Safe Ship Moving Services

I’m doing a military move from Virginia to California. First off, when they called to give me a quote they basically kept hounding me until I caved and agreed to using the company, mainly because I needed it done quickly. Movers were scheduled to show up on July 8th, they showed up on July 9th at around 5pm. 3 Russian men, 2 of which spoke close to no English and they relied on the youngest to translate. I have no problem with this but the language barrier and the fact that I’m a young woman made the situation very unsettling. I stayed in my spare bedroom with my cats so they wouldn’t get out and it took them about 3 hours to pack my 1BR/1BA worth of items, a majority of which I had pre packed before they showed up to make it go smoother. I pay the 2nd 1/3 payment in cash then get pressured to give a tip, which was something I didn’t think of since I know they’re contracted out with Safe Ship so I know they make good money.

Fast forward to July 18th and my Apple Air Tag I put into a box hasn’t moved from an abandoned parking lot in New Jersey for 3 days. (Mind you my planned date for the movers to arrive is July 25th, and I’m in the process of driving across the country myself. ) I called the company that has my stuff, Family Van Lines Inc., and they say they would follow up with me the following day about where my items are. Surprise surprise, no phone call.

Now it’s the day before the movers are supposed to show up with my stuff (July 24th) and I called Safe Ship, only to be told that the “1st available delivery date” is when THE TRUCK !!!MIGHT!!! LEAVE THE EAST COAST. It’s 2700 miles of a move so I know it takes about 6-8 days to drive depending on the person driving and weather, but from what Safe Ship “customer service” claims is that it can take 7-21 days for the truck to arrive. I told her about my air tag and she doesn’t seem to mind, until the end of the call where she asks for a screenshot of the location since it’s a breach of their contract with the small company if my items aren’t unloaded into a climate controlled warehouse. Funny how they only care when they can make a quick buck.

She offered no condolence when I stress to her that I need my items to arrive this week since I’ll be starting my new job next week and won’t be available to be at my house to receive my things.

Pros: the movers worked quickly and seemed nice, price was decent compared to other companies, and someone actually answers their phone if I call.

Cons: Literally everything else.

I cannot stress this enough… DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! The “veteran owned and operated” label they preach is a disgrace to all active duty and veterans out there. Coming from someone who has 5+ years in the service and more to go, the person who tried to pull the veteran card must’ve been a soup sandwich of a guy, and I wouldn’t want him on my ship.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4281

Booked my move from NY to Oh through Safe Ship with Mia doing the bulk of the cubic footage evaluation. After 3 different lengthy calls reviewing pictures of my household items, she settled on 824 CF. ABC Movers LLC out of NJ showed up on moving day and immediately increased it to 1300, then 1400 and finally 1500 CF, effectively doubling my moving quote from $5600 to over $10k. After several conversations with Safe Ship customer service (Rachel), nothing was resolved and Rachel spent the majority of the conversation defending the moving company's price gouging tactics. Additionally, Mia said my belongings would arrive within 2-3 days after loading. However, ABC Movers wanted an additional $900 for "expedited delivery" on top on the additional $5K they charged for increasing the CF. ABC Movers damaged several valuable furniture pieces and "misplaced" or "lost" other items during the move since they took my items to NJ to "reload" them on another truck before transporting them to Ohio. No follow up phone calls from Safe Ship after the move was completed. Filing a claim with movingclaims.net for the damages which I'm sure will result in little to no financial reimbursement for the damages. If you need to move to another State, I highly recommend getting a UHAUL truck, load it yourself and transport it to you new home. Do not use these moving brokers or small business movers as they all seem to be in the business of bait and switch when you're at your most vulnerable time. I've moved a dozen times throughout my 20+ years in the military and this is by far the worst moving experience of my life.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

To Begin with, I am legally blind and hard of hearing. I informed the sales representative and the mover of this information upon first contact. To Sum all this up, Safe Ship is not a reputable company and lies just to get the business. Here is what happened.

• I received a quote from Safe Ship (SS) and Nationwide Moving Services in July of 2022.

• I chose Nationwide Moving Services and paid them a deposit for my upcoming move in August.

• I informed [NAME EDIT]; the Sales Representative with SS I chose another company when she followed up with me about her quote.

• [NAME EDIT] continued to call me to persuade me to change my decision and lowered her original quote. She kept telling me that Nationwide was not a reputable company and SS was a better company.

• I was nervous now because Safe Ship, once I finally told [NAME EDIT] who I was using, kept discrediting Nationwide.

• So, after great hesitation and stress, I said yes to [NAME EDIT].

• I had measured all boxes and furniture.

• I made numerous calls prior to the move to inquire about the QA call and made sure they changed the info, they did not and would not. They advised me to keep it at the 534 CF because the movers will get an accurate measurement when they arrive.

• But when the trucker arrived, Fair & Square Transportation, he added to the shipment and doubled the charges. F&S demanded payment of 70% when SS told me it would be 50%.

• I was pressured to get the new estimate signed because F & S was at my door and instead of decreasing, [NAME EDIT] gouged it up to 600 CF without measuring or counting any boxes. He just walked in and said it was 600 CF.

• [NAME EDIT] and the Broker knew what they were doing. It was the old bait and switch gambit. I HAD MEASURED EACH BOX AND PIECE OF FURNITURE AND COULD ACCURATELY STATE THE CUBIC FOOTAGE. IT WAS 322 CUBIC FEET. I repeatedly told him this information.

• Safe Ship continually refused to revise estimate which Mis-lead Moving company to the cubic footage of the move. [NAME EDIT], said “the moving company will adjust the estimate when he gets there and it’s best to keep it at the 534 because they wanted to ensure I had enough room to load my belongings on the truck.” (I was the ONLY customer he had)

• That’s exactly what happened, but the moving company, F&S walked in and INCREASED the 534 CF on the estimate TO 600 CF. This was a walk through and no dimensions were even taken thus committing Fraudulent “volume bumping.”

I asked the driver to leave but both the driver and customer service at SS said I would lose my deposit and be charged a waiting time of 4 hours @ $150 an hour.

• I was forced to pay for 600 CF ($2,400.00) when it measured 322 CF. This is evident by the photographs taken upon loading that indicated space NOT utilized on the truck and the boxes were spread out to reach the 600 CF.

• [NAME EDIT] would not refund my money after the load was on the truck and lied about the cubic footage. I should have called police and demanded it be off loaded and sent him on his way, yet again. But I was too tired and could not stand talking to him anymore and signed the Bill of Lading under duress.

• The 350 CF is proven again at delivery when a smaller truck was sent and the furniture and bins were loaded to the top of the truck and I took pictures to prove it.

• [NAME EDIT] made me sign all the documents without really having time to read them and some were blank because of the pressure to get the truck loaded.

• I signed documents without it being filled out. Under the American Disabilities Act (ADA) laws (the Blind Act), he is obligated to read the contract or at the very least, pertinent information, especially the price factors. [NAME EDIT] said that he would adjust the price after the truck was loaded. It was late after the truck was loaded and I was so tired and my eyes hurt that I could not look at the documents he filled out. [NAME EDIT] kept adding and subtracting the totals and I could not figure it out. It was deliberate to confuse me. My mother was also very confused by all of the adding and subtracting and could not read all the fine print.

• Not only did I almost have a stroke because of this move, I had to put down my beloved pet whom I’ve had for 12 years. She had been traumatized by the arguing and stress I was going through.

TOTAL OF REFUND REQUESTED BECAUSE OF DISHONEST BUSINESS PRACTICES FROM MOVING COMPANIES: $1432.00.00

Pictures taken at delivery clearly show that the shipment was ½ the size at pick-up.

Don’t ship with these two companies, they will break every code of ethics and try to trick and deceive you into using their services. Recently, in speaking to SS, I learned that they have put [NAME EDIT] in another department and are not utilizing F& S anymore due to more complaints.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4000

Once the contract was signed, all promises ceased. This was a disaster from start to finish. I shipped half of what I initially had on my inventory, was told an adjustment would be made by the movers. That didn't happen. The subcontracted local guys with a U-Haul came to pick up my things. Very unprofessional, did not have needed equipment, were rude, handled my things carelessly, stacked them in the U-Haul haphazardly, refused to repack when I said it looked very messy and uneven, and left the site while I was still on the phone with Safe Ship trying to resolve the issue of space change. The folks at Safe Ship told me not to sign the contract and the movers demanded it be signed so they could get on to their next gig. My attempts to connect with Ship Safe customer service was so frustrating; dropped calls, long waits on hold; personnel that were rude and impatient and who refused to honor the agreement I made with the sales department. I waited a week for Ship Safe to contact me as they said they would to resolve these issues. Yesterday I called them and after 30 minutes of being kicked to one person and the next I was told I was responsible for the initial contract. They didn't know where my things were but that they would be delivered in 1-3 weeks across country. I would have saved $1400, a lot of grief and frustration had I just contacted a mover directly. This brokerage firm lies and cheats people out of their hard earned money. STAY AWAY -- THEY ARE ANYTHING BUT SAFE SHIPPING.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $4000

Working with this company was an absolute nightmare. The lady Melissa is very kind on the phone at first then after you put down that first deposit you won’t here a word from them. They sent some random moving company to pick up my stuff, charged me an additional $1700 than my original quote and refused my deposit back when I didn’t want to pay that. Told them to load what will fit into the 410sq ft and I’ll sell the rest. Instead they loaded all of my stuff and then gave me the new quote. They kept giving me dates it would be delivered so I’d take off work to be there and they wouldn’t show up. No call, no update, nothing. When the mover finally arrived it was a single man. One man unloaded all of my furniture. It took hours. And he left all of the trash from the move in my garage. A mountain of plastic, tape, padding, cardboard. This company should be ashamed with how they do business

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4700

Every step of our moving process—except for sending big payments— went badly. The movers contracted by Safe Ship were completely unprofessional; they took forever, left for a “lunch break” and came back in a hot box, did not disassemble any furniture as promised, couldn’t fit our items on the truck, and charged us an extra $525 to keep the “free” furniture blankets on our furniture. The furniture was weeks before it was delivered. They left 2/3 of our boxes across the country and had to send a second truck days later. We lost 5 boxes and a chair. Breakage was minimal, but much of the furniture was garfed and chipped or had parts broken off (after we paid for the $500 shrink wrapping). Safe Ship did basically nothing to help us. Please don’t give this company your money. They do NOT provide any help to their consumers. Our move was over $15k.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $15000

Terrible, rude, and aggressive "customer service" representatives. Tried to pressure me into contracting them before I was ready to make a final decision, and quickly turned nasty when I indicated that I wasn't quite ready to commit yet. Despite me being courteous and professional, I was treated like scum as soon as they found out they couldn't scam me out of money immediately. Don't waste your time here; find somewhere that actually gives two craps about their customers and won't treat you like crap instead.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $2000

Started with a quote 4 months before my move. I walked room to room and gave exact information about my move. 4 days before my move a different person called me to review my move. We went over the list and I did not add anything, actually i was throwing things away, but he increased my price by $1,800. I was out of time so I had to take it on the chin, but he was not honest at all! The movers show up and they increase my move $1400, again nothing has changed on my end, but they don't work for the company they are leased out. The original quote was $5500 and now I am paying $8,700. Would have been easier and cheaper to throw everything away and buy new. When the truck arrived, another long story, they broke my bed and I am missing a NEW Bose sound system for my TV. No one from the company has contacted me or told me what was going on. They will take your money fast, but you will never talk to the same person 2x... DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!! FRAUDS!!!!! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8700

Watch out! They outsource to another moving company, who also outsources to another billing company. Everyone scams you at every step. They screwed up my pricing (wrote the correct rate, but wrong cubic footage discussed on the phone) and then doubled my pricing one day prior to the move. The customer service lady lied and said I would not get my deposit back, but the agreement said I could cancel within 72 hours. When I cancelled with them due to better pricing elsewhere, they came down on the price drastically, so I happily agreed to stick with them. The manager gave me his direct number, said I could contact him directly for any issues and from there on there would be zero problems. Unfortunately, there were issues at every single step, movers didn’t initially arrive on the day we were told, later arrived after 6 hours, we didn’t get a call from them prior to arrival to prep us on what we need to do, I had to chase them down and ask them when are the movers coming, the company brought the wrong size truck and had to get a bigger one, the movers speak zero English, clearly no communication between movers and company. It was a mess!!! And the manager did not answer any of my calls. It is true, customer service is kind and dealt well with my angry Karen calls to them (except for that initial lady who lied and said I could not cancel). The actual movers made me sign a separate document upon payment that scams you in the fine print, asked me for an additional 1200 dollars on the day of delivery, threatened to return my items to the warehouse if I don’t pay up on the spot.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7000