ALWAYS AFFORDABLE MOVING & STORAGE INC

The experience with the moving company was a woeful testament to severe unprofessionalism and deplorable customer service. It stretches beyond belief how a service, ostensibly dedicated to assisting clients with their moving needs, could engage in such audacious acts of byzantine dishonesty. The movers not only unashamedly pilfered certain articles, treating our belongings as though they were up for free pickings, but they also busied themselves with petty bullying and intimidation tactics. Moreover, the reckless handling of the remaining possessions resulted in marked damages and the heartbreaking sight of cherished personal items reduced to rubble. Adding insult to injury was the egregious disregard for timelines, as the movers displayed no respect for the agreed upon schedule during this already stressful transition. Instead of demonstrating a commitment to prompt execution, they piled on unnecessary delays that further compounded the frustration and anxiety involved in the process. This sadly reflects a severe lack of organization and respect for customer time, thus culminating a moving experience that was far from a testament to effective service, but instead, a vivid characterization of what service provision should never be. The moving company blatantly flunked on all fronts - trust, professionalism, organizational skills, and efficacy - thereby highlighting a need for considerable systemic overhaul and accountability measures.

Always Affordable Moving and Storage (dba East Coast Van Lines, Raritan NJ) Had to cancel my original moving plans due to unforeseen circumstances and was assigned this company by a equally bad broker at the very last minute. First warning sign with this company or any mover is when they tell you that they will only accept cash or a money order as payment. Mover came to my home on moving day and gave me an estimate that was about $7k higher than the phone estimate. (of course). Reluctantly agreed as we were closing on our home in two days. Mover loaded their truck and said that had to return the next day as they couldn't fit all of my belongings into their truck. They returned the next day, looked around my home and proceeded to ask for an additional $5700 to move the same stuff they estimated a day earlier! After several hours of negotiating with the mover and the broker, they slammed the truck doors and took off with half of my belongings still in my home one day before my closing! Rude, dishonest and unprofessional.

MOVING PUBLIC PLEASE BEWARE!!! My last name at the time of the move was KING…so YES, Always Affordable did indeed move my family from NYC – GA last April 2022!! If we could give negative stars to this company, I would. Such a horrible experience with Always Affordable Moving & storage from start-to-finish. Keep in mind is that these moving companies know that people do not move every year, so they have no personal stake in doing a job well. You are not coming back anytime soon if at all. . Our bill increased the day before picking up and we protested; asked if we could speak with a manager. WE contracted with Colonial Van Lines who in turn hired this company for our interstate move. We could not get anyone on the phone at Colonial Van Lines – and guess what they did? The canceled the move 2 days before we were flying out. Finally got them on the line and they had to reassign the job to a new moving company - Always Affordable Movers from NJ (what a joke!!). On pickup there were 3 guys. And guess what? The bill went up again!! And they would not lift a finger until we paid the difference between our $2500 initial deposit and the new charge!!! Meanwhile, still trying to get someone on the phone for an explanation…NADA. You will only get the phone number for the van line company, never the actual movers. Anytime we did finally get to speak with someone they sounded downright rude and irritated by the call or flipping clueless. When the items were delivered; there was one guy – 1 guy!!! - to unload a 2-bedroom apartment of boxes and furniture. He rolled up with a U-Haul truck with everything JAMMED AND CRAMMED inside. They damaged our furniture and so many items, it is a DOWNRIGHT shame!! Final bill was over $10k!!! Moving insurance is Hella expensive, so if you have a claim and didn’t purchase the additional insurance, they are only bound by law to pay $0.60 for every pound of the damaged item. Our claim came to a measly $260 and the stipulation for accepting such a paltry sum is that you cannot write a negative review about the company, speak a negative word about the company, sue anyone in the company even down to the janitor and any person remotely associated with the company. We declined that payout! In the past 15 years we have moved three times and NEVER had witnessed such a lack of caring and concern. Since the pandemic, it has gotten worse. Do not, Do Not, DO NOT HIRE Always Affordable Movers or Colonial Van Lines.

In July of this year, Always Affordable was contracted by Colonial Van Lines to deliver our belongings from New York City to Salt Lake City. We had absolutely no choice in the matter, and we strongly urge any individuals or companies seeking to work with Always Affordable to reconsider. Always Affordable was stubborn, indignant, condescending, and incompetent at every point in our moving process. We were initially given a delivery date between five days and two weeks after the initial pickup. For two and a half weeks, it was absolute radio silence because they refused to communicate with Colonial Van Lines. We had daily calls with our Colonial Van Lines account manager where she would tell us Always Affordable wouldn’t give her any information. At one point we were told our belongings were in Texas, but all further communication proved that was an outright lie. Calling Always Affordable ourselves produced deflection back onto Colonial Van Lines and claims that there was no one with any authority to speak to us. We didn’t hear a verifiable thing until, horrifically, we found out all of our possessions were still in New Jersey after three entire weeks. They still had not even loaded anything onto the truck that would be driving across the country. On top of this, they would not tell us when that truck would actually be leaving the distribution center. My attempts to ask the dispatcher when we could anticipate our delivery weren’t met with answers, but rather, the incredibly condescending assertion that I “needed to calm down” for asking for information we desperately needed. The dispatcher proceeded to blame Colonial Van Lines for giving such a generous delivery window, again, without giving any information about when we could expect the delivery. Of course, we are upset with Colonial Van Lines for setting us up with them in the first place, but we were shocked by the absolute lack of accountability or responsibility on their end. Again, please, please do yourself a favor and choose a different moving company - and make sure that the movers you do hire don’t contract out to Always Affordable. And if you’re a moving company considering hiring Always Affordable, please consider the experience of your customers - we certainly wish Colonial Van Lines had.

"Cal" is an excellent salesman, I felt very confident they were the right people to use. "Eight trucks, all our own people, we have complete control over your belongings." "Fully insured," etc. It started out with a quote of $2300, grew to about $4400 when they picked it up. Charged us $600 to pack, all fees for boxes - do it yourself, it's chaos either way. First problem: They sent too small a truck, when I had so carefully detailed what we were shipping. Second problem: They overbooked the crew, with a second delivery to be done the same day they were to pick up our stuff. Dispatch screwed up and didn't schedule the moves properly. The crew was left to figure it out, and we got cheated in the process. During the move, they dinged a lamp, damaged a lamp shade, damaged a very old chair, and lost an Amish dining room chair. I called my pal "Cal" who up until then was a great guy, he did not tell me that it wasn't his job to handle lost furniture. So, no one called us back. I called back 3 days later, the salesman (my contact) never forwarded on my request for help to locate the missing chair. I am certain it is in a nearby storage unit up there, as the mover guys said they had to unload our stuff into a storage unit nearby, do another move, then grab our stuff and take it south, their next stop. Then we find out that they won't lift a finger to find it until we fill out a third party insurance claim. Holy Moly! My wife finally got the insurance claim form, but we cannot get a response from the insurer to see if the form we submitted has been filled out correctly. Additionally, don't expect a fair settlement: it is done by weight, like a dollar a pound. So a 30 lb $350 chair that will be hard to replace, will get us about $30. Forget about the damaged furniture... The sad thing is that the moving crew was nice - but damaged our furniture and lost the chair. We tipped and fed them, to be safe. Go figure. Management was and continues to be, horrible to work with. Call someone else. Don't use these guys.

They packed all our things and did a wonderful job. Nothing was broken. I was pleased with their service and recommend them.

I spoke to Anthony. I was told the job would be $80/hour INCLUDING everything. Scheduled for 9:00 AM. Showed up at 9:30 AM. The 1st thing the mover foreman told me, was that tape and packing materials were extra. I let him know thats not what Anthony told me. I had to go to my closing and didn't have anyone to watch the house, so we had to leave the movers alone. We left at 10:00 AM. We got back at 1:30 PM and the 3 movers were sitting on the porch & there was about 5 pieces of furniture on the front lawn. When they saw us, they got up from their "break". Meanwhile, the buyers lawyer called us to tell us that the buyers did their walk thru as the movers were there. They told us the movers would move a piece of furniture and sit for a cigarette. They continued this the whole time. They broke molding on the door. They finished packing us up on the truck & 3:30 PM (6 hours later). It took them 1.5 hours to unpack in the new house, since we were watching them. Anthony was unsympathetic.