A-1 First Class Moving & Storage

A-​1 First Class helped me move my biggest furniture during a pretty stressful move. They were on time (early even), packed up all my furniture to make sure it wouldn’t be damaged in the move and then asked if I wanted it wrapped up even further, and moved all the furniture in (what felt like) record time. Would definitely recommend to my friends!

I own a luxury residential organizing service in New York City and often get asked by my clients for referrals for moving companies. I have recommended A-​1 several times and both myself and my clients have always been extremely satisfied with the results. Recently, I handled the unpacking for a large move that was supposed to be about a day and a half. Early on the morning of the second day my client changed the plan and decided to add an entire second apartment to be packed up and moved. The A-​1 team handled it without flinching. Though it took about en extra half-​day, they packed up and moved an entire second apartment that was not originally part of the plan. Their movers were courteous and professional and moved quickly. The representative on the job, Brian, was attentive and available at all times, even after hours when I had a few questions. I would recommend them without hesitation.

This was the best move I have ever had. The movers were flawless and so speedy!

The name speaks for itself… When you’re looking for a reliable company who you can trust to either store your equipment or to help relocate an entire company, A-​1 First Class Moving & Storage is the way to go! Their staff were great, smart and professional. They definitely showed a level of expertise when it comes to moving equipment safe and fast. Great Job A-​1!!!
Elvis Estevez,
Director of Operations,
Neuman’s Kitchen

Friend, Fast, Careful workers. Joe Hamill and the teams are amazing and so helpful. Joe is always there to answer any of your questions and aid in whatever you might need. This is my third move with them and I am just as happy as the first move.

Very mixed feelings about my experience with A1. Joe and Michelle were thorough and responsive prior to and during the move. They worked with me in the cost of my cross-​country move and were able to secure a guaranteed maximum weight-​based cost so I felt comfortable with committing to them. However, the actual move is where I had enough issues where I would be hesitant to reccomended them:
1. I paid for a full pack of my apartment. About three hours from when my building prohibits moves I started to get concerned about the progress of the moving men. An hour later when both bathrooms and a pantry closet were untouched and barely any of kitchen packed, my husband and I had to step in and basically pack the kitchen on our own and we still ended up going over the time allowed by a couple hours (fortunately I was not fined by my building). In the end, the company did reimburse me for a portion of this full-​pack but…
2. My move included a second destination which did not get completed until well until the night (around 9pm as I recall). Although this building did not have the time restrictions of the first building, I feel my move was understaffed especially considering what happened at location #1. At the end of the night, the truck was also so completely full that their dolly almost didn’t fit which again makes me question their estimate of the job.
3. I was informed by the company right before the delivery to my destination that I was going to be charged substantial «destination shuttle charge» due to the need to transfer my stuff into a smaller van to allow for delivery on my residential street. This is after having known my destination address for weeks! I told them outright that I felt like they were using a bait and switch tactic and there was no reason this should have come up last-​minute if they had applied the proper due diligence. In attempt to be fair, I acknowledged the need for a smaller truck and offered to split the difference with them and they refused, saying that this charge was at the discretion of the third-​party that actually does the delivery. This is after I was given the assurance of seamless service between all parties involved in my move when I committed to A1 as an agent of Atlas.
The actual moving team on the destination end, however, was great. I was a little concerned upon seeing a crew of 50-​something year olds but they were efficient and careful. They even moved my sofa bed up our awkward stairwell with such determination it was admirable. And a couple minor things were damaged in the move but nothing significant. My furniture items, including a very heavy and expensive coffee table which I paid for a custom box for, were undamaged and everything accounted for now 5 months after our move.
So all in all, I didn’t have one of those horrific moving experiences with A1, but I can’t say I was completely satisfied.

I have always believed that you get what you pay for. But not so with A-​1 First Class. I retired in May, 2015. My wife and I decided to move out of NYC to Denver, CO. We decided to take six months for travel. So we bid out our moving/​storage job to seven companies. By a lot, A-​1 First Class came in way above everyone else. But my wife and I had collected so many antiques and pieces of art over the years that we wanted the best that money could buy to protect them all. A-​1 First Class had been recommended and the moving specialist who estimated the job had promised so much more than everyone else had, that we decided to spend the extra money to protect our valuables. Bryan Wolchok, the rep who estimated the job had also impressed me with his organization. So, much to my dismay now, went with him. Our stuff was packed up up on June 26, 2015 and moved out the following day. Our things went into storage which had been quoted to me as $ 547/​month. My monthly storage fee wound up being $ 818/​month. That was the first scam. My wife and I traveled for the next six months. Sometime in October, 2015 I contacted A-​1 to tell them we wanted to move our things to Denver by December 1, 2015. The move out of storage to Denver began on Black Friday — was that an omen I should have read? Two or three days before the move I got a call from A-​1 telling me that Bryan had underestimated our stuff by more than 2000 lbs and that the charges were increasing by approximately $ 2700 — that above and beyond the $ 15,000 it had already cost me. This was Bryan’s error NOT MINE. I believe it should have been «eaten» by A-​1, but they felt differently and made it very clear to me that I had to pay ALL MONIES by credit card or bank check BEFORE my things could be taken off the truck. Our stuff arrived on December 8, 2015. There were three men sent to deliver our stuff — and they were as unprofessional as you can possibly imagine. Their job, as they perceived it, was to dump everything from the truck into the apartment and nothing more. AND THEY DID NOTHING MORE. Just dumped all the cartons into our living room, put furniture where they wanted it, did NO uncrating though they were supposed to — they did not even take the shrink wrap off the things that had been shrink wrapped. They did NOTHING that had been promised. But so far this is the GOOD part of the story. Yes it gets much worse. We experienced enormous breakage. Firstly, the company broke the rounded glass top to our dining room table. Since delivery I paid $ 2000 to replace the dining table top. Five antique Chinese porcelains were badly broken — irreplaceable and very valuable, dishes, glasses, and serving pieces were SMASHED into hundreds of pieces — replaceable, but with a lot of work on our parts.
I left out the insurance part. Before the things were moved out of storage, A-​1 «strong-​armed me into buying insurance for the move — another expense, but I was talked into the necessity of having it. So it was added to my bill. However, the move is over and there’s HUGE breakage and no one will take responsibility — not A-​1, not Atlas Van Lines and not the insurance company. So here we are two months after the move and NO ONE will reimburse me — not the $ 2000 for the dining room table, nothing to compensate us for the broken porcelains or any of the other breakage.
So these three moving men pile everything into the apartment in less than three hours, and finish very early because they have done NOTHING but dump our stuff in. Then the «Boss» comes over to me and asks me to sign papers saying I received everything. They would NOT wait while I inventoried everything and he told me he had checked and everything was off the truck. So I signed the papers and they left. It took a few days to unpack everything, but as we did we realized we were missing at least 10 – 12 cartons. We contacted A-​1 as soon as we realized this and contacted A-​1. At first all I kept hearing was I had signed the papers. Then they said to just add it into our insurance claim. We submitted our claim forms in December. Today I got a call from the insurance company saying they were not responsible and completely denying the claim — even the $ 2000 for the dining room table which they admit breaking and which I had to lay out the money for. I think that makes scam #4.
I have always found moving a stressful experience. And in my experience moving men knowing this have always gone out of their way to make things easier — NOT A-​1. I truthfully believe I would have been better off hiring three day workers off the street for a few hundred dollars each than the more than $ 20,000 I wound up paying A-​1. I truly hope I never have to move again, but if I do, I will do it myself before I would ever let A-​1 touch my stuff or service me in anyway.
It is clear I have spent a lot of time writing this review. I am doing it to save whoever I can from dealing with these scam artists; these dishonest and lazy souls.

If anyone had told us how horrific A1 is we wouldn’t believe them. We experienced breakage, loss and theft. Believe this. We left our home in NYC broom clean. Nothing was left there. So, where is our stuff? They also called us the day before the truck was leaving to deliver our things to tell us that they had mis=estimated the weight of the shipment and needed another $ 2500 to release our stuff. That made our moving and storage costs rise by another $ 2700. We paid them well over $ 20,000.
We traveled a bit and didn’t get into our new home until Dec 8 so they had almost 6 months to go through our stuff and take what they wanted.
We are missing about 20 boxes of clothing, jewelry, furs, kitchen items etc. They broke our dining table, lost a 400 year old slide lock from our antique cabinet, broke priceless family antiques. Left us in a mess and refused to uncrate anything. Two of the 3 guys complained that they were tired and didn’t want to be working as they had worked the day before. They were very unprofessional. It took 3 days for A1, under duress, to finish uncreating and restoring our furniture to its proper configurations.
They KNEW that they broke our glass dining table top. They KNEW that they lost the slide lock.
We took out insurance with them and guess what? They are denying us because they say that we signed a form stating that everything was delivered. How were we supposed to know when we hadn’t unpacked ONE single box before these yahoos left us in a mess unlike any we had ever experienced.
The only cure for this type and level of fraud and misconduct is a class action sanction. Anyone wishing to join us in this please contact us.

Calling this the worst move of my life is an understatement.
They moved us from Brooklyn to Chicago.
1. NO communication about where our stuff was, when it would arrive.
2. DRASTICALLY underestimated the weight of the move causing nearly $ 1,000 in overages.
3. Sent a truck that was too small so a significant number of things had to be strapped to the outside of the truck.
4. Not surprisingly, they lost a $ 500 bike.
5. Showed ABSOLUTELY zero compassion about the stress they were causing us until I complained.
6. Ever single person passed the responsibility of the bad move on to someone else. No accountability, no responsibility.
I could literally go on for days and have emails, photos and much more to share if you are even considering these idiots.

I’ve had the pleasure of being moved by A-​1 both cross-​country and locally. Extremely professional, excellent customer service, hard-​working and fast-​working staff. A-​1 is committed to do what’s needed to get the job done right. As they say, you get what you pay for, but in this case, I believe that A-1’s fees are more reasonable than those of competitors. I definitely know who I’m calling for my next move.

A-​1 first class moved us in to our new home last month and is by far and away the best moving company we have ever used. From the pre-​move visit (complete with a children’s book for my youngest) to a sales visit on the day of the move, things were flawless! They arrived and finished on time. Our furniture was reassembled in better form than it was originally — and nothing was scratched! Highly, highly recommend.

The best move I’ve ever had. And I’ve move 4 other times. Thank you so much for a great experience.

Professional, efficient and helpful!!! The best of the best people! Makes moving seem easy!

This was indeed an A-​1 company. They came on time, were very professional, and fairly priced. I would recommend them without reservation.
Madeline

The sales guy I worked with and the moving coordinator were both very responsive and helpful. It was great that I could purchase the packing supplies directly through them and have it dropped off at my building. The movers also seemed very in control and knowledgable. Moving is very stressful and they helped make it more calm. They were efficient. There was an issue with the elevator at my new building and they worked things out smoothly with the other movers and the super. I have armoires that have mirrored doors and I was concerned about them breaking, and they arrived at my new place damage free. I would recommend A-​1 to friends and contacts.

We are a small office of around a dozen people who were looking for an easy local move. Our new building was literally two blocks away. The only catch was the move had to occur after business hours.
While A1 made an attractive bid, we originally decided to go with the competitor because they offered a «guaranteed flat rate» whereas A1 charged by the hour.
When we received the written binding estimate from the competitor, I carefully read it over and noticed it was contingent on the accuracy of the attached inventory sheet. Guess what? There was no inventory sheet attached. When I contacted the movers, they told me it was shredded because it was «shredding day». Yes, That is a direct quote.
OK, fine. I wrote up my own inventory sheet and sent it over. Surprise, surprise their estimate was off and they jacked up the price by nearly $ 2,000. After that I told them to hit the road and gave A1 a call.
A1’s service was very responsive. The people working the phones were helpful and professional. They also own physical property (check out Google maps) and are associated with Atlas and ProMover. Which is nice for peace of mind.
On moving day, the moving team was extremely helpful and courteous. They even sent out a foreman to make sure the job got done right. Some movers when above and beyond, for example when we were personally moving some fragile items the moving team stepped in to give us a hand without being asked.
The price was right and we only came in 30 min over the estimated time and therefore very little over the price quote. I can’t speak for residential but I whole-​heartedly recommend them for office moves.
Regardless of what mover you choose, be careful to read the contract. If you’re getting a «Written Binding Estimate» make sure an inventory sheet is attached. It is a common tactic movers use to swindle you out of money.
Moving is stressful, best of luck.

A1 just moved us from Brooklyn to Rockville Centre and hit the ball out of the park. While a little more expensive than some other companies that we quoted, A1 was worth every penny. This is the second time we’ve used them and haven’t been disappointed. It’s great to know exactly what you are going to pay before they do the move (they send someone out in advance) so there are no surprises the day of the move. All of our items arrived on LI without a scratch and not a single glass was broken. I would definitely recommend these guys.

Hired them for a small move of some furniture. Thought the quote was high but went with them anyway because wanted to make sure my belongings were well taken care of. After they moved my furniture out they demanded more money to move my furniture back! Who give’s someone a quote for half a move! Total bait and switch never again.

Let me start by saying I did not hire them, so I cannot comment on the quality of their work. This review is only for the bait & switch tactic i experienced.
I was referred to them by another mover who couldn’t accommodate us, and went onto their website to get an «instant quote.» They are affiliated with AAA and I discovered that as a member I get up to 60% off the cost of my move. Naturally I was very happy about that. The instant quote for a cross-​country move (NYC-​LA) was $ 5,680 based on four rooms. Now, I knew the actual number after our in-​home inventory was taken would probably be higher (we have an upright piano and a couple of valuable items), but in a million years I never expected to be quoted over $ 13,000, supposedly AFTER the AAA discount, which my rep said was the full 60%. That would mean a non-​member price of over $ 30,000 for a pretty standard two-​bedroom Manhattan apartment, assuming the discount is even real. I showed the rep the online quote and his only response was that he had no control over that and he’s complained about it to management.
So, if you’re considering these guys, keep in mind that the price you’re quoted online may not have any correlation to the actual quote you get, and the AAA discount apparently does not exist, unless we’re supposed to believe that they actually get people to pay them over $ 30K for a move that should cost $ 10K or less.

I am giving this company one star, because it doesn’t allow me to give 0. This is about the worst, most unprofessional group I have ever dealt with. I had to move out of my place, move into a rental with a bulk of my things going to storage. The first part of the move was awful, due to the total lack of professionalism by these movers. They ran helter skelter around the house, most didn’t speak English (or pretended not to) and just rushed to get the job over with. They actually took a door off, and were in such a rush, they left without putting it back! I asked that certain things be put in specific rooms, and they just threw everything into the garage, then ran off!
When we received our things that went into storage, it was painfully obvious that they just threw things all over, without regard to value or fragility. Part of my bedroom set was broken – and broken in a way that could only happen by throwing it around. Same thing for a very expensive end table. That one they took back «to fix it» and I’m still chasing them down to find out the status of it! They sent someone over to «fix» the bedroom furniture they broke and, needless to say, they were unable to fix it. I have yet to receive anything from them. They scraped up my newly painted walls, with their recklessness in placing the furniture. In addition to their exorbitant rates, I had to pay the painter to come back and fix all the walls they messed up.
Moving is stressful under the best of circumstances. But when you have a moving company that is a bunch of reckless clowns that don’t care a bit about your possessions, the misery of the move is compounded tenfold.
Do yourself a favor and choose ANY OTHER moving company!