Suddath

21 Reviews: Add Review

1. Dishonest movers.

   As part of move a car was also shipped by Subbath-Houston. Car was a new Mercedes. At pickup I challenged shipper to find even a small scratch anywhere on the car. None per shipper. Fortunately to 3rd party shipper did a good job with no issues. The shipping papers given to me at delivery showed Subbath - Houston had changed auto condition scratched hood, soiled seats and other scratches and rubbed bumpers.  Obviously this mover is totally dishonest and untruthful. .

2. Terrible experience.

   I have moved several times in the past 15 years and this was the absolute worst moving company I have ever dealth with. Upon the initial pick up items were labled with specific locations they are going to. Many boxes were mixed up and mislabled. When I complained the company representative I never received a response. But worst of all after 3 years of storage my furniture comes back infested with Termites and Powder Post Beetles! When the first piece came off and had termite residue on it I would not allow it into the house and contacted an exterminator to take it away for fumigation. As more furniture was taken off the truck it became apparent that most of the wooden furniture was infested and the entire truckload had to be repacked onto another truck and hauled off for fumigation at a cost of $3,800. The moving company is denying responsibility stating the furniture was infested before they picked it up which is difficult to believe since we had lived in the house for 15 years and always had a termite contract on the house and it was inspected annually. Now I am stuck with filing an arbitration hearing that I will probably loose since they state I signed a statement at the inception of the move that they were not responsible.  I probably did for they put over 30 pages of inventory in front of me to initial and sign while the supervisor waited impatiently. Never, Never use this mover for they are irresponsible, sloppy and dishonest in my opinion.

3. Nice Move.

   We hired Suddath to move goods from Munich to Wisconsin - we were very pleased with the service, packers, salesperson and back office.  The salesperson and assigned coordinator were fully aware of import rules and how to handle an estate move. While we did not have a full container load, they accurately estimatd our move needs from photos provided by us.  They came in right on price target and disclosed all costs to us up front knowing that port fees were somewhat variable.  In Munich, they packed family paintings, crystal, china and furniture - labeled and securely covered.  The packers were professional and ready with all the import/export papers.  They used light weight brown paper reinforced with bubble wrap and covered every inch of each piece of furniture.  Not a single item broke and the packaged items arrived exactly as packed at the origin.  They happily even arrived earlier than expected.  So if you are dealing with the Jacksonville, FL group, we had no problems and were nicely surprised in a positive way. .

4. Suddath United Van Line UNTRUSTWORTHY.

   My family relocated from Boston to CA at the end of June 2011. It's a corporate move which uses United Van Line with which Suddath was affiliated and they handled the moving process. Long story short. They used a local vender to handle the pick up which I was very satisfied with (very professional and organized). Well, we did our own packing before they came in small, medium, and large boxes and we gave them in an organized manner.But in CA during the delivery, it was a totally nightmare! I don't know how they stored or handled our boxes but they came back all falling apart. I moved once 2 yrs ago prior to this move from the west to the east and the boxes came in all fairly nicely. But this time was different. These were all new home depot boxes I bought prior to the move and they were all broken or torn, totally unusable after this one move. They promised they would put back the furniture(desks, bed, couches, TV, etc) but the movers initially failed to do. After I brought it up and insisted, they put together our bed and couches in a sloppy way, still left the TV without the base, and desks unassembled (I later did on my own). They told me they had to rush to the next appointment. Some furniture were badly scratches, bookcase totally broken, decoration tree broken, and a large bowl broken.The worst part is this: they lost 10 of my boxes out of 144, including a printer, other electronics, basketballs, home decors, dishes, etc! At the delivery, I sensed some boxes are missing because for one I didn't see my printer which was packed in its original box. So I refused to sign the paper work to acknowledge I've received all my belongings. The movers were mad so he grabbed the paper from my hands and walked away. I later filed claim but the claim agent used that fact against me saying that because I didn't sign the paperwork, they won't be able to compensate me for the lost boxes. I said I didn't want to be compensated just find these boxes but she said they couldn't do that either.I was seriously mad at that point and wrote a complaint letter to the VPs of the company I was joining since it's a corporate move. They worked with a VP Brian at Suddath and got the issue resolved after 3 months and I was paid about several thousands for all the repair and the lost boxes. Since then 6 months have passed, every time I thought about the experience I felt angry. I'd better forget it, but word of wisdom for new consumers: STAY AWAY FROM SUDDATH!

5. Exceeded expectations.

   I will admit, I was a little nervous about having Suddath move us from Minneapolis to Atlanta.
   My employer contracted them, so I didn’t really have a say in the matter, but I was not encouraged by the mixed reviews I found on sites like this and elsewhere on the internet. It seems people either had a wonderful experience or a horrendous one. Eventually, I just had to let go and hope for the best.  
   It turns out, that’s exactly what I got.
   For those who are looking for more of a summary and don’t want to read a long, rambling review, here are some key words.  
   Communication. Punctual. Efficient. Sensitive. Experienced. Stress-free.
   That should tell you everything you really need to know about my experience with Suddath. No need to read on unless you want the details.  
    
   From the first moment, communication was top-notch. I got a call from Elaine, my coordinator, who was to be my go-to person throughout the move. She got the info she needed to set up a walk-through of the house and emailed me a tremendous amount of information to read.
   Now I will say that I got a little worried after our first conversation because I learned that I could not get any more specific expectation of when my belongings would arrive than a 4 day spread of dates.
   Stinks, but understandable based on the way they ship multiple households in the same truck.
   The walk-through inspector called us shortly there-after and we made an appointment for the walk-through. The inspector was punctual, and we got right into the walk-through. He seemed unfazed by any of the oddities that I showed him in the house, simply making notes on his iPad and assuring me that it wouldn’t be a problem. This actually worried me a little bit, to be honest. I mean, this wasn’t going to be the guy doing the packing; easy for him to say it’s not going to be easy, I’ll probably never see him again. But I decided to trust him and we completed the walk-through. We weren’t in a big house (1300 sq feet) so it only took 20-25 minutes.  
   Elaine of course called afterward to check-in and make sure things were going ok. This would be a theme going forward.  
   My next contact was from Al, the lead packer. He called me the Friday before our pack date, just to confirm the time and ask a couple follow up questions based on what the inspector has passed on to him. He told me he would be there between 8 and 9AM on the following Monday.
   Then, on Saturday, the skies opened up with the first snowstorm of the year in Minneapolis.
   We got 8-12 inches between Saturday and Sunday and I spent the whole time dreading what this would do to our entire move schedule. I dreaded a phone call from Al telling me that they would have to delay.  
   Then, Monday morning, at exactly 8AM, the door-bell rang, and was opened to Al, and his partner Troy.
   Here’s the thing; the roads were atrocious, I mean really, really bad. I was hardly expecting them to show up at all, much less within the first minute of their one-hour window. Punctuality would prove to be a common theme.  
   They quickly introduced themselves and immediately started setting up, bringing in boxes, paper, tape, etc, and got right to work.  
   I have two dogs (one of them quite large) and 4 small children. Even though the packers were unfazed by this, I initially had to put the dogs out in the back yard to keep them out of the way, despite Al and Troy’s assurances that it wasn’t a problem. Troy (who was clearly a dog lover) insisted they get the basement completed first so we could bring the dogs in out of the cold ASAP.  
   Let me tell you, these guys were good. They were extremely efficient. By that I mean, they were fast, but they weren’t robots. They made smart decisions and asked good, intuitive questions of my wife and I, ensuring that the process on the other end of the move would be easier. They were also very sensitive, seeming to know when something might have sentimental if not monetary value, and packing it accordingly.  
   From my discussions with each of them, I learned that both of them had upwards of 30 years experience with Suddath. The fact that they were extremely experienced showed clearly in their work, but it still impressed me to hear that Suddath was employing people on a long-term basis. By 2PM, they were done and packing up their supplies. The packing was my first “real” and substantial impression of Suddath at work, and my fears were beginning to subside.  
   Cue check-in call from Elaine. Everything go ok? Yep.  
   That afternoon, I heard from Doug for the first time. Doug was the driver. He said he had just picked up the trip and was in Iowa, so he may not be there until 10AM the next day for loading, but they would try to be very quick so we could get on the road ourselves.  
   Sure enough, 10AM rolls around, and a HUGE semi pulls up. It’s Doug. Troy is back to help load, and a young guy (obviously the new kid) Dylan is there to help as well.  
   They line up the truck, drop the ramps, and start laying down padding and cardboard paths. Within 15 minutes, load out has begun.  
   I don’t want to sound too repetitive so suffice it to say that I was just as impressed with the load out as I was with packing. Same efficiency, same sensitivity, etc. It was great to have Troy back because I felt that as one of the guys who had packed our house, he had some greater stake in getting it loaded right. I don’t know if that’s accurate or not, but it made me feel better at the time.  
   Again, the guys were unfazed by the craziness of a house with 4 kids and 2 dogs. In fact, when they were just about done, Troy took my kids up into the truck to show them all of our stuff (which took up less than 1/3rd of the total space) and then Doug took them inside his extremely nice cab, and they were impressed that he drove in a vehicle with a bathroom and kitchenette in it.  
   Load out was done by about 3PM and Doug told me he would do his very very best to get there as early as the following Tuesday (the 2nd day in our 4 day spread) but it would more likely be Wednesday. We planned to take possession of the house Sunday night, so we were resigned to either staying in a hotel or sleeping on air mattresses for a few nights. We opted for the latter.
   We got into Newnan on Sunday night, late, and slept on our air mattresses. Monday morning we explored the town and as we were eating lunch I got a call from Doug. He asked how our trip in was and told me he would be there between 8 and 9AM Tuesday after all.  
   I had to work Tuesday, so I wasn’t there for load in, but Doug pulled up in his truck just as I was leaving, at 8:02AM.  
   I was worried I would get frantic, frustrated calls from my wife every few minutes, but that didn’t happen. Everything went smoothly. The guys re-assembled the furniture, brought in the boxes, moved some furniture again as my wife got a better idea of where things would go, and were out by 2PM.
   Stress-free for her, stress-free for me.  
   I’ve never written a positive review this long, but moving is a highly emotional experience, and even as Suddath impressed me with each interaction, I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never did. They did a fantastic job from start to finish. Every person I interacted with was a consummate professional, both knowledgeable about their job, and patient with us and our lack of knowledge.  
   So I’m compelled to document this level of detail because of the relief I feel as we get settled into our new home. It could have been a disaster and it wasn’t; it was the least stressful thing about my transition.  
   This was my 3rd long distance move, but my first using any kind of service. I hope I don’t have to move again for a long time, but if I do, I will be calling Suddath.  
   Thank you Elaine, Al, Troy, Doug, and Dylan, for everything.

6. Not My Best Moving Experience.

   Would NOT recommend based on my experience.  Moved out of state and had damage done to my new home.  I did not see it until I cleaned up after the mover left.  I was encouraged by my Suddath contact to put in an insurance claim with them, and this turned out to be a total waste of my time.  After getting 2 estimates, the claim was denied based on the fact I did not see the damage before the mover left (which I had stated upfront).  Also I did not like that they used different workmen to help with the move on both ends.  They did not know which rooms furniture went in and kept asking me.  And I had to request a refund (many times) for things not packed by the movers, but that I had paid for in advance.  The company has not responded in the past seven weeks to my Better Business Bureau complaint, the Orlando general manager never responded to my email asking questions regarding the damage claim, and they never sent me a survey of the how I would rate my move (which they use the results for to sell their services.  No wonder their reviews are so high..) .