Don Farr Moving & Storage

Do not use this company! They showed up at 5:30 PM at my 89 year old mothers FOUR days early. She was not ready for them and her things were just thrown into the truck. The service was so bad the driver’s were fired but our claim for a very modest amount has been completely ignored by their claims department. After submitting our claim, which did not include the money I was out for a airplane ticket to help my mother pack as they showed up for days early, they have not returned calls and have stonewalled us completely. This is a dishonest company who will not take responsibility for it’s mistakes.

They destroyed my carpets, and I think they stole some of my personal property. I couldn’t prove it– but I know one of the movers stole it. When I said my stuff was missing the movers all smiled like they knew something. I told the manager but he denied that they took it. These people are hillbilly lowlifes. I wouldn’t let these people back on my property if you paid me.

Avoid this outfit like the plague!
They trashed a valuable piece of furniture, for which we’d purchased insurance, then it took six –count ‘em SIX – months of endless phone calls and emails on my part, not one of which was ever returned, to get the claim processed and before they sent me a check for a third of what their own chosen restoration company had quoted me as the cost of repair.
Let me be more specific. Along with a large number of boxes and some other furniture, we had them move an antique dresser from Pittsburgh to Boston. The delivery came while there was a lot of snow on the ground so rather than have the movers track mud and slush through the house I had them stage everything on the sunporch, which was packed by the time they were done. Then they asked me to sign a release saying everything arrived in good condition. The one thing I cared most about was the dresser, which was on the far side of the pile, up against the wall, buried behind boxes. I climbed over the pile and checked the dresser’s top which seemed fine, then I did my best to peek behind the many layers of tight shrink-​wrap shrouding the sides. Moving all the boxes and removing the plastic at this point seemed really excessive, and since everything I could see seemed in good order, I signed off on the delivery.
The next day we moved all the boxes and unwrapped the dresser to find that one end, the end that had been most inaccessible to me on the porch, had been gouged beyond belief. It was like they’d taken a plunge router to it. There were also deep gouges on the lower drawer handles. We immediately documented the damage, sent photos and within a few days had filed an insurance claim. After trying for weeks to follow up, (the one woman who handles claims was always away, went home early that day. blah, blah) we were told we had to provide two different quotes from qualified restorers. I had two come to the house, and they each quoted $ 700 to refinish the dresser. Then followed another month of trying to follow up, before I was finally told that Farr Movers would only accept a quote from their own chosen restorer. So after me wasting my time getting the other quotes I had their come over. His name is Donald Judd (you’ll want to avoid him too) and he was rudely dismissive of the idea that the whole piece had to be refinished. He said he would just fill the gouges and that you wouldn’t know there’d been damage. I said fine, as long as it actually hid the damage. But he wouldn’t give me a quote on the spot, he said he’d send that to the movers and that I needed to follow up with them.
I spent the next six weeks trying to schedule this Judd guy to come back to do the repair work. During that time I got a check in the mail for $ 312 from the moving company. I assumed that must have been his quote. When he finally showed up, he took one look and said the entire piece needed to be refinished and that $ 312 would never cover it. I asked him how much and he said $ 950, he even wrote it down on his card. I told him I’d get back to him.
After another month or so of unreturned calls and emails to Farr, during which I left messages offering to have one of my restorers do the work for $ 250 less than their guy was now quoting, I finally got this Sarah woman on the phone and she explained that because I had not reported the damage at the time of delivery they would only cover half the quoted cost of restoration. I asked how $ 312 was half of $ 950 and she said that Judd’s original quote had been $ 625. How convenient!
I explained how reporting the damage at the time of delivery was virtually impossible and she basically told me, tough luck, and that was that.
These people are as crooked as they are incompetent. Unless you’re moving something no more fragile than slabs of pig iron, find another mover, any mover.

TERRIBLE!!! My aunt had her wedding China shipped from PA to TX with this company. They gave us a date of delivery, but arrived in town at an earlier date when I was not home. The delivery man left town since I could not meet him on that one day. They took the China back to PA and shipped it UPS. The boxes arrived very banged up and needless to say, many of the pieces were broken. The boxes just said Don Farr, nothing said fragile. When unwrapping, several of the dishes were wrapped in the paper five at a time. No wonder they broke! So sad…

Lost part of my shipment. Didn’t deliver on time. Mixed my shipment in with other deliveries. Absolutely no sense of urgency to help. Doesn’t return phone calls. Still missing items (family heirlooms). Need I say more?
Here are the details. I requested this shipment through Transit Systems, Inc. They apparently contracted out to this company. The scheduler took my payment, and then left for maternity leave the following day. No heads up given there. I was told that this was white glove service, and not to pack anything. It was not. I needed the shipment by May 4^th.
After they picked up the shipment (we had 24 hours notice if they were to get it there on time), I was notified by another person that the shipment would be late due to driver issues and truck issues. Now we were looking mid-​week the following week. Finally, I get a call from the driver about May 6^th. He can deliver the following day. Of course, that was an over-​promise. He realized other shippers’ items were in front of mine and couldn’t get them off in time. Finally, I get the shipment May 9^th. Missing two Persian rugs, and a box.
One rug was located before they left. The other was not. It was mixed in with another shipment and had to go all the way back from Portland to Pennsylvania. Still missing a box. I was told by Sarah that they would Fed Ex the rug to me. No follow up, nothing. This was last week. Apparently, though, due to the cost, management cancelled that. No call, no follow up. It is supposed to finally make it in June.
Lastly, when you call them, they rarely return calls, they don’t tell you when you are speaking with the wrong person (first talking to Nick, then Sarah, then was told to call Transit Systems after a week), and your lost items? Those are an inconvenience. They won’t email you a claims form. Absolutely zero proactive communication here.
So if you want to lose some of your shipment, a bunch of excuses, and a terrible experience all around, Donn Farr Moving & Storage is your go to. Otherwise, would avoid at ALL costs. Oh, and if anyone sees Box 51 (red sticker), let me know. Would love to have those items.

We selected this moving company after noticing them move someone into our apartment complex. After speaking to them and asking questions, my husband hired them for our move from the apartment to a townhome, both in Monroeville, PA.
Here are the highlights of our positive experience with them:
1) They provided a good many boxes for free — we went to their location before the move and picked them up.
2) They called before the move to confirm day and time.
3) Four gentlemen showed up on time on moving day.
4) All movers were polite, professional, and efficient, not wasting any time.
5) Furniture was wrapped in shrink wrap to protect it.
6) They moved all belongings from both our apartment and storage unit to our townhome.
7) We provided lunch and we all sat around eating and chatting — very nice group of men. They took the appropriate amount of time to eat and then got back to work.
8) Belongings were handled with care.
9) They set up the beds and mirror on the dresser.
10) The end price was close to the estimate, based on an hourly rate. Everything charged was normal and usual for a moving company. We paid a small deposit up front and then paid the balance at the end by credit card.
Would we hire them again? Definitely.
P. S. Remember to tip your movers if you’re happy with their service.

Nothing but lies from this company from the moment the estimator walked into my house for our move back to Texas (God’s Country). First, he grossly underestimates our weight, resulting in an absurdly low estimate. Then, he starts in on that family owned business crap, and tells us that the same guys that load us will go to Texas and unload us. Accountability, I liked that. I actually wanted to hire another company but for some reason, I went with Don Farr, mainly because of the afore mentioned promise. But nothing was further rom the truth.
We had different guys packing us, different guys loading us, and different guys unloading us. On the packing side, we had one guy that was very thorough, almost too thorough in his packing. Then another that was ok. Then the third was just a young punk who was lazy. We did have a total crew of six (a driver and 5 loaders) to load us on the truck but 3 looked like brand new hires who were clueless. And then we had 2 guys unload us in Texas, took a day and a half because management is too god damn cheap to send one or two more.
And of course, we do have some damages that we’ll probably never be able to collect one because, as other reviewers have stated, their claims process is almost impossible and they start avoiding your calls. But we have a lawyer already and we’ll see what he can accomplish.
And did I mention that their equipment was f***ing junk??? They were late to start packing because the battery on their junkassrusted out van was dead, and they backed into my driveway in case I needed to jump them off when they left. They were late with the moving van because the trailer’s brakes were frozen up. Anfd they had to rent a Penske tractor to pull the trailer to Texas because I’m sure they didn’t have a tractor that was reliable enough to make the round trip. The hand dolly they brought out had a flat tire and they nearly dropped my $ 2000 refrigerator with it. I offered up my bicycle pump to air it up, but the moron that did it pumped it up too high and blew it out. Now, they did buy two brand new ones to unload us, but they acted like that was something extremely special. I really don’t doubt that.
I’ll end this quickly by saying avoid Don Farr like the plague if you’re moving. I’ve never seen a more unprofessional group of Yahoos.

I have used Don Farr moving company to move from Shadyside to Los Angeles. They sent in decent looking sales guy who explained this was family business and that they drive their own trucks. I also purchased additional $ 30,000 insurance.
When crew of 3 came, I immediately noticed lower-​packing standards on sofas, pillows, etc. Stuff was packed much better by guys I found on Cragis List on the way to Los Angeles.
The foreman had running nose, some weird energy and was sweating above average — according to him from last night job. Later I learned that foreman, who was suppose to be in LA in few weeks, was put on leave after this job in Pittsburg because he was on drugs (explains running notes and weird energy he had).
My items which arrived to Los Angeles had some minor damage due to bad packing job. They didn’t pack corner of mattresses for example so corners were worn out.
Few days after they left, I noticed some small, but expensive items went missing — Miele Vacumm Cleaner (about $ 950); grill top, etc.
When I made a claim to the company they said asked for evidence that those items were in there — apparently I was suppose to take photo of each item as they were putting it in. I thought they were doing that by labeling each item with number and description, but their labeilng system got screwed up too. ?!?
Overall concusion:
1) Company misrepresents realiblity of working with them at point of sale
2) You think you can hedge your risk by buying insurance they offer? Buying insurance through this company is useless; as even if you buy it, you have to prove that they actually boxed your stuff. You can’t rely on their system. (Suggestion for other movers: Set-​up 2 video cameras while they are packing boxes so you can video tape everything — they will procrastinate and do everything so you have no claim with insurance company).
3) Their employees are stealing your items. In my example, items went straight from my home, to their truck, into their warehouse, and then into larger truck which goes to California. While my items were in their posession — some of them were selected and stolen. Someone actually had time to go through my stuff and select what they want to take — this is why small expensive items went missing, not small cheap items. And, you can’t notice immediately. You notice them few days later. But when you file your claim, they say «you should have noticed this immediately and report it» which is not possible because you have so many boxes laying around.
All this other sales mumbo-​jumbo they serve you at the point of sale doesnt’ mean anything and they will serve you this meaningless stuff:
1) We are only family owned moving company in Pittsburgh which drives our own trucks (This sounds good and reliable; but pointless because their own employees steal the items between the truck and warehouse)
2) You have nothing to worry about with $ 30,000 insurance (yeah, right — meaningless insurance, which they purposely make difficult to pay with long wait line and that is so only if you have YOUR OWN PROOF that your items were in there actually).
Watch out for their Unilocal defense; If you ask the sales guy, why they have so many bad reviews on Unilocal, they will tell you that people typically go to Unilocal when they are angry to make bad comments and that they would not have been in business for this long if they were not good. This is not a true statement.
People are not inclined to go to Unilocal just for bad reviews. Look at my profile — this is only bad review I gave so far. And yes, before invent of social media, companies which are incompetent were able to stay in business longer as their customers were not able to share opinions and warn each other.
Now you are warned.

What can I say about DON FARR moving! This company is the WORST MOVERS YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE. I want to advise anyone who is considering using them to NOT USE THEM. FIND SOMEONE ELSE. We were repeat customers and now I dont know why. We had a long distance move and the first issue, no one bother to get enough details about our stuff to properly assign people and time. It took them 3 days to pack our stuff and when we opened the stuff they packed it so unproperly with no consideration of our stuff. They scratch our 60 inch flat screen TV by stick the stand with out any package covering on my tv screen and broke it.
We had so many issues during the actualy move that we tried getting a hold of DAVE (owner) and Nick and NO RESPONSE. THEY NEVER RETURND CALLS OR EMAILS. They pretended not to be there. I am now processing a claim with them and am sure will have no luck in retriving any of my money for all the items they damaged. DO NOT WORK WITH THEM ESPECIALLY NICK AND DAVE. Completly unprofessional and rude management.

I used Don Farr for my move from Pittsburgh to New Jersey in February 2014. I had used them in 2008 to move me from Phoenixville, Pa to Pittsburgh, Pa, and felt comfortable using them again. I made it clear to the woman scheduling the move in their office that I would need to have my stuff picked up in Pittsburgh the last week of February, and have it delivered to my apartment in NJ NO SOONER than March 1, 2014, as my lease didn’t start until then.
About 3 hours after the movers left my home in Pittsburgh with my belongings on Monday 2÷24÷14, I received a phone call from Rob with Don Farr, who gave me a final price for the move, and informed me that they would be delivering my stuff in NJ on Wednesday 2÷26÷14, on their way to other deliveries on the east coast. I reiterated that I wasn’t able to take delivery of my property in NJ until March 1, and was berated by Rob over the phone, as he insisted that the truck was already loaded in a certain way and I was creating a huge problem for him and that I clearly never mentioned this to anyone because he didn’t have it in his notes. I explained to him that I was very clear when I scheduled the move that I wouldn’t have access to my apartment until March 1. This phone call with Rob was by far the worst customer service experience I’ve ever had. I was contacted about two hours later again by a much calmer Rob, to inform me that they were going to re-​arrange the moves, and deliver everything else on the truck first, before delivering my stuff to NJ on March 1.
On March 1, 2014 the movers arrived to deliver my property. It was very clear from the condition of the 18 gallon rubbermaid totes that I packed in, as well as the condition of several pieces of furniture, that my furniture had been thrown around. They either were mad about having to re-​load the truck, and took it out of my stuff, or they never re-​loaded the truck, and threw my stuff around all week while making the other deliveries. The corner of one of my bedroom dressers was torn off. I have a very large gouge in the top of my coffee table. A set of bookshelves ended up with 3 large gouges, and it doesn’t stand up straight. There were also 8 storage totes that were damaged so badly they had to be thrown away. I was amazed that the contents of these containers were still in tact.
I have submitted my claim with Don Farr for the damaged property as of 4÷8÷2014. It is August 3, 2014, and I have yet to receive a decision for that claim. After reading complaints and reviews on several websites (including the BBB, which they are no longer a member of!) detailing the experiences others have had with Don Farr’s claims process, I’m not holding my breath for a satisfactory outcome.
Stay away from this company!

Just completed our third move with Don Farr movers. They packed us and moved our 4 bedroom house each time, two local moves one across three states and couldn’t be happier with their performance. Completely professional from estimate to completion of move. Final cost came in well below estimates each time, which was always below competitor estimates. Packing crews were fantastic and charged extremely reasonable prices for supplies. Moving crews did a great job with breakdown and set up and new homes. Never broke a single item, and once accidentally packed a broken shelf and upon arrival notified me of the break immediately. Have referred them to many friends and have had the same feedback. This last move we had several issues on our end of the move and they were gracious in working with us during the changes. Book them now!

I called Don Farr to see about getting some help with my move for the upcoming weekend. Granted it was very short notice, but the woman on the phone was incredibly RUDE! Her answer to my question was «nope» and «July 1^st» which I took to mean thats the next time any movers are available. Very unprofessional.

We used Don Farr Moving & Storage for our move from Shadyside to downtown Pittsburgh. These guys were consummate professionals and we couldn’t be more pleased. We were very concerned after reading reviews of many different movers online (including Don Farr) that swung from maniacally ecstatic to the 7^th circle of Hell. We have friends who moved from Pittsburgh to Atlanta and they used and highly recommended Don Farr.
The movers were to arrive on a Monday morning between 8 and 9 am. They showed up at 8:10 am, which was perfect. There were three movers who checked through our condo and got an idea of what we had and what needed to move our first. Our furniture is Stickley and Maitland-​Smith so we paid a pretty penny for it and told the guys we did not want any scratches, nicks, bumps or bruises on the furniture or the walls. We promised to buy them lunch and give them a generous tip if this was accomplished.
Each piece of upholstered furniture was carefully shrink-​wrapped, each piece of hardwood furniture was wrapped in heavy blankets and secured with straps. The leader of the group reminded us of a surgeon. When giving a direction, he would call out the employee’s name and describe in short, precise steps what he wanted him to do. They guys were also very friendly and answered our probably annoying questions (we felt somewhat useless because we just kind of stood around).
All of the furniture was loaded onto the truck by 1:30 pm and then the guys headed downtown. They unloaded and unwrapped the furniture with just as much care and attention to detail as they did in the loading of the furniture. They placed the furniture where we wanted it and each piece was in exactly the same condition as when we left. We did buy them lunch and gave them each a 20% tip. In total, the sum of the services including the tip was around $ 1000. Not too bad for excellent, professional service and peace of mind.

After a small hiatus in Pittsburgh I used Don Farr in January 2011 to move back to California where I am a permanent resident. I noticed another post on here about someone stealing their jewelry, well I also had a similar incident when they moved me so I felt the need to come forward. I am a medical marijuana patient but I still am very private about my medicine and do not leave it laying around and keep it in my personal belongings. While this company was moving me, one of the movers went into my personal belongings and stole my glass piece that I use to medicate with! Since medical marijuana isn’t legal in PA I couldn’t exactly call the company and be like «hey someone stole my glass piece»! Honestly what bothered me the most was they went into my personal belongings. I guess I am just lucky they didn’t take anything else!!!

Pickup and delivery of four pieces of furniture occurred on time. Movers were professional.
Unfortunately, a brand new dresser was damaged in transit — unfortunate, but it happens. The problem is that it took two months to settle the claim. During that time, I was instructed not to have the piece repaired until the claim was settled. The conclusion of the settlement claim was a small check — nothing that should have kept me from getting the piece repaired while the claim was in the settlement process.

I have had this company move me numerous times and every single time, I have had a wonderful, professional experience. The people are helpful and friendly. The prices are cheaper than any other company and trust me, I have price shopped every single time I have had to move. The movers that came to my home were super helpful and nice. The most recent time I moved with this company was in March. Once I got into my new place, it was nice to see the same movers who picked up my belongs were the same movers delivering them to my new home! They were even nice enough to help put some of my items onto a tall bookshelf in my home that I just couldn’t reach! Also, every person I spoke with at the office was great. There was great communication with regards to my move dates and times. I really enjoy that this is a family owned business and like to know that I am helping out the community when I use this company!

Used Don Farr and had a real smooth experience. Russ Reed was my estimator. He was able to answer all my questions and provide an accurate moving quote. I had 4 movers for my 3br home home. Movers were great! Very professional and they made sure my belongings arrived at location in perfect condition. They even didn’t mind helping rearrange my living room furniture (which is heavy). I will definitely use Don Farr again on my move back to PGH.

I agree with other reviewers that Don Farr deserves NEGATIVE stars. Our move went ok, except they broke some antiques and we filed insurance claim. The problem came after we filed insurance claim that we HEARD NOTHING from Don Farr. We called every day for a good 4 weeks before we could finally take to Lynn, THE ONLY PERSON who can deal with claims in the whole company. Even left a message to owner, and he didn’t bother to return call. Lynn said wait for another week, and now another 2 weeks and nothing. Now it has been almost 3 months and nothing. We’ll probably file a lawsuit against them. For people looking to move in Pgh, do NOT trust how they are the designated mover for the penguins or so. Use South Hill Movers instead.

This company should be BANNED!!! They have an F rating with the Better Business Bureau and the only thing that should happen to them now is for this company to shut down or the management to get Jailed. This company is comprised of LIARS who give very low estimates to tempt you.
The final bill that you get slapped with a completely different horror story altogether. Not only is the billing and moving hours a problem. The way they talk to you or show a complete lack of response or how they treat you like they’re doing you some sort of a favor, it has been a big eye opener for me and I regret having not seen the online reviews before making a decision of moving with this horrible company.
Lastly, they delayed my move by 10 days. Not kidding. They just kept giving me BS about how they can’t just move my stuff and would need to move it on some other truck etc etc for which they’d need to wait to see when another truck would be going that route.
I feel like crying as to how I got taken in with the friendly voice on the other end of the phone and the low estimate. Only to see that very person who was dealing with our case, turn into a complete monster and one rude mother*&^%$#.
I hate this company. They are not cheap… and they are THE WORST movers in the country.

This update is being done mid-​unpack but I can already tell enough to warn against Don Farr completely now. Having found a wonderful new pad in LA, I was ready to retrieve my belongings from storage and into my new home!
When I opened the storage containers I was dismayed to see that many of my belongings had not be packed at all in boxes but just thrown into the truck with no protection at all. For example, two light colored silk pillows given to me as a gift were just shoved between a box and a chair and are now stained. These could have been easily put in a box or wrapped in plastic, just seemed a little lazy. Things seem to have been protected without rhyme or reason. One beautiful wooden bookcase had a ton of packing paper wrapped around about the top ¼ of the bookcase with none at all on the rest of the bookcase which resulted in a gouge out of one shelf and a scrape on the outside of the bookcase.
They used this padded packing paper to pack most things and they charged me per pack — they used the stuff VERY liberally but again in a way which made me think they were just upcharging me. For example, I opened a box that was about 30″ square of «kitchenwares» that contained 1 plastic tray, 3 spatulas, and the worst part, an EMPTY cardboard box that was the original packaging for my toaster oven. The box was basically just filled with packing paper. And yes, they did pack the toaster oven in another box that cost $ 5. All this waste makes me angry! PLUS there is obviously one kitchen box that was not marked kitchen because after unpacking all of them I still can’t find my knife block or my coffee maker — I NEED COFFEE! I hope I find them at all — probably marked «Kim Misc» as many boxes were. At least tell me what ROOM that Misc came from? One more example… another box of «electronics» contained two foam speaker fronts. That’s IT. Yes, ten tons of packing material and two 10″ x 6″ pieces of foam.
Boyfriend’s least favorite part? The packing paper is made of a couple of layers and one of the cushioning layers is made of something that is basically a matrix of glitter-​like confetti pieces so that when we unpacked, the house is covered with tiny bits of glittery confetti stuff in every corner and on every surface. WHOSE IDEA WAS THAT?!? Terrible.
Overall I could have gotten cheaper and better movers and packers. I feel like they took advantage of me and ruined a bunch of my belongings. Again, the actual team of movers were pleasant and a few of them were efficient (packed the hardware for my bedframe into a baggie and taped it to the rest of the frame — very helpful!) but others obviously did not care (the fan base was removed from a standing fan and the screws holding the fan to the base? Gone forever. Terrible when unpacking in 100 degree heat with no AC!)
One star for you Don Farr, and for shame for using tons of unnecessary packing materials and charging me an arm and a leg for them!