2 Jan 2022 · MoveAdvisor
5.0 out of 55.0
I am leaving a good review as I find most people don't do that.
I booked my move 1 month out for the month of December from SF, CA to Seattle, WA. I was concerned using a broker because I read many bad reviews. I even tried to get a quote with Allied Van Lines but they were unorganized with the inventory list, tried to schedule a virtual tour, slow to respond and never picked up their phone. With Budget Van Lines, I just went on their website and very easily added inventory. The updating part was a bit harder as I has to call or email, but it was easy enough.
From what I learned, Budget Van Lines is like Uber but for trucks. They hire drivers and then hire local movers. I got third party extra insurance in case the items were lost or stolen but tbh it was necessary and a waste of $1500 since most of our stuff was old junk except for some expensive items. I had to pay a booking fee to Budget Van Lines and put down a deposit get the name of the carrier, Southwest Van Lines. I submitted a very detailed inventory list and was on the phone with the company several times and their customer service was easy to deal with.
I didn't hear anything for a few weeks after the booking. The day before the movers arrived, I received both a call from the broker and carrier to confirm the time. On the day of the move, they both called again to confirm. The carrier arrived within the window provided. They took about 3 hours to load everything. We were charged an extra $2K on top of the quote because of items not on the inventory or carrier packing list, which I thought was fair. It seems the other bad reviews were that people underestimated their own inventory like we did. People have more stuff than they realize.
For tje delivery, the driver was optimistic about the delivery date and said it would be delivered 1.5 days later at 9am. Road conditions were bad as it had just snowed across all states, but we got lucky and the roads were clear when we were driving up. The driver did call us a few times to say he was stuck at chain control but ended up getting through. The delivery came pretty much on time. All of our stuff was delivered in good condition. Some stuff got dinged up a bit but it's expected with a move.. Only 1 small item was missing. Nothing else was damaged. Overall, we were happy everything went smoothly given it was an interstate move.
Read more