Alliance Relocation Systems

My experience with Alliance Relocation Systems have been frustrating to say the least,I moved from Frederick Md to Carrollton Va in the summer of 2014. I had a month od free Storage which was the only thing they honored. They picked up myy furniture on June 8th 2014, my  was delivered on July 17. They delivered my furniture in the middle of the night. The crew consisting of the driver and another individual did not leave my house until 4 o'clock in the morning. The next morning I noticed that the headboard of my bed is cracked and one of my side table has a chunk of wood broken on the edge. I called the company that same day and was told to submit a claim which I did. I emailed the required documents and pictures of the damaged items. When I inquired about the status of my claim a few weeks later, I was told that the DOT allows them a period of 120 days to process a claim. We are now in January of 2015 and nothing happened yet.When I threatened to go to the Better Business Bureau I was given an answer to the effect of go ahead and sue us if you want. And that by the manager of the claims department Natalie Smith. Their Customer Service is atrocious, but before they take your money they are all honey. After that you are on your own. .

Service cost: $1579

Horrible service - I wouldn't use this company again if they were the last movers on earth. I read reviews prior to hiring this company and overall they were positive, but my experience is less so. My furniture was picked up on December 12th.   I hadn't received any information from them so I sent an email asking for delivery information on December 18th.  I finally wound up calling on the 20th to get information.  When I told them that I had sent multiple emails before getting a response I was told I should have called.  I told them that I was busy and email was easier to keep track of and was told that I must have used the wrong email address, to which I said I used the email address they wrote me from.I was speaking to Joseph and when I told him I was getting frustrated since it was 8 days since my furniture had been picked up but had no idea when it would be delivered.  He said of course it would be delivered, did I think they wanted to keep it?  He was such a [EDIT] I hung up and left a voicemail for someone in sales since that was the only other number I had.   They finally decided to respond to the earlier emails and said that my stuff was being loaded from the warehouse and would leave soon.  Since I didn't leave my boxes in a warehouse I wanted to know where it was - they never bothered to respond to that.The delivery was made Christmas Eve in a huge truck that was clearly crammed with belongings of multiple people.  The boxes I sent were almost all new and in excellent condition, the boxes I received were bent and split from being poorly loaded.The delivery man had hired a local mover to assist him.  When they started unpacking they placed something that I suspected was my screen leaning on the truck and started putting stuff that was associated with a different move in front of it.  I tried to tell him that I thought that it was my screen and he said 'Lady, I'm a professional and know what I'm doing." My bookcase was unloaded and when the blanket was removed it was clearly damaged.  My bathroom storage unit had been taken apart (not in my presence when loaded), and a shelf on the screen had been removed but the screws were not there.  His comment was that he didn't load it, it wasn't his fault.  The two movers moved everything in the garage and didn't give me a chance to look things over.  When I asked the driver he was going to mark down what was damaged, he said yes, which  I assumed meant he would go over the boxes to mark down damage, but he got in the cab of his truck and drove off.  He did not put anything taken apart by your movers back together and did not mark down any damage I found.I called them after the delivery regarding the damage and left a voicemail and they didn't respond.  I finally sent them an email on the 31st to follow up and was told that the move was insured and I needed to file a claim.  I filed a claim on December 31, 2012, the movers called and requested that I send them pictures on January 29 - I forwarded the earlier email to them again.On February 2nd I was notified by the insurance company that their agreement with the movers had been terminated and they would  no longer be handling the claim.  They indicated that the movers would be responsible for the damage.  It is now April 17th and I still haven't received any additional information from Alliance despite three requests for status. .

Service cost: $846

The distance we moved was less than 7 miles.  We paid extra for the “white glove” service which we were told, meant that we would get the highest skilled packers and movers.  We had china, crystal, handmade pottery, antiques from around the world, numerous pieces of original art, rare books and other collectible items.  The movers refused any direction or advice from us concerning what was valuable, what was an antique and what needed special care.  The white glove service was to have included complete unpacking as well. 
When we arrived at our new place, we were mortified.  The movers had taken great pains to wrap a plastic salt and pepper shaker and to wrap a common metal nutcracker, but they had failed to wrap many of our antiques and collectibles.  The movers left us without unpacking anything.  They simply agreed to place the furniture where we wanted but told us that we had to unpack because it was not included.  The company had sent too small of a truck for the job and so much time was lost by having to run the move as if it were two separate moves.  We began to discover broken items immediately upon our opening the first box before the movers could even leave.  We reported this to them but we were not allowed to write anything about the damages on the contracts,even when we started to write on the contract.  The next day we spoke with the salesman who had booked the move, Lenny.  As a good salesman, he said he would make amends.   He sent an email waiving the normal 10-day period during which to file a claim.  Until we could unpack everything we did not know the totality of the claim.  We were asked by Lenny’s “boss”, Mike to take pictures, to take as long as we needed and to remain calm.  He promised that he would correct everything immediately upon receipt of the photographs.  Again, we received an email saying to take our time in assembling the evidence of the claim.  The moving company refused to come to our location to see the actual damaged items, despite our repeated invitations to do so. 
In the end, the damage included broken and gouged furniture, broken china, broken antiques, scratched antiques, broken book spines (including on a rare book) because the “white glove” packers simply tossed unwrapped items into boxes when they sensed the move was taking too long.  Some boxes were packed in the most unprofessional manner imaginable.  Heavy items were placed on top of a bamboo steamer so that the steamer was destroyed, for example.  The move was certainly conducted on a most unprofessional manner, in our judgment.  But what happened next astounded us.  After submitting our claim we heard nothing.  Our phone calls went unanswered.  We realized that the moving company was waiting to receive payment from the credit card company and that they were ignoring us until they had been paid.  We contacted the credit card company, which advised us to file a claim.  Now for the best: the moving company’s response was to attack us and to state falsely that they had never extended the 10-day filing period and that they had offered extraordinary insurance which we declined.  The truth is they extended the 10 days and they resisted selling insurance to cover antiques and valuables.  Lenny boasted that during all of the years he has been selling moving services his company has never had a serious claim on any of its moves and that the standard insurance was all that anyone needed.  He added that he did not even know how to locate or complete the forms for extraordinary insurance.  Because the moving company lied to the credit card company they were able to temporarily defeat our claim.  Many items such as antiques, hand-made pottery and artwork were not wrapped, packaged or cared for.  They were simply thrown into a box with other items.  A large three-hole punch was tossed on top of an antique scroll.  The list of what the movers did wrong is enough to make any customer who has belongings which they care for and respect to want to run for the hills.  The foreman refused advice on labeling, or guidance on what was most precious.  He knew ALL.  His team could learn nothing from the customer.  We had over 30 items damaged including furniture, paintings, crystal.  Books were merely thrown in the boxes and most of the covers were torn.  We have over 3000 books and it was horrifying to see them after a less than 7 mile move.  Because of the extent of the damage, Lenny told us that we could take our time taking pictures and documenting the loss. Now, he claims that we did not submit the claim on time.  He also underestimated the amount and weight of belongings.  The original estimate was half of the total amount.  Because he underestimated the amount we also had the wrong size of truck.  This is my second posting.  I removed the first one because the moving company promised to resolve the issue immediately if we removed the posting.  I did remove the posting and they did nothing again.  Lying appears to be the norm within this organization, based on our experience.
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Service cost: $5225

DO NOT IN YOUR LIFE CONSIDER THIS MOVING COMPANY!  Incredibly unprofessional and they are CHEATS.  I write this to you as they are moving my stuff (finally) to its destination.  First, they gave us an estimate about how much it would be to move our stuff.  Then, when they pick the stuff up from the pickup location, they say it's going to be $1000 more!  WHAT!  Then they take our stuff put it in storage until we are willing to pay it.  So I FINALLY get these people on the phone (after a week of no returned calls) and after my husband mentions he's an attorney, they decide to give a $300 discount which is NOTHING.  Fine, we give them the money when they finally get to the destination and then they try to charge an extra $75 for having to walk up the driveway!  WHAT!  I am like are y'all serious?  I refused to pay it so then I had them bring it through the front door of the house (mind you, it's just boxes!) and they wouldn't even bring the stuff INTO the house.  Right now my husband is working like a rent mule bringing all these big boxes in the house which is what we paid these people $2000 to do themselves!  And also our desk was damaged and so were our wedding gifts!  I'm so fed up with this place and their bait and switch.  That little $300 is doing nothing for me.  So here is their review.

Service cost: $1975

Canceled on me with less than 24 hours notice. Never, ever use this company. They will bald face lie to you.I was scheduled to move on the last Wednesday of June. I had booked the move a month in advance and had spoken to the company the previous week with no problems. The day before they were supposed to arrive, I got a phone call that afternoon saying they were canceling. Their reason: "We won't have a truck in the area."When I asked how that was possible since I had made the reservation four weeks earlier (which implied they would have planned their schedule to have a truck in the area) I got no good answer. The dispatcher, Mike, promised he would send me some information of other companies that might be able to help me, and of course I never heard anything."Lenny" my alleged customer service person (888-818-2714) was, unsurprisingly, unreachable by phone that whole afternoon. Note that they require you to inform them 72 hours in advance of any changes. Clearly Alliance makes arrangements to move people and then picks the most lucrative jobs and doesn't give a [EDIT] who gets screwed in the process. This company is not to be trusted. .

Service cost: $1300

This company is not only a rip off but completely unprofessional.They arrived 4 and 1/2 hours late after numerous phone calls claiming that they were 'right around the corner', '15 minutes away', 'stuck in traffic' and my favorite 'the truck was broken down'. The original quote was for $1000 but the job ended up costing me over $2600.  They attempted to extort another $975 when they finally arrived in order to move my things into the house. They flat out refused to reassemble the furniture or even unpack it from the furniture clothes.  I had to move everything myself and torn the meniscus in my knee doing it.  I now require surgery to get it fixed.The company ignore any and all attempts to contact them and even ignore complaints from the Better Business Bureau.  I have also filed with the Attorney Generals office in the State of Maryland in addition to writing reviews anywhere I find these snakes. AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS!! They damaged the following items:Brand New 46" LED TV ripped the cushions of my sectional sofa missing boxes missing pieces of my queen bed so it's useless. I would include photos but I'm having issues uploading them.  Feel free to contact me for more information. Protect yourself and avoid this company!

Service cost: $2600

The best moving company I ever had they moved me from Bethesda MD to Los Angeles CA, they were so professional and fast it was amazing, especially Mike the dispatch he was so patient and explained everything to me. The movers were very fast and packed up everything beautifully, luis the foreman was great. The delivery was exactly when I wanted it to be, also the price was very reasonable, the movers packed up everything for me and was included in the price. I would definitely recommend Alliance Relocation Systems to everyone a great experience! Thanks again Alliance.

Service cost: $1981

These movers are horrible. They told me they would show up on one day, plans were cancelled to accomodate and they did not show up at all. When they finally did show up the next day after calling to complain one of the movers complained about having to move for most of the time and I had to keep having to tell them to get back to work. Afterward when they finished they tried charging me $700 more than I was quoted and threatened to hold my items in storage if I did not pay the entire amount. When they finally showed up to my house I called the company to question the price and the movers left with my items and threaten to charge me even more if they had to bring it back to MD and charge me if they have to bring it back to VA even though they left when I questioned the price. Please beware of this company and A.B.S moving and storage the company they sub contracted.!!

Service cost: $2100

The pick up was great - timely. The delivery was delayed about 10 days because "the truck broke down." Driver delivering goods was rude, overbearing, nasty and a real [EDIT]! Dresser was broken and hardware for a platform bed was lost so the bed cannot be reassembled. I am STILL trying to receive a "claim form" to complete on these damages/lost items and Dispatch keeps telling me he will have "them" email it to me immediately - it's been 23 days and still no form. DO NOT use this company! Their word cannot be trusted.

Service cost: $2000