
About us
On-site temperature controlled storage facility. US DOT # 1305395 ICC # MC 506584
Business highlights
Services we offer
UMS is a full service moving company specializing in commercial, interstate and international moves. Through an organized team of office staff, local, movers and a well established name and reputation this company have provided services to thousands of satisfied customers countrywide., residential
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
---|---|---|
57% | ||
5% | ||
5% | ||
19% | ||
14% |
This was the worst experience ever! I paid $640 extra for the packing and unpacking option - and Gary said they unpack everything that they pack. The movers that delivered my belongings refused to unpack - they said they didn't do that. The movers that packed my things in Maryland did a very poor job - and there were quite a few broken and damaged items, which the insurance they suggested did not cover. Movinginsurance.com denied all but one small claim - and I paid almost $500 for the premium.
When I reported to Unified Moving Services that the movers did not unpack my items, they told me to file a claim with movinginsurance.com. What a joke.
The movers were late in arriving and delivering. They did not handle my belongings with care. I asked them specifically if they could pack a family heirloom (a Tiffany lamp) so that it would not get broken, and they assured me they would. I told them I can make other arrangements to have it shipped if they were unsure. The Tiffany lamp was broken on arrival.
I've just been getting the run-around from Unified Moving Services and MovingInsurance.com so I am giving up - and writing these reviews to hopefully warn others. I also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
The second day, a true supervisor showed up (Jomart) and he was fabulous. There were two other Mongolians with him, who were also kind and thoughtful with our items. Then two Lithuanians showed up who were full of attitude and didn't like that I kept insisting they put a sticker on everything. I knew I had to be a hawk around these guys. So even though they said they could have finished the night before, they were there from 9am to 1am finishing up. Gary is not too good at estimating. He thought we'd have a max of 19,000 lbs, and we actually had 28,500. One good thing is that Marc stuck by his word of only charging us for 19,000 lbs.
When they delivered our goods, they were 4 days late, and the driver hired temps who were inexperienced at moving, including a 300# woman smoker, a young woman who probably weighed about 110# (neither of these two were much help at all), three others and one guy and his son whom he hired from Craig's List. Thankfully one of the guys had past experience moving (though he was probably 60+ years old), and thankfully few things were damaged by them (not so for the folks in MD). But it took all day--9am to 8pm. Also, we discovered that UMS had replaced our awesome John Deere Zero-Turn Radius lawn mower with a piece of junk, replaced a new ladder with a beat up one, and kept our hand truck. We also found that bathroom items were just thrown into a box, topped with lamp shades which ended up covered in shampoo and/or crushed. One highlight--our good wine glasses showed up in perfect condition. Go figure.
This was an awful moving experience. I feel so gullible for having believed Marc's promises. No cost savings is worth it, unless you really don't care about your stuff.
The movers showed up at the tail end of the window. We had prepacked all but the major furniture and it took them 5 hours to take the packed boxes and the furniture from the house and pack it into the truck. They damaged our refrigerator beyond operability (dented the freezer door and broke the wall plug). While unpacking the truck, the movers smoked in the truck with all of out stuff, they left trash piled in the yard and cigarette butts in the driveway.
Settlement took nearly 6-weeks for refrigerator damages.
The only hiccup I had with the move was the lead guy told me I had to empty my armoir and dresser because it was too heavy for them to lift. Now there were 3 guys and they weren't big guys, actually kind of small for being professional movers. I told him that I was not emptying those items, they had been moved into the apartment by 2 men with the drawers full and I'm sure 3 men could get them back out. We went back and forth a few times but the thought of packing and unpacking more made me persistent. He agreed to take them as is. They wrapped the furniture and sure enough between 3 guys were able to get everything loaded into the truck with no issues.
Best news, the entire move was done in 4 hours, so with the 1 hour of travel time and my Angie's List coupon--the total move came to $600. $400 under budget and I was so excited! Moving is hard work and the expenses add up quickly, I was very happy to see that I underestimated these guys. They were small but they worked really hard.
The only other thing that happened was they scraped a tree in my front yard when they were leaving the new house. It did more damage to their truck than it did to my tree. Now I can look at that tree for many years and be reminded of the day I moved into my new house!
My initial conversation with Marc was direct and to the point. He allotted detailed information that other moving organization wouldn't. I was impressed how detailed Marc was and not afraid to say his organization's personal point of view. I appreciate his direction and honest answer to my questions. It was a wonderful experience.
Everyday I thank GOD for unified moving services for their wonderful organization and their support to the military.
From,
Tony
The second part of our move occurred on 6/25/13. They came well within their time window. They unloaded all items, but seemed hesitant to deliver items upstairs. Also, a different crew was sent this time so they said they did not know how to put the furniture together and therefore didn't. This was a pretty big deal for us. We did have a couple pieces of furniture that had slight marks on them. We also had some boxes that clearly said "this side up" or "fragile" that were turned upside down or damage during transit.
All in all, the service wasn't lousy, but it definitely could have been better for $2000.
UPDATE 8/12/2013 - The company responded below in regards to my review, but I never received a phone call, email, etc. I do not think they did anything about my complaint as they stated below because I have not heard from them.
"[member name removed] was wonderful to deal with pertaining to her moving experience. Our crew did not do what was expected of them. Our organization has a 3-strike policy based on performance. This feedback was important to us so we can continue to grow as a responsible organization. All concerns with this relocation were dealt with properly and quickly to resolve this matter."
"Most of our customers are a joy to deal with and [member name removed]was no exception. Her help regarding proper information on moving details enabled us to perform our duties in a timely and professional manner. This is part of the relocation business we cherish, Our personal are paid based on job performance as well as hourly rate. We accomplish an abundance of relocation's for military personnel as well. We take pride in doing the job correctly. We are not perfect. No one is but you will always receive a fine effort even in the most difficult circumstances."
Given all things considered, if he remains the owner, I would absolutely consider doing business with them the next time I move.
Thank you Unified!! You have truly done what no other business would ever do to correct the perception of wrong doing, and it is greatly appreciated.
On Saturday, we contacted Marc, the General Manager, who was extremely courteous and professional. We discussed the specifics of the job, our difficulties in finding a company that could do this, and our concerns about the complexity of moving such a heavy object. He determined that we would need a minimum of four men and that it would take several hours. We agreed to the price he quoted, which we felt was reasonable, and paid the $50 deposit which would be used towards the total cost of the job. He said that they would do the job while taking extreme care to avoid damaging the floors or walls. Marc asked if we could email pictures of the item so he could see it and we told him we would get pictures to him by the next day. He said he would get back to us on Monday and we could set up a move date. We sent several pictures of our item, the length, width and height measurements and total weight.
On Monday morning, Marc called, as promised, and we scheduled the move for Wednesday that same week. He told us that the foreman would call us prior to our appointment to verify the date, time and address. Then on Tuesday morning, we received a call offering if we wanted to move the date to Tuesday afternoon as their schedule had opened up. However, we were unable to accept this offer due to our schedule, so we just kept the original move date for Wednesday. We verified the day, time and address for our move for the following day.
Then on Wednesday morning, we received a call an hour before their arrival window letting us know that one of the scheduled workers had just called in sick. Since we needed four men for the job, we were offered the option to keep the appointment and adjust the start time until another worker could be called into work or reschedule for another date. We opted to wait an extra hour to allow another person to come in and fill the spot. We felt this situation was handled in a prompt and professional manner. They arrived a little earlier than expected and immediately started to assess how to get this job done. The workers were polite, respectful, and gracious and their work ethic was evident in how quickly and effectively they moved this large heavy item. They were able to handle the job without hesitation and we were amazed at their strength and stamina. They figured out a way to complete this laborious task without any damage to our pristine floors and walls and we were completely overwhelmed by their excellent service. We tipped the workers as they certainly deserved it.
We would highly recommend this company as we were extremely satisfied with their service. We feel that their effective communication regarding the scope of the job, the managing of schedules, financial obligations, and handling unforeseen circumstances led to successfully completing the mission which met the intended outcome.
"As always, dealing with customers that provide a plethora of information make relocation's almost care free. Our crew know how to adjust to situations that require critical thinking. No organization is perfect while moving Tens of thousands of pounds of furniture each day. We offer no excuses just honesty about each individual situation. As a consumer myself this is all I ask for with any organization. Jack & Loretta were wonderful people that deserve the best."
After a couple of conversations with Marc Zammichieli, General Manager I confirmed on 6/28/2012 my move scheduled for 719/2012. Sent in $50 deposit same day. I was only moving 4.6 miles away from a 3 bedroom (only 2 were used) mobile home to a small 2 bedroom apartment on the ground floor. It took me every bit of the few weeks prior to the move date to give away, sell many belongings and pack the remaining. Also, prior to the move I rented a 5' x 10' storage locker closer to the new home for the things I knew would not fit at the new place but, that I wanted/needed to keep. That locker was filled to the brim which left relatively little for them to move and to keep the expenses down.
I contracted for 3 movers and truck @$95/hour. They were supposed to arrive between 9 & 10 AM. Everything had been done the night before so I was ready for 9AM. At 10:20 they were not here so I called the office and spoke with Joe (position unknown) he said he'd find out where they were and call me back. At 10:28 as the truck was arriving he did call me back and said they'd be there i about 10 minutes. I may be a bit anal about punctuality but when I was able to work I was never on time, I was always early. I don't think arriving at 10:28 is close to between 9 & 10AM. And did tell the man that came to the door (the leader I suppose)that he was late. He said traffic was bad. No kidding, that's certainly not news around here and that excuse would never fly wherever I've worked and total BS. It's a lack of planning and laziness.
He and I went through the house indicating what was going at the beginning and many more times while they were there. Why so many times? It was organized and simple. He also told me that it would take 7 hours! WTH?? There is no way it could take that long, more like half that time. They wanted approximately $60 for each of 3 big screen tvs so my son and I packed them ourselves and had them loaded into my car prior to their arrival. I had also discussed with Joe beforehand the need to move a 65 gallon tank that was too heavy for just one person (my son) to do. Again outrageous fees wanted to do this, which Joe made no mention of at all. So we left the tank with the reptiles for us to do later. They also were moving a refrigerator & gas range, which they balked at as apparently Joe didn't convey this information to them. More on that later.
The leader and one guy was from Russia and the third was from El Salvador and none of them really had a grasp on the English language and I was constantly having to repeat myself. It was beyond frustrating to have to deal with people in a service industry that can't communicate effectively. However, they all did work hard and fast and it was a hot day as well. I provided cold water and Gatorade while they worked. After a couple of hours we were on our way. I had them follow my son to the apartment so they could start to unload while I stopped at the office to get the keys. My son gave them the choice of using the parking lot side that had some steps or a small grassy hill or the street side which was level but, just a bit further. They chose the former, which only made the work harder for them. They just unloaded the boxes and put them anywhere without regard for the right room. And although they did dismantle both queen sized beds they only had to reassemble mine at the new place as my son said he'd do his own. When they were about halfway done unloading I sent my son to McDonald's to get lunch for all of us and asked each guy what he wanted. They didn't eat until the job was done however, that was their choice.
When the guy that took the range out on a dolly got to the front door threshold the grills & plates fell quite loudly onto the floor. Why weren't they removed beforehand? I gathered them up and put them into a trash bag and gave it to them to take. The didn't wrap the refrigerator or range which were black and I prayed that they wouldn't get scratched or otherwise damaged on the truck. Thankfully, they did not. However, within a few minutes after I saw the truck pull away I realized that the grills & plates were missing and immediately called the office hoping they could catch them before they got too far, it was voice mail and I left a detailed message. 30 minutes later I called again and Marc answered I explained why I was calling and he transferred me to Joe who said he'd check the truck when they got back and have the grills & plates delivered to me the next day. The next day came and went and no delivery. I called several more times only to continuosly get voice mail again leaving detailed messages. A couple of days went by and I did get to deal Joe who again promised they would be delivered the next day. Now mind you a gas range is useless without those parts so I was unable to cook except for a toaster oven. Again, they were not delivered. I emailed him advising that he has now lied to me twice and to just tell me where they were and even though driving a distance is painful for me I would come get them, as a diabetic I need to eat and this was unacceptable. Joe called me back and again said they'd be delivered "tomorrow". Again, no delivery. I called and spoke to Marc and explained what was going on and he got Joe on the phone who stated "I said AFTER tomorrow". Sure that's what he said, NOT. I'm not nearly as dumb as he'd like me to be. The next day while I was at the doctor's he left an undecipherable voice mail for me, but by the time I got back home they were there in a box. Now in between all this Marc said that he felt bad since he understood about diabetes and would refund 5% of the total bill, which I have yet to see and sure as h*** don't expect anymore. Their words just ring hollow.
I will end by stating that I was charged for 4 hours of work plus 1 hour travel time for a total of 5 hours plus about $15 for tape (which they really use quite liberally), I provided cold drinks and lunch for all the guys and tipped each $50. I just felt that they did work hard and in the heat and deserved it but, this was not a small expense for me at all and I'd saved quite a while for this job. It was imperative given my situation but, I'd never do it again. I could have just as easily rented a truck and hired 3 guys off the street for less. Lastly, I had to hire a plumber to disconnect the refrigerator & range prior to the move and he came back the evening of the move to reconnect at the new place for a cost of $300 to me. Unfortunately, he was unable to make the necessary adjustments and testing at that time because I HAD NO GRILLS AND PLATES for 9 days. I need him to come back but now I can't afford to do so since that will be another $200 because he has to make another trip. So I'm still unable to use the range at all but only the oven. All because THEY screwed this simple little thing up so badly.
Marc can talk the talk but won't/can't walk the walk.
"[member name removed] was a wonderful person. Our personal that day failed to deliver grill ASAP for her. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused our customer . We issued [member name removed] credit for her relocation and all issues were resolved."
The team arrived close to the scheduled time -- go stuck in Beltway traffic.
They were very proffessional and treated my stuff with care. They had a tough move into my "new" home with bigger furniture into smaller spaces.
Really no complaints overall and would recommend.
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