UNITED AMERICAN MOVING

So first of all, as some others have pointed out, the 5 star reviews are fraudulent, which is obvious by how they are all worded almost the same. Anyway, I hired United American Movers to move me from Portland, OR to Minneapolis, MN. On the phone, a man named Archie assured me that it would be an easy move (for cross country that is) and that I would have plenty of space and that the price he set for me ($1975.00) would be accurate. Little did I know this would be the last time I would hear from Archie. So, the day comes to load up my stuff (9/27/19).I had stuff located at my house and also at a storage unit. I was told since the storage unit was close by we could do a 2 location pick up. They get here to my house, and I have just a few boxes there (most of it was at the unit). They get confused when I mention the storage unit and have to call dispatch in order to confirm it. They then tell me they have to go to the storage unit first before they can pick up the stuff at my house. A bit weird, but whatever. We get to the storage unit and they tell me that there should be plenty of space (I had very little stuff) and that we can start loading. Great! Then, they open the back of the truck, and one of the large items they had back there had fallen over, blocking where my stuff was supposed to go. I should mention that this large item was a pill counter for hospitals. Its a piece of machinery easily worth $10k. It had completely fallen over, and I find it difficult to believe that there wasn't any damage done to it when it fell. If whoever the owner of that machine was needs confirmation that this thing was damaged in transit, I have photos of it. Anyway the two movers try desperately to life this machine back up, but the thing weighs easily a literal ton. They then approach me and my father who was with me, and ask us both to try and help them. We agree to it, because we are anxious to get the move on the road. We were unable to lift the machine, and one of the movers then has the idea to use a car jack to try and help lift it up. He then asks us if one of us can drive him over to a car parts shop so he can buy one. I'm beyond annoyed at this point, but we agree because we don't really have any other option. 20 minutes later we are back at it trying to use a car jack to help us lift, and of course it doesn't work. They then decide to just crawl over the thing and have us pass our stuff over the machine to load the truck since my stuff was meant to go behind the machine anyway. So, after spending 2 and a half hours loading a job that should have taken 45 minutes max, they come out and say that my stuff was bigger than they imagined, and that they were going to charge me and exyra $470 for the move. Keep in mind, this was AFTER they loaded my stuff, and AFTER we helped them try and lift a machine we didn't even own and AFTER we drove one of them to Autozone. They then say that before they go to Minneapolis, they are going to take my stuff to LA, Needless to say we were outraged. Unfortunately, I was due to leave the next day so there was no way I could hire another company, so I was basically forced to pay this or screw over my entire timeline, which wasn't doable since I had a new job starting. So, onto part 2 of this obnoxiously long story. I set a delivery date of October 2nd, and they said that it's very unlikely that they will have my stuff there by then, which I expected and understood. They said to expect within a week out from the 2nd, due to driving times and stops, etc. So the week of the second comes, and my stuff hasn't arrived, in fact I haven't even heard from the company at all. I give them a call, and they say this "Your stuff hasn't left LA yet, call again later." This continued for ANOTHER 2 WEEKS. I was calling constantly, and they kept saying call again later, which is just them saying they have no idea where it is. So, finally, today on October 21, 19 Days after the scheduled delivery, they finally arrive here. And now we get to part three. My stuff arrived here and it was in HORRIBLE condition. I had a total of 18 or so boxes, and all but 3 of them looked like someone had taken a baseball bat and went to town on them. I had a bookshelf that is practically falling apart now, and a bed frame with broken pieces that I can't put together now since they are so messed up. One box was incredibly damp, and everything inside of it had molded. Every mug and glass I had were shattered. I am also missing my desk. It is obvious they absolutely did not care when they transported my stuff. All throughout this, their customer service representatives were incredibly rude, and it's apparent that this company does not care about its clients belongings, they are just out to lowball estimates at you and milk you for what you got. If I could give these people negative stars, I would. PLEASE do yourself a favor and get literally any other company to do your move for you.

FYI - I just wanted to make you aware that one of the review websites posted a fraud alert on this company. Just about every positive review was posted on the same day and they tracked it to the same IP address. I noted above that all the positive reviews were posted 3 weeks ago.

TERRIBLE!! DO NOT USE!! Definitely a bate and switch. Total scammers. I needed to move 8 items from my dads house in West Virginia to my home in NJ. The items had to be moved in a very small window because we had to drive to WV (7 hours) on Saturday night 10/5 and then turn around and come right back Monday morning 10/7. I was on google to rent a U Haul when I saw the moving company add and thought wow that would be so much easier. I entered my info to request a quote and before I got off the website my phone started ringing. I didn't answer the first two times but they kept hitting redial so I answered. I explained my situation to Eric and he said "no problem, we can help you". Granted they were odd items but when I requested the quote I told them they were commercial, i.e. two ATV's, a riding lawn mower, a planer, a hutch, a dresser, a chest freezer and a wooden chest. I estimated the sizes because I was in NJ. The items were in WV. The quote was $2600 for 8 items. That was more than I was willing to pay so I was going to go with the U Haul. Before I could get downstairs to tell my husband, they called back and said that they had a cancellation in that area and would rather have my business than a partially empty truck. The quote was 1880. I figured OK and signed the contract on 10-1-19 and paid 635 down payment. WHAT A MISTAKE. On 10/4/19 I received a call from Jordan who said that the items were miscalcuated and because they were "bulky" they had to charge more. He gave me an estimate of 2342. I said I could not afford that and said I wanted to cancel. He said because I booked within 7 days of the move I would forfeit my deposit. So I said fine but I was not paying more than 1880 so he said that they would put as much as they could in the 430 cubic feet on my estimate. On Friday evening and Saturday I was contacted numerous times to see if they could do the pickup. I explained numerous times that I was in NJ and would not be in WV until 11 am Sunday. Soooo Sunday comes, it is pouring rain, the moving truck arrives and when he opens the back, there is "MAYBE" 6 feet of space on the back of the truck. I said my stuff is not going to fit in there. I showed him what needed to be moved and he just kept shaking his head. He said that my items list said 2 motorcycles, not ATV's and the other items were too big. I said forget it. If I have to rent a truck I might as well do it myself. He said he would take 3 of the items for 2300.. I said no. I tried calling United American and go voicemail 3x. The driver got in his truck and then started honking the horn for me to come over (still pouring rain) rolls down his window and said he would take the 3 items for 2200. I said no. He said if you rent a U Haul you will have to pay a lot more than having them do it and I would have to load it myself and stop and pay at weigh stations. (I found out at U Haul that is not true). Finally he hits the gas a flies out of the drive way. I felt like I was lied to from the minute I got on the phone. The first guy did not write my items down correctly, and they tried to increase the price before they ever got there. I am out 635.00. The 15 foot U Haul cost $414.00 and $120 for gas. It took us 2 hours to load the items on the truck. LESSON LEARNED!!! This company contracted out to others and never gave them the correct list. If you can do it yourself, do it. READ THE FINE PRINT ON THE CONTRACT, make sure your items are listed correctly and if possible measure the items. BUT.......DON'T USE UNITED AMERICAN MOVING. Below is the disclaimer on the bottom of their website: A properly licensed interstate broker, such as United American Moving LLC, DOT: 3273640 MC: 1033878, is not a motor carrier and will not transport an individual shipper's household goods, but will coordinate and arrange for the transportation of household goods by an FMCSA authorized motor carrier, whose charges will determine by its published tariff. All estimated charges and final actual charges will be based upon the carrier’s tariff which is available for inspection from the carrier upon reasonable request. (*) 70% OFF on Tariff Rate. ​