San Diego Small Moves

Deon and Leo were early to my house and ready to work. They moved a room full of oak office furniture from the second floor without dinging the walls or banister. The furniture went to my son's house in PB. They were patient as we argued where to put things. I would hire them again.

Would not use again or recommend. Hired to move mother's furniture from one apartment to another at a senior residence. Unprofessional, inconsiderate, and stole items.
1. The crew, Leo and Deion, showed up 45 minutes late but had time to stop at Starbucks for coffee.
2. They did not bring a furniture dolly or hand truck because their equipment was in their truck which was in the shop for repair. Poor planning given I booked one week in advance. Then they asked to use the senior residence's bellhop cart instead. Inappropriate.
3. Lastly after they left I realized the cell phone stand I have been using this past week while packing my mother's apartment was missing. I had used it just that morning before they arrived and no one else has been in the apartment. I now wonder if they took anything else. Possibly jewelry but I don't have my mom's items memorized so hard to tell.

What an awful experience for the $350 2-hr minimum plus 3% surcharge for not paying cash, for essentially one hour of work. I didn't give them hard time about being late or not having any equipment even though it was very annoying and an inconvenience to me, but to discover they stole something so petty from an elderly woman and that I actually gave them a tip is adding insult to injury. They should be ashamed of themselves but I doubt they care given their lack of work ethic. I emailed the owner Alex but he never responded.

Before I even agreed to do the job I asked Ken about his insurance. It says it covers 60 cents per pound. That is just ridiculous. I called him and spoke to him about it and he said, hey if we damage something I'll cover it, you have my word. We do great work and we are very careful. I said, ok I'm taking you by your word. He also told me they would be there at 9am and be loaded and on the road by 11am. The guys showed up an hour late and it took them 7 hours to load everything. This fouled up my entire day and plans to be on the road by noon. I specifically told them to be careful with a genuine leather recliner.
So the next day I was at new destination, the driver told me he would drive till 10pm that night then get up early to meet me at the new house early. Well they never left San Diego. Instead they changed the plan without telling me and left San Diego the next morning so they didn't arrive till after 2pm. Again fouling up my entire day as we waited for hours for them to arrive. When they arrived they unloaded the leather recliner and I noticed that it wasn't even wrapped. So I quickly inspected it and sure enough it had scratched and scuffs on one of the arms. I immediately pulled the driver over and showed him and said, you guys didn't even wrap this and I specifically told you to be careful! He just shrugged and said, hey we tried, we're not perfect. I messaged Jen and showed him pictures of this and a mattress that they drug on the ground and ruined my. He quickly referred to his ridiculous insurance again saying oh we estimate those to be a couple hundred pounds we'll give you $120. I said, the chair alone is worth $1000 and besides you gave me your personal guarantee! How are you going to make this right. He never responded. And an entire box is missing! I will never use this company ever again!

I was really looking forward to writing a positive review for the movers, but today didn't go as planned. The movers arrived, and we finished everything in an impressive one hour and 12 minutes, which was fantastic. I was thrilled with their efficiency. However, when I realized I needed them to move one more item, they had already left.

I immediately called them back, and not more than 10 minutes had passed. I asked if they could come back since I still had 45 minutes left within the two-hour minimum. The mover said he would check if it was possible, but he mentioned being on the freeway and having to turn around. I told him it wasn't a problem. After 15 minutes went by without any update, I called again, but his phone went straight to voicemail. So, I called the main number and spoke to Jay. I informed him about the situation and asked why I hadn't received a callback. He promised to look into it and get back to me. However, it took some time for Jay to reach the mover as well. He managed to contact the other mover involved, but unfortunately, he couldn't provide any useful information. He claimed to be unaware of the conversation or what had happened, suggesting a possible miscommunication.

I reassured Jay that the mover had understood my request and confirmed that he would have to come back to the house to transport the one mattress to the other location, a task that would have taken only 15 to 20 minutes. However, by the time it was 2 o'clock, my two-hour minimum had expired. Jay informed me that the movers had finished for the day and couldn't assist me any further. He suggested hiring them for an additional hour the following day at a cost of $50 or renting a U-Haul truck to handle the job myself. In my opinion, the situation was poorly handled and extremely frustrating. There was a lack of effective communication and problem-solving from the office to the movers, leaving me to figure out a solution on my own.

On the other hand, Ken, the owner, has demonstrated an outstanding degree of professionalism and sincerity in his apology. As someone who values and actively supports local businesses, I find it disheartening that the situation was mishandled by the staff. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the owner acted appropriately in response. Moving forward, I sincerely hope that the staff will emulate the owner's sense of responsibility and prioritize the well-being of both customers and the business itself.

Now June 2024: Now 1.5 years later & Owner never gave me his PROMISED partial refund, it never arrived in the mail, now 1.5 years. My 3 now a 1. No bueno.

Movers were hard working, professional and had a good attitude. I had some very heavy and awkward items and they never complained once. No hidden fees, price was exactly as quoted. This was the best experience I have ever had with movers and would highly recommend this business.

Terrible customer service this time around, especially from the owner. Who says "more bad news" in any regard when addressing a customer?! Even more so, a customer that has previously used this company twice and spent thousands of dollars already.

Actual email from owner at 9:30pm this evening:

I apologize for the errors our employee made. He is new and did not map out the distance you are from San Diego. For a drive up to Irvine we would need to add $200 gas / milage fee to your job.

Also you wrote that you have 3 flights of stairs but you didn't specify which location that was (point A or point B) ? Also how many flights of stairs do you have at the other location? Please specify what floor you live on and what floor you are moving into? Is there an elevator at other location that you did not specify?

Since you do have 3 flights of stairs at one location, we do need to add one extra mover. That is too many stairs for only 2 movers so for 3 movers we would also increase the price again $40 per hour. So the first two hours will have an additional $80.

All in all new price quote = $830 for 2 hours + $160 additional hour for 3 movers and a moving truck with all the supplies.

Also finally more bad news, since your move will occupy a lot more time than originally planned, we can't move you on Monday 05/08. We can book you for the Sunday before 05/07 or the following Tuesday 05/09. Will that work for you?

Used this company today for the SECOND time and we are as impressed with them today as we were when we used them almost two years ago. The guys today arrived on time, great communication, were efficient and moved fast. Would definitely use them again and highly recommend this company. Thank you.

These guys were so great. They started great on the phone by asking good questions. They were easy to work with, showed up on time and handled it all with a great attitude. I was helping a disabled friend move, and they were just great around her and were respectful as we moved into the facility. Highly recommend.... b

I was moving out of a studio apartment, so I didn't have a lot of furniture and larger items. San Diego Small Moves quoted me a price that was nearly half of some of the estimates I received from other companies. Leo and Deion were nice guys and very professional and they finished my move in just over an hour. I would definitely use San Diego Small Moves again!