Summit Moving & Storage

In case you don’t want to read the details, lets’s just say that Summit Moving & Storage does not deserve your business. Their performance was second rate, they sold me insurance coverage which was not honored, damaged my goods, charged me for boxes they claimed never to have packed and turned a two day move into a three day ordeal. They also use a claims administrator which is rude and disingenuous. Details as follows: Moving is always stressful, but a good moving company can ease some of the hassle. Unfortunately, Summit Moving & Storage does not fit into this category. It’s nearly a year later and I am still waiting for resolution on damage to my goods. The salesman who quoted the job was pleasant and seemed to understand what I wanted. Specifically, we agreed on which items Summit would pack (e.g. china, glassware, TVs, mattresses) and discussed some especially heavy items I felt would need a mover’s expertise. I was told that these items would be no problem and that the move would take two days which was critical as the buyer for my house was planning a back-to-back move. About 10 days prior to the move, I contacted Summit to confirm everything and to ask about adding full value insurance for which I agreed to pay an extra $450. I was not informed then or at any time during the move that any damage had to be identified immediately. On day one of the move, the crew arrived and began packing the items agreed to in the contract (china, etc.) and loading the truck. The crew did work hard but didn’t seem to have as much skill as I would expect e.g. moving heavy items or in securing items on the truck. As a result there was damage to a number of items which were not well protected. These guys clearly needed better training. On day two, the crew arrived a little later than the first day and, to my surprise, it was an entirely different crew. This crew worked all day but did not finish the job. I was told that a crew would be back in the morning to finish. As you might imagine, this put me in a real bind as the buyer of my house planned to start moving in the next morning. I was able to get the buyer’s agreement for Summit to work around his movers. On day three, one hour after the Summit crew was to arrive I called to find out where they were. Apparently, word from the day-two crew that the move was incomplete had not been communicated to or had not been understood by the Summit office. Summit did agree after I complained that they would have a crew come out. In about an hour, a three person all-new crew showed up with a crew chief who acted as though it were my fault that the job was not done in the promised two days. He let the other two crew members do all the work while he sat in the truck. Finally, after nearly three days, the move was finished. At no time during the three days did anyone from Summit contact me to see how the move was going or to apologize the for the mess they created on the third day. At this point, the headaches were just beginning. Summit has a third party company called Moving Claims Services handle insurance claims. A day or two after the move, Moving Claims Services told me I had 30 days to submit a claim which I did for five damaged items. Full documentation, pictures and valuations were included. One of these items was packed by Summit in a box that they charged me for. The other items were too large to box and were packed loose on their truck. None of these items were damaged prior to being put on the Summit truck, but all sustained damage during the move. After nearly three months, Moving Claims Services rejected the claim basically for two reasons. Reason one was that I had not noted any damage immediately i.e. the day of the move even though I was told I had 30 days to identify damage and submit a claim. The second reason is that Summit claims not to have packed any boxes which is false as I contracted for them to pack specific items, saw them being packed, and was charged for the boxes. Over the last several months I have exchanged numerous letters with Moving Claims Services to no avail. This company’s personnel has an attitude which assumes from the start that you are trying to cheat the system. Their claim that damage must be identified the day of the move was never communicated to me until after I submitted a claim and they continually misrepresented the facts regarding the packing of my goods. Throughout this process, I kept Summit in the information loop, even pointing out that Moving Claims Services was doing a disservice to Summit through their treatment of the customer. Summit never responded throughout this process. In summary, both Summit Moving & Storage, and Moving Claims Services do not deserve your business. Summit’s performance was second rate, they sold me insurance coverage which was not honored, damaged my goods, charged me for boxes they claimed never to have packed and turned a two day move into a three day ordeal. Moving Claims Services is rude and disingenuous. My advice is don’t use Summit Moving and never hook up with a moving company without understanding the insurance coverage and their claims process.