Best Price Moving and Storage

10 october 2017, 17:40

My move was from IL to NJ. My moving company was American Moving & Storage, which brokered the move to Best Price MoversVarious names the company uses: American Moving and Storage / Duntara All 3 companies have a lot of complaints on BBB. This was my mistake not checking BBB and looking at some of the positive reviews here on yelp and thinking that all will go well.  Before finding movers I was told from a friend of mine to avoid movers that broker a mover. I checked with American Moving & Storage and I was told that the company was family owned and they would not broker my move, and I specifically asked that when the moving truck comes would it have your name on it and the sales person said yes. Guess what happened close to the time of the move? I had another moving company's driver reach out to me and tell me that he will pick up and he was with Best Price Moving. I called Best Price Moving to ask who they were and was told that the move was brokered to them, a term these moving companies will sometimes use is associates/affiliates since most folks looking to move avoid brokers. Anyhow the best price movers loaded my stuff on a truck and I was told that this was going to go to a warehouse and then it was going to be loaded onto another truck. I was given a 5 - 6 day spread for delivery, but the driver called on the 6th day saying he can't bring an 18 wheeler to where I am so he will need to unload the furniture to a smaller truck which will also cost me another $200 saying that I didn't have appropriate access for an 18 wheeler (who has that in a residential area?). I told the driver to have the company call me about the $200 because I was not paying it. I never heard from the company about the $200. The driver came on the 7 day and was late, I had booked the elevator with my building from 2 PM - 5 PM , and the movers were well aware that after 5 the building doesn't allow the move, the movers showed up at 4:45 PM. They quickly started unloading and when I looked at some of the boxes they were wet and torn. I also found a lot of the boxes were in very bad shape. All of the china was broken, even though it was packed well. It seemed like the boxes had been thrown around. My wood furniture had some chips and scratches. In all in this move my items had been loaded on to 3 different trucks, and similarly unloaded 3 different times, all this loading/unloading is going to affect anyone's items especially the way these movers throw the boxes in the truck. Also to note, when the mover came into the new apartment (two 20 - 25 year old Ukrainian guys) who barely spoke English. I asked them to put something on their shoes to protect the carpet because it was raining outside and I didn't want stains on the white carpet. They guys refused to put anything on, even though I provided them with slip on covers and plastic bags. Instead I had to cover the carpet with bed sheets.Things to watch-out for:- Movers that broker your move, they might use terms like "associates/affiliates"- Movers that do not give you an exact price before loading your items onto a truck. This is important because you will have issues upon delivery, where these guys will say your items were heavy and they'll charge you another $1000 to $4000 in some cases and will keep your items hostage if you do not pay (this is based on some of the other reviews I read)- Movers that collect some money upfront. This is important because if you have any last minute changes or your move isn't going the way you thought it would, these guys will keep your money. Lets say the movers at the day of the move do not show up, or if they show up and they do not shrink warp your furniture etc. I tried to find out what the procedure is for some of the better cross country movers & as an example I'll use Mayflower; they do not quote you a price until a moving consultant comes to your home and looks at all your stuff, he will prepare a quote based on the amount of furniture you have. This is the exact amount you will owe at delivery. Their own truck with their company name on the truck will come to pick-up your stuff. You will not be pay anything at loading, and you will pay once all your stuff arrives.  In terms of cost mayflower was $1200 more expensive than these movers for my move. So if you have expensive stuff it is better to go with good quality movers, who have better insurance coverage also if anything happens to the items during the move.

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:40

As Mrs. Harry F., I'm going to add my review, too. Why? Because they caused a special hell, just for me. These movers are such unprofessional clowns. This happened about three years ago, and I still have nightmares. I still have broken things. I'm still missing stuff.This isn't the first time I've moved, but this is the biggest move I've ever undertaken (Detroit to Los Angeles). I also had two big dogs, a toddler, and a case of stress-induced hives. I wasn't around for the load-up, but Harry was. There was never an inventory taken. He says it was a free-for-all stuffing of the truck. Boxes were numbered serially and tagged with our lot number, but we were never provided an inventory. It was just random tags, as far as I'm concerned.  Harry told me he had to argue to get the everything on the truck (even though we had an estimate taken).After the truck left, I returned to my old house and find things that didn't make it on the truck. My floor lamp is smashed in the garage. The truck was reloaded in Chicago. I don't know why.  Finally, our truck arrived in LA. The driver stayed in the cab, and shouted to the four illiterate goons unloading the truck. Let's be clear here - I am an ESL teacher, and well-seasoned in communicating with non-native speakers. They couldn't/wouldn't tell me what language they were speaking. I had never heard it before in my life. The driver told me they spoke Hebrew, but it wasn't true. The guys were either completely illiterate, or unwilling to be helpful. I'm guessing the latter. I couldn't even number the boxes and rooms with your normal Arabic numerals. Everything was flying off the truck without an inventory. They were done when the truck was empty.So, four men literally throwing and stacking boxes to the ceiling, in any room they could. They didn't plan how they were going to unload, and my living room was quickly filled without a path to the rest of the house. Still juggling my toddler (trying to keep him from getting crushed under the towers of boxes), I tell them to move the boxes into the correct rooms. They start pushing and kicking stacks of boxes over.  I go out to complain to the driver. He's on his cellphone, and waves me away. The guys loading in the house don't care if I point to this or that room, they continue to just dump things anywhere.  Again, there is no inventory.While I'm outside, one goon throws my vintage Heywood-Wakefield nightstand end over end. There is no one to catch it, he is just throwing things overhand onto the lawn. It lands with a crunch. Both of the legs are broken off.  I look inside the baby's room and there's nothing there. I spot the crib and mattress in the kitchen. Yes. The kitchen. I tell the guys to put it in the baby's room. I am looked at with blank stares. I point, gesture, and start to move it myself. I show them to put it together, and first they shake their heads no. I emphatically shake my head YES, part of our contract is assembly of furniture. As I stand there, one takes a box cutter to my son's mattress, slashing it open to get the packing tape off. He smiles and continues. There are razor cuts all along my son's mattress, and they try to deny that they just did it. I was standing right there!!The driver is now outside, ordering the guys to move the rest of the stuff on the lawn into the garage. No! These boxes are all for the house! He tells me there is no room and they are out of time. Everyone starts grabbing boxes and throwing them in the garage.I'm exhausted and stressed out. I go to sit on my vintage Danish modern chair, which they set up in the living room. Except they didn't put the slats back in the bottom of the chair (the slats are still missing, btw). I fall through the cushion, while holding the baby. My ass hits the floor, while my lower back slams against the bottom rail of the chair. The guys laugh and shrug at me, like I'm stupid. I am crying in pain. I snap a photo with my cellphone. It's already starting to bruise.At this point, I call my husband, beyond irate. He can't make it right then, he's busy at work. I am left on the living room floor, surrounded by boxes that belong anywhere else in the house. Bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, garage, living room, office... almost all of the boxes are in this room. I peek in the bathroom: kitchen, linen closet, garage.... in the master bedroom: bathroom, baby, kitchen.... etc etc.  The garage holds an equal hodgepodge of boxes and furniture.I just sit and wait for it all to be over. After awhile, Harry does come home and argues with the driver for awhile. You can read his review for how that all turned out.As we unpacked, I started missing things. I lost a few kitchen boxes. I have someone else's silverware, but there is no lot number or identification I can find. I wonder if they have my kitchen things. I doubt it is that clear-cut. There's more to this story, but there's a length limit...

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:40

I booked my move from Chicago to NYC and was promised a 3 - 6 day move. My stuff was picked up on time and the movers were great. Now I am on day 7 and have still not received my move. I have called the company and keep getting transferred to the same person who is saying it is a 2 - 10 day delivery and can't tell me when my stuff will come. Get your estimates correct!

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:40

NO STARS! I'm taking the time from my busy day to join Yelp for the sole purpose of writing this review. I had to move from Chicago to Tucson for further subspecialty training as a physician-fellow. Moving cross country is painful and daunting especially when it is to start a busy new career. And since I only had a limited number of days to accomplish all this, I had decided to pay for convenience instead. Joey Walker was the sales person that I had dealt and signed with. Given that I had used movers in the past, I was weary of them but he addressed all of my concerns. When quoting the estimate, I specifically added extra items and boxes "just in case" as I know how moving companies low ball the quotes. Since time was a huge factor, he estimated that my stuff will arrive in 4.5 days AT THE LATEST if the drivers were to cover 400 miles a day, which is way less than average. However, the contract will always read "within 2 - 14 days". Fine. He returned all of my calls and emails very promptly up to 48 hours before pick up at which time the pick-up dispatcher took over. He did everything a great sales person (or liar) would.The pick up crew seemed nice enough. Of course, despite selling my couch, coffee table, and a few other small pieces of furniture, the crew now eyeballed that the weight was more than what was estimated and the quote has now increased by another $700. I'm not sure how I have over 2400 lbs of stuff when I only have minimal furniture and only took 1 full day to pack the rest of it. Can't say I didn't see that coming so I agreed to it. Seems like it's a common trickery and it was too late to sign with another company. Plus they have yet to weigh it so perhaps his eyeball estimate was inaccurate.This was on 6/17. The delivery dispatch was supposed to call within 24 hrs to give me a date and time of arrival. I waited for 2 days before giving them a call & instead of arriving in 4-ish days, I was told that it will arrive on 6/25 instead. And no surprise, the pick up crew's weight-eyeballing skills were so accurate that it matched the weighing station's apparently. Fine, I'll pick my battles. I called again on 6/23 to check and apparently my things have not even left Chicago and the NEXT available truck is on 6/26 at the earliest but there will be 9 homes heading out west and she wasn't sure if my stuff would be one of them in that one truck. After arguing on what was promised, I realized that she played on words. She said those were ESTIMATED DATES and no one ever said it was CONFIRMED. She also said she was not part of the conversation between me and Joey thus cannot agree upon anything that was said.Well, I called again on 6/30 after not hearing back and she said it will arrive between 7/7 to 7/9 at the latest. CONFIRMED. And they will call 48 hours prior. I waited patiently but that call that was suppose to happen 48 hours prior never came. Well, it is now an hour to July 10th and I have yet to receive anything. Worse, I have been calling the delivery dispatch almost every business hour for the past 3 days and no one picked up the phone. I left voicemails. I panicked and wondered if they went out of business thus I called sales, customer service, and even the pick up dispatch but they will either transfer me to a line that no one picks up or put me on hold for a good 25 mins. And yes, I timed it. I emailed Joey Walker on 7/7 for help but never heard back though in the past he would always reply within the hour. So I tried getting him over the phone today and he is "sick" today apparently. The people who do answer the phone can't help because it's a different "department" though within the company.So currently I have no idea where my stuff is and can't even talk with a live human being from dispatch. It's been almost a month now. I can't work efficiently though that was the ONLY reason I uprooted and moved because I don't have anything with me - not clothes, books, a spoon... Nothing! Technically, this is now 'stealing' which is not just poor service but a criminal offense. And if I do get my stuff, I wonder what condition they will be in & if half of it will be missing.Trust me, I easily work up to 110 hours a week taking calls and perform urgent/ emergent surgeries at all hours. I would not take the time to create an account just to write this long review if I wasn't living this nightmare right now.

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:40

Do not use!!! We went 27 days without our household items. They had our stuff sitting in storage for 3 weeks and kept delaying delivery. We got charged double the original quoted price and they refused to give us our items until we paid more. Requested re-weigh in which I was present, they agreed but never did it. Just told me it was 100 pounds off, but still same extra price. Worst company ever!

review from yelp.com