Avant-Garde Moving & Storage — Attraction in New York

We contacted Avant Garde Moving and a few other companies for a moving quote in Winter of 2023. Their price was reasonable, their manager who visited our house appeared seasoned and knowledgable, and their reviews were generally great so we decided to go with them. Overall it was a good but not perfect move.

To start let me describe the positive aspects of their job. *Avant Garde came as scheduled and provided (2) trucks for a packed 4 bedroom house with some contents going to storage and some going to a new 2 bedroom apartment. *Their team arrived on time and exercised an appropriate level of care when handling our household items. *The teams took the contents of our house to both locations and arrived on time as scheduled. *They efficiently offloaded everything in a timely manner. *Their manager who coordinated the move did an excellent job communicating with us throughout the move and was very attentive to us as customers.

While the job was overall good, it was far from perfect. To describe negative aspects of their job, I feel the need to emphasize the following: *They did not offload 100% of the contents of our house, we made three trips back to our house to get the remaining items *They did not take everything to storage that we needed to have taken to storage, we rented a van to take remaining items to storage. *My wife had to repeat instructions multiple times to the team many of which were still ignored or not adhered by the end of the move. *My wife and I felt they took a little longer than required to pack some items but this is offset by them packing everything properly.

While we are stating the above negative facts, we are still pleased with their performance overall. We also acknowledge on our end we had a lot of items in our house due to excess clutter much of which we tried to pack beforehand but could only get a limited amount of done with our day job schedules. Because we had to do additional work as listed above on our end, we cannot consider this a perfect move but because they did an overall good job, we are happy to recommend them to other...

In the initial quote, it was stated that there would be 3 movers, but only 2 showed up on the day of the move.

Fragile items were supposed to be wrapped with 3 layers of protection, but all items including the TV were wrapped with only a single layer (blanket or foil, plus a box in the case of the TV).

The sofa was only wrapped in foil. We haven’t been able to inspect its condition yet, as it didn’t fit into the new building’s elevator and will need to be disassembled to bring it up.

Overall, we were disappointed with the experience, as we chose this company from among several quotes specifically because of their stated expertise in moving high-value items and emphasis on providing additional protection. The service we received was totally not as advertised.

After inspecting the sofa turned out it was damaged and dirty in a few places. Our wooden bed was also damaged because it was only wrapped in foil.

EDIT: My review was updated because I wanted to ensure all information was accurate. It’s unrealistic to report every issue on moving day, and inspect every inch of furniture during the move.

When I first wrote that no major damage was noticed, that was true at the time. But once the sofa was disassembled, I found it was damaged and dirty in several areas, and it was left with torn foil. Building management confirmed it wasn’t moved by them, and security cameras back that up. The bed was also damaged. I never said it was “major,” but damage is still damage.

My review reflects the full picture of the experience, not just what was visible on moving day.

It’s not that I was completely unsatisfied, some parts of the service were fine, but for the price charged, the problems I’ve described should not have happened. To be transparent, the company did refund me a small amount, but it won’t come close to covering the cost of...

I strongly caution anyone considering doing business with this moving company. My experience has been nothing short of deceptive and stressful. What began as a straightforward interstate move quickly turned into a nightmare of shady practices, hidden fees, and poor communication.

Despite agreeing on a clear estimate and payment terms in writing, the movers failed to show up at the scheduled time. Hours later, I received a call—not from the original representatives I dealt with, but from unfamiliar individuals demanding an upfront payment of $2,200 before delivering my belongings. This was never part of the original agreement and appeared to be a form of extortion.

To make matters worse, I was told my items were being held in New Jersey until I complied. Under New Jersey law (N.J.A.C. § 13:44D-4.8), movers are prohibited from withholding goods unless the customer fails to pay the originally agreed upon charges. Demanding additional payments and threatening to hold property hostage is illegal and unethical.

I have filed a formal complaint with the appropriate consumer protection agencies and intend to pursue all available legal remedies. I would strongly advise others to avoid this company unless they want to deal with intimidation tactics and breach of...