ALL AMERICAN MOVING

THIS REVIEW IS FOR ALL AMERICAN VAN LINES IN FARMINGDALE, NY. Started off well. I got a reasonable quote and the pick up at my NY home was fine. The staff of 4-5 guys wrapped and packed my furniture (we packed our own boxes), although the way they slid boxes down stairways was a little surprising and rough. When my items were weighed, I was told the weight was double their estimate and despite having a price cap, my price went way up. I noticed the weight estimate did not include an entire king sized bedroom set as I asked for a quote with and without the set (thinking if it cost too much to move it, I'd sell it in NY). The quote with the set was reasonable and I booked the move to include the set. But the weight of the set was never added and I was told the estimator "just threw a number out there" at the time of the estimate. I admittedly added 15 more boxes than the estimate and knew the price would go up, but there's no way 15 boxes doubled the weight. Also, my piece count was higher than estimated because on the estimate, a full bed was considered one piece, but on the inventory sheet, a full bed became 5 pieces (mattress, boxspring, headboard, footboard and frame). 3 beds went from 3 pieces to 15. Delivery was made 16 days after pick up on 30 minutes' notice, despite being told I'd have 24 hours' notice of delivery. The delivery staff of 2 roughly unloaded boxes from the truck (many glasses I packed were broken). I wonder how many times my boxes were thrown around from truck to truck because some of them were visibly out of shape. Also, the staff forced the king bedroom set through doorways (once causing a very loud snapping sound), breaking and cracking the marble top on 2 pieces and causing scratches on all the other pieces. I showed the crew the broken marble and was told "file a claim." The delivery staff also improperly re-assembled 2 full sized bed frames which I had to take apart and re-assemble after they left, and failed to mention that 2 of the 4 king bed supports were lost in transit, and instead assembled the king bed with only 2 supports which were improperly screwed into the frame. The paperwork was missing and I had to sign off on delivery without having the opportunity to check the inventory. I recently submitted a claim but am still waiting for a response.

I canceled the move with the provider because of their responsiveness . The provider wasn't considerate of our time.

I received the response from All American Movers. They tried to help. Next time, my wife or receiving agent will take their own photos.

The movers arrived on time, loaded items from our home and two storage units with no problems. I was surprised how fast they worked to get everything done...they knew how to efficiently load the items onto the truck. The guys were all very polite. I hope we never have to move again, but if we do, I'll call Phillip and the guys.

The mover I originally scheduled cancelled on me 30 min after they were suppose to arrive. I called around and All American Moving company was referred by another mover that was booked. This crew was awesome! They worked quickly and efficiently...they were also friendly and as a single woman I felt very comfortable with the crew.

We packed everything ourselves. When I first called them to get their services, they did not explain that all things had to in covered boxes and containers. When they got there, some things were not in boxes. Many things that were going to go into storage ended up staying at the house and we had to find someone to move them later. I had a sleeper sofa and they did not tell me there was an additional charge to move that to the second floor. We did not have time to go and get more boxes and to repack. I thought they would be able to move the heavy things that I could not take in my van. They left behind an antique chair, a cabinet--large items that I can't move myself. When they took things to the storage place, they had three men, but only two were doing any work. My husband is not healthy, but when we got to the apartment and it had taken so long that they were getting my husband to get things up and down the stairs instead of them doing all of the work. They told my husband to hurry up or else he would have to run to the bank and get more cash. We were told that we had to pay in cash. They told my husband that my husband and I were carrying junk. This was really unprofessional service. I ended getting another elderly couple to help us to get the rest of our belongings from our old house. The movers left an entire room of things. This was our first move in thirty-seven years.

They did a good job of loading the truck but there was a bit of confusion about packing the house. The guys came prepared not to pack in the house; they just came prepared to pick up boxes and move them. I don't know if there was miscommunication because the day that I spoke to the owner he said they would be there with boxes, packing material and material to wrap things up. When the guys got there they said they were not doing that so I told them that was part of the agreement. So I called the company back and the owner showed up himself and wrapped some things but basically we wrapped everything in the house. They were pleasant guys and got done in one day. I will not use them again in the future.

fferedI interviewed several companies and chose All American Moving (AMM) because of their price and rating on Angie's List. In the early stages everything went well, Phillip Moreno was very pleasant and easy to work with. The problems started when he underestimate the volume of our household goods (HHG's). He did not order large enough trucks resulting in some items being left behind. He identified the items left behind based on my priority and offered a nominal price to compensate our loss, which I accepted. What he didn't reveal was some critical items were left behind that he did not identify. Most notably the head chair to an expensive dining room suit. We did not discover the chair was missing until all items were unloaded. Due to the poor planning for trucks our HHG's were jammed into every crevice available resulting in extensive damage to several items. When I complained Mr. Moreno said he was imposing a 10% penalty for excessive entry level into the house. In AAM's contract they note such a penalty but they do not define what constitutes an excessive level and it states that such penalties but be agreed to by both parties prior to work being performed. Mr. Moreno did not discuss a penalty until the work was almost completed. When we discovered that some items, including the chair, were missing and complained about the broken items he said he said he would not ship them until the 10% penalty was paid. I filed a complaint with the DOT, but got little results because they said they were overwhelmed with complaints. As a result I sued AAM in the District Court of Etowah County, AL and won every count of my case. AMM was to pay a $1,500 penalty to me and return the dining room chair. They returned the dining room chair, but sent it COD and have not paid any of the penalty payments. I will have to pursue further legal action to recover the court ordered settlement. A further complication was Mr. Moreno underestimated the heat and humidity in Alabama in July with the result being he only sent three workers to unload who were not physically fit. The unloading process took twice the time forecasted by Mr.Moreno and was only complete with the help of my family members. The workers for AMM were cordial and wanted to be helpful, but showed disgust with the poor planning of Mr. Moreno. I would urge any potential clients of AMM to be cautious during negotiations and require Mr. Moreno to define the criteria for any potential penalty charges before the work is performed.

Their responsiveness and availability was excellent (as I had to reschedule fairly last-minute). The crew was punctual and moved in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, my lampshade was broken in the moving process (fell off dolly). Their reimbursement method (priced per pound) seemed suspicious as the lampshade was mica (lightweight) but worth >100 dollars. The manager instead waived the "fee" for my large LCD TV, which I guess was fine (though I was ensured previously via initial phone quote that there was only a fee for plasma TVs). With that exception, everything else went well. Only minor scuffing to be expected during a move. The overall price made me happy in the end.

They were actually pretty good. They were as fast as we expected them to be. They made no damage. We had no issues with them. They were all friendly. If need, we would use them again in the future too.

This was my first time using Angie's list and I was apprenhesive after reading some independent reports. First, Mr. Moreno responded promptly to my inquiries. The moving team of three people arrived at 10:20 AM when I was promised they will be there between 9-10 AM. Second, they told me that they will start billing from 10:15 AM and that was fine with me. The move went smoothly as I did not have too much stuff to move. Halfway throuh unloading at 12:15 PM the head mover demanded that I make the complete payment. The movers pointed out that they deserved a tip. Now his clock started at 10:00 AM instead of the 10:15 AM I was told at the start of the job. I pointed out that Mr. Moreno had told me that they prided by the fact that there clock did not start until they arrived at the job unlike other movers. Also, the end time was arbitarily chosen at 1:00 PM eevn though they eventualy finished earlier.Again, when I pointed out that even by their own estimate they had overcharged me by half an hour, they first tried to argue that I was wrong and then blamed everything under the sun for their oversight including the sun and the calculator.Needless to say I felt was overcharged by almost an hour. I will be very careful using All American Moving again. I should have called Mr. moreno to complain but I figured he will also come up with some excuse like his crew.

I can't imagine anything they could improve on. They were very professional, really nice, friendly, and helpful. I had no problems at all. They made sure that they treated my furniture right. Everything was fine. None of my property was damaged. Everything was taken care of. The price was reasonable. I think it was good.

They were on-time, courteous, helpful, kind, careful and went out of their way to help my folks. They came in under the estimate

A very good job and we were extremely happy with our choice of moving companies.

This company was almost a disaster for us. I spoke with Phil to schedule our move approximately one month in advance of our date. Our shoestring budget could only afford a 2-man crew at $65/hour. I explained to Phil that although we were moving from a 3-bedroom house, only one bedroom had a full bedroom suit. The other two bedrooms were used for box storage and a small office (1 desk and a small file cabinet). The rest was living room furniture and boxes in the garage. I even emailed them a list of the large items that were included to ensure they knew what kind of equipment to bring with them. I spoke with Phil several times to confirm the arrangements and he assured me he would have a 2-man crew on the calendar for our move date. Unfortunately, we had to delay our move by one week, but Phil again assured me he would get a 2-man crew for us. However, the day BEFORE the move, David, the General Manager, called to say that there was no way a 2-man crew could move the contents of a 3-bedroom house and that he needed to send a 3-man crew (at $20 more per hour). I again explained the situation with the sparse contents of 2 of the bedrooms. I also told David that I had arranged for a 2-man crew through Phil and that our budget would not allow for anything more. David said that he was "not going to kill a 2-man crew" by having them move a 3-bedroom house. I told him that my fiance was helping, which would make a 3-man crew, but he insisted that he had to send 3 men. I contacted Phil to find out what was going on, and he told me that he was not aware they were moving the entire contents of the house, including boxes. (Interestingly, when I originally called Phil he asked if we needed a packing crew to help box our contents and I told him that we would be doing the packing ourselves. Does that not tell you there will be boxes?) Not until the day before did Phil suggest that he thought they were ONLY moving the items I listed in my email. Why would I hire a moving crew and a 24' truck only to move the large items? Why would I not use the moving truck for all of our belongings that required boxes, such as clothes, kitchen items, etc. First, if you are in the moving business, why would you not send someone to survey the job and give a correct price? Second, why were we hearing this the day BEFORE the scheduled move? We felt they were attempting to put us on the spot considering we needed to move the following day. Anyone else may have caved in to this type of pressure. We did not. We cancelled them due to what we felt was their lack of integrity. We rented our own truck and people came out of the woodwork to help, even our new neighbors. I am happy to say that all went well, no thanks to the unprofessional tactics of All American. One final point, when I cancelled their services Phil stated, "Remember, this was all YOUR doing, not OURS." Yes, it was all our doing that they did not send someone to appraise the job properly and waited until the last minute to change the game plan. UPDATE 7/12/11 – Member's rebuttal of the below Company Response. This company is grasping at straws with their response to our report. If we were to write a line-by-line rebuttal, it would flow for pages. Suffice it to say that we have witnesses and paperwork with timelines that corroborate our report. We will, however, make a few points about their response. 1) We did not reserve a rental truck until after they attempted to up the ante the day before the move (our paperwork verifies this). Although we were moving less than a mile away, we had to travel over 10 miles to get the truck the morning of our move, which was certainly not to our benefit. We had no idea how we would get anyone to help us with less than 24 hours notice and the move being on Mother's Day. Why would we put ourselves through this additional stress at the last minute without good cause? We were extremely fortunate that our new landlord called his neighbors after he heard what happened and rounded up a few people to help us. 2) The company characterizes a reschedule as backing out of an appointment. We already addressed this in our original report, but wanted to underscore their absurd commentary to our reschedule. 3) They never asked us for an email listing our large items, WE initiated that email on our own to confirm that they knew what equipment they needed to complete the move, after which Phil's response was: "All the equipment nessary to complete your move will be provided by us. All you haved to do is make sure all misc. Is packed and boxes taped shut." [copied and pasted as is.] His own reply confirms his knowledge that there were miscellaneous items in boxes in addition to the large items. 4) The company's contention that "no moving company" does an on-site appraisal is ridiculous. We contacted several moving companies, both national and local, and ALL stated that they would need to have someone survey the job before giving an estimate of manpower and cost. All American states that they "normally only go out on estimates for larger jobs requiring extensive packing or moving." A 3-bedroom house is not extensive moving? 5) The company's accusation that we were engaging in an elaborate scheme to get a cheaper rate is ludicrous. Again, we have paperwork showing the time of our truck reservation, which was only after they attempted to gouge more money from us the day before our move. 6) The ONLY truthful statement they have made in their response is, "I explained to her that I was going to honor the two men rate and that it wasn't necessary to cancel and that we would do our best for her but she insisted on cancelling anyway." Absolutely correct. Why would we continue down the road with this company and risk more surprises on the day OF the move. The fact that they have accepted no responsibility for the failure of this transaction is troublesome. Everyone knows the enormous stress of moving and that customers want it to go smoothly, especially a customer with a serious medical condition. The only reason we needed movers was because I had undergone recent emergency heart surgery and could not help my fiance with the move. Otherwise, we would not have needed help. Moreover, the ONLY reason we chose All American was their rating on Angie's List. We certainly would have preferred to write a positive report about this company, as we have done for other service providers on Angie's List. A positive report would have meant that the move went smoothly and professionally. It is regretful that we are unable to do so. We stand by our report and would caution members to always insist that a representative of a moving company perform an on-site survey to get an accurate assessment.

They showed up at 9AM packed all the goods until 3 PM. The left the area the following morning at 6 AM and arrived at our destination at 12 PM as forecasted. Unpacked and assembled goods. Left at 4 PM.

The packing process started later than agreed but their crew made up for some lost time - the move was a 3 bedroom home in San Antonio to an established residence in Huntington Beach. Phil provided a crew of 6 family members - no temps - and made the move a dedicated move - with their crew at the delivery point for unpacking - all the services were professional and I would give them high marks all around. - nothing broken and no lost items -

Unfortunately when we called to schedule a moving date some one was not avaliable to come to the house so they under estimated the amount of items needed to be moved. However David, Daniel, and Rudy worked tirelessly to complete the move. They did not cut corners or get sloppy like other movers. I highly recommend All American Movers and would use them again when we need to move.

The overall experience was very good.

The movers took exellent care moving into my newly remodelled home.

This family business is very professional and very good at giving personal service. Each of the men who worked on this move was polite and pleasant, as well as efficient and very hard-working. The estimate that Phillip gave me became binding once I accepted the offer and gave a deposit of 1/2 the total amount. There was never a request for any additional amount at any time. We have accumulated a LOT of stuff over the years, and they packed everything they are legally allowed to transport in one day, loaded the next and delivered the third day, just as I requested. They gave me a courtesy call each day to confirm their arrival time and stayed on the job until the work was complete. I don't want to move again for a very long time, but if I do have to move again, I hope Phillip and his family of movers are still available. I feel very fortunate to have found them through Angie's List. I recommend these men to anyone planning a move, but I particularly want to say that I would recommend them to any of my women friends or people with children. I was totally comfortable with each of the men working in my home. There was never any swearing or suggestive remarks made that would make me uncomfortable to recommend them to anyone of any age.

Phil came out and gave us an estimate in May and was able to provide the storage we needed. Movers came on moving day on time and spent all day moving and packing the trucks (we needed 2). When the time came to move into our new home, Phil and his crew arrived on time and again spent all day moving our goods into our new home. This is a family-run business and, although I had reservations at the beginning, they came through and on both moves did a great job.

I called on a Friday morning and asked if they would be able to move a desk for me. It was not a complicated move but it is extremely heavy and difficult to maneuver. David said he could fit me in that afternoon. They were at my house on time and did a fast and great job.

Excellent service. They moved very heavy / large furniture up tight stairwells and around paintings, drop-down light fixtures, etc. with noi damage to the furniture or my new home.

I called to get a quote from a couple of places to compare, and they had the lowest price per mover. I called again and found that the price was slightly higher than the original quote, but still lower than the next lowest option in town. They sent 3 guys who were all great, and although the main guy, Phil, seemed to have forgotten to pass along that I needed boxes and packing materials to the guys, they scrounged up some good stuff at the last minute, helped me pack a few things, and loaded and unloaded everything, all within 3 hours, start to finish. The guys were very polite, helpful, and displayed good common sense and were clearly very experienced, because not a thing was broken or damaged. Overall, it was a great experience, and I'd hire them again anytime.