ABC Moving & Storage

It is confusing in Portland, ME. ABC Moving is the same company as Allen & Coles, North American Van Lines and Allied Moving. The ratings and reviews are slippery because different people have posted under the different names… sift through them all and you’ll see really problematic stories like ours.
To make a long story short? We had a two part move — one part local, one part out of state. We had problems with the abilities of the crew, problems with how we were scheduled, problems with essential furniture parts being lost, problems with appropriate truck size, and many items broken or damaged. In the many hours we spent working side by side helping different crew members load and unload our items, we got the clear impression that the company has communication and scheduling problems back at their warehouse that can adversely impact all aspects of your move. Ask a lot of questions and shop around. To date our expensive zero deductible insurance policy hasn’t made good on the thousands in damage we experienced — still an open question…

We recently relocated from ME to IL, we obtain 4 quotes and ended up choosing ABC Moving & Storage to assist us with the move. The salesman was awesome on our first visit, made me feel very secure in the job they would do and addressed some key concerns I had.
Unfortunately, after the first visit things went downhill. After we signed on the salesman was not good at listening to questions or getting answers and rest of the process did not go smoothly. Their guys came to pack on a Thursday, 2 guys, an older guy that had been doing this a while and a younger guy in college. It was apparent after the move that the younger guy was not well trained as most of the boxes he packed were busted out on the sides and not in good shape when they (finally) arrived. Before they left I pointed out several items that had not been packed, they advised that the movers would take care of them and that they needed a certain amount of loose items to fill in. Before going to bed that evening I went through all the closets and cabinets to find out that there was at least 2 full boxes of items that they didn’t pack (thankfully I had some additional boxes and took care of it myself).
The next day the truck shows up to load all of our stuff. Now, while the salesman had been to my house and there is plenty of room for the truck, he still set up for a shuttle, the only reason my stuff was directly loaded onto the truck was because the older gentleman packing let them know that truck would fit, reducing the handling of my stuff. Unlike the description that the salesman provided, they did throw down some cardboard on the floors, but they did not wrap the banisters or anything like. One of the movers actually dropped something down the stairs and put a hole in the wall that they neither admitted to or when told after the fact did anything about. They also tell me that a lot of what was not boxed should have been and I ended up boxing stuff as they loaded.
Before leaving I ask the driver about delivery, he says that he anticipates being in Chicago the following Tues or Wed and that my stuff is scheduled to be dropped at a warehouse and that another driver would bring it in. He was unable to answer any questions as to why that was, but assured me that he would keep me updated as to when my stuff was to be in Chicago; I never heard from him again. I immediately followed up with my salesman explained that there was no need for a shuttle, our location in the city had plenty of room to park an 18 wheeler. He never responded regarding their reason for this and simply advised that I should expect delivery on that following Friday — 1 week after pick up and in line with their initial estimate of 7 – 10 days from pick up. Then on Friday he calls me to tell me that they cannot delivery my stuff until Tuesday; stuff that had been in since Wednesday and sitting in a warehouse. Allegedly there was some issue with the company they were going to use to deliver it and they ended up using a different company (still an Allied Company, but not the original one). Finally, on Thursday (almost 2 weeks after it left ME) our stuff arrived at our place in Chicago (which we had been in for a week with nothing but our clothes, cats, and bed we bought and had delivered) our stuff is delivered. The first question from the driver was why the original truck didn’t deliver our stuff as there is plenty of room; I advised I asked the same question but received no response.
The delivery guys were great, but there were several items that were left in our garage because they advised my treadmill which needed further teardown should have gone to a third party to disassemble and that my salesman should have written that originally. They were also unable to get our couch in and it was also left in our garage (which we thankfully had otherwise no idea what they would have done with our stuff). They further went on to advise that the guys that packed did an awful job and that they never would have accepted that from their packers. And again, several dings and dents in walls and door mouldings that they never owned up to.
Additionally, we had paid for an unpack and removal of boxes, etc. and I was told that the guys that delivered would handle this, they had never been advised of this and as such did not take care of before leaving. I had a maid service coming the following day and because of this more time was spent on unpacking then putting away and not as much as could have been was accomplished in the time we had paid for.
There were some third party services that were also poorly handled. We were refunded for the services that were not completed, but that was it. I understand moving is difficult but this company only made a bad situation worse, I would never consider using this company or any other Allied company again based on this horrible experience.