Atlas Van Lines-Garrett Transportation Svc Inc

Delivery took 8 days and was horrible

It went well.  They showed up a day after we did.

Packing girls were excellent, nothing was damaged.  The driver did not want to be making our run but was filling in since our assigned driver had an accident.  They started moving furniture and boxes onto the truck before they had been inventoried and I had to keep watch that everything was inventoried before loading.  They put down paper on the floor to protect it and then walked all around it scuffing up the wood floors.  My furniture was moved into a storage unit in Florida and they even though I had 2 units rented they tried to stack everything into one.  Once I was finally able to see my furniture delivered to my new house I noticed numerous scratches on the dressers where they had stacked stuff on top of it on the storage unit as well as sticky tape residue which I still have not been able to remove from my dressers.
They were great packers but the level of service was not what I expected.  I had used Atlas when we originally moved from Florida to Texas with an excellent experience and the move back didn't even come close.

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Prior to move Sales Manager and move coordinator communicated well and were very helpful, including Sales Manager taking enough interest to set aside boxes for us at their facility. On day of move crew showed up on time, but then things began to deteriorate. They had no tools to deal with the few items of furniture that needed to be disassembled in order to move and had to borrow mine; I didn't care but it shows lack of professionalism that continued to manifest itself. They were reasonably careful not to damage walls during move out until they carried out Sleep Number mattress support panels and rubbed against and marked walls along stairs. I pointed this out after completion of move out and they took a damp rag and attempted to wipe off marks, which ended up making them worse. We had "not to exceed" proposal from Garrett based on their estimate of 7.5 hours moving and 1.0 hours travel. During move in phase, when it became apparent that move would exceed estimate, I received call from Garrett office claiming time overrun was my fault, even though movers were constantly working, because I put felt on feet of a few items to protect new hardwood floors. At end of move I pointed out damage to two items. Foreman agreed, said nothing about reporting and claim process, and then gave me a sheaf of papers to sign to close out the move. By then they were 1.5 hours over estimate and there was pressure to wrap things up. Believing that foreman recorded and reported damaged items since he agreed and said nothing me about needing to put them on close-out form, and in haste to complete move, I overlooked section where damage should be reported and signed forms. Later, when I filed claim for damage, Garrett declined claim because damage was not on listed on form at end of move, and refused to accept any responsibility. Based on my experience, here's what a homeowner can expect from Garrett Transportation: Sales Manager and move coordinator will communicate frequently prior to move and be very helpful. Proposal will be reasonable. Movers will show up on time. Crew will lack professionalism, probably due to lack of training and followup. Crew generally will be careful not to damage walls, but if any occurs they will not deal with it effectively, leaving homeowner to fix it. If move runs over time estimate, Garrett will attempt to blame homeowner for overrun. If anything is damaged, movers will agree they damaged items but will not report it and will not make sure homeowner understands that homeowner needs to write damage on form. There will be no post-move followup from Garrett, such as phone inquiries or satisfaction surveys. Garrett will play "gotcha" and pounce on no report of damage on form, not accept any responsibility, and will decline claims. It's unfortunate that if Garrett even cares enough to attempt to fix what's broken in their organization, they likely will go after the individual crew, which would be the wrong focus. The crew was well-intentioned and wanted to do a good job, but it appeared that they lacked training and understanding of the elements of a good move.

After having an absolutely terrible experience with a local mover, this was a relief. The salesman, Kevin, arrived with the crew to make sure things got off to a good start. (Taking into consideration that I had recently had such a bad experience.) Rather than giving me a solid bid, as the first mover had done--they charged by the hour. This allowed them to take proper care of my belongings and ended up actually costing me less. With three units at U-Haul, including one on a different floor, they made sure that anything that needed to come out of the two temporary units to the long-term unit got taken care of. The crew was a pleasure to be with and absolutely nothing was damaged. Most of the time, I sat in my office chair and watched as they executed a logical plan. I will use them again when I retire to Florida.