Always Affordable Moving & Storage

WARNING: IF YOU VALUE YOUR MONEY, YOUR POSSESSIONS, AND YOUR SANITY, DO NOT EVEN THINK OF USING THIS COMPANY!!!
I am writing this review on my iPad, sitting on the bare hardwood floor of my new apartment in Atlanta, Georgia. All of my worldly possessions are still sitting in a warehouse in New Jersey, and all I have been living in are the clothes on my back. My nightmare started when I first contacted another scam operation called, «Alliance Moving Services,» in Astoria, New York. Their overly friendly phone rep gave me such a bogus bill of goods, that in retrospect, I now realize that it was simply, «Too good to be true. Only later did I discover that „Alliance Moving Services“ are simply a BROKER, making the deal, then handing over your move to whoever is available, in this case, these scum sucking bottom feeders, „Always Affordable Moving and Storage,“ in Metuchen, New Jersey. When they first contacted me, they were very personable and professional, always answering my calls on the first ring. But after they had all my things AND my money, two days before my long distance move, my contact ‘Anthony,’ mysteriously stopped returning my calls. But they promised that they would meet me at my destination with the contents of my entire home, and I foolishly believed them. WRONG. The truck never showed. I should have known something wasn’t right when they promised me three moving men, and provided only two. But this is where my nightmare really begins.
I immediately called Alliance Moving Services and talked to one of their „customer service“ representatives, ‘Vanessa.» It was she who informed me that all of my things were still in New Jersey, and that «You don’t even have a moving date scheduled.» That’s when I began to panic… my entire life was on that truck, all my furniture, all of my computers, all of my clothes, everything I need to start my new business here and make a living, even my heart medications. When I told her that everyone promised to arrive in Atlanta on October the 7^th, she replied: «Oh, that’s just an approximate date. We have up to 21 MORE DAYS TO DELIVER YOUR GOODS. One full month, total. If you didn’t read the „fine print“ in your contract, that’s not MY fault. We have done nothing wrong.» She had obviously rehearsed this same, lame excuse many times before. «But I have a good idea for you, Robert. Why don’t you rent your OWN truck for $ 25,000., load it in New Jersey, then you can drive it back to Atlanta yourself!» After sleeping on the floor in the same clothes for over a week, I went BALLISTIC. I asked her to put me in touch with the gentleman who originally booked my move at Alliance to confirm my statments, ‘Daniel,’ and she refused. Then, when I asked to speak to her supervisor, she stated to me that both she and the other telephone operator were BOTH «supervisors.» That’s when decided to call the Fraud Department of the NYPD, and talked with Lt. Gutic. He took pity on this 67-​year old man and promptly called the dispatcher at ‘Always Affordable,’ «Anthony,» who had up to now had been avoiding my increasingly desperate calls. The detective confirmed that indeed, their bogus terms were hidden in the mountains of fine print hidden among the thousands on the reverse side of the contract, and called their failure to disclose this vital information to me up front, «highly suspect.» He then strongly suggested that I hire an attorney, even suggesting a free consumer protection lawyer since I am now nearly destitute. After filing a formal complaint with the NYPD, I contacted an attorney who after hearing of my experience, «had a few questions for them regarding the misleading language of my clearly deceptive contract,» after finally discovering this important information under Section 7 among the piles of fine print on the back of my contract, in tiny gray letters that no one can ever see, let alone actually read. But until he can contact them Monday morning, I am still living like a homeless man, with no answer to when my suffering will end.
How I will survive on this bare floor, with absolutely no way to make a living for another three weeks is the worst single experience of my entire life. And I owe it all to Alliance Moving Services. If you doubt a single word I have said, simply call my contact ‘Anthony’ at their partners in crime, «Always Affordable,» at 732÷744−1212, and ask him where the load for Robert Kim is, and more importantly, exactly when it will arrive. If you can provide me a specific date when my ongoing nightmare will end, I will be happy to give you the generous tip I had planned to give the two Russian moving men, ‘Michael’ and ‘Valentin,’ who promised to «meet me in Atlanta in four days!» Liars, scumbags, and thieves, all.

One word. Awful. I would never recommend this moving company to anyone.
I moved from Massachusetts to California and When I first spoke to Abraham, the customer service rep. that quoted the move, he failed to mention that I would have to pay extra for wrapping and tape. The quote was for $ 1250 and that was for very little space on the truck. My inventory included 20 boxes, queen size bed and headboard, crib, toddler recliner, 5 good size toys including a kitchen set, two small bikes and two other ride on toys, a mirror and a kids dresser. When the movers got there, they were very friendly but informed me that they could not take my mirror because it was considered «fragile» and would cost extra. They informed me that the space on the truck didn’t match the inventory I had and that they would arrange it so I wouldn’t be charged extra. Great. Then they informed me that they would have to wrap my mattress and dresser in plastic and the plastic and tape would cost an additional $ 100. Being a single mom with no financial help, $ 100 is a lot of money for me. I was NEVER told that I would be charged extra in fact, Abraham from Always Affordable told me that the movers would come to the house and wrap everything for me, but failed to mention that I would be charged for it. After the movers wrapped everything they informed me of the charges and once they finished, they produced paperwork that I had to sign saying I acknowledged that I was being charged for that. I felt like I had no choice but to sign it since it was already wrapped and on the truck.
Before the movers came — I had to send in a deposit to lock in the «discounted» price of $ 1250. I hadn’t decided what moving company I was going with, so Abraham told me that I could post date a check for the following Monday and if I decided that I wasn’t going with Always Affordable, then I could call before Monday and cancel the services. Monday rolls around and I called to say that I would be going with them, deposited the money later that day, only to find out that they had cashed the check early resulting in a bounced check fee. I tried calling the company with no return call. I emailed and finally got a response saying to send in another check for $ 350 and they would void the initial check for $ 400 on their end. I did what they asked, the movers came, packed everything up, and I started the treck cross country. The week after, the company called to tell me that my deposit check had bounced and that my things would be delayed until that check cleared. Upon investigating, the check for $ 350 did clear, but the company kept telling me that I would have to speak with my bank because it was bouncing on their end. Three days we went back and forth arguing that the check prior had bounced which had been their mistake, and that the second check had cleared my bank. They continued to argue with me about the second check bouncing and were not helpful. In fact, they were downright rude. I lost my cool with two different agents. One of the agents, Moanie, sent me an email with a screen shot of the bounced check. Low and behold, it was the check for $ 400 that she was referring to, after three days of arguing with me. I sent her a screen shot of the check for $ 350 that replaced the other check, showing her that it cleared my bank. Her response was that all was ok on their end and that my things would be on a truck leaving that following Thursday. Not only is their accounting department incompetent, their customer service is as well. I complained about being charged extra for wrapping and tape and I got a rude response and nothing resolved. I have never written a bad review for any company, even if I thought the service was bad. This was the worst experience I’ve ever had in dealing with a company and I would NEVER recommend them to anyone in fact, I plan on writing on every social media site about how bad this company is. I’m happy to show anyone who would like to see screen shots of the emails that went back and forth. I can’t wait until my things get here and to be done with them.

DO NOT USE ALWAYS AFFORDABLE MOVING COMPANY.
(If you want full detail, please read below — if you don’t need full detail, know that you should avoid using this company at all costs.)
I recently made a move from Chicago to Seattle for a job. I hired Always Affordable because they had decent reviews, only one complaint with the BBB and were reasonable in price. This was the biggest mistake I could have made.
My initial phone calls with Always Affordable were very helpful. They were easy to get a hold of and quickly and seamlessly scheduled my move for the dates I needed.
Unfortunately, this is where the good comments end.
Always Affordable hired a sub-​contracted company, Best Price Moving and Storage, Inc., to move my items. Always Affordable’s biggest responsible is to hire a reliable moving company to get my items from point A to point B. This company was anything but reliable.
Prior to their arrival, Always Affordable and I had discussed the 4 flights of stairs the movers would have to use during pick-​up. Since I didn’t have much furniture (nightstand, small side table, lightweight headboard, lightweight dining table, a bunch of boxes and only one large/​heavy 3pc. vintage dresser which was in a storage unit 3 steps below ground level) the stairs were not supposed to be an issue. Well, they ended up being an issue.
Upon arrival of Best Price, several of the movers said they would not help with the move because of the stairs. The ones that did help were fast, but beyond careless with my items. My sister and I saw them hit both the headboard and dining table against the ceiling and walls. I also came downstairs to find one mover trying to DRAG my heavy, 3pc. dresser our of the storage unit by himself. Literally DRAG. I told him this was a recently refinished, vintage dresser and asked him to be careful with it — at which point he got help and seemed to safely carry the dresser to the truck. I thought from that point on, that level of care would continue through the move, which was not the case. The pictures speak for themselves…
Once I arrived in Seattle and found an apartment, I called promptly to let Best Price and Always Affordable know the address and that I was ready for delivery. It was very difficult to get through to anyone at Best Price. I finally got through to a lady named Mary who confirmed my address and that I was ready for delivery — she said that she would call me to let me know when my items would arrive after she talked to the driver later that day. Unfortunately, I never heard back from Mary again. I tried her every day for 4 days to no response. I finally contacted Always Affordable who were able to get through to them — they let me know that the items were not yet even on a truck or on their way to Chicago. When I asked if I could get better timing Always Affordable made sure to let me know that the contract stated they had 21 business days to get me my items, there was no additional information to provide, and Best Price (who I hand’t been able to get through to in days) would contact me when my items were on a truck.
2 more days went by. Still no word. So I e-​mailed Eddie at Always Affordable who originally scheduled my move. He did not respond to my phone calls, but let me know via email that the items had been put on a truck but that its a long drive and it would take some time, so I should check back in the following week for a delivery date…
After that, I was never again able to get through Best Price or Always Affordable. I finally received a call from the driver 2 days before arrival letting me know that my items would be coming on that date.
That’s not where it ends. When my items arrived, EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF FURNITURE WAS BADLY DAMAGED. I’m not talking about the typical dings or scratches that may be acceptable with a move. Most items were completely un-​repairable and or the main dresser will need to be completely re-​finished because the damage on the body was so bad. Beyond that there were several items within my boxes which were broken and I found 3 martini glasses to be missing from a 6 pc. set (which I can only assume they broke and got rid of as well). Again, the pictures I’m posting speak for themselves.
The worst part is, when I called Always Affordable to get through to Eddie to let him know about the complete carelessness and disrespect with my delivery — I could not get through. I was able to talk to another person who in short told me that Always Affordable was in no way liable for the damages and I’d have to contact the carrier direct to file a claim. Yes, I understand this is the contract I’ve signed. But, if the company who hires the carrier isn’t responsible for the carrier’s performance — who is?
Always Affordable, as a moving broker, should have a list of trusted and reliable resources. They absolutely did not have that or provide that for my move.
STAY AWAY FROM ALWAYS AFFORDABLE.

Estimates are very misleading. They only weigh and they will not overestimate as i was told. I contacted them regarding why they were estimating so many boxes to move my mom. She requested certain furniture items and they were not on the order. Then when the movers got to her house, they refused to take furniture because they said it would void the contract. They put you in touch with so many different people no wonder their process fails. Customer service didn’t care, they just kept saying «oh, so the move is done and your stuff isn’t broken!» I know have to rent a Uhaul and drive 500 miles to pickup the remaining items get didn’t bring. They are not BBB accredited for a reason!