Handle With Care Packaging Store

This is a copy of a review that I posted on Yelp. I want to make sure that anyone considering having them set up a long-distance shipping job sees this.

I really want to give this place two and a half stars, but I can't go up to 3. My fiancé and I needed our couch shipped from Berkeley to
Boston, but didn't need a full moving service. Dan gave a quote of $1200 for packaging, shipping, and pick up/delivery combined, but told me that would probably be an overestimate (b/c I overestimated the weight). While that's on the high end for this kind of service (with no white glove movers involved) I was told that paying this would ensure delivery by 5-6 days after pickup.

First, the reasons for the low rating: what actually happened is that they tried to charge us $1275 for a delivery that took *three weeks*. After complaining about the delay during the process, they only refunded $100 of that amount. Dan always answered the phone when I called to check up on what was happening, but he was either misleading me throughout or wasn't bothering to properly check up on the delivery status. After an initial delay of several days, he continually made false promises about how soon it would arrive, while reminding me of how it was 'out of his hands.'

Once I finally got the contact info for the shipping company from him, I suddenly got a very clear answer that ended up being accurate. However, as the delay caused the couch to arrive when I was at work, and all that money didn't even cover help in getting the couch up to our fourth-floor apartment, the couch was left sitting outside in the rain until I could make it home. I'm just grateful that the super of my building graciously helped to move the couch in once I did.

Now, the reason that I rate my experience as a 2.5 instead of a 1: the couch did arrive in perfect condition. Ultimately, that is the most important thing, and is the reason that I was willing to pay a bit over a grand for the service. Dan was always available on the phone during the process, and it does appear to be true that the delay was the fault of YRC Freight.

However, the large delay would not have caused such a headache if Dan been able to provide reliable updates on how soon the package would be arriving. I also never forgot about the fact that he initially led me to expect $1200 to be a substantial overestimate of the cost. In the end, I should not have had to pay the $1175 that I did for something that turned into such a hassle.

Excellent Service

I buy on-line, and hesitate to have expensive items left at my front door where they can be scooped up by thieves.

So I use this store as a 'mail drop'.... they call when a package is delivered and only charge $2 per package... with 2-3 packages delivered per month, this is a lot cheaper than paying for a mailbox for package deliveries

The owner was very helpful. He even directed me to the post office because it would have been cheaper. Highly recommended.