Rainier Overseas Movers

Thanks to Rainier Overseas Movers, Inc., in Washington State USA for a perfect door-to-door move from Gig Harbor, Washington, to Brittany, France!

From my initial contact with Dave to staging our shipment to pick-up to containerization to customs and duty on both ends to final delivery in Europe by the pros at Gosselin Groups, everything went like clockwork. There was absolutely no evidence of even the slightest damage to our shipment.

Best of all - the total time door-to-door shipment from Washington State to our house in France was accomplished in 6 weeks. And the bill was precisely what Dave had quoted me, not one penny more.

We couldn't have asked for better service. Our satisfaction level is 10 out of 10.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $4500

I do not know if they are locally better but if you are moving out of the country DO NOT hire them. All they had to do was their job and submit my paperwork to their partner company in the country I was moving to when they got it from me, they had it 3 weeks before my stuff shipped because I rushed and paid to send it overnight trying to be sure everything was being done the best possible way, but they still did not send my paperwork to the accepting country until my shipment was enroute, at that point my motorcycle status being unable to import was nothing anyone could advise them of because it was aready on the way, the company said it was a law that any shipping company would be aware of and able to advise clearly if they had only known. The simplest communications that could have made my move, that is already overwhelmingly stressful , a little tolerable they did not do. I was forced to pay for services I did not authorize nor were even done because I was there at the packing but they outsourced to a company and I have no idea how everything went left with me standong right there and no one said anything was going to change my original quoted price. In the end I lost my prize possesion, my favorite motorcycle, lost all money I put into the motorcycle to ship itlost money paying for services that weren't done, and through the whole process was stuck unable to leave the foreign country because it took 6 months past the time I was supposed to have my stuff to find out the answer that I couldn't get my stuff and I could not leave before claiming my things or settling the customs case. All of this because they did not do their job of knowing the rules of the other country, the only reason I hired them. I could have done the move myself with a lot less cost to receive this type of service. The reason I used a company was to make sure the things I could not find out myself were looked into and their wouldn't be any surprises or problems later. I have complained to them, asked for any assistance in all the hardships I had to endure and am still dealing with but they have refused. Protect yourself, do not use this company! There are so many more bad this that happened in this mive but I'm tired or writing but had to just share some and a warning for others to not use them.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $12000

We used Rainier Overseas Moving to transport our household effects from Florida to Paraguay.

From start to finish it was a great process mainly because of Don Arroyo - who was our liaison from start to finish.

Having moved before we knew that it was important to obtain several quotes but it was clear that Don's knowledge of the complexities of an international move made a key difference.

Rainier wasn't the most inexpensive quote (nor were they the most expensive!) - but we firmly believe you get what you pay for.

Our move was organized within a few days and the pick up went super smoothly. Don was a support 100% of the time and made sure we were kept in the loop on shipping times etc.

With an international move you have a large number of moving parts as your household effects may be handed off from one vendor to another. Normally this would be very nerve-racking but Rainier has such a good set of vendors that this was not an issue.

Suffice to say everything was delivered safely into the house in Paraguay.

Having moved a number of times both domestically and internationally I can say that this was the easiest and least worrying of all our moves.

I would 100% use Rainier again and they have our highest recommendation.

Sincere thanks to Don and all the team

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $20000

We chose Rainier Overseas Movers to ship a 20' container from Tacoma to Edinburgh. Thank you David for all your efforts in coordinating such a huge move including assistance from Lincoln Moving & Storage in Kent, WA (thank you Pat) and Clark & Rose, the Rainier Overseas Movers agent in the UK (thank you Lynn and the three moving men dispatched to unload the container into our house). We are extremely grateful to David and the whole team involved with transitioning us to the UK!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

I used Rainier Overseas Movers to ship over 2,000 pounds of personal belongings halfway around the world, and I honestly could not be more impressed.

Shortly after my initial inquiry, I was contacted by Don Arroyo, who guided me through the entire process from start to finish. Don took the time to clearly explain what was required, what documents I needed, and how everything would work to ensure a smooth and successful move. What truly stood out was his responsiveness — every single question I had was answered quickly and thoroughly. In an age where you expect delays and silence, Don was consistently prompt, helpful, and reassuring.

On collection day, the crew arrived and packed everything quickly, carefully, and professionally, creating a detailed inventory that I was able to submit to HMRC, allowing me to avoid paying import duty. This, too, had been clearly explained in advance by Don, which made what could have been a stressful process feel straightforward and manageable.

Throughout the shipment, I was kept informed of progress and expected delivery dates. While there were a couple of minor delays (which are understandable given the scale of an international move), I was genuinely blown away by how quickly my belongings ultimately arrived.

On delivery day, Christopher (and another team member whose name I unfortunately didn’t catch) arrived and unloaded everything into my ground-floor storage in under 30 minutes. Once again, they were professional, efficient, and extremely helpful.

To say that I am thrilled is a massive understatement. Given the sheer logistics of shipping household goods across the planet, I am genuinely astounded by how smoothly everything went, how well I was taken care of, and the fact that everything arrived intact.

I cannot recommend Rainier Overseas Movers highly enough. If you’re considering an international move, you will be in exceptionally good hands.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $7000

I inherited some furniture that I wanted moved from WA to VA, including a delicate glass paneled secretary (picture included in review). Dave Wiviott was my contact and the whole process went smoothly. Rainier was not the cheapest bid I received, but then again, I didn't want the items moved cheaply. It was an easy decision to go with them based how quickly they responded to my initial contact and how consistent their communication and customer service was. (It was like pulling teeth getting some of my other quotes). I definitely recommend!

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $2000

I read the other reviews before posting this negative one, and I see I am joining a common thread: if things go wrong, you are on your own with this company.
To begin with, we were told our belongings would arrive in about 6 weeks - it was longer than that before they even left the States. The company whom Doug had contracted with to receive our goods, ShipCo, turned out to be incompetent. They took so many weeks to get the correct paperwork together that the port authorities ended up inspecting our shipment, with several more weeks of delay. We asked Doug if he could correspond with ShipCo for us, and he replied that he did not have a contact, despite being the one to contract with them. He basically added, sorry, but we were on our own.
When our shipment was eventually released (with a much larger bill than we had been told to expect), despite being told by Doug that ShipCo would arrange delivery, they told us they were unable to do so, and we had to hire a van and enlist friends to collect our belongings. On opening the crate, we discovered that Ranier had not protected items of furniture as promised, with some resulting damage. All in all, it was about 5 months from delivering our shipment in MS to receiving it in our apartment.
To sum up, this is the worst business transaction we have ever been involved in. It may be true that most reviews here are positive, but the fact is that you are taking a big risk on the consequences if things do go wrong. I cannot recommend this company.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $4000

Everything you read here is factual and the absolute truth.
In January 2017, I set up a container shipment from Texas to Thailand. I paid the local company the total cost of the shipment ($7692.96) from packing loading, shipping, delivery in Thailand, and unpacking. I assumed they in turn paid Rainier who paid the shipping company and the destination mover.
On February 16, in Thailand, I received an email which reads: "Your shipment was inspected by US Export customs in Los Angeles. There is a total of $1,460.00 due for this. This must be paid before delivery of your shipment can be made." and "We have also advised Boonma to deliver after we have notified them of payment." (It was written as if I had no intention of paying). I was never warned about a possibility of an inspection at any time.
The container was effectively being held for a ransom. The only way I could pay from Thailand, is send my credit card information to Rainier.

When the container was delivered at the dock in Thailand, I developed two medical issues and needed to return to the US. So I also decided to have the container returned to the US since I could not stay to receive it. Rainier told me it would cost $8,570.51. I was surprised again that it cost MORE to ship it to the US especially when it was NOT delivered to the house in Thailand and NOT unpacked. I asked for a breakdown of the costs of $7691 & $8570; in other words cost of packing, shipping, delivery and unpacking, but NEVER received it. I AM STILL WAITING FOR A REFUND FOR NOT DELIVERING AND UNPACKING THE CONTAINER IN THAILAND. I believe legal action is now necessary to recover the cost of delivery and unpacking in Thailand.

I was very uncomfortable doing business with Rainier because I felt the administrator was unreliable, poor communications and because of the surprises.
Everything you have read above is FACT AND THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH.
I initially filed a review but the response was demeaning and slanderous. He always includes other movers to support his insults. Just read his response. And those are just more lies. I have contacted those other movers and they agree he is lying. Therefore I am filing another review with more details. I believe legal action is now necessary.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $7693

Doug has helped me with two major moves now, from CA, USA to Sweden, and back again. Both times everything went as smoothly as one could hope. Not only did everything arrive (and all in one piece), Rainier OS was significantly faster than any other moving company I got a quote from by several weeks (particularly with the move back in Sept 2021, during the pandemic, where I shipped a liftvan full of my belongings). Not only that, the pricing I got with Rainier OS was significantly lower than the competition. To top it all off, Doug has always been very responsive in communications, and flexible - like when I asked if I could change the delivery city from Santa Clara to Los Angeles. Sure, there was an additional cost to truck everything from the port in the SF bay area to LA. But it was reasonable, and the delivery was scheduled and done promptly. If I ever need to relocate internationally again, I won't even bother getting a quote from anyone else next time. I'll just call Doug again. 5 stars all the way.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6649

I've waited over a year to post this review, because I wanted to cool off from how upset I was.

I've moved 50 times, and this was unequivocally the worst experience I've ever had.

I was told my things would only fit into a smaller container. As an expert packer, I advised we could get more things in, if we used less of their wrapping paper, and more things I wanted to take like towels, linens, clothing, etc. I even said I'd waive insurance, as my overseas move was critical to take as much as I could fit.

That's it. I had one shot to move out of the country, and this was my service to help.

Only, the day of packing, the entire crew only spoke Spanish. They were under pressure to complete my packing way too fast for me to manage. In fact, I was treated as a nousance rather than the owner and customer. At one point, they stopped trying to listen to me, and I had a panic attack in my room.

The moving coordinator was called, and instead of apologizing to me, he threatened to cancel my move and blamed me.

As I unpacked, I realized the absurd amount of packing materials I paid to have shipped from US to Uruguay.

On their website, they claim to "have a long history of successfully servicing the particular needs of our international shipments."

I needed a team who spoke my language. Nope.

I needed a team who would listen to me. Nope.

I needed a team who would prioritize what I needed to take on this once-in-a-lifetime relocation, where everything left was gone for good. Nope.

I needed a coordinator who would help make time for my move. Nope.

I needed a response team who would apologize and take ownership. Nope.

Listen, moving is stressful. This company was horrendous from start to finish. They disregarded my assessment of what could be packed, dismissed my packing input as we went along, then condescended to me about how things are done....for the insurance...

Rich or Rebecca, if you're reading this, know that customer service means listening to customers and they are right. You did nothing but blame me for the situation, and it was scarring.

Not only would I never recommend their services, but I'd recommend anyone planning to move overseas highly reconsider whether their things need the insurance the shippers claim. I would've taken 20 broken wine glasses and damaged goods over the panic attacks and demeaning treatment.

They have a singular focus: to avoid blame...whether it's insurance, treatment of their customers, etc...I was the one at fault.

Sickening.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3475

The pickup in the US and the packers/movers on this end were fantastic.  They were efficient, polite and courteous. The troubles began before the shipment even arrived in port in Germany. The German transporters began the extortion process early.  Basically extorting over $600 for an alleged "long haul" under the threat of not delivering our goods. Furthermore, they demanded cash payment before the first package was unloaded. Doug, from Ranier, offered absolutely NO help whatsoever even after assuring us this type of treatment wouldn't happen.  Buyer beware. .

Service cost: $9000

Who knew moving internationally could be so painless. Rainier and their partner movers both in the US and Australia were extremely professional and efficient. Our move was last minute and Doug could not have been more accommodating. Our belongings were packed and freighted in a blink of an eye. We were constantly updated of the freights progress and advised of any delays. Doug was extremely punctual in responding to any queries or questions we had. Our goods arrived safe and sound, with minimal if any damage. I would highly recommend Rainier to take care of your move.

Service cost: $6500

Rainiers was excellent from start to finish. I contacted them with less than a week to having to pack up an entire house and move it internationally. Within a couple of days they had someone out to survey my belongings and provide a quote. The crew that came to pack up arrived almost exactly on time. There were 4 men. All were dressed smartly, were clean and extremely polite and professional. They packed everything in the house, down to each and every single saucer and plate. They had advised us at estimate time that the large glass top for our dining table could either be crated (at an additional cost) or they could try to put it between mattresses - we opted for the latter to save cost.
Our shipment was taken directly to the port and we were amazed, having been quoted 5-6 weeks, when we were contacted less than a month later to be told that it was already at the port in Scotland.
The shipping container was brought directly to our new house and another 4 men came over to unload. Again they were all smartly dressed and very professional. It was incredible how quickly they managed to unload a totally packed 20' shipping container. They then unpacked everything that we wanted unpacked. We didn't have them do absolutely everything as we were still a bit shell shocked at getting all our stuff and didn't know exactly where to put everything but they were extremely helpful. They carried everything up our newly painted stairs without a single mark to the walls.
Having moved our entire house, the ONLY thing broken, was a single plate.
I would thoroughly recommend Rainiers. They were really fantastic and the move cost less than their competitors.

Service cost: $8500

We used Rainier for a Door-to-door move of all of our belongings from North Carolina to Dublin-Ireland. This involved some extra steps with delivery, crossloading etc. from our existing storage location, and all related customs paperwork and interaction. With all the horror stories out there about the US moving industry we were extremely worried about this process and took a great deal of time to review and verify our mover candidates. I have to say we struck gold with Rainier, they were extremely professional, efficient, communicate and competitively priced - characteristics echoed in their agents both in the US and Ireland. Everything arrived in great condition without any extra stress or paperwork hitches. Highly recommended and I would definitely use them again if need be.

Service cost: $6560

I have to say that we really appreciated all the work the Rainier team did organizing the various moving teams and then the storage for us.  Our move from Denmark to Texas was definitely less stressful for us with Rainier coordinating everything.   The pack team in Aarhus and the delivery team in El Paso were both great, polite, on time and introduced themselves right at the beginning.  They put down lots of carpets/blankets to protect the wood floors during packing and the white carpets at delivery.  The delivery team helped unwrap all the big stuff and even came back to pick up all the boxes once we were done unpacking (I thought that wasn't included, so that they did it was really nice).   Rainier had been recommended to us by some friends that had used their services before and we will definitely pass along the recommendation if we can.

Service cost: $12000

It has taken me a while to post on my Rainier experience - but it was superb. We were moving from the US to Israel - quite a move with quite a bit of stuff. Mark was prompt with his answers to questions and made the process incredibly painless. In fact, I got into a little bit of a billing issue with one of the later subcontractors on my move, but Mark backed me up all the way and pestered the other party until everything was resolved to my satisfaction. It was annoying for him, I'm sure, but effective. Oh, and almost everything arrived in tip-top shape and he helped with the insurance on the two small items ($300 out of $70k) that didn't.

Service cost: $8500

Very good job on both ends - EU and USA, this is my second time using them. No problems both times. Just the cost almost doubled. Took about 30 days for a 20ft container from Czech Rep. to GA. Door to door. No customs issues. First I used them 9 years ago and now again going back. Still the same result. Communicated through e-mail, kept me informed. They arranged all the required paperwork plus gave me some options whom to hire for the load/unload overseas. Recommended, would use them again. Not cheap, but worth it.

Service cost: $7000

The move of our household goods was all we could have hoped for.     Rainier's estimate was the highest of three but online reviews suggested we were vulnerable to bait and switch with the cheapest and the second had mixed reviews. Rainier had excellent reviews.  But the clincher was the  fact of Rainier's local representation for Massachusetts in Bob Lane from Gentle Giant and the long experience he had with the men in his team. It was a no brainer.  The service exceeded our expectations.  Not a single thing broken or damaged.  The politeness of the crew and the care in their packing was very reassuring.  Our only concern was regarding the time it would take to arrive - but Boston to Brisbane is one of the longest trips for a boat on the planet.  We were told approximately 10 weeks to Brisbane, but it was first sent to Sydney, and in the end it took 13, so given the uncertainties in ship travel - that was pretty good.  I have a sister-in-law who waited 6 months for a container from Grand Rapids, Michigan to Adelaide in South Australia.    Chess Moving in Brisbane  matched the service of Gentle Giant - two good men who were polite and diligent - assisting us to rebuild the larger dismantled furniture items.  They arrived on time and job complete before lunch time.  So frankly we are very happy we chose Rainier through Bob Lane.  .

Service cost: $10900

I worked with Rainier and Gentle Giant to move my worldly goods from PA to France. Gentle Giant did the actual packing and loading of the container from my home in PA and Rainier did all the actual container shipping and coordination to get everything to France. Both parties were excellent. I worked with Doug Wiviott at Ranier and he knows the process backwards and was extremely helpful with all the paperwork, getting us a preliminary quote, organizing a survey, explaining the process, working with our tight dates, and staying in contact throughout the process. Ranier do not use their own crews for packing/loading and delivery/unpacking so it is very important you know who they are going to use at each end and check out the quality of these companies but the crew Ranier work with in the Philly area were excellent. They packed our goods in the container very efficiently so nothing could shift and to minimize space and costs. Almost everything arrived in good shape. Our goods included a baby-grand piano that required special handling and crating and the woodwork did get some minor damage during the move (grand pianos are incredibly heavy and an absolute bear to move even with 3 or 4 strong men and a little damage is hard to avoid) but the Ranier's insurance company was easy to deal with and paid for the repair quickly with no hassle. Overall I had a very good experience working with Doug and Ranier.

Service cost: $9100

Moved from Baltimore to South of France without any issue. Everything was ready and taken care of in less than a week. They came and picked up my equipment from my laboratory (in the middle of nowhere) without any incident. The people were very courteous and professional. The customs' clearance was a breather, and they accompanied me every step of the way with no hidden fees. Great experience all around. I strongly recommend this company to anyone moving internationally or nationally.

Service cost: $2648