I originally contacted All Coast about a week and a half prior to my upcoming 150 mile move, as I was given a tight turnaround for a new job start date. After providing a
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I originally contacted All Coast about a week and a half prior to my upcoming 150 mile move, as I was given a tight turnaround for a new job start date. After providing an inventory of items I would be bringing for my 1 bedroom move, I was quoted ~$2,080. I was also told that, out of courtesy, I would only be charged for the first flight of stairs in the building I was moving out of (I was on the third floor.) Everything seemed good to go and I put down a $950 deposit.
After looking into reviews more and fully realizing that this was a moving broker, I called to cancel. At this point, the manager, Eric, told me that the trucks were their own and went on a condescending tangent on how all moving companies had sister companies. Though, that information was misleading as sister companies refer to those owned by the same parent company and that was not the case here. He also proceeded to text me links to websites listing positive reviews. Yet, even there, there were negative ones. To keep me from cancelling, Eric assured me that I could pay the first installment of the remaining balance at pickup with credit card (an ask of mine for security). I refrained from cancelling as I would lose my deposit with the move being so close.
A couple days later I was sent a Bill of Lading to sign with Luxury Logistics LLC, a company with 1/5 stars and multiple reviews stating that their goods were held hostage at the demand for more money. I called All Coast and stated that I would not be signing this contract and was then assigned a new company - Movement Pro Van Lines. Based on the reviews here, I felt comfortable and signed the Bill of Lading. I was told a few days prior to the move, I would receive a call to go over inventory. This never came and I was never given a timeline for pickup. A day out from the move, I called All Coast for more information on the timeline and to ask about inventory as there was a tv stand listed on there that I didn’t have and I was now bringing a sofa chair and about 6 additional boxes. I was told just to go over the inventory when the movers came and was given a time estimate of 12pm-5pm the next day.
Within minutes of the movers coming, I was told that it looked like a lot more than was listed. I was initially quoted based on around ~350 cf and he said this looked like around ~750 cf. Unsure at how this was such a large difference, I asked him to compare the inventory list to what was in the room and state the differences. He told me that the queen bed I had listed would actually be three different pieces (the frame, the mattress, the box spring) and that my couch was larger than a sofa and was a sectional (it has a 2”x3” footstool that adds on a little space with one of the cushions). I had provided accurate descriptions of these items when I first provided inventory for All Coast so just assumed that the inventory that was listed on the Bill of Lading accurately represented what I described. He then provided me an updates estimate of ~$4,500 and told me this was worst case and would be revised as they went through it. Next up, I was told that the packing was not done professionally and that they would be charging me $650 to repack pieces. I had plastic wrapped and bubble wrapped every piece of furniture and went to town with packing tape on all the boxes - the quality of the packing I had done was more than sufficient. I had made sure of this as I opted out of having anything packed on my behalf. Then, though I was previously told otherwise by All Coast, I was charged for the other two flights of stairs. Before I signed anything regarding an updated price, the movers had already started repacking my items and moving them onto the truck.
I was told the move would be the full $4500 and, without much of a choice and half my stuff already moved out, I signed the papers. I told them I would be paying with credit card, as listed on the Bill of Lading. They told me I couldn’t do this as the delivery date was set for the following day and they couldn’t be sure the payment would go through prior to then, though the delivery date was not new information and this stipulation was stated nowhere in the paperwork. My options for payment were cash, Zelle, or venmo.
All in all this was an absolute terror of a move and everything that All Coast promised went out the door the second I was assigned a company to actually carry out the move. Please do yourself a favor and trust the negative reviews and stay away from these companies.
Move Date:
Sep 06,2023
From:
Philadelphia, PA
To:
Alexandria, VA
Move
Cost: $4500
