Magic Moving & Storage

I was really excited to sign with Magic Moving & Storage. The Unilocal reviews were good and the ads on the website demonstrating an A+ from the BBB were reassuring.
Tried to call them multiple times the day prior to speak to someone to set up an appointment, was forwarded a message where I left my information (in the morning). Called at least 5 times thru the day, could not speak to anyone.
Okay, that’s fine, maybe a busy day, a little odd however not being able to speak to anyone when calling multiple times in a day.
Fast forward to the next day, I call and finally get to speak to someone. During the conversation, I am forwarded to another agent. We are going over rates and that’s when the agent says she has to go, as she has other business to attend to and has another phone call. I was about to give them at least 3500/​4K in business and wanted to clarify a few quick issues. We were one the phone for a total of 11 minutes, only 7 min with this agent. At this point, this was frustrating as I had went out of my way to try to get in touch with this company, but ended up having poor customer service saving me from possibly an even worse experience.
That’s when I did tell the customer service agent about how I called and left messages and that I was frustrated with their service, I decided to not go with them. She called back saying she checked all their messages and I never left a message (not true at all, but maybe technology failed on their side, which may have happened on the day I was calling)
The movers may be great, but this experience was a bit salty. If a customer is actively trying to sign up with your business, maybe I would treat them differently.

Just used magic movers to move some of the remaining items in my house. Guys (Brandon, Edgar and Hector) did a fabulous job, were very friendly and took time to ensure everything was well protected. Very happy with my move.

Guys were really efficient and did a good job protecting our furniture, the home and floor on both ends of the move. Very professional service and great response time.
Highly recommend them for any move.

Amazing job! Endless energy! Hardest working guys. Extremely professional and polite. Thank you MM! And THANK YOU for hiring men and women who served our country in the military!

Unfortunately I feel a need to write this review to warn anyone thinking of hiring this company to move them, go elsewhere.
This was my third move with this company in 3 ½ years. I went back with them because the first 2 moves were the best, I even requested the same men to move me the 2^nd time. Since then, these movers left the company & I know why.
Anyway, these were the worst men. The head mover was arrogant & a thief. He stole from me, nothing of value, & when I confronted him, he didn’t even apologize and offer to reimburse me.
They were also completely UNPROFESSIONAL. They moved at a snails pace so they could charge me overtime, and the 1^st two moves didn’t even come close to 8 hours. They did some packing for me, but WASTED materials that I paid over $ 160.00 for, that all ended up being recycled.
When I finally reported this to the company 3 weeks after the move, it took me that long because I didn’t want any trouble, NEVER got an apology, to this day. Called back twice because their supervisor never called me, and the last time while in the middle of a sentence, I was hung up on.
They don’t care about their clients, just the almighty dollar.
BEWARE!

Great service, used to move East Bay to Sacramento. Very professional, on time, polite, very careful with items and wrapping. Highly recommended!

Excellent Company, Highly recommend Magic Moving & Storage!
I hired Magic Moving for a local move from Fremont-​Fremont and I cannot get over how quick and easy they made it for me! I needed to act fast since my landlord «suddenly» couldn’t renew my tenancy and needed to sell the property. I shopped other so-​called 5 star companies but The sales/​office people were super friendly and helpful. They followed through on everything they suggested, promised and MORE!
Movers were neat, experienced and friendly. They wrapped up my furniture in thick blankets and completely covered my sofas with plastic wrap, put protection on my floors, doors, and stairs. I was not completely ready and the movers did not balk at packing my TV’s, glass table tops, lamps and pictures… VERY helpful. Brandon, even wrapped some heirlooms and personal items for me and placed them in my car. I was especially appreciative of how careful they were covering my mattresses and wrapping my granite (120 year old) hutch. Movers were impressive at every level and I cannot stress how easy and professional the whole company has been.
I have hired other moving companies and BY FAR the best and easiest moving company to work with if you want an experienced, affordable, professional moving company then I highly recommend hiring Magic Moving! They were GREAT! Thanks Magic!

My husband and I were absolutely impressed by the swift time it took for the guys of Magic Move to assemble our master bedroom mattress frame. The guys were absolutely professional and highly organized! Thank you Magic Move for making our move a breeze during a time when it can get very stressful. Many thanks, Ethel & Tenny Martinez

They were fantastic. They were on time, fast, efficient and very professional
They moved my family across town in under 7 hours.

Unfortunately, this move turned into a typical bad experience normal when you have to deal with a local agent for an otherwise highly regarded long distance company. Red Ball by itself was a 5 stare outfit and went to great lengths to make the rest of the move work out good. But we ended up paying an additional $ 1000 due to Magic charging for unloading at their site as part of a «local» move at overtime rates for 4 hours before they unloaded anything.
We initially filled out a request for a quote from Magic, and received a quote from Red Ball that including an amount for Magic. We subsequently discussed the Magic part with them directly. At no time was it mentioned that there would be a major item in the form of unloading charges at their warehouse as part of the quote.
They showed up early on the move day, and things seemed to be going pretty good the rest of the morning. However, after a short break for lunch, things seemed to slow down significantly in the afternoon. Since we were working with a flat 8 hour minimum charge, I got concerned that we were running short on time and expressed that to the apparent boss. He said we were not running out of time and not to worry.
Near the end of the 8 hours, they started dumping remaining unpacked things together in a few large boxes (we had packed over 90% of the non furniture items), which caused some minor damage which we have not bothered claiming. Then came the surprise.
Before they left, they called in to their office, and then presented the result to us. The billing was for about $ 2900 versus the estimate for their services of $ 1500. This included a few hundred for some additional packing materials, but the major item was almost $ 1000 for local unloading back at their yard. This was also at overtime rates. This amount had to be paid before they left.
We subsequently challenged this, especially as the unloading based on 4 flat hours seemed very arbitrary. The Red Ball crew who unloaded us felt to simply move it off the truck would have been 1 ½ hours and no more that 2. Also, they thought that Magic may have used warehouse unloaders who would not necessarily been at overtime rates. Magic subsequently gave a credit of $ 200, abut that was only about 20% of the surprise.
Bottom line was that if we were facing charges for service as if we were doing a complete local move with them, this should have been laid out at the beginning — plus the 4 flat hours billed before they actually did anything was excessive as well as the overtime rates.
At the other end, there were no surprises from Red Ball — even as putting some of the furniture back together took some extra time. We actually worked together in figuring them out and putting them together — with high fives all around as we finished up. Wished somehow they had done both ends of the move

These guys did a really great job. Professional, careful, quick.

I hired Magic Moving for a local move to storage and a long distance move from storage to Oregon. The local move went fine. The long distance move, however, was an absolute nightmare. I called the office several weeks in advance of my close of escrow to book a delivery date. Despite multiple phone calls and emails, I did not receive a 100% confirmed move date until almost TWO months after my initial request and just five days before the actual delivery!
During my initial conversations with the scheduler, I explained that my house was on a very narrow street and expressed my concern that there wasn’t enough room for a large truck. The scheduler told me «not to worry about it» and that «the guys would figure it out.» On the day of delivery, I reminded the scheduler of my narrow street and, to my dismay, she suggested that I meet their driver at the local U-​Haul location to help him choose an appropriate delivery truck. Sure enough, an hour after their scheduled arrival time, I received a call from the driver asking me to do just that. I drove over and provided the best advice I could despite the fact that they had several weeks to figure out the best sized truck on their own.
The driver and his crew arrived at my home around 3:30 in the afternoon — already half a day late. As I walked over to introduce myself to the crew, one of the guys got out of his truck, extinguished his cigarette on the ground, threw the butt into my neighbor’s recycling can, and then announced he would not be staying for the entire move because he had already been waiting for the driver for five hours. That’s when I learned that Magic Moving does not provide their own employees for long distance moves, but instead hires subcontractors whom they do not personally vet. The subs stayed true to their word… they walked off the job halfway through, but not before damaging several of my belongings as a result of their carelessness. (I realized later that I was even «given» two additional items from someone else’s delivery.) After another couple hours’ delay, the driver returned with a new crew who did not finish unloading until 11:00 PM that evening. My heart went out to the driver… he did the best he could despite his office’s poor planning and scheduling and the crew walk-​off. After such a long and frustrating day, he had the good sense not to ask me to fill out a customer satisfaction form or do a walk-​through. (Yes, I signed the 10+ page inventory checklist based on his assurance that everything had been delivered. After a 15+ hour day, I was not up to counting boxes or verifying that all my items had been delivered undamaged.)
I filed a claim with Magic Moving for my damaged and missing items along with a request to provide coverage on top of their basic insurance (just 60 cents per pound of damaged goods) given the horrible experience. It has been over a month since filing my claim and, once again after reaching out multiple times, I have received no word regarding status other than my claim is under review and they will «try to expedite.» I’m also quite surprised they have made no effort to pick-​up and return the items that do not belong to me.
Given I paid over $ 15k for the two moves, over $ 1k in extra temporary housing while waiting for a delivery date, and ended up with approximately $ 2k in damaged and missing items that were packed by Magic Moving, not only was this experience an absolute nightmare, it’s been an incredibly expensive nightmare. I was willing to pay a premium for quality service. What I got was not worth the price. It remains to be seen whether or not Magic Moving honors my claim.
Update: After posting my review on Unilocal,I finally received a response from Magic Moving regarding my claim. They paid for just one third of the damages caused by their subcontractors. I think it is very telling that instead of accepting responsibility for their customers’ poor experiences, they choose to personally attack and insult the integrity of those who share negative reviews on Unilocal.I think their false and misleading response to my negative review perfectly illustrates their true underlying values and the type of treatment customers can expect to receive when things don’t go well. I know and they know that everything I stated in my review is accurate. Shame on them for their lack of integrity and honesty.

Using Magic Moving was a wonderful experience! Everyone was so friendly and very organized. Victoria answered all my questions and gave me great tips on how to get organized and save time and money. The moving crew showed up early and didn’t waste any time getting started. They were experienced, knew what they were doing and very professional. They wrapped everything in heavy moving blankets and even packed some things I didn’t have ready. They protected my floors, my stairs and doors throughout my home. I own some expensive antiques and bedroom furniture which they handled with exceptional care. I was impressed with how careful and fast these movers were! The price was more than fair and I ended up spending less than I anticipated. Use this company as you won’t regret it. I highly recommend.

I’m so happy I found this company. Unbelievable! This is the best company I have ever used and I moved a lot. I looked around and they wern’t the cheapest, but by far the best I’ve ever seen and well worth the price. We have a lot of stuff but Steve and his crew worked tirelessly without stopping once. They were fast, careful but very attentive to the details. They came prepared with plastic covers, moving blankets and necessary equipment. They were on time, no stress, no problems. Exceptional service, I highly recommend him! Would never go any where else!

Horrible moving company! I was so upset that I went with them. I actually wish I would have written this sooner but life happens. I hired Magic Moving to move into a short-​term rental in November 2014. The people in the office seemed on top of things and the reviews were good so I thought things would be great. My husband was in a new job and wasn’t able to be home so it was me and the movers. Let me preface this by saying that I had lost my job and was going through a very difficult time already. We had packed up pretty much everything except some of the kitchen so my plan was for me to pack up the remainder of the kitchen while the movers packed the boxes and furniture into the truck. We had a 2500 square foot home however, we sold most of our furniture, so there was no couch to move, no master bedroom set, only a king mattress, and my kid’s bedroom sets, which consisted of a twin bed and a dresser. We also had no washer and dryer and a freezer that we had kept in the garage. The biggest items were a work bench in the garage and a two piece desk. It took them FOREVER to pack things up. I ended up putting things into the truck as well because they were taking so long. At one point I was walking boxes out and smelled weed. Now I could care less if someone smokes weed, but don’t smoke it while you are packing my crap. Shortly after that, one if the guys came into the house and asked for water and guzzled it down. His cotton mouth was pretty apparent. Whatever. I’m in no mood and I’m by myself with two big guys and I just want this done already. Another hour later things are finally packed. So they tell me that they want to follow me on the freeway. Keep in mind that the time they are on the road is charged at DOUBLE time. They tell me they need to go about 50 mph. That’s cool, I can handle that. We get to the two turn lanes to turn onto the freeway and naturally I get into the right turn lane. They get into the left. I thought they were following me? They are behind a bunch of cars so I go slow and maneuver so they can get behind me. They are going so slow there is no way. I was going 40 mph and they were not catching up to me. It got to the point where I was concerned for my safety and sped up. They were going 20 mph on the FREEWAY! They were clearly trying to go as slow as possible to get to the point where they would get overtime. It took them almost an hour to get from the Pittsburg/​Concord border to Lafayette which should take 20 minutes going 50. Of course the offloading was horribly slow as well and I had to offload as well. We had a storage room and they just threw stuff in it. They broke and scratched several items. They went over the 8 hours so overtime was added on. I ended up owing $ 1500!!! I was so pissed but how am I to argue being alone with these two guys and no one else around? Usually I would be irate and go off but I was alone and just in a really bad place already and didn’t have the energy. I will never ever use them again and would never recommend them to anyone EVER. $ 1500 for moving boxes, a freezer, 2 dressers, 2 twin beds, a desk and a workbench. I didn’t pay even close to that when I moved a full 3 bedroom house with 3 bedroom sets, washer, dryer, fridge, etc. Please don’t get ripped off by these people and make the same mistake I did!!! We are moving again and they could have gotten more business but never again.

They held all my belongings as ransom until I agreed to pay double the original estimate.
The workers were thugs — day laborers.
I took them to court and won. Worst experience for my family in years.

BIG thanks to Brandon, David and Steve! These guys were just AWESOME! We had a snag in our escrow so all my belongings needed to go to storage. These guys were so fast and careful. They came in, packed all of our stuff in less than a day, took inventory and labeled everything with what was in each box and what rooms. Next day moved it all out (again fast and carefully) with making sure not to bump walls, doors and protect floors. Our huge china hutch was a nail-​biter but they double wrapped it with blankets and whipped it out no problem!
A month later everything arrived at our new house without any problems. Not easy since we had difficult stairs and tight doorways. We opened every box and not a chip or dent or scratch on anything. Incredible move! Very experienced and money well spent. Already referred Magic Moving to a friend moving out of San Francisco. Use these guys, you won’t regret it; they are AWESOME!

I’m going to fair as possible and only state the facts and not emotions. I’ve used MM twice. 1^st time was wonderful. MM did a great job!
2^nd time I used them was 5 weeks ago. Move went off pretty well until they arrived at the new location. This review is all based around the movers putting 2 very noticable dents in our brand new $ 2,400 refridgerator. The head mover took pics and said he would report to his boss «Nancy» and that i‘ could follow up with «Nancy» in a few days. I moved on a Thursday and followed with «Nancy» on Monday morning. «Nancy» requested that ‘i send pics and the claim form she just sent me back to them asap. Did both immediately. I spoke to «Nancy» 2 weeks ago via phone and she said «she’s still waiting on the insurance company to make a decision on the claim». I called today and was forced to leave a message for «Nancy» to call me back and NO call back. My refrigdgerator is still dented on the front panels and MM has DONE nothing to right their wrong.
I WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN AND I HAVE PLANS TO ACTUALLY FILE A SMALL CLAIMS IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY AGAINST THEM FOR THE REPAIR OF THE DAMAGES THAT THEY WERE AT FAULT FOR.

WORST MOVING COMPANY I HAVE EVER USED. THIEFS, LIERS, AND INCOMPETENT. SO BAD THEY ARE A DISGRACE TO THE TRADE. The only «MAGIC» involved is how their charges (qouted hours) change the day of the move when they know they have you and you have no choice (can you say bait and switch) and how they make your belongings disappear.
The truth is in my review and based on facts. Jan L was not involved with my move and was no where on site the day of the move. I experienced the incompetence and deceitfulness of this company and employees first hand. I am not surprised by the company’s rebuttal to a complaint, it just once again proves their lack of integrity and unwillingness to take responsibility for their actions and actions of their employees.
Initially when I called to book the move I was very clear on the scope of the project.
1. The move had to be completed the day the move was scheduled.
2. My house was sold and I was moving to my new house.
3. Move involved 3200 SqFt 4 bd, 3bth home, dining room, patio furniture, furniture and two mirrors to be wrapped for storage and boxes and furniture in the garage.
I never stated I was quoted 4 hours, however I was told on the phone it would be under 8, but probably around 6. When their people came out he said it would not be done under 8. When their guy onsite said more than 8, I offered all 4 men an extra 100. tip on top of the 50.00 each I gave them if they could keep it under 8. If Jan wants to call that a bribe, well I think she needs to look up the definition of «bribe». I thought it would be an incentive to hustle, but when your getting double time I guess it has no incentive value.
Having to call for 4 hours until they finally decided to bring another guy to the job that could actually do the job while I had to continue to pay for someone that could not and would not do the job is unacceptable. If they would have sent the appropriate number of competent individuals for my size of job, I believe I would not have went into overtime.
I PACKED AND COLOR CODED EVERY BOX MYSELF PRIOR TO THE DAY OF THE MOVE. THEY PACKED NOTHING! I am a very organized person and as you can see by my picture, I color coded each box with duct tape and wrote the location (storage/​garage) on each one so there would be no mistake of the placement. Blue tape — Storage, Pink tape — Fragile, Black + white tape — Garage. By color coding and writing on each box, I was hoping it would be clear enough that even a monkey could figure it out. The only items not packed were my husbands tools which we moved in his truck and the movers didn’t have to deal with it at all.
As for your accusation about what was to be moved or what could stay and myself not knowing what was to be moved and your statements of me changing my mind.
1. Look at your notes from when I called and set up the move. I explained, I had to be out by midnight the day of the move. The person on the phone offered a different date and I told them I could not move a different day that the day scheduled was the last possible day I could move because the buyers of my home were moving in the next day.
2. NEVER ONCE DID I SAY DO NOT MOVE SOMETHING. I made it EXPLICITLY clear that everything had to be moved as I had to be out of my house by 12 midnight. This was stated to your head mover when he did his walk through and two more times during the move. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!
When the truck was loaded and we left to the new house, your moving truck left the same time as we did, BUT SHOWED UP 30 MINUTES AFTER WE DID. I even called your office and asked where they were. I’m sure 30 minutes is plenty of time to drop some items they wanted. By the way, I paid overtime for that 30 they were missing.
Jan, tell me how I could be under construction when I only got the keys to the new house at 10:00am the morning of the move. GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT and stop lying to try and deflect your incompetence and incompetence of your business and employees. The FACT is… your crew didn’t have to put anything in the house except my bed and flatscreen TV’s. I told them to place the items as they were coded in the shop and the garage as I was going to start a remodel in the coming weeks. So, this should have been very easy because all they had to do was put the furniture and boxes marked storage (blue tape) in the shop and a few boxes (black+white tape) in the garage. Most everything was moved into the shop.
This company and employees need to take responsibility and make things right. AT THE VERY LEAST I WOULD LIKE MY STOLEN ITEMS RETURNED. I would hope that I would get some of the money I paid as the job in no way should have taken as long as they took.
Never use them, they are horrible. Maybe they should stick to the little apartment jobs.

Geno, David and Omar are awesome. The company called me when the crew was on the way. They got to work promptly and took great care to not damage the doorway and walls. They covered the door with a moving mat and put runner runners down on the carpet.
We did a lot of packing ourselves and they grabbed our boxes without hesitation. I had a couple things to go elsewhere and they were kind enough to stage them for me.
The crew was easy to talk to and I didn’t feel creeped out by any of them. They placed things where we wanted them and asked if they weren’t sure what to do with something. The last company I hired just dumped my boxes and split.
I’m calling this company again for my next move!