Allegiance Moving Co Inc

Worst moving experience I ever had. I was in military for 23 years, moved seven times. After military service moved three times in 16 years. Of the ten moves, seven were major, meaning I have at least the equivalent of a two bedroom house or more to move. Only on one move did I have any significant problem; until I used Allegiance.  Allegiance also has same or similar website listed as Charleston Movers / Charleston Moves Moving. 

Main issues are:

Misrepresentation: Their website shows modern equipment and trucks with a warehouse that is clean and organized. Far from the truth; very disorganized and messy. Truck that made initial pick up looked good. Truck that delivered my property was beat up. There were three very large tears in the box (thankfully no rain) and it broke down on the delivery day at least once. Arranged August 13 delivery week prior; however, not met despite one follow up I made day prior and two assurances on delivery day they would deliver as scheduled. Not done. Delivered next day, August 14. Warehouse where my property was stored was on Main Road, Johns Island. I visited it August 16 to try to find missing furniture; more on that below. I met with Mr. Boris and his lead man to find the warehouse in disarray and very messy. Several of the wooden vaults were open. Furniture was scattered about. There were no fans operating to cool the warehouse. Storage facility and equipment is definitely not as described and shown on their website; totally disorganized and not climate controlled.

Billing and Costs: Initial contact was good. Mr. P. Boris came to my home in February 2014 and gave estimate of costs involved. Seemed reasonable. However, later discovered the $450 storage for two months ($225 per month) was misleading. Initially estimated that storage would be for two months; however, contractor problems in renovation of my new residence delayed delivery from early May to middle of August. Company accepted the extended time for storage; no problem there. I compute I was overcharged $225 per month storage (based on initial quotation) from the period March 6 to August 14 for five months and one week. In addition I am due a refund of three of the four weeks in August at the $450 monthly overcharged amount. Total over charge for storage is $1,631.25. First instance of billing problems, besides the amount, was in late March when I received an email bill for April storage even though I was paid up through May 5; paid for two months of storage in advance at March 6 pick up. It took a week to get Mr. Mr. Boris to admit he was wrong. Does not appear he and his office staff communicate, if at all.

Damage to Property and Missing Items: A crew of four arrived March 5 to pack my items. They did a great job. Boxes were all new and extensive padding and blankets used for furniture items. Came next day, March 6, and loaded truck in a safe manner and packed truck well. They were courteous and treated my property well. After the storage period of March 6 to August 12, scheduled to receive my property August 13. Allegiance office scheduled delivery of August 13 during prior week. Truck was not loaded as I was told and never made for scheduled delivery of August 13. After delays due to truck problems they arrived late on morning of August 14. Only two men were on hand; short staffed. However, the two man crew did a great job and again were courteous and treated my property well. They did not damage anything beyond what was previously damaged in storage. Saw my property in truck and many furniture items were no longer wrapped as they were at original packing. Damaged were top of nightstand, queen box spring had two edges ripped, full mattress has large brown stain, one TV stand had back panel bashed in, another TV stand had deep rub on outer front edge and gun safe had numerous scratches and rubs with many down to bare metal. Missing items included small armoire, one nightstand (pair to damaged one), wood gun case, one dining room chair, large glass front display case, antique oak dresser and antique oak headboard.  Went to warehouse August 16 and I identified missing items except display case, armoire and nightstand. Then Mr. Boris then advised that he had a thief on the crew. Found the oak dresser and display case at a used furniture shop. Still missing nightstand and armoire. Also, when delivery made BBQ grill and several other furniture pieces delivered that were not mine were on truck. Mover took them back. Also three boxes had roach dropping stains and I threw those away; food and linens. Still missing five more boxes. August 21 the items I identified as mine that were missing (and recovered from the theft and misplacement in warehouse) were delivered after Charleston County sheriff detective released them. Management supervision sorely lacking and irresponsible care and custody of my property.

Very Poor Responsiveness:  (a) I never agreed to pay a full month storage as of the first of each month. I was told that it ran month to month from pick up. Emails I sent asking about this issue were ignored by office. Only after repeated emails did I receive an answer that they never ?prorated? storage; runs from first of every month to end of month. (b) Missing my copy of the inventory sheets after my property was picked up March 6. Advised I would be sent a copy, never received. I again requested the inventory in my March 21 email with a reply from Mr. Boris that a copy of the inventory would be sent to me. As I did not receive the inventory sheets I sent follow-ups March 29 and April 11. I never received a reply to those additional emails or the inventory; I was ignored.  Need inventory sheets to compare with my property that was delivered.  Still do not have them as of this review even though I again told Mr. Boris in person on August 21. I doubt I will ever get them. (3) I submitted my loss and storage overcharge report of approximately $2,800 August 24. No reply from any representative of Allegiance. As of this review, again ignored as if my concerns have no value.

I appreciate the fact that Allegiance had an alleged thief in their employ. However, that does not negate the responsibility of Allegiance for my missing furniture, damaged furniture or over billing. To compound it is the extremely poor responsiveness to emails and phone contact. As of this review still waiting on even a courtesy reply to my claim for loss and damage as well as overcharge for storage.

Allegiance is not recommended based on my experience. 

Please see my previous review.  This is an addendum.  I updated my grades on professionalism and responsiveness in light of the fact that the owner did reach out to me after seeing my negative reviews.  He accomodated me for my time spent rigging the bed.  He explained that my bed pieces had been left on a truck that went to WV.  He also sent my wife and me a gift to try to make up for the negative experience.  He reported that he would be hiring additional help to try to ensure that things like this don't happen again.

The guys were 1-2 hours late (since they gave me a one hour window to arrive), they were not very careful. They did work hard and they did charge me fairly. However, they sent three guys instead of the four we agreed upon, and they lost two essential pieces of hardware for assembling my bed frame. Those pieces were irreplaceable and I had to go buy brackets and spend one hour (me and my wife both) rigging up the bed so that we would not have to junk it. I got little help and too late from the owner, who talked a big game but obviously did not deliver at game time. Do not recommend.

I needed a last minute mover on a Sunday and they were the only company that said they could do it. They showed up right as scheduled. Unfortunately the elevator in my building went out the night before and I lived on the 3rd floor. They didn't care. I only used them for 2 hours (1 1/2 to load and 30 min to unload) and was afraid for all the hidden fees i was reading about. I was charged exactly what I was quoted. Now the not so good. If they were working at their pace it prolly would have taken 6 hours or more. I had them load the heavy stuff while a friend and I loaded up boxes. I was only moving a block away and they met me at the new place and I had them bring in all the heavy stuff while my friends and I unloaded stuff to the yard for us to take up so they could leave. Not professional looking and talking on cell phones and very slow. You get what you pay for.

Only one experienced mover showed up, the other two appeared to have no experience. The move was supposed to be 4 hours to load up and 3 hours to unload the trucks. Two truck were supposed to show up, only one truck came and the men had to go from Knightsville to North Charleston to pick up another truck. The actual time to load up was 9 hours and to unload was 5.5 hours. We had them load on a Thursday and unload on a Friday and it was November so the heat or being tired had anything to do with the hours difference. The only reason it only took them 5.5 hours to unload the truck is because we had them put the majority of the boxes in the garage and they DID not set up any furniture, beds, mirrors back on bureaus. By the end of the second day, my husband was unloading the truck with them and I was helping by unrapping lamps and furniture.