You might check consumer's Guide. Also whatever you do get everything in writing. Rules have changed as insurance also. We have a pretty good one here--North American Van Lines. The one thing that will help is to really downsize what you are moving--that is will it fit, do I really need/want it, is it older and would it be cheaper to replace it. Mainly larger furniture, appliances.

Personal references are good. So is Angie's List.

You also might want to get three bids and let each company know you're comparison shopping. Meeting each rep might also give you a good idea of the professionalism (or not) of the business.

When we moved across country 10 years ago, I looked up an old Consumer Reports, which rated Paul Arkin the highest, so we went with them.

But most important advice I got was to make sure you get a "binding estimate"; otherwise,companies will first low-ball the estimate to get your business, but then suddenly discover higher weight costs after all your stuff is loaded on their truck. Also, only the driver works for the moving company; all of the workers were local day hires.

For sure take a look at movingscam.com and do a lot of reading on their forum. They give lots of good tips, endorse a number of moving companies, and warm about scams. We're moving from AZ to NM in 2 weeks and I followed all their advice in finding the right company to move us.

Our move is complex due to high-value items, lots of antiques and paintings, and difficult access (15 miles dirt roads, tight turns and gates at the destination). The big moving vans can't access our new home and all the national moving companies wanted to use a "shuttle." That would mean loading a large van, then transferring all the items to a smaller truck to make the delivery. Totally unacceptable, as it's equivalent to moving twice!

We ended up choosing a local company with good reviews on movingscam. They're going to use two 24-foot trucks, no shuttle, for our move. You need to be really really careful what company you choose. The company we chose is $1,000 cheaper than the other quotes AND we're very confident they will do a great job: Camelback Moving from Phoenix.

as always, GW'ers have the answers. thanks so much, will check out all of your suggestions.

thx

L

I've made several long distance moves over the years. The best thing I can tell you is read over every form you are given concerning the move careful BEFORE agreeing to or signing it. When in doubt about something ask for written clarification.
Most damage comes from putting stuff in storage or from being a part of a smaller load on a truck. Very often if the loads are small they will combine several households worth of goods on to one truck. IF you have only a small load I'd be inclined to look for one of those pack and go trucks they drop off and deliver to your house.
IF you can getthe bodies together on moving day I'd have a friend in each room watching the packers pack and to make sure things are getting the proper care they should. We always have randomly checked packed boxes to see what kind of job was being done. At least once we complained about the way things were being packed. The person who was packing was not wrapping things he was just dropping stuff into boxes. DH insisted that they went back thru and checked every box this one person packed. We found 10 out of the 12 boxes he packed were not done well. He was sent home we never saw him again. The head packer repacked the boxes himself.
My advice would be to ditch as much as you can however is comfortable with you. Donations, free signs, trash whatever.
Weight is usually the biggest factor in what you will pay so scale it down. If you even slightly dislike something and think you may replace it soon now is the time to do get rid of it. Go thru clothing and do a serious clean out of stuff you haven't worn in years. Clothes add lots of weight which many folks don realize so do extra linens that you haven't used in years.
No matter what date they tell you your stuff will be there at your new home you can almost count on it being late for one unforeseen reason or another. Out of five long distant moves not one of them arrived on time.
Take with you in your own car that which you can not do without, that which your kids or pets can not do without including important papers, meds, cellphones, chargers and personal items.
Good luck. It's a long process and it's hard on everyone involved, right up there emotionally with divorce and death in a family.

I've done several moves that were company paid. Allied Van LInes was good. Wouldn't use United again. They let drivers bump the packers due to seniority on the 2nd day of packing. Bad packing, lots of broken stuff. My most recent move I paid for myself so I whittled down belongings. I did all the packing myself and not one item broke (oh except for something the movers broke and acknowledged breaking). I used Allied Van Lines for the move. NH to VA, about 9000 lbs cost $3900. They wrapped and padded all furniture pieces. Though I had packed all the boxes it still took them a day to pack and load the truck. Truck left old house on Monday evening and was delivered Thursday morning in VA. Easy move.

Whatever you do, do NOT use U-hall. The truck you ordered will not be available, and 2 smaller trucks do not have the height of the bigger one, so all your stuff won't fit! You then have to go back 2 more times to get everything!

I think Mayflower is a good company. My sister in law transported Estate things from Southern California to Chicago with no problems. She said the truck was so big, she worried that it wouldn't fit on her road, but it did, and it all went smoothly!

Good luck to you! Ha! We still have 2 more U-haul trucks to go... Lesson learned!
Suzi

"IF you can getthe bodies together on moving day I'd have a friend in each room watching the packers pack and to make sure things are getting the proper care they should."

There can also be a moving company guy "stationed" inside the truck to supervise the loading- usually the foreman.
As all the flurried activity is happening inside the house this guy is not watched by anyone and he would be the one poking into things he shouldn't be poking into.
Not saying thievery happens, but if it does it's usually this guy.

we had several company transfers, but when we retired, we had no clue who was good and who wasn't so we checked with the bbb, and googled for reviews
usually each office is individually "owned" as a franchise so the quality can vary from office to office
we found the people we chose to be "better" than the company transfer folks and there was an incredible price difference (one estimated almost double the other)

If you are willing to pack/unpack the truck, www.rentaltruckdriver.uphero.com might be a good solution. This service might be cheaper? They also offer free live tracking so you can see your truck's progress online.

"There can also be a moving company guy "stationed" inside the truck to supervise the loading- usually the foreman.
As all the flurried activity is happening inside the house this guy is
not watched by anyone and he would be the one poking into things he
shouldn't be poking into.
Not saying thievery happens, but if it does it's usually this guy."

I was just coming in to mention this- during my Mom's (local) move some things were stolen and the inside the truck guy was the only one it could have been. He was the company owner, so no recourse.If there's ever a next time I will be setting up someone in a chair right outside the truck to watch my stuff until the door is closed. And if local, someone will follow behind them all the way so no stopping "for lunch" to pilfer.

I'm in the middle of a small move -- just the things my son is taking to furnish and apartment for grad school.

One thing I learned is that a lot of the folks you may talk to are brokers, not actual moving companies. They simply put your job out for bid and hook you up with somebody who says they will do the job. You may have to put down a deposit to get scheduled, and by then you are committed and have lost control of the move. That seems to be where so many complaints start -- and you just have no assurances who or what kind of folks will actually be moving your stuff and responsible for it. And loss covered at 60 cents a pound (the rate unless you have additional insurance) is nothing.

We priced everything from a Uhaul truck to pods, to full service moving. We went with an established local van line but did all the packing ourselves. Everything was packed in standard moving boxes so it was easy for them to handle and load. I should find out in a few days how it all gets there, but so far so good.

I bought tons of plastic bins and got free boxes from liquor stores and boxed everything up myself. Called a company and contracted with them. They subcontracted a smaller company from a good 500 miles away and rather than 4 guys I was promised along with a 40 foot trailer; I received 2 guys one of whom spoke no English and the other barely minimal English and a 28 foot box truck. It was a huge Cluster.... The first thing before they touch anything is get you to sign a bunch of paperwork that you have no idea what it is. Never again!

If I ever move again, I will do it myself with some hired workers. And I am 67 years old.

I think I will be leaving this house feet first.

The last time I did a long distance move (Chicago to Long Island, 30 years ago), I rented a large box truck and hired a local moving company to load it and another one to unload it, and I drove it. I'd do it again! The only problem was that, during the loading, the movers came to me and said "truck's full", and the third floor apartment was not empty, so I had to make a second trip! Fortunately, all the heavy stuff was on the truck so the second trip was easy.

I did wonder if "Sad Denton" was a spammer or just another one of those who decide to post on a many year old thread that then brings it to life. The link is for a company in England so most posters here it would be of no use.

Any old thread brought up with a link is suspect. Many of the spammers link to UK or Canadian companies. Just the fact that a company would choose to hire spammers to increase SEO or spamdexing means that, IMO, it's a less than reputable company in the first place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamdexing

ETA: spam removed.

I generally ignore all links here (or on any social media) unless I already know about it!

Didn't you post here seven hours ago?

Stax, I guess so (my current posting date says "last month")!

However, I'm now adding a new thread asking for help/advice on my current move. As I said in my earlier post (5 posts up), my earlier move was done by myself using a rental truck. For my current move, in progress, I couldn't find a rental truck from any local rental companies (U-Haul, Penske, etc. My last one was Ryder, which no longer rents to individuals). So I decided to use a local moving company which advertises local and long distance moves. First mistake - I didn't read any reviews then and when I did yesterday, they were horrible!

Anyway, like Dianne47, my move is fairly complex, from a house on Long Island to a new house in the wilderness of Northern NY. I wanted to avoid the movers reloading my stuff between trucks, so I specified a one-truck move, which they agreed to. I also have a piano which I am concerned about. They were very good on meeting their pickup time, but I was appalled that they came in a 24 foot Penske rental truck. There were three men, the driver (Ron) and two helpers. We had boxed most stuff into 24 boxes, mostly paintings (my wife is an artist). The first thing they loaded was the piano and, as they lifted it up, one leg fell off (not their fault). So they put the piano in the front of the truck, along with the leg. They carefully wrapped all the furniture and skillfully placed the pieces, along with the boxes in the truck and stabilized them with straps. The truck was 3/4 full. They said that they would deliver the next day. I agreed to pay them 1/2 then and the other 1/2 upon delivery.

We drove up to our new house (a 6-hour drive), somewhat concerned that they would get there before we did, but that didn't happen. We waited the rest of the day and, so far, no show (yet - I am writing this the morning of the third day). When I called that afternoon, the company manager said they were in a meeting and would call me back.

Several complications:

1. Google has my address mis-located, so I explained to the driver exactly where we lived and he said he understood.

2. For the final 30 miles of the trip, there is no cell service, except for in my town, where there is only Verizon, so I confirmed with the driver that he had Verizon, which he did.

3. They only accept payment via cash, certified check, or one of two phone payment apps which I don't use. So I paid the first half in cash and have enough for the final payment.

4. I have two entrances to my house, the piano and several other pieces of heavy furniture go into my basement - fortunately I have a walk-out basement with two rather large doors, reachable by a dirt driveway. The rest go on the main floor, which has a porch which can be driven up to via a different driveway. The paintings all go up to a loft, reachable by a ladder from the main floor. All of this was explained to the driver who said that it would be no problem. THIS IS WHY I WANTED TO MAKE SURE THE SAME DRIVER (AND TRUCK) MADE IT ALL THE WAY! Since the piano was the first in, it would be the last out, so the first unloading should be to the main floor and loft and the second around the back of the house to the basement entrance.

So, I am sitting here waiting....

Well, the nearest HD is an hour away, and the nearest Lowes, 45 minutes, so that's a good question! The helpers who helped load seemed to be pretty competent, and I don't know where they came from.

Geesh @mtvhike, hope they showed up! let us know.

Still waiting ... Almost every time I call them, I get someone who puts me on hold and then, 5 minutes later, I get dropped. Last Friday, I spoke to who I think is the manager of the company, and he said he was having a hard time getting people, especially on Juneteenth and Fathers' Day. He said "Perhaps Monday". Well, now it's Monday and still no calls, so I called back and got a different person answering the phone. I asked for the manager and she said "He's in a meeting and will call back in a half hour. That was 3 hours ago...

@mtvhike, oh no! I’d be livid and very concerned. Hope your stuff arrives soon.

Well, my move did end satisfactorily! When I looked at my contract, I noticed that they have a 30 day grace period for the delivery, so, on the 29th day, I got a text saying that they were coming. The next day I got a call from the driver, and they did arrive, at about 4:00 PM. The two guys were terrific dealing with my two-entrance problem (they hadn't loaded the truck in the right order so they had to drive between the two entrances twice). My biggest complaint are with the management, because their communication was very inadequate and inconsistent.

Sushipup2, what is it about this last post that makes you flag them as a spammer, other than they are in the UK and, perhaps, not particularly interesting to posters on THIS thread?