United Moving and Storage

Reviews 3

ED

Eddie Lin

In January 2017, my wife and I moved from Los Angeles to MD and unfortunately, we didnt have a great experience with United Moving & Storage. They are deceptive, and their work is sloppy (items damaged and valuable boxes lost!). Ive moved across the country multiple times (NYC to Dallas, Dallas to Chicago, Chicago to LA), so I have good context as to how long-haul moves work. I wanted to like these guys, but they are no different than the next moving company and the worse of my movers. Their sales reps will tell you want you want to hear. Unfortunately, reality is much different and you get what you pay for. If you take anything away from this review, hire a larger, more reputable moving co. Pay the extra money to have peace of mind that all of your stuff will be returned to you. Here are the pro and cons: Pro (somewhat): - Cost: While United wasnt the cheapest, United came at the lower end of the range. Similar to others, you have 2 options: pay by cubic ft (I paid $3.50 per cu ft) or by weight (determined at a weigh station). If you choose cu ft, youll have to provide an inventory list. Note that there is NO penalty if you overestimate your volume, but a penalty if you underestimate ($0.50 per cu ft more, so $4 per cu ft). Uniteds cu ft estimate comes in low, so add at least 100 cu ft to your order regardless of what they tell you (another trick for them to charge you more). There are also extra fees they charge: flights of stairs above 1st flight ($75), an elevator fee (why charge $75 to use an elevator?), and if the door-to-door carry is longer than 75 feet ($75 for each 75’ thereafter). Also, note that if a 52 ft truck cant get to your location, youll have to pay for a shuttle. This will almost always be the case, so include this in your cost estimate. United will provide you with a weight if you chose the cu ft option. Cost is $300 for the first 2,000 lbs, $50 per each 1,000 lbs thereafter. United’s weight allocation was very high - almost 5,000 lbs for my belongings. There is no way we had this much stuff, but had to pay $450 more regardless. Cons: - Poor communication: I worked with Missy on the front end and she was fairly easy to talk to and reach (makes sense since United wants your business). However, once your contract is locked in, youre passed to a different department and its NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE to get them on the phone. Doesnt matter what extension you hit (pick up and deliveries, customer service, etc) or if you leave a voicemail or email. If you have a question or simply want to check status of your belongings, dont count on them calling you back and being left in the dark. Dont trust them if they say otherwise. - Misleading: Prior to locking in my contract, Uniteds sales staff (Missy) provided me her pitch - small company, focused on customer satisfaction, transparency, no outsourcing to 3rd party movers, etc. Unfortunately, I saw very little of this, and the foreman/movers confirmed they were contractors. In addition, I was told that if I chose United, they would be able to put my belongings on a truck leaving for the east coast the following week. Unfortunately, after the non-United movers picked up my belongings, United said that I would need to pay an additional $150 to get on the truck they promised me. If I didn’t pay their extra fee, I would have to wait at least another week for the next truck (apparently, they were ok sending a ¼ empty truck to the East Coast). - Poor moving: Boxes were damaged (thrown around), my dining room table damaged (dropped on a corner) and most importantly, boxes were lost with important items (pls do not pack anything of value). Furniture was NOT re-assembled at delivery, because the driver was eager to get to his next job. These guys were sloppy/careless. All-in-all, United Moving & Storage is not the company to use. While their price is low, I wish I had paid a national or more reputable carrier a bit more to get peace of mind. You get what you pay for here. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND.

PH

Phil Carlin

Run, do NOT walk from this company! Move was from CA to NJ. Worst move ever! They just dont care!!!! As other reviews have noted, they really act like they are going to provide great service during the sales quote process, but once the move starts the issues start and the communication goes to zero. When the movers show up the first thing they say is the quote is off 30%, you inquire how could that be since you provide a complete list of the major inventory items, they state that your sofa is 7 and our quote is based on 6, ok why did they not ask this during the quote process? At this point you cant tell them to leave since you need to move and you cant get another moving company to do the move that day---what a scam! At this point communications goes to zero, you call and talk to your sales person who states she only handles the sale/booking of the move, once the move starts others in the company handle the move---what a JOKE! You ask to speak to the GM, he takes your call the first time, blames the owners for all the staffing issues and will never take or return your calls again. They hand your move to other companies, your items might move/transfer to 2-3 other companies which have zero interest in your concerns about the move, you didnt hire them. The truck(s) broke down 2 times and they had to reschedule the delivery, great you take the day off for the move and they dont show up! You try to call United Moving at 8:30 AM to find out whats going on, they state customer service is late coming in, call back at 9:00 AM, you call back at 9:00 AM told they are still not in call back at 9:30 AM, most companies you would leave a message but dont waste the time, they never call you back. Once the movers showed up for the delivery the first thing they want is the cash or USPS money order, I now understand why, they damage the walls and dont tell you. Make sure you check the walls prior to releasing the movers. The movers tried to leave without setting up the bed, when asked why they have not setup they say you want us to set up the bed----YES its included in the price! Try asking and not just running out the door. Make sure you inspect all your major items and note the damage on inventory form, they damage many of the corners of the furniture because they did a poor job wrapping the items. They also damaged the TV stand for the same reason, poor protection. We had many other boxed items damaged which we could not note until after the movers left. Now you call United Moving about the damage and they state we will send you a form, complete the form and send to some insurance/inspection company. They dont care about you or the move at this point! If they allowed I would give this company ZERO stars! Again, do NOT use this company, use one of the major moving carriers that take the responsibility for the entire move and they actually care about you!

KE

Kenny Goldner

If I could leave zero stars I would. The person who put a five star for this company got very lucky. Sales guy who I think was Ben is a good salesman but a horrible person saying it would take 2 weeks from pickup to drop off. Almost 2 months later I am getting my stuff. Guys who picked up stuff from my house pissed on my bathroom floor. And gave me 5 hour window of pickup well they were an hour after the 5 hour window. When I didnt hear from them in 2 weeks I called and the lady told me that I needed to send an email for my confirmation of delivery which I had told Ben and the movers I needed it asap (neither mentioned needed to send an email.) So if I hadnt called, my stuff would still be moving from truck to truck because it wasnt a United truck that delivered my stuff and then when they finally got here the driver was too scared to park on my road and we had to haul it the rest of the way. Worst company and experience ever. They did not seem to care when I told them all these problems. And to top it all off most of my furniture was ruined. And the bed they compared about wrapping with plastic was unwrapped. Please if you read this trust me pay a little extra and get a nicer moving company. I bought insurance but we will see how that goes. United recommended them so we will see if they are shady like United. I do not have my hopes up. Look on yelp to see pictures.

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