VAN GOGH MOVING & STORAGE SINCE 1967

In early 2018 my family and I hired Van Gogh movers to move from a single family home (where we lived for 20+ years) to a nearby townhouse. This included dropping off several furniture items and boxes at two different storage locations. As you can imagine, a move of this size and complexity requires precision and well experienced movers. After meeting with several potential movers we elected to hire Van Gogh. While on the more expensive side, we were impressed that the owner, Jimmy, estimated the move to take only nine to ten hours , which included the two stops to storage after the initial stop at our townhouse to unload the truck and continue on to the two storage locations. Needless to say, based on my 1 star rating, we experienced several issues with Van Gogh. However, the most disappointing of which was 1) Van Gogh did not honor (or even come close) to the timeline and price outlined in their quote and 2) the number of items that went missing. Day 1 begin at 9am and did not end until 2am. At 17 hours on the first day we were already well beyond the estimated hours Jimmy quoted it would be. The second day begin at 10am and ended at approximately 4pm A total of approximately fourteen hours over the originally estimated hours he quoted. The final bill equated to well beyond the original quote . When the estimate was initially calculated, it factored in having Van Gogh pack up the clothing hanging in our closets as they have re-usable wardrobe boxes available. Everything that I packed before the movers arrived (pots, pans, dishes etc.) arrived to our destination. However, the closet items that were packed by the movers (including the contents of our dressers which Jimmy initially misinformed us they did not need to be emptied), did not all arrive to their final destinations. Interestingly, the missing items include some of my more expensive and meaningful items: a Burberry jacket,a new BCBG dress, two new Lucky Brand items, a new pair of 3X1 jeans a brand new AG denim skirt and a Louis Vuitton wallet (just to mention a few). When I called to tell Jimmy about the missing items his response was "they must be somewhere," and he offered to have some of the movers come and help me look in one of the storage units. To their credit, they did assist with this. However, not surprisingly, the items were not there. From there, he offered to set up another date/time to help us search the second storage unit. Over the last several weeks I have left four messages with his office however I have not heard back from him. While I’m fairly confident I will never recover the items, its very disappointing that he is not following through on his offer. In summary, I will not be using Van Gogh movers again and I would never recommend them to anyone else unless you are looking to be disrespected, have valuables lost and get ripped off. Such a disappointment.

unknown

This is a very difficult review to write.  Let me start off by saying the person who came to take an inventory to prepare the estimate was amazing.  He was also on the crew.  Four men showed up on moving day.  They were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  Professional, careful, and did a great job.  They worked very hard.  This was by far the least stressful move of my life.  These guys were incredible. 
When they arrived, the foreman of the crew went over my prearrangement.  There was a guarantee not to exceed a certain price if the job ran long.  That gave me piece of mind.  Around 5 hours into the move, the foreman informed me that we would reach the maximum.  I was comfortable with that.  It didn't matter as I had a guarantee not to exceed price and he confirmed that price with me again.
I had such a great experience I decided to tip the guys 20% rather than the customary 15% for a move.  This came out to $100.00 a man.  The job ended up being 11 hours.   A long but easy day.  Everything, including some crappy IKEA furniture made it in perfect shape.
The problem came at the end.  The foreman told me he had to call the office to run the credit card for the agreed on amount and then the owner, Jimmy informed him that it took to long and to bill me by the hour and for all materials.  Bait and Switch.  I couldn't believe it.  I want you all to know this problem had nothing to do with the crew.  Eventually Jimmy came around after I argued with him and said he would "keep his promise".  Are you kidding me?  So he admitted he had made a promise and was willing to break it.  Remember I had a contract and would have taken legal action.
Bottom line, this is a 20+ year old company.  New owner, Jimmy about 1.5 years ago.  He is going to kill this company with a great reputation.  He asked if I would recommend.  I said yes.  This was based on the first 11 hours.  The last 45 minutes was uncalled for and unprofessional. 
He said I added 2 pieces and took away 1 large piece.  He is right.  The 2 pieces I added were small and took maybe 10 to 15 minutes.  The piece I took away was custom furniture.  It would have taken him 1.5 hours (2 men) to dismantle it.  I know this because the furniture maker dismantled it and moved it and it took them that long.  They were familiar with the piece.
So.... all I can say is if you use these guys... make sure you have a guaranteed price in writing.  Also make sure that you have them do an estimate before the move.  Don't throw any surprises there way.  I am sure if the move took the amount of time they thought, then none of this would have happened.  Whose fault is that?  I am not the professional mover, they are.  That's why they do estimates.
Next time I will use Moishe's.