Elite Moving and Storage-IL

Our moving team came early in their moving window, communicated extremely clearly and did the move with great care, speed and professionalism. The whole team was very friendly and handled everything with care. Five star service! Tips: if you pay cash or certified check you save 3% on the credit or debit card fee. Also, if you’re moving in Chicago city limits you will need a parking pass from the city (which they coordinate getting for you). Finally, it is helpful to have an inspector come to your actual house to do an estimate for you ... it refined our “instant quote” and was much more accurate for us.

I have used Elite moving in three different moves and have always been impressed by their professionalism and efficiency. This time was unfortunately disappointing. During the initial walkthrough, I asked the head mover to make sure that no boxes were loaded on top of the boxes marked FRAGILE. However, during the move, I had to repeatedly keep asking that to happen with him and the other movers. I only had 4 of approximately 25 boxes marked fragile. It should not have been that difficult to keep track of. On two occasions, I looked in the truck and saw that boxes were on top of the fragile ones. I told the head mover and he said that there is a method where they load the heavier boxes on the bottom. He then made a side chuckle as if to say, “we know what we are doing.” I basically gave up repeating myself in the moment. I figured it was a short truck ride to the storage unit and maybe the boxes would be okay. At one point, I asked the head mover to breakdown three bookshelves. He said it would be no problem, but when it came to the end of the move, he gave me a hard time about it, so I just said go ahead and take it as it is. I was just so tired of going back and forth with him. When we arrived at the storage facility before they began unloading, I again asked the head mover to have the fragile boxes be loaded on the top and that my bookshelves be moved in the front of the storage. (So, I could come back later and break the shelves down myself). He said, “Yes, ma’am.” However, again I had to continuously remind them not to put any boxes on top of the FOUR fragile boxes. At one point, one of the movers had my bookshelf upside down such that the top of it was scraping the asphalt—that was painful to watch. I will say that of the four movers, Junior was very responsive when I had a concern. On three occasions, he helped me communicate different things to the other movers such as don’t tie the tape around the cushions so tight, flip over the bookshelf to make it right side up, etc. I really appreciated his willingness to listen to the customer (ME) and that’s why this review is 3 stars instead of 2. I paid $600 for a job that took about 2 hours. I didn’t mind paying the fee, but in return I shouldn’t be left feeling unsatisfied with the overall process. Such a disappointment compared to my three previous moves with Elite. ***UPDATE*** I have since opened my fragile boxes and I must say nothing was broken. The only disappointment was that one of the movers broke a plastic connecter on my bed and rather than tell me, he just took the entire piece. If he could have taken the broken prongs that were left in the wood, he probably would have.

Amongst damaging some of our interior furniture (CB2, West Elm, Crate & Barrel), Elite Moving & Storage failed to wrap our outdoor furniture (even though their policy is to blanket wrap ALL furniture) - thus leaving dents and scratches all over our expensive mixed metal/wood furniture. Our stuff was mishandled several times (loading truck, unloading into storage, loading trailer, unloading) so our furniture certainly saw rough days. The insurance claim took over 6 months to get back to us. Unsatisfied with Elite Moving's inability to properly correct their wrongdoings, we went through arbitration (which is a scam, because it was their recommended arbitration company) which cost another $150. In the end, they only offered to give us $200 dollars - which isn't even enough to fix ONE piece of furniture they broke! Definitely disappointed in our experience with this company. DO NOT USE.