Southside Moving and Storage

Reviews 3

JA

Jan Steele

I would not recommend Southside Moving and Storage. Customer service has been virtually non-existent in my case. My move was underquoted, understaffed and several pieces of furniture were broken and/or damaged. Concerns were addressed prior to the move with the Richmond sales rep, Brenda as well as on the day of the move. To no avail. The movers-as well as another employee of the company-confirmed I had a two truck, 4 man move. What I got was one truck and three men, unfortunately, one of the men was ill and not much assistance with the move. After the move, I filed my claim, received the expected denial as I’d not purchased additional insurance. I had to call for the disposition of my claim. I then wrote a letter to the sales manager: Joe El-Attar. The letter is below. To date, I have received no response from Mr. El-Attar. I have initiated several phone calls to him and only twice has he contacted me-and both times I was not available to take the call. August 9, 2017 Dear Mr. El-Attar, Attached you will find my original claim for damage sustained by my personal belongings due to the negligence of your contracted crew and the mismanagement of my move in general. I had hoped that a reasonable response would be received from your claim department, but as with the majority of my interactions with your company, your policies and rules and definitions were simply repeated back to me and no alternative solutions, apologies or empathy were offered. Prior to my move I brought cube sheet concerns to the attention of your sales rep and dispatcher- the number of boxes was listed as 10—I had at least 100. I was still underquoted and understaffed. On moving day, my concerns were addressed by your sales rep advising me to “take a deep breath”. The day of my 3 man move, one of the men was ill and essentially unable to help for the majority of the day. At 6 pm with my damaged furniture, and quite a bit remaining to be moved, I told the men I’d finish on my own. I am asking your company to be accountable for the consequences of improper handling of my property. I am a customer looking for a solution to a damage incurred by contracting with your company. I simply want my items repaired and I feel it should be at Southside Moving and Storage’s expense. The antique hutch was broken even before we left my previous residence-your crew member told me and admitted it was his fault. My expectation was that my belongings would be handled in a professional manner, following general moving protocol and procedures. It was not unreasonable for me to expect that my antique hutch would be wrapped and secured before the truck moved. It was not unreasonable for me to expect the same treatment for my dining room table-blankets secured on the table would have prevented the scrapes all the way around the table. The same holds true for my sofa—light colored or not, proper wrapping and securing would have prevented the damage. This expectation also applies to the antique sewing chest with the leg snapped off. IF your customers cannot expect for their belongings to be handled in a professional manner, that should be made clear before signing any contract or offering insurance coverage. I request that you review my claim and the circumstances concerning the damage and offer a viable solution to the problem, which in my opinion, is repair of my damaged items, Thank you for your time and l look forward to hearing from you soon. 9/22/17. Still no response.

DO

Doug Clark

Im going to keep this short and not-so-sweet (as Ive written a much lengthier review on Facebook, and I would invite anyone to read that review for more details). My wife booked Southside (through the alias Richmond Movers), which has done some small moves for my grandparents and mom in the past. They were fine then. We were quoted 5 hours with 3 movers at a reasonable price to move our storage unit and our 2 bedroom apartment to our new home. All sounded good. In the process, one of the movers all but quit (he stayed on to help but was in everyones way, and was the reason for furniture damages). My late grandmothers 100+ year old piano ended up on a truck for two days in 100 degree heat because they couldnt move it in (because the third guy refused to do it). Our move took 15 hours and we were billed over double the estimated cost. DOUBLE. Calls for additional support (both by myself and the movers) were ignored. Several pieces of furniture (one is an expensive Italian bed) were damaged. Furniture that was disassembled by them was not reassembled. A walk-through was supposed to have been performed pre-move, and that never happened. My wife, her sister, and I ended up having to move boxes into our house - all while paying for a service that would have allowed us to start getting settled in our home. And, thankfully, my wifes sister was here, because she had to take my wife away for an hour or two because she was crying over how badly everything went. And to top it all off, their customer service is some of the worst Ive ever seen. Once we finally received my piano (two days later), the moving truck literally just showed up at our front door. No call or anything. Trying to get resolution for any of these issues has led me to Carolyn, who, I dont believe, has lifted a single finger to help us, except to expedite the piano delivery (after it was already on a truck for two days). It took them five days from the move, and three days since our first contact, to email over a claims form (its 2016 - you can do this stuff while on the phone with your customer). She has not picked up the phone once or replied by email to anything Ive sent, even though Ive taken time out of my day (costing me time and money, since I work from home and bill hourly) to call her and email her to attempt to resolve things amicably. In short: Southside ruined the day we moved into our first house, billed us excessively, damaged our furniture, and is still costing me money to this day. Southside has been reported to the BBB for their actions - both for excessive billing for poor service (and bait-and-switch techniques) and furniture damages. Before my report, they had a D+ rating anyway. That should tell you something. Ill withdraw my report with the BBB and revise this review should they come through. Until then, this company gets two stars from me, simply because the two movers that actually worked (Mike and Terrance) were some of the hardest-working, most caring people Ive ever had the pleasure of meeting, and they both deserve to work for a better company than Southside. Otherwise, I wouldnt recommend Southside Moving to a soul.

KA

Katie Malzahn

This was a horrible experience! I paid the movers to move 3 pieces of furniture and a few boxes less than a mile away. When transferring my new couch (less than a year old) was RUINED. The couch started as a cream and after transferring for a less than 5 minute drive the entire front was black because it was not wrapped correctly. The movers also broke the frame because they dropped it several times. The back wooden support beam now pokes through the fabric. They did not reimburse me for any of this damage after much talk that they would (thank God I had a separate insurance plan with the company i bought the couch from). The movers took apart my dresser to transport it and did not reassemble at the new location. My boxes were also thrown around. The movers cared very little about doing a good job. One mover carried my very long antique dresser by himself and did not care when bumping it into the walls. This company claimed they would credit me for my ruined couch. They did not. I had not heard from them for over 6 months and then was charged with a bill and over a 50$ late fee. When first contacting the company I thought I was moving with Atlantic moving. Apparently the management was switching and I was stuck with South-side. I would advice you to be careful and choose a better moving company. This company may be cheap but it is not worth the damage they cause along with the headache.

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