Clutter claims to be a full-service storage solution company that will pick up your belongings and transport them to their storage facility; if you ever need anything in storage, they will bring it back to you. With storage products ranging in size and price, the company offers guaranteed security for your stored belongings and the company manages your storage needs. Clients never have to “visit” their storage space again.
Clutter Review
When I was getting ready to move from my small apartment to a bigger apartment, I did some research about moving companies. I’ve moved many times and have yet to be impressed with some of the “movers” out there. I heard about Clutter from a friend and decided to give them a try. In order to schedule a pickup, I had to call the company on their 800 number. I would have preferred to just schedule a pick up online, but these guys like to get all the details before quoting a price.
They asked about specific items I owned and wanted to know the size of my television, how big my couch was, and how large my appliances were. I wasn’t taking my appliances so that didn’t matter; but, they were thorough nonetheless. I was told that the movers would take pictures of all of my belongings before they moved them to my storage space and I thought that was helpful. I’ve had trouble with movers ruining my stuff before so it was comforting to have a set of “before pictures” in case something did go wrong. I thought that was pretty good of the company to do since as movers, they probably know what can happen to a client’s stuff during transport.
Based on the number of belongings I had to store until my new apartment was ready, I choose the garage plan, which cost me about $150 a month, plus the cost of the movers. Movers are paid based on the number of hours it takes them to pack up and move your belongings. I had two movers for about 2 hours at $35 an hour. That seemed reasonable to me given the movers did everything.
Product Offerings
Clutter offers several storage solutions for a variety of needs. Because they encourage people to “declutter” and get rid of things just taking up space, they offer a really small package called the Item Plan. They also offer custom plans for much larger storage needs. Here’s a rundown of what each product includes. All of the packages are available on an annual basis or a monthly basis.
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The Item Plan
This storage plan is for people who just want to get one or two things out of their space. Think golf clubs, seasonal clothing, maybe some small appliances. This plan offers storage based on weight, so a client can store up to 35 pounds on a monthly basis. This plan starts at $7 and the price is based on your location, so that may vary depending on where you live.
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The Closet Plan
This plan offers 5’x5’ space to store items that have a little more bulk like chairs, or lamps, instruments or suitcases. Clients will typically choose this storage package for seasonal items such as holiday decorations as well. This plan starts at $99 a month.
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The Garage Plan
This is the plan I got for moving my apartment items into storage. It cost me $150 a month, but if you put in your zip code on clutter.com you can get a better idea of what you will pay based on where you live. This plan offers a 9’x9’ storage space. For a small apartment, this was plenty of room.
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The Studio Plan
For something a little bigger, the Studio plan offers 9’x18’ of storage space for about $270 a month. This is almost double the size I needed to store my stuff, but if you have a lot of things, this might be a good alternative to paying for the higher priced Apartment Plan.
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The Apartment Plan
This plan will run you about $400 a month and offers 9’x27’ of storage space. That’s a lot of space. I could have put three of my apartments in that space and had room to spare. The guys at Clutter will take a detailed inventory from you and help you in choosing which storage solution is right for you. They don’t want to waste space either, so I think it’s safe to trust them on this.
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The Custom Plan
If you still need more space, then you’ll want to ask them about their custom options. They can build out a storage solution that combines several storage options and give you a price that fits within your budget.
The great thing about talking to a professional storage company is they can reassure you that you might need less space than you think. I immediately that I needed The Apartment Plan because I had an apartment, but all apartments are different and the size of everyone’s belongings are different. I was pleased to find out that I didn’t need to pay as much as I thought I would to store my stuff.
Clutter Customer Service
At first, I was annoyed that I had to call the company to make an appointment for have movers come to my apartment, but then I was glad I did because, as I mentioned above, I was able to get the better price for a smaller storage solution. Had I just ordered movers online and made a guestimate of my belongings, I would have been out more than $100 a month or more. That’s a big savings for having to make a quick phone call.
The staff at Clutter were really friendly and didn’t make me feel rushed when I had to run and measure my sofa and chairs. I was able to ask questions about how long the process would take and got clarification about how I would retrieve my belongings when the time came. I felt like I was in good hands.
My Clutter Experience
When the movers showed up, they arrived on time and walked me through the process they would be completing during the visit. I knew they were going to take pictures from the conversation I had with the head office, but I didn’t realize how much care they would take in making sure my belongings were all logged in an inventory and detailed pictures were taken of each item. I was impressed, because as I said earlier, I had stuff broken because of careless movers before.
The movers took about 2 hours to go through all of my belongings and catalog them, and load the truck. They were really friendly and told me not to hesitate when I wanted to get anything from my storage space. All I had to do was log onto the website and request an item. How cool is that? They said someone would bring it to me at the location I specified, even if it wasn’t all of my things.
Ease of Use
I didn’t need to retrieve any of my belongings while they were in storage. I did, however, schedule a drop off for all of my belongings once my new apartment was ready and it was very easy to do. I scheduled my drop off for a Thursday afternoon and sure enough, the movers pulled up to my new apartment and moved all of my things inside and set up my furniture in the proper places for me.
I kept wanting to help them because it’s my stuff, but the movers insisted that I should not help them. I offered them some water and snacks but they declined that too. I was glad they were so dedicated to their job, even if I felt a bit guilty about watching them work.
Logging on to the website was really easy and requesting my belongings took minutes. The initial phone call was the only one I had to make and then everything could be done online after that.
My monthly payments came off my credit card every month and it was easy to square up the bill when I was finished with the service. I was relieved when all of my stuff showed up at my new apartment in one piece, and felt like it was a worthwhile service because everything was returned to me just the way I left it with them.
Reliability
The company delivered on what it promised: an affordably priced storage solution. I moved in with my parents for a few months while I waited for my new apartment to be ready, and there was no hassle to have Clutter return my stuff to my new place when the time came. The movers were helpful and friendly and worked fast to clear my stuff so they could move on to the next job. I was most impressed with the pictures they took and how they took the time to detail a log that made me feel at ease leaving my stuff with them.
They showed up on time and delivered my stuff back to me on time. What more can you ask for than a good price, friendly service that does what it says it will do?
Insurance and Claims
One final note about the company is that it does carry insurance for all belongings stored under one of its plans. There are several options available for purchasing protection insurance for your belongings and they run upwards of $25 extra a month for up to $2500 worth of insurance. I didn’t bother with the insurance because the company offer a secure location for storage, but you might want to consider it. I’m a rebel like that.
Clutter Review Summary
Rating 9.3
I was really impressed with Clutter overall. I can’t think of anything I would change about the experience – initially, I would have said I would have wanted to order the service online, but in being able to talk to someone and save money on my choices, I found that to be a worthwhile experience. People just don’t like using the phone anymore, so I didn’t enjoy that part right away. But it was worth it in the end.
I think the price was decent for the amount of work Clutter’s employees did and I felt safe leaving my belongings with them because of the work they put into packing my stuff onto the truck. If you are looking for a short-term or long-term storage solution, check Clutter out. They will be able to tell you what they can do for your quickly and get you set up in short order.
