Ship Smart Inc.

10 october 2017, 17:37

AVOID, AVOID, AVOID. Moving is stressful enough without having to deal with this company. I have many warnings about this company, but by far my biggest is their lack of communication. Initially, I was given a quote of $1700, which was then re-done to over $1300. They price your shipment based on the weight, but there's no way to truly know how much your shipment weighs - you just have to trust their calculations, which were incorrect as my final price was over $2000 (the same price as what other accredited moving companies would've charged me). They only give you a quote and then come to pick up your things. They were readily available and the movers who did come to gather my things were wonderful, but everything went downhill from there.I was told it would take around three weeks to get my things from California to North Carolina. Innocently, I believed them and only packed work clothes for the extra week. But once my belongings were with them, the 'estimated' delivery (still no date) suddenly went up to four weeks, then five, then six. In the end it took over SIX WEEKS for my things to arrive, DOUBLE THE TIME they said. The most frustrating thing was they were never able to give me an arrival date or even an update. I had to initiate communication on where my things were and when they were expected to arrive. When I would call, their customer service team would immediately jump into defense mode, another red flag to show this type of situation was normal to them. Customer service was terrible. There was no apologies, or 'I understand your frustration,' they simply said this is a busy time of the year (again - would have been nice to know ahead of time) and that they couldn't give me a set date but it would probably take another week.It felt like they hijacked my stuff and there was nothing I could do about it. During my conversations with various members of their staff, there was never once an apology. When I asked what I could do to get my belongings sooner, they said they have an expedited service and it would cost 40% additional cost. So, conveniently, I could have my things in the three weeks they initially promised but would have to pay around a grand more. They also said I did not check some sort of "guaranteed" box when I signed up online for them to move my stuff. This mysterious box would guarantee the three weeks they promised. This was never made clear to me when speaking to them as I signed up and I never saw the guarantee check box. This felt like a sham and a way for them to turn around the blame on me for the amount of time it was taking them.After weeks of waiting, my things were finally ready to ship and I had to pay for my shipment. Again, the price was way over their 'estimate' and I had to pay an extra $350 for them to move my things into my home, rather than just drop it curbside. WARNING: THEY WILL ONLY MOVE THINGS INTO YOUR HOME IF YOU HAVE AN ELEVATOR -- even if you paid the extra $350. This was not made clear to me, luckily I did have an elevator. At this point, I'm already in North Carolina and I'm so sick of wearing the same clothes I will just about do anything to get my stuff. One day at work, wearing a new dress I had to go out and buy, I receive an email from a  ShipSmart employee I haven't talked to before saying my things were arriving that day. Uh... what? Panic ensued. I had no previous communication on when my things were going to arrive and needed to correlate the drop off with my work schedule. They corrected their mistake saying it was set to arrive in the warehouse that day. Yet another stress-inducing moment caused by ShipSmart.ShipSmart outsources their shipments, so a different moving company ends up physically moving your things. Seems like a good idea, but it's not. When my belongings did arrive there was minor damage to my bed frame and dresser. The man they outsourced to move my things in was great (all the people I actually met were very courteous and nice). He listed the things that had damage and took pictures and told me ShipSmart would be in contact to get it fixed. It's been over a month since they dropped off my things, haven't heard a word from ShipSmart on fixing the damage or reimbursing me for the damage.  Also, my glass desktop was delivered in a wooden crate, adding an ENORMOUS amount of weight which wasn't calculated into my estimated price. I appreciate them trying to avoid damage, but I wish they would have had open communication on how their packaging process adds weight (and therefore adding to the price) so I could throw my forty-dollar ikea glass table top into the dumpster before moving. I'm aware that this review was ridiculously long. But the sad fact is, it took this much space to cover this company's amount of screw ups.I would advise those considering ShipSmart to avoid the added stress of moving and go with an accredited moving company.

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:37

I'm so thankful that I found Ship Smart. They shipped two bikes and 40 boxes of belongings across the country for about half the price of what any other moving company quoted. Yes, it was still expensive to ship 1,000 lbs of stuff 3,000 miles away. But everything with Ship Smart went smoothly from start to finish. They were friendly and communicative the whole time and each of their moving partners in the origin and destination cities were also very friendly and communicative. They picked up my stuff the morning I left Tennessee and the movers arrived on time and were loaded up in 10 minutes flat. They had my stuff ready to ship to my destination in just 2-3 days (they originally told me 2-3 weeks!). They stored my belongings for a very low price while they were waiting for me to secure a destination address and then timed the shipping of my pallets to arrive on the exact day that I moved in to my new home. The pallets were delivered to my back door and everything was incredibly well packed and protected. I shipped lots of fragile, breakable items and nothing was broken, no boxes were crushed, every box that I had marked fragile or with arrows indicating the direction it needed to be stored were packed correctly. All that said, they are a shipping service not a moving service. I packed my belongings carefully and in sturdy boxes that could hold up to being palletized, and breaking down the pallets upon arrival and disposing of all the cardboard was a pretty labor intensive task. I think you can pay more to have them break down the pallets and carry your stuff inside for you, but I opted not to do this to save some $$. If you're looking for full service movers you aren't going to find it with Ship Smart, but if you just need to ship your stuff across the country and don't mind tackling some prep work yourself, they're the perfect solution.

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:37

I used Ship Smart to get some furniture and valuable art across country to LA. I received a prompt and very competitive quote. The crating service came the next day and carefully loaded up my things. I received prompt courteous and personal attention and regular notifications as to the status of my shipment. The shipment arrived quickly. As I unpacked my things I could see the care that was taken to crate and pack my belongings. I would definitely use Ship Smart again and will recommend them to anyone in need of such a service. Benn

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:37

Literally the most shady company I've ever dealt with. Refused to book order for me when the electronic filing system was extremely glitchy. SHRINK WRAPPED ITEMS ON A PALETTE - OUR PIANO??? NOT A SHIPPING CONTAINER. You have to wait until your stuff gets to their warehouse and then trust their scale to weigh your items. Then they hold your stuff hostage until you pay them. AND it takes 4 WEEKS to get your stuff??? Refused to return emails. Only one person in the office on Saturday. Could have not cared AT ALL about me as a customer. I dealt with these people for over a month and could not be happier that I did NOT go with them. I chose PACK RAT instead.

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:37

Have been researching moving companies to move to another state and the two different people I was working out details with were so rude and not helpful at all. We decided to go with another company and pay an extra $1000 so that we could deal with people who were polite and helpful. Moving is stressful enough to not have to deal with ass holes.

review from yelp.com