United Transportation Moving & Storage

I booked my move from Oregon to New York through a broker company that contracts with United to perform the actual move. I will preface this review with admitting that using a broker caused some miscommunication and contributed to some of the issues with this move. That being said, the service I received from United was extremely unsatisfactory. It took nearly 2 months to move my belongings, and the customer service was truly horrible.

My pickup was initially scheduled for December 19. On December 21 at 9 pm, the driver called and said he would be arriving in about an hour. My storage unit closed at 10, so we agreed to meet at the storage unit first thing the next morning instead. The driver and one assistant showed up the next morning three hours later than the agreed upon time.

This was only the beginning. My belongings were picked up on December 22, and driven to California, where they sat until my delivery on February 15. The initial delivery was supposed to be on January 15! The delivery was repeatedly pushed back, and it was very clear that United was making absolutely no effort to ensure a timely delivery. In addition, they make you sign a contract that says they have 21 business days to make the delivery. So you basically have no recourse if your delivery is extremely delayed. And the reimbursement for a late delivery is only $30 per day. Hardly appropriate for such a huge inconvenience!

The company also doesn't typically accept credit cards (which seems a little sketchy to me). However, I arranged to pay the remaining balance due upon delivery by credit card. Unfortunately, there was a last minute problem in which my credit card was declined the night before delivery. I arranged with management to pay by credit card the morning of delivery, but when the driver found out about this, he refused to come to my house to deliver my belongings! The driver refused to deliver unless I had cash or money order, despite my having made special arrangements. This was obviously not communicated to the driver and was a huge inconvenience and burden.

Between the late pickup, extremely late delivery, and poor customer service, this move went absolutely horribly. I will not be using United for any future moves, nor would I recommend them to a friend. The only positive remark I can make is that my belongings arrived in decent shape with very few damages.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6100

My bad experience with United Transportation started at the beginning. We agreed on a time and date for their arrival. They were two days late. They tagged and loaded my belongings and then asked for a gratuity. They have a poor system of ropes to separate clients belongings. I wanted them to store my belongings about 30 days. They palletize clients belongings in the warehouse. Because of their very poor system of separating client belongings with ropes, some of my belongings were put on the wrong pallet. Whoever United Transportation gave my belongings to never called anyone and decided to keep what didn't belong to them. United Transportation is not capable of tracing and or tracking pallets once they leave.
I lost clothing, I lost almost all of my irreplaceable lifelong treasures and almost all of my irreplaceable family heirlooms.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3500

Absolutely a horrific experience! We've moved cross country 5 times, and this was BY FAR, the worst experience ever. They up-charged us multiple times, the pickup crew quit 1/2 way through the job, they hired guys off Craigslist coming into our home to pack and move our stuff and the office staff had no idea where our furniture was at any given time during the move. I mean really, I can find my I-phone anywhere, anytime, but they had no way of knowing where their huge truck with all our belongs was located over the course of a week?! We spent 2 full days sitting in an empty house waiting for them to show up. I could go on and on, just save yourself the heartache, frustration and aggravation and do not use them.

Seriously the worst customer service experience of any kind we've ever experienced.

BEWARE, this is NOT United Van Lines.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $9323

Took over 21 days to get our stuff, from CA to UT. The entire time was a nightmare. Highly unprofessional. They will give you the run around on everything from price to where your stuff is. They charged us $6000 over what they quoted us, after giving multiple updated inventory sheets. They offered to give us a refund of $1400. Haven't seen it, don't think we ever will, as they don't return emails or phone calls. Many items were damaged en route, and their "insurance" its a joke. Save yourself the headache and use another company. I would give 0 stars if I could. Avoid at all costs! Take your money elsewhere! They will bait and switch you, and they will lie to you. They won't treat your belongings with respect. You WILL have items broken, damaged, or flat out destroyed.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8600

We moved from Maryland to San Diego. We used a broker who connected us to this company. The mover was fine. It was only him (the driver), it took a while for his help to show up. We felt bad and bought him some cold drinks, and I also gave him a good tip. I think because it was only him, our hardwood floor ended up scratched from moving the sofas. The broker offered $200 for the damage later when I complained because it had been a month and I hadn’t heard back from the company. We took longer than expected and went over the first 30 days free shipping so we had higher cost there than quoted for storage (apparently it’s cheaper if you book it initially) and apparently 90-100% require shuttle delivery which for us is an extra $800+ which we were not told in the beginning. We had different price quotes for both these fees from the broker as well. Maybe if we hadn’t used a broker we would have known about the fee to start? I suspect with all movers there are going to be hidden or not upfront fees. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories with moving and it’s a very scary process. But if I write this review, I get almost half off that unexpected $800+ fee. Our stuff hasn’t been delivered yet so I can’t say anything regarding that, but all in all the guys did a good job packing/loading/moving our stuff. BEST moving and storage (the broker) and the driver who did most of the packing reassured me and made a very stressful time less so and helped the process be smoother. He was apologetic about the floor and even with only one guy initially they were very fast.

I called today because I hadn’t heard and had put in a delivery date for tomorrow. I was very glad for the news they were indeed going to deliver tomorrow. We’ve had our stuff in storage now for about 5 weeks. You have to pay a full month for a weeks extra storage. Moving is so tough (don’t get me started on the hotels while waiting for house to be ready!!) and I hope you have a smooth transition!!

If you are price comparing, our cost below is the final cost for 8938#. (I had very significantly trimmed down our belongings including not transporting many furniture pieces and many full car donations plus garage sales for things that were included in the estimate) after the first extensive estimate, so I was really quite surprised our weight came in higher than the estimate, meaning we didn’t get a refund from the first estimate but actually owed more).

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7957

This company should not even be allowed to operate. They lost al of our stuff in a supposed warehouse fire (was not supposed to be in a warehouse in California, they had told us would be delivered to Alabama the next week) and have been cold and unresponsive to this devastating loss. I am happy to speak personally with anyone who is considering using this company. DO NOT DO IT. They have a terrible claims company, a dismissive attitude about their obligations and a completely unresponsive customer service department. That doesn’t even get into the fact that they were terrible even at the initial packing up stage where a full service move turned into me and my neighbor helping the two people who showed up pack a 4 bedroom house. It was completely absurd. Save your self the hassle, use any other movers.

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

I really do not know how to thank these fine people. They were excellent from the start to finish. I got the best possible deal from the sales rep tamara, and the packing and moving services by their team ( hector and fransisco). Execution of all the maneuvers was excellent, fast and accurate and the commitment by them was something to remember. They gave their best and made my money count. They did not keep me waiting for the delivery and handed over all my belongings in great condition. To cut the long story short – I got the best move ever by All services movers.
united transporthen hen Moving is definitely the best way to move.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4328

My grievances are as follows:
1. I scheduled a pickup date of July 26th. I understand they did not break the contract that allowed for a grace window until the 28th. However, they did not contact me at all and it took several calls to get through to them on the 28th. When I finally did, I was told that the pickup would be July 30. I convinced them to come July 29th. During this delay we had additional transportation and meal expenses because our fridge was empty and we had sent our car due to the expected move. Throughout this communication and negotiation experience I received poor customer service, but was told that I could be compensated $150 for the one-day extension of the pickup window.
2. On pickup, the crew was working across 3 levels of my home and I was unable to supervise everything. When I unpacked I realized that they had used my own couch cushions to pad the machine. Each couch cushion is worth $500 and is not to be used for this purpose and is ill-designed to pad a 100+lb machine. In addition the packaging was far to thin and it only had an inch of bubble wrap on one side. This side was physically damaged and warped from presumably being dropped and the bubbles were all deflated. Extremely poor service that was explicitly paid more for ($80). The crew also damaged several walls, doors, and even the ceiling while taking my items to the truck. Buyer negotiated $500 for repairs but United would not provide compensation.
3. On delivery the crew also incurred damages to the walls and unit that will come out of my security deposit when I terminate my lease. Estimated $500 of damage they incurred.
4. On pickup I asked the supervisor if I should still expect 7-10 days for delivery. He said no, probably 7-14. I had no problem with this, as I understand this is normal. It was not clear if he meant business days, but I understood him to mean calendar days. However, when my things hadn’t arrived at 10 days I called to get an update. Anna told me that there had been a delay “in Hawaii” (but isn’t that before LA?). However, when pressed, she said that it should arrive on the 14th or 15th. On the 14th I contacted her again to get an update and requested again to speak to Ben or her manager. On the 16th I received a call from the truck driver that the truck had broken down in Ohio. The same day I got an email from Angela saying as much and that she would update me ASAP with any updates. I never got any updates. When I finally got in touch with Anna again I was told that it was delayed because of the breakdown (but the truck broke down past the date I was told it would arrive). The driver did not update me and Anna or Angela did not update me during the delay and I repeatedly asked Ana to talk to her manager and was told that “she will give you a call” but I never got one. Once I realized that Angela was Ana’s manager, I obtained her number and contacted her. I was offered a very small settlement of $200 which covers almost nothing.
5. Throughout the process, the communication was poor at best and potentially fraudulent at worst. I felt misled about the delivery date throughout the process and at multiple points was told that 21 business days is “possible but pretty much never happens.”
6. Due to this continued pushing back of the delivery date and misleading about when it would happen my daily spending was affected. Instead of buying more household and cooking items early on we spent more money finding places to sit in a chair and eat food. I estimate about $1000 of expenses following the updated date of the 14th that I was told.
7. Throughout the process I attempted to communicate directly and clearly with United Transportation Moving and Storage, but received false information and was ultimately hard pressured into accepting a settlement of that barely covered any of the damages. Of course I declined the settlement and have withheld my right to file this claim and additional reviews.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5099