Moving Companies....How was your RECENT move to ATL area? (Atlanta: insurance, movers)

[Madam Oink]

Hi Again Atlanta,

I'm looking for recommendations from anyone who recently (within last 6-8 months) moved from out of state to the Atlanta area. I want a moving company that does all the work....packing, moving, driving, unloading and setting up of the big stuff. How did it go? Thanks!

Later....ink!

[waitaminute]

I moved to Atlanta from Colorado recently and my relocation company used Atlas Van Lines. Atlas moved me 3 times. Once from Tennessee to Georgia. Another from Georgia (Atlanta) to Colorado and then again from Colorado (Denver Area) back to the Atlanta area last year.

The service they have provided in all cases was fantastic. They packed us, including items my company did not approve, stored all of our things until our new homes were completed an then delivered and unpacked us at the new homes.

[Timmo]

Hi,

Too bad you wouldn't be able to do some packing yourself. If you could, I'd definitely recommend PODS, portable storage. They deliver the pod to you, you pack and move, they pick it up and deliver to you. No problems! But again, I did EVERYTHING myself, and it was a lot of work, to say the least.

I called Atlas and Allied van Lines. Be careful. The guy came over to give us an estimate and then really bumped up the estimate because we were going to get a discount, then said we should be grateful. So I'd do my homework first. Again, i paid for my move, not some company.

[Madam Oink]

OK - Good info so far. My former neighbor used a POD for his move back to Pittsburgh. He packed up his POD and they stored it locally for a couple of months. He visited it a few times to take things out and add stuff. They transported it up to PA, stored it for a couple of weeks until he had a house picked out, then delivered the POD for him to unload. It's a great little system, but you do almost all the work yourself. I've moved 3 times in the last year, so I want somebody else to do all the work this time. Especially since I was given a $2000 moving allowance from my new employers.

Let's keep the recommendations coming.....thanks!

[Madam Oink]

Okay, I've gotten dozens of estimates and about a million phone calls over the past 4-5 days. There are soooooo many moving companies and they all bad mouth each other. Plus the price quotes I'm getting are all over the board....from $1400 to $2700!! How is one supposed to decipher all this? HELP!!!!!!

Later....ink!

[ready2move]

go to movingscams.com Tons of info with reviews on companies.

Good luck!

[Spac3d]

You could also try emove.com . http://www.emove.com has a ton of reviews and also prices.

[waitaminute]

After you have performed your reviews, you will no doubt need to narrow your list a bit further. Take your top 3-4 companies and start working the numbers i.e. are boxes included? What about Insurance in the case that your belongings are damaged during the move? How long will it take to load/unload? You will also want to have them come in and do an assessment of what is to be moved. Make sure you have everything in writing from your movers.

Next try and negotiate a rate to get in line with your move allowance. I'm assuming that your move allowance includes your cost for deposits for new residence, connections, washer/dryer/refrigerator connections, auto tags, etc.

[deja-zebbie]

Madame Oink,

I hope you will be EXTREMELYcautious and use a well known firm for your moving.

One of my husband's colleagues just a couple of years ago used a company (don't know the name, but not a company I was familiar with) to move from some state not too far away (maybe Virginia?). Her stuff NEVER arrived. This was a horror story. Turns out that the moving company was a front for some type of Russian mafia (though the name of the company was not Russian) and that this company took people's things and shipped them to the Middle East. NO KIDDING.

Well, this woman was able to EVENTUALLY get her stuff back because the FBI was involved and her stuff had not YET been shipped.

However, for a long, long time this woman only had the few thing she had brought with her.

I don't mean to scare you, but rather to mention that using a reputable firm can be real important.

Again, this post is simply to alert you to things that CAN happen, but something like that would most likely NOT happen with a well known reputable firm who has put time into maintaining their reputation.

All the best,
zebbie

[waitaminute]

I agree with Zebbie. Stay with the well known names.