Stannard Relocations, LLC, Bekins Agent

I was recommended to Stannard Relocations by a local mover and I was glad I decided to go with them for my move. Randy was excellent — he gave me good information, he was helpful and easy to work with. The mover («Rooster») and his helper were careful in packing and efficient. They had to go up and down an icy slope of grass and managed to navigate it with lots of boxes. Rooster delivered my belongings on the day he said he would, and everything went perfectly. I would recommend Randy and Stannard Relocations for anyone moving from the Iowa City/​Cedar Rapids area.

We moved with Randy and his team from Iowa City to North Carolina. They did a full pack. I will like the problems we had in chronological order:
1) They vastly underestimated the size of the move and the time it would take to pack. Because of this, they did not have near enough materials had to go back to obtain more. This took over an hour. They took approximately 6 hours longer than originally planned to pack my house (1 bedroom, 1 office).
2) They guys who packed me took a lot of smoke breaks, including a break inside (sitting down) the moving van where half my personal items were loaded. Very unprofessional.
3) They left several drawers unpacked and had to «throw» those items in a box at the last minute because there was no more packing paper (hence the lack of materials).
4) I did a final sweep after they left and noted several more items they forgot. Frustrating given I was driving myself to NC and had limited space in my vehicle.
5) We had a very nice piece of art. When I asked if I should put it on the «high value,» item list, the packer noted you should only put items like a «Van Gogh,» on there. Do NOT make the same mistake I did. It turns out they markedly damaged the art and it is not repairable.
6) As soon as the above noted piece of art was taken out of the box, we noted 2 large scuffs (acrylic photograph). We called Randy immediately and started our claims process. Now, almost 3 ½ months later we have been denied by Bekins because they are claiming the item was damaged prior to the move. It was not damaged and no damage was notated at the time of packing. The art is worth $ 35,000. Are claim was denied 100% and will receive no compensation for their mistake.
7) After receiving the denied claim, I called Randy to talk. He refused to talk about the claim and referred me to Bekins customer service. He stated to not know why we would spend that much on art. We did not spend that much. It was a gift and has appreciated dramatically since receiving it. Nonetheless, it is NONE of his business how I choose to spend my money.
I do not recommend using them. They did a poor job packing and poor job with followup customer service. I will say the 2 guys who moved us into our home in Charlotte were fantastic so not all Bekins contractors are unreliable.