University Moving & Storage

I moved cross country for a new job and the relocation company selected University Movers. University gave us an estimate for packing and loading time frames. Then changed it at the last minute. Packing ended up taking a full day longer than anticipated, resulting in me and my family sleeping on the floor of a half packed up house. The packers were late arriving each day. University delayed the delivery of our stuff to the new house and blamed the relo company. My property arrived damaged. Boxes crushed. Furniture broken. China packed under small appliances. Parts taken off furniture/appliances and lost. They even opened boxes of fragile items I packed and threw books into the boxes, damaging the items. Clothing was just thrown into wardrobe boxes, not hung up on roads. Bottles of liquid soap were thrown into boxes on top of food. I was told by University's QA department "things happened during a move". I am now dealing with nearly $10,000 in damaged property. Pure incompetence. DO NOT USE UNIVERSITY MOVERS.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

Double move with storage . Rescheduled original pack three times due to other "priority moves". Resulted in unnecessary additional expense at hotel. Gave us no choice even though we had contract. Driver said we already paid in advance. Had to contact office to have him take Cashiers Check. Four days later were notified they could not find cashiers check even though they had seen it. Told not to worry they would locate it. Four weeks later contacted us to say check was still missing. Long story short were told we must pay again and it was up to us to stop payment and receive a refund even though they lost check. Must wait 90 days to stop payment on a Cashiers Check. Informed we must double pay prior to the 90 days if we wanted furniture delivered. Requested to speak with manager and was told "we have many managers" and asked for direct report was told they "would not feel comfortable" divulging this information. We can only wonder why. We double paid and eventually received a refund. Also very difficult to get any call backs. Their follow up was very very poor. Customer satisfaction was certainly not a priority.

Original moving crew was fantastic. The driver that delivered to Florida was very rude and uncooperative. Very upset they had to put down rug pads and rugs prior to setting up furniture, Said if we wanted this done we could pay extra or they could leave it in the middle of the floor and we could arrange. Driver said they had a schedule and they had to go. Also forgot to deliver a glass table top which was finally delivered eight days later. Draw your own conclusions

and make your choices carefully.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000

We cannot say enough about University Movers and Storage's attention to service and detail. In particular, I want to signal out Susan Berger and Mark Chambers. From the office, Susan was in constant contact with us to ensure planning and execution of the move was going well and that we were happy after the move. Mark Chambers is a team lead/driver; Mark is a ROCK STAR! Great communications skills, and outstanding logistic management skills to compliment his great personality. I highly recommend this company and compliment Susan and Mark in particular.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7200

BUYER BEWARE: DON’T BELIEVE A WORD COMING OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS. GET IT WRITTEN IN THE CONTRACT!

IF I COULD GIVE THEM A ZERO STAR I WOULD but let’s start by going over some basic facts:

Moving Date: 05/03/2021 – 05/04/2021

Delivery Date: 05/10/2021 – 05/15/2021

Moving from Ann Arbor, MI to Austin, TX: 1,350 mile

Partner Used: University Moving

We requested the stuff to be delivered by 05/13/2021 and before we signed our contract, the coordinator assured us that it will be done.

Stuff picked up: 05/03/2021

Stuff put on truck: 05/13/2021 (yes, the day we requested things delivered)

Stuff Delivered: 05/18/2021 (3 days past delivery the window)

IT TOOK THEM 16 days to move 4,000 lbs. across 1,350 miles.

These facts do not include the hundreds of calls both my wife and I had to make to get the required information and the emotional distress of moving to a new city, starting a new job, and that too without any of your stuff.

We decided to go with a bigger company despite the premium because I thought they would be professional, will ensure that our stuff is delivered on time and will have good customer service. Sadly, none of that was true!

They have expert sales folks ready to sell you and promise you the moon and the stars. But once you sign the contract, they will non-committal on everything. They will not make any commitments on when you can expect your stuff to arrive even within the delivery date window.

In my experience, I believe this company is reactionary and does not have a contingency plan for anything. The day before our stuff was supposed to arrive, (after the delivery window had already expired), the driver called us and told us that he is 30 miles away but his truck broke down. We tried reaching the delivery coordinator to get an update but couldn’t get hold of her for the next 4 hours. Instead of acknowledging their mistake or coming up with a plan for when things go wrong, this company’s response was “things break down, we can’t control that!”

Final note: If you get Rachel as your delivery coordinator, ask for another one. She doesn’t know what the job of a coordinator is. We were running after her all the time and she would never be in the office or available to take our calls. She did not know how to prioritize her customers and was unavailable when we needed her the most. I could go on forever.

TLDR: RUN THE OTHER WAY!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4500