Ben’s Moving & Trucking

I wasn’t so sure about these guys at first, but they’re a jovial, hardworking bunch; and the guy in charge was an expert at estimating whether things would fit in particular places and making sure they did after he had given us his word that they would. Watching him organize different-​shaped things was like watching the Tetris equivalent of garden chess.
The move took a little bit longer than we expected, but they didn’t charge us more, and by the end of the day, I was glad that we had chosen Ben’s Moving. If I’m going to spend a lot of time working with strangers, I’ll take funny over efficient any day.

This company does not stand by its work. I had three things go wrong.
1.Table was dented. Man came to fix it but made light colored spots in areas around. I now use a table cloth all the time.
2. Antique glass lamp shade was broken by a man who said he was very tired from working a second job. He apologized. John, the owner agreed to settle for $ 400 and said he would send a check. He never did and he refuses to answer my calls. I finally said in September that I would stop calling him. He did not respond to this either.
3. My queen sized bed frame was put together wrong and it broke. The man said he wasn’t responsible because of the material out of which the headboard was made. That bed has come apart before and been put together without a problem. This man never wanted to even try to put it together. He raised it off the ground in such a way that I saw it break. Then, instead of putting the parts back in the garage as suggested, he took them away in his truck. Now there is nothing I can do to repair it. When I called John, about this, he said he knew nothing about it. He refuses to be involved.
In short, do not trust these people to stand behind their work. They seem friendly and helpful until something goes wrong

This is an update to my original review, which was one star. I’m changing this to a three star «A-​OK» review.
I am happy to say that I did finally receive reimbursement for the broken fixture cover along with some extra money for the long wait.
I’d also like to add a few thoughts about what I did like about the service, to balance my original review, which focused only on the negative.
1. When I initially contacted John about the possibility of using the company for our move, he scheduled a visit to my home to survey the move. I was very anxious about moving ten years of belongings for a family of 5 and John talked me through the steps and was quite reassuring and helpful. I liked the personal service and being able to meet the guy in charge before the move.
2. I was given a bid that was very reasonable and honored when we finally did move several months later.
3. The moving crew was friendly and good with our kids, allowing them to run around inside the truck and check things out.
Also, I should note, with respect to my original complaint that they didn’t send a big enough truck, that John really didn’t know about how much stuff we had stored in our attic. We hadn’t realized either. Once all of that was moved out and boxed, it seemed an enormous amount, and may have been the reason that the truck John sent wasn’t big enough for everything.
Finally, it’s my understanding that during moves with moving companies, items get broken and that I should not be shocked or dismayed that not every item came through in perfect condition. I appreciate that John quickly had our rocking chair and piano music holder repaired and with very good workmanship. So really that just leaves the latch on the bookcase, which is a minor issue and the outdoor cedar table. John did offer to have his wood repair guy take the table to his shop to repair it. I opted against this because it just felt like too much of a hassle, and I decided to live with the scratches with knowledge that I’ll probably re-​finish it at some point in the future anyway. So, in the end, I can fairly say that the guys moved a huge amount of stuff with a reasonable outcome.
I do still wish the crew would have been more up front with me about having broken some items, but I do understand, as John said, «they get nervous and panic and don’t want to say anything.» It takes a lot for even the most refined of us to openly admit our mistakes to someone’s face, right?

I have used Ben’s repeatedly over the years, and have always been satisfied. I recently had them perform a full house move where they brought boxes, packed up my entire house, moved the boxes, and unpacked them in my new house in all the right places… w/​in 48 hrs! I was blown away. I will absolutely use them again, and have recommended them to friends and family members who have also been equally satisfied.

Ben’s crew did a very good job on our move from Oakland to Richmond, we got three guys and a big truck for a 2BR apartment to 3BR house which was just about right. Price was competitive and they worked fast. No problems.

terrible!!!
They send two people to move a three bedrooms house. We moved three bocks away, it took forever, 8 hours exactly with everything already packed when they arrived in the morning (40 minutes late), my husband had to help around. For $ 1500 you expect more professional movers. They didn’t put the label boxes int the right room .I asked them to move a dresser to an other wall the guy got upset, so much attitude it was really bad to deal with incompetent people.
After 8 hours and the movers gone, my husband and I had to move boxes around to the right room (the name of the room was label on the boxes!!!).
they left mark and damage door in the other house so we lost $ 500 on our deposit, I have two furnitures that missing support so I have to put paper under to make stable again.
save yourself trouble and frustration choose an other company, it is my best advice.

I asked them to move my 1BR apartment. They sounded professional on the phone. On the day of move, they called me in the morning and told me they’d come between 2pm and 3pm. It passed 3pm and they didn’t show up or call me. I called them and left a message. Someone called me back and told me that they’d come around 4:30pm. That’d conflict with my schedule and I had to cancel this move.
They may be good at moving but not to be on time or not try to keep the customer updated is not my idea of being professional.

The crew were friendly and helpful, but insisted, against my cautions, that they could get my [ less than 1-​year old ] refrigerator into the house without removing its doors. Short version: they scratched paint off the fridge in a few spots, down to the metal, and there are streaks from where it picked up paint from scraping against the doors of the house. When they realized they WOULD need to remove the doors, they did not have the tool needed, and I had to drive to a hardware store to buy one for $ 20, while they waited for my return (with the clock ticking at $ 170 per hour). After the guys left, I discovered small chips (where the wood was nicked and paint removed) in a couple of decorative shelves for CDs, and one drawer of my desk. I called the owner the next day. He came over, inspected the damage, and promised to send someone, or come himself, the next week. He never came. After waiting a couple weeks, I phoned him and he said he’d been ill and had forgotten, and was now calling «from the truck», and asked that I call back and leave a message with my name, address, and phone number, and he’d take care of everything ASAP. I never heard back from him, and that’s after 3 phone calls. If there was a good reason for this, like a family emergency, I’d understand. After 2 months, it seems more likely to me that despite the crew being friendly and helpful, they just weren’t sufficiently careful. As for the owner’s ethic of customer service (again, unless there’s some mitigating reason), I find it appalling. I would never again give this company my business.

Don’t use Ben’s Moving and Trucking! I’ve moved 5 times in 6 years and had always used Delancey Street. They weren’t available that day and I ended up using this company. I didn’t realize just how good Delancey was till I used them. The movers weren’t careful and dropped my boxes, chipped my furnitures, gauged my doorframes, among other things. I’m still finding marks on my furniture months later that I know was due to the move. At the end, they were in a hurry to leave and left their boxes behind. Totally unprofessional.
The worst part was, what typically takes Delancey 2.5 hours to do, they took 5 – 6 hours. My total bill was almost double for what I typically pay. They didn’t keep accurate time like Delancey did. I will never ever use another moving company again.

I used Ben’s Moving and Trucking for my recent Emeryville to Oakland move — on recommendation from my real estate agent. Very professional. These guys know how to do it right! My only complaint is that the job took considerably longer than the estimate I was initially given.

I’m vacillating between 2 and 3 stars… guess I’ll be nice and go with 3 stars. The movers were great — cool guys who did a very difficult move (down 70 stairs in the rain) pretty quickly & efficiently. What WASN’T quick or efficient was the promised repair/​replacement of 2 pieces of furniture that were badly damaged in the move. It took 2 months to get our damaged credenza «repaired» — and the «repair» was a joke. After the move, there were chunks of wood missing from both sides of the kickboard on the bottom of the credenza. At first Ben (who is a nice guy despite this review) said that he’d have his «wood guy» repair the kickboard. Well, judging by the result of the repair, his wood guy is a toddler on hard drugs experimenting with a bottle of Elmers. Anyway, even Ben recognized that the repair wasn’t acceptable — so he just put the credenza back together sans the kickboard and called it a day… or 2 months. All in all, not the end of the world — but a frustrating experience. I was constantly having to call to get a status, and when I got a call back (I will say, usually pretty quickly) it was only to hear one excuse after another. This isn’t a scathing review — I’d just suggest that if you go with these guys and are having them move something delicate — make sure they wrap and pad it real good.