After a comprehensive six-month search, Boston College Storage, a division of BC Student Agencies (BCSA) officially announced its partnership with Collegeboxes. The BCSA is an independently funded business entity within the Carroll School of Management that provides students with real-life business experience. A storage and shipping provider for seven years, Collegeboxes serves more than 60 colleges and universities, including Duke, New York University, Tufts, and Northwestern.
After an unsatisfactory experience with longtime partner SmartMovers, BC Storage selected Collegeboxes as a new partner in storage. The company has demonstrated a tight operation, as exemplified this past December when it was used by juniors storing belongings while studying abroad this spring semester.
Students who used BC Storage last fall experienced many problems that resulted from operational malfunctions at SmartMovers, the storage vendor that BC and other area universities, including Northeastern and Boston University, had used for many years.
"As the only authorized storage vendor at BC, we knew we could no longer work with SmartMovers, and we needed to find a new vendor that would provide reliable, quality service for BC students and parents," said Ezra Englebardt, director of BCSA. "We collaborated extensively with ResLife, BC's General Counsel, and BCSA's advisers in the Carroll Graduate School [of Management] to develop strict criteria to evaluate storage providers. We then evaluated several different storage providers, and checked references with other area universities before finally choosing Collegeboxes."
"Collegeboxes offers proven quality service and competitive pricing, and students will notice many key changes with Collegeboxes," said Ricky Salinas BC storage manager and CSOM '09. "Collegeboxes guarantees $100 insurance on each stored item, and also offers free in-room pickup and delivery. Students can be sure that their items will be treated with great care, since they are handled exclusively by Collegeboxes' professional movers. And, BCSA employees will supervise each mover to guarantee that students' needs are properly met," he said.
Unlike last year's storage vendor, Collegeboxes uses an Integrated Online Account Management system that has been in service for more than five years. With this feature, students can reserve a storage pickup time, order supplies, and manage their account online.
"We had a great response from the juniors who stored their belongings back in December for the spring semester. Collegeboxes' movers were very professional and efficient, and we have every reason to believe that they will continue to be," said Salinas.
Putting parents' and students' minds at ease, Collegeboxes has assured BCSA that it will field telephone inquiries with a customer service hotline Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST (866-BOX-IT-UP) and e-mail address (customercare@collegeboxes.com). The customer service center is staffed by 30 trained customer service operators who will make sure any issues are addressed quickly and to the customer's satisfaction. Further, BCSA employees will be available at various locations on campus to address any questions or concerns.
Students can visit BCSA's Web site, www.bc.edu/bcsa, for more information about BC Storage, and reserve storage pickup times on Collegeboxes' Web site. BC Storage is a strategic business unit within BCSA and is the only student storage provider that is authorized by BC. BC Storage partnered with Collegeboxes to provide students with storage and shipping services.
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