Bailey's Moving & Storage

Beware. Business is dishonest. Estimate for a move was done over the phone. After getting actual weights on the receiving end, I found that I was overcharged by ~20%. Horrible experience with dishonest people that clearly take advantage of consumers with their racket.

Moved was fine, few scratcher on the furniture. Very friendly and very nice, and professional

If your looking for a dismal move and damage to the house you are selling and the one your moving into as well as significant damage to much of your personal property this is definitely the company to choose. An onsite estimate was performed by the company's representative. Items to be moved as well as those that would stay were discussed. This evaluation was performed approximately one month before the actual move. The day of the move four men showed up to pack the truck. They did not listen to instructions from my wife or myself, nor did they communicate with each other. They had a total disregard for our property i.e. when loading the truck they seemingly neglected to place moving blankets between furniture pieces and managed to moderately and in some cases severely damage the wood surface. One of the movers informed us that since we had moved many boxes of our belongs already it made it more difficult to correctly load the truck. Fifteen minutes later the same individual was complaining that there were too many boxes to move, and that they had been told there would only be a "few household items" to be moved. When told an inventory had been performed, they stated they had no knowledge of such an inventory. While moving an elliptical from an upstairs room they managed to severely damage the handrail on the stairs. They had four people moving this one piece and still had no control. This same elliptical had been moved twice previously up and down the same stairs as part of remodeling projects. On both occasions it was moved by only two individuals and neither time was there any damage to our property or the equipment. They one great talent was taking breaks. This frequently consisted of smoking cigarettes in the truck containing our furniture, e.g. leather chair and couch. When it became apparent that the move would not be accomplished on time a representative from Bailey's called to explain the additional charges if we wanted to have the move completed. With three quarters of our property already loaded it seemed a ridiculous question. When moving our belongs into the newly purchased home they managed to provide a few new scratches to the furniture as well as the recently refinished wood floor. Under no circumstances would I recommend this company if you value your possessions or your home's integrity.

I ended up serving legal notice to the registered legal agents of Allied Van Lines & Bailey's Moving & Storage that I would pursue the issue in small claims court. In response they paid a total of $2,181 against my claim in excess of $7,800. 1. My letter re Bailey's/Allied re their decision not to reimburse me for missing and damaged items: I am disappointed in your decision to deny my claim and...I will take appropriate steps to pursue it further...and that the photographs of the condition of my property as it was finally delivered will clearly support and indicate the level of professionalism with which this move was handled... I am also astonished by Nancy Blegan's (Director of Bailey's Customer Service) mischaracterization and misrepresentation of facts and events in her email: "Worse than that he refused to pay for the shipment." At no time did I refuse to make payment, I simply enquired as to the significant difference between the original estimate and the final billing. "...then he refused to submit any documents for shipping ie passports, customs, letter of auth, all the mandatory documents for shipping." At no time did I refuse to submit any documents that were required for the move. I was dealing with multiple coordinators in different offices within Bailey's organization and as soon as I received explanatory help from...the Grand Junction office I completed all of the forms as soon as possible. "At that point he stated that he would have a refund of every penny of his money through the claims process." I do not understand this false account and assertion. It is a blatant misrepresentation. At no time did I make any demands except for my simple request that Bailey's wait to begin the repacking from...until I could be on site to observe it. Further, I did not "refuse" to provide a friend or relative to observe the repacking, as I explained to her...I simply did not have any such assistance available to me. "Then he advised he would not be able to be available and demanded we ship it as is." This is a misrepresentation. As indicated in an email...12/3/13 to her, I expressed my surprise that they proceeded without giving me time to make arrangements to be present at the repacking. 2. My email to Bailey's/Allied re the condition of final delivery: Your position of not covering the reimbursement for missing items I claimed does not contemplate or comprehend the actual events of this move...Because the initial shipment was packed by owner (PBO), it needed to be carrier packed (CP) prior to international shipping. The Allied affiliate in Denver requested my presence to witness the repacking. I confirmed that I did in fact want to be there during the repacking & that I would advise them as to when I would be available to return from Bulgaria to Denver to do so. They blatantly ignored my requests & repacked my property in my absence... That repacking that was done without waiting for my presence was most likely due to my property having been removed from storage prematurely & placed on the open warehouse floor too early because my international coordinator was under the assumption that there was a short and specific time limit in which to ship my property to meet Bulgarian customs... She apparently based her decision based on the simplified and general time guidelines of 90 days as presented on the Allied website. As I explained to the Allied staff at the time, those...guidelines...are general & did not apply to my specific situation under Bulgarian...laws. Accordingly, I was denied the opportunity to observe & thus protect the contents as they were repacked. Because I have made many personal moves & I also have first hand working experience in your industry...every original PBO container had been carefully packed with specific written notations on the outside of each container as to its contents... The repacking was, to say the least, chaotic & the contents of each CP container were a jumbled mess: crystal was packed together with steel hand tools & glass items were packed with electric tools without...protective packaging material, unrelated items were jumbled together, delicate items were packed together with metal containers of screws, nails & bolts, parts of my valuable stamp collection items were removed from their original containers & were used as unprotected packing material to fill open spaces in boxes containing unrelated goods, furniture hardware was packed with clothing, electronic equipment was packed with kitchen goods, matching sets of items were not packed together & were found separately in different boxes, delicate 100 year old record cylinders were loosely packed with books, delicate lamp shades were boxed without any protective padding, the re-packers’ written notations on the outside of boxes were inaccurate & mis-labeled, and boxes were packed without regard to any...organization... "Helter-skelter" would be an apt way of describing the condition of the...containers. Accordingly, there was no reasonably possible way for me to discover or account for the complete & total contents of each... container as to the completeness, with which it was originally packed by me... It has taken several months to sort out the jumbled repacking. As you have seen in the many photographs...the packing of the delivered transport container speaks for itself as to the professionalism & due diligent care with which my property was handled... I believe that any adjudicating authority would agree with that opinion based on the photographs... It has been explained to me by Allied that the condition of my property as packed in the transport container was probably due to...the Bulgarian customs office. Even if the...customs...was responsible for “trashing” my shipment, it was Allied’s responsibility to correct that condition & prevent further damage to my property prior to driving the jumbled contents approximately 200 kilometers from the port to my home. That was not done. Based on the unprofessional manner with which the carrier repacked my property...it may not be unreasonable to assume that the transport container was actually packed that way by the Denver...staff. All I know is that Allied was responsible for professional due diligence in the care and protection of my property... You have stated that “...it appears as though everything packed and tendered for shipment was delivered”. Because of the obvious lack of care with which my property was handled, I believe and assert that the missing items were either lost or stolen while in Allied’s custody. Despite my expressed desire to be present at the “Denver repacking”, I was denied the opportunity to protect my property and I can only conclude that Allied did not pack all of my property... 3. From my 12/12/13 email to Nancy Blegan: On 3 December 2013 I sent an email...to you, & as of this date I have not received a reply from...you. That email expressed my deep concern about the way my account has been handled. This email is an attempt to clarify the situation and to possibly arrive at some mutual understanding and compromise....Because of the original confusion and problems caused by having four different contact persons within your company, I must tell you that it still seems awkward that I am still hearing from people other than my relocation coordinator... As I explained...I needed time to coordinate with Bulgarian customs officials & your Allied Bulgarian representative before I could make plans regarding both the shipment of my property & also, in view of my disability, the timing of my travel to your witness the repacking of my personal property by your staff...despite my verbal and written direction to not proceed with the repacking in my absence, your staff chose to repack all of my goods without my presence... That has created practical, legal & financial problems and detriments to me that are significant, both in cost and in terms of compliance with the administrative requirements of both your company & of the Bulgarian government. Had there not been a rush to repack my property in my absence I might have made decisions that would have: decreased the transported weight cost, allowed me to perform a detailed inventory that would lower my insurance costs, provided me with security over some of my high value possessions, provided me the ability to communicate some of my findings regarding & compliance with Bulgarian customs regulations, provided me with the security of knowing that my possessions were not combined with any unknown contraband. ...I have worked in your industry and I am fully aware of how some items can disappear during moves. Therefore, I will not have the ability to "sign off as to the integrity of my items even when they are processed through Bulgarian customs or even as they are "unpacked at delivery"... ...I am not sure what caused the rush to process my property in such an expedited way, but in addition to the practical and legal issues and problems it has created, it has put me in a difficult financial position... ... I sincerely hope that this helps to identify some of the adverse personal legal issues and detriments that have effected me and I hope that we can come to some compromise as to costs...

Scheduling, pick up, and first of two deliveries went without a problem. Would have resulted in good grade. But final delivery was a problem. On Friday night, the driver texted us that delivery would be on Easter Sunday. Only problem, the loading dock in our building was not open then. We also later found out that Easter Sunday was NOT a delivery date for Allied. The driver offered two alternatives: he would park on the street and dump our stuff there, or he would take it back to North Carolina with him as he had an appointment on Monday to have his truck in the shop. Had to search and find the only storage unit in Philadelphia nearby with Easter Sunday hours and have the delivery there. Cost me over $800 to have it delivered to me from the storage unit by another mover. Bailey's would not take responsibility as they said the driver told them he offered me a Saturday delivery time, which he did not. I spoke with him on the phone on Saturday and he was in Columbia MD making a delivery. Very poor service, and dishonest driver.

Overall I was very pleased with the service provided. I tend to get nervous when I didn't hear from the driver until a couple of days before the pickup, but all went well. He showed up promptly and the two guys that helped load the truck were very good as well. There appeared to be some 'glitches' not on our part, but on the part of the estimator or at least the estimate. We did a guaranteed cost, and I am glad we did. We chose Bailey's since they had a great reputation and were near the bottom of the cost. Our estimator wasn't too good at follow up. He arrived with his computer, walked through our small 1,000 square foot home and garage that we were using for storage. We decided NOT to take most of our furniture and those items were specifically indicated to him what was not going. We also indicated what special items, TV, computer, large mirror and some pictures required packing by the movers. Two items I did not know that require special packing, and most likely on my part I should have known, were lamp shades. But the estimator NEVER looked at the frail glass shades and stated that. However, our driver Frank took care of that. My wife had to run to Walmart to get some extra packing and boxes though. My surprise though was that the box springs was not included in the estimation. I specifically told the estimator that the BR furniture would not be moved, but the bedding, mattress and springs would The Mattress was include in the list. This is a heavy, expensive temperpedic type. Before the move but AFTER the estimate, I took carloads of items, books, clothing and other items from the garage to various charities. We really got rid of a lot. It appears that the estimate of pounds was off by at least 1800, don't remember the exact number, but that was not our concern since the estimator under estimated. The two helpers on the Atlanta end were great guys. Wonderful personalities etc. Our driver was very business-minded, sort of 'cracked the whip' on the help, and I can understand time means money, especially in the case of moving. However, both my wife and I found some of his comments to be what one considers 'good ole boy' type, especially as relating to my wife. Some of his comments would have caused a harassment claim at my previous employer. Opinionated people are fine, I have no problems with 1st amendment speech but no one should ever refer to a woman's outfit as looking like your ready to go to the gym, or something like that. Don't get me wrong. The move went well, promptness was especially appreciated. In fact I was very much surprised that our delivery date was 7 days after our pickup. Being winter, we were very lucky. All things were delivered on time and other than one piece of furniture, we did not find any damage. Our last cross country move was over 15 years ago and it was horrible.

The good news is there were no deaths... and the installation went well. The bad news is this is a delivery team that cannot communicate or deliver. The short of this is I waited in 4 delivery windows across 12 days, before they actually delivered a washer and dryer. The details... Feb 1. Home Depot says the delivery is on schedule. ... No one calls. No one shows up. When I call back, it had been rescheduled by this delivery team for the 8th without contacting me. Reason? Unknown. Feb 8. Home Depot says this is on schedule. Bailey's driver calls me (already inside the delivery window) and informs me one unit is broken, they knew this the day before, he felt someone should have called then, and he doesn't think it makes sense to deliver and install just one unit. ... He checks the ETA of the replacement and finds out he'll have it in time to deliver on the morning of the 11th. Fair enough. I agree to wait. Feb 11. Delivery happens! ... Of just the dryer. They thought the washer had been delivered, already. Quite polite and professional, they install the dryer and check on the washer. I'm told they've lost the washer in their warehouse and I'll get a call (even just an update saying it hasn't been found, if need be) in an hour. It's 10:30'ish about now. One hour and 20 minutes pass. I call Home Depot. Home Depot calls delivery team. ... The guy doing the search is out to lunch. I'll get a call (even just an update saying they're still looking) in an hour. Same thing happens again. This time, Home Depot gives me the delivery team's contact info. I call the delivery team directly. They still haven't found it. Really? They can't possibly be looking for a washing machine for this long... can they? The lady on the phone is polite and effective. She agrees to give me an update, win, lose, or draw by the time she leaves at the end of the day. I get a call back! It's 2:10 and they've found it. I ask for a delivery today. Nope - Not possible. At 2PM for a customer who's story is becoming well known at the company? (I know, because both she and the final delivery driver said : Oh, I've heard about this one. Sorry it's not going well. ) With this many failures, I'd really think this is where the company steps to the plate and finds a way to make this happen to show they're as irritated as I am that their process has repeatedly failed. ... She counters with a first thing tomorrow morning. I accept. Feb 12. This delivery and install is a success. As far as I can tell their warehouse is disorderly and their internal and external communication is a mess. They people are helpful, but not empowered enough to make up for repeated failures. To say it again, it's a nice delivery company that can't communicate and struggles to deliver.

Positive: 1. Estimator did a great job - had a computer program. Counted boxes, listed furniture by room, etc. so I had a detailed estimate. Others I got estimates from were not as detailed (two other companies) 2. Movers generally were quite good and helpful. There was some minor damage but it was taken care of thru the claims process. Of course some of the guys were better than others, but that happens with all movers. 3. I took the extra insurance because I had a disastrous prior move, so that probably helped with getting the damage fixed. 4. I found the price was competitive - they were in the middle of the 3 estimates. I went with them because they seemed to have more resources than the other 2 companies. Negatives (pretty minor compared to other movers I have had): 1.I suggest you write down the time when the movers arrive, leave the 1st house, arrive at 2nd house and leave. I didn't do this and ended up paying for the time they took to have lunch. It was a small amount in the grand scheme of things, but I had no proof. They told me they didn't charge for lunch but I know the times weren't accurate. I just paid it because I didn't have any way to prove otherwise. 2. I found the office personnel and claims people to be unresponsive - I would wait days or weeks to get a response to an email, and/or they wouldn't answer the specific questions I had. I finally got the claim processed and paid out however. 3. I had some marble table tops crated and they did not stand them up correctly per the craters instructions (Bailey's arranged for crating). It turned out fine, but could have been disastrous if they had broken. Overall, this move went very smoothly and I would use them again. I had a horrible experience with a prior mover and so the minor things on this one weren't that big a deal!

I was so pleased with them.

Overall, they have been great. I would hire them again at this current time. They all have done a great job.

see job details.

My husband and I have been relocated 4 times, for his company, but this was the first time that we did all of the packing. We had no breakage and only one item was missing (a Jambone speaker). The legs, on my brand new dining room table, had some damage as did the chairs. I should have been more aware that these items were not wrapped, like the table top, but is was a very busy day. I will be more careful in this area, but is was told that all of the furniture would be wrapped. Overall, I was pleased with the Bailey's "experience".

They did extremely careful job in packaging all my belongings. I also had them package up all large pictures and mirrors into crates which was done very carefully. There was nothing damaged during the move. Through out the move they called us every step of the way to our destination. They stayed within the estimate they gave me and never changed the price. I would use them again and would highly recommend them to others.

Bill from Bailey's moving and storage was scheduled to do an in-home estimate to move our 3-bedroom home long distance at the end of this month (July 2012). He called just before the appointment time to say his car wouldn't start, so we rescheduled for two days later - at which point he failed to show up altogether. No call, no notice, nothing. Meanwhile, the pricing rates for the move had lapsed from "green" (i.e., the least expensive moving rates) to "RED" - the most expensive rates, which activate for "late" bookings of the moving vans. DO NOT GET BURNED BY THIS EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL AND THOUGHTLESS MOVING COMPANY, AS WE DID.

I phoned Bailey's hoping to get an estimate and schedule my move with them. Had to leave my information. Waited 2 days. Did not hear from them. Phoned again, leaving my information again. Never received a call back.

I only heard from them by e-mail but they said that someone would be contacting me regarding an estimate. I never heard a peep. Their website did not give me the option of a range for a possible move, which would have been anywhere from January through March, so I said March, to be on the far end. Even though that is a ways away, I still never had anyone contact me period. I am not impressed.

Everything was handled with great care and efficiency. Terrific and responsive crew. Overall excellent pricing and extraordinary service!

They were very professional. They also showed up on time. Nothing got broken in the moving process. I would recommend them highly.

I am very hard to please, but I was very pleased with Bailey's and Allied. Their estimate was in the middle of all the estimates I got but it was the only one that was binding, which is partly why I picked them. Every person I dealt with was professional and competent, from the moving coordinator who kept checking in with me every step of the way to the packers to the drivers to the unloaders at the other end. They were careful not to damage our home or our belongings and worked very hard. Nothing was broken or damaged. I will use them again for sure.

They were very good. They are a franchise type of company, and I believe that they are connected to one of the big national outfits. They picked up and handled everything correctly and there was no damage. They were there when they said they were going to be there, and got the things off the truck and into the new house in very short order. Their price was similar to that quoted by the other providers.