Southwest Virginia Moving & Storage

Southwest VA Moving and Storage (SWVAM&S) moved my family about 9 months ago. I'll start with the good first and move into why I'm giving them a 1-star review. The good: the movers themselves did a fantastic job with everything and were very careful with all of our stuff. We experienced one dead appliance during the move (more on that below) but otherwise everything was handled with care.

When I first called SWVAM&S, Michael Murray (I believe the president of the company) came out to give us a moving estimate. He was friendly enough and answered all of my questions thoroughly. I explained to him that my wife would be 6.5 months pregnant when we moved, and we wanted the movers to do all of the packing for us. He sent us a quote afterward that seemed reasonable, we agreed to it, and they put us on the schedule. Five days before the move date, they reached out to confirm everything and it was discovered the quote we were given did not include packing as discussed. A lot of chaos ensued during which SWVAM&S continually blamed us; apparently the contract we were sent did not explicitly include packing and thus it was my fault for not reading the fine print well enough. They claimed they sent me two quotes and the one I approved was the one without packing. This was a complete lie; I reviewed my email and was only ever sent the one quote. I also was completely unambiguous with Michael, when he was at our house, that we were uninterested in packing things ourselves. They were unwilling to help with anything on our end so we were faced with a tough choice: pay several thousand more for packing or have to deal with packing our entire house last-minute and get it complete in 4-5 days. We opted for the latter, but even nine months later I'm still frustrated by the position we were put in, particularly since my wife was almost seven months pregnant at the time. This was either complete negligence on them when preparing our quote, or a deliberate bait-and-switch.

What's more, the quote they gave us was based on how many pounds of stuff we were moving. I can't recall the exact number, but they initially estimated we had something like 14,000 pounds of stuff to move, which seemed like a lot for the 3-bedroom house we were moving out of. When moving day arrived and the movers showed up they were completely perplexed as well; they said we had significantly less than they were led to believe. They ended up finishing the move much faster than anticipated because of this. SWVAM&S ended up charging us less because it took less time, but I'm not convinced the discount given to us was enough to compensate for time saved.

When we were given the quote it was explained they insured a certain amount for damage incurred while moving. Our washing machine did not survive the move, but when I called SWVAM&S I was told the insurance did not cover appliances unless there was physical damage to the exterior that wasn't there before. I explained there was indeed physical damage: there was several dents to the exterior of the unit (including one to the head panel) that were not there before. They rebutted the physical damage was not extensive enough for them to cover it, despite the unit not working anymore. So the insurance seems to be a scam.

And finally, the way they collected payment rubbed me the wrong way. Our entire life was in boxes and when the movers had carried the last box into the house they demanded payment immediately. I did not know where my checkbook was, and I asked if they could send me a bill that I would pay within a few days once I unpacked it. They called their boss and were told they were not allowed to leave my front porch until I gave them a check. So I had to start unpacking right then in order to get payment. I would have rather paid ahead of time or been sent a bill; demanding a check when everything is in a box and I don't know where anything is was needlessly ridiculous.

Southwest VA Moving and Storage (SWVAM&S) moved my family about 9 months ago. I'll start with the good first and move into why I'm giving them a 1-star review. The good: the movers themselves did a fantastic job with everything and were very careful with all of our stuff. We experienced one dead appliance during the move (more on that below) but otherwise everything was handled with care.

When I first called SWVAM&S, Michael Murray (I believe the president of the company) came out to give us a moving estimate. He was friendly enough and answered all of my questions thoroughly. I explained to him that my wife would be 6.5 months pregnant when we moved, and we wanted the movers to do all of the packing for us. He sent us a quote afterward that seemed reasonable, we agreed to it, and they put us on the schedule. Five days before the move date, they reached out to confirm everything and it was discovered the quote we were given did not include packing as discussed. A lot of chaos ensued during which SWVAM&S continually blamed us; apparently the contract we were sent did not explicitly include packing and thus it was my fault for not reading the fine print well enough. They claimed they sent me two quotes and the one I approved was the one without packing. This was a complete lie; I reviewed my email and was only ever sent the one quote. I also was completely unambiguous with Michael, when he was at our house, that we were uninterested in packing things ourselves. They were unwilling to help with anything on our end so we were faced with a tough choice: pay several thousand more for packing or have to deal with packing our entire house last-minute and get it complete in 4-5 days. We opted for the latter, but even nine months later I'm still frustrated by the position we were put in, particularly since my wife was almost seven months pregnant at the time. This was either complete negligence on them when preparing our quote, or a deliberate bait-and-switch.

What's more, the quote they gave us was based on how many pounds of stuff we were moving. I can't recall the exact number, but they initially estimated we had something like 14,000 pounds of stuff to move, which seemed like a lot for the 3-bedroom house we were moving out of. When moving day arrived and the movers showed up they were completely perplexed as well; they said we had significantly less than they were led to believe. They ended up finishing the move much faster than anticipated because of this. SWVAM&S ended up charging us less because it took less time, but I'm not convinced the discount given to us was enough to compensate for time saved.

When we were given the quote it was explained they insured a certain amount for damage incurred while moving. Our washing machine did not survive the move, but when I called SWVAM&S I was told the insurance did not cover appliances unless there was physical damage to the exterior that wasn't there before. I explained there was indeed physical damage: there was several dents to the exterior of the unit (including one to the head panel) that were not there before. They rebutted the physical damage was not extensive enough for them to cover it, despite the unit not working anymore. So the insurance seems to be a scam.

And finally, the way they collected payment rubbed me the wrong way. Our entire life was in boxes and when the movers had carried the last box into the house they demanded payment immediately. I did not know where my checkbook was, and I asked if they could send me a bill that I would pay within a few days once I unpacked it. They called their boss and were told they were not allowed to leave my front porch until I gave them a check. So I had to start unpacking right then in order to get payment. I would have rather paid ahead of time or been sent a bill; demanding a check when everything is in a box and I don't know where anything is was needlessly ridiculous.

Southwest movers were honest, professional and very careful. Excellent experience.

Southwest movers were honest, professional and very careful. Excellent experience.

Absolutely the best moving company we’ve ever had. Kudos to Courtney..Brandon and Antonio are the A-team !