all star moving vs flat rate moving

Good story, moxie. Adding All Stars to my list.

FWIW, when people mess with me, I mess with them. For example, tell them "yeah, sure, I could pay $3000". Then have them come out. Don't sign, say you have to have your lawyer look at it, but will send it tomorrow. Find alternates in the meantime.

good suggestion inonada. wish i had thought of that. i will make sure to keep this thread alive and hopefully cost them(flatrate) some future biz. i'm thinking of potential new names for them: Scamrate, MakeupRate, HighRate and of course Fuc#Rate...

to accentuate the positive All star was a good experience

Well, it's just like comeback lines. "Oh, I should have said this.". Much easier done with the luxury of time...

I am very sorry to hear about your FR experience. Moving is stressful enough with all the coordinating that needs to be done. This must have been infuriating and left you feeling "stuck" for a time before you got it all straightened out. I've used Flatrate 4 times (both standard and 'premier' service) and had wonderful experiences each time. It sounds like what you describe is an aberation and perhaps reflective of a bad apple in the mix. They use groups of regular crews and this one seems to have gone bad. I would at the very least call Flatrate, whose management always seemed very on the ball to me and quite good at customer service, and at least tell them what happened. I strongly suspect what the person who called you said and did was not authorized or ok with the company. Unfair treatment and bad customer service just galls me and I'm not so good at letting things go. I'd call really to make myself feel better--not for any specific remedy. But that's just me.

I used flatrate and they were perfect. Bad luck I guess. Moving companies in general are not much higher on the dung scale than RE agents.

Reading this, and I come away with a different perspective. You had no obligation to use Flat Rate prior to an agreement which would have occurred after the estimate was provided. Did you expect them to turn away business while you decide if the estimate was reasonable? You cut this awfully close and someone signed with them before you did.

riversider,
i'm afraid you may have not read the blow by blow accurately(or perhaps my portrayal was poorly written). i know the time frame was tight. my new construction building just recieved its tco and the move was scheduled the day that paperwork came through. when i called the FR main number on the tuesday preceding my move 10days later i was assured by the sales person that they had people available for my use. they were unable to arrive to give the estimate until saturday(i was available for them to visit wed,thurs or fri). i would have been fine if they told me they were unable to schedule my delivery because they were booked or they could only reserve me a spot if my job was only a certain size or money value. this was not told to me. instead i was blind sided by the estimator who never stepped foot in my place but was asking me to estimate what the job would cost??he also made it clear if the job was over3k they could schedule it??

"Did you expect them to turn away business while you decide if the estimate was reasonable?"

i didnt get an estimate. i got a man asking me to price my own job.

Moxie, I definitely see your side in this. I would be ticked too. But from my prior use of movers, I would always reconfirm with both the building and the movers that the date was set and all insurance papers were presented.

on a side note..se has been a great resource for me. the intent of this story was simply to provide others with more info..im sure my experience could have been out of the norm but i figured it was my duty to share as other positive reviews of vendors have helped me..

I've had to move quite a bit over the last 10 years, and used several moving companies. The only two that I'd use again are All Star (they moved me twice) and Moovers (but they only do interstate jobs). Both companies kept their word, were completely professional and accountable, and kept to their quotes. They may not be the cheapest, but a cheap move is no bargain.

I used Flatrate twice and my last experience was horrible.
They sent a driver who was sick. He dropped boxes on top of other boxes. The foreman spit up his phlegm on the carpet of my new building in front of me. I paid them a tip just to get rid of them. The central office didn't care, barely could apologize for lousy service. Very disappointing. Managed to do a chargeback with American Express and they didn't even protest it with Amex.
I think basically people who use them are post-college types without valuables, living in rental buildings.
Latest time I used Padded Wagon. I was very satisfied and I tipped well. I'd even request that team next time around.

I just used FlatRate to move Thursday the 24th and the movers themselves were A+. Took great care of my things. Dealing with the office was only "ok" but all-in-all I had a very good move.

I used flat rate to move cross country and local and never had a problem, although the lead guy kept reminding me about tipping, which I always do (I guess I don't look like a tipper)!!

I've used flatrate twice and am about to use them again. We didn't use them last time because their quote was $200 more than other companies, and quite honestly, that other company was not especially careful and put us on edge (nothing broke, but part of that was because we were on top of them all the time). I do think they would want to hear about this experience - this is not normal for them. Usually, they walk on eggshells.

I have used All Star personally 4 times for residential and once for my office moved they were great every time. Several of my brokers and customers have also used them and they have always been great

Another bad Flatrate story: they stored my things for three years in California and then just moved them to New York. Always very nice and professional, albeit sometimes a bit incompetent in the billing department. Now that they've delivered my things in New York, it turns out they "lost" an armchair. No apologies; they just told me to send them a claim form as if this was normal Flatrate practice.

They also smashed some things, including things I'd carefully wrapped in their original packaging. They even smashed things that had made it unscathed though the US Postal Service or that were wrapped in buckets of bubble wrap. It was kind of amazing, actually. They must have dropped my boxes from a great height to manage that kind of breakage.

The delivery guys were very nice, though. The move cost something like $2200 and they only told me about four times that I should tip them 15% of that.

Thanks for the All Star tip, folks. Next time!

i prefer the neighborhood coffee shop to starbucks...i like the farmers market over whole foods for my produce..

i guess its not surprising that the company who has the owner answer your call to schedule(Richard from all star) is the company that satisfied me. i know that flat rate has done a great job for many folks(2 of my friends referred me) but i'm afraid a 70-80% customer approval rating is insufficient in something as important as a move. my point being that some companies as they grow have a tipping point for quality of service. i"m afraid flat rate is there.

On a somewhat unrelated note, welcome to the neighborhood moxie! At least you won't have to think about moving for a while.

thx bjw. we are very pleased to finally be here. so can u tell me where i actually buy affordable groceries? get a good slice of pizza? or any other food related tips?

No problem, moxie. It's too late for this year, but you should consider a CSA for next year. There's a pickup at dba, which is around the corner from you:
http://upstatefarmsny.com/paisley_farm.html
Tops is pretty good for groceries on N6/Wythe, and I also go to Sunac on N7/Berry and Khim's on Driggs/N11 on occasion, though I wouldn't call either of the latter two particularly cheap. I do most of my big grocery shopping at the Fairway in Red Hook, which is amazing. If you have access to a car and love good food/cooking, I see no other choice.
Fornino has great pizza, but no slices. Vinnie's on Bedford/N9 probably has the best slices in the immediate area. Too many good restaurants around, but I keep going back to Sweetwater and Walter Foods.

i have used flatrate to pack, move, and unpack me three times -- always afabulous and professional. Hiher bracket (larger move) -- but worth it for a stress free move in two days (one day to pack and move out -- one day to move in and completely unpack (no boxes left over!)

boss_tweed....did flatrate pay you for the missing chair, etc on time or was it a hassle?

>boss_tweed....did flatrate pay you for the missing chair, etc on time or was it a hassle?

I haven't filed the claim yet. This was two weeks ago and I've been swamped with other things and haven't had a chance to figure out how much the chair (and storing it for three years with them) cost/was worth. I'm pretty sure it was from West Elm, but the people at West Elm claim they have no records of "old" furniture, by which they mean anything from before last year.

So far it's been a small hassle: six phone calls and emails to Flatrate while they "looked for" the chair and promised to call me back a few times ... but never did.

thx for the food reviews bjw. truly appreciate the intel.