AAA Moving Inc

We moved from New York to Los Angeles and used AAA Moving Inc. We had an averaged sized one bedroom apartment in Manhattan (i.e not huge) and were moving all the typical furniture associated with an apartment.

The move out of New York went well. Our problems started occurring at the delivery side. To cut costs, it appears AAA Moving do not use professional movers once outside of NY, they employed some guy who happened to have a truck to transport and deliver our furniture. He turned up in a huge truck, about 55ft long. It was totally inappropriately sized for any neighborhood: it blocked the neighboring parking lot, crossed illegal parking zones and had to be moved multiple times during the unloading to let people in and out of the lot. We later got complaints from the parking lot supervisors and our complex about blocked entries, lost business, and oversized vehicles.

The driver hired one local Hispanic guy to help him and he disappeared whilst this one guy struggled to unload the truck. We had to help this assistant with the larger furniture.

The truck was full of other people's furniture, none of it was marked, segregated or identified properly. We had to retrieve a number of our items from the truck which the driver did not know were ours. We ended up with an extra box which wasn't ours and we lost a large box full of equipment which we never received back. Multiple items were broken or damaged including our desk, glasses and plates, and there was a hole in the mattress.

The driver was extremely rude, discourteous and arrogant. He called at inappropriate times (11:30pm) to tell us he was 'late' and would have to come in the morning , whilst we had been hanging around and planned time off work to meet him at a predetermined time. When he turned up, he told us there was a 'long distance' fee associated with moving equipment more than 75feet from the truck (I've since found out this is standard, but we were not informed beforehand). This would have added another $450 to the bill. When we refused to pay it they just dumped our stuff on the sidewalk. We had to move it inside ourselves. To cap it all off, when we put in a claim, we received the amount of $36 for all the equipment lost and broken. I highly recommend taking out your own insurance, and also be very careful what you're signing on the bill of delivery sheets.

A couple of other general cautionary warnings which are probably associated with all moving companies. They underestimate the volume when you call them for a quote. You're then left with a much larger cost when they load the truck and measure the lines indicating the volume, and you have to be ready to pay them extra. We were quoted 310 cubic feet. We actually ended up with more than double this. They also don't' deliver when you want them too. I had anticipated this, but the guy ended up being a week later than originally scheduled. Plan at least one month between moving and receiving your furniture.

All in all, I suggest you use the more reputable companies, like Flat Rate. They're more expensive up front, but as we learned the hard way, it can save costs if things go wrong. Do not use AAA Moving Inc. We paid the price to try and save money and go the cheaper option.

Service cost: $2500