U-Pack Moving

Worst experience ever! The cost went from $ 650, an estimate I received about 6 weeks before, to $ 1400. We were planning to move and I wanted an estimate for our budget. Their excuse was that it was a busy time and they change the cost like airfares change their price.
Hummmm? From that point on it did not get better. They were supposed to deliver the truck on a certain date. I called several times to have them give ample time to have it shipped from storage to the terminal where it would depart. Each leg was like pulling teeth. I called every day to make sure all was well. So many different places to call that it was very confusing. They finally stated it may not make it on that date which was infuriating. After going round and round I finally got a delivery window from 10 – 2. I had people waiting to unload and they arrived 45 minutes late. Not only were they late but no ramp! So could not unload. Called to get a ramp and they said they would have one delivered the next day… unacceptable…especially when the helpers were booked the next day. So after many calls they said they would have one delivered by 5pm. Had helpers that were kind enough to work past 5 in this 110 degree weather. The ramp was delivered at 5:45…again 45 min. late. My helpers waited and we finally finished at 10pm.
Hope you have a better experience than I did. It was about 3 weeks of total frustration for me.
They said they would give a discount for all my troubles but have not heard from them as yet.
I will never use this company again.

Not sure what to say here, but here goes. The box was delivered for packing when they said it would be and arrived to my new home during the time frame stated in the beginning. That is all you can ask for with something like this so it gets 5 stars. They adhered to the schedule and the original quote is all I payed…

this wasn’t the greatest experience, but it could have been worse and i was sincerely expecting the worst. moving cross-​country is easily one of the most stressful things anyone can do. after much searching on the internet, u-​pack seemed to be the most practical option for my budget. still expensive though: approximately $ 2100 for everything, for a move from brooklyn to los angeles.
in short, they delivered on what they promised, but it wasn’t without a few snafus.
the good:
— they delivered the cube within the generous four-​hour window they give themselves. this isn’t rocket science though, and four hours is a long time to wait, especially if they come through on the latter end like they did with delivery to my destination address in CA.
— the drivers in both NY and CA were super nice dudes. they technically are not supposed to help you move anything for obvious liability reasons, but richie in NY was kind enough to help me with a cumbersome mirror and gladly watched my stuff while going in and out of the house… nice guy! on the CA side, a guy named israel helped me move my large mattress to my storage unit! AWESOME!
— my stuff arrived intact, with only two broken plastic bins. the bins were really old and at the bottom of the heap, so it’s alright. i’m also an experienced packer so a lot of the credit goes to me! things were a little dusty, and the interior of the cube itself was not the cleanest to begin with.
the bad:
— the delivery of the cube in brooklyn started off rough. unlike other cities, because of NYC regulations, you only get four hours to load and the driver has to be present the entire time. approximately an hour before they arrived with my cube, i received a call that their «normal» trailer broke down. i was assured i’d still receive a cube but it would be on the back of a truck and instead of it being on ground level, i would have to go up a ramp to load my stuff. what they DIDN’T tell me, was that i should reserve a nearby parking space equivalent to FIVE CARS in order to accommodate the semi-​truck that was to bring my cube.
WTF. i repeat, WTF. in NYC, and especially in my neighborhood, parking is a premium, and had not a kind neighbor helped me out i would have been screwed. i shudder to think what could have happened had i not had awesome neighbors. even the driver wasn’t sure what he would have done.
— making initial reservations for the cube and receiving supporting documentation is a snap. it’s communicating with the actual company during the move that is really disorganized. i guess u-​pack and ABF are two separate entities that work together but communication isn’t always tight, so they was a lot of double-​confirming with both. annoying.
i’d use them again, but only because 1) they weren’t terrible, and 2) your overall choices are limited.

Update: After filing the insurance claim (which I almost didn’t do since according to the contract they would have paid next to nothing) ABF’s insurance rep wrote back and said that even tho they were only liable for $ 39, they would pay me almost $ 500 because of the circumstances. While I can’t say they will do this for everyone, it was still a nice gesture on their part. I gave them another star because of that, but still, the incident never should have happened in the first place.
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Having written the following review, then reading others and percolating on it all, I feel it necessary to add this preface.
This is not a moving company. These are not moving vans. These are freight shippers and freight trucks and as such there’s only so much to be expected. Like your goods being treated as freight. There’s no cushy suspension or gentle ride or experienced handlers. There’s shipping depots and forklifts and rigs that ride like a jackhammer down the road. When you engage this company, you are not moving your furniture, you are shipping freight.
That’s on them. This is on you:
Read your contracts people. It is clearly stated that they will only pay 10 cents a pound for damages. It is very clearly stated that additional insurance can be purchased. (They also clearly state that should it be something they can stick their insurers with you’ll get $ 3 per pound. funny how value depends on who’s pockets you’re in). This a buyer beware situation — or at least a buyer be informed one. If you’re willing to package and have your things treated like freight they’re a cheap way to move and deliver what they promise (keeping in mind they don’t promise much). If you want to rest assured that your delicates arrive intact, walk away from this right now and find the money to hire a real mover.
***
Everyone involved with ABF UPack was very nice. Unfortunately that doesn’t count much when your goods are delivered damaged. Whoever loaded the trailer after we did rammed the bulkhead wall so hard it seriously bent the 1 ½ inch steel tube and cracked the handle necessary for releasing it. We were only able to remove the bulkhead via hammer and pry bar. Several pieces behind the bulkhead were damaged, some beyond repair. The standard UPack insurance of $.10 per pound will come no where near repairing and replacing the damaged items. That insurance is claimed to cover negligence, however I think the act that would be required to produce such damage to the bulkhead went far beyond just negligence. You’d have to knowingly ram the thing with a forklift (maybe repeatedly) to bend that kind of steel tubing that much. Frankly I’d like to know who the ABF employee was that loaded it after us, as I think they owe both us and ABF for these damages.
Several items were also crushed in a vertical fashion, as if the trailer had been repeatedly dropped off a 10 foot ledge. I understand that trailers bounce as they go down the road but this driver must have aimed at every pothole he could. We’re talking stainless steel racks bent as if a 150 lb. weight had been repeatedly dropped on them from some height.
We were going to use UPack to move the remaining items from our old home, but I don’t see this as an option anymore.

ABF is fine no real issues there. However, The sidekick «Moving Staffers» is a sea of hot mess. Does not matter how many phone calls you make to the «quality team» 866−419−6166, Quality and Customer services does not exist in their vocabulary. You’ll be promised a return call but don’t hold your breath. Messed up the scheduling date, then stated it was my fault. Over charged me $ 350 and said it was not there fault that it was my responsibility to install the divider (I wasn’t even asked to do it). Truck was packed wrong so I paid for the entire truck.

We experienced horrible customer service with ABF U Pack Moving at this specific location. We relocated across county. The U-​Pack Driver at our starting location put up our barrier walls for us. When the truck arrived to our location, the driver was disgruntled because he could not find our location. He parked the truck and left. When the movers we booked in correspondence to ABF arrived, the barrier wall was bent in transport and impossible to break down. The movers tried everything to get the wall down but were unsuccessful. They asked us to call ABF. Pam, at the dispatch center, told us there was nothing she could do for us and we were responsible for getting it down. She stated that we should just break the wall down. That proved to be a harder feat than she thought. The movers tried for thirty minutes with no luck. I called Pam back and she once again said there was nothing she could do for me and stated she was unsure how this happened. She said she could try to send someone out but it wouldn’t be until the end of the day. We were left unable to have access to our belongings and paying time for movers to be there while ABF cared nothing about our situation. In addition, I had to call back all day after being promised they were on their way to pick up the truck to ensure that our neighbors could get in/​out of their garage. Would not recommend them at this location.
Positives: Our U-​Pack got here on time with minimal damage. Great customer service on the front end.
Cons: Customer Service in the Orange County Location. Unable to get to our belongings with no empathy or assistance offered.

I was looking for a reasonably-​priced option to move from So Cal to Portland, OR. We hired the truck from ABF, hired one company to load us up and another unload in OR. The ABF truck arrived at 11:30, which was within the 8 – 12 window they gave us. The driver wasn’t very helpful in finding the best place to park the 28-​foot truck in front of our house, so it was backed into our short driveway very close to our garage door. So when we opened the garage door, we could only see the bottom half the truck b/​c of the height. So we had to angle a lot of tall items to clear the top of the garage and get into the truck. Other than that, it all went fine. I found the ABF’s customer service to be really great, friendly and helpful. I was worried b/​c of a lot of the bad reviews here on Unilocal,but really, I had a great experience with ABF and would use them again.

Used ABF U-​pack for a move from CO to CA and couldn’t imagine a more stressful, inconvenient, and frustrating experience if I tried. Horrible customer service at the Denver and Orange County, CA locations, and a ridiculous web of poor excuses from the corporate head quarters. The only thing that went «well» during the entire process was having our trailer initially dropped off. Later that day, the movers we scheduled through the ABF website (via Moving Staffers) did not show up. After a few hours of pointless phone calls, another «moving company» arrives and loads our truck. I call ABF to schedule the truck pick-​up and am told there is no record of us in their system– they completely lost our information! The truck is not picked up until the next morning, therefor a full day late in-​transit. Upon arrival, we are told our truck was «stuck» in New Mexico and would not arrive the day it was scheduled (6 days after it left Colorado). The truck comes the next day but our movers (again, Moving Staffers) had us scheduled for 4 days later– wrong date, wrong address, and wrong time! I spent hours on the phone with corporate and got no where. There was no offer to reimburse any portion of our cost ($ 2300 total) and no effort made to provide any explanation or assistance. It would have been better for us to drive the truck our selves. Not worth the price, not worth the pain.
Don’t be tricked, great theory– horrible execution.

Good moving option… especially for long distances.
We used ABF for our move to the East Coast. In general it’s a great way to move a long distance. Much cheaper than hiring movers or trying to do the moving yourself and doing the U-​haul thing. We also felt that the metal containers they provide were much more sturdy and durable than PODS or similar concepts. Also ABF allows you to be able to have more specific dates for the arrival of your stuff than most of the pod companies as well. The whole experience is somewhere between DIY and hiring movers.
In case you are not sure how the ABF system works, you choose a cube size and schedule a delivery date. They drop it off. You have 3 days to fill it up. They pick it up & load it onto a flatbed truck and haul it to wherever you need. You also have the option of having door-​to-​door service or load/​pick-​up at one of their service stations. Or a combo of the two! We had them drop off the cube at our departure residence. On the arrival end, we went to the station to pick up our gear. (Our arrival residence does not have a paved driveway so ABF was unable to deliver to our door… but it was not a big deal because they have many, many locations)
Generally we had a good experience. The loading process on the Cali end was fine. They were great at being able to accommodate any situation. My husband and I were moving from a home in Silverado Canyon and ABF was one of a small handful of moving companies that would even go out to the canyon in the first place. AND ABF was the only one of the pod/​moving cube companies that would come out to the canyons. We greatly appreciated that. A lot of companies and services act like it is so hard for them to drive out to the canyons but geez… grow a pair… it’s in suburban Orange County not the middle of Oklahoma or something. It has paved roads and internet. Anyways, ABF was able to come out to the «boonies» of Silverado Canyon. We appreciate it.
The phone customer service with this location was average. I don’t feel anyone I dealt with was particularly friendly but also not totally rude. Rather indifferent.
Pros: Reasonable price for the distance, many locations, good options to customize the services you need, durable containers, fast, punctual
Cons: Need to be prepared and able to book a cube a few months in advance, cube was not as big as we expected (the support beams & door edging inside the cubes eat up more volume than we anticipated and they don’t mention these in the info), their cubes are not as cute looking as the PODS or Icebox moving cubes
Overall, I would recommend ABF if you are moving out of state. Good way to keep costs down.