Graebel Van Lines

For reasons mentioned below, this moving company is terrible. (Not responsive, untimely, damaged goods, etc.) In fact, I think one-​star is too high a rating for them. If you have ANY choice, go elsewhere to get folks to move your stuff.

I have used Graebel for three moves and each experience gets worse and worse. My last move from San Francisco to Denver couldn’t have been worse. My goods coordinator Marilyn was almost non-​responsive in communication. First it started with a gross over-​estimation of my move. Due to Graebel’s policy of paying for the move upfront based on the estimate, you have no recourse if there is a discrepancy in the cost.
Even though I tried to confirm the dates of the move, my coordinator would not respond even after three emails which resulted in my costs to attend the move to go up. On the day of the packing, no one showed up and after I contacted Marilyn, she indicated that she forgot to load the date into the system. Finally, the delivery of my goods was a week later than agreed upon and there was no communication as to the status of the transport to help manage my expectations for the delivery date. I tried to escalate my experience to the local manager who left a message promising to look into the matter but he never called me back to help smooth things over.
The only reason that I gave it even one star is because the personnel who did the packing and loading were incredibly good, taking wonderful care of my things and doing the work in record speed. I was extremely happy with their performance.
Its a very expensive service with a huge lack of customer service.

We also had problems with several broken items and missing inventory. Customer service was a nightmare and the items that were missing (all of my expensive ski gear) will not be reimbursed because they somehow weren’t included on the inventory. We were never told we needed to follow around the 3 ladies packing in 3 different areas of the house to verify what was in each box before it was loaded onto the truck. Instead, they packed it and loaded it onto the truck and then tell you to just sign the inventory sheets. Then they lose the inventory and arbitration is your only option.

Run far. Worst moving experience ever. Mario Reyes with San Jose Is the biggest scammer smuck ever. No accountability for his terrible work and meeting deadlines. We had a military move so he was shadey about maximizing the weight and delivering our stuff a month later. The inventory list was a complete joke, mislabeled 50% of the items and took furniture apart when I asked them not too. Broke our trampoline because of how it was disassembled. The best part was they put our $ 2,000 12ft long paddle board under the moving truck. Delivered items to storage facility and everything was signed off. The number on the board was purposely transferred to a small book case so it was signed off. When our items where delivered to our home 2 months later by another company there was no paddle board. How does one lose a 12 foot long paddle board? They don’t. Mario took no responsibility and said he knew nothing about it. Not surprised by his response since he was shadey with all aspects. To include when we requested a weight ticket after the truck was loaded. He never produced one. The military wrote him up for 8 items. To include not producing weight tickets and not following any of their procedures. We had a reweigh and the second weight was significantly lower. So this validates that this company is ripping people off and takes no accountability for their actions. Lastly, we were disgusted how Mario talked to his crew. If I could do 0 stars I would. Worse experience ever. DONT sign his paper that says preexisting damage on all items form. It’s his way of getting people to sign off ahead of time and grabel not taking responsibility for breaking or damaging any items.

There is NO WORSE way to experience moving out of state than to have Graebel in San Jose, CA pack your stuff for you, break your stuff, deliver it to the wrong places and make a bunch of promises they can’t keep.
From the start, the Graebel employees were between 20 min and two hours late to the appointments that were scheduled for assessment and pre-​packing. On packing day, they were twenty minutes late, but forged the time on their clipboard so as not to get in trouble; I should have known that disaster was imminent.
On moving day, I provided food and drinks throughout the day — the reason I mention this is because I don’t want to give the impression that I was an overly-​expectant and ungrateful tyrant to the workers. I appreciate hard, manual labor — I’ve been there.
With that said, four men showed up and only one spoke/​understood English. He was attempting to translate my requests for the other three, but as you will soon read, it was futile. I thought I would be ultra-​prepared and smart, so I labeled everything with its intended destination before the movers arrived, but the labels served as nothing more than colorful post-​its littering my home; useless to someone unable to read English.
I had three designations for items to be packed and shipped:
1) Things that were staying in the home in San Jose, CA;
2) Things I needed moved to temporary housing for three months; and
3) Things going to storage (to be moved to permanent housing within three months).
Sounds simple enough, right? Nope. Even with color-​coded post-​its, numerous items were packed for and shipped to wrong destinations. To make matters worse, the supervisor of the crew, Mario, lied to me about making it right later! When I was attempting to double-​check packing, he told me he had double-​checked as well and that everything was boxed for destinations I had labeled. This couldn’t have been further from the truth and I knew it as soon a they arrived at the temp housing destination. In lieu of taking the stuff with them to storage, Mario stated it could be later re-​shipped from temp housing to permanent housing!
A month and a half later, ON THE DAY I WAS MOVING to permanent housing, I found out Mario’s promise of transferring incorrectly shipped items was a lie, which ultimately left me and my company with another moving bill! Even the Graebel guys in Seattle, Washington (completing the permanent move) felt badly for me! One nice gentleman offered to assist me with his personal vehicle! Seattle Graebel will get a separate review…
Here are some of the issues caused by San Jose, CA Graebel movers:
* Delivered 14 boxes to wrong location. Neglected to deliver spices, food, coats, soap, shampoo, and hair products to temp location.
* Each shoe AND HAIR BAND (cloth) were WRAPPED INDIVIDUALLY in at least 15 pieces of paper!!! I think I accidentally tossed away Lululemon hair bands as a result.
* Broken large picture frame — shattered glass.
* Broke a wheel off of my computer chair.
* Three of six table lamp glass shades were cracked or broken.
* A large, expensive bedroom mirror was scratched right down the middle.
* When I unpacked personal items I asked them not to touch (I had them shipped instead), I found they had been rifled through and re-​packed by the movers. Not cool.
* TiVo was packed with wine bottles, but without power cords. The box was marked «wine.»
* Blue ray was packed in box marked «small pillows.»
* My table lamps were completely and unnecessarily dismantled. I still haven’t found all the pieces.
* One medium vase and faux flowers were packed in a giant wardrobe box, alone… with about 10 pounds of packing paper.
* Shelf brackets disappeared and are still in an unknown location
* Knife holder was sent to temp housing, without knives. Knives were packed in an unknown box and sent to storage.
* Mixer was sent to temp housing in a box with all my scarves. Mixer bowl and attachments were in 3 separate boxes, in storage.
* Boxes marked as «clothes» were actually computer equipment and cords!
* They packed my garbage! Literally stuffed trash and rotting potatoes into a box with my food processor!
* They didn’t remove and consequently killed all batteries in all 6 remotes and all 4 auto soap dispensers (40 batteries I had to replace at once)
* Poor planning and improper/​non-​existent staging (as well as taking hours to rifle through my personal items and wrap each headband and shoe), caused them to tie up the elevator and loading dock for more than 6 hours! Property Management was pissed!
To top it all off, when I called to check on whether they were going to compensate me for the damage, they said it was too late to file a claim! Nobody told me I had to file something separately than the damages paper I signed and pictures I submitted to Mario! So, I received ZERO restitution, zero apologies! AWFUL COMPANY! It’s 8 ½ months later and I still get heated thinking of this experience. If you’re in San Jose, find another mover!

I selected Graebel for an international move from Buenos Aires to the Bay Area.
The good part is that almost all of my stuff arrived safely and with no damage. The packers on both ends handled my things with care and nothing was damaged during handling.
The bad part is that two small electronics items were stolen out of my shipment (an old smartphone and a point-​and-​shoot camera) en route. The move coordinator said that my shipment was opened in customs in both Argentina and Brazil (as if that excuses anything).
In addition, I was forced to pay for the entire cost of the shipment up front, including a service (art export permit) that ended up not being needed. I was also supposed to pay by weight, and I suspect that the actual weight of my shipment was less than they estimated, theoretically meaning that I would get refunded for the difference. However, thus far (more than 6 weeks later) there is no word that they will consider refunding me, nor have I been able to get any kind of final invoice. They seem to believe that once I’ve paid, their service is complete.
Beware.

To give some context to this review, I did not choose Graebel as a mover. I moved from Sydney, Australia to the Bay Area (CA), and the movers I selected in Sydney had contracted with Graebel for the US part of the move. I’m very glad they did, as Graebel were great! Amanda was my coordinator, and she proactively updated me on when my shipment arrived at the port, assisted me in paying the customs fee (the Graebel website had a payment function which made this easier!), and scheduled the delivery at my house at my convenience. The driver was also great — he didn’t complain at all about bringing my stuff up a flight of stairs (that are steep and dark!), and all the boxes were in good condition — not wet or dented or anything! I didn’t ship anything really breakable, so can’t speak to that, but at least I know my clothes won’t be all nasty :) I would highly recommend Graebel.

Run, run, run… this company does not hire professional movers. They hire muscle to cram your goods in to boxes. The crew we got stole from us, damaged so many items, lost items such as my wedding dress, expensive designer handbags and luggage (which technically should go under stole) left piss all over our bathroom floor, crapped in our bathroom and I will spare you the details of the rest. They broke items then hid them in a cabinet with glue on them (thank you nanny cam) stepped on our furniture with their boots on leaving grease stains, stepped on leather furniture leaving marks, taped our furniture so tight that the fabric is distorted… put our wet towels in with our linens when they knew our stuff was going to be in storage for a few months, broke our refrigerator, packed the hoses to the washing machine inside the washing machine without draining them (but hey they threw in a pair of my pillow cases to help absorb the water) and it molded… I could go on and on. And the worse thing about it is they don’t care. They take weeks to respond, we are still trying to get things worked out and they delivered our goods five weeks ago. To date they have done nothing about our washer or refrigerator, seriously… people use these items everyday yet we have contacted them weekly and still no resolution. We’re probably going to have to hire an attorney and I can guarantee you my husbands company is getting a full report. Another employee was sharing her experience with us and said that she had goods missing and when she went to Graebels warehouse to locate it they were actually using her furniture. Maybe this is why our furniture has so many spots and stains that it didn’t prior to the move. I will pack my own stuff before I will ever let thes creeps in my house again. BEWARE!!!
5÷2÷14 Update. We are still getting the run around from this company! To date they still have not replaced nor reimbursed us for our damaged and unusable refrigerator and washing machine (or any of our other goods). Last Friday a representative was suppose to come out to our house so we can settle things up and they failed to show. I am appalled at how we have been treated and continue to be treated. Others within my husbands company have shared their similar experiences with us and we have learned we are not the only ones who had a awful experience. Apparently Graebel is merging with Stark Van Lines so look out for that brand too. I should mention this is not our first experience with Graebel. Should Graebel redeem themselves and compensate us fairly for all our lost and damaged goods I will certainly report back.

We were referred to Graebel by a friend who had used them for almost the same move from CA to NC a few years ago — although not the least expensive, they handled her move to her complete satisfaction.
This review isn’t actually about using them for our move, but rather the process of getting the estimate, and the lack of professionalism following my informing their sales rep. that we had chosen another mover.
The walkthrough and estimate process went okay — the rep was a bit chatty, but seemed to know what he was doing and was pleasant and otherwise professional. The estimate was provided immediately after the walkthrough — no waiting. I had a few other estimates to come after, so I told him I’d be making a decision within a day or two. So far so good.
It turned out that the Graebel estimate was more than just a little higher than the others — it was almost 50% higher! That, combined with the fact that I felt very comfortable with one of the other guys (the owner had come to do the estimate) and that the other guy could meet our need for a very quick schedule — I chose another mover. When I told the Graebel rep he asked about the other estimate — I told him, and he redid his estimate and came down almost to the same price. When I told him I’d already made my decision, his price came down again, and he through in full value replacement insurance. Nice, but too late (not to mention it seems a bit odd that he’d have that much room to work with — was he trying to screw me with the original estimate?). Anyway, when I told him that I was still going with the other mover her got rather snarky and it just all felt rather desperate.
These guys may be great at doing the moving part… they could use a bit of work on the sales and estimates part.

the guy came and have me an estimate but it took 3 days for me to hear back. They told me that it could take 3 – 12 business days to receive my things from CA to CO. IT IS a 16 hour drive, it could take 2 days 3 Max why 12?

If I could give even more stars, I would.
We did all our own packing, so I can’t speak to that service, but the folks I worked with were all professionals. Everything arrived on time, in perfect condition, and the movers were happy and careful the whole time — which was important to me, since I want to be sure they’re going to be focused on the job at hand — my stuff! From when we had the estimator come out to give a quote (which he had to do without seeing half of our belongings that were in a storage unit), to our move coordinator Rachel, to our driver Brian, and the guys who helped load/​unload — all were top notch.
I got 6 bids from varying companies, and Graebel was solidly in the middle price-​wise, but their service was excellent. Everyone was on time for all appointments (text update when one person was going to be 15 minutes late due to traffic.) Rachel was on the ball going over all the details of our move: pick up in two locations and arranging a street parking permit since we moved close to Wrigley Field and they were unloading on a game day.
Perhaps most importantly, Brian, our driver, and the guys that helped him carry our stuff were super careful with everything, and even when I was in awe that they could carry so much at once, they did it and without complaining about the two flights of stairs at our new place. They had every detail nailed down well in advance, so I knew exactly what day our stuff would arrive, and when it did, all was exactly how we had packed it — no damages to our stuff or our apartments.
Highly recommend, especially if you can have Rachel as your move coordinator and Brian as your driver!

Very professional, prompt in response and willing to meet our price. Well recommended by their referrals as well. ;-)

I had worked with this Graebel on the east coast — for my own moves, and clients — and they were amazing. The San Jose office, on the other hand, is a mess. As many of the other reviews state: nothing will go as planned, they will be late etc… and make you feel like the problem, if they even return a phone call. Having read the reviews, I called my move coordinator weekly to make sure everything was on schedule. (Bothersome, but there were lots of logistics with people, cars, pets in out move across the country). Every week I was told «Yep, everything is fine. I will call when you move gets closer.» I called anyway. The night before the packers are to arrive, 6:30 p.m., I am told they will not be showing up. I spent the whole day packing myself — everything except kitchen, pictures, hangers and some pet stuff. The next day, the movers did not show until 10 am. They were gone by 2 with less than half the stuff because the brought the smallest truck ever — one size up from a van. On a Friday afternoon they needed to drive to Alameda (from Berkeley) and unload. By evening, I told them not to return that day, but to arrive by 8a.m. on Saturday. Which they did — and packed until 2. So, in the end, it was all completed with hours to spare before my flight. All of the movers were very nice, but unorganized. My stuff made it to storage, but only half of the items that were supposed to be in «early out» were in that container — while random bed parts and a carpet made it in. I am hoping nothing is broken, but it will be a while before I can receive all the items. In the end, I blame the move coordinator who very clearly botched the whole job. She even took the afternoon of my move off with no coverage for that day, or the saturday. I tried calling a few times and no one at the office knew what to do with me. I have moved 4 times in as many years — with essentially the same stuff — and it has never been the stress or headache that this has. I cannot wait for it to be over. I wanted to give 1 star, but the movers and sales person were all very nice, so I bounced it to 2. Fortunately, the warehouse and staff at CT office are organized and efficient, as well as friendly.

Do not use these guys. They did a lot a lot of damage to our house and have taken no responsibility despite multiple phone calls to their various offices and «customer» service numbers. I do not think they hire the highest level of employees which is why these «accidents» happen. These guys were out of it. So entrust your things to another company.

We used Graebel for our office move. The person who came out, Eric, ended up being a complete tool by under bidding the job. Completely missed that we had two labs that needed to be moved even though I walked him through the ENTIRE space and took him INTO the labs. I caught the error a few weeks later and he had to come back out to look around. This time my Chief Development Officer took him around and AGAIN showed him the entire space including the lab space. I was then given another quote but it was just above our budget. I mentioned this to him and he got it to fit our budget. Me, thinking this is a nice company and they are willing to work with you, hired them. Two days before the move I asked about the labs and how they moved them. I was then informed they don’t move chemicals. I had to scramble to find another person to move the chemicals and that cost me more $$$. This Eric person did NOT do his job. Didn’t pay any attention to anything he saw during the walk through. During the move they sent some decent guys. They grumbled a bit but I did get them food and beverages. They went over their time alotted by half an hour and that half hour was spent eating the food I got for them yet was charged for that time! All that said, I paid for the move on the corporate card and then get ANOTHER bill weeks later stating they ran the numbers and that we had to pay DOUBLE what was originally estimated. How does one underestamate a job by that much?! It’s clear he wanted to boost his numbers to get the job and then screw the client in the end. I was willing to pay and extra $ 1,000 to make it go away but now they are coming back at me asking for almost $ 2,000 more. It’s not my job to know how many boxes I’ll need, or how many men it takes, the man hours it takes, or how many trips. That’s the estimators job! Turns out the guy was let go cause he did this same thing to other clients. Waiting to see how they handle my willingness to only give them $ 1,000. I have informed the realtor who referred them to NEVER give their name as a referral again. He was mortified at all we went through and said he wouldn’t give their name again. Apalling!

Stayed at home on a vacation date with my wife and two children because I had a 2:30 PM appointment to get a Graebel estimate. At 4:30 PM I called and asked where the person was. The company said the person must have missed it (he did) and that it «wasn’t his fault entirely because the company was having software scheduling issues.» The offered no apology until I complained and when asked when they could come out for an estimate — they offered a date 7 DAYS LATER, which was too late for our move. I asked to talk to a manager but none was available. Astoundingly bad service, particularly because I have had a very good experience on prior moves with Bekins, North American and United. These guys were the worst.

Moved from IL to CA. Movers at origin were on time and proceeded to pack up my apartment. After they left, I realized they missed an entire kitchen cabinet. They promptly came back the next morning to pack it up telling me that my stuff is still at the warehouse and the box will go along with my stuff.
Arrival time was pretty good, however, the movers at destination left much to be desired. They proceeded to bring up boxes etc. I had the welcome home package which means they unpack my bed and 4 boxes at my request. I thought I would pick out which 4 they would unpack. Unfortunately, the guy decided to pick his own and when I spoke to him he complained that he had unpacked more that necessary.
Plus they had scratched up my hardwood floors which, when I confronted them about it, I was told that it’s hard to scratch up floors like mine. Um no, I had to go get the scratches covered up!
My 2 kitchen chairs were broken, there were plates broken and items missing.
And the best thing, that box never came with my stuff. They later located it back in IL and said they would send it. Fine, a week later, I called to say that I still have not received that box. Come to find, they sent it from the warehouse in IL back to my old address in IL (???) I was told they would send it via priority to me in CA. One week later I get the box (by this time nearly 3 weeks after everything arrived) and no, it was not priority. And it was poorly packed that the plates were broken.
My company paid for the move and we self-​insured so the claims were settled very promptly and quickly. God knows what it would have been like if Graebel had to handle the claims.
I would recommend my company drop these people from our corporate vendors because I’ve certainly worked with much better professional movers.

One key difference between the move I did with my wife and I (Jenny C below) and many of the reviewers is 1) We packed all of our own stuff and 2) we have a very short, local move.
I would never trust a company to pack my personal belongings, so even though they offer that service, we didn’t take it. We had everything in boxes before they arrived.
Our move was local, maybe less than 10 miles. So there wasn’t much opportunity for things to shift or fall in the truck.
All the movers were very courteous and patient with our pickiness and indecisiveness when asking us where to place certain pieces of furniture and boxes. They estimated 8 hours for the move but finished in 4 ½ because they brought an extra man. They sent us a check to reimburse us for the over estimated cost.

We were referred to Graebel by our RE Agent for our local residential move. We had our move in May.
Pros:
1. Timely — they were only 30 minutes late, but with things like this, it’s pretty much on time in my book.
2. They added one more guy and were able to finished in half the time they were supposed to and reimbursed the difference
3. Careful — they padded the railings and rolled floor protectors on major walking paths
4. They disassembled and then re-​assembled the furniture in their proper locations
5. They made sure all the boxes and furniture went where they were supposed to go. When none of the boxes were marked, they made sure to check with my husband or me
6. Professional team with great team work
In one instance, we had a huge book shelf that needed to fit into a tight space, so they had three guys maneuvering one shelf just to make sure. The fourth guy was assembling our furniture.
Cons:
1. We called them one time to make sure they would be open for us to pick up some boxes/​pads, but when my husband got there, they were closed.
Things to consider:
1. We were only a local move, so there wasn’t enough time for our things to move too much where there would be a chance for damages.
2. If you’re moving cross-​country, make sure you pad everything to avoid damages. They cannot guarantee what happens on the road where outside environmental influences are at play.
Tid Bits;
1. Graebel is a company that do moves for big corporations like Apple, Cisco, etc. They move more than just residential, but whole company buildings including servers. My brother’s company, Cisco, was one of them. He also was a satisfied customer.

My experience with Graebel Erickson was the worst moving experience I’ve ever had. They made an already stressful move into one of the worst experiences of my life. I can say that even though several years ago another mover accidentally killed one of my beloved pets. I can say this even though I am recently divorced. This still rates as one of the worst things to happen to me. The crew lied to me. Then they lied to their management about what they did and said at my apartment. If I could have three wishes, I’d waste one of them on wishing this company right out of existence.