find someone to pick up and deliver my container. Rather than telling me this is what happened, I had to pull teeth to have someone relay this information. Also, there was no indication that there was a driver shortage causing this delay until I asked and spoke to at least 5 different team members.
2. Zippy Shell will not reach out to customers with any correspondence other than pickup and delivery notifications. All else you just have to pray you call in time to find out before any issues arise that you can't get in front of.

As of writing this, it has been 3 calendar weeks since my container was picked up, which also translates to 15 business days. I had an initial 6-8 business day window sold to me and written in my agreement. Zippy Shell loves to say that this is "just an estimate" and that they have no guarantees, citing their hidden rules that are in an addendum to the agreement that can only be read by clicking a website url embedded in your PDF agreement.

However, an additional 7+ business days is not a reasonable delay which can be justified, and the fact that my container is STILL at the origin location is unacceptable.

Do not, under any circumstances, use Zippy Shell for your moving or storage needs. They will skirt every question, provide no clarity, and hold your things hostage without any estimated date as to when it will be returned to you.

7/20/2021 update - my things still have not arrived!

We do not recommend this company under any circumstances. We booked a pod to move from Detroit to Winter Park a month in advance. On the evening of the date the pod was to arrive for loading we were informed - after calling about its whereabouts - that the pod was not coming due to no pods being available. We were additionally informed that the earliest date a pod MIGHT be available for loading was the day AFTER we had to move.
What moving business doesn't know how many pods they have available compared to the number of customers who want them? This one, apparently.
Yes, they'll issue a refund (we'll see) but it will hit a week after we have to move. And there was absolutely no apology or effort to help.
Bad business, bad customer care, just bad.

Terrible customer service, and uncaring management. I was scammed by a friend at the place I moved to in Colorado, so I called them 5 days after my things had been picked up in Chicago (3 hours late), asking if I could switch my shipment to New Jersey instead, and how much it would cost to do so. The woman told me they could do that since it hadn't been shipped yet, and that it would only cost an additional $20. Perfect! I received an email saying my belongings were now being delivered to New Jersey, so I booked my flight.

I hear nothing for 3 days, then on the 4th day, while I'm at the airport on my way to New Jersey, I get a text message saying my belongings are now in transit. Awesome! However a little while later, I get a call as I'm boarding my plane, saying that the change was never communicated, and that my things were being sent to the original destination in Colorado! I say this won't work for me, as I'm not living in Colorado anymore, and that I was told my things would be sent to New Jersey 4 days ago. The person told me he could redirect me to sales and that's it.

I call their sales department and they quote me an ADDITIONAL $3,200, all because of their lack of communication. I called back several times saying that I cannot and will not pay this, and that I need my things in New Jersey, but the supervisor keeps referring me to sales, and sales keeps referring me to a supervisor. Nobody has any idea what they're doing, and they seem completely unwilling to help solve this problem. My items are now in some warehouse in Colorado, being held hostage while I'm being charged $240 per month for storage and "protection"! It has been WEEKS and nobody has been helpful, and I have no idea how to get my things back, every possession I own is there.

I wish I read these reviews before using this company, STAY AWAY from this company!

Edit: The reply below is false, they OFFERED a discount, which I will not be accepting, as they're still asking for over $2,000 despite me having written confirmation of the change of address. I guess we'll be settling this in court instead.

I rarely write reviews but my experience with Zippy Shell made me feel obligated to warn other movers. I hired Zippy Shell for a long distance move and also had them book me movers to load the moving container. On the day of my move, I waited for the movers during the designated arrival time but had not heard from them so I called and was told there was a forklift problem in the warehouse and that I could expect them in the next hour. Two and a half hours later, they had still not arrived nor had they called so once again I called the movers and while on the phone with them someone from Zippy Shell called to tell me the movers truck "broke down" (I've now seen this excuse in other bad reviews) and they would not be coming.

I was told that I would not be able to have movers come again until 5 days later and 3 days after I needed to be out of my apartment and that the most Zippy Shell could do was provide a $200 discount due to the "short notice." After speaking with multiple people at Zippy Shell, no one was able to find a suitable solution for me to be out of my apartment by the end of the month and as a result I had to take the rest of the afternoon off of work to frantically call movers around the city in hopes someone could move me on extremely short notice. I spoke with over 15 moving companies and found one who took pity on my situation and said the only availability they could provide was for that night.

As a result, I moved forward with the new moving company knowing I needed to be out of my apartment. Due to Zippy Shell company policy, I was told that my movers would not be able to drop my belongings at their facility that night due a 48 hour notice policy at their warehouse (mind you their movers cancelled on me and they were still not able to make an exception). Since this was my absolute only option to get movers to me, I had no other option but to have the new movers take all my things to my parent's garage where everything is now haphazardly stacked. By the time the entire ordeal was over it was after 1am and I had to pay a large amount of money for last minute movers.

Zippy Shell customer service was incredibly unhelpful, had no back-up plans in place (they kept telling me that the truck breaking down was an "unforeseen circumstance" but as a moving company you need to have contingency plans in place) and the $200 discount was a slap in the face for the chaos that ensued and the amount of money I had to pay to get new movers. I had just lost close to $1,000 finding last minute movers and felt it was fair that Zippy Shell at least meet me in the middle and provide an additional credit and they wouldn't even entertain the idea of providing more money. It was very clear that they didn't care about the customer experience (especially after asking to speak with multiple supervisors and being told that a supervisor wouldn't be able to help). The irony is when I was shopping around for movers, I decided not to go to PODS because they were more expensive and now I've cancelled my order with Zippy Shell and will be moving forward with PODS. After telling PODS the story, they seemed completely unsurprised and basically said they tried to warn me this would happen. Lesson learned: spend the extra money and go with PODS! I could not recommend Zippy Shell any less.

UPDATE: Zippy Shell responded back to my post and asked for my order number and said they would have a customer service representative investigate (even after I've talked to close to 10 representatives this week who could do next to nothing to help my situation) and that someone would reach out to me. After providing additional information, they changed the post to say that they were sorry and they would use the feedback to provide better customer experiences in the future. No attempt to rectify the situation and a generic response that seems to be the go-to for the other bad reviews on here. I would have gladly provided a more positive update to this post if someone had reached out saying they were willing to provide some sort of credit or even provide a sliver of customer experience besides "we're sorry" but instead they changed their response and made it clear no one else would be reaching out to smooth things over. Steer clear!

Helping our daughter move across country we found Zippy Shell. If moving across country look elsewhere, I would not recommend Zippy Shell to move you across the street. What they lack in professionalism they make up for it in being unreliable. Their company is blessed with a lack of communication and their problem solving abilities consist of saying “I’m sorry” which they say a lot. Our cross country move was scheduled for May 10th and apparently they only work with 4 movers in the Seattle area and when the local movers truck broke down their solution was to move the moving day to the 13th and to say “I’m sorry” . My daughter had to fight for this date as they wanted to schedule it on the 27th. It didn’t matter that this delay resulted in her family rescheduling their flight to Seattle, an extra night in a hotel and additional expenses plus a car rental. Oh but a discount of $200 which was less then ½ of a percent discount from the total cost of the move was given for the issue.

Expected delivery day was 10 business days from pick up, 20 business days later her stuff arrived in Oklahoma at their storage site. This was after several calls, and being told at one point they had not heard from their driver for 6 days!! No concern was shown for their missing driver or that all of her worldly possessions were MIA. Due to this issue a discount of $150 was given, with both discounts ($350 total) this super amazing discount was still less then one percent of the total invoice from Zippy. But they did say “I’m sorry” I hope their driver was ok.

At this time she asked to have access to her stuff, She did as asked per the contract and gave two day notice. She was told she would be charged a $150 access fee. This fee is not disclosed on the website or on your contract. I guess we should of read between the lines. She was done dealing with them at this time and asked for her stuff to be delivered to a family member’s home (her apartment is not ready) She was told that she needed to provide them with a 14 day notice to move her stuff. Hmm, her contract said 7 days which she had to point out. It was scheduled for a Saturday but changed to a Monday which they knew she had to work that day. I guess for Zippy Shell calendars are hard to understand, but they did say “I’m sorry”.

She finally had her stuff! But all her stuff was covered in grass, dirt and black soot stuff. Boxes were damaged, some crushed. She is still going through boxes and knows she will find more surprises.

So if you love working with a company that doesn’t know how to communicate, problem solve, read their own contract and sneak in undisclosed fees this is the company for you! They are nice and only a little condescending when working with you so do keep that in mind. I’m sorry my review was not shorter and hopefully I only took up less then 1% of your time.

In my reply to Zippy Shell, I don't feel comfortable leaving my personal information. You can look us up, here is the invoice number 173312 that was sent on 05/07/21 and my daughter's name is Amanda Swigert.

We were scheduled to have a zippy shell
container delivered today. I received a call from 1-800-PACKRAT yesterday confirming the delivery for today between 9am and 1pm. Everything was going great!

Well...1pm rolled around and...nothing. So I called customer service and they told me it would be there by 8pm.

Tick...tock...it's 8:25pm and no container. This is completely unacceptable. To charge half upfront, and then NOT EVEN DELIVER is beyond disgusting. I'll have to wake up at 5am tomorrow to call customer service and figure out where our container is because we have to be out by TOMORROW NIGHT.

I will update this post if a resolution occurs.

They totally screwed us. The 4 trucks were scheduled. The first one did not show up. No explanation. Then they said they could not complete the move. We had to then find other solutions. Their customer service is terrible, communications are horrendous. Wait times to talk to someone are 1 hour, then they hang up on you. How does this company exist? The poorest excuse for a moving compnay I can imagine. Do not use them, it is a sham!

I’m having an awful customer experience trying to get my container picked up and every single person I’ve talked to has essentially told me “too bad, too sad”. I have asked for a supervisor at least 3 times and apparently all of them “had family emergencies” this weekend. I’ve called, emailed and spent hours on hold trying to get this resolved. I’m at a loss and was never made aware of the flexible pick up. I recognize it’s in the fine print of the contract, but that’s just poor business protocol. If I had been informed the pick up date was an “estimate” I could have made other arrangements, but now I’m in a precarious position and extremely disgusted with how everything is being handled. I would like to speak to a supervisor responsible for a move from North Texas to Georgia ASAP.

What made me feel obligated to write a review was the painfully long hold times if you wanted to speak to someone at the company. Hold times were up to 3-5 hours at times. In the end, I didn't get my final issue resolved and I just gave up and paid the amount they asked because I couldn't wait on hold anymore. Also, the company is segregated so that it's difficult to coordinate between the shipment side and customer service side of the company. Not a great customer service experience and I will likely give my business to another company next time.

Updated note: While I appreciate the response to this review from Zippy Shell, it's noteworthy to point out that they didn't ask me what the original issue was that I was talking about in the review so they could work towards resolving it. They are missing the entire point. Arg! Not good customer service AGAIN! Avoid this company if you can!

FINAL UPDATE: Zippy Shell came through and reached out directly via phone. They helped me resolve my issue. Thank you!

Terrible experience, only went with them because they were able to beat the price of competitors but now sorely regret using them, they are impossible to get on the phone, they never give any clear timelines or status when they are in possession of your stuff, infuriating to work with.

UPDATE AS OF 07/31/2021. Well, I never received a $200 refund. Not surprised though. This company has been horrible in every way possible throughout this whole experience. I believe that they have left me no choice but to sue them to recover my costs due to their mistakes during my move. UPDATE AS OF 07/16/2021. I received a call from a representative at Zippy Shell about a week ago and he apologized for my experience. He offered me $200 for my troubles. I laughed and said that my costs incurred because of your company's inability to move me timely was $1500. I told him $200 was better than nothing so sure. I haven't seen a check yet though (not surprised). I wonder if there would be grounds for a class action lawsuit against this company? There sure are alot of reviews and experiences similar to mine. UPDATE AS OF 07/01/2021. This company did give a very weak reply to this post but as of yet nobody has contacted me to address the money that I am owed due to their being 17 days late with my delivery from the $7000.00 move that I paid for. I can only hope that everybody who is thinking of hiring a moving company reads this first. UPDATE AS OF 06/25/2021. I am still out of pocket over $1500.00 in motel and food costs because this company was 17 days late with my delivery. No contact from them, no reply to this post, just plain nothing. I ordered a move from 1-800-PACK-RAT who in turn had my move orchestrated by Zippy Shell.. my move was from Troutdale Oregon to Knoxville Tennessee. I paid close to $7000.00 for this move. Everything went fine up until the date of my scheduled delivery which was 06/01/21. They gave me a bunch of run around about their drivers not driving on weekends and then told me they expected delivery on 06/04/21. I kept calling customer service and getting no information from them on where my belongings were in transit. I called over tens times in the course of the week with no answers until a supervisor called me on 06/08/21 to let me know that they had picked up the wrong container and that my stuff was still in a warehouse in Oregon. It is now 06/11/21 and they called me to inform me that my stuff is now in a Chattanooga warehouse and will not be delivered to my home until 06/17/21! They have agreed to refund me $879.00 for the expedited delivery that I had paid for and a $279.00 fuel surcharge that I contested but they feel that they don't owe me anything for the cost of staying at motel for 16 days and eating at fast food places. This alone has cost me over $2000.00 because of their negligence. I do plan to sue them but all I can do at this point is hope that people read this review and hope that I get my stuff. This has been a nightmare in every way possible. Robert Gibson

I scheduled Zippyshell for a long distance move from MA to NV. I chose them because of their promise that they use a street legal trailer instead of those obnoxious containers that need special permits to be on city streets, seeing as my move started in Boston which is notorious for small streets and difficulty getting permits, this sounded like a dream. During the entire process of getting the quote and scheduling the move I was vehemently promised a street legal trailer. Fast forward to the day of the move and I was contacted by a third party company that said they would be delivering my zippyshell in a 1-800-Packrat container which is not street legal and that the small driveway that I have would not have enough clearance to lower said container. Being the day of the move there was not adequate time to acquire the necessary permits to have put on the street and without these permits they could not deliver it. I was thankful to have kind neighbors to allow me to use their driveway that was large enough. When I called Zippyshell to resolve this matter they just kept informing me that there is a part of the contract that states that in some areas they use third parties to deliver and you may need different permits and that by signing the contract I agreed to this. My issuing being is that I was never informed that this would pertain to my move. Not once in the multiple times that I spoke to a representative I was told that my move would fall under this clause in the contract.

And if all that wasn't enough after quoting me at $4260 in full, half to be paid at the start and half to be paid before arrival at the destination, they added on almost $300 in fuel and other surcharges at the end of the move that they never added in the final quote. Again when I spoke with someone about these additional charges they kept reminding me that it was in the contract but never once was this relayed to me by any of the multiple representatives that I spoke with during the duration of my move. Plus they are still in possession of my belongings when it is past their 10-14 day window they promised my belongs would arrive in.

In short I would never recommend this mover to anyone I know. They are deceptive and extremely unprofessional.

I hired this company for a long distance move. I called over 5 times to verify that 1 shell would fit my 3 bedroom house and 2 car garage. I was assured it would all fit in 1 shell. The shell was scheduled to arrive on a Saturday- as soon as I opened the door the driver said “ma’am are you moving 1 room or the entire house?” Well, that was when I knew I was in trouble. I was scheduled to start a new job on Monday.
Short version, I immediately looked at the shell and thought WOW why would the rep tell me 1 only needed 1 shell for a 3 bedroom 2 car garage. I keep mentioning the garage because I told them over and over I have like 25-30 boxes in the garage plus the inside of my home.
I called several times while the driver was there and was told someone would call me back on Monday.
I had to scramble and pay someone else to move me on top of not arriving for my new job until Thursday because no one could move me until then. Zippy refunded $400 dollars and kept $800 because the truck showed up. How is this my fault? I don’t work for a moving company. When you call a moving company, it’s reasonable to expect the sales rep to give an accurate # of shells to move you. Now, I’m out well over $2200. I am going to dispute this charge. Very deceptive company. I could have lost my job because of their negligence!!!

Update: I received the generic response of we will work better to provide an accurate estimate moving forward abs we won’t give you back anymore money. Terrible company! I’m out thousands abs because of their incompetence in doing their job of providing an accurate estimate I’m on the hook for $700 to them PLUS the additional $3k to get my stuff moved (late)! Unbelievable! Never use them Never!!!!!

The price is right but wow...... The customer service is absolutely terrible. Recommend this company to people you don’t like. Saturday- your shell will be delivered between 8-12. 12= no shell. Customer service your shell will be delivered between 1-3. 3 = no shell. Customer service has no way to track or reach out to the third party delivery service and find any information out regarding delays or issues. Sunday- no shell. Monday morning it finally arrives. Honestly you’d get ahold of the cable guy easier than these people. Supervisors are few and far between and apparently don’t like to return calls. I would never ever recommend this company to anyone. I’ll update this post as needed as my belongings haven’t yet been picked up or delivered. It can’t get any worse..... or can it. I’ll keep you posted.
Edit : Zippy shell (1800 pack rat) has since reached out and offered an apology and a solution to the communication gap. Although I am pleased that a solution was offered the 14 phone calls didn’t do anything. It was the reviews that prompted someone to reach out. Caveat Emptor.

I hired Zippy Shell to move my furniture from Nevada to Florida. They delivered my furniture on 1/21/21 & 1/22/21, my dining table legs were broken & my wooden bed railing was damaged. I submitted a claim at the end January of this year and have yet to hear back from them.

Worst moving option out there. They flat out lie and say to bad. Read the fine print. Didn't get fine print and nothing but excuses and "sorry". I bought the insurance they suggested and need it but they would not honor it. They sweet talk you and tell you want you want to hear but you will be sorry. Stay away....to many good options.

We had Zippy Shell do all the packing in containers. When it arrive at our new location we found that our dining buffet was all broken up. I requested a claim and they denied it. Said it wasn’t their fault. Do not use these people! They will not do the right thing for you. I provided all the pictures of damage and then they requested what it looked like before it was damage, so I sent that as well. Again, Zippy Shell did all the packing and loading into containers, yet Claims denied my claim twice. I expected professionalism from Zippy Shell.

Ok zippy Shell I will wait to hear back on this issue. Thank you.

Well I was told that Zippy Shell would get back within a couple of days. That never happened. What am I to think about this? That you don’t care for your customers furniture? Why?

I did a long haul move and they didn't notify me when my stuff arrived. It was nearly impossible to get them to come and deliver. The unloading crew was rude, late and kept complaining about parking

Unbelievable what just happened to me, first I was concerned about the estimate they gave me for a 3 Bedroom house. I call and stated my concerns, they told me that the shell could hold up to 3 bedrooms. Well today on the arrival date I was told by one of the moving team that I would need another Zippy container. I ask for the cost he stated another container cost of over $3000 dollars. I refuse and complain of a bate and switch. He gave me corporates phone number, I called they gave me the run around by saying it was only an estimate. So I ask to cancel because the information they provided reference to a 3 room home was a lie. They allow me to cancel for a $700 charge fee. I already paid $1685 in advance and $189 in advance for the rental. I contacted my bank and filed a dispute. Please Please Please do not hire this company. I hope my experience helps others. Just received this message from Zippy
"Joseph, we are sorry to hear about your experience and we would like to investigate this further. Can you please provide your best contact number, so we can follow up with you directly" They have all of my contact information, they could call me anytime. They did reach out to me and promise a full refund but as of this date March 2021 I only received a partial refund.

The worst moving experience I could imagine. Do not use this company. Flat out lied to me up front to get my business. Left me abandoned mid move. Refused to pay for obvious damage forcing me to go to court. The absolute worst.