COWs of Metro Milwaukee

This mover was recommended by a good friend.  A couple red flags went up early on, so I regret not going with my gut instinct at this initial point.  During my first call, the voice mail stated that they were in the process of moving buildings, but they get their messages "every half-hour", and that they return calls accordingly.  Flag #1: It wasn't until two days later that I got my first call back from Suzy.  That call was pleasant enough (if maybe a bit too casual, since we had my friend in common) and after discussing my needs, Suzy said that she'd email me my estimate later that day.  Flag #2: I received no estimate, nor any communication at all for two more days, and that was only after I called again and left another message after hearing the "every half-hour" thing again.
Okay....so....I receive my estimate.  Approximately $750 (billed at $105/hour).  This estimate was to move a queen sleigh bed, tall bureau, low dresser, a large antique buffet, a smaller hand-made teakwood cabinet, one bicycle, 70" flatscreen TV, artwork, 15 (or so) boxes, gas grill, and hang-up clothes.  The rest of the houseful of furniture was to remain, due to the fact my buyer would be purchasing the majority of the living room furniture, a large dining room set (seating eight), and all the furnishings from the second bedroom. Suzy determined a two man team of movers to be adequate.  I found this estimate to be startlingly high since the estimate was for approximately seven hours of work!  Keep in mind that I had moved my entire houseful of furniture  into this condominium in Glendale, from a downtown seventh-floor apartment in under five hours using a four man team from a different mover, three years earlier.  That move cost me just over $500 (using a mover charging by item, rather than hourly).  Suzy assured me the bill would be adjusted should her team accomplish the move in less time but to keep in mind that the clock starts ticking when the moving team leaves their origination point, and ends when they return to the point from which they left.  Okay, fine.
 Approximately eight days before the move took place, plans changed.  My buyer would not be able to purchase the furnishings agreed upon in the initial offer-to-purchase.  This was actually okay with me, but I immediately called Suzy to inform her of this change.  She noted all the extra items, and I was assured this would not be a problem, but would likely extend the time of the move billed by the hour.  That was totally and completely acceptable to me.
 Fast forward to moving day!  The movers showed up at the scheduled time, however there were only two of them on the team.  Two movers for an entire houseful.  When the movers came in, one of them remarked something to the effect of "Oh God, this is definitely a four-person job".  That lead mover called his base and requested help on this move.  I could not hear the person with whom he was speaking, but after hanging up, the mover told me he was told "you two can handle it", but that they would "try" to send a third.  Well, that never happened.  My uneasiness with all this was then exacerbated by the fact that when these two guys began to move the large wood bedroom pieces, they merely carried them out, when with my last move the movers threw moving blankets over every furniture piece, then bungee cording them before the pieces went anywhere.  I expressed this concern to the movers, and they defiantly informed me that between them, they had over 20 years of experience!  I called Suzy to voice concern over what I viewed as a lack of proper protection for upscale wood furnishings and the rest (as none of the soft pieces, i.e., sofa sectional, pillows, cushions, etc., were wrapped in plastic, unlike my previous move).  I was very quickly admonished and told "you need to let them do their jobs!".  And so I did.  Packing my two-bedroom condo into their truck took nearly six HOURS!!!  So now, I'm past the point where anything could be done.  So the truck follows me the entire 6-1/2 miles to its destination, and nearly five hours later these two movers were still not finished ( ! ).  It's memorable to note that this move was only furniture, though they did indeed move the gas grill.  I was so unnerved by the time these guys were taking that I decided to forego the bicycle, the artwork, and the hang-up clothes.  It should also be noted that sofa cushions were being tossed onto the truck bed with no protection, and also tossed off the truck onto the pavement for pickup!   ARE YOU KIDDING ME????  It didn't take a Rhodes scholar to see that these guys were just getting sloppy at this point.  
 Imagine my frame of mind when I was billed over $1,200 for two guys being paid by the hour, for a job that should've been done by a four-man team.  Probably somewhat understandably, I let Suzy know how I felt about this, in no uncertain terms!  She justified the expense by explaining that using two extra movers would surely have taken less time, but that the hourly fee would have been adjusted accordingly, so that the total moving charges would've likely been about the same.  She tried to put my disgust in check by telling me she'd see what she could do about making things right.  So, several days later she seemed delighted to inform me that there was a billing error, and that after adjustment, the bill decreased by approximately $50.  
This whole experience, from it's red-flag beginning to jaw-droppingly unhappy ending, was (from my eyes) an utter disaster!  Since most communication surrounding this move was verbal, I felt I would have little recourse from a legal standpoint, so I begrudgingly paid the bill.
  
I will let the reader decide if they would ever want to employ Anchor Moving Systems. 
 Would I....??  <laughing>  Uh.....no.

unknown

On the pick-up side, the Anchor crew was great! They packed up a lot of loose items, boxed our mattresses (other company estimates were just to wrap mattresses in plastic), padded our couches/furniture and they took care when moving items and staging them before putting them on the truck. It was very wet outside when we moved and the guys put down blue floor pads inside and they were careful not to track dirt into the house. Our destination house wasn't ready immediately, so we kept everything on the Anchor trailer and stored some additional items in Anchor's warehouse for 3 months. The storage fees were very reasonable compared to the price of a POD or other temporary storage option we considered. When it came time to get our items from the warehouse, the Anchor guys delivered to our new house with only a few days notice. For the big truck unload, we scheduled two weeks in advance and they showed up on time and got right to work. The moving men were very friendly and efficient. They unloaded in record time--including our piano (which they had to move twice inside the house because we didn't like the way it looked initially). One big dresser suffered a few scratches because of its very heavy weight and a narrow stairwell. The movers made a note and sent a furniture repair person over a few days later. He was able to remove the scratches and the dresser looks great. Overall, the move went very smoothly. Packing up the truck took more time than unloading--but that was on the estimate that was provided. The crew were all respectful of our personal belongings. I would recommend anyone doing a move to use Anchor. Their estimator was super friendly, always on time and she even came to check in on the progress during move day and answer any questions or concerns.

we were slated to move about 40 miles from the north side of milwaukee to the west side.  person giving us the estimate was great!  she was so responsive and came down in price when we told her we got a lower estimate.  they packed up the truck on one day, stored it overnight and delivered the next day.  also, we had the same movers load and unload and they were great too!
they couldn't fit our stone tiled patio table into the flatbed truck so they put it on a van. this table sat in our screened-in gazebo for 7 winters with no problems.
it arrived and the tiles began crumbling and falling off the table.  we contacted the woman (Angie) we had been dealing with and she contacted the "claims manager", chris forrester.  i never talked/communicated with this person, only Angie. they sent out a furniture repair person to assess the situation.  he reported that he would come back in the spring and glue the tiles back on.
our table sat out in the snow/cold for an additional 4 months.  the snow had stopped and i still hadn't heard from the repair guy.  i started emailing Angie.  a couple weeks later, the repair guy came back and told us he couldn't repair it. (the entire top of the table was in pieces at this point).  i emailed Angie about 6 times asking how this was to be resolved.  she assured me Chris would get in touch with me.  she never did.
i called her and she emailed me to tell me that our table had a pre-existing condition so they had denied our claim.  this was the head of the customer service claims department and she couldn't pick up the phone?  this was not a pre-existing condition.  the table was moved incorrectly, bending the frame as it was lifted.
it wasn't just that they didn't give us any money for it...it took 6 months to get resolved and only because i badgered them!  so frustrating.  i would never recommend this company to anyone.

The deliver crew was careless to say the least. I noted the problems on the "home deliver customer service report and ASP" form. I spoke to Chris in customer service the following week and she assured me that if I got a repair estimate to fix and clean the damage, that Anchor Moving would pay for it. I did just that with a local vendor named Blue Green. The cost was $125 + tax and Chris at Anchor Moving was given the estimate in advance and agreed to pay it. She is their customer service manager, after all. She stated the check was being processed. It is now January 30, 2013 and NO CHECK HAS BEEN RECEIVED despite repeated calls to Chris and her telling me that the check was "in processing." I'm a business owner and it doesn't take very long to process a check. I have already had the work done to clean the home as I have small children but this company is responsible for the cleanup costs. Please assist in effecting the proper results.

Anchor was fast and delivered the pod a day earlier than they said they would. They kept in touch and I was pleased with them. They are reasonably priced and they stick to their schedule.

Scott called once the hall tree had made it to Wisconsin, and we agreed on a delivery date two days later. His men were to be at my house at 7 a.m. and they arrived at 7:10. Two gentlemen carefully unloaded and unwrapped the hall tree, and worked with me to find the best placement on my main floor. I paid $383 for the move, $112.50 to have the hall tree wrapped for shipping, and $20 for $500 of insurance. I feel I got my money's worth. I had a hard time finding a company that would pick up and ship one item, so if that's your need these are the folks for you.

MIKE, DENNIS, REGGIE AND PAT WERE AWESOME. THE DAY OF OUR MOVE, IT WAS WINDY, COLD, AND SNOWING OUT...BUT THAT DIDN'T SLOW THEM DOWN A BIT. THEY SHOWED UP RIGHT ON TIME, CAREFULLY (AND CHEERFULLY) MOVED ALL OF OUR STUFF, AND FINISHED AHEAD OF SCHEDULE. IN SPITE OF THE SNOW, THEY MANAGED TO KEEP OUR LIGHT BEIGE CARPETING SPOTLESS. THEY DIDN'T BREAK OR SCRATCH A SINGLE ITEM. WHAT A GREAT TEAM!!!

THE DELIVERY MEN DELIVERED MY ARMOIRE TO MY BEDROOM AND WHILE THEY WERE THERE, I HAD PROBLEMS WITH THEIR CONDUCT. THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMPANY REIMBURSED ME FOR THE INCONVIENENCE AND EVEN ADDED A LITTLE EXTRA. I WAS ALONE WITH MY BABY WHILE THEY WERE HERE AND WAS OBVIOUSLY NOT VERY SAFE WITH THESE EMPLOYEES. I WOULD NEVER USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN AND IF ANYONE ELSE DOES, THEY SHOULD INSIST ON BACKGROUND CHECKS.

THEY WERE PROMPT, POLITE, CAREFUL, YET QUICK AND WE ARE VERY HAPPY WITH THEM. WE WILL DEFINITELY RECOMMEND.

WE AGREED THAT THEY WOULD CALL US WHEN THEY WERE READY TO MAKE THE DELIVERY. WE LEFT A RELEASE FOR THEM TO DROP OFF THE TREADMILL ONLY IF WE WERE UNEXPECTEDLY UNABLE TO LEAVE WORK. WE NEVER RECEIVED THE CALL, BOTH SWITCHBOARD AND VOICEMAIL CONFIRM NO MESSAGES. THEY LEFT THE TREADMILL ON OUR PORCH & CLAIMED THEIR RECORDS SHOW THEY CALLED. THEY REFUSED TO COME BACK TO FINISH THE DELIVERY AND FAILED TO RETURN ALL BUT THE FIRST OF OUR PHONE CALLS. THE TREADMILL SAT FOR A WEEK, GOT WET FROM RAIN, AND WE FINALLY HIRED SOMEONE ELSE TO FINISH THEIR JOB. THE TREADMILL COMPANY ALSO TRIED UNSUCCESSFULLY TO GET ANCHOR TO COOPERATE.

THEY DID A GREAT JOB. THEY WERE ABLE TO MOVE EVERYTHING, INCLUDING SOME PIECES IN EXCESS OF 600 LBS., DOWN THE BASEMENT STAIRS WITHOUT INCIDENT. THEY ACCOMPLISHED THIS FASTER THAN I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT POSSIBLE AND NOTHING WAS DAMAGED.

THEY HAVE GOOD MANAGEMENT, BUT IT IS CRITICAL THAT YOU BE THERE TO OVERSEE THE PACKING AND LOADING OF THE TRUCK BECAUSE THEY SOMETIMES SUBCONTRACT THE CREW OR HIRE PEOPLE WITH VERY LITTLE IF ANY TRAINING. DONT ALLOW MULTIPLE SHIPMENTS OR ANY KIND OF STORAGE IF IT CAN BE AVOIDED