Starving Artists Movers

12 july 2019, 11:54

Starving Artist Movers showed up late and the inside of the truck didn't look very clean.
While friendly, it was quickly clear that they were not a skilled crew of movers. I do not recommend them. Any savings you might see in the estimate are eaten up by damages, repairs, and additional time beyond the estimate because they are not skilled movers, just guys with a truck.

During the move, my microwave was broken (has to be replaced), the handle on InstantPot was broken off; my coffee table frame, tv stand, and desk legs were damaged, and it looked like they dragged my mattress and box spring through the alley. I didn't raise most of these issues with them, I only asked them to return the handle that broke off.

When the move was completed and they were getting ready to leave, they 'innocently' asked if a broken handle found in the truck was mine. As I was unaware that they had damaged anything, I said I didn't think so. They either dropped it or it fell during the drive because it wasn't secured, either way, I suspect they knew when they asked. Later when I realized what had broken, I texted David and he assured me he would get me the handle back. After weeks of slow to respond excuses, he now refuses to do even that. He's admitted that he has my belongings in his possession and just flat out refuses to return it.

The fact that they deal in cash was a red flag, but I needed movers, so I went with them. I would caution others against it.

10 october 2017, 17:40

I wouldn't even give them 1 Star if I didn't have to in order to write this review.  I called them on July 14, 2016 to make a reservation for moving help on August 1, 2016.  I talked to Elston, who signed us up for a 5pm appt in Chicago.  We were moving my daughter from IU to Chicago ourselves and needed help just for moving the heavy furniture in because the apartment is on the 3rd floor with no elevator.  They were a NO SHOW.  I called, texted, and emailed hoping they were caught in traffic or something.  No answer. No response.   My 64 year old husband along with 3 friends of my daughter (2 female, 1 male) and I (post back surgery) had to move the furniture in. I was seriously concerned for my husband's health, he is a diabetic as he pushed way beyond himself and got the couches up the 3 flights of stairs.  My oldest son referred Starving Artists Movers because he has had positive experiences with them in Chicago and in NYC when he moved.  I would not trust this company to honor their appointments, and have a strong back up plan in case they find something better to do than show up for a promised appt time.

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:40

As previous reviews have stated: I really wanted to like these guys.  They came highly recommended. They were pleasant and friendly and careful with our things and were meticulous about packing the truck.  I'm an artist myself and wanted to support their cause.But they showed up late, despite the fact that I specifically requested that they be very prompt; we only had a small window of time to vacate our one bedroom apartment.  We overshot our two hour window to vacate by an hour or so, and I still don't understand why.  The guys even commented initially that we didn't have that much stuff when they were assessing our pile of boxes and furniture...  They were slow and inefficient, sometimes only carrying one small thing at a time down the hallway.  It took them six hours to move our belongings from the old apartment (with a freight elevator at the end of the hall) into the new apartment less than a mile away.  We even waited at the new apartment for a half hour, wondering where they were with the truck, because it's only a ten minute drive.My boyfriend and I bought water and soda for the guys because it was a very hot day, and we wanted to make things as easy for them as possible as they climbed the stairs to our third floor unit.  But my boyfriend and I were lifting and sweating right alongside their guys; we realized very quickly that if we left them to do it alone, we would have been there all day.  We knew that it was taking time to go up and down the stairs, but we still felt the need to continually check in on them to make sure they were still on task.  In the end, we paid a fortune (more than double what we had budgeted) for their services, but felt as if we'd done a big part of the work ourselves.A few minutes after they took our cash and left, they phoned to say they'd left a personal item in our apartment.  We graciously took it down to them, only to discover an hour later that we were missing something as well: a leg from our kitchen table.  We searched high and low and unpacked everything.  No table leg.  We called the guys to ask if they could help us in turn by looking for it, and never heard back.  I tried calling the main office and the mailbox was full.  I finally emailed Dave, the guy in charge, on the Monday morning after our move.  He said that the guys told him that we had a lot of stuff (contrary to their original story), and implied that it must be mixed in among all our things, because it wasn't in the truck.  "Hope it turns up soon" was all he offered.It's now been almost three weeks since our move, and we will probably have to throw our table out, as it's unstable at best on three legs.  Professional movers would reimburse us, or would have been insured.If you don't have a lot of stuff, and you are willing to do a lot of the work yourself, and most importantly: if you have plenty of time and money to burn, go ahead and hire these guys.  Otherwise, don't be fooled by the low prices up front.  They'll take their time and let the dollars add up.  Pray that they don't lose anything, because it will become your problem, not theirs.We won't be using them again.

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:40

I needed someone to quickly move a piece of furniture across the city. I was able to help but didn't have a truck. Dan from Starving Artist Movers came to the rescue the next day. Quick, easy and much cheaper than hiring a moving company or having to deal with truck rental, gas and mileage!

review from yelp.com

10 october 2017, 17:40

I'd love to give these guys 5 stars because they were both very pleasant and quick, and it was great to have them help with our move.However:They were late.Just when I finished telling them our couch would damage easily one of them turned around and tried to lift it by a cushion and tore the arm of the couch.They put scratches in our apartment that cost us $200 out of our security deposit.With the cost of the security deposit added and damage added to the cost of the move might as well have had professionals do it.Sorry guys.

review from yelp.com