Bekins Northwest

Very very good!

Great service and communication

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We used Bekins NW to pack and move our household from Sammamish to Bellevue before Thanksgiving. We also used their storage facility in Mountlake Terrace to store about 1/4 of our household items since we were moving into a smaller place for a year. We were referred to the account manager, Jim, by my husband's coworker at Microsoft. We chose Bekins because they are a larger company that has storage facilities so it seemed to make more sense logistically to go with a company that could handle everything for us rather than find a storage facility and movers separately. We also chose them because we got a Prime Passport "discount". What a mistake! They gave us an estimate of $4100 for packing and moving and charged us $5000 (at first tried charging us $6000). The told me that $105/month would be my storage fee but charged me $150/month. No explanations until I followed up several times in the course of 2-3 weeks. They tried to blame it on me rather than their ineptness at estimating. Below are the grisly details.
We received a quote that seemed reasonable to us--about $3900 to pack and move our items in storage, with a monthly storage fee of $180/month. A couple of days later, we got another quote for the move, this time for $4100 and $105/month storage due to having to use more movers and two trucks and working a deal with the storage facility manager to get the storage fee down to $105. It still seemed reasonable to me to use more movers and do this quickly since the townhouse complex was very small and tight. In hindsight, this change was a red flag that I ignored because of the perceived convenience of a whole package move with storage (plus who doesn't like the idea of a lower storage fee?). Jim was not the most responsive person or detail oriented, which was also another red flag. For instance, I emailed him several questions, but both times, it took him several days to respond. Or he would respond after prompting from his office administrator, Amy, and would come back with an excuse about how the server was down so he couldn't send me email. Amy answered most of my questions promptly and I proceeded with Bekins. If the military and Seahawks used them, why shouldn't I?
The packers and movers were from Olympic Moving and Storage in Federal Way, a Bekins affiliate. The packers and movers did a great job and were moving at a fast and efficient pace. I could not fault them in anyway (well, except some furniture assembly mistakes but that is not their specialty). On the first day, 3 packers came and packed my household. Then they left with the storage items. On the second day, they moved the rest of the items to our townhouse rental. Then I got the bill.
The moving supervisor tallied up the bill and told me that I owed them ~$6000! This was after I received a second quote for $4100. I called the Bekins office up and Amy talked to the supervisor. The re-tallied the bill and it got down to ~$5000. This is much better than $6000 but that is still about $900 more than I was expecting to pay. I did pay it because by that time, I was just done with the move and had two young kids that wanted dinner, and the movers still needed to get back to Federal Way. (I didn't know this at the time, but by law, I only had to pay 110% of the estimate at that time, and they could have billed me for the rest. )
After Thanksgiving week, I emailed Jim and Amy and asked them to review my bill to make sure that everything was OK. I also wanted to know why the bill was about 20% above the estimate. We had not added any items to the house since getting the estimate. Also, I wanted to confirm that the storage cost was still going to be $105/month since the moving cost was so high. Amy immediately responded that Jim would get back to me, and that my storage fee was still $105/month. A week later, I get a notice that they want to charge my credit card a monthly storage fee of $150 rather than $105. I asked about this and they told me that Jim would get back to me. I followed up on this a couple of times in the span of 2-3 weeks. No response. Finally, I followed up again and Jim said he would get back to me the next day. Didn't happen. Another person, Julie, finally responded to me after sitting down with Jim and the General Manager. According to them, I had more stuff than they had estimated, hence it took more time to pack and more boxes were used. And there were more items in storage than estimated (despite my moving several large items that were in the storage estimate to my parents' backyard such as our long sit on top kayak). So, yes, all the higher costs were justified since those items were just estimates. What, you are not happy with the communications and our answer? Well, I will tell you that I will see what I can do but never respond to you. Have a nice life. Love, Bekins.
I am not sure whether it was a bait and switch type of deal where Jim got my business by deliberately underestimating my household goods, or whether it was a gross miscalculation on his part, but I will never use Bekins NW again. I considered making a complaint to the Utilities and Transportation Commission of WA but I have expended enough energy on this problem to do more than warn others.  Estimates can be over, but 20% over for moving, and 43% over for storage? That is called a rip off. And refusing to follow up with a customer because you hope that the problem will disappear--that's just plain rude.

If you want to pay way too much due to lack of urgency and skill then hire these guys.  We have used many moving companies and have never had an experience like this one.  Tons of headaches, broken promises, unprofessional / unskilled movers and broken stuff.  Seriously confused by the good reviews on yelp - this crew never broke a sweat!  Check out consumer affairs.com for the real picture, these guys are unscrupulous.  We had used Allied for the same job and they were half the cost, worked very hard and did not break anything.  We will never use anyone else now!!

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STAY AWAY!! I use movers all the time for commercial reasons.  I wish I could give them zero stars.  The movers stole items from me during the move.  When I called to complain they put me through a time-consuming insurance claims process and then denied it because they don't offer insurance.  Like I said I use movers all the time; Bekins is the worst moving company I have ever encountered.

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We cannot recommend Bekins to anyone, for moving or for storage.  Two major points:  1.  a lot of our things are missing, and 2.   their customer service response to this is entirely inadequate.    
In 2008, Bekins staff packed 71 items (boxes of goods and furniture) at our house, and trucked them to their warehouse for long term storage, but in 2014, they delivered only 64 of them.  In 2012, we delivered exactly 100 boxes or pieces of furniture to their warehouse; they listed only 37 of these items on their inventory list, which was totally inaccurate, and delivered only 81 of them.  A total of 26 boxes are missing!  
Of course I notified them about it on the day of delivery, but it took one full month before Bekins staff was able to search their warehouse for the missing goods. They obviously didn't care enough to search immediately, and then they didn't find them.  
Bekins only admitted that 10 items were missing.  They said it was not possible for someone to have come into their warehouse and stolen them, which means the boxes were either taken by their own staff, or delivered in error to someone else (who then did not report it).  Either way, it was a big mess, and would up costing us close to $10,000 to replace the missing things.  BTW, they reimbursed us a total of $368.88 to "compensate" us for our loss.  
In addition, in 2012, we left a couch, 6 dining room chairs and a twin bed with them to sell at consignment (they offered to do this for us).  Instead, this furniture was donated to a charity in 2013 without our knowledge or consent!  If they had let us know, we could at least have taken a tax deduction for the donation, but we didn't find out until August, 2014, and then they couldn't even tell us which charity!
We had been working with Bekins since 2004 in Spokane and Mountlake Terrace.  We have paid them over $20,000 for packing, storage, pick up and delivery.  Individual staff members are pleasant enough on the phone and in emails, but the management earns a big FAIL.  Bottom line:  we trusted them and they screwed us.

We were happy with them. It went really well. They were prompt and courteous. We had an issue with something, but they resolved it so it was all great. I would recommend them. They are better in price than anybody else. They had been very responsive. We will absolutely use them again.

Totally satisfied with the their work and happy that I chose them.

I am quite to respond about quick and primarily because of the woman who moved with permission was wonderful. I have nothing replaced for her and the moved out of the house in Washington was excellent. We moved into the house down here although the guy who supervised to moved out was here, the crew we had down here was not anyway was good. They did not involve the covering of the carpet in the house, though they tracked the dirt in, there seemed corrections in them of furniture, I guess, that something you have just to expect when you moved. They did not put everything back together what they will somewhat have meant took them apart. Maybe that is why, I am not sure. I was not this happy on the sense as I was in moving out. I would say October 3rd or 4th. That I do not remember, it was over $2000. That was because I moved with bundled with the move of the friend of ours. So, there was a good thousand dollars off but it would have been if we have not fund of it with our friends moved. For us, it was an A, but I am not saying that, that was what it goes to be for other people. The quality was great, I am not just comfortable giving that was fair, I mean, you guys, but not me. It is applicable but I am not comfortable giving you A letter grade, it is not accurate and I am assuming, I am looking for accurate information.

They were 30 mins late after being stuck in traffic on 405.  But called and when they showed up still worked getting the job done by 5pm as planned.

Bekins was very efficient and paid a great deal of attention to making sure my furniture and goods were well taken care of.
They were easy to schedule, and the estimate was close to what I paid... and although it was a little more than what I expected, I felt that the overall experience was a great value (they were done so fast I even had time to go mountain biking) and I would go with Bekins again in a heartbeat.

I have worked with this company previously--they delivered my shipment from Germany in May 2011 and did an outstanding job--I had 18000 pounds of furniture at that time. This company has changed its name to Atlantic Relocations Services.

They provided a quote and were very professional. They completed the move in the time frame they stated they would. They completed the service very efficiently.

I put off writing this review because my experience was so unpleasant and reviewing it makes me angry.
I chose Bekins because their Relocation Consultant who gave me the first estimate was very helpful and followed up to ask for my business  (?I wanted to follow up to see how I can earn your business? What is it that would bring ease to your move and make it as stress free as possible??); and because their storage  warehouse was near my home.  However, documentation was not provided without  my asking for it;  the finance department was disorganized;  record-keeping was haphazard; and subsequent communication was poor.
In none of these steps did Bekins initiate telling me the weight (on which most costs are based).  I was never given a copy of reports from the weigh-station;  just had to trust what Bekins said was the weight.  Bekins did not initiate telling me the registration number / customer number / account number under which my goods were stored, and which I needed to get the goods out.  Bekins did not initiate providing me with my account history.  In each case, I had to contact Bekins and ask for the information. 
I was to have storage fees automatically deducted from a credit card monthly. Initially, I was not automatically charged for storage (?it was in the computer to start at the wrong  time?); I conntacted Bekins to correct this. Bills were mailed to me for charges that were already being taken from my credit card.  I was charged twice for packing mattresses (once when mattresses were put into storage and once when they were moved from storage to my new home).  I questioned this, but got no response.  I was charged an additional month?s storage fee after my goods had been delivered to my new home.  (?The accounting
department did not stop your auto payment for October and I apologize for that. You went out on 9/21/12 I did not get your final billing done until 10/02/12 so the warehouse handling out did not reflect on your bill nor did the Oct storage and credit reflect on the bill you received.?) Bekins' account history shows that they credited me for that month;  but my credit card statement showed no such credit.   Once I received my account history, some specific charges and credits didn't correlate;  I never got an explanation. These extra charges are about 2.5% of the total cost.   
I had to send my copy of the estimate back to the relocation consultant because she could not find her copy. (?Your info was on my computer that was stolen?) Bekins? forms requested my social security number, but they went without it when I refused to give it to them.  
Although I asked about valuation, no one explained that I could not change the valuation for different steps of the move. Bekins was vague on delivery dates.  Communication would have been better if I?d been told the name and contact information for the
finance person and delivery coordinator. 
 
The men actually doing the moving did a fine job. (Although I had to ask one lead man to protect the carpets.  I had just paid thousands of dollars to put in new carpeting, and didn?t appreciate his explanation that he didn?t like to use too much plastic and therefore hadn?t put down carpet mask.)
If you decide to work with Bekins, plan on being proactive and monitoring your credit card statements. Consider getting  a new credit card from which Bekins can deduct your fees;  then cancel the credit card as soon as the move is over.  

It was amazing.  It cost a little less than estimated. The crew was extremely careful and polite.  I have fragile antiques and some delicate lacquer furniture.  Nothing was missing or broken.  They reassembled some difficult (modern Italian) furniture pieces.  It was my 3rd move with Bekins and I have had nothing but exceptional experience with them.  A move is inherently stressful and it's such a relief not to have to worry about your belongings along with everything else.  I now have to move again and will use them without hesitation!

I had four estimates for this small move. the original estimate I received from Bekins was approximately $600 under the other estimates. After I booked the pick up I received their final price which was $500 more than the original as they estimated I had 2600 #s. (the final weight was 2100#s.  On the day of pickup I called at 11 am to find the local mover had not booked the move.  they "put together a team" and picked up in the afternoon.  I drove cross country without stoppin as the ETA was Nov 14.  there was no communication intiated by Bekins until Nov 27 when I received several frantic calls to b sure I had the cashiers check.....(I had it ready on the 14th...so lost all of that interest). when they arrived they did not cover the newly cleaned carpets until I made several requests. furniture was scratched, shelves were missing. No major damage occured but I certainly did not get the feeling I was a valued customer.

Everyone was excellent despite my difficulty in being to schedule a solid date of closing on my place. I received an estimate ~2 weeks out and had regular contact with Bekins all the way up to my loading date. In the end, it turned out I had to be out of my rental prior to gaining possession of the new place, so we ended up having to store my things on the truck for two days. They packed everything on the truck with care and secured it well for the additional travel to their warehouse & then back to the destination on the delivery date. On delivery day they worked efficiently to get everything placed for me. The total was more than I'd expected to pay, but that was mostly because of the separate loading & delivery days. I would use them again or recommend to friends.

I got a quick response when I called the company. They were the only company of the six I called who actually came out and became personally familiar with the job before giving the quote. The salesman was familiar with the process of moving pianos. On the day of the move, the three-man team showed up on time. After a brief run-through of the job, they got right to work. They moved a medium grand piano, an upright grand, and a spinet. The medium grand was the most complex because they had to take off and reattach the legs and the pedals. They did an excellent job with this. Even though the two bigger pianos were very heavy, they moved them efficiently and quickly. The crew was very friendly and professional. They completed the job, which was estimated (high) to take 4 hours in 3 including driving time and doing the paperwork. The only complaint I have is that I had to pay the full rate (a reasonable $122 per hour when they were working) for driving time to and from their office (an hour) and for the time it took to fill out the paperwork (15 minutes)! Maybe this is standard practice, but it seemed unfairly expensive to me.

Highly recommended. Local move to newly purchased home. I have moved 6 times up and down the West Coast with the big national firms and a couple of local ones. Bekins NW was the best. Owners are personally involved in the estimating and the move. Crew was very professional and competent. Were extremely patient and careful moving the piano down difficult steps and sharp corners. . Excellent price, no additional cost at time of payment.

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