Chase Moving and Storage - Allied Van lines

We requested a quote from Chace Moving and Storage for our move from Milton, Vermont, to Walden, Vermont. The quote was $3477.67, including using the truck, travel, packaging, and labor. We were very surprised/outraged when our final charges were 4665,95. This price increase represents over $1200, a 34% increase from the estimate. When asking phone Kevin what the cost was for such an inaccurate estimate, he stated simply repeated what he said in email. Additionally, they broke or damaged three pieces of furniture in the move, which we are still working chase moving but is a separate issue from being overcharged drastically. The company automatically charged my card an additional $1287 never communicating that there was a significant increase from the estimate. They only sent a final invoice once I questioned the additional charge to my card. I would not hire this company and if you do thoroughly track their time and ask lots of questions, or they will overcharge you.

We have recently relocated to Pennsylvania from Vermont. Originally we obtained two quotes for our move, one from Chase and the other from Booska. With Chase being almost four thousand less, we went with Chase. I have no way of knowing what our experience would have been with Booska, but I am wondering if in fact you do get what you pay for. I contacted and quot;Chase Moving and Storageand quot; SEVERAL months before moving day to have a clear game plan as my husband had already relocated for his job, and my daughter and I were left to do the moving and packing. The preliminary plan included having a custom made crate, by Chase, for a very old, very large and fragile dollhouse my father made me over 30 years ago. It was Chase' recommendation that a crate be made and I was told it would be brought to the house the day of the move. Along with this, we had made arrangements for the special packaging (in a special box made just for this) of my flat screened TV, wrapping and packaging of several picture/art pieces in glass frames and other odd shaped pieces being packed by them at my home. I also mentioned on the phone, prior to the move and then again twice on moving day, that I had a brand new Temper Pedic Mattress I wanted boxed as well as my other mattresses and was assured they ALWAYS box these. When Chase arrived on moving day at about 8:30 am, the crew included the owner, Ron LaFountain, and two other men. We had a 3 bedroom, 2300 square foot house, plus full basement. They estimated it would take between 6 and 8 hours to load the truck, so I figured at the most; the loading would be completed around 4:30 that afternoon. I was notified early on they did not have the crate for my dollhouse. When I asked if he would get one, Ron told me they would have one brought to the house. Things went actually fairly well up until 3:30 that afternoon. Ron seemed very personable and stood in my kitchen, with myself and my neighbor, singing his own praises of integrity, character and how he had the best, most respectful employees around. The move was taking much longer than expected and Ron needed to leave because he was needed elsewhere. The saying and quot;when the cats away the mice will playand quot; seemed to come to mind after he left. One of the other mover's, Mike, while bringing several (about 5) stacked boxes down our stairs from the second floor on a dolly, lost control and the boxes proceeded to fall 5-6 stairs to the bottom. One was marked and quot;Fragileand quot;. Also, I was horrified, when I saw our new Temper Pedic Mattress being slid across the back of the truck without a box on the filthy floor. The time was getting very late, it was after 3:30 pm, and there was still about 1/4 of the house needing to be loaded. I stood in disbelief as my Weber Grill, piled high with snow was brought through the inside of my house, by the two movers in wet, boots tracking dirt all over my light colored carpet. I guess walking the grill around the outside of the house to the truck never occurred to them. I asked them at that time if they planned on doing the same thing with my patio furniture, sensing my disapproval, they said and quot;noand quot;. The crate for the dollhouse and box for the flat screened TV never ended up arriving at all. With the truck PACKED full and still much to be loaded, I spoke to Mike with my neighbor there with me, and asked what the plan was for the remaining items and the dollhouse. I expressed my frustration at the late hour and told him that I needed to pick my daughter up very shortly. Mike became visibly irritated and stated: and quot;the only thing I am interested in is my trip to New York City tomorrow and I don't even want to be here.and quot; I finally snapped and stated to him that I paid a lot of money for this move and I did not care about his trip. He had a job to do. It was apparent he had no idea what to do with the rest of my items as the truck was full. Both he and I tried to get a hold of Ron; to no avail. Then, to my disgust, he started arguing with my neighbor as well, telling her he hated his job. Finally, I needed to leave at 4:30 to pick up my daughter and had to leave my house with these incompetent men with obviously hours left of work. Luckily, our grown son had arrived and my neighbor was still there to supervise. I was eventually called by Ron and was assured that another truck was on the way and the dollhouse would be loaded onto a van by itself, still no crate. He was originally somewhat apologetic, even though he stated that and quot;moving was very stressfuland quot;, implying I felt, that I was possibly overreacting due to stress. I was told that apparently, they needed, at this point, to unload all our belongings at their site, and reload them on a larger truck for the actual move to Pa. I wasn't happy that our belongings would have to be moved several times, thus allowing the possibility of more damage, by people I no longer trusted. Several days later Chase delivered our items to the temporary storage unit in Pa. My father was there to receive the items. Weeks later, after my daughter and I had made the move and our family was together again, we were able to view some of our items for the first time since the move in our storage units. We were in shock! About 10 of our framed pictures and artwork were just laying about the storage unit, not boxed or wrapped. There were boxes that were crushed, punctured and ripped open. My velvet settee was on its side with its weight on a fragile arm, gouged and scratched, and these were just the visible items in the packed units. Since we will not be actually moving our items into our new home for a few more weeks, we were unable to look at everything. At this point I have no idea the condition of the dollhouse, TV's and other furniture and boxes. I called Ron and told him what we were seeing and he basically told me that my father accepted the items and I could file a claim. I told him my 75 year old father, had no idea what was agreed to between him and I (i.e. boxing of pictures, dollhouse, TV's), that I had counted on Chase Moving and Storage to deliver what was promised. Stupid of me, I realize now! I asked him if my father was supposed to unwrap each item and open every box to inspect it?? I then took several pictures and emailed them to Ron and didn't get a reply. I will update more as we see how the rest of our belongings fared.

Update: We've recently moved into our new home and have started to unpack the items packed by Chase Moving and Storage. So far among the casualties is my husband's dresser that had 8 inch gouge across the surface of the dresser and
one of the four legs completely missing. Several expensive candlesticks and ceramics are also broken. Although, as mentioned earlier, none of our artwork or photos were packed and box as we were promised, much of the furniture was
left wrapped in the company's moving blankets. These apparently weren't supposed to be left behind, but now I understand why, it was probably to cover up the damage that was done to the furniture. At this point, I have yet to view the dollhouse, I am scared to death could do so. I will continue the update over the next several weeks as we empty our storage
units.

Update May 22th 2014: Last night I received a phone call from Ron LaFountain regarding my claim and in addition, my review on and quot;Angie's Listand quot;. Ron stated that because of the close proximity of where he and my husband's families were from, that if I continued to share our experiences we had with his company, that he would and quot;smear our name all over Addison Countyand quot;. He also threatened to get a lawyer. I advised him to proceed because there was nothing in my review that was false. Once again, we are shocked at the actions of this man.

The move... from.one town home jammed with two households of stuff, into a larger single family home, went very smoothly. Over the two days of packing the truck and one of unpacking, the crew remained friendly, even cheerful, and courteous They were all very proficient in their communication.. They appeared to be all very strong and fit and moved all of our heavy items/boxes without complaint. (Two men with a loaded 9-drawer oak dresser, drawers IN...wow). I had moved across the country the summer before and had most of my stuff in boxes in the basement, but they were fine with schlepping so many heavy wardrobes etc up a narrow flight of stairs. i also noted a significant difference in my previous move and this one----these guys were much more efficient and professional. I pray that we will not have to move again for many years, but If we have to, we will definitely call Chase!!

I moved from Vergennes, VT to Las Cruces, NM. The estimate given was very close to the actual amount. I definitely would recommend Chase/Allied Movers for another move.