1st Step Moving & Delivery

1st Step Moving took advantage of two educators who had no way of solving the situation they, the movers, put us in, other than to simply watch them slowly extort an exorbitant amount of money out of us for a relatively small move. My girlfriend and I contacted 1st Step about moving us from our 3 room, 2 bath condo to a 3 bedroom, 3.5 bath, 3-story townhome 5 minutes down the road. Based on the information we gave from the questions they asked, they quoted us a reasonable price for 4 hours—claiming that they should be able to complete the job in around the four hours quoted. Each additional hour after the 4 was $100/hour. I should preface the rest of this by saying that not only have I and my girlfriend moved quite a bit ourselves, and hired our share of movers, I myself was a mover in college. So, we, collectively, know what we’re talking about. The day of, we belatedly asked them to take a couch to the dump, so that extended the amount of time it would take. We understood this, and we were happy to pay for the additional time because this was not part of the original deal and quoted time and price. The quoted time and price, however, quickly turned farcical. At the four-hour mark, the movers were only half done and headed back to the condo to start the second round of loading. They claimed they had to do it this way because we didn’t have stuff that was stackable, but what we have is pretty typical furniture, and again, only enough furniture for a 1,200 sq. ft. condo. The truck they brought was simply not big enough and/or they did not pack efficiently. (We had already moved some of the more fragile stuff and our clothes.) The movers, well, moved EXTREMELY slowly. To their credit, they did not scratch anything and were very careful with the furniture. But they were also moving incredibly slowly when carrying light stuff or easily manageable boxes. They also carried many small items by themselves, instead of carrying multiple things at the same time to reduce trips. They rarely utilized the dollies at their disposal to expedite the process. We understand it was hot, but even taking that into account, they moved much too slowly. In the end, it took them ELEVEN hours, and it would have been longer had I not started helping them move stuff. We were charged an additional $700 on top of our original, agreed-upon fee. They say they don’t charge for breaks, but they did. They claimed they started at 9, but it was 9:20. The 4 hours expired at 1:20ish. They left at 8pm. They charged us for 7 additional hours. Allowing for the roundup of the 7th incomplete hour (8-8:30), they still CLEARLY charged us for breaks and lunch, since they charged us for every minute past the four hours. In short, they lie. Even considering the additional request for the couch, there is no way this move from one modest home to another should have cost $1,500 (not counting the tip we were too polite to refuse). We contacted the company about our frustration, and their responses were insulting and incredibly unprofessional. They claimed that a quote is only a quote and is in no way binding. Yet, this type is supposed to be fairly accurate. They absurdly claimed that the quote was made for furniture only because they didn’t know there were boxes. Not only did their form not ask about boxes, what professional moving company would assume someone moves without boxes!? It evinces their bad faith when you realize they didn’t ask about boxes because they, like any reasonable person, assumed there would be boxes—but then they turned around and accused us of not telling them about boxes. They also claimed that we had not provided them accurate information, though we answered thoroughly every question they asked. Most ludicrously, they accused us of not telling them that there was not an elevator. First, they did not ask on their form; second, we told them we were moving from a condo on the second floor to a three-story townhome. Townhomes don't have elevators. They claimed that we could have asked them stop at any time after the 4 hours, though that would have left us half moved without a way to complete the job ourselves. They claimed they had to be careful because of the heat, because they just had a person go to the hospital with heat exhaustion a few days prior. This employee moved us as well. According to 1st Step, it’s our problem that they have too little manpower and discretion to not schedule an employee who just got out of the hospital. We were conned and extorted by this company. It’s one thing to pay a little more than the quote. It’s a completely other thing for it to cost twice as much, and then be told that it was our fault this happened. I exhort you to find another moving company with more professionalism; one that doesn't bring a mover recovering from heat exhaustionan adequate truck, and takes their quotes seriously. This company is not even accredited by the BBB. Find someone else.

They were amazing would highly recommend them

I have used First Step Moving Company twice. I would use them again and would highly recommend this company. They make moving easier from start to finish. They did all the heavy lifting and took care of my items. Thank you for your professionalism.

The service was great. They were fast and efficient.

The service was great. They were courteous, efficient, and professional. They did the work quickly and carefully. They didn't break anything. They were nice and friendly.

They were great and on time. They worked quickly. They were very pleasant.

They were great. They were very conscientious and kind people. They were very careful on what they're doing and very helpful.

They did a great service and 100% five stars.

They were great .i would not only use this company again if i needed to move furniture ,it is the ONLY company i would consider using .

Very professional Efficient. Have my things delivered in a timely manner

Fantastic! Very nice, personable guys who took the time to ensure everything was moved in a timely fashion without any issues. Really appreciate the fact that someone came out and double checked everything prior to starting so we were clear on exactly what the price would be for the work to be done. Very reasonable price for high quality service! Thanks.

Excellent service!!! Would highly recommend to everyone!!!

It went great. Actually all I had to do was sit while they completed the work. They moved the furniture got to my new place and set it up for me as well. They are very professional.