Chipman Relocation & Logistics

Extremely poor. Due to over packing on the first truck from a previous customer they had to request a second truck to finish the packing which delayed our time to start our drive across the US. We had to rush across the US as to be available for delivery but once we arrived at our new home the first truck was delayed due to mechanical issues and the second truck was delayed an additional week since Chipman could not find someone to drive it across the US. They failed to document the contents of the boxes on the inventory and did not deliver 7 boxes of our belongs and a chair. Since the size and contents were not documented (although they were clearly marked in numerous sides on the boxes) Chipman is claiming minimal financial responsibility. We purchased the full value protection (FVP) insurance but since we don't know what the contents, size, or weight of the boxes are, Chipman is offering minimal reimbursement. The book titled "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move" includes an office to contact for arbitration (AMSA) but their email and phone is no longer in service. So the FVP, which is very expensive, is a joke. As to the promise of a smooth transition, we also had Jennifer as our contact person and I would recommend getting everything in writing. She isn't very helpful. The day of loading and unloading is very hurried and stressful. DEMAND that each item is tagged and on the inventory sheet. Insist that each inventory description has the contents and size of the carton, not just small carton. Make sure to have your own list and inventory numbers on the boxes so you can document the contents. Therefore if you have 312 boxes you will know which number contains what contents. The driver and movers are in a hurry to get everything loaded but DO NOT let them rush through this step as it is your only proof if something is not delivered or damaged. When it comes time to place a claim, and you certainly will need to, you need to have proof. If possible take photos of contents in each box. It takes longer but you will need that proof otherwise you will get pennies on the dollar for "misplaced" items. Overall, its a crap shoot at best. There are numerous ways the moving companies can screw you over so be proactive and document, document, document. If filling a claim be very aware of the time limits.

I will preface this review by noting that I have moved 17 times in the last decade, both regionally and cross-country. I have used several moving companies and I have never had a bad experience. My experience with Chipman was shocking, from start to finish. The short version is DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. The longer version: 1. The quote call: I was asked to FaceTime for a quote call, which was fine. I was a little put-off by the quoter, Paul, who continued to refer to my "husband" after I corrected him several times, but overall he seemed nice. I emphasized the time-sensitivity of our move, and that our belongings needed to arrive on or before Jan. 8th to make it work for us. He assured me they could do that, and that he would return the quote same-day due to the time sensitivity. He also assured me that the items I specified as fragile on the quote call would be covered under the standard FVP at $60 / pound. We specifically worked out the calculation of the Le Creuset that I own to work through the math. He explained that high value would be over $100 / pound, which I agreed would be fine. Paul did not return the quote within 24 hours. I followed up with him the next afternoon and he issued me a standard quote. I immediately follow up to confirm the delivery date since none was specified, and he said "he couldn't remember when I said I had needed the belongings" but that no, January 8th would not be feasible. (No apology, either.) The quote detail specified insurance that was different than what was covered on the call, so I followed up on that, too. The contract listed the insurance of FMV at $6/pound, unless waived for the default of $.60/pound. The subsequent correspondence was infuriating. Paul first suggested that there was "no such thing" as $6/pound insurance, despite the fact that the contract said it on its face, as does the United website (for whom they are subcontractors). He also repeatedly told me that I was "confused," which is a fast way to infuriate a well-educated female professional. When I quoted the website back to him, he conceded, and agreed United would permit me to raise the insurance coverage to $12/pound (still far below what he originally told me) for an additional fee. 2. We were then handed over to our move coordinator, Jennifer. Jennifer didn't reach out to me, I reached out to her after several days of waiting (Paul listed her email address and her role in his correspondence). I asked Jennifer if she could specify an ETA for the movers since we had a shared driveway and I needed to notify our neighbors (on the "from" end) and book a loading dock (on the "to" end). She left me a VM that the movers would arrive between 8-9AM. She did not mention the contractor who needed to crate my partner's 3D printer, so I assumed that they would arrive along with the movers. Instead, two days prior to our move, we received a call from the subcontractor at 4:45PM asking to come the next morning (a work day, and not our move day) to crate the 3D printer. Because of the time sensitivity, I rearranged my schedule to allow that to happen. When the belongings arrived at our destination, Jennifer had not booked anyone to un-crate the 3D printer, and I had to contact her to have the charges associated with the un-crating to be removed. Furthermore, Jennifer called me Friday afternoon (our move was on Monday morning) to let me know that actually the movers would be arriving 9-11AM, rather than 8-9AM as advised earlier. Again, we rearranged our schedules to accommodate the potential for a longer time horizon (i.e., my partner canceled several afternoon meetings just in case). Because Chipman weighs and loads the belongings for cross-country shipping at their facility rather than at the "from" location, they could not immediately confirm what our total billing would be. I said that was fine, but after several days went by and I was billed without any confirmation that our items were within the quoted weight range (or any communication from Chipman whatsoever), I reached out to Jennifer. I asked her to confirm that the items had fit into three containers as quoted, and she replies "yes everything fit into three containers." Well, that "three" was actually not true: the movers that Chipman subcontracted to bring the belongings to our apartment on the "to" end used a trailer, rather than a truck, so we could see that our belongings had been moved in two containers, not three. I had to affirmatively ask (3 weeks after our belongings were picked up) that I would be credited for the third container, which is required by their contract. I feel fairly confident that if I had not seen the belongings packed in two containers, and if I had not asked about it, that Jennifer would have been happy for me to believe it had been shipped in three, and I would not been credited for one container. I was stunned -- I have it in writing that she says it was shipped in "three." (Also: Chipman won't agree to refund the credit for up to 30 days from delivery, which means I've essentially lent them $950 for 1.5 months.) Also, because the items arrived on a trailer rather than re-packed in a truck for delivery, we could see how they had been packed. It was, again, shocking. We had carefully labeled items with arrows on four sides, "fragile," and "top." Some of these boxes were found on their side at the bottom of the crates. Even the subcontracted movers commented that it was a bad job, and that it looked like it had been done to fit it in two containers. For example: both our big-screen TV and my sewing machine -- which were clearly marked and in their original packaging -- made the 3,000 mile trip on their SIDES at the BOTTOM of the container. Packing mechanical items on their sides is well-known to damage them, even if not apparently "broken" upon unboxing. I was infuriated. All of our boxes were crushed and in terrible shape upon arrival. It is only because we took extra care when packing them (ourselves) that nothing ended up broken. I will say that the subcontracted movers who loaded our belongings to bring them to the Chipman site and the subcontracted movers who brought them to our new apartment were all thoughtful, efficient, courteous people. But I cannot emphasize enough that I would rather pay DOUBLE what I paid for this move than to ever use a contractor like this again. It was an absolute mess, ending with finding out that I won't get their customer service satisfaction survey for over 30 days because Jennifer failed to update my account for 1 week after delivery, which (according to United CS) fails to trigger the survey distribution.

We have moved our household several times and have not had any issues with any of those moves, certainly no disputes until we used Chipman Relocation. Firstly, I would like to compliment the packers and driver as they did a fine job. The issue is with the estimating/quote process, and specifically lack of information provided (relates to changes in policy and experience of prior moves and lack of information as to what is not covered by insurance) and miscommunications which led to charges being incurred by us that we did not expect. We were able to prevent the unneeded insurance costs by asking questions in advance and revising the contract, but despite calls to discuss, they have refused to reimburse us the contract amount for items which they did not move. Additionally, my wife asked for a “guarantee” from all the moving companies we interviewed to alleviate her greatest fear....that the truck would not be able to accommodate all our goods. And, despite assurances from Chipman that there would be ample room on the truck for everything, near the end of the loading day, substantial disassembly of many items was necessary, many of the goods ended up in the driver’s cab and they even strapped one item onto the back of the truck. If that were not enough, we gave away one large item to allow the truck doors to close and we were still charged by Chipman for moving that item even though we were provided oral assurances that we would not be charged for this and another item if they were not moved. Mover beware if you use Chipman.

It was average service.

They come out to your house and give your price, and when the guys come out and there is extra, they charge extra, and they did that to me, but I called the guy who had given me the price, and he told the boys that that is what I should be charged. I lived in a condo at that time, and the drive way to get in and out was narrow, and their vans could not come in, so they had to park way out on the street and then use the small van to get my stuff out to the big van. I told them that I was not paying for that because when the guy came out, he saw the driveways, and when I received the paperwork they said okay. They tried to get around the original quote and charge me for a couple of things, and I kept going to the guy coming back to give me a price after seeing my apartment, and so I would recommend them, because I think every company tries to charge you, but when I spoke to them, they said I was correct. I would use them again. They subcontract someone else to drive the trucks. They got me packed and out of there, because I had to catch a flight. Every time I called and had questions, I could get through easily. They told me the time they would be there, but they were late because they were at another job, and I had a flight to catch, and they told me that they would lock the house and leave, but they were out before I left.

It went fine.

It went well. We were happy with the move overall! There were a few knicks and dings, but it is to be expected.

The interaction went okay. We didn't use them because they were a little high. We weren't moving that far, so we thought they were a little expensive. They had good references. They seemed to have the equipment that needed. It just really came down to two people and we went with some local.

They did a great job for me and I would use this company again should the need arise.

We chose Chipman Moving for a recent local residential move due to a positive experience with them approximately seven years ago. Unfortunately our recent experience, by comparison, was not a good one. Chipman's movers were much less experienced than those who had moved us before. The new movers, in our opinions, were not "professional" movers. They were young men who perhaps had some very basic training. Chipman's movers did not act professionally. We were surprised to see the movers comfortably goof around and frequently argue wasting much valuable time. (Four movers arguing for fifteen minutes wastes one man-hour.) It was a frustrating day as the mover's time was not used wisely. Proper direction and leadership was lacking. At the end of the day, Chipman did not complete the job as they had estimated, leaving heavy boxes and furnishings unmoved. Upon follow-up with Chipman, the company would not take responsibility to move those items they had left behind. For their services, Chipman told us our adjusted bill would be 133% of their original estimate. It seems that the Chipman estimator underestimated our needs and/or the required truck size and/or their movers' capabilities. Also, we were told by the Chipman estimator on at least two occassions that Chipman's movers all had experience with disassembly and reassembly of Sleep Number beds. The estimator was badly misinformed. We were unable to use the beds after delivery and had to seek outside help for repair and reassembly. We also had to hire another mover to move the furniture and boxes that the Chipman movers left behind. In addition, we were told that we would have to fill out individual Chipman Claim Forms and submit them to Chipman's Moving Company for their decision regarding the repair or replacement of, or compensation for each of the items damaged by the movers. We are not looking forward to this undoubtedly uncomfortable process. PS. You may find that an additional 10% charge over a moving company's estimate is the maximum additional charge allowed.

They were wonderful. I would use them again if I were moving in the future.

Three items were damaged by the movers. They initially refused to repair one of these, then offered to pay 1/2. It was only after Angie's List contacted them, that they finally agrees to pay the full cost. This was about five months later.

WHEN THEY MOVED ME, THE TRUCK WENT AHEAD OF ME. THERE WAS AN ITEM THAT BROKE THE TABLE TOP. I WENT THROUGH TOO MUCH TROUBLE, AND TALK TO GET A RESOLUTION. I REMEMBERED AFTER THE FACT THAT THEY DIDN'T DELIVER AN ITEM, WHEN I FILED AN INSURANCE CLAIM. THEY DENIED IT SAYING THERE WAS ONLY ONE CLAIM PER PAID FORDES34D.