Top Notch Moving & Storage

The man who came to my house, acurately calculated the weight and volume of the move.

They were FANTASTIC! We had never hired movers before and were a little anxious about it because of the horror stories we had heard about damage being done by other moving companies. A classmate from high school recommended Top Notch to me because her cousin works there, so I went with the personal referral. They were very responsive to my emails and my questions, were extremely professional, showed up in the earlier portion of the time window they had given me (always a plus!) and performed the job in less time than they had originally estimated (which meant I saved some money!). I completely trusted them during the process, was super impressed with how they were able to angle furniture to fit it into places I didn't think it would be able to fit, and performed a final walk through to make sure I was completely satisfied with their work. I was talking to the lead of the group as they were finishing up and was telling him how pleased I was with the experience, and he said all of their business is through referrals and the owner doesn't have to advertise because of how pleased customers are and how willing they are to refer the service. I can see why that is the case! I would recommend Top Notch to anyone looking for movers you can trust, who will do an excellent and efficient job, and who will charge a very reasonable price for the work they perform. Thanks Top Notch! I will be referring you to all of my friends!

I have used moving companies at least 4 times over the past 20 years. The estimate was within $50.00 of the final cost. Wow! That is good business. Usually it ends up being hundreds more. The supervisor who was there on my move date, as well as the 3 other fellows were all super friendly, respectful and kept a "can do" attitude with a smile even after a very long day for all us. While I hope I do not need to hire movers again in the near future, if I do, I will call Top Notch and not even "shop around".

It went without a hitch. We could not have been more pleased. The staff are all young men and many were recent college graduates. They worked hard and well as a team.

Great experience, really great movers - took good care of our furnishings, and were especially careful with the piano which was moved from the first floor to the lower level without a scratch! Great experience!

I was very stressed out at the idea of someone else moving my things but I've accumulated too much over the years to move myself anymore. Top Notch put all of my fears to rest. Dave came out for my quote and explained that they would treat my things as if they were their own. At the time I'd already packed a lot of my stuff, but he gave me additional packing tips and assured me that if everything wasn't packed by the day of the move they could take care of the rest. Move day could not have gone smoother. Dave and the rest of the guys arrived right on time and immediately got to work loading the truck. I had a lot of heavy items but they made lifting it all and packing it into the truck look easy. Unloading at the new house went just as smoothly. It was impressive watching them finesse my enormous and super heavy Ikea platform bed adapter up three flights of stairs without even scratching the walls!!!! Once everything was in, they walked through the house with me and moved all the furniture to where I wanted and made sure all the beds were put together. The move was completely done by early afternoon and all of my stuff made it in the same condition as when it started. What a fabulous moving experience...I highly recommend them and will definitely be calling Top Notch again the next time I move!!!

I was very nervous about hiring a mover as I had heard nightmare stories from friends. I was selling a home and buying another so I knew my mover would have to be dependable. I called Top Notch because overall they had great comments and they were fairly close to me. I was grateful for the quick call back and scheduling of my move date of 12/28/12 (a very busy time of year). I later learned that there was no flexibiliy with my buyer or my seller on renting back in the hopes of a couple of days to move with less stress of timeframe, and that my house now needed to be completely empty by 8:30 a.m. on 12/28 (instead of the whole day as I thought) so my buyer could walk through and then go to settlement - and then I'd have to wait until later that day to settle on new home to get keys to move in. I was panicked beyond words, but when I called Top Notch Moving to let them know of the latest developments, they quickly put all of my fears to rest - they were able to arrange movers to come a day earlier on 12/27 to pack up the whole house and hold it in a truck overnight until I went to both settlements and they came back the next day after I rec'd keys to the new home and unpacked. And while this may sound easy enough, there was a LOT for the movers to do - I think we all underestimated how much stuff was still in my small house, but without any complaints, the movers were pleasant and just kept on going - even helping me with things that wasn't a part of my initial request. I really had no idea how some items would be moved without getting damaged - or how they would be able to disassemble some of the items and remember how to re-assemble, but these guys were perfect. On 12/7 I rec'd a call that if it was ok with me, they'd like to come around 10 a.m. instead of 2:00 p.m. I said I hadn't finished packing the things I told them I would as I thought I had until 2 but they said not to worry that the guys would help me, so they showed up early and we finished packing and filling up the truck. I had a small U-haul on hand as I said I would pack my garage by myself - but as it turned out, we needed that U-Haul to finish packing the house up, so luckily I was able to find another U-Haul to pack up my garage. The guys left with the full truck, and just as promised, called to confirm I had the keys to the new home and they were on their way. I couldn't believe how much faster the unpacking went - I felt bad that they had so many stairs in the new house but they were completely professional with a good process for unloading and reassembling everything. When it came time to pay the bill, it was higher than I was originally quoted, but the job had also changed since that original quote and it was worth every penny. I even gave a little more to show my appreciation for a job well done. I cannot stress what a good job was done for me, and not one item was damaged, not a scratch! Very impressive. I would use them again and I highly recommend this company to anyone planning a move.

These guys did an excellent job. They arrived right on time, were careful in moving all of our things, were friendly and professional. (Jim even provided helpful tractor advice.) We'd easily use them again if we were to do another move.

Jim came to estimate the job after making a tentative appointment in his very busy schedule. I had to leave a message to get a return call for making the appointment. Jim told me he was giving me a very conservative quote so we should expect the cost be at or under what he quoted. They charge by the hour for all services but I explained that I don't like surprises and asked him to cap the quote or requote a fixed price if necessary, and he agreed to put it in writing that I would pay no more than 10% above the estimate and that I could apply my Angie's list 10% discount to cap it at the quote provided and fax it back with signature to him if we decided to go with him. He also told me that we could leave the bottom 2 drawers of certain file cabinets and dressers filled. I will say all the other moving co s I got estimates from said dressers could be full unless it was assembly furniture. The same with filing cabinets. I was also told that I would be called early in the week of the move to check in on my packing status but since I didn't hear anything after leaving messages on Jim's phone I faxed and called the main no to remind them of my move. Jim apparently was on vacation. Dot told me it was a good thing I faxed the estimate back to them or they would have forgotten my move and not understood the expectations. The other manager, Dave, would make sure that all was arranged properly. On the day for packing, three slightly built boys the ages 18-21 arrived at my house and proceeded to pack. They were quiet and worked deliberately, but did not follow through on packing all the items as agreed: a number of items were left in the kitchen cabinets such as serving dishes and harder to pack items which was actually discovered after the move was complete. The lead boy, Rick, did not communicate well during the packing as I explained to him that Jim said I could leave the bottom drawers of my two five-drawer file cabinets full, and he did not say that he would override that promise and did not insist that the drawers be emptied. But the next day during the move, he took it upon himself (without mentioning anything to me) to empty all the files in those bottom drawers upside down and various directions in random order into two large boxes not designed to keep files orderly. I was truly shocked and immediately exclaimed that I was very disappointed with this action, but it was too late to rectify this very unprofessional action. Rick explained that he had to do it because the file cabinet was too heavy for him and the other boys to lift. (!?!) It took me a full day to reorganize all the files in proper order when we unpacked in our new home. Additionally I asked Rick earlier what measures are taken to protect the oil paintings during packing as I needed assurances and he showed me that he always uses flattened cardboard and tape to wrap the painting completely before moving and showed it to me. I was satisfied with that answer and told him that as long as packing materials are not rubbing the surface of the oil painting and that the frame is protected, I was happy with his method. However, one very important old oil painting (family heirloom), I discovered later as I was not in the room when they packed it, was wrapped in a movers blanket and wedged very tightly inside the movers truck the next day. I definitely pointed out to Rick when I discovered this that he did not follow through on his promise for how he planned to treat the oil paintings and he smugly said he was 'sorry it did not meet my expectations'. Too little too late as the frame and painting endured additional wear that we had hoped to prevent! The next morning, Barry came with the boys who packed as well as one more boy, bringing two moving truck rentals. I observed that Barry was older and probably more experienced, and asked him if Dave was coming (that backup manager for Jim) and he replied that he was also on vacation. I realized I had neither manager to call about any concerns and I needed to rely on Barry to supervise the younger ones for a professional move. Having younger, slight build adults pack is one thing but having them move very heavy and large and/or antique items is a little concerning, but given this company had a strong Angies List reputation, I hoped for the best. Unfortunately, it was raining in the morning and this slowed the packing of the truck initially. What was disconcerting was the fact that they did not have markers and additional packing materials on hand for final pack items, so a lot of those boxes got labeled with pen. Also, they disassembled items like shelves and failed to keep the items together to move them into the truck in the end. For instance, after they claimed the move was complete, there were lamp shades left behind while the lamp was on the moving truck, and shelves were left behind, while the shelving unit was packed in the truck. At one point they finally said that there was no more room in the trucks and that there was nothing they could do about it. They left behind all the business files and items for storage and various other items as mentioned above. Barry said he would make a point of coming back to move the other items to storage as promised and declared that whatever else was left behind were items we could pack and move ourselves. However, they never followed up to move the business items to storage as promised and I had to hire another co to do it. When we arrived at the new house ten minutes away, the unloading took place, but they were running out of time. Barry said that reinforcements from other moves that ended would arrive to help unload and sure enough about an hour later around 4-5 new guys arrived to help out. The only problem was that they did not know where to put items and which room was which so a lot of boxes got placed in the wrong rooms. My time was tied up in directing each mover to where the boxes go and I was pretty stressed out at this point. Barry assured me that after everything was unloaded, everyone would help to reassemble and place furniture according to our direction. However, when the time came they only had time to reassemble the beds, so we had to do the shelves, the lamps, but luckily the screws were taped to each item. They were finally done several hours later and it came time to pay. I was so stressed out I was just relieved it was over. Barry said that this move was a bargain because it was a longer move and he was going to honor the contracted amount for an 8 hour move, but I made it very clear to him that he never finished the job and that a lot remained at the house plus assembly and placement was not complete which makes it difficult to walk around and inspect with too many boxes in the way. Barry did not offer to move those items or rectify these issues as he promised earlier. After the move ended and they left, we spent the weekend unpacking and inspecting more closely. Turns out that we have a long scratch on our antique buffet, abrasion damage on our 19th century antique chairs, and a number of other damages to address with them. I called immediately and left a message. We got a return call the next day saying that Barry would be in touch and come to inspect and approve, but only after he finishes his two week vacation. More than two weeks later, I called and left another message at Top Notch (they never answer on the first calls, only follow up return calls), and they had Barry call who promised to show up that week at the end of the day but declined to commit on a specific day and that he would be in touch if he has time. More than two weeks have gone by and I still have heard nothing from Barry. I called Top Notch to leave another message this morning and am waiting for a top notch response. This was definitely not a professional move, this was an amateur move. I have witnessed professional movers for out of state moves and they work much more quickly with greater expertise and smart strength (using leverage and straps etc.) 'Top notch' is far from what I experienced and they cannot hold a candle to real movers. My husband, who works with children, gave the boys a tip at the end of the move for encouragement in the hopes that they will value hard work. They left with hoots and a hollering for night of partying... After finally seeing the damage done to his family heirlooms he realizes his folly -- he just rewarded them for an incomplete job done poorly. We are sure that they did the best job that they could possibly do, but it was not enough to meet minimum expectations.

WOW...What a WONDERFUL experience!!! After selling my home of 25 years, I was overwhelmed with the idea of packing my furniture/belongings and finding a reputable moving & storage company. With so many companies to choose from, I was not only confused but also apprehensive to select one from the Internet or phone book. I joined Angie's List to find a "good company." What I found was not just a "good" company, but an extraordinary company that stands out from the rest. My experience with Top Notch Moving was AMAZING and exceeded my expectations in every possible way. Without a doubt, I found the best of the best in Top Notch Moving as far as moving and storage companies are concerned. This is no ordinary run-of-the-mill moving company. This is an incredible company whose president, Jim Pappas excels in outstanding customer service and affordability. (BTW--my price also included the first month's storage fee). A warm & personable man, Jim showed right from the start that he KNOWS his business and is family/people oriented. It was obvious that customer satisfaction as important to him. He accurately assessed my moving needs, estimated time & number of men needed, as well as costs. A crew, including a supervisor, Barry, and 4 young men showed up on time totally prepared with everything necessary to move and pack. I was truly impressed with ALL of them as they were friendly, professional, organized, respectful and courteous, efficient, hard-working and extremely careful with ALL the details of packing & moving (not just the fragile items), Everyone knows that moving can be stressful and my stress level was at a peak. From the time Jim came to my home to assess my moving needs and provide an estimate of costs to the time when my belongings were moved onto his truck for storage, he showed a genuine interest in me as a person, concern for my emotional experience and reassurance that things would be fine and not to worry. He understood the emotional ties I had to my home of 25 years and provided much support & kindness. I packed as much as I could. The remaining items were carefully b Top Notch Moving and supervised by Barry. Barry was also extremely kind and understood my emotions of moving from my home. He also provided kind & comforting words, much reassurance that things would be fine--don't worry . Barry and these hard-working men worked steadily to carefully pack and load everything onto the Top Notch Moving truck; NEVER stopping to take a break...not once until the job was finished. Moving can be such a hassle but the wonderful service I received from Top Notch Moving was MORE than I could have ever hoped for. Jim, Barry, and the entire moving family, including office manager, Robin, worked as a "family" and made my moving day experience more of a joy than a job. After all was said and done, I felt like I had new friends! When the time comes, I am confident that I will receive the same EXEMPLARY service from Top Notch Moving as they move my belongings from storage and into my new home. It was such a pleasure to work with this extraordinary moving and storage company...I couldn't have been more pleased!!! I highly recommend Top Notch Moving unconditionally!!! Many thanks to Jim and his wonderful moving team!!!

A great experience. The man who came to make the estimate answered all my questions and instilled confidence. He was prompt, as was the crew the day of the move. They worked competently and steadily. The job was finished well and on time, and the price was just what the estimate was. Everyone was courteous and competent, and the day contained very little stress for us. There was one small bit of damage -- so small I can't remember what it was -- which they brought to our attention promptly.

The estimate was scheduled, Jim the owner, showed up on time, and left me at the end of the review with an estimate. I was very pleased with the move. They showed up on time, and discussed with me where the van could be parked. They had three people for my move. They quickly and efficently loaded the truck by noon, broke for lunch and drove down to the new house. I had some renovations done to my new house, that ended up not being complete, but they worked around the extra mess. They reassembled beds, and put clothes in closets. I have had a chance to look at the moved furniture, and they were great, my stuff had almost no damage, and what little happend was minor, and could be rectified. This was so much better than my experience with another company that I used to move a couple of years ago. I was also pleased when the final bill ended up being a little less than the estimate. I would truly recommend Top Notch to anyone who wants a good experience!

The entire experience was amazing! I spoke to Dena and Jim on the phone and through email and they were both very professional and helpful. They sent three movers and the entire move was completed in 1 1/2 hours. The movers arrived on schedule and they were polite, professional and stayed on task the whole time. I was thrilled with how easily everything went.

They arrived at around 8:30 a,m. and got right to work. The move took 4.5 hours with a three-man crew.

We were very pleased. The movers were a delight to work with ... very courteous and careful with our things, thorough, kept moving the whole time. They came on time and finished on time. All in all, it was a surprisingly pleasant experience. I'd strongly recommend them to anyone, any time.

these guys are absolutely the best! I interviewed several companies and am so glad I went with Top Notch. Every one of the men who was on our moving team was amazing. Not one thing was broken and they made a very stressful time much easier. They had to take a lot of things apart and put them back together and it was all done perfectly. I would recommend them highly to anyone.

Overall, the experience has been good. They've been friendly, reliable, and do a good job. I've had friends that have used their services, too, and they've been happy.

FABULOUS!!! Employees are smart, efficient, respectful in manner and of your belongings, neat in appearance... NOT EVEN ONE WALL MARK in either move!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY!!!

The cost of the move was higher than estimate. Originally, they said they could put everything in one truck and if everything did not fit, they could use a tandem trailer. On the day of the move, they said that I had too much stuff to fit in one truck and I would need an additional truck because the tandem was unavailable. They did not mention that they tandem was unavailable until the day of the move. The lead mover, Barry, spoke with the owner, who said they would make arrangements for an additional truck for a small fee. The owner then called me back and said we make an alternate arrangement. In the end they were able to make arrangements to move all of my things in two trucks, but for an additional fee. The owner even came out to do the walk through and knew what I had to move. I even got rid of several things between the walk through and the day of the move so I do not understand the lack of communication. The movers who loaded and unloaded my things were great. They really took care of my things. I would hire them again because his movers were great and in the end they did make everything right for me.

Top Notch moving did a great job in moving us from Baltimore to Ellicott City. They were helpful and responsive from day one. Jim came and gave me an estimate and told me what to expect on moving day, also gave us some options for boxes and packing help. On moving day, the crew showed up on time and were professional and careful with our belongings. They showed up with even more movers, which made the day a little more expensive than what was quoted (but we finished more quickly, so I guess it evened out). When we didn't get as much off on our coupon offer, Jim quickly refunded me the difference. I would use them again to move without hesitation.

Dave was the crew chief the day of the move and all the men on the team were friendly and professional. They finished the job quickly, with no issues. Highly recommend as a professional moving team.

Jim showed up on time to provide an estimate and we decided it was fair for the amount of work to be done. He then scheduled the packing and move dates. Packing would take place on a Friday, and the move on the following Monday. On packing day, the team showed up on time and got right to it. They were able to pack up the entire apt. in less than 3 hours - less the items that were necessary for the days between packing and moving. On move day, a team of 4 showed up to finish the packing and accomplish the move. Packing was done with great care of the items (although maybe a few boxes may have been under-packed :-) ), and nothing was damaged during the move. At the destination, the team placed all furniture where we asked them to, and reassembled those items that needed to be reassembled, including placing the mattress and box springs on the bed frame. Some of the larger bedroom items had to be taken up a tight staircase, but they were able negotiate this without damaging either the items or the walls of the house. They also assisted in unpacking some of the other items as was previously agreed to with Jim. The only complaint I had was that Jim had said that payment could be done via credit card, and the crew chief said it had to be by check. (Actually he said that they *preferred it to be by check, but he never really gave me an option to pay by credit card, as he was adamant about being paid by check.) I would hire them again, but I would make sure of how final payment could be made and get it in writing on the estimate/contract.

My only complaint is that the company was difficult to reach by phone. Most always got an answering machine or voice mail. BUT - Jim always got back to me and was kind about it. The men who came out to pack what we weren't able to on our own, were simply wonderful. They were young, but totally respectful, kind and hard working. They worked with only a break for lunch and did an amazing job packing and moving even the most delicate items. After hearing so many horror stories about moving companies, I was terrified. But these guys blew us away. They came in on Monday morning, packed up, checked the house with me to make sure nothing was forgotten or overlooked and left. They arrived in Massachusetts and unloaded my parents belongings on Tuesday afternoon. The price stayed reasonably within the quote Jim originally gave us. I highly recommend Top Notch Moving and Storage.

Jim and company did an excellent job! Very responsive and professional, quick turnaround in getting an estimate, and reasonable pricing. On moving day, they came in and moved us out in what felt like record time. No scratches or dents on furniture or walls, and they took extra care with our fragile items. Very highly recommended, and I would definitely use them again.

They are an excellent moving company. I like their professionalism, and they have never put in a nick on the wall. They are a very professional company. They are a little expensive. They didn't use to do a long distance moving before, but now they do it.