Statewide Vanlines

Like the people who have reviewed before me, I had a generally poor experience with Statewide.
1. My quote — I, too, was given the option to have my belongings weighed, or accept an estimate on the spot once everything we owned was on the truck. The estimate was TWICE what the salesperson (Jim Alexander) quoted me. Granted, I had more stuff than what I thought, but not that much more. If you can, try to get them to come out and offer a flat rate. If they won’t, don’t risk using them.
2. The delivery — was also WEEKS late. Now, we were moving to a fully furnished house and most of our belongings were going into storage, so not a big deal in our case, but shopper-​be-​warned. And they still lied to me, telling me there were «problems with the truck.» Please. I wasn’t born yesterday.
3. Extra fees — Because I chose the flat rate estimate upon pick-​up, they couldn’t charge me a lot of fees, but they did charge us a long carry upon delivery, which was total BS. They pulled their 18-​wheeler directly up to our storage center door, had 2 carts which we provided to use, and an elevator. Plus, they had nothing to put together and only had to load a storage unit rather than move things into rooms in a house. I basically did not tip them for this reason — I felt like it was extortion.
4. Customer service issues — yes, we had some of the issues that the people below had. We had a large crew and small truck on pick-​up, and then only 2 guys with an 18-​wheeler on delivery. We heard nothing from them about an accurate delivery. They weren’t generally friendly or helpful at all. And come on — you’re hauling people’s precious belongings! The least you can do is be courteous.
5. Condition of our belongings — to us, this was the most important. And I have to say, we had only a couple broken items. HOWEVER, I attribute this 100% to our careful packing and not to their moving. Our boxes and bins came off their truck completely smashed. It’s a heart-​wrenching feeling to watch your belongings, irreplaceable items and memories, and wonder if anything survived.
It’s shocking that companies like this are still in business. I’ve moved several times, and Statewide is guilty of many of the same problems we’ve had with a couple other movers. I like to think that they won’t get away with providing such abysmal customer service forever, as the internet allows consumers to warn each other and alternatives are available.
My advice: DO NOT hire Statewide or any other mover. Use Pods!!! When we did use them, we had a great experience — our stuff arrived on time in less than a week and just as we packed it, and we hired loading/​unloading help by the hour — MUCH less stressful, MUCH better customer service and soooooo much less stress!

I just wrote a negative review so long on the BBB that I ran out of characters and didn’t even get to the delivery part. Statewide van lines are criminals and liars. They broke EVERY single promise they made and even showed up late and charged us more money refusing to weigh our stuff as agreed. Told us «you will pay this amount or we will leave» and «this is the moving business» and” we are not going to weigh your stuff, the scale is in NJ and to far”, of course the mandatory flat rate price went up 600 dollars from estimate even though we ended up selling bedroom furniture and a couch thus dramatically lower the weight that was in original quote.
They knew were flying out the next day and had already paid 1200 in plane tickets, we were stuck. They said delivery would take 10 – 16 days, it took 31 days. My girlfriend started her teaching job 24 days after we moved from NY and she had to buy new clothes because our stuff was not here as promised.
The delivery guys showed up wearing flip flops and completely unbuttoned shirts at 1030 PM!!! They said we had to accept delivery between 10pm and 6am or it would be ANOTHER TWO WEEKS. Not to mention they did not speak English, not one word. We had to have them call their «boss» on the phone to translate for us. We were also charged for two different delivery locations (storage and house), paid for set up of new furniture, and take away of boxes. NONE of that happened and they didn’t understand where I was telling them to put things and put everything in the same spot.
Worst customer service, bait and switch,
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD YOU USE THIS COMPANY, YOU WILL REGRET IT.

It gives me no joy to write a negative review. I usually abstain from writing reviews at all, unless something is so great I want to share with everybody, or so terrible, I want to warn others. Sadly, this review is the latter. I have moved cross country four times so I am not naïve as to how these things work. Unfortunately my «go to» mover was not available for the dates I needed, so I found this company on the Internet. Horrible, horrible experience.
Moving is a difficult job requiring a lot of strength, energy and patience, and I will give the movers who picked my stuff up in NY credit – they did a great job. (Although they changed the pick-​up date on me at the last minute. I should have known then.) However, the charge nearly DOUBLED from the estimate the salesperson quoted. I had thought the estimate was low and I anticipated the real cost would be more, but I never thought DOUBLE. The freight list I gave the salesperson was pretty accurate; the dollar number should not have been that far off. But my bad; I’m an experienced mover and knew better than to choose a place that didn’t offer a flat rate.
The price was only the beginning of the trouble. I allowed a big gap between my move-​out date and when I would move in to new home in CA so that there would be minimal wait to receive delivery in CA. I specifically asked the salesperson (Jim Alexander) if my stuff would be shipped immediately and then stored in CA until my new home was ready and he said YES, one month of storage is included. Great. Turns out, he meant one month of storage in NY. My stuff hadn’t even left NY by the time I was in CA. Which meant that not only did I have to wait in an empty home for delivery of my stuff which had been put on a truck three weeks earlier, but the truck hadn’t even left yet. And being in CA, my delivery would of course be the end of the journey, after many deliveries on the route west. So let’s add $ 2000 more in rent I had to pay to take occupancy of a home for which no furniture would be delivered for two weeks. The dispatcher, Jonathan, continuously lied about delivery date, and basically told me I was an idiot for filling out the delivery form wrong, when I had been assured all along that delivery would take place quickly after I got to CA.
When the stuff finally did arrive, there were only 2 men to haul it in. This was way too big a job for 2 guys (they had 4 in NYC). It took them 6 excrutiating hours to get all the stuff in, while they blocked driveways with their ginormous truck (oh yeah, that’s another thing – if you live in an urban area, this company is not for you; very few urban streets can accommodate a moving truck of this size; your neighbors on both ends will hate you). The foreman extorted another $ 300 out of me for the distance from the truck to door (it was close to but absolutely less than 75 feet but I’m not going to argue the point when I’ve been waiting for my stuff for so long) and to carry up a sofa frame that wouldn’t fit in the elevator (I had explained to the salesperson when contracting the company that the sofa would not fit in an elevator and was assured this one item would be included in the move – the guys on the NY end did not try to extort me for it). There was also a bookcase that would not fit in the elevator so the guys just left it in the basement. While still charging me the money to bring up the sofa. TOTAL EXTORTION. Thievery, dishonest business practice.
There are so many moving companies to choose from, with people who do their jobs professionally and ethically. This is not one of those companies, and I urge you to spare yourself the horror these guys caused me. I’ll never get my time and money back from this company, but let the Internet be the great democratizer here. Now you know what these guys will do to you.

To anyone thinking about using these guys: Please read my experiences before you. Here’s a letter I wrote to their manager after a cross country move:
Dear Statewide:
I’d like to say I’m a little disappointed in your moving company’s service.
Initially, any correspondence between us was good, until you received my deposit. Afterwards, it seemed I had to do a bit more chasing for answers to questions, etc. Your original quote was in the $ 1,500 range, yet I paid $ 2,100 (plus $ 310 for insurance). Substantially higher than I expected!
The crew did arrive on time, which I was pleased with. However, once everything was boxed, wrapped, and loaded, the crew leader presented me with two payment options: One where I could pay a fixed amount which would absorb any additional fees, or another where I could gamble on the total weight of my load, but have to pay additionally for anything over a certain weight which was non-​negotiable. How would I be able to verify the weight difference would be impossible to prove for my end and completely unfair and unethical from good business practice. Hence, I was forced to take the least expensive, but in the end, the likely more expensive «door #1.»
I arrived in CA four days later and arranged a spot at the Public Storage facility. I was told on pick-​up day I needed to be there before the delivery, or I’d risk missing the opportunity to receive it. Had I known my delivery was going to be two weeks late, I wouldn’t have rushed the way I did and waste money on an empty storage unit.
After a couple of unanswered inquires about when to expect my things, I finally got a call. A man said the driver would call me 24 hours prior.
The morning of the 26^th, I received a call from the same man saying the driver was an hour away. I had to rearrange my entire day of job interviewing at the last minute to prepare for something that I was expecting ten days earlier (as originally mentioned) and with NO 24 hour head’s up.
I met the driver at the Storage place and had to help him remove someone else’s large order for over hour because the truck was packed wrong, in order to get to my things (which I unloaded myself). NOT exactly part of the service I paid for.
In the end, a few items have some damage (which I’ll be taking care of with the insurance company), two boxes of clothes are missing (and a surfboard), and an antique bench is completely destroyed.
The driver called the New Jersey warehouse to inquire about the surfboard. It was identified and said it would be on the next truck to CA. I would like it sent separately via UPS or Fedex ground freight at your expense instead. I’m not waiting another month to receive it. I feel it’s the least you could do after all these unexpected extras. Do you have the two lost boxes there as well before I contact Baker International?
I wish I had known in advance this was all part of the experience. I would have taken my business elsewhere.
Sincerely,
PS After a conversation with someone in the office last week about when I would expect my surfboard, to which the answer was, «It will arrive Saturday or Sunday and you’ll be called 24 hours in advance», I have this to comment: It’s Tuesday and it’s not here! I’ve filed a claim for damaged and missing items with Baker International and sent a formal complaint to the BBB. Your company’s service and attempts at pacifying me with lies are important details the public should be made aware of!
Ridiculous!!!
(After all that, the custom shaped/​signed surfboard was delivered to some kid in San Diego, who never answered their attempts to collect it. Happy birthday to him!)
****DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT USING THIS COMPANY!!!****