Black Bear Moving & Storage

If I could do it all over again, I would do it myself, with one hand, one gout affected leg, and the worlds worst hangover. Working with Black Bear has been by far the worst moving experience of my life. They should be in jail

Black Bear was the moving company that was contracted through Trinity Moving and Storage (A broker that gives about half a shit about you once they've gotten their money.) I got an arrival estimate from the broker, Black Bear movers called and said.."Thats them, they have no idea and they're not the mover." Needless to say, We expected the movers between 10 AM and 2 PM, they arrived at 5 PM. Upon arrival, it was determined that we were over our estimated allotment and that we had some items that needed to be "Crated" To be clear, crating apparently means: Wrapped in paper and cellophane. We paid 300.00 extra dollars for paper and cellophane. We also paid an extra $500 for the space allocation..all in all, 800 more than the estimate. I've been told this is common, so I just went with the flow.

We also learned after that the countdown to when their timer starts, isn't the pick up date, its the first available delivery date. We chose the 16th of July. This lack of understanding and clarity caused some challenges, but again..we went with it. This lack of understanding was my fault, I own that..

This is where the good part starts.

On Sunday, July 26th, our home goods were supposedly in New York having just completed a job in Ohio, we were told by the Customer Service team that we could probably expect our stuff on Tuesday the 28th. That never happened. I was then told by the Customer Service team at Black Bear that it would most likely be Thursday the 30th. That never happened. I was then told that I could expect my stuff on Sunday August 2nd. That never happened. I was then told I could expect my stuff on Tuesday August 4th. We got a call from the driver on Monday night on the 3rd. The driver stated that we'd have our stuff around noon on Tuesday. Keep in mind, Tuesday the 4th was my sons birthday but we needed our stuff and were ok with the date. We waited..and we waited, we called and we waited..then we waited some more. Absolutely ruined my sons birthday..Crazy thing though, we didn't get our stuff.. THEN..on Tuesday night around 6 PM, we get a call from ANOTHER driver who stated he just got this truckload (This is important, remember the timing) ..and that he would be at our house on Wednesday at 8 AM, first load of the day..GUARANTEED..The driver stated that they were going to stay the night locally and would be at our house first thing in the morning..Guess what?..Nope. Turns out that the truck was stuck in Maryland with an issue. So now I've gotten 3 delivery dates from Black Bear and 2 More phone calls from drivers..all lies.

Fast forward to 830PM at night on the 5th of August. The truck shows up at our house, no phone call, no warning. There is no lift gate, there is no segregation between our home goods and some other poor family. (At one point, the movers tried to offload another family's TV to us, we said "Thats no ours" and they put it back. We were told by these two movers that they packed our stuff, in the rain, two nights ago which I find odd (Remember earlier?.. Driver stated he just got our stuff on Monday night?)

Lets get to the state of our homegoods:

EVERY SINGLE BOX WAS DAMAGED IN SOME WAY

PLASTIC TOTES WERE SMASHED. LIDS CAVED IN, SIDES BLOWN OUT

OUR 65 INCH SAMSUNG TV WAS DESTROYED, THE BOX SOAKING WET AND RAVAGED. IT LOOKED LIKE IT HAD BEEN USED AS A PUNCHING BAG

WE STARTED THE MOVE WITH A FULL SERVING SET OF DISHES, WRAPPED IN BUBBLE WRAP. OF THE 8 LARGE PLATES, 3 SURVIVED. GLASSES SMASHED, BAKING PANS BENT AND SMASHED.

BOXES OF CLOTHING, EXPENSIVE LEATHER SHOES (Johnston and Murphy), DRESS SHIRTS AND SPORT COATS..SOAKING WET

WE'RE ALSO MISSING SIGNIFICANT ITEMS.

1.) Our dining room set is MISSING A CHAIR

2.) Our garage items are missing (Shovels, rakes, fertilizer spreader)

3.) A box with all of our utensils and miscellaneous other items are missing.

4.) MY SONS ELECTRIC SCOOTER. THEY STOLE FROM A CHILD!

If this damage were done in your home, you'd be able to call the police and have these criminals arrested. They treat your home goods like garbage and then lie to you about where your garbage is and when you can expect to receive it. We work hard for our money and in turn, our possessions. We have accumulated these items over a long period of time, only to have them treated like trash by the movers. My wife and I feel violated. It was like having your home broken into and trashed..except we paid someone (+6000.00) to do it..

As of this moment, I have not yet filed my claim with Black Bear as we are still finding broken and missing things.. I am sure that this review will work against me, I don't care..

In summation: Don't make the mistake we did.

IMGUR: imgur.com/a/QnQB9Or.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6500

These guys are pros. Using a mover with an hourly rate can be terrifying, but they worked quickly and got my job done in less than two hours. While not a whole house move, they were charged with handling two very expensive and delicate pieces of furniture, along with emptying a storage locker of around 25 boxes. Total time, including transportation? One hour and ten minutes! There was not a scratch or damage to anything. Having just been through a relocation move with another company, this experience changed my opinion about movers. Some are better than others, and so far, from my past experiences, these guys are tops. You guys were awesome! Highly recommended.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3400

DO NOT USE THESE MOVERS! BEWARE! PLEASE READ BEFORE HAVING THEM MOVE YOUR STUFF! NIGHTMARE MOVERS!!
Upon doing my research on multiple moving company’s, and before signing any contracts with Black Bear Moving and Storage INC, they PROMISED a seamless and stress free move. THAT WAS A LIE! Working with Black Bear Moving company has been one of the WORST experiences in my entire life. For starters at pick up of my belongings the drivers were 5 HOURS LATE! I was given a window between 12-4pm and Driver did not show up until around 9pm. Given the runaround that the truck was only 30 mins away every time I called for an update. Costumer service is also AWFUL, one gentlemen in particular Name Robert was extremely RUDE and DISRESPECTFUL. Being yelled at by a customer service representative is UNACCEPTABLE from my perspective. Upon delivery of my items the driver did NOT notify me that he was driving an 18 wheeler, there for no access was available. The Driver who was very unwilling to help and seemed to be in a rush to ditch my belongings gave me two options to unload my stuff to another truck, where he would just transfer over to another truck and leave WITHOUT DROPPING OFF MY ITEMS TO MY DOOR AND ASSEMBLING MY ITEMS AS PROMISED IN THE POLICY. Or The second option was that he was going to take my items to a storage facility in which I would be responsible to get my items to my house myself. I would also have to pay an ADDITIONAL 300 dollar fee. I decided on option one the driver loaded a UHAUL TRUCK THAT I RENTED AND LEFT. Leaving me to unload the truck MYSELF AND ASSEMBLE MY FURNITURE. ALL BOXES WERE ALL SMASHED AND TORN ON THE EDGES. Mind you that none of this INFORMATION IS DISCLOSED TO THE CUSTOMER NOR WRITTEN ON THE POLICY! OVERALL HORRIBLE COSTUMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE AND NIGHTMARE MOVE. BEWARE! This company is full of LIES. They will not take care of you’re belongings! They only care about your Money!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1645

I want to begin by saying that I had a great experience with the drivers/movers on either end of my move. They were friendly, efficient, and pleasant to work with. However, the company itself is lacking on the client service side. While my sales rep was prompt and helpful in the lead up to my move, once I was handed over to customer service the whole thing fell apart.

I was told emphatically by the rep that most moves take between 7-14 days so was prepared for at least two weeks of being without my things. What I didn't anticipate was arriving at my destination more than a week later and being told that my items had not even left the storage facility. It was pointed out that they have 30 days to get my items to me - fair enough - but time ticked on and every time I called I was told they would look into it and get back to me. I did not receive a call back and would instead wait 2-3 days and call back again. Still no movement and I was made to feel like a nuisance - I just wanted some answers.

I was told that because I only had enough items to fill 15% of a truck that it would take longer to find a truck during the busy moving season - of course it would! That's why I booked with a company that does small moves and booked it two months in advance! They knew the details of my move and had plenty of time to prepare but I found I was low priority for them as soon as they picked my things up (two days late I might add because the truck broke down the day they were meant to arrive). At no time could they give me a decent estimate for when my items would arrive.

At the 30 day mark I questioned them again and was told it was 30 BUSINESS days (of course, silly me) so they had plenty more time to pfaff around and not call me back. Repeated calls to customer service finally had my things on a truck and on their way - 3 1/2 weeks after it was picked up. I was given a 3-6 day window for delivery one day and then a 7-10 day window when I called back two days later. It actually took 19 days (!!) from the day they were put on the truck for my driver to finally answer his phone (the company couldn't reach him either) and my items to be delivered - on the Saturday after the 30 business days had ended. Technically they were 24 hours over the 30 business day contract but do they care? Nope. I waited a full 6 WEEKS without knowing for certain at any time that I was going to receive my goods. I did get an assurance from customer service that they were a legit company though. Great.

For a company that deals with logistics on a daily basis, they are sorely lacking when it comes to understanding & managing their own pipeline and their communication with clients is appalling.

Black Bear - maybe you could work with your sales reps to temper expectations and be a little more honest and transparent about the process when communicating with clients.

Edit: I was reached out to by a customer service manager and was able to express my concerns about the process and the service I received. Given his timely and thoughtful response, plus my experience with the movers themselves, I am happy to upgrade my review to 4 stars. I am assured that my experience is not common and that the customer service team will do more to inform clients throughout the moving process. Thank you, Chris.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $1900

We contracted with BLACK BEAR MOVING AND STORAGE (via Gold Standard Relocation) to assist in moving our belongings from California to Chicago. Their sales rep was easy to work with, communicative, and assuring. Their estimate came in at an affordable price stating they would come into our home, pack everything up, wrap everything, take apart all furniture, load, haul to Illinois….then unload, unwrap, rebuild and place our belongings in the rooms we desired.

Turns out….their sales rep was a liar and was only trying to get our business.

They showed up at our home, were not careful with out belongings, did not take apart any of our furniture, and did everything in their control to NOT maximize the space on the moving truck. Maximizing the space is important in this case because they charge you by the cubic foot….so the more space wasted, the money you have to pay. OH…did I mention that Gold Standard doesn’t actually move you? They subcontract the work out to a 3rd party. Our 3rd party happen to be a company called Black Bear Moving….and wow…working with them was like working with a group of 2 year olds. They refused to honor our contract with Gold Standard stating “we don’t know who that company is”. Forced us to sign their contract and did a really hard push to get us to pay for things that Gold Standard promised us we wouldn’t have to pay for.

After they spent 4 hours at our house moving items, we ended up having to leave a garage full of our belongings behind which included our bed frame, sectional couch, a second couch, dining room table, and an antique coffee table…not to mention dozens of other items. Leaving those items behind was the last thing we wanted to do, but Tony (from Black Bear) was overcharging us from the start and seriously inflated the charges if we were to add them to the truck. Inflated to the tune of over $3,000 more if we took those items. This is AFTER he showed up and raised our estimate by $2,000. Oh…and we learned after he left our home that he exaggerated the cubic feet we utilized by 200 cubic feet. When I asked him ”how do you determine the space used?” he said “I can tell…” and provided no other validation of space or his ‘knowing’. Not only that, he was smug and impatient. He said “if you don’t like the final number, just don’t pay the guy who delivers your stuff in Illinois.” Really?? Wow.

Fast forward, we were told by Gold Standard that our belongings would be shipped to us in 10-14 days. We did not received our items until 20 days later after being pushed off and pushed off by both Gold Standard and Black Bear. BOTH companies deserve a horrible rating for processes, salesmanship, integrity, and service. If there’s any advice I can give to anyone looking to make a move – DO NOT USE GOLD STANDARD RELOCATION OR BLACK BEAR MOVING. Both companies are cheap, not careful with your items, and only want your money. They will rip you off at every corner.

Once my items were delivered to my home in Illinois…a solo mover arrived (who worked for a 4th party…not GS or BB) and told me he couldn’t find any other guys to help him….and THEN said he would have to charge me more money because I was moving items into a two story home! Seriously?! I bartered with him and , even though I have a pinched nerve in my neck, offered to help him move my items into my own home if he didn’t charge me for the two stories. He reluctantly said yes. Seriously…I paid these guys to do all the work and ended doing 30-40% of it on the front end and the back end.

So many more details are being left out for the sake of time and space. If you want to know more about how these companies scam you, treat you like crap, treat your items like crap, and more…please feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to share more info. Info like someone from Black Bear deliberately (partially) took apart a table of mine so I had to spend an hour fixing it when it was delivered to my home. Info like the customer service manager from Gold Standard cutting me off to tell me her owner would have her head if she gave me more than a $250 credit. By the way $250 is pennies of the total cost…and we only get that money if we don’t share our horrible experience on social media. Keep your $250.

Don’t use these companies. Both companies are trash…and they will treat you and your belongings like trash.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6000

Black Bear Moving and Storage has given me BY FAR the WORST moving experience I’ve ever had.

What was originally supposed to be $1,400 to pack, move, and unpack my one bedroom apartment ended up costing me $3,200 with random fees that they would spring on me with at the last moment, knowing I did not have time to argue or look for another company to move with. Some extra things they charged me for:

$1,100 extra because they claimed I had more “stuff” than I had originally told them I had (which isn’t true, I came from a 500 sq ft apartment with no appliances).

& another $500 just to unload my belongings into my new apartment which was supposed to be included. If I did not pay, they would not give me my things.

Not to mention they were a week late delivering my belongings.

And even with me paying over double the amount they originally quoted me, they were still rude and unprofessional every time I called with questions.

Beware!!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3200

Do yourself a massive favor and call any other mover besides Black Bear. I can't even remember the last time I wrote a review about anything but this is my attempt at doing the public a favor by sharing my experience with them - and it was absolutely horrible.

I moved from CA to TX. We called many movers and Black Bear seemed like a fair deal, not the cheapest option, but not the most expensive. The sales rep, Adam, quoted us around $6300 for our move and that was using about 1800 cu ft. We locked in a discount because we chose them in July for a move in August. We went over the inventory list about 6 times prior to them packing our stuff in order to be as accurate as possible. Moving day comes and their arrival window was 9am-12pm. One guy showed up at 11:30 and the rest showed up right at 12pm, which it totally fair. However, they showed up with a truck that was partially full and only had 1300 cu ft available. They act totally surprised by how much stuff we have, which is bizarre because it was all on their sheet and proceed to tell me that another truck is coming and will be here in an hour to an hour and a half. They get to work, 2pm comes and I ask where the truck is and they say another hour. Well the truck didn’t show up until nearly 6pm. That was a HUGE sign right there and I had a terrible feeling and knew I should have called it off but our stuff is all wrapped up and being loaded so what do I do? During the move one of the guys drops our dresser into our wall and puts a golf ball sized hole in it and left scratches all over the stair wall. They didn’t finish the move until about 8pm at night. Then when we begin discussing pricing they wind up charging us way more than the quote saying that we used 2000 cu ft and the overage would be charged at $5.90/cu ft instead of $3.50. Our sales rep, Adam, assured us that wouldn’t be the case but here we are.

Adam also told us that the delivery date would be 10-12 days from pick up, so early on in the process we changed our pick up date from Aug 7 to Aug 5 to have it here no later than the 17th. Well here we are, it’s Aug 17th and my wife just got off the phone with the movers and our stuff still hasn’t even been loaded onto a truck in CA and we have no eta for when it’s going to arrive. We’ve called them nearly every day and been lied to, hung up on, told that “sales rep make mistakes, that’s why there’s a contract” – which is absolute nonsense, you can’t have sales reps misrepresenting contracts, told that we’d be called back and connected with managers only to have been hung up on again and again.

Black Bear has been an absolute nightmare to work with, from basic human decency, to accountability, simple customer service, professionalism – it’s all lacking and the list goes on an on. I work for a large finance company and we’re moving many of our people from CA to TX and I happened to be the first. I will not recommend Black Bear to anyone. In fact, I’ll suggest under no circumstances any of my colleagues or anyone else I know even consider them.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7200

Will just share the facts: my mother who was recently widowed is moving out of state. She was quoted over the phone 2600. Black bear were late without any notification by 4 hours(missing her grand daughters confirmation) When they arrived late without any reason other than traffic, they immediately "eyeballed" her stuff and said this is much more than we thought..and immediately tripled the price. When I showed up the man in charge could not explain the system or calculator he utilized to triple the price other than it's a lot. They brought a truck that was undersized and said they would

Come back Saturday and wrote in the contract that Saturday they promise. Then dispatch called on Friday evening, and said unfortunately they were very busy and could not come on the time Saturday in the contract and agreed to Sunday morning. They did not show up until Sunday afternoon with again the excuse of "traffic"..fascinating the amount of traffic that occurs on a Sunday afternoon. Once again they complained about all the stuff, and once finished loading stated they would be giving a discount due to lack of communication. But then proceeded to nickle and dime my mother and the price went from $2600 to 11k+. Then proceeded to stand over her and ask to write a positive yelp review.. my mother told them that would be done upon arrival of her property.

We drove across country which took about 3 1/2 days. My mother called the moving company to which dispatch claimed it was loaded up on a truck and ready to be Moved. My mother told them she would be arriving on the 8th. They said it would be there shortly after. After the 10th my

Mother phoned and she was told that since she quoted the 8th they have 10 days from her quote to deliver the stuff and just apologized offering no discount or follow through. Today is the 18th and so far every time my mother has contacted them she has been told it is in transit, and/or they cannot contact the driver. So my mother has been sitting in an empty house out of state, with a blow up mattress since the 7th. Today, is the 10th day and suddenly no one is available to speak with her and no one seems to make it a priority. So far they have pulled a bait and switch, and violated their contract numerous times. Since no one is available to speak with her, and they cannot contact their driver, they appear to be highly disorganized and not able to guarantee anything they stand by. I do not recommend them at all to anyone and it is a shame that we may have to take it to the next level to get her stuff delivered.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $11000

Background

I set up a move from Redwood City, CA to Orlando, FL via Keystone Moving Group. After sending pictures of all our inventory, on June 1, 2020 Keystone gave us a quote of 923 cubic feet at $5.75 per cubic foot. After sending videos of all our inventory (to get the most accurate quote), on June 9, 2020 Keystone gave us a quote of 1171 cubic feet at $5.75 per cubic foot. They said that the quote would only change if we increased our inventory (which we did not). They were supposed to arrange a one day move on June 27, 2020 with a guaranteed delivery for July 5, 2020. After a confusing contract (we did sign an agreement with Keystone; we did not sign an agreement with the moving company) the move started with Oasis Moving and Storage. On June 27, 2020 Oasis arrived with too few men at a later than promised start time. Oasis was terminated on June 28, 2020 after arriving late, again, with too few men and damaging the floors in the townhouse we were renting/vacating. Keystone was able to secure a new moving company, Black Bear Moving and Storage to pickup our items on June 29, 2020. Keystone prepared a new Agreement, but again we signed no contract with the mover (at the time the furniture was picked up and delivered, we did sign a Bill of Lading which was prepared by Black Bear). Black Bear delivered our furniture and household goods (some of which were damaged) on July 7, 2020.

Unfair and Deceptive Practice as to Charges: Overcharging by misrepresenting cubic feet

When Oasis arrived they quoted us 1600 cubic feet at $5.75 per cubic foot. Keystone adjusted the “binding quote” to reflect 1671 cubic feet prior to Black Bear arriving. When Black Bear arrived they quoted and charged us for 2450 cubic feet. They loaded our items into a 26 foot Enterprise box truck. Our items were delivered in a 26 foot Penske box truck. The exterior physical dimensions of the truck on drop-off, which we measured on video, totaled under 1700 cubic feet. Further, our items were transported with another customer's items, which the movers indicated amounted to approximately 200 cubic feet. Black Bear charged us for transporting 2,450 cubic feet, 44% more than could possibly be accommodated in the truck, and much greater than the 1,671 cubic foot “binding estimate”. Our household goods occupied no greater than 1,500 cubic feet.

Bait and switch

Multiple photos and videos were sent to Keystone for estimation of the cubic feet. The estimation provided was less than precise. The inventory lists completed by Keystone based on the photos and videos were confusing. For example, the inventory listed a “bed” without being told that a bed was the mattress without the box springs. The original under-estimate of the cubic feet through the inventory Keystone prepared according to the photos, videos, and text messages we supplied them succeeded in getting us to sign the broker contract in furtherance of the bait and switch cubic feet overcharge.

Other Issues

Prior to being terminated, Oasis packed our items in boxes with their packing material. Keystone put in the adjusted binding quote, $62 for packing material. Black Bear charged us for $1441 worth of packing material. There is no indication for what packing material equaling $1441 was used (because their packing material wasn't used!).

On July 8, 2020 a representative from Black Bear called to confirm delivery date and acknowledged they didn't meet the “guaranteed delivery” and said that the $1000 extra paid for the “guaranteed delivery” would be refunded to the credit card. No refund was ever processed as promised.

On July 23, 2020 we sent an email to Black Bear and Keystone regarding the concerns about the overcharges for the packing material and the cubic footage as well as the guaranteed delivery which we still haven't received a refund. On July 24, 2020 we disputed the overcharges with the credit card which was used to pay for the move. (Payment by credit card or otherwise was required as a precondition for delivery). As of July 29, 2020 we have not received a response from either Black Bear or Keystone.

In summary:

-Keystone grossly misquoted the cubic feet, assigned an unreliable and unprofessional moving company (Oasis), and then assigned a moving company (Black Bear) that overcharged the cubic feet and charged for services/materials that were not rendered/supplied.

-Oasis sent too few men, was late on multiple occasions, and damaged the floors

-Black Bear overcharged for packing material and cubic feet as well as missed guaranteed delivery window and has not given a refund as previously promised

-Keystone and Black Bear haven't responded to our email with concerns and request for a refund of the overages.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $16577