Gateway Express Moving

On 6/02/2020 We recieved a phone call from Gateway express moving LLC following up with moving estimate. Brandon Smith states that he had guys in the area and that we would get a great deal on a move.(which is apparently a common lie they tell everyone) He quoted us a price 2,024.39 for the entire move from Mobile, Alabama to Colorado Spring Colorado stating that a deposit needed to be made to reserve and that 50% of the price would need to be paid at pick up and the remaining would be paid once our furniture is dropped off. That they were movers through gateway express and would handle our belongings with care. We confirmed this with Brandon multiple times and he agreed that everything would go smoothly and as planned. We paid the deposit which was $742.11 paid on 06/05/2020. Brandon continued to follow up with us over the next couple of days for our scheduled move on 06/12/2020. We spoke multiple times both adding and removing items on our list to help accommodate price. He continued to reassure that it would be 50% at pick up and remaining at drop off. I calculated my funds accordingly because I still had to get my family of 5 to Colorado. Everything seemed great up until the day of the move. The movers arrived and at that's where things took a turn for the worse. The driver from MAPS moving came in along with 2 very young children who were helping him move. One can only assume his kids. One looked to be about maybe 14 or 15 and the other 8 or 9. The driver came in and immediately stated he was rewriting the contract and demanded to that we pay 70% right now. I explained to him that we were only supposed to be paying 50% he began stating it's 70% and when I began to get visibly upset he then started telling me to call gateway express they are the ones who handle it not him. Us still not realizing that he isn't employed through them we called Brandon. Brandon was unavailable and we had to speak with CJ who confirmed we should only be paying 50%. We told him that gateway express was still stating we should only be paying 50% the driver then walked around the corner to call his customer service for MAP moving. A women from maps moving then called our phone. That is when we actually found out that the company was contracted out to MAPS moving! She immediately had a agitated tone. The first words out of her mouth were "Ma'am all we want to know is do you have the money to pay" that immediately upset me because she cut me off and didn't allow me to even explain what my concerns were. I told her I wanted to pay what was agreed upon, She then proceeded to tell no, me it had to be 70% and they had control over the contract and could do what they want! While she was still on the phone we then began trying to contact gateway express again in which they were no longer answering any lines. A man then got on the phone from MAPS . By this time my wife is on the phone crying. He begins screaming at her " WHAT DO YOU WANT US TO DO MAAM I DONT CARE ABOUT WHAT YOURE SAYING. Either you're going to pay the money or not!!" I told them I would if they honored the 50% he laughed and screamed “Forget it she’s too problematic, we’re not moving her” and they left. they were not able to fulfill their obligation and what was agreed upon. Hours later after trying Multiple number for gateway I got ahold of customer service where she stated she would send someone else the next day and reassured us AGAIN we would only pay 50% because she was getting a company who would honor it. They never called us back to confirm the new movers or a time.They next day the movers showed up without notification and only called once he was there. I told the driver weSomeone on the way. He said he didn't want to wait because he had already been there for an 2 hour. Once some arrived at the house (which was about 30 min he had already left! my neighbor pulled her door cam that showed he had only actually been there about 30 mins and left. After contacting gateway again they stopped answering the phone. We called multiples times everyday, left voicemails, even sent emails requesting a refund due to them not being able honor what they said and we still haven't heard from them since. Also the contract is no longer visible in our email they completely removed it and I can only now see my receipt from the deposit I paid Contract 3787880

All they do is lie and prey on ppl who don’t know any better. We ended up having to come back from Colorado pack the house onto a budget truck because it was all we could afford at that point and drive 19 hours back to Colorado.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3000

I paid the deposit to reserve a move from CA to TX. Then I go through all the comment online and feel insecure to move my piano and everything with them. I cancelled the move within 48 hours. Base on the contract they should refund me the deposit. I send them a email for cancellation as they required. And I still have not received my refund of deposit after 2 weeks. I called them this morning. All they can say is this is with front desk, this is with finance department. I am going to go small claim court and get my money back! Trust all negative reviews. The company is a scam!

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3234

This is not a moving company. They contract with other movers around the country and you have no say in who is moving your belongings. This move was for a retired veteran and his wife, (my Mom and Dad.)

1) Gateway Express was dishonest from the start selling me on all the reasons why I should move by weight and not m3. At the load out in Nevada they contracted with "Champion Movers, LLC." who did not show up with a weighed truck and changed the contract to m3, with Gateway Express blessing, nearly doubling the cost of my move.

2) We did have additional items but nowhere near double. I was not on location and they had my sister sign the paperwork and at no time was anyone given permission to sign for me. The contract was with me, no one else. Gateway Express nor Champion Movers even attempted to call me and tell me about the change in billing method.

3) I sent multiple emails to Gateway Express and Map Moving, who somehow got involved, asking how they could legally change the billing method from weight to m3. Map Moving assured me the move was by weight, even though I had paperwork from the load site showing it in m3. I asked for paperwork showing weights multiple times and none was ever produced by Map Moving, Champion Movers or Gateway Express.

4) At the delivery in Daphne, AL, they contracted with Map Moving & Storage. Their people did a good job getting things unloaded and in the right places.

5) "Everything is insured, if we break anything in boxes we packed or any furniture, etc. is damaged, it is fully covered and will be replaced." This is an absolute lie! A coffee table was broken beyond repair and a curio cabinet had glass broken in it. Not bad for a cross country move. In the end though, you are dealing with Map Moving & Storage for insurance and not Gateway Express, none of which has ever been mentioned by Gateway Express. Map Moving & Storage does not cover any type of furniture made from compressed wood, so this was our loss. On the curio cabinet they offered $40, telling me I could replace the glass. When I explained to them they broke the glass and they should replace it, they did not respond. In addition, you could only receive the $40 if you signed a form agreeing to never review them negatively on a list of sites they covered, including US Government sites.

6) Needless to say, the reviews are worth much more than $40 to me. Bottom line, STAY AWAY, in my experience, an entirely dishonest operation taking advantage of retired veterans.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5300

If you are looking for a reputable moving company that will stand by their word and make your move easy, stress free and painless....keep looking. These guys claim to be veteran owned and operated, and claim they care about other veterans. They also claim to own their own trucks. None of this could be further from the truth. They are brokers. They will tell you that they will beat anyone's pricing and they will in fact quote you a fair price. Then the trickery begins. They'll ask for a pretty decent deposit to "make sure they can get you on their schedule", what this really means is they are selling your contract to an actual moving company and they want to get paid, your deposit is how they get paid. They'll schedule your move for the absolute last minute of your desired schedule, meaning if you have to be out of your house by the 5th and give them a window of the 1st-5th, they'll make sure whomever buy the contract shows up on the last day of your time frame. This allows them to pull the next trick, the movers that show up will inform you that Gateway misquoted your move. Now your quote has doubled, because someone "new" at Gateway didn't prepare the list properly. It's always someone brand new. So now with the clock ticking for when you need to move out of the house you just sold, you'll attempt to call Gateway and even though you're calling during normal business hours, your call will go unanswered. So you call from your friends phone and they pick up right away. You explain that there has been a mistake and they will transfer you to CJ. Now they know you're on to them and while transferring you, the receptionist gives CJ the heads up, straight to voicemail. You call back multiple times, but now they know your friends number so you use another friends number, and the cycle starts all over. CJ is on the other line, here's his voicemail etc. So now you start calling other moving companies and of course nobody has availability because of course its last minute and you had no idea that this veteran owned company was going to screw over another veteran. So I said [EDIT] it, pack it all up and shame on me for not doing more research. You pay half of the new price and they load up your stuff. You move to the new state, buy your house and now you're ready for your stuff to be shipped. LAMO, Here is the next trick. You can only pay the remaining balance with cash or a postal money order, which BTW has gone up an additional amount bring your total move up to 3 times your original quote. Now you're extremely pissed but you want your stuff and you schedule your delivery. And of course the movers that show up to deliver are a) with a third company and b) show up on a Sunday so you can't call Gateway or Safeway (the 2nd moving company involved). They won't unload your stuff until you pay them first. They claim this is to protect them from working for free. You pay them and they start unloading your stuff into the house and garage. All of your furniture is now damaged because these movers use box cutters to remove the blankets and packaging that you paid extra for to protect your furniture. They finally produce your paperwork to you after everything has been shoved into the entry of the house or the garage. Part of why you hired movers, was because you were told they would set up furniture and place boxes in the rooms that you wanted. Not during the pandemic though even though you paid for that service. So you quickly start trying to do inventory while they are closing up their trailer. Unfortunately you just moved a 5 bedroom house with 4 kids across the US, so they leave before you have time to finish comparing the numbered stickers on the boxes and your list that they gave which is BTW super faint because it is the 5th carbon copy of the paperwork. 16 missing boxes later, all of which were labeled (home theater, blu rays, collectible pint glasses) of course those were "lost" [EDIT] thieves. Stay as far away from these clowns as possible. Get a POD, pack it yourself and save yourself a huge headache and lots of money.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8400

I made a long-distance move from Buffalo New York, all the way down to El Paso Texas. The movers showed up on time, they were professionals, collard shirts, khaki pants, booties on there feet. and my husband Arthur and I were shocked at how quickly they were able to pack up my entire four bedroom house, with a shed 236 feet in the backyard (from the front door) NO extra charge! I was getting extremely high prices because of the location I am all the way up in Buffalo. And then it seemed like no movers were too happy about going very south in Texas to El Paso, ( I can understand why, it’s basically Mexico) but Gateway came thru!! The overall experience was great from start to finish! There back end did a fantastic job keeping me updated from start to finish! Would highly recommend these guys to everyone I know!! Thank you Gateway!! ( out of my entire load which filled an entire 26ft truck, only 1 lamp was damaged) I can’t blame Gateway, if Arthur ( my husband) packed a little better, my lamp would be fine! A++ rated company! Super friendly, smart , hard working, reliable movers!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $3632

Picked Gateway Express after I received a fair quote and checked reviews. The quote we received was fair compared to a few other companies. When the day of the move came, the movers gave us a heads up a few hours before arrival which I greatly appreciated. They arrived when they said so too which made things easy for me. They worked hard despite working in the hot sun when the temperature was close to 90 that day. They were very considerate, wrapping things that needed extra protection during the move. Nothing major broke except a few coffee mugs which wasn’t a big deal. The rest of my furniture and kitchenware made it without damage. Gateway Express was a pleasure to work with.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6700

Best moving experience hands down. Moving is usually stressful for me, things can get broken, movers can be late, etc. However, Gateway was awesome from start to finish. Brian was super informative when we signed up. The movers were great too. They arrived on time and made sure to wrap everything that could have been broken during the move. They moved everything so fast and were careful in doing so. I recommend Gateway Express Moving for anyone looking to move. Best company I’ve used.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1760