What to Expect When You Move with Zippy Shell—Casey’s Move

Zippy Shell is one of our best moving container companies because of its container quality and flexible delivery options. But that doesn’t mean it's perfect. We talked to Casey, a real-life Zippy Shell customer, to see what she thought. Overall, Casey thought Zippy Shell’s prices were incredible—but that its customer service was pretty rough. While all of her belongings arrived safely, Casey says she probably wouldn’t use Zippy Shell again.

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Casey chose Zippy Shell for one reason: it was the cheapest company she could find. Its quote of $3,000 was approximately $670 lower than the nearest-priced moving container competitor.

The average cost to move with Zippy Shell is about $3,260—or about 10% more expensive than the competition. However, prices can vary based on size, distance, and storage. In Casey’s situation, she found that Zippy Shell was actually the cheapest option. Zippy Shell’s quoted cost of $3,000 was about $890 more affordable than everyone else.

Note: Zippy Shell didn’t include fuel costs in Casey’s quote, so her final bill set her back a couple of hundred extra dollars. However, even with the additional fees, she still saved hundreds of dollars compared to other portable storage companies.

Zippy Shell typically has slightly below-average customer service. While the average customer rating for a moving container company is 3.5 out of 5 stars, Zippy Shell comes in at around 3.2 stars. However, Casey’s experience was bumpier than usual, and she gave the company a low two-star review.

She pointed out four basic frustrations with Zippy Shell’s customer service:

1. Rude telephone reps. Casey’s phone conversations with Zippy Shell didn’t exactly leave her feeling warm and fuzzy. She expressed frustration with impolite telephone customer service reps who were inconsistent about timing projections.
2. Lack of transparent pricing. Casey was startled when her final bill included a $180 charge for fuel. She called the company for more information, and they said that if she had stayed on the line after getting a quote, a recording would have told her she’d be responsible for gas fees. Casey felt like Zippy Shell should have been more upfront about its prices. (We agree.)
3. Unauthorized storage fee. In addition to nearly $200 in fuel charges, Casey’s final invoice included a $190 storage fee she never authorized. While the company agreed to refund her money, Casey had to take time out of her schedule to solve the problem.
4. Late delivery. Zippy Shell provided a four-hour delivery window but didn’t show up until Casey had waited for six hours.

“At the end of the day, my stuff got from Point A to Point B, and that was the goal,” Casey says. “But would I use them again? Not likely.”

• Low prices. We’ve looked at hundreds of quotes and found that Zippy Shell is typically about 10% more expensive than other companies. We were surprised that Zippy Shell gave Casey a quote that was 20% lower than the competition. It’s one reason we recommend you compare quotes. You could save hundreds of dollars like Casey.
• Confused driver. Casey seemed to know more about her moving container than the delivery driver. For example, the driver didn’t think the container would fit in Casey’s driveway. She assured him it would (and it did). He also gave her the wrong instructions on how to lock the container.
• Poor customer service. Most customers rate Zippy Shell slightly below average (around 3.2 out of 5 stars), but Casey’s telephone experience (her in-person encounters weren’t as bad) was so rough that she gave the company only 2 stars. We’ve talked to Zippy Shell many times as potential customers and can safely say that Casey’s experience is an outlier. We’re surprised things went so poorly.

We recommend Zippy Shell as one of our best moving container companies because of its flexible delivery options and durable containers. Though we’ve found its customer service to be around average, Casey had a much different experience with Zippy Shell. She got a low price, and her stuff arrived safely—but those were her only real positive highlights.

Everything else went poorly for Casey. She worked with rude phone reps, had two surprise fees (totaling hundreds of dollars), and at times seemed to know more about her moving container than the Zippy Shell delivery driver. In the end, the bad outweighed the good, and Casey says she likely wouldn’t use the company again.