Shleppers Moving & Storage

Nearly all our furniture was damaged. We moved from Manhattan to Brooklyn with a week of storage. The only insurance they offered was 60c/lb. There is a huge dent on our wood console, a broken door on that console, a hole in our Aeron chair, and every one of our items with leveling feet had at least half the feet come off. No attempts from the movers to help. In fact, we feel they knew about the damage and didn’t tell us - clearly something was dropped on the console - because they ran off quickly after we tipped them and we did not realize the extent of the damage until we unwrapped all the blue plastic wrap.

In addition we were up charged last minute for several items.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3500

I hired Shleppers to pack and move me in November of 2020—a residential move in Manhattan. It was an unmitigated DISASTER from start to finish—with multiple damages to furniture, improper packing, missing items, lack of safety protocols during the move, as well as irresponsibility and dishonesty from the moving crew, and a complete lack of customer service.

It was a nightmare move, and here are 5 reasons why:

1. MULTIPLE MISSING ITEMS: Some items simply did not make it from the moving truck into my new apartment, including a folding step stool and three rugs (worth a total of $265). I might be able to chalk that up to a moving mistake, BUT two days later, I realized that 3 framed pieces of art valued at a total exceeding $20,000 were also missing. (These pieces were eventually located over 5 days later, one by one, by the foreman. They were miraculously found on the truck, which had allegedly been emptied and inspected by him right after the move).

2. EXTENSIVE DAMAGES: The crew was incredibly reckless. Not only did they break the leg of a $6000 Design Within Reach sofa, but they left it in the basement (it was unable to fit in the freight elevator) and never told me what had happened. They simply duct taped the leg on! A second Shleppers crew (that I had to pay extra for) came the next day to carry the sofa up to my apartment, and they discovered that the leg had been snapped in two. Shleppers did send a carpenter to repair the leg, which entailed super-gluing and drilling screws into it. It’s unclear how long this peg leg will hold up, and it looks like hell.

The crew carelessly moved an armoire and dropped it on a custom built desk, creating large divots in the wood. They removed wooden knobs from a credenza and lost them. They did not properly pack a Design Within Reach floor lamp (neither removing the lamp shade nor the lightbulbs!) before transporting it. I watched that lamp tumble onto Riverside Drive! Another vintage 1950s lamp shade that was never removed from the lamp or packed at all, is now it is completely bent and lopsided.

3. IRRESPONSIBLE PACKING: Extremely valuable glass and bone china items were put into boxes with no wrapping or protection whatsoever. Two vintage glass globe lights were tossed in a box on top of a printer and had another lamp and a small end table placed on top of them with no protection whatsoever! Even though I reiterated multiple times that all these items were very fragile, they were not even wrapped in paper or bubble wrap.

4. LACK OF CONCERN FOR SAFETY PROTOCOLS: We are in the middle of a global pandemic and I expected that everyone on the crew would take their safety and mine very seriously. One individual on the crew did not wear a mask. In addition, this employee was agitated and rude throughout the move, at one point yelling at me while I was discussing something with the foreman. The super at my new address actually told him not to come back into the building because he was yelling and cursing.

5. ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE: When you call Shleppers, you will get the Dispatching Dept. When you are transferred to Customer Service, you will eventually talk to a Claims Representative. There is no real “customer service” at all. I called Shleppers on the day that I realized that art was missing, in the desperate hope that they could recover the lost property as soon as possible. The “customer service” and the “operations/dispatch” representatives (same thing) were unresponsive. There was no attempt to look for the lost valuables, or check the picture bins they were packed in. There was no sense of urgency at all. In fact, I was told that the moving truck had been completely emptied and inspected by the foreman of the moving crew, and that the “empty” picture boxes had been flattened. Having been told by dispatch that they could do nothing, and getting no response whatsoever from the nonexistent customer service department, I emailed the co-CEO and owner, who did reply within 24 hours—but with a form email that said I should contact someone at customer service!

I filed an insurance claim with Shleppers (a weeks-long, nickel-and-diming ordeal), and their settlement was so paltry and insulting that I refused to sign the claims waiver (stating that I would not post anything disparaging or negative about the company) in order to get the money. THIS IS THE WORST MOVING COMPANY I’VE EVER USED.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2300

Schleppers' quote was reasonable. When they came to our apartment to pack our belongings they were rushing and rather than packing each box with items from one closet or area they shoved everything in together in a mishmash. The movers also got into a fight with our building super over the fact that they refused to share the elevator and got themselves kicked out of the building so I had to finish taking the boxes out of my apartment myself. Fortunately this was late in the day so I only had about 20 boxes to move myself.

When they were almost to my new house they called to say they needed to charge me an extra $750 because they had used extra boxes. It was only after they left that I realized that many of the boxes were MOSTLY EMPTY so they used up extra boxes just to generate an extra charge!

When I confronted the management about this they refused to do anything about it. They make extra profit by this corrupt practice so I'm sure they are incentivized to keep it up.

BEWARE THEIR EXTRA CHARGES!!!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3200

I picked Shleppers because I'd had a good experience with them in 2013, but this was like a completely different company. Will never use them again and strongly advise against it. I paid extra because they offered a live video estimate using FaceTime, unlike other movers who would've required me to do my own detailed inventory, including counting all the boxes after they're packed, which is difficult if you need to book ahead of time and can't live out of a suitcase for 2 weeks. They showed up, started complaining that the estimate was inaccurate, and I agreed that they should call headquarters. Then, they started the move, half-loaded the truck, and declared that I would have to pay 25% more in order to finish the move! Of course I was over a barrel at this point – I thought I was paying their higher prices to avoid this situation! On top of that, they put a big hole in a leather sofa and offered my $35 to replace it, since I hadn't paid even MORE money. No better than the worst of NYC movers.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2900

I have moved internationally over nine times and can easily say this is the worst inexperienced movers I have come across.

To start, their crew were mainly loaders not packers, they did not know how to handle sensitive items or delicate furniture, the first thing they did was negotiate their tips. I paid over TWENTY THOUSAND Dollars for Professional packing and care, and what I got instead was a terrible job and bad attitude.

The did not only break our irreplaceable china items, but they also scratched/broke my unique furniture, paintings, lamp shades and valuables. I had to guide their inexperienced crew on how to wrap and pack items and provided them with warping foam and wood packing crates to protect my items, yet the result was a disaster. To pain to injury, the crew members insisted on their negotiated tip and the company claimed that they needed a bigger truck as the volume was larger than what they anticipated and asked for an extra amount of $1,650 on top what they received already. I was obliged to pay to release my shipment. When we received the shipment, I shocked to see that they sent the wooden crates which I provided them for protection of my items EMPTY, we also received two boxes which belonged to another client and had missing items which they stated they could not locate.

I sent them over 30 pictures of the broken/damaged items and their customer care person asked me to contact the insurance company as they could not help. No apologies No regrets but simply a careless attitude.

We are literally in pain seeing our valuable which we owned for over 25 years and have been moving with them from country to country DAMAGED.

I will NEVER RECOMMED Shleppers

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $20770

I would like to preface this review by saying that I normally do not provide any feedback publicly, however, in this case I feel compelled to provide some feedback which may benefit others. My husband and I have moved no less than ten times both domestically and internationally over the past twenty years. This is the first time we have had multiple issues with a moving company. We chose Shleppers for our move from Manhattan to San Francisco in June 2022. Below are the issues we experienced with Shleppers:

1. Poor quality packing and handling –

• At least four pieces of our furniture were not properly wrapped/protected with blankets, especially around the corners/edges and consequently severely damaged (I have attached some photos).

• We had many paintings, which were not properly packed, which resulted in the frames being scraped and dented.

• We had to remind the packers more than once to be careful with certain pieces which are fragile and irreplaceable. In one example – they did not bring enough lamp boxes but wanted us to trust them to take the items loose to the warehouse “where they would be packed properly.” We had to insist that they somehow find a way to pack these items before loading into the truck.

• We noticed that one large piece furniture when loaded into the truck did not have the corners/edges properly protected. They promised to rewrap it properly in the warehouse (which based on the damage visible on delivery never happened).

2. Lack of general care and consideration –

• They did not provide any floor protection.

• During the packing, despite being warned about the weight and difficulty of moving a specific heavy console base, the team leader Garcia managed to scratch our hardwood floor while trying to move it on his own and did not seem to care about what he had done.

• On completing the packing out, they left behind all the empty tape rolls and their rubbish.

• The same team leader splashed a pink colored drink on our window ledge and wall and left the messy stains behind without saying anything. I saw it with my own eyes.

3. Cost

• Following their initial survey, they (Derek, our sales consultant) provided us with a binding lump sum price for the move. Unfortunately, on the day of the move, the team leader told me that the estimator had forgot to include six wardrobe boxes for my clothes, plus some “China boxes.” These extra wardrobe and China boxes cost us an extra $2,100 which they demanded payment on the spot in full – this was approx. 20% above the original lump sum agreed price.

• Buyer beware – they deliberately understated the cost and then on the day, after finishing the packing, they surprised us with this additional cost. At this time, we had no other options but to pay.

4. Final balance and delivery –

• The packing and loading occurred on June 23, and their estimated delivery was between July 1 to July 16 with the final balance due on the FIRST day of the delivery window (which would have been July 1).

• On June 28, we were told that our shipment would be delayed leaving NYC and not arrive in SF until after July 16. Since I was planning to be away for the summer and would not be able to take the delivery after July 18, I insisted that Shleppers deliver my shipment before July 18. In the meantime, they insisted I would still have to pay the remaining balance on July 1 – before my shipment was even re-loaded on the truck and made its way to California. Only after insisting that given the revised delivery window and the fact that our shipment would not even be re-loaded until July 4 or July 5 did they relent and delay the final charge until July 4th.

5. Final comments –

• Many firms want 50% up front on packing with the balance due on delivery – Shleppers is not such a firm.

• If using Shleppers be sure to take out third party insurance to cover any damage.

• Our recommendation would be to consider other providers and avoid all the issues/challenges which we suffered.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $13000

The movers were entirely unprofessional. The salesperson agreed to certain conditions, including moving our new washing machine. We also did a FaceTime call prior to him providing an estimate so he was 100% aware of the amount of boxes that would need to be moved. On the day of the move, the movers acted like they didn’t know the washing machine needed to be moved and that they could do it for us as a favor, even though it was clearly stated on their checklist. The supervisor of the crew complained the entire time about the amount of boxes and the time it would take to pack and move everything. They damaged several items during the move, including breaking a TV. The claim will only cover $.60 per pound for each damaged item, which won’t even cover the cost of tax for a new TV. And to add insult to injury, they took drinks from my refrigerator without asking, even though I had bought several bottles of gatorade and water for everyone. Save yourself the grief and find someone more reputable.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000

They went through my stuff after the move even though we did not authorize it and stole money/ went through my passport documents holder and crumbled those papers including social security and other personal valuable information that was stored in my master closet. Stole a tennis bracelet worth $2,000 and diamond hoop earrings worth over $6,000 and broke a $650 bed. DO NOT HIRE all the positive reviews and the even price is not worth the regret!!! Worst experience of my life. If u look close at the contract they bring you will see it’s basically a free pass to their allow class workers to steal what they want and no need to pack things well because insurance is a measly .60 cents on the pound and ‘doesn’t cover collectibles, or valuable goods’ basically if ur moving a college student and don’t own anything over the value of like $50 no worries but if u have stuff u would rather not loose- don’t use them!!!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $4000

THE WORST MOVES OF OUR LIVES. Do not trust Shleppers with your goods.

We had Schleppers move the entire contents of our home/apartment on March 3, 2023, and move it into storage in one of your storage facilities. On September 15, 2023, we spent 4 hours Facetime with the storage facility. During that FaceTime call, we carefully reviewed what items would remain in storage and which should be delivered to the apartment. They were to deliver the contents of our bedroom and bathroom and the coats from the front hall closet.

On the day they came to deliver, it became apparent that they were delivering the contents of the entire apartment. Most boxes were not labeled by room, and most were not labeled with the contents. I had to stop the movers and tell them to take back what remained in the truck because I was overwhelmed with boxes and had no idea what was in them or where they should go. All these boxes were stacked in my bedroom along all the walls except where the bed was. We were told we could only report damage once all the boxes were delivered and we had gone through their contents. Everything has been delivered, and all of the boxes have been opened.

We have taken photos of all the damaged and broken items and labeled the photos.

This has been the worst move of my life! I have moved ten times, five of them whole houses with all of our belongings. I had one piece of furniture damaged in those moves, and nothing else!!! All fragile/breakable items were wrapped in paper and surrounded by corrugated cardboard. They were packed together without other heavy objects that could damage them. Every box was labeled by room and contents.

This move was completely different. The most horrendous damage was to an antique replica bureau that had a leg (not a fragile leg) broken off, and then someone screwed it back on with metal screws and plates, ruining it further. You cannot do something like that without advising us!! They also damaged the leg of a bedroom dresser, which is so broken that if it is moved, it will break off. Most of the wood furniture has deep and superficial scratches.

They packed ceramic plates we collected from trips in different countries in light paper with heavy metal objects, which were broken into pieces. They put highly breakable small objects in boxes with other heavy objects, and nothing was wrapped; they just put them in a box, and so many items were chipped and broken.

All of the framed photos I had on my bedroom bureau of my children’s birth, wedding, and milestone pictures cushion, none of which were wrapped. The remaining 14 framed art pieces were unwrapped in one box so that almost everyone was badly nicked and scratched. These are the worst. You can review the photos to see the rest of the damage.

We were told that you would look for our missing belongings, but we have not heard back from Schleppers since I reported these incidents by phone. It is an understatement to say we are disappointed with how our possessions were treated and the damage they incurred. They have not even acknowledged that they can’t find it. We are devastated!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5000

Schleppers customer for the past 10 years (3 moves). The customer service post-pandemic is non-existent and leaves customers without answers or support.

I suggest going with a moving company that has a better customer service department. With moving something will always go wrong and you need a reliable customer service department to assist. This is not that company. Voicemails and emails are unanswered.

My story......

On my last move, our building provided free moving costs. Their movers were booked, so we reached out to Schleppers for my 4th move with them. At the last minute our building asked us to cancel the movers as theirs were available. We called Schleppers the day prior to the move to notify them, we asked about fees as we expected them.

On the call the agent stated since it was the day before the move they would charge 20% which was inclusive of the deposit. We agreed and understood, we then notified our building management team of this cost incurred.

A few days later I saw a higher charge than what I was made aware of. I attempted to call their customer service department a few times and always directed to a vociemail. After a couple days of no response I called back and choose another department so I could be further connected. I spoke with the representative (Yessenia) and she told me that the charge was suppose to be 50%. I grieved that I understood the policy and I agree to a charge, however what was explained to us was a fee of 20%. I questioned to her "as to where I would have got the 20% figure from if it was not told to me". She said she did not know and that there were no 20% charges she was aware of. Yessenia further told me the agent I spoke to about the cancelation has worked there long enough to know the policies. She stated she would send me the information which stated this and the call ended.

When the documents were sent it clearly stated that there was in fact a 20% charge, though it was if you cancelled prior to 24 hour mark.

I was frustrated that I was again misinformed since a 20% charge did exist within the company's policies.

I replied to her email (which included the listserv for the entire customer service department) stating that I am formally complaining and asked for a member of the management team to call me. I even encouraged for a review of the recording of the call as I know what was said to me.

To date no member of management, or member of customer service, has called or responded to the email request.

I no longer recommend this company based on the customer service department.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1500