FlatRate Moving — Local services in New York

Warning. Please be aware that any loose unpacked belongings are subject to dissappear. Friday, 8/15 ; moving crew arrives at 8am; as communicated to the move coordinator, Zuleika Meade, I would have some loose items requiring packing along with hanging clothes for wardrobe boxes. My revised move inventory reflects this; and because of my transparency the move cost increased by $300 The movers took 12.5 hours to move me; the crew would disappear for lengthy amounts of time and one crew member, Tombas (spelling?), was dead weight on the team, he basically moved at a snail's pace leaving Joshua and Anthony doing 90% of the physical labor; we didn't leave Brooklyn till 2:50pm. We arrived in NJ at approximately 4pm. The team took 4.5 hours to unload the truck. Before they left I asked where the glass shelf for the tv stand was. Anthony said I promise I placed it in one of your large boxes. I gave them each a $130 tip. I have proof of a cash withdrawal from my bank. I spent the late night hours opening every large box searching for the glass shelf; then I measured the width of the tv stand; the glass shelf was 26 inches wide; my largest box was 24 inches so there is no way Anthony placed it in a box. Sat, 8/16 I called and spoke to the dispatcher, Carlos, who immediately stated oh yeah, your move went over. I went on to explain that yes, however, this was not due to me being unprepared for the move and explained how slow and inefficient the moving crew was; Carlos placed me on hold and said he was calling the team lead , Joshua. He returned and said Joshua stated that after leaving Tombas admitted to breaking the glass shelf. That story contradicts Anthony claiming the glass shelf was in a box. They all conspired to hide that they broke the shelf. Carlos said he would relay this to customer service; Tues, 8/19 I spoke to Brian from customer service and filed a formal complaint for the awful moving experience, lack of integrity of the moving crew who lied to me and took the cash tip and ran ; I requested compensation for the awful 12.5 hour move experience, my cash tip back and reimbursement for a new tv stand/credenza. Upon further unpacking I discovered that almost all the loose items that the crew were responsible for packing coincidently had somehow disappeared. Here is a comprehensive list of all items missing. I was a victim of theft and I feel violated ! Missing Items: Glass shelf-$227.99 for replacement tv stand (cheaper than ordering custom glass) Lasko Space heater ; $68 Oscillating Tower Fan $99.99 Wall hook $75 Thurs 9/25 received an email from claims attempting to settle for $250. 🤣 Unacceptable. You haven't responded to the most recent, updated claims information sent claims and customer service. It's a shame how you nickel and dime loyal customers. You have insurance for this. It's going to cost me triple what you're offering me to replace the items that were stolen and broken. Shame on...

I'm starting off this review by saying I NEVER write reviews, so this one really warranted it. My move was in late June, and went horrendously. The aftermath has matched. And for context, I was moving a small vans worth, and 13 blocks, that was it. My move cost roughly $400, which was originally quoted at about $750+, but FlatRate brought it down after I got a competitive quote. I mention this because I feel this is part of the reason they are no longer responding to me (more on that later).

On the day of the move in question, two movers showed up in a black, unbranded van, and I was unsure if everything would fit. Leading up to the move, I had been in contact with FlatRate, telling them both my schedule, and the schedule of my new building as they have a service elevator with a porter that closes at 5, and do not allow moving in the regular elevator. My move window was 2-2:30pm. The movers arrived at 2:30, but then spent half an hour setting up and then breaking down boxes they didn't need (I could see all this from my window as I faced the street).

Everything took a while to load, but it was in transit and unloading that problems ensued. They arrived at my new building after 5, so the porter was gone and the service elevator was unusable. The two movers started using the regular elevator, which prompted complaints from residents which then in turn resulted in both the front doorman and super being called to the lobby to tell the movers they couldn't use the regular elevator (which I had also told them). The building team was able to get the porter for the service elevator back, but I had to pay the porter out of pocket for his time.

I've sent photos of everything I'm about to say to FlatRate (and they confirmed they saw them before ghosting me), but they snapped the base of my bookshelf (which had been in my family for 40+ years), BROKE a key on my piano keyboard (which is a problem because I'm a musician and the cost of replacing said key is expensive), and put heavy things on top of our Midea U Plus Shaped conditioner, which caused the body of it to snap. Other pieces of furniture had dings, but those were the big three.

It took the better part of two weeks to get an appeal offer from FlatRate, which was $100. I had literally WATCHED the movers drop my keyboard as they were unloading the van (and had sent a photo of that as well). I appealed their offer, and two weeks later it went up to $300, which was not enough to fix everything, but at that point it wasn't worth my time trying to fight for it. They said checks would be sent within 21-28 business days.

It has been 39 business days since I received an email with an offer to write me a check for $300. 4 voicemails, 3 messages with the front desk, and 5 emails have gone unanswered inquiring where said check was. I've been told twice that I would be called back only to hear...

Not even sure where to start here...I never leave reviews, but this is one of those occasions when other potential customers should be aware of one customers experience.

Short review would be...based on my personal experiences I would advise you to find a different moving and storage company.

Longer review...

Moved out of my house a few years ago and used FlatRate to relocate some furniture to another location and put the rest in storage. The move was OK, but a garden statue was badly broken...instead of telling me it got broken in transit the movers attempted to glue it back together, cover it in cling wrap and hope I didn't notice.

The claims process was extremely difficult, obstructive and took months to resolve. despite me showing them pictures of a statue seemingly glued back together with Elmers ...

Then comes the storage part. Wanted to gain access to all my stuff which has been stored for some reason in two separate locations. So arranged a couple of weeks ago to have it consolidated into one FlatRate Storage location.

Showed up as asked to be on site for the move. Immediately realized that my stuff was being stored at a Cubesmart not at what I had assumed was a FlatRate location.

Then was told I could not gain access to my units because FlatRate had not paid the bill.

Asked FlatRate to pay asap so I could look in the units before the stuff arrived from the other location. They wouldn't pay.

Then was told that my movers hadn't showed up at the other location for the move. No explanation, no heads up just never happened.

Rebecca in storage customer service was however awesome. Super apologetic but was out of her control. She said she had escalated everything to the CEO and head of Customer Service and they would be reaching out to me.

Never heard from anyone.

Asked Cubesmart how much it was for the units my things were in. Needless to say it was considerably less than what I was being charged by FlatRate.

Then last week tried to arrange a move out of that Cubesmart so I could have access to it all closer to me and without FlatRate being in control and apparently charging me whatever they wanted.

FlatRate very happy to help with a new move! Speedy response etc. Then they realized the move location was into my own private storage and the tone changed. Called to ask how long the move might take and was treated like an idiot by sales. Apparently I was asking stupid questions they didn't have the time or inclination to bother answering.

Apologies for the rant, but seriously I have been treated badly before and you take it with a pinch of salt and move on. But when it just happens again and again, you raise concerns and no-one seems to care...and then the company actually sends you an email asking you to review them on google for a move they didn't even show up for...you kind of have to...