Black Bear Moving and Storage

Do not use these scumbags unless you want to get burned. Quoted me $1650 for 400 cubic feet. I took pictures of everything. Not only did they show up 4 hours late they tried to triple the price. Said I had 960 cubic feet and the cost was now $4700. Just read the other reviews and you’ll see the pattern. Thank God I didn’t use them I see where they distroyed other people’s property. I told them to refund my $95 up front fee and they said they had which they hadn’t. Had to call my bank to have the charges reversed. Phone calls were not returned neither were txt . Heed the Warning people all the reviews I read were spot on!!

Do yourself a massive favor and call any other mover besides Black Bear. I can't even remember the last time I wrote a review about anything but this is my attempt at doing the public a favor by sharing my experience with them - and it was absolutely horrible. I moved from CA to TX. We called many movers and Black Bear seemed like a fair deal, not the cheapest option, but not the most expensive. The sales rep, Adam, quoted us around $6300 for our move and that was using about 1800 cu ft. We locked in a discount because we chose them in July for a move in August. We went over the inventory list about 6 times prior to them packing our stuff in order to be as accurate as possible. Moving day comes and their arrival window was 9 am-12 pm. One guy showed up at 11:30 and the rest showed up right at 12pm, which it totally fair. However, they showed up with a truck that was partially full and only had 1300 cu ft available. They act totally surprised by how much stuff we have, which is bizarre because it was all on their sheet and proceed to tell me that another truck is coming and will be here in an hour to an hour and a half. They get to work, 2 pm comes and I ask where the truck is and they say another hour. Well, the truck didn’t show up until nearly 6 pm. That was a HUGE sign right there and I had a terrible feeling and knew I should have called it off but our stuff is all wrapped up and being loaded so what do I do? During the move one of the guys drops our dresser into our wall and puts a golf ball-sized hole in it and left scratches all over the stair wall. They didn’t finish the move until about 8 pm at night. Then when we begin discussing pricing they wind up charging us way more than the quote saying that we used 2000 cu ft and the overage would be charged at $5.90/cu ft instead of $3.50. Our sales rep, Adam, assured us that wouldn’t be the case but here we are. Adam also told us that the delivery date would be 10-12 days from pick up, so early on in the process, we changed our pick up date from Aug 7 to Aug 5 to have it here no later than the 17th. Well here we are, it’s Aug 17th and my wife just got off the phone with the movers and our stuff still hasn’t even been loaded onto a truck in CA and we have no eta for when it’s going to arrive. We’ve called them nearly every day and been lied to, hung up on, told that “sales rep make mistakes, that’s why there’s a contract” – which is absolute nonsense, you can’t have sales reps misrepresenting contracts, told that we’d be called back and connected with managers only to have been hung up on again and again. Black Bear has been an absolute nightmare to work with, from basic human decency to accountability, simple customer service, professionalism – it’s all lacking and the list goes on and on. I work for a large finance company and we’re moving many of our people from CA to TX and I happened to be the first. I will not recommend Black Bear to anyone. In fact, I’ll suggest under no circumstances any of my colleagues nor anyone else I know even consider them. I'm genuinely terrified of what my stuff is going to look like when it arrives.

This is the worst company, along with Allegiance Moving and Storage. I wish I could leave negative stars. I booked through Allegiance Moving and Storage which a broker, keeping companies like Black Bear Moving and Storage in business. Allegiance and such brokers (all in Florida, it seems) are required by the FMCSA to publish lists of movers that they work with - but if you go to that page, it requires a password to log in. So we didn't know it was Black Bear Moving and Storage until the day before our move. Alex M and Victor Diaz manned the phone lines for Black Bear and Ashely from Allegiance chimed in to haggle with us. Sam, the driver and agent who never signed his name on the bill of lading, did the work of telling us that our cubic feet, and thus our price, was twice what Allegiance had quoted us with a BINDING ESTIMATE. The whole purpose of a binding estimate is that it doesn't change. Here's their approach: Allegiance gives the customer an online quote that is seriously under what it would cost. You can look online for approximate cubic feet for a two bedroom, studio, etc... once they have worn you down over the price - the smarter people walk away and have time to get another company or a pod, but if you need to leave by a specific date, you are not going to be able to drop a move. Then, exhausted from haggling, it's shockingly easy to just sign where "Sam" says. Always go for full insurance. Always. Once our things were loaded, we were told 8-14 days. Allegiance had said 5-7. The contract says 30 business days. It also says that by signing the original contract with Allegiance that the customer waived the right to an on-site inventory, which, by law, the local moving company is required to do if registered with the FMCSA, which both companies are. Up until now, this was on me - rushed and not realizing I was getting scammed. But when we needed our things and I realized that I messed up - it does say 30 business days, I realized that I needed to get a uhaul and get our work materials to our new home to be able to do our jobs. I didn't initially ask for money back. I just wanted to know where my belongings were and pick them up. That was it. I called to cancel. Black Bear was initially fine with that, it seemed, but then Víctor told me that I had a balance. That wasn't true because I had paid 70% of the overall cost and by law, they were required to relinquish my things. Then it got really fishy. I got an email from Janet Spencer at Black Bear telling me that my things were safe in Washington and would be one their way to me in Texas. I moved from California. Why is my stuff in Washington? And I'm not moving to Texas. Then, Allegiance called. Tried to convince me that my things would be to me faster than I could come and get them. But I had a uhaul and upack trailer booked already. And I was now very worried that my things were already trashed or missing, as other reviews of Black Bear chillingly attest. Black Bear was not getting back to me about the cancellation form or where my things were. I was told that "we are working on it" when I called. It's a standard form. Why was it taking so long? At the end of the day on Friday, August 14, 2020. Alex M (smart that he doesn't leave his last name, if that is his name at all...) sent a cancellation form that had no company name on it, no MC or DOT number on it. Since I had put it in writing and argued with Allegiance about the 70% payment and law to relinquish my things, they had to acknowledge it. But, here's the kicker: by signing I have up my rights to file any complaints with federal, state or local agencies, I was not to report the existence of this cancellation form or report to credit card companies or consumer reviews. Well, I went from "I messed up and didn't read the contract right on the 30 business days" to "I'm being scammed." Black Bear pays people to write good reviews, so a quick search won't give you the full picture. I fell for it. Now I've filed with the FMCSA, the CA department of justice for consumer protection and the CA bureau for the protection of household goods. I will also be taking legal action. I'm hoping that my lawyer will be able to connect with all the other people who are also seeking damages from Black Bear Moving and Storage (also, try googling their location...) it's like they don't exist.

In my 25 years of moving locally and cross country this was by far the worst experience I've ever encountered. Google any other moving company and pick them over these guys at Black Bear. Run! the typical bait and switch to start where I had more than was estimated. In fact, they doubled the estimate which ended up adding $4500.00 to the price. Took a crew all day which their pace of work was suspect. then towards the end of the day, I was asked to pay another $750.00 for a third truck. Course if they had loaded the first 2 trucks properly there would have been no need for a 3rd. The other challenge here was I had booked through a 3rd party so communication was like playing a game of telephone with a bunch of 2 year olds. Delivery of the 2 trucks was a week apart. As a side note, the 2nd truck showed up with only taking up a 1/4 of that truck so as you can tell there was clearly no need to try and rip me off a second time with a 3rd truck charge. End of the day, the delivery was underwhelming at best. the driver and his crew couldn't have handled my belongings any more poor. Dents and scratches on furniture along with wall damage. Oh and to top it off, missing items. Yup, they took from me. 2 autographed football helmets and a 6 month old iPad Pro. Bad service is one thing, lying is another, but then you steal from me.....not sure how people like this stay in business but it will eventually catch ups to them with poor reviews like this one. If you made it this far, my message is keep shopping and read the reviews carefully. You're not going to make everyone happy all the time so weed out those reviews but clearly with this review and a few other recent poor ones you'll see a trend. Good luck and hope this was helpful

My experience with Purple Heart was absolutely terrible and would never recommend them. From the start, they never told me they were a broker which isn’t that big of a deal to me. As my move date approached, Purple Heart called to do their quality assurance. I gave Purple Heart Moving Group the exact number of boxes (and sizes) and the all the furniture that needed to be moved. I verified with the QA representative that that size of our boxes were the industry norm in order to get the most accurate estimate. When the move date arrived, the moving company (Black Bear Moving and Storage) arrived over an hour after their scheduled window. Additionally, the moving company did not have all the packing supplies that were needed and had me, personally, go get supplies for them. They also didn’t even know that had to pack china/dishes for us even though it was on the QA estimate. So much for a full service, professional moving company. When the movers went through the house to take inventory, they told me that my estimated cubic feet was way off and that I’d need to get a new estimate from the company before they would move anything. After calling Purple Heart, they said that I need to talk with that moving company about the estimate. So much for customer service. The new estimate was $2,500 more than what was originally provided during the QA. Talk about a bait and switch. I was told that the prior estimate could change if I had more boxes or if my furniture was oversized. After indicating that the boxes and furniture have not changed, I was told that my furniture must be oversized and that I’d have to pay if I wanted the move to occur. I believe my furniture is pretty average sized and I verified with the movers onsite just to make sure I wasn’t being unreasonable. The movers indicated to me that my furniture was nothing out of the ordinary. Purple Heart’s agreement stated that I needed a formal, written estimate for any changes. I’ve never received this. After calling Purple Heart to inquire about this, they informed the moving company onsite about how the estimate wasn’t provided and the moving company immediately stopped loading our items (even though they were 75% done) and said they will not continue to load the truck or move my items unless I paid the increased price. Since we were closing in 2 days, I had to agree so that they would continue packing. I provided drinks and snacks to the movers throughout the day since it was hot. After the loading was over, an employee walked over to our personal items that we set aside and told them not to touch, and grabbed more drinks that we were planning to bring to a Memorial Day bbq without even asking us. Again, talk about being professional. Highly suggest refraining from using this company. As soon as they low-ball you to get you committed, they increase the price and force you to pay the higher price. During the moving process, I was informed that I would receive $450 back since they used less space than what they had estimated. I was told that this would all be taken care of. The day my delivery arrived, I was told by the driver that he wasn’t aware of the $450 discount. I showed the driver emails outlining the discount; however, he said he didn’t care and that he had to collect what was on his paper. I was told to pay the full price and then ask for reimbursement. After saying it was ridiculous to do that, I was told I would be charged for $150 for a delay if they had to wait. Additionally, the driver said another charge would be made for a long-haul since from the truck to where they dropped my items would be longer than 50 ft. I inquired about the long-haul fee being from the truck to the house and the driver replied with “Nope, it’s where we drop it. So if you have a long hallway, it costs more.” Wow… In order to avoid the delay fee and long haul fee, I paid the full price and had the mover drop everything literally just inside my front door. The movers left without reassembling my furniture, which the contract states they will. When notifying Purple Heart, they shrugged it off. They had their money and didn’t care. When submitting for my reimbursement for $450, I was sent back an adjustment form saying I had to give up my rights to sue and I could not post anything online regarding my experience. Nothing like withholding money they owe you until you sign their “hush money” form. So much for a discount based on the cubic feet. Again, stay away from Purple Heart Moving Group and Black Bear Moving and Storage.