Steele & Vaughn Moving and Storage-Arpin Van Lines

AVOID STEELE & VAUGHN FOR INTERSTATE MOVES I am a senior professional who has moved 12 times over 35 yrs (including internationally) and my move with S&V was the worst move experience I have ever had. I don't generally write reviews of this type but I feel compelled to do so now to warn others. I initially used S&V for a move from VA to GSO in 2018 and it was handled well. Based on that, I returned to S&V 18 months later for a move to Houston. S&V told me they regularly handle interstate moves. Here's what happened: • My initial plan was to move directly to HOU in March, after I found a home here. However, 2 wks before Christmas, I received an offer on my house in GSO which required me to vacate in early Jan. S&V said “no problem.” However, then the problems emerged fast and furious. • 1st, I asked for my shipment to be sent directly to HOU and stored here. As S&V does not have an affiliate in HOU, they convinced me to store in GSO where they could control the cost (i.e., collect the storage fees). • 2nd, I now had to pay for 2 moves – a local move into their GSO storage facility and an interstate move to HOU. At this point, I should have realized that S&V could not handle the move. But, at the time, I was dealing with everything that comes with selling a home, starting a new job, traveling for work, and preparing for the move and the holidays. • 3rd, after the truck moved away, I discovered that a small suitcase and 2 chair cushions were loaded onto the truck by mistake, items in the guest toilet were left behind, and damage was done to the door sills. • 4th, after scheduling the move to HOU, S&V called to ask me about delivery logistics in HOU. They had looked at my address on Google Maps and concluded that they could not park their truck on my street. This was probably right, but one would expect that they knew how to deal with this. After all, they are a moving company. Nope. The requests I received were to ask my landlord and call the City of HOU to determine if I needed to get a permit for their truck. This request came in the middle of a very busy work week as I was adjusting to a new job in a new city. Nevertheless, I immediately tried to get in touch with my landlord (but he did not respond) and I said that I would drive by the house over the weekend. As I was getting pressure from S&V for an answer, I took the logical next step – I called other moving companies in HOU to determine how they would handle the delivery. • 5th, as I talked to other movers, I thought it advisable to consider having another mover collect my items in GSO and deliver them to HOU as S&V was increasingly appearing to be unfit for this portion of my move. So, I asked for information from S&V about wgt and cu ft to find out what it would cost to have someone else deliver them. • 6th, within less than 60 mins of finding out that I was considering other options (and more than 2 wks before my scheduled delivery), Bryan Jones, the S&V owner, unilaterally cancelled my scheduled move and told me to get another mover. This was done by email (without the courtesy of a call) and despite my advising him that I was simply trying to get information on how to get my move done efficiently on the basis that S&V had placed on me the onus of working out the HOU logistics. • What followed were the torpedoing of my very busy workweek arranging another mover, extra cost, and a series of emails from Bryan seeking to justify with selective facts his unprofessional judgment and business practice of unilaterally cancelling a scheduled move for a 2-time existing customer (who he referred to as a “potential customer” despite the fact that my 14,000 lbs of household furnishings were sitting in his warehouse) without the courtesy of a discussion to work out what could have been chalked down to, at best, a mis-communication or, at worst, a job that was too big for S&V to handle. My dismay with S&V remains as I unpack my shipment to find crushed and broken items and unusual packing decisions (Why is the power cord for the TV on the 3rd floor packed with the dishes from the 1st floor? Why was a heavy item packed on top of a $250 flower arrangement? Why are heavy items packed at the bottom of dishpack size boxes? Etc). I have asked Mr. Jones to refund a portion of the fees that I paid to S&V to cover the added expense of hiring a 2nd moving company and to remediate the low service quality. His response has been to accuse me of “extortion”, to threaten to report me to the Bar and to repeat his selective facts justifying his decision to cancel my move, which he will no doubt post here. As I have no desire to deal with him further, I’m chalking this up to a bad experience to learn from. My recommendation to others: If you have a complex, long-distance move, take the time and make the investment to go with a reputable national/international moving company and steer well clear of S&V.

It went very well. S&V was recommended by our realtor, and for good reason. Dean Barrett was the estimator and he was responsive. They only do non-binding estimates on hourly rate for local move so I was skeptical they they would blow through the estimate but it came in under the estimate. Movers worked hard and were respectful of us and our belongings. Nothing broken, 1 minor dent. Note that we had previously packed a container of stuff ourselves in a Pack Rat pod, so the price would be higher if they’d had to move Everything.

Bryan was recommended to us by our real estate agent. Bryan and his team helped us move from our apartment into our new home. His team did an outstanding job! When a family member need help moving a few rooms we used Bryan and his team again. During the family members move we needed to move the date several times and each time Bryan worked with us to meet our needs! We highly recommend Bryan and his team!

No problems of any kind. Everything was done in the times specified. No damages of any kind. Packers and movers were very good and professional. Would definitely use them again.

They were very good. effecient and proffesional.

Friendly, courteous, and timely work. Workers put up pads to protect floors and doorways.

Do not use this moving service.  Overall it was a nightmare.  The initial contact was professional, but starting the day of the move things went downhill.  The estimate done by the owner was inaccurate so that not enough time/workers came to complete the work in the time that was agreed.  Many items were left behind at the original location so the following two days I had to bring in friends to help complete the move.  Three trips with a trailer, a large van and a minivan, plus 5 additional trips with my car were needed to get everything left behind.  The boxes were placed in the wrong rooms at my new home by the movers.  Boxes marked FRAGILE were tossed off the truck.  Four expensive vases which I pack in bubble wrap and placed in boxes were broken.  These were not covered by the insurance I purchased because they did not pack the boxes.  Two lamps and an antique table were broken.

The lamps were repaired, but the table took 5 months to get repaired.  At first they tried to repair it themselves, but I told them that a furniture repair specialist would have to fix it because of the type of joints involved.
I called numberous times and sent several emails when everything first happened, but got no response.  I had to take my lamps to the store (the table was taken the day of the move) about two weeks after the move since no one would call me back.  The owner was rude and all but called me a liar to my face in front of witnesses.
Since then I understand that the business has been sold and Mr. Matthews is no longer the owner.

The movers arrived on time and were very professional and courteous.  The desk/hutch they had to move is quite large and took a fair bit of maneuvering to get downstairs.  They were very careful not to damage the furniture or the walls as they moved the items.  They used plenty of blankets to protect everything from damage.  I am very pleased with how the move went. 

My experience was good overall.

TV was not able to be repaired due to parts not being available. They called around to a number or parts sources and with my permission also tried to work around the issue. In the end they were unsuccessful but the experienced was good.

I told the overall story above and it went well overall.

I have no complaints about this company.

All went very well. They called to let me know they were on their way and arrived exactly at the scheduled time. The two gentlemen were professional, competent, and friendly. No damage done to any furniture pieces nor to walls or floors, and everything was relocated exactly as I asked.