La Mesa Transfer & Storage, Inc.

Moved our 2 bedroom apartment from San Diego area to Oregon, and La Mesa Transfer & Storage (an Allied affiliate) managed our move. There are so many horror stories out there, and every moving company has bad ratings, so I was pretty terrified that we'd be screwed over. I was pleasantly surprised by how well everything went. A couple of things about this company: 1. We chose to package everything ourselves and had nothing lost or broken. I'm sure we went above and beyond what most people do, so do your research about how best to pack a box. So much tape, and be sure to pack the boxes as full as possible. We bought packing peanuts to fill in space, which worked well. When the truck got here and I stuck my head in to look at the boxes, they were all packed respecting the "Fragile, this side up" stickers. (Side note: We did our own inventory and labeled all boxes with numbers, what was inside, our last name, and our phone number. Made it easy to see our boxes in the truck and I was able to print the excel and check off each box myself when they were loaded and unloaded. I could see how their inventory could result in lost stuff, and wouldn't trust their process.) 2. Read EVERYTHING. And then re-read it. We went back and forth between our manager (Karla) multiple times to try and get an accurate move quote once our boxes were actually packed. Once they give you a quote, they can't go over the price (as long as your box count on your inventory matches what you have) so we updated our inventory one last time on the Monday before we moved on Tuesday. Karla told us we would get an updated invoice, and never sent it. The box count was close enough that we didn't push the subject, but it was annoying. 3. Karla was slow to email, but once we got her on the phone, she was great. Might have been a function of Covid-19. We did a lot of managing our move manager. Had to request the paperwork multiple times, she didn't see our emails, and would switch between her work and personal email making it hard to track emails. Like I said, over the phone she was great, but email and online was hard. 4. Our truck driver and his team were AMAZING! Erick communicated well, asked for our opinion, and his team was quick and efficient. We loaded up the truck on Tuesday morning and got it on Monday morning. Only downside, the team didn't wear masks as we had requested. I've got an immunocompromised parent who we were moving into, so we just stood a good distance away with masks on. No problems there. 5. The price sucked. There was no way around that. It was going to suck no matter who you go with, but Allied was the cheapest and didn't have a minimum. We did pay extra for a shuttle service and unloading into a storage unit. They charged my account before the items arrived (again annoying, as we had been told that wouldn't happen), but their first charge was their final charge and it came out just a little under what they thought it would. Overall, I would go back to use Allied and La Mesa Transfer again, especially if it was a shorter move, and not big across country. No matter what, I would label and inventory for yourself, and be prepared to manage your rep.

We're repeat customers. Each time, the guys worked quickly, but carefully. We hope we don't have to move again, but if we do, we'll use La Mesa Transfer & storage.

La Mesa Transfer & Storage has helped our family with several moves including to Orange County. No complications and would definitely recommend using them again.

I'm really sorry to have to write this review because I believe the move coordinator at Allied La Mesa did the best she could to ensure a positive experience for us, unfortunately it ended up a disaster. My move was interstate, California to Oregon, with my furniture and belongings going into storage with Bertsch Moving & Storage in Eugene, Oregon (also an Allied Van Lines agent). The moment the drivers got off their truck to unload my belongings they apologized because so much damage had been incurred. I'm still baffled at how a professional moving company could completely crush a king size mattress that was placed in a box, but they did. That was a total loss. My beautiful and very expensive bedroom furniture arrived with many scratches and gouges, dryer dented badly as were most items. Boxes smashed. All of my belongings were obviously thrown and piled into a truck without any care to the damage they were doing. Items missing, such as support boards for beds, shelves for racks, one box, a table saw, TV console destroyed. So far my cost to replace a few items has been close to $5,000 and costs will end up being much more. I can go on and on about the damage but there is just too much to list. On the topic of the estimate. Original estimate for this move was $4,533 (issued 4/28/17). After my contract was signed and the move date got closer a revised estimate was provided to me (on 5/25/17) in the amount $6,400. At that point we were 2 weeks from our move date and to find another van line was near impossible during peak moving season. My claim with Allied Van Lines has not been a pleasant experience either. So far the replacement insurance for full replacement value has been a joke. Allied is giving me much less then replacement value, at least for my newer king size Stearns and Foster mattress. Still dealing with them on these issues, but the claims adjuster has been less then helpful and on the rude side. Today I decided to go past the adjuster, Tamara George, and speak with her supervisor about my claim that is now past 30 days old and I still haven't heard anything about reimbursement or repair. The nightmare continues, but I will pursue every avenue possible starting with this review.

They did our Military move. Absolutely horrible and untrustworthy.