American Eagle Moving Company

American Eagle movers got my things moved from Ohio to California in seven days. Two weeks ago I hired them, the next week we got the whole thing started and now a week later I’m already moved in my new home in California. Nothing was missing and the costs for the service were reasonably charged as compared to some other price quotes I received from some of the other moving companies. At the end of the day all I can say is that I am happy I went with my instincts to choose American Eagle Moving.

Service cost: $5400

After documenting my inventory and sending videos of my household goods they show up with a small truck. I have a three bedroom house. Recliner sofa and chair. Dinette set. Grandfather clock. Two treadmills. King bedroom set. Queen bedroom set. Patio furniture. Kayaks. Yet they send a small truck. Have been here since 1 pm and still not finished and it is almost 11 pm. They don’t have enough room to take my kayaks, paddle board, bikes or treadmill. Great. Now what am I supposed to do? Not like I can toss them in my Prius. Don’t believe a word they say. They also want to charge me to go up stairs. Even though they told me they only charged for stairs on the outside of the house. Movers are very much like politicians. They all lie.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7000

I'm a pastor and was called to a church in AL from KY, and had 3 weeks to move while still working full-time. So we had to do a full-service move.

*Booking*
-All of the customer service people were very pleasant with excellent service throughout our entire experience
-We had 3 different estimates over our move. The initial estimate was around $5300. The 2nd estimate was around $6100. The 3rd jumped up to over $11,000. The problem came in estimating. During our initial estimate, the company didn't collect our information accurately. The 2nd estimate updated the first, but as we found out later the representative did not do a very good job of coaching me through our inventory on the phone and estimating our cubic footage. When the Quality Assurance person contacted us and walked through our items with my wife, there were several items missing from the inventory, including boxes and the "little things" I was told not to worry about, which increased our cf from 1500 to over 2500. Doubling the estimate put us well over our budget, but we were a week away from moving and had no alternatives.

*Packing*
-Movers showed up as scheduled. The truck was under the name Moving Accounting Department LLC instead of American Eagle Moving, which confused me.
-We were told there would be four movers and one supervisor. There were actually two movers and one supervisor/driver. None spoke English well.
-The movers left a bunch of our stuff. We specifically told them not to pack our two bedroom closets (we would pack those in our cars to have our clothes and stuff). But they completely forgot our coat closet, stuff from both bathrooms (i.e. trash cans, shower curtains and hangers, toothbrush holders, hair straighteners/curlers, items under the sink, etc.), kitchen trash can and floor mats, some wall shelves and decor, ironing board and iron, window treatments, etc. We estimated a conservative total value of $2300 worth of stuff, more than half of which we had to discard.
-The crew left our place a mess: their food and packing supplies throughout the house, cigarette butts all over our front yard.
-We were charged $140 for a long haul and $140 for excessive stairs. We have a short driveway that barely fits my SUV in it, and were in a 1-story home with 3 steps into the front doorway.

They didn't finish their packing until about 10:30pm, at which time I had worked a full day and had been there with them without dinner for 6 hours. I was exhausted, not thinking straight, and wanting to be done.

*Resolutions*
-We contacted the company about the issues of 1) the mess that was left by the crew, 2) the fees charged for long haul and stairs, and 3) the stuff that was left behind. I'll address the resolutions for each in turn.

1) After showing pictures of the messes, the company offered us $150 discount.
2) After showing pictures of the house, the distance from the curb to the door, and the lack of stairs, the company refunded us the $280 fees.
3) The stuff that was left behind was a big issue for us. Since we were packing our own closets, we didn't have space for bigger items, like our kitchen mats and trash can, window treatments, rugs, wall shelves, etc. We were able to fit in some of our bathroom items and a number of smaller items. We sent the itemized list to the company with values, and after lots of back and forth with the company, they offered us a $200 discount for our hassle. We expressed that we would take that discount, but that it didn't suffice for over $1,500 worth of items discarded. They then offered us a $1,000 discount in order to make us happy. We felt that was a more reasonable and acceptable discount.

*Delivery*
Our truck was "promised" to be here on Friday. It was less than a 400 mile trip. We traveled Thursday to be here for Friday's move. The truck was delayed and we were told it would not arrive until Saturday morning. Saturday morning we were updated that the truck's issue still hadn't been resolved, and later that that the truck wouldn't be coming until Sunday. I am writing this Saturday afternoon as we wait for our stuff to be delivered. I'll update this section after delivery.

TIPS
-Make sure you have a very thorough inventory of what you need to pack. Don't rely on the person coaching you through it.
-Have multiple people do a walk-through. I was exhausted and didn't realize they left so much stuff in cabinets, drawers, and closets. Yes it's their job to do, but best to go behind them and triple check.
-Take pictures and document everything

I've given them 4 stars because of 1) excellent customer service and communication, and 2) they did, in the end, offer us a reasonable discount for the issues we faced.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10200

I was extremely nervous about using American Eagle Moving for my move once after reading numerous reviews online and finding that they ranged from glowing, positive 5-star reviews to 1-star horror stories. My overall experience with American Eagle is that you get what you pay for.

I chose American Eagle after speaking with a sales consultant who put me at ease regarding my interstate move from Tennessee to Pennsylvania on a grad student's budget. The sales people are quick to get you to sign an agreement with a 35% non-refundable deposit. Unfortunately, they are working for a company that clearly overall is all about their bottom line. I found the salespeople to be helpful until my deposit was paid, at which time it was difficult to reach them without being placed on hold for long periods of time.

They base moves off of cubic square feet, but I would guess that they knowingly underestimate the amount of space you will need in order to get you to sign their low estimate. This results in later increases in estimated size and price. Any knowledgeable mover would have known that my belongings could not fit into the space they originally quoted me. When my movers arrived, the estimated cubic feet I would need increased by more than 100 cubic feet-- this added more than $500 to my initial quote.

American Eagle is definitely a "nickel and dime" type company. Every foot from the elevator to my apartment door was measured in order to charge the "Long Haul" moving fee that applies for each additional 50 feet the movers must walk. I've used other moving companies before who have had the "Long Haul" fee in their contracts, but who have used common sense when determining whether to apply it-- 50 feet is an extremely short distance in reality, and most all residences would surely incur this fee as a result. They also tried to charge me for boxes and blankets needed to wrap and move the furniture itself, things that should either be included in the cost or made clear upfront.

The sales consultant also advised me of an insurance company I could use to fully value and protect my belongings during the move. As I had several glass and mirrored objects, I wanted to be sure to protect those in the unfortunate event of damage. When I actually reached out to the insurance provider, however, they were completely unaware of American Eagle, and it turned out that American Eagle did not actually have an account with them. American Eagle had no response to this, and claimed to not know about any sort of account number. The truth was that I had been lied to and this was extremely discouraging.

I would give the company 2 stars for their attitude and clear goal of getting every possible cent from customers. They seem to have a pattern of misquoting size estimates and charging customers more when they actually pick up their belongings. They "nickel and dime" their customers to drastically change the price from the original quote to the actual service. Others seem to have had issues with delivery, but fortunately I can say this was not the case for me. This may have been due to the time of year (December) and employees taking leave for the holidays.

However, I would give my movers themselves 4 stars. The move crew that arrived to pick me up was the same that later dropped off my furniture-- a mere 3 days later. They were timely, professional, and extremely hard-working. None of my belongings were damaged, and they did an excellent job taking apart my furniture and wrapping fragile objects to ensure that there was no damage to my goods. They were excellent, and I am sure they work long and strenuous hours.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2100