Chipman Relocation & Logistics

As I read the reviews I was very nervous about working with this team, but the end result was very good. Some of the logistics were slow and follow up could have been more timely, but the movers and packers were fantastic. They moved quickly, no missing items and did a walk through on both ends to make sure everything worked. Matt our driver was awesome — really knew his stuff and how to run a crew,

We hired Chipman for an interstate move between CA and CO.
It is my opinion that managing the logistics of the moving experience is simply not within the core competencies of the company. Communication from the company was not acceptable — virtually no proactive communication once we signed them up, and failures to notify me of essential communication. There is an obligation to communicate — even if it’s bad news.
Critical Failures —
The load crew DID NOT SHOW up on the assigned date. Upon my calling the office to inquire as to the crew’s whereabouts, there was no explanation, no plan to address the issue, and was told «that crew fell through, Do you have any flexibility in loading tomorrow by chance?» Imagine standing in your driveway with all belongings packed and the crew not showing.
The delivery spread was changed after agreed by all parties. (Though they did meet original.)
No updates on scheduling, despite multiple requests.
Their failures created unnecessary and significant stress, and additional cost to us; there were no proactive efforts to remedy, compensate or discount based on poor service, or address the issues directly, and my interactions did not create confidence.
Despite the ongoing, negative issues, there has been no followup from the provider — which suggests my experience was normal and expected by the provider.
Loading crew that showed was good to work with; once driver was assigned, he did call and provide updates; unload crew was passable (some members conscientious, others not), but would benefit from more supervision.
Overall, I cannot recommend using this provider.

We had a great experience with Chipman Relocations for our move from Vacaville CA to Gaithersburg, MD. John did a great job estimating the size and cost of our move. He was very experienced and detailed. That was very important to us as we have a very large house with lots of big furniture. Liz was fantastic coordinating our pickup and delivery and was very helpful when I contacted her for questions periodically. Gary, our driver, was very concientious and both the load and unload teams were professional and courteous. Our move went right on schedule with no problems and we’d recommend Chipman Relocations anytime.

Although the team was punctual and I did not have much in the way breakage, I was very disappointed in the condition the team left the house that I was moving out of. The place was a mess. There was trash left behind from their lunch. They left personal belongings including pieces of clothing and tools behind. They left packing materials behind.
More importantly though, they didn’t finish the job. Things were left unpacked. It actually took me a whole day after the move to finish clearing out the stuff that was not moved. Unfortunately I did not know this until after they left the house because I was at the new home when they were finishing up. So the take-​home message is definitely have someone watching over these guys to make sure they finish the job!
Needless to say they did not vacuum the place when they were done either. Other companies I have used in the past vacuum or otherwise clean up the debris before they leave so it is essentially ready for the next occupant. Obviously that was not done with these movers.
This company charges top dollar for «first class service». Unfortunately the service is below average at best.

We used United Van Lines for a cross country move about 3 years ago and they were fabulous! They recommended Chipman as their local mover since we were moving into a temporary accommodation. They were fabulous with a few minor repairs, they sent someone out to evaluate and came back to fix, all done in a timely and efficient manner. Unfortunately two years later we had to make another local move and being so satisfied with Chipman we called the same salesman. This move did not go well at all or as promised. They were to pack up our 1500 sq ft house one day, come back early next day to load and unload new home by approx. 1pm. They arrived late, forgot specific packing paper, left early and did not finish a 1500 sq ft home. The packers that packed our 2500 sq ft house on east coast finished by 3pm same day, packed professionally and efficiently and came back next day to load, all done in the promised timeline. These nice young men came back next day with two more guys to finish packing, still didn’t bring the right packing paper and by 4pm they finally finished loading, didn’t get to new home until 6:30pm that evening, didn’t finish unloading until 10:30 pm. Boxes were not completely taped and loose at bottom that carried glass framed art, clothes in wardrobe boxes were just thrown at bottom of box (and they had not fallen off rods as clothes on rods were still in place) all our drawers from dresser were taken out when we were told we didn’t have to pack our clothes, they were put in truck independently without any coverings, consequently there were pieces of dirt from the truck in our clothes drawers (when we moved cross country, same dresser, they never removed drawers) heavy pantry boxes were left in garage, plastic items from kitchen were packed TWO at a time (ie a plastic spatula with a strawberry huller… a muddler with a wood spoon) Consequently we had an abundance of wasted paper and cardboard boxes that took extra time to unpack that we had to flatten and store in our garage until we figured out what to do with them. The amount of time it took them to pack a 1500 sq ft house was way over the promised time. It took them 2 days to pack and had to go into the late evening to finally unload when our salesman said they would probably be done unloading by 1pm (NOT 10:30pm) My husband was at old house waiting for them to finish, he was livid. I was at new house by 10:00 am thinking they’d be close behind me. I sat in an empty house until 6:30 pm (and it was my birthday, something I’d mentioned to the salesman but he ensured they’d be gone by mid afternoon so we could celebrate and go out for my birthday dinner. That didn’t happen and I was alone sitting on the floor all day for my birthday) We contacted our salesman and management to discuss this disappointing move and needed someone to pick up the huge amount of extra boxes and paper, they had the nerve to want to charge us. We contacted upper management and within an hour Mr. Chipman called us directly. He was extremely surprised and apologetic and said once we finished unpacking, he would review and compensate us further and once we filled out our Claims for anything broken in the move, to call him back. We mentioned after this fiasco that they were going to charge us to pick up the boxes. Within minutes someone called us back from his office and arranged pick up free of charge. He was the one who told us to call him after our Claim was put through for further compensation. We paid over $ 4,000 for this move. Shame on us for being dedicated to a company and didn’t get any further quotes but we did not anticipate this type of unprofessionalism nor lack of compensation after we discussed the whole distressing move with the owner of the company. Thoroughly disappointed in that because our first conversation was very respectful and further compensation would be forthcoming once our Claims were put through and reviewed. An inspector came out to review broken items. Nothing has happened since except an email for a refund of $ 45.00 for insurance. It was not the packers fault, we were told from them, they were all new and there was no training. They were nice young guys who were put in this situation but it should not have hindered our move, considering the cost. The disappointment to date, being told by Mr. Chipman we would be further compensated and we not.

DO NOT USE!
I had no choice but to use them as part of a military move. Our shipment was placed in their storage and they delivered it to the house.
Within 5 minutes of unloading our truck, they had dropped a table a broke a leg off. Solid Oak. (I feel horrible for the person that did it. He was obviously young and new and taking orders from the jerk on the truck. The young guy carried it HIMSELF and slipped. He had the choice of breaking himself or breaking our table and I’m glad he chose to break the table.)
Two main problems with this company and our delivery:
1) Nothing on the truck was wrapped in moving blankets as it had been when it had left our house. Our antique bedroom set was not protected and had items placed on top of it without a moving blanket in between. Careless and stupid.
2) The Ring Leader on the truck that obviously did not give one crap about our stuff. He rushed and made the other employees rush. I told him multiple times to slow down.
Examples of his ill advised leadership:
He advised his crew to stack totes 3 high on the dolly without paying attention to what was in the bottom tote. As soon as the dolly was rolled over the lip of the driveway, you heard cracking glass. He dumped the box with the box spring off the back of the truck and it landed on its corner in the street. Not only was the box spring dirty, it is now out of square… Bookcases that should have had the removable shelves taken out, had them left in, so while the book cases were brought from the truck into the house, the shelves were moving around scratching up the inside of the case.
I could continue with more, but just remembering these has made me angry all over again so I need to stop.

Had them come for a quote — they sent a guy named Dan. Even with going thru the apartment, he seriously overestimated us at 2 cartons. We asked for a quote for 1 and it was still astronomical. We decided to go with another company. I thought that was that.
Today, I get a bunch of annoyed sounding calls from Dan saying he’s at my gate, here waiting for an appointment for a quote. Wow. Our appointment happened already — how could you forget that?
To me, if they can’t keep track of their appointments — who is to say they can keep track of their shipments? This was a red flag and I will avoid this company like the plague now.

Do not use Chipman. We had a terrible experience. We used them for storage and then a cross country move and they lost a substantial amount of boxes which have still not been located. Their drivers can not be relied on to take an accurate inventory. They have been completely unreasonable in settling this matter.

We hired Chipman for a cross-​country move earlier this year. Since they could guarantee a delivery window, which is awesome, we used the transit time of our belongings to apartment hunt at our destination.
Since we did not have an exact destination address before leaving, I discussed the cost of *optionally* placing items into storage near the destination should we not find an apartment.
We did end up finding a place prior to the delivery window, and took delivery of the items on the second day of the window.
However, we were forced to pay for the optional storage fees prior to the truck unloading, under extreme duress as we were living in a hotel and were anxiously awaiting our bed! The communication surrounding this was sub-​par and very frustrating. They even had a document that I supposedly «signed» but was a cut-​and-​paste job from another document.
In the end, I was able to get my money back by filing a dispute with my credit card company, a months-​long process.
As for the condition of our belongings, everything that was in a box was okay (they packed us as well and did an ok with that, the things packed earlier in the day was definitely done with a greater attention to detail). Some vintage furniture pieces had some chips. The un-​loaders also made a gash in our door frame moving items about.
(To be fair, our experience involved Chipman, the main United office, as well as a local agent at our destination. Chipman was always main point-​of-​contact though)

Using the services of Chipman Relocations for our local Napa, CA move was simply the best! The move was not only smooth it was outstanding. You can’t beat the professionalism and customer service provided by Chipman Relocations. My wife and I highly recommend Chipman Relocations for residential moves in Napa and surrounding areas. We will certainly contact Chipman again for our future moving needs.

Don’t use this moving service. I had a terrible experience. First, they lost some of my stuff. Come to find out that the high priced «coverage» I paid for doesn’t cover anything that was in a box. So the two boxes of stuff that they lost are a loss to me. I am still waiting to hear back from them about the seven missing items and it has been almost two months since I moved. They just keep giving me the run around. Second, they overcharged me. They didn’t charge me for the correct «coverage» when they initially charged me. For a month I called trying to tell them this… they wouldn’t call me back. Then I get a bill that was for $ 50 too much. I am still trying to straighten that out. Third, they are non-​responsive. For the first month after I moved I tried to get a hold of them. NO RESPONSE. Do not use this service!