1st Choice Movers

"TL;DR: by a 3-time customer of 1st Choice Movers (1CM): read the reviews, spot the trends, and go elsewhere. You may pay more, but you'll avoid significant stress and runaround. Context: we contacted Ron (owner, 1st Choice Movers) 7 weeks prior to move. Ron visited the property to assess the job and quoted a 4-man, 2-truck, 1-day effort. We moved from a 4b/2b home to another home 10 minutes away. Ron was courteous and responsive. This was our third time hiring 1CM, though our first working directly with Ron on site. This review is long; the intent is to provide objective detail allowing readers to spot trends with other reviews. Move day: Ron confirmed the night prior that the truck would arrive between 830-9a. Between 9:10 and 10:52a I received three calls from Ron with ‘running late’ commentary; culminating in a 15-minute call because “Siri took (Ron) to the wrong place”. The team arrived at ~11:05a, bringing 1 truck and 2 laborers (half the team). The move was not completed, requiring an additional half day. 95% of boxes were packed/sealed and furniture disassembled before the team arrived which should have expedited the process. The team ultimately composed of Ron (usually stays in the truck), an experienced mover I’ll call Dave, and a trainee I’ll call Bob. Bob had an attitude issue, spending significant time arguing with Ron on loading order and lacked experience with large items. While I appreciate Ron’s willingness to step in, he is in his later years. I was billed for 3 laborers and received 2.5 at best (.75 trainee + .75 age 50+). This is not an ageist comment but a pragmatic observation; moving is a labor-intensive job. To illustrate, Bob nearly lost a freezer down a flight of stairs; if not for Dave I’d have insurance liability and a damaged home. Dave advised that Bob wasn’t ready, but Ron ignored. There’s a difference between basic trade skill, and honing said skill through experience. Bob lacked the former. I loaded my truck 3 times out of concern for the item’s wellbeing and/or lack of room in the moving truck (improper packing). I escorted the team to the new home, sitting in a McDonalds parking lot while they ate lunch, over concern of them becoming lost again. I cancelled business appointments the following day to accommodate the additional half-day. I hired 1CM because it was medically unwise for me to be involved, yet ended up participating heavily regardless. The next week I called Ron to discuss a way we could both “win”. The team was 2 hours late, had half the crew, overcharged for trip fees, and took +1/2 day to complete the job with my involvement. Ron became defensive and combative. I explained that I didn’t want 1CM to take a loss and for us to find a compromise, but Ron was more interested in winning an argument. FYI my professional occupation is corporate contract mediation. Ron interpreted my attempts to compromise as aggressions; the conversation turned to Ron yelling over me and employing emotional levers (guilt trip, shame, gas-lighting) to shut me down. I stated my only recourse was to share my experience and was told “that was a threat.” After this, I can state that Ron is one of the most unprofessional individuals I’ve worked with. 1st Choice is experiencing staffing issues, though the cost/stress of those burdens are not the customers to bear – they are 1CM’s because 1CM is in the business of moving. This review is long; Ron will likely retort with an equally long response as appears the trend. To head off what is to come: I did not enter the moving truck, I did carry many items to staging areas, re-organized / re-wrapped poor work, and loaded/unloaded my own truck 3 times. I will close by stating that 1CM requires you sign a contract and provide payment before starting the day of, while leaving cost details blank. This is predatory at best as 1CM can charge any amount and the signor would be legally obligated to pay. It speaks to the business practices 1CM employs, and the need to secure payment up front due to what I imagine is a recent trend of unhappy customers."

"It took 12 hours to move us 3 miles. We were moving from a 2 bedroom apartment to a home. We had been told 3 men would be enough but only 2 showed up. After a 2-3 hours of hardly any movement Ron brought on 2 more guys since he said we had more stuff than anticipated. We had to work along side them to keep things moving, it was so ridiculous. As it was starting to get dark I asked if we should call it a day and have them come back the next day to finish. Ron refused and said they had enough time. The problem was they were tired and moving slower, slamming down boxes marked fragile and just done. So in the end they broke so many things. An antique vanity that Ron glued together for us, an adjustable bed frame that needed screws to fix that he never replaced (we found two screws at home store to fix ourselves), numerous glass items in a few different boxes that he said were not sufficiently bubble wrapped and a ceramic sculpture piece that was awkward shaped that we had wrapped in a box with part of it exposed so that it could be visible to show care needed. They never told us when they obviously broke items but left it for us to find. He kept saying he had all this experience and things break in moves so 60 cents per pound is the refund you get for items broken. They wound filling our garage in the end instead of putting items into their designated spots. So much for hiring movers so I didn't have to move things myself. Well I would never recommend this company as they are well past their prime if they ever had one. We moved across country with just a pod and not one thing broke! Then hired them to move 3 miles with so much damage. Please save yourself the frustration and find a different moving company. I wish I would have."

"Edit to add*** Do Not Hire Spoke with Ron after I posted my review. I can now attest to the other reviews I have seen. Job was quoted (day of, Ron saw the work) for 5 hours and it took over 8 hours, with shortcuts. Spoke with Ron, apparently reviews are only given "to destroy a company's reputation." I explained that my review was given based on the work/service I received, had the work been good, I would have posted that. Ron raised his voice with me, stating that he would not be backed into a corner because of a bad review. He did not want to make up the time worked or provide a reduced rate as he stated that he wasn't going to be forced to do something based on a review. Mediocre experience would not recommend. I have hired movers before so I have an idea of how the process should go. I hired 1st Choice a year ago for a last minute job. Two guys came that time and worked very hard. This year my experience was not so good. As many other reviews have noted, there was a lack of effort and I over paid for the service provided. I hired three movers for this move. I was going from a 2 bedroom, one office, townhome to a single family home. In addition, I also had a trailer at the new home to be unloaded. Everything was packed and ready to go when the movers arrived. After viewing the townhome, loading the truck was quoted by Ron to take approximately 2-2.5 hours. It turned out to be over 4 hours in loading. After getting the guys started, Ron left the site. Two of the workers took 4 breaks in the first 4 hours. I was not planning to do any work that day with the exception of un-assembling and re-assembling 1 bed frame. I had to help out so much that I was unable to do that. One of the workers talked for over 50% of the day. I had to pay the full rate regardless. A second trip was need to “not pack the truck unsafely” per Ron’s inspection. I was not charged for a second trip rate, but I did have to pay for that additional 30 minutes of drive time. Total job time should have been approximately 5 hours, and it was 8 hours. Most of my items were not able to be moved to the rooms/space where I had labeled or would have expected them to be. I now have a 2 car garage packed full because I was unwilling to pay for additional time for mediocre work ethics. To sum up my experience, one worker asked what “bath” meant in reference to a label on a box. While their quote for the job seemed very reasonable, the lack of work effort made it a much more expensive choice in the end. Edit to add* I reached out to 1st Choice by email two days after my move and again 3 days later. They have not responded to my email requesting to make things right by the customer so I am choosing to post my review."

"So thankful for the hardworking guys at 1st Choice Movers! Although we had planned for the movers to come in the morning, Ron called me right away to let me know about a sick worker and a delay in the time frame. He kept me updated all day about timing. When the movers arrived, they got right to work - so efficient, friendly, and hard working! They worked so fast to get my move done as soon as possible because of the delay in start time. It’s always expensive to hire movers instead of doing it yourself, but 1st Choice Movers was absolutely an affordable option. I’ll be hiring them again the next time I move!"

"We had to move out on extremely short notice and we were scrambling to find a moving company. Spoke with Gail and she could get a crew to help us the next day! This meant we did not have a lot of time to pack anything so we agreed to a third person to help with the packing and moving. Moving day came and I got a phone call from the crew letting me know roughly when they would be arriving. About an hour before the crew arrived Ron came to see what all needed to be packed and moved. He was very respectful and I appreciated the open communication. When Salvador, David, and Ross arrived they immediately got to work and worked their butts off to pack and move our three bedroom house with lots of very difficult furniture to move. They we very respectful and careful with our items and we actually had some fun while doing all this. They took their break after everything was loaded and met us at the storage unit right on time and unloaded the trailer in record time while managing to pack everything in the unit with awesome tetris skills! There were absolutely no hidden fees and we were charged exactly what we were told we would be for the hourly rate and supplies and everything. Well worth the money we paid and we will definitely be using this company again when it comes time to move out of the storage unit and into our next house! Very very impressed with the work they did and will recommend them to anyone! Great job guys!"