Empire Moving and Storage Inc.

We moved from Renton, WA to Alexandria, VA. After receiving a quote from Jacob Reed at Empire Moving and Storage to move our household goods to Alexandria, VA, I asked for a representative to come to my house and take an exact inventory of our items to move, and give us a BINDING quote. The representative came to our home and walked through each room and noted all of the items we were moving. I received a binding quote, signed it, paid a deposit, and arranged a pick-up date. The same person who did our inventory walk through came with his crew to move us on August 24, 2017. The first thing he said to us was that we had added a large amount to our load since his inventory, and the price was now $1600 more than quoted. We explained that we had actually taken 5 car loads to Goodwill since his quote and the load was smaller. He held us captive of course, as everything was boxed up and our landlord was doing the final walk-through as we moved out. We had to let them load our goods. This company charges by cubic foot rather than weight so when they loaded their truck their was no way to determine how many cubic feet we had. It was loaded very loosely into the bobtail truck because it would be transferred later to an actual cross-country moving van with other loads for the move to Virginia. When the moving truck finally arrived at our home in Virginia, I photographed the load in the truck before it was unloaded and the inside of the truck was very clearly marked off in 1 foot increments. Our load was actually slightly less than the guaranteed quote we received prior to the move. Of course, items including 2 bicycles were missing, so this could account for a smaller than quoted load. Our goods were picked up on August 24 and then the company went silent on when we should expect our goods. We called nearly daily to get updates and each time we called, if they would answer the phone we were told another lie. Our goods finally arrived, by a sub-contract hauler, during the second week of October. The driver stole 2 adult bicycles, and several cartons of goods were also missing. I have filed 2 claim forms through Empire moving directly, gone through the claims process with CSI, the mediator used by Empire, and filed a complaint through the BBB of Denver. The claims with Empire have been ignored, CSI found in our favor, but Empire would not authorize payment. The BBB was not able to come to a resolution because Empire would not participate in good faith. The bottom line is that this is not a reputable business. They engage in deceptive business practices. They will lie to get your business. Stay away from them.

My husband and I are teachers. We moved to Germany two years ago to teach overseas, and while we sold most of our things, we kept a little bit of stuff that we held dear (family heirlooms and things like that). Upon our return, we decided to move to Oregon, but we needed to get our things from Colorado that we’d kept in storage. We called several moving companies, and in the end we chose Empire Moving and Storage. They told us that they were locally owned and trust worthy. On the day of the move, we were notified that the movers would arrive between 9 and 10. They actually showed up at 1:30 (but, yeah I know, that’s a common thing). My husband and I were ready for them. We’d purchased 300 cubic feet of space in their truck (The man who booked it told us that they prefer to itemize it and know exactly what’s being loaded, but since we hadn’t seen it in years we told him we weren’t sure, and he assured us that as long as it fit in the space, everything would be okay) and we’d already and measured out the space in my in-laws garage. We knew everything would fit. We waited, and when they arrived, they loaded half of our things. Then they told us that the rest wouldn’t fit, and that since the small pieces of furniture weren’t all itemized, they couldn’t take them without charging us more money. We refused, and were left at a standstill for over an hour while we tried to get ahold of a supervisor, when they did finally reach someone, they accepted that they made a mistake, and they loaded all of our things. One week later the delivery driver attempted to make a delivery at my parent's place in Oregon where we’ll keep our things until we move into our home next month. My parents just moved here as well, and they had not had problems with their movers delivering their goods, driving up the road and into the driveway (they live on a dirt road (see the picture below)). Our drivers arrived and parked at the end of my parent’s road. They walked to the driveway and told us that they couldn’t pull in there. We were surprised, but told them that they could unload at the end of the drive and that we would move everything the rest of the way. Then they went to their truck and told us that that they couldn’t make it up the hill to my parent’s house (mind you: not only did my parent’s driver made it up, but several semi trucks do it every day). They said we could either meet them at the end of the road (1/4 of a mile away from the driveway), or they would charge us more to get a smaller truck to get it down the road. At this point, I called their office in Colorado and spoke with a supervisor. The first supervisor I spoke with assured me that his team sent pictures, they couldn’t make it up the hill, and I had ten minutes to pay them before they left, took my things, and locked it up in Washington where I’d have to go pick it up if I wanted it. I called my husband, who was waiting at the end of the road with the drivers, and told him to pay them. He did. They took the money and drove away. in the mean time, I was told that another supervisor would be calling me. He did, and he treated me awfully (I have a recording of the conversation if you need it). At one point he told me that if we’d paid more, they could have delivered it all the way. At another point, when I told him that I’d call the police to tell them that the movers had taken our money and our things, he told me to go right ahead and call. He said they could legally hold our things for two weeks. He spoke over me, and didn’t seem to care about what I’d already gone through with their company (I did ask for a partial refund after all of the crazy things that had happened and because we were now going to have to get all of our things from the end of the road). After speaking with him and getting nowhere, I went to meet my husband at the end of the road, and was pleased when the truck returned. The boxes in the truck weren’t stacked well. We had several broken items, some that were not replaceable like a chair that came from my husband’s grandmother. We got it to my parent’s house after the truck was long gone, and now we’re going through our things, adding up the broken items (more pictures below, and even more of the damage should you need them). That’s where we stand right now. Hopefully you can share and investigate this concern so that others are not subject to the same treatment (though, find the pics of a review below that shows others have unfortunately had similar things happen).