If you're reading this, Congrats. You were smarter than I was. All in the Family Movers (AITFM from now on) have flooded the Internet with fake, positive reviews that fooled me. I'm now making sure they don't try that again.
I had the great misfortune of booking them quite recently, in March 2017. So my review is quite up-to-date with their parasitic business practices.
First, the name. ‘All in the Family Movers’ is designed to give the impression that they’re a family setup, a wholesome, small time, well run establishment. That’s the first lie. It’s a cheap, money grubbing operation, founded by someone who’s obviously in it for quick money. And this naked greed shows in everything.
Here’s a full rundown of all the problems I have with them:
01. Fake reviews on the Internet, which led me to booking them:
When I first started researching Long Distance Movers, AITFM had an overall review score of 4.3. That score had been boosted by reviews that were fake. I don’t know if the employees posted them themselves, of they paid someone else to do it, but any positive experience can be safely discounted as a fake review. I’m speaking from personal experience. These fake reviews are only on movers.com
02. Bait & Switch tactics with quote:
AITFM will severely understate the original quote intentionally. This is to lock you into confirming with them, and handing them your credit card details. Against your will, they’ll charge 25% of the initial, low quote even if you wise up on a later date, before any one of them even showed up at your place.
I was originally quoted $1,200 for all my stuff (just one bedroom), plus misc. stuff from the hall & kitchen. When the driver and the movers all arrived (all thuggish guys speaking Russian), they jacked up the quote. And without even waiting for me to confirm with AITFM Customer Care (Referred to as CC from now on), quickly started dismantling and packing everything. When I called CC, some woman from CC answered my call, then promptly put me on hold. 15 minutes later, when she DID eventually answer, she just gave a half-baked answer asking me to tell the Driver to call the ‘Dispatch Manager’. And he completely ignored it. He made no calls, and they collectively just sped up packing. At that should have been severely suspicious, but I was just too trusting then.
This burst speed was to make it too late for me to back up, to trap me into committing, then threatening to charging me even if I back out after discovering their lies. And they did do that as well, essentially taking my goods hostage while never having loaded anything.
And even while loading, they intentionally stacked the items loosely, so they can jack the cost up citing increased storage. The driver even admitted to it, except he called it ‘giving some breathing room for your precious furniture’.
03. Absolute cheapness with equipment:
The truck they had brought in was a rental from Enterprise. That’s shady right off the bat. Only a company that’s working on the ‘quick money’ mentality will look to reduce costs even when it comes to something like a moving truck.
They didn’t bring cloth to cover any of my furniture up, even mirrors. All they brought with them was some old, dusty and some moldy sheets, which barely covered any of the important stuff. And they brought sticky tape. Lots and lots of sticky tape.
They pasted that tape over EVERYTHING. Glass, wood, even paper. It was an absolute nuisance to pull that tape off after they delivered what was left of my furniture.
04. Intimidating behavior by movers, drivers & even customer care:
I saw this from the very beginning, as soon as they had my credit card details. I experienced oozing, greasy friendliness from someone named Will Young during the booking process. All that disappeared after he got my credit card details. The movers made a point of starting to yell if you tell them to pack carefully, or unload carefully, Customer care will yell if you ask them where the shipment is, and this is a pattern when you speak to ANYONE in that fraud enterprise.
This is done intentionally, to make sure you don’t ask any tough questions. Only way to get anything done is to out-yell them.
05. Unacceptable delay, after lying to me about estimated delivery during booking:
Will Young will disappear after booking you. You’ll never be able to reach him after the initial card details are shared, and flat out everyone will refuse to connect you to him. So you can’t even ask why they keep on pushing the delivery date back. They’ll push as much as they can to ensure that they can transport as much stuff as they can at one go. And again, Customer care will yell at you if you try to question them about this.
Oh, and they say that they charge 70% on pickup, and the remaining 30% is to be paid after drop off. Another lie. They’ll call and demand that you pay the remaining 30% also, if not they won’t deliver. Considering that they have already jacked up the quote, this is just extortion of the extortion amount.
06. Refusal to re-assemble furniture after dismantling it in the first place.
I was told clearly that the movers will assemble everything that they dismantled in the first place. When asked, the Russian said that it’s illegal to do so. Another lie.
07. Damage to furniture (missing pieces)
They actually lost pieces of my bed. That bed is completely useless, so I actually had to go and buy a new one. Also, the dresser was badly sagging after the move.
Simply because these people were too incompetent to transport the pieces in one piece.
08. Hidden charges (like carrying charges), which were never revealed to me in the first place:
So this Russian came over and demanded that I pay $350 in cash. He never told me of this while speaking to me before w, and also flat out refused to take a check. It had to be cash, right then. If I had refused to pay, the driver said he would throw my stuff out on the street and drive away. And if I had been allowed to give a check, it’d give me the option of cancelling the extorted amount after they drive away, right? That’s why they demand cash.
They demanded (and got) $350 as ‘carry’ charges. Then they spent 20 minutes carting my stuff back and forth using a freight elevator. Absolute robbery.
09. Petty theft of items:
They even steal stuff. I’m missing some small electronics, a king bed comforter set, some clothes, some books…all random stuff, but not packed together. I suspect that they routinely unpack boxes, and steal stuff they think won’t be missed. Not pieces of a set, or used items. Just things that can be sold for a quick buck.
10. Suspicious claims process:
They handle their claims through a website named movingclaims.net. It does not have an address, a phone number and even eMail enquiries are simply given standard copy/paste responses. If you contact AITF for a moving claim, the spectacularly useless CC will just divert you to a voice recording talking about the claims process. There’s NO ONE to talk to, to file or settle your claim.
And it shows that this movingclaims.net approach is a very low effort, low budget enterprise, maintained just barely to avoid lawsuits. Nothing more.
And they’re parasitic, just like AITF. In the months since I’ve contacted them for my claim, all they’ve done is make it more and more difficult to make that claim. There’s always more documentation to send, always more expensive print outs to send, always original receipts or repair estimates to send, always anything that’ll delay paying out the money they steal.
Movingclaims.net is in with the whole fraud setup, so avoid both AITF and any other mover who user movingclaims.net.
11. Parasitic business practices:
Every business will have some bad deals. A poorly trained employee, even someone who’s having a bad day can make a simple move a nightmare. But it’s the job of the management to make sure that such a bad deal doesn’t poison the customer’s perception of them.
I sent two mails to their ‘management’ while I was waiting for my stuff. Neither mail was even acknowledged, much less acted on nor ‘Customer Service’ extended. These people knew what exactly they were doing, and couldn’t care less about some angry guy screaming somewhere in the country.
You can see the mails they ignored here:
imgur.com/a/r3nbo
imgur.com/a/79woN
ANY business that simply ignores such mails from an obviously irate customer, is run by parasites who are in it for the quick money, nothing more.
Be smart, be safe. Avoid them like the human scum that they are.
And if you’re still thinking it’s OK to hire these parasites, then you fully deserve the Darwin award for stupidity.
All In The Family Moving and Storage Reviews
If you're reading this, Congrats. You were smarter than I was. All in the Family Movers (AITFM from now on) have flooded the Internet with fake, positive reviews that fooled me. I'm now making sure they don't try that again.
I had the great misfortune of booking them quite recently, in March 2017. So my review is quite up-to-date with their parasitic business practices.
First, the name. ‘All in the Family Movers’ is designed to give the impression that they’re a family setup, a wholesome, small time, well run establishment. That’s the first lie. It’s a cheap, money grubbing operation, founded by someone who’s obviously in it for quick money. And this naked greed shows in everything.
Here’s a full rundown of all the problems I have with them:
01. Fake reviews on the Internet, which led me to booking them:
When I first started researching Long Distance Movers, AITFM had an overall review score of 4.3. That score had been boosted by reviews that were fake. I don’t know if the employees posted them themselves, of they paid someone else to do it, but any positive experience can be safely discounted as a fake review. I’m speaking from personal experience. These fake reviews are only on movers.com
02. Bait & Switch tactics with quote:
AITFM will severely understate the original quote intentionally. This is to lock you into confirming with them, and handing them your credit card details. Against your will, they’ll charge 25% of the initial, low quote even if you wise up on a later date, before any one of them even showed up at your place.
I was originally quoted $1,200 for all my stuff (just one bedroom), plus misc. stuff from the hall & kitchen. When the driver and the movers all arrived (all thuggish guys speaking Russian), they jacked up the quote. And without even waiting for me to confirm with AITFM Customer Care (Referred to as CC from now on), quickly started dismantling and packing everything. When I called CC, some woman from CC answered my call, then promptly put me on hold. 15 minutes later, when she DID eventually answer, she just gave a half-baked answer asking me to tell the Driver to call the ‘Dispatch Manager’. And he completely ignored it. He made no calls, and they collectively just sped up packing. At that should have been severely suspicious, but I was just too trusting then.
This burst speed was to make it too late for me to back up, to trap me into committing, then threatening to charging me even if I back out after discovering their lies. And they did do that as well, essentially taking my goods hostage while never having loaded anything.
And even while loading, they intentionally stacked the items loosely, so they can jack the cost up citing increased storage. The driver even admitted to it, except he called it ‘giving some breathing room for your precious furniture’.
03. Absolute cheapness with equipment:
The truck they had brought in was a rental from Enterprise. That’s shady right off the bat. Only a company that’s working on the ‘quick money’ mentality will look to reduce costs even when it comes to something like a moving truck.
They didn’t bring cloth to cover any of my furniture up, even mirrors. All they brought with them was some old, dusty and some moldy sheets, which barely covered any of the important stuff. And they brought sticky tape. Lots and lots of sticky tape.
They pasted that tape over EVERYTHING. Glass, wood, even paper. It was an absolute nuisance to pull that tape off after they delivered what was left of my furniture.
04. Intimidating behavior by movers, drivers & even customer care:
I saw this from the very beginning, as soon as they had my credit card details. I experienced oozing, greasy friendliness from someone named Will Young during the booking process. All that disappeared after he got my credit card details. The movers made a point of starting to yell if you tell them to pack carefully, or unload carefully, Customer care will yell if you ask them where the shipment is, and this is a pattern when you speak to ANYONE in that fraud enterprise.
This is done intentionally, to make sure you don’t ask any tough questions. Only way to get anything done is to out-yell them.
05. Unacceptable delay, after lying to me about estimated delivery during booking:
Will Young will disappear after booking you. You’ll never be able to reach him after the initial card details are shared, and flat out everyone will refuse to connect you to him. So you can’t even ask why they keep on pushing the delivery date back. They’ll push as much as they can to ensure that they can transport as much stuff as they can at one go. And again, Customer care will yell at you if you try to question them about this.
Oh, and they say that they charge 70% on pickup, and the remaining 30% is to be paid after drop off. Another lie. They’ll call and demand that you pay the remaining 30% also, if not they won’t deliver. Considering that they have already jacked up the quote, this is just extortion of the extortion amount.
06. Refusal to re-assemble furniture after dismantling it in the first place.
I was told clearly that the movers will assemble everything that they dismantled in the first place. When asked, the Russian said that it’s illegal to do so. Another lie.
07. Damage to furniture (missing pieces)
They actually lost pieces of my bed. That bed is completely useless, so I actually had to go and buy a new one. Also, the dresser was badly sagging after the move.
Simply because these people were too incompetent to transport the pieces in one piece.
08. Hidden charges (like carrying charges), which were never revealed to me in the first place:
So this Russian came over and demanded that I pay $350 in cash. He never told me of this while speaking to me before w, and also flat out refused to take a check. It had to be cash, right then. If I had refused to pay, the driver said he would throw my stuff out on the street and drive away. And if I had been allowed to give a check, it’d give me the option of cancelling the extorted amount after they drive away, right? That’s why they demand cash.
They demanded (and got) $350 as ‘carry’ charges. Then they spent 20 minutes carting my stuff back and forth using a freight elevator. Absolute robbery.
09. Petty theft of items:
They even steal stuff. I’m missing some small electronics, a king bed comforter set, some clothes, some books…all random stuff, but not packed together. I suspect that they routinely unpack boxes, and steal stuff they think won’t be missed. Not pieces of a set, or used items. Just things that can be sold for a quick buck.
10. Suspicious claims process:
They handle their claims through a website named movingclaims.net. It does not have an address, a phone number and even eMail enquiries are simply given standard copy/paste responses. If you contact AITF for a moving claim, the spectacularly useless CC will just divert you to a voice recording talking about the claims process. There’s NO ONE to talk to, to file or settle your claim.
And it shows that this movingclaims.net approach is a very low effort, low budget enterprise, maintained just barely to avoid lawsuits. Nothing more.
And they’re parasitic, just like AITF. In the months since I’ve contacted them for my claim, all they’ve done is make it more and more difficult to make that claim. There’s always more documentation to send, always more expensive print outs to send, always original receipts or repair estimates to send, always anything that’ll delay paying out the money they steal.
Movingclaims.net is in with the whole fraud setup, so avoid both AITF and any other mover who user movingclaims.net.
11. Parasitic business practices:
Every business will have some bad deals. A poorly trained employee, even someone who’s having a bad day can make a simple move a nightmare. But it’s the job of the management to make sure that such a bad deal doesn’t poison the customer’s perception of them.
I sent two mails to their ‘management’ while I was waiting for my stuff. Neither mail was even acknowledged, much less acted on nor ‘Customer Service’ extended. These people knew what exactly they were doing, and couldn’t care less about some angry guy screaming somewhere in the country.
You can see the mails they ignored here:
imgur.com/a/r3nbo
imgur.com/a/79woN
ANY business that simply ignores such mails from an obviously irate customer, is run by parasites who are in it for the quick money, nothing more.
Be smart, be safe. Avoid them like the human scum that they are.
And if you’re still thinking it’s OK to hire these parasites, then you fully deserve the Darwin award for stupidity.