Nor Cal Moving Services

I now see that we should have checked the Unilocal reviews before choosing this company to move to New Zealand. The first set of packers were very professional, but every portion of our experience after that, from the second set of packers, who literally packed garbage in with our clothes and packed so poorly that much of our stuff was damaged or ruined, to our contact person who has been nothing but defensive about our understandable complaints. We paid almost $ 20,000 for our move and have received broken and moldy and dirty belongings delivered to us. They have not given us the unpacking service we paid for. We have been given the run around for our insurance claims (for which we paid thousands for «Gold service»). Next stop, acquiring an attorney.

Worst moving experience ever. I’ve moved out of the country twice and my my with Nor Cal from SF to Chicago was one of the least professional experiences I’ve ever had.
The sales guy that came out to give me a quote, gave me a business card that had someone else’s number on it so I was not able to reach him directly.
The front office and scheduling coordinator didn’t return my calls and I had to call multiple times to confirm pick and and delivery.
The guys that came to load my belongings were sloppy and slow. I paid for Armour Packaging for my TV and when it arrived it was two large boxes that had been flattened, wrapped around the TV with tape. They lost half the screws for my bed frame and the universal mount fo rmy TV
They didn’t provide me with a full invoice and I had to call back many times to get this.
VERY unprofessional.

Don’t waste your time because this company didn’t even take the time to respond to my online request for a quote or return my phone cal after 9 daysl. Poor business model.

I regret not having read these posts before hiring this company.
I rarely write reviews, but I am just so mad at this company I have to let you you: DO NOT WORK WITH THEM!
This is by far the WORST moving company I have dealt with in 4 countries (I have moved around 7 times, internationally).
It isn’t just the crew member were rude and unprofessional, but we had a serious issue with them and I am definitely letting the BBB know as well other legal entities.
This company should be out of business and I am surprise they belong to such a large group as Allied.
I agreed to a service and hourly rate (Over $ 200 per/​hour. To my surprise in the middle of the move they said «They were not allowed to pack any more, nor provide more boxes». So we ended up doing the packing ourselves.
The list is problem is endless:
— They didn’t deliver boxes correctly inside the house. I ended up with 15 boxes piled in the garage, unable to even move them myself.
— Several items were damaged
— Several marks were left in the property
— They charged me $ 100 for a 9 mile drive
After several inquiries for a formal invoice for the services rendered, 2 weeks after the move we still haven’t received anything and our credit card charged $ 1,900
I will pursue this until all customer protection agencies are aware.

My mother contacted the San Jose Nor-​Cal offices before our move, and was put into contact with an employee named Chris. She and Chris set up an appointment for Chris to come and survey our house before giving us a cost and time estimate for the moving services. On the day of the appointment, my mom just happened to find a much cheaper moving service, so she immediately called Chris to cancel. Apparently this was too much for Chris to handle. He accused my mother of «laughing at him» and cussed at her before hanging up on her.
I see, according to the other reviews, that this is not the first time Nor-Cal’s employees have been ridiculously disrespectful to their customers. This kind of service is disgustingly rude, immature, insecure, and unprofessional. I would recommend this company to NO ONE, and I hope they either hire new people or go out of business.

I contacted Nor-​Cal last week to schedule a walk through of the space my company is moving out of to obtain a quote for packing/​moving services, a woman named Abbey was kind enough to take down all of my information and advised that one of their project managers would be calling me to schedule a meeting.
Sean Proctor promptly called me back and we started tossing dates/​times we could make work for the walk through. He was a bit abrasive during this conversation but I brushed it off as him being busy and heck, aren’t all salesmen a bit abrasive. We set the appointment for yesterday (1÷8÷15) and that was the end of our first phone call.
Our second phone call happened when Sean showed up for our appointment and I was not there. I had been working at our new location in preparation for our move and my meetings ran late and I forgot to call Sean. This is totally my mistake and my fault, I apologized profusely and we made arrangements for him to come back Monday ¹⁄₁₂.
Our 3^rd and final phone call happened today when I called Sean to cancel our new appointment we had made less than 24 hours ago. I told him that the decision makers in my office had moved quickly and decided to go with a different company, I also thanked him for his attention to our project and again apologized for the inconvenience I had caused him yesterday. Apparently me canceling was enough to make Sean lose his mind.
Sean decided to unload his frustration on me by telling me that I was a joke because I had such a ‘strict window of availability’ when scheduling our first appointment (I have stuff to do during the day, my schedule is not wide open, sorry) and that I had some nerve canceling after he was *polite* enough to reschedule (things outside of my control got in the way yesterday, my bad) and when I asked him if that was really the type of customer service he wanted to give in our phone call his response was that I wasn’t a customer and he didn’t need to be polite.
I was convinced that not everyone at this company could be as unprofessional as Sean and gave Abbey a call to relay this experience.
Abbey remembered me when I called and I thanked her for giving great customer service in our initial call and regretted having to tell her that we’d be going with another company because of the experience I had with Sean. She abruptly cut me off and said «Well then it’s best you use another company.» to which I responded «We definitely are using another company but I wanted to relay our experience with Sean since he is who you send to interact with potential customers.»…Abbey hung up on me after saying «You can’t please everyone all of the time.»
Obviously Nor-​Cal will not go out of business because two rude employees offended one customer *but* anyone who is concerned with credibility should be concerned by the type of behavior coming from their employees who interact with potential customers. Where there is smoke there is fire and I would bet that I was not the first person Abbey and Sean have offended.
We’ve signed a contract with a fabulous company and feel confident our move will be successful because we decided not to partner with Nor-​Cal.
Take a look at other reviews on this company, not many people have been impressed.

***This review is for local moving services only. Nor-​Cal handled the entire process. Allied Van Lines was not involved in any way.”””
I’ve noticed many of the negative reviews for Nor-​Cal have been for inter-​state moves, where they hand off part of the move to Allied. Here’s the thing… I know of no case where an inter-​state move has ever gone well! So chalking the bad experiences up to Allied, I rolled the dice on Nor-​Cal hoping that the positive reviews on here (mostly for local moves) were the rule, and not the exception. I was glad that I did!
My move was within SF, about two miles, and I had a 1 bedroom apartment. Elevators on both ends, although the place I was moving out of had some strict HOA rules. Phil Barry (estimator) came out to my old place about two and a half weeks before my estimated move date and gave me a price quote on-​site. Very nice and reasonable guy! He estimated a 4 hour total move time (double drive time included) and quoted me $ 130/​hr for three movers. $ 130 may seem high to some of you out there, but it was the lowest quote I received for three people (I spoke with 5 other local companies) and any lower quotes I found were for only two movers. I was a bit skeptical because Nor-​Cal was «corporate» and I have always had good moving experiences with «family-​run» companies, but Nor-​Cal did offer something that the others wouldn’t: Nor-​Cal would handle all of the SF street permits for me! I still had to pay for the permits, but not having to deal with SF bureaucracy was one less headache. Of course, those of you living out in The Richmond, parts of Portrero Hill, or even Marina may scoff at actually getting street permits for a moving truck because it’s fairly easy to double park /​find parking /​block off parking spaces there, but when you’re moving into a building off of Geary & Van Ness and your street is a major bus lane… yeah, it’s probably wise to follow SF city guidelines. All-​in (including the permit), the not-​to-​exceed price was $ 800 (not including tip), which is about what I expected.
I had scheduled the move for the morning time-​slot. Got a call the day before and was told the movers would be there between 8am-​10am. Moving day comes and I get a call at 8:10am telling me the movers will be there at 9am. They actually showed up at 9:30 (the one ding on the day). I wasn’t too worried because I had my elevator booked until 12pm. The «moving clock» didn’t actually start until 10 because they had to fill out paperwork at my loading dock and prep my building’s hallways with floorboards (told you… crazy HOA rules!) Now, I had moved all of the fragile items (flatware, glasses, wine/​liquor, artwork) myself a week before, but this was the first move I’ve ever made where absolutely NOTHING was scratched or broken!!! I was amazed. Pablo, Carlos and Oscar wrapped all of my furniture in blankets and cellophane, boxed up my 55″ plasma TV (for free), provided me with three free wardrobe boxes, and handled every box I had packed with care. I had to provide mattress bags, but they put them on for me. The move-​out took about 1.75−2 hours, then they took a 30 minute lunch break (on their time) and then headed over to my new place. Move-​in took about 1 – 1.5 hours. They were done by 2pm.
Overall, a very pleasant moving experience, and I would use Nor-​Cal if/​when I move within SF again!

I would not recommend this company at all. We had an estimate appointment scheduled with Chris but he never showed up. When I called him to find out where he was, he had no idea who I was or anything about my move. I had just talked to him two days ago! Then he said it would take him 2 – 3 hours to come over and asked if I still wanted him to come. While I was asking my husband what he wanted to do, Chris said their services were really expensive and that we would probably want to find another company. I told him he was clearly talking me out of hiring him and he agreed. There’s more to the conversation that was incredibly disappointing but you get the idea. I could not believe the horrible customer service and how much he didn’t even care that he was doing such an awful job. I cannot even imagine what a terrible job they would do with a move.

Review removed. Obsolete.

Nor– Cal Moving services is great!!! I used them to move my company’s office this past weekend. At first I was hesitant because their price was so high, but it was definitely worth it. The movers were SO efficient and fast, I couldn’t believe it. Mark also sent people to come back a few days after we got settled in to mount our TV’s on the wall.
I would definitely recommend them and will be using them again in the future!

Had a terrifying experience on the I-​880 freeway yesterday as a victim of road rage perpetrated by one of this company’s moving vehicles. (License plate #8A49451) The huge moving van drifted into my lane and when I honked to get their attention, it sent them into overdrive. The two employees inside the Nor Cal Moving truck began making obscene gestures toward me and switched lanes in order to be behind me. They then sped up and were less than three feet from my rear bumper at speeds of 50 mph through the construction corridor. I sped up to 70 mph trying to get some space between them and I, but it didn’t cause them to back off. They pursued me for 2 miles, switching lanes to stay on my bumper until I exited the freeway. I called the company to speak with someone and was transferred to «Lou». I left a voicemail describing my experience and asking for a return call. I haven’t heard back from them. Please, don’t use this company as their drivers are irresponsible bordering on criminal. I wouldn’t trust them with my posessions.

Shamrock Moving and Nor Cal/​Sausalito Moving Company (an Allied Van Line company) moved my belongings from San Francisco to Rhode Island. They did an excellent job and were very detail oriented and gentle with my furniture.
The drivers were a husband and wife team from Port Murray, New Jersey named Agnes and Robert Rogowski. They did a fabulous job.

I am so dissatisfied with this moving company, I had to write a review.
This is my third long-​distance move and the third company I have dealt with. I chose Allied (Nor Cal Moving was the local agent) because of their price and the initial customer service experience I had with their estimator, Dwight. Dwight was a pleasure to work with. He was never condescending (which some of the other people who came to give estimates were) and he never acted as though my move, which was small and paying for out of my own pocket, was not important to him.
The day of the move went great. The driver, Fernando, was THE BEST. He had four people there to carry and pack and it went very smoothly. Of all of the moving experiences I have had this was the best.
Delivery went fine. Fernando was able to drive up close to my apartment and save me a lot of money on extra fees. The people he brought were polite and professional and everything was delivered perfectly.
The reason this move has been a terrible experience is the people in the offices at Nor Cal Moving. Angela was the move coordinator and there were many times in dealing with her when she was just short of rude. A long-​distance move is stressful and expensive and she made no effort in being considerate of making things better.
The absolute worst thing about Nor Cal has been the way they have handled things post-​move. When you move within the state of California they quote you a «not to exceed» price. As is to be expected, this amount is more than what you end up paying. This is where Nor Cal has completely dropped the ball. My move weight was a lot less than what was calculated (as I expected) and so now they owe me a refund.
First I was told I had to wait until after the delivery in case there were additional charges at destination.
Then I was told I had to wait until the driver returned to San Leandro with my paperwork and that took another week after my things were delivered.
Then I was told that the CEO had to approve all the paperwork and that only happens on Thursdays.
Last Monday I was told it was expedited.
Today is Monday and I have been told it’s in their credit card processing department.
I am now going to write to the BBB and to the California Public Utilities Commission to let them know about this. All they have to do is credit my credit card and I know for a fact there is no way that should take a week. Such a shame. It could have been the one time I recommended a moving company.
Update ⁹⁄₂₅: after I filed the complaints they refunded my money. It’s a shame it had to get to that.

I used NorCal Allied for a cross-​country move from San Francisco to New York. My move coordinator was very nice and that part of the process (pre-​move) went smoothly. There was one small glass item destroyed by the packers during the packing process. That happens. What then went horribly wrong was the condition of my large furniture (anything that hadn’t been packed in a box) when it was brought up to my apartment in New York. It’s possible that the local movers Allied used were the problem, but there was major damage to my furniture. Several large items (dining table, media console, chairs) were clearly not wrapped and were clearly dropped. The damage as assessed by Allied’s assessor is more than $ 1K. Now I’m responsible for getting these items repaired. Not to mention I purchased extra insurance, so I’m paying a $ 500 deductible in addition to the ~$ 600 I paid for the insurance. I’m in the process of trying to track down what Allied’s financial responsibility is for the damage, so far it appears that I am paying for the damage myself via the deductible and cost of insurance. Awful.
I’d never take the chance with Allied again. Their movers (at least in New York or San Francisco, whichever location this happened in, I’ll never know) clearly don’t care.

We used Nor Cal Moving Services on 7÷3÷13 to move all of our things from Santa Cruz, Ca to Australia. The movers arrived right on time which was very important to us. The crew was so professional, friendly and worked for 6 hours non-​stop to pack and load our furniture and fragile items. They went through every item to make sure nothing was broken or damaged before packing and they documented everything. This move was for my neighbors who had already left and I was in charge. At the end of packing, they even moved a large item for me and put it in my truck… I would refer Nor Cal Moving to anyone who needs a moving company. Thank you Nor Cal for making this huge move easy for us…

I hadn’t written a review here before, but my experience with Nor-​Cal was so bad that I had to sign up just so I could tell others about it.
First of all, they won’t give you ANY cost estimate without doing an in-​home survey. OK, fine. It took me a week of exchanging emails with them just to schedule said survey. The person I talked to sent me a confirmation email with the date, time and phone number of the person who would come to my house, Dan.
The day comes, and nobody came. I call Dan, and he says «I have no idea what you’re talking about, you’d have to call the company. Maybe you got your dates mixed up». I explain to him that I didn’t, that I received a confirmation email with the date, time and his name. Again, he just says he knows nothing and can’t help me (even though he was cc’ed in the confirmation email) .
At first I wanted to reschedule; everybody makes mistakes and I really need help with my move. However, it took them forever to answer my emails and voice mails, so I’m using a different service.
Stay away from Nor-​Cal if you want reliable customer service.

I had a great experience recently with Nor-​Cal Moving Services. I was referred to them via Allied Moving, and then hired them to move and store some office furniture.
While the furniture that was being moved didn’t pose any unusual challenges, I did give the movers a fairly short time frame in which to do it. During both load-​out and load-​in, the team was able to move everything quickly and efficiently. When the furniture was returned to the office space, everything was in perfect condition. The team worked with me to remove all the storage labels, and even helped me wipe down each individual desk and chair. I was impressed with their work ethic and friendliness. I also thought the price we paid for the job was reasonable.
If I need to supervise another move, I’d certainly call Nor-​Cal again. Thanks, guys!

We had the pleasure of working with Nor-​Cal Moving Services with our new office re-​location earlier this month (August 2012) and we were honored to have hired such a reliable, honest, easy, fast and a friendly staff.
The staff members were easy to talk to and followed great directions. They knew exactly what they were doing and recommended a few strategies to help ease the process of the move at a timely manner. They weren’t in for nickel and diming us for every hour… rather getting us home as early possible on a Friday night to start the weekend on a good and stress-​free note.
They even took away our old gadgets, computers, and furniture that we were planning on disposing [at an extra cost] for free!
In regards to pricing, you will find that they are fairly decent compared to other moving services. When Jim, our sales rep, came into our offices for a price estimate, he was very detailed and looked into everything that will effect the estimate; whereas when we called in two other companies for their estimates, they were in and out and just threw out a «more or less» figure. Nor-​Cal even provided us with more than enough boxes, labeling stickers, pictures, and other ‘outside’ services — disposal of equipment at no extra cost, bringing down ‘sold’ equipment to the curbside the day of move if sold to a buyer, etc…
Our move started at 5:30pm and we were done just before 10:00pm, as promised.
After settling in and unpacking the next week, my manager and I noticed that we had misplaced the company camera and videocamera in one of the credenza’s that were marked as one of the items to be disposed of. When we brought this to the attention of Jim, our sales rep, he was able to track down the credenza and the company camera and videocamera the very next morning. He even went out of his way to drop off our equipment to us that same week!
I will definitely recommend Nor-​Cal Moving Services for all your moving needs in the Bay Area. If you choose to go with a competitor or an alternative, I don’t know what to tell ya… SMH
Aman Chahal
Gallen.Neilly & Associates

My experience seems in line with a lot of the other posts… especially those who moved out of the bay area. My items were damaged, arrived late, and the support team (all the way up to VP) became non-​responsive during the delay (and to this day). This company might be good for local moves but they’re just an agent (and an awful one) for Allied. For long-​distance movers, my suggestion is to pick another company altogether. This agent will gladly take your money and then happily not respond to any concerns.
–If you’re moving an apartment or small house, then Allied doesn’t really guarantee a delivery time even though a delivery window is quoted and provided by Nor-​Cal. Our items never left California until they last day of the delivery window. Yes, the last day of the quoted delivery period… deliver on the other side of the country. On top of this, every contact person at Nor-​Cal (even the VP) was silent on return calls/​emails. This left us feeling that the marketing messages about Nor-Cal’s great service were just useless marketing words. After repeated attempts to get an answer, it was only then that Allied said that a delivery window guarantee doesn’t matter (even if quoted) if the total weight is less than 2,500 pounds. Really??? Then why not say that up front?
–Even though movers will wrap your furniture on moving day (making you feel that your items will be handled with care), the items actually get unwrapped when waiting in the warehouse to be loaded onto an Allied truck. Given that the delivery window was inaccurate, our items sat unprotected in a warehouse for almost three weeks. No surprise, then, to find that some of our furniture was damaged. An attempted repair was made to one of the items by Nor-​Call/​Allied before delivery, so check all your items thoroughly when they arrive (especially the items you thought were wrapped the entire time). It turns out that the moving insurance offered has a high deductible so that just feels like one more rip-​off item.
–The company provides a nice service with the salesperson doing an estimate at the beginning of the process, but once the contract was signed, they wanted all interaction to be done by email. Phone calls weren’t returned, and even emails weren’t returned. Consider it a lesson learned when a company only wants to provide contact via email. Very unprofessional and unresponsive. If any response came, it was only to pass the responsibility to someone else.
In the end, we did all the packing so we feel it would have been must less stressful to hire local teams to load/​unload a moving truck and do the driving ourselves.

Was looking to move from the East Bay to the DC area and wanted to use Allied. Tried to get in contact with this office and was told multiple times to leave a message for Cher and she’d get back to me to give me an estimate. No returned call after THREE voice mails so I called until she actually answered. She wouldn’t give me an estimate… not even a ballpark. Instead she said someone would call me to schedule a day to come out and look at my stuff. Um, will they actually call back because I was told you would and you didn’t. No response.
A week and a half later I get a phone call from someone asking when he can come out for an estimate. She had just given him the message *that* day. Too bad a week before I had decided to use the Allied affiliate out of Vallejo (Broadway Moving & Storage… I reviewed them if you want more details).
Moral of the story: if you’re doing a long distance move through Allied (they did a good job), go out of the Vallejo office.