First Rate Movers

Endless spam texts. Reported to the FTC. Never Use!!!!

DO NOT USE THIS MOVING COMPANY! FIRST RATE MOVERS contracted MAP MOVING AND STORAGE. The moving company lost a large box that contained over $6,000 worth of clothes (including my college graduation cap and gown, clothes that I need to start my new job, and other sentimental clothes). It was specifically communicated to me that my items would be covered up to $10,000. However after filing a claim, I was only being compensated for $48, based on a 60 cents per pound. It wasn’t effectively communicated that you would have to purchase additional insurance to receive the $10,000 coverage. Which if I had known I would have gladly paid for it to protect me stuff.

SCAM, EVIL, BAIT-AND-SWITCH! It seems this company has done significant astro-turfing of their reviews because after our experience I can't imagine any real customer has a positive experience with them. All the negative things said by others are true. We were told that we would receive a call a week before our scheduled pick-up, never happened. We set a pick-up window that was three days wide, right before our move, they missed it.
Thankfully, we had someone who was able to supervise the move when they finally did show up. They did the same thing to us they have to others. After hooking you through a sizeable deposit and pushing the pick-up as late as possible by optimistic promises of arrival times, they show up, say your items are bulky, and jack the price up by $2000. We were actually already on the road to our new home, what choice do we have but to accept it? I don't know want sort of riff-raff they contract, but the truck looked like it was loaded by a toddler and somehow it took more then 6 hours for them to load what I could have done myself in a afternoon. The crew was disagreeable to begin with and it just escalated throughout the process to the point that the person who volunteered to supervise the move had to CALL THE COPS!! This isnt even over yet, we will see what sort of extortion we get on the other end, should our stuff actually show up. DO NOT END UP LIKE US, AVOID THIS COMPANY! Avoid any company that seems like maybe they use these practices because scammy, ramshackle operations like this can quickly change names.

EDIT 1: Another fun scammy thing they do is they don't send you an actual quote. They send you a link to a web page, which conveniently stops existing sometime before they show up and jack up the price.

EDIT 2: Several of this companies reported practices violate DOT rules. If they already got you, file a complaint with the DOT.

DO NOT USE USE THEM! MY FINAL PRICE WAS 2,000 OVER MY QUOTED PRICE, with items taken off! They are a BROKER. On top of that, they assigned us the wrong pick up window, and also told us our things would be there within 7 business. Turns out our the truck may take up to 21 days! All they had to do was schedule us an earlier pickup window. I repeat DO NOT use this company. Pick anyone else.

SUMMARY: If you want a reliable moving company, look elsewhere, but I did get my stuff

CONS:
- They initially underestimated my cubic footage by 500 ft^3, and then once I brought it to their attention, they revised their estimate to underestimating by 200 ft^3. Their underestimate caused us to pay more than we were expecting, despite 3 separate accountings of our inventory, including a video walkthrough
- The Overland Vanlines company they contracted to do our move had their van break down after they loaded our stuff and again before our delivery, so it doesn't seem like they contract companies that maintain their equipment properly
- The moving company they contracted did not deliver our belongings the day they said they would, despite calling to confirm the window twice. The moving company claimed it was a vehicle issue (probably to cover their liability). This came late in our correspondence, and it was contradicted by the workers the day of the delivery. The workers said there wasn't a vehicle break down, but rather that the moving company overbooked them. If you can't afford to take multiple days off from work to receive your stuff, you should keep this in mind
- The delivery workers (2 men working for 3 hours) had the audacity to ask me for a $250 tip after they finished moving my stuff, claiming it was an industry standard. I could understand an extra $5 or even $10 per hour, but an extra $42 per hour is ridiculous.

PROS:
- They arrived the correct day to pick up my stuff
- I did receive my stuff and they did a good job packing my storage container.