Purple Heart Moving Group Reviews

The driver finally showed up after several cancels. He claimed his truck was being worked on, and he showed up with a U-Haul to move all my furniture to storage. Never was I told this, and because I yelled enough, they didn’t charge me the normal settling paid which is $500. Now I have no idea where my furniture is or if I will ever see it. It’s supposed to be delivered within 2 to 5 days, heaven only knows if I will ever see it again. I never knew anything about a broker moving furniture.

Buyer beware, as others have stated, I did not see the Consumer Affairs reviews until after it was too late. With all the stress of moving, this certainly was the last thing I needed to deal with. I can’t believe there are people out there that do this to other people during a very stressful time of need. And yes my driver hired to flunky contractors that showed up in a junk beat up car. They did move quickly, shelves all my furniture in this little U-Haul truck, including strapping my mattress on the back of the truck. Shame on these people.

1. Lie to customers on the phone and promise services that are not included in the actual contract;

2. Lure in customers with unrealistically low quotes (around 50 % of the actual cost);

3. Tell customers to go along with whatever unexpected charges come up, and that PHMG will recalculate everything and provide reimbursements once the move has been completed—but once the move is over, they tell customers that all the papers have been signed and that it is too late for any recalculations or reimbursements;

4. Sub-contract with unreliable movers, who may, in addition to being bad movers, not speak English and who may sub-sub-contract part of the move to yet other companies that PHMG does not know about;

5. Have terrible communication with both the customer and their sub-(sub-)contractors;

6. Defer any responsibility for delays, damages, losses, and false promises to the sub-(sub-)contractors, incl. providing a very tedious online claims system through which you will have to work out any reimbursements with the sub-(sub-)contractors,

7. Offer angry customers hush money, a sum much less than the actual damage or cost increase, to prevent them from posting reviews.

*LONG VERSION* WHAT IT MEANS TO DO BUSINESS WITH PHMG. PHMG is a broker, no matter what they tell you on the phone (My wife was told by PHMG that they were not a broker), which means that they will not handle your move, and instead sub-contract with whoever can give them a good rate. In our case, this led to:

1. Difficulties in communication regarding pick-up and delivery as well as how to handle payments and reimbursements (in other words: when we told PHMG that the movers had arrived on site with an incorrect inventory of our move and were spending hours on setting up their own, new inventory, although we had provided PHMG with a complete inventory three days before, PHMG told us that we did not have any “actionable” complaints and that there was nothing they could do for us; then our furniture was virtually lost for three weeks and nobody knew where it was or when it would be delivered; and when my wife called PHMG to inform them that their sub-contractors had charged us incorrectly, they told me to do what it takes to please the movers and that PHMG would handle all reimbursements after the completion of our move, but when it was time for the reimbursements, I was told that I had signed the documents with which the movers had provided me and that there was nothing that PHMG could do for me at this point);

2. Having to deal with moving companies for pick-up and delivery on whose selection you have zero influence;

3. Having to make out personal checks and money orders to companies with whom you do not have a contract, and occasionally even having to make out checks or money orders to the driver of the moving truck;

4. Having our boxes and furniture loaded and unloaded three times (pick-up from our apartment, transfer to a large truck, transfer to a shuttle truck, delivery at our apartment), which increases the likelihood of damages due to improper handling, getting rained on, and/or soaking in dirt water on the floor.

PROBLEMS WITH ADMINISTRATION AND PLANNING

1. We did not receive the promised 24-to-48-hour advance warning before the pick-up of our furniture. I called PHMG the night before the move to ask if there are any updates, and I was told that the movers show up in 14 hours (8 am the next day).

2. Movers had an incorrect moving inventory, although I had spent almost one hour on the phone with PHMG three days prior to move to update the moving inventory. The inaccurate moving inventory resulted in the movers’ showing up with a half-full truck that was too small to load all of our furniture; a delay in loading because the movers had to create a new inventory; a different pick-up charge than the one with which PHMG had provided me three days prior to the move.

3. Instead of the “estimated” delivery of 4–10 business days, it took 3 weeks and 3 days (from June 27 to July 21) for our furniture to be delivered.

4. The movers did not know to which address to deliver our furniture because PHMG had not provided them with this information.

5. We called PHMG frequently during the last two weeks of waiting for our furniture. We were first told that the furniture would arrive between July 11 and July 14, then it was rescheduled for July 15/16, then for July 18. When nobody had shown up by the evening of July 18, we were promised that the furniture would arrive on July 19. When nobody had shown up by the afternoon of July 19, we were promised that the furniture would arrive on July 20. The movers did show up on July 20, but they spent the day renting a U-Haul truck and loading our furniture from semi-truck into the U-Haul truck. By the time they had delivered a quarter of our things, they were tired and had to stop. They came back the morning of July 21 and unloaded the U-Haul until the afternoon.

6. We did not receive the promised 1-day, 3-hour, and 1-hour advance call before our furniture was delivered. Instead, the movers called once they were standing in front of the gate.

7. We were not informed until the delivery crew arrived that we would have to pay a shuttle fee (from the semi-truck to our apartment). It was a late Saturday afternoon in Florida, and we were unable to obtain the required postal money order, as all the post offices in our area were now closed. (PHMG arranged for us to be allowed to use a regular money order, which was, I believe, the only time that their customer support was helpful).

8. Nobody had arranged for a shuttle truck to transfer our belongings from the semi-truck to the apartment. The truck driver had to rent a U-Haul truck, which was only available after a 3-hour wait. Combined with the time it took the movers to transfer our belongings to the shuttle, this resulted in a delivery beginning at 7 pm on July 20, although we were told that the delivery would begin in the morning.

PROBLEMS WITH CHARGES AND PAYMENTS

1. The original quote that we were given when we first called PHMG was way too low and PHMG “adjusted” our payment three days before the move. The new quote was twice as high as the original quote. Here is what happened: Although I had provided PHMG with an accurate account of the amount, type, and size of our furniture during the first phone conversation, PHMG estimated that we would need 30 boxes. My wife insisted that her books alone fill 30 boxes, and so PHMG increased the estimated number of boxes to 50. We ended up moving 125 boxes. Furthermore, although I had provided PHMG with the dimensions of our furniture, they entered every bookshelf as a small bookshelf, our extendable dining table as a kitchen table for two, etc. The original quote was hence completely and (in my opinion) deliberately unrealistic.

2. The payment due at pick-up was higher than the sum that PHMG had told us was owed that day. PHMG told me to pay whatever the movers asked me to pay, and that they would sort it out later (which they never did).

3. Packing materials are, according the contract with PHMG, included in the charge. Nonetheless, the movers charged us for packing materials. PHMG refused to reimburse these costs.

4. Two different reps from PHMG told me on the phone that all of our furniture would be disassembled and reassembled for free by the movers, and this is also stated in the contract (all furniture that is required to be disassembled for a safe move, and since most of our furniture got severely damaged, it was obviously unsafe for the pieces to be moved as-is). Disassembling all furniture makes sense because PHMG charged us by volume, not by weight. However, the movers did not disassemble our furniture except for two tables upon pick-up, and the movers who delivered the furniture did not even have tools to reassemble the two tables. When we asked to be reimbursed for the air transported inside of our non-disassembled furniture, PHMG refused.

5. The movers refused to disassemble our wardrobe. Consequently, it did not fit in the elevator. The movers gave us two options: either pay them $ 140 in cash to carry the wardrobe down the stairs, or have them leave the wardrobe behind. We did not have the cash and had to trash the wardrobe because it was too late in the evening to find another solution to the problem and we could not reach PHMG on the phone. Note: Most likely, the wardrobe would not even have fit into the moving truck, which arrived half-full of other people’s things, so it seems to me that the movers weren’t even trying.

6. We were told that the down-payment and the pick-up charge were calculated based on an extremely generous estimate of the volume of our move, and that the actual volume would be measured on the truck, and that our final payment (on the day of delivery) would be adjusted to reflect the difference between the actual volume and the initial overestimate. This should, according to PHMG, have brought our final payment close to zero. However, we had to pay the full price that was based on the original (over)estimate. I called PHMG to inquire about that, and they told me to pay the full amount that the movers request, and that they would reimburse me later on. After the move was completed, my wife requested an adjustment of the bill that was based on the actual volume of our move. We were told that the actual volume was never measured, and that we signed off on the estimate when the movers first picked up the furniture, and that we would not receive any reimbursement for any overestimates.

PROBLEMS WITH MOVERS ON-SITE

1. Upon pick-up, the movers were 4 hours late, upon delivery, several days (see above).

2. Both groups of movers spoke barely any English, and the designated person on the pick-up crew who was supposed to speak English didn’t really; the delivery crew did not even have a designated English-speaking person. This led to: extreme delay of creating a new inventory upon pick-up; creating a wrong inventory upon pick-up (e.g., “iron table” instead of “ironing board” and “stool” instead of “toolbox”); impossibility to contest any demands in payments or refusals to provide services that are part of the contract with PHMG.

3. Handwritten inventories are ineligible, but we had no choice other than to sign everything.

4. The delivery crew consisted of only two men, for full two-bedroom apartment. If we understood correctly, the crew was supposed to consist of four people, but two had taken off with the money from the previous job and gone drinking.

5. The delivery was extremely slow, which is understandable considering that two people had to carry the contents of a 2-bedroom-apartment to the third floor of a Florida apartment in July. They had to take frequent breaks lasting 10 to 20 minutes, and some of our belongings were sitting in the rain while they were taking breaks.

6. The slow speed of delivery caused the delivery to become an overnight ordeal. The delivery crew started unloading at 7 pm, got tired by 11 pm, and asked to come back the next morning at 8 am. They promised it would only take them another hour or two to finish. They showed up at 8:30 am and completed their job at 1 pm.

7. Both moving crews left behind trash in our apartment and on the stairs.

8. The delivery crew damaged our apartment, including severe dents and deep scratches in two doors and multiple walls, ceilings, columns, and base boards.

9. The delivery crew did not unwrap or reassemble our furniture. We had to unwrap the furniture ourselves and carry the moving blankets to the truck.

10. The delivery crew did not put furniture where we wanted it and/or put it against the wall sideways or backwards and still in blankets and plastic wrap.

11. Both crews literally threw our boxes into and out of trucks, including items that contained “FRAGILE” stickers.

12. One quarter of our boxes and two thirds of our furniture got damaged (scratched, torn, dented, broken, drenched, and/or soiled), partially completely destroyed. The movers had placed large items at the bottom and smaller items on top, which resulted, for example, in a wardrobe box being at the bottom of very large stack of boxes and getting completely smashed—and with it my wife’s wedding dress. Multiple cardboard boxes and furniture also sat on the ground in the rain.

PROBLEMS WITH PHMG CUSTOMER SUPPORT

1. PHMG employees lied to us in various ways. First, they told us that they are not a broker, which they are. Second, they told us that all furniture would be disassembled, which it wasn’t. Third, they told us that we would only pay for the actual volume of our move, but we ended up paying for an estimated volume that was created via phone by a PHMG employee who neither set foot in our apartment ever nor saw the moving truck, and who told us himself that his estimate was an extreme overestimate. Fourth, they told us that cashier’s check and credit card were acceptable payment methods upon delivery, which they aren’t. Fifth, when confronted with these lies, they told us that nobody had ever told us the things on this list, i.e., they lied about lying.

2. When we called PHMG and informed them that the pick-up crew did not have the correct inventory for our move and was going to charge us a sum higher than the amount with which PHMG had provided me, we were told that this was not an “actionable” complaint.

3. PHMG was frequently unavailable over the phone and did not call back when we left voice mails requesting calls back.

4. PHMG customer support reps were frequently rude and disinterested, and almost always unhelpful.

5. We requested five times in different phone calls and voice mails to speak to a customer support supervisor, and our requests were denied or not answered. Excuses included that the supervisor was too busy, in meetings, and sick. We insisted that all incorrect charges be sorted out before we have to make our final payment (upon delivery), because we knew that we would not be reimbursed. Nothing was handled before delivery and the supervisor never called. Weeks after, the supervisor emailed us and we were offered a tiny reimbursement that does not even begin to cover our financial damages and inappropriate charges.

6. This small “reimbursement” would not have come without strings attached: it was hush money. We would have had to sign a contract that would not have allowed us to publish any online reviews or publicize our bad experience with PHMG in any other way.

I looked at a few other companies, but ended up coming right back to Purple Heart. I just felt more comfortable talking to them. Move day went smoothly from what my parents told me. The movers came in and packed everything up and were very friendly to my parents (who can be a bit on edge as they get older). 2 days later, the movers got to my parents new home. They basically staged the house for them. They put all of the furniture where it was needed and put all of the boxes in the rooms my mother pointed them to. I would have had to take off so much work and make multiple trips to and from if I did this on my own. I am forever thankful to Purple Heart for helping my parents move.

In Novato, one of the movers slipped on the stairs (carrying coffee) and later I found it all across the wall, and in the carpet. Did they tell me? No. I found food that had been spilled on the carpet, ground in, did they tell me? No. Did they clean it, or ask for something to clean it? No. These are minor things. I thought for the amount of work of moving, they weren't doing such a bad job, but it is obvious that they have no regard for how hard a person works to gain the precious belongings that we owned. Inherited precious, irreplaceable items, and they smashed them!

I found my grandmother's wooden miniature chest from the late 1800's thrown diagonally in a box with things that didn't belong with it. Yes, lots of damage. They smashed a wheel and broke an edge off of my 1900's cedar chest. An antique batwing, clawfoot table valued at $800 smashed apart. It would take unbelievable disregard to pack things so terribly. Smashed fish tank - placed in a box with a 25 lb miter saw. How did I not see them packing like this? Oh, because I was ensuring they had plenty to eat and drink? My husband was busy too, getting ourselves out of our home. We couldn't be everywhere the three guys were. (five total over five days.)

At first, if you called the manager, he was lickity splickity to answer the phone. After the fact, no one would answer. The manager was complaining about how much stuff we had. We ski, surf, backpack, ride horses. - I had closed my office and had lots of files and books. My husband retired and had lots of files he had to keep. We were blessed with a garden, and our vehicles. My parents had died, so we inherited things from them, and were weeding them. How much is too much? A moving company is for moving! What would they do with a family bigger than three and 1250 sq ft house?

They transferred our belongings to a semi in L.A. CA. at their warehouse. This is where the trouble really began. They told us that their arrival time at our new home would be on the 15th of June. We busted our backsides to arrive at our new home before them. They arrived six weeks later. We called them, and Purple Heart, but they didn't return our calls. They just disappeared. My husband finally got a coordinator at Purple Heart, who gave him different phone numbers. He found out that the company's claims of "we are still packing the trucks", was a coordinated effort in lying.

My motorcycle had $2650.00 in damages. They had to have dropped my bike, as well as allowed the packing to collapse on it. How does one score and break a windshield, crack a taillight off, and cause that many scores in the paint and chrome? My mom's Mikimoto pearls were stolen, as well as other jewelry. The box was smashed, had a hole in the bottom of it, and was completely ransacked. Mom had worked at CBS in the fifties, and had an ashtray from a Johnny Carson party (I have pics of this.) The ashtray is smashed to smithereens. Many things are smashed, damaged, gone. I sat on our front deck and wept. Every box opened was an effort in self control. Tears to being enraged.

Do NOT use this company. They are reprehensible for their disregard, negligence, and thievery. You would think that a moving company would screen their employees. I cannot believe they screen them. We have submitted our claim, and a year and a half later they are still unresponsive. Thank God for our vehicle insurance company Progressive. At least our insurance paid for the damages to my motorcycle, and Progressive took up the battle of getting reimbursed by this company. I struggle with the trauma of how much they damaged. Shaking my head. Don't do it. Don't use these people.

I packed my own household goods. During the process the lead mover did tell me I was going over the square footage of the initial quote and I could owe more. Since I needed for them to take everything I told him to continue and I’ll pay extra. The extra amount ended up being $1300. Yucks! Part of the issue was my very large sleigh bed and pillow top mattress set. I also had ten extra boxes. So I just went on and paid it. Luckily they took a check. No telling what would have happened if I didn’t have it. Downside, most of these moving companies only deal with cash and postal money orders. I wouldn’t need my furniture for three weeks so the price included storage.

Fast forward to delivery time. The dispatch reached out to me four days before delivery to confirm everything. Great. Day of delivery we went from the company would be here around 9am to they didn’t arrive until 3pm. This time in a semi truck size moving truck. The mover initial told me they weren’t sure they could deliver because the truck could get stuck in the apartment complex parking lot once residents return home and the lot begins to fill up. Needless to say they were able to deliver my furniture and boxes. I did have two wooden furniture pieces damaged. My TV stand, which I wasn’t too concerned about because I was getting a new one and was just going to use the old one for another room. But my book case which I loved was ruined.

I haven’t gone through all my boxes to see how everything else fared. It’s cold and rainy on the day of delivery so some of my softer items did get wet. I would recommend the company, just beware of the extra costs if you have large furniture. Oh, have drills, screwdrivers and other tools on hand. Both times the movers didn’t have the tools to break down beds and tables. They ended up using my tools. Overall I would give this moving experience a B minus.

My phone records show dozens of calls to them from time of pick up to delivery requesting clarification of the overcharge, and to get a delivery date. All but 2 of the calls amounted to a promise that they would get back to me. They didn't. And to finish off the nightmare, the movers called on a Sunday to inform me they were just down the road ready to deliver. No one had called a day or two beforehand to tell me when they would be at my new house. My team was unable to get a replacement at that late date. Multiple items were damaged or missing. I was jerked around with a lengthy dispute resolution process. In the end they completely IGNORED my claim.

I waited an hour after the latest time and contacted PHMG and was told very casually by the customer service representative that the pickup date had been changed to the next day and hadn’t I been contacted. Really? I informed her that I had not been contacted. The next day when the movers showed up I was flabbergasted. I knew immediately that the truck was too small. Then I learned that I had only been scheduled for ½ the truck. At this point, I had paid PHMG around $1000 and the moving company even more. I would lose all deposits, so I moved forward. I was able to use the whole truck, but not without a significant cost increase. I paid more than double my initial quote and had to rent a U-Haul to move the things that would not fit on the truck myself. How could this be? I had accounted for just about every item.

Furthermore, I learned that PHMG had changed the moving company at the last minute. The previous moving company explained that my job had been taken away on Monday, the original move date. The current company, confirmed that they had just received the job. When I finally reached PHMG, they were unapologetic. And there was absolutely no follow up after my move. Terrible!

They demolished my Oscillating Fan beyond repair. I never got my 4 Legs from my Kitchen set and now I went to use my Power washer and the wand is broken off. Called and told them about the fan and the missing legs from my Kitchen set. I also sent pictures. I still haven't heard anything from them yet. They also lost a key that went to my Armour and now I cannot open this (it's old and uses a skeleton key). I have documents in there I need. DO NOT EVER USE THEM. THEY WILL SCREW YOU OVER AGAIN AND AGAIN. My move was supposed to cost 6182.00 and ended up costing me 8572.00.

1. they don’t give good advice on the size and types of boxes and ways of packing them.

2 They don’t give accurate quotes, but lock you into agreements that are difficult to modify.

3. They don’t select experienced movers, even with a long lead time, but pick what to them is the cheapest, and for me, the least experienced. Our actual mover was a new business, actually quite unhappy with Purple Heart, with a driver new even to that new company, who employed local pick Up crews with no moving experience. (I now employ one of their movers as my yard man, nice guy, zero moving experience.)

4. Poor organization, last minute changes, surprising charges negated much of the preparations I made for the move. I communicated my concerns as the date approached, got .the run around, never found out who the actual movers were going to be, until the last minute, and once the move and the immediate problems happened, Purple Heart simply stopped responding. They pocketed the third of the total cost for doing very little work, except for sending a cheap, (for them) company with a hard working, often confused new driver. His company changed the delivery date and method in the last minute which probably explains why several items got left on the truck in the confusion. Of course I could not get either Purple Heart or Solomon And Sons to respond and make the modest restitution. Currently I am getting the run around with their “ insurance” company.

5. I wrote to them repeatedly, got no written responses at all, just pointless inaccurate phone calls and denials of responsibility. Their small print runs to pages, mostly to help them to protect themselves.

Customer service: If I could give ZERO stars to customer service I would. Mercedes ** has a miserable attitude that amply shines through the phone but pales in comparison to Crystal ** who literally screamed at me on the phone the day of my move when I called to inquire about status of my movers who were now 6 + hrs late for their estimated arrival time. When I asked her about having a manager please return my phone call in the morning she responded, "That is not their job to call you!" PSA: This is a company that supposedly provides customer service. The original "binding" quote from Slick Nick was ~2,500 all inclusive.

When my movers (who were with Hometown Van Lines- completely separate from Purple Heart that I could have booked on my own, come to learn and avoided P.H's $853.56 Broker Fee, which they fraudulently called a deposit) finally arrived 7 hrs late, they didn't have any of the special packing materials (for artwork, etc.) that I was both promised and charged for. Additionally, the movers assessed an addition ~1.5 K, bringing my total from 2.5K to 4K! I had also been told by Nick during our initial phone conversation that I could pay by credit card when the movers picked up. They were indeed happy to take my CC for an additional fee that I would have happily avoided and run to the ATM had I been given any notice.

Fast forward, my items took nearly A MONTH to arrive in Omaha (pickup was August 25, delivery was September 16). During this time, I had multiple conversations with the manager of Hometown Van Lines, Lucas (who actually had possession of my things) and he was equally as unpleasant and lacking in any customer service skills as everyone at Purple Heart. He told me "Omaha isn't exactly a popular location" despite the fact that Nick had assured me a specific trip had been for my things. When I tried to explain to Lucas that I needed my things, he yelled that I (now 4 months pregnant and single) was welcome to come to NY and pick up my things myself, but that no money would be refunded.

My things arrived finally with several squashed boxes, one box full of broken glassware and one box of my clothes missing entirely. Throughout this time I was in regular contact with Purple Heart manager, Nadine **. Nadine was polite and appeared responsive on the phone, assuring me that this was not how they do customer service and encouraged me to file a claim/complaint with their business office promising she would pass on her recommendation that I be compensated for all of the many issues I had. With no explanation the business department denied any partial refund/compensation and suddenly there was "simply nothing" Ms. ** could do.

Do yourself a favor and DO NOT ever use this company! They are a scam! They charged me $853 to simply call Hometown Van Lines (not that I would recommend them either) and book my move with them, which I could have just as easily done on my own had Nick been upfront about their process. A huge loss of money, personal items, and faith in humanity for good business and customer service. I'm disgusted.

When our property was picked up, the workers loading our property, stated that it would be delivered by August 30, 2019. I received a call from Brooklyn Movers on 8/29/19 to confirm we would be at our new home in Colorado for delivery. I said we were there and would be available for delivery. No delivery on 8/30/19. I contacted them on 8/31/19 and they told me they would not deliver for 4 to 14 business days. I contacted Purple Heart Moving and spoke with Shakil. She informed me this was correct. On the paperwork Purple Heart Moving sent us, for the miles between pick up and delivery, the delivery timeline was 3 to 10 business days.

When I talked to Brooklyn Movers again, they said it would be 7 to 21 days. A few days later, I was told 30 business days. No help from anyone. After being a complete pest, our property was delivered 9/25/19. There were damages and breakages, which will not be covered because we packed 90% of the property ourselves. However, they packed up the furniture, misc. items that would not fit in boxes, which included 2 bicycles. Someone from Brooklyn Movers used our bicycles and severely damaged one of them. Both bikes showed signs of being rode and were covered in mud. They are in the repair shop at this time. A claim will be submitted to Brooklyn Movers for the damages. They also dropped a 50" TV and busted it, so we had to replace this item.

I would never recommend Purple Heart Moving, since they use Brooklyn Movers who are very unreliable. I worked in logistics for many years. We would use brokers to move our product. If our product was damaged in transport, we would contact the Broker, who in turn would work with the carrier to recover our losses. Never did I have to work directly with the carrier that the Broker hired. In this case, Purple Heart Moving was the "BROKER" and any claims should be processed through them and they would have to submit a subrogation claim with the carrier.

After reading all the negative comments from so many other customers all I can say is to contact the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminstration; FMCSA.dot.gov and submit a claim with them. They will investigate both Purple Heart Moving and Brooklyn Movers to confirm that they are following federal guidelines.

For the money that customers pay to have their property moved, to have the carriers hold your property for an extended time and then deliver it damaged and broken is a crime. In this day and age, there is no reason that your property can not be delivered within 5 to 10 business days. They are making people put their entire lives on hold and they don't care. Do Not Use Purple Heart Moving.

He took a down payment over the phone w/ my credit card of $1615, and said the rest would need to be divided (in cash or money order) between the pickup and delivery drivers. Looking at what had been estimated online I could see that even a 3 bedroom home (10X20 Storage locker size) with an estimated mileage of 917 miles would be $3922.75-$5,106, so this seemed reasonable, even if a little shady w/ a need for cash only, but I accepted. I had $2500+ on hand for the movers on agreed pickup date. They called a few days before to say they would be there between 10-2PM, and that was excellent. Unbeknownst to me the Purple Heart Movers assigned the task to another moving company, and were a liason instead of movers.

The day of the move they didn't show up until 9PM with one guy, who called a friend to give him a hand. The movers were from Brooklyn Movers, not Purple Heart Movers, Sam and Omar were nice guys, but tired, and didn't get done until after 3AM, at which point they tallied the bill and stated the bill would be an additional $3862 (total 7977, which later became a total of $8077, before tip, after they charged me another $100 for having to use an elevator), and would need to be, as stated earlier, in cash upon delivery. They then said I may receive anytime between the 30th and the 13th of September, which seemed unusually long to wait.

After multiple calls, inquiring about delivery, Purple Heart movers group was able to contact Brooklyn Movers and have them give me updates. In all I got a call on 5 different occasions over the course of the month long wait, asking if I was now ready to receive my delivery, which I was as of the 30th of August, and they said, now that I had confirmed availability they would be there within 4-7 days. The first confirmation happened as early as the 1st of September, but they finally came the morning of the 24th, after the driver agreed not to show up at what would have been after 10PM the 24th, when I explained that the condo rules would cause me to be fined for movers arriving after 5PM.

A lone driver showed up at 9AM the 25th, and then a local guy showed up, from Task Rabbit, named LaMarcus, to help with the lifting. The boxes were banged up everywhere, all of them, and three of my pictures were broken, one large painting was completely missing, and two large painted were sliced into. Two floor lamps were broken, and the lamp shade of one was bent up, and the top decorative piece of the lamp shade went missing. My furniture was nicked up, and many of my dishes were broken, including a one of a kind bowl, and a pizza stone. There was a clear lack of care with respect to moving these things, and my clothes came smelling strongly of cigarette odor, where they had always resided in a smoke free building prior to the move.

The bottom line: Purple Heart Movers gave a bid that was half the price it ultimately cost (not including the breakage and lost items). Purple Heart Moving group doesn't actually control the move. It assigns it elsewhere. Brooklyn Movers are responsive when called, but not timely or reliable. The hours of operation seem unorthodox (I've never known movers arrive to begin a task so late in the evening.)

The movers were tired and overworked from the outset, and it became evident through a clear lack of care which caused a reduction in value of many of the possessions moved, due to the dents, scratches, and otherwise mishandling of possessions as they were moved into the boxes, stored, and then placed in their new home. I strongly urge Purple Heart Moving Company & Brooklyn Movers to change their practices.

The movers (I later learned was ASAP with crap reviews) called and wanted to pick up Monday. I agreed. Two guys arrived and 3 others who did all the work. When half my furniture was in the truck, ASAP told me their truck had a leak and they hired local movers to put my stuff in storage which I NEVER wanted. ASAP couldn’t give me a final price and came back later that day and told me I had more than what was quoted – even though I had LESS boxes - they came up with a higher number and increased cubic feet. Each time I spoke to Purple Heart (Josh, Kristin) the cubic feet increased, then ASAP increased it again. The next day I wanted to see my furniture so ASAP gave me the storage gate code and lock code. The drawers were out of the dresser & stacked on top of everything else making it appear that the unit was fuller than it was.

I called Purple Heart and spoke to Mercedes. She’s something special. She talked over me, wouldn’t let me speak, loudly proclaimed she was all about the customer while simultaneously treating me like a piece of crap. She told me to read the contract and NOW my delivery date was 3 to 10 business days. I hung up on her and left Josh a message who never called back.

I found a local mover, told the storage manager I was picking up my furniture, loaded it, and they delivered that Friday morning WHEN I needed it. They charged extra for the emergency move, BUT it was still cheaper than if I stayed with Purple Heart and God knows when I would have gotten my furniture as ASAP apparently left town, probably never had a truck and couldn’t give me a delivery date. I informed Purple Heart they breached their contract. They should rename their company to Black Heart because they have no morals or character, use a name associated with the military, and prey upon people who are already in a stressful situation of moving and making it an experience from hell.

I paid the deposit. I was told that somebody would be contacting me a few weeks before to go over the final inventory list. One week before the move was to occur, I did get contacted via email by Kristin ** to schedule the phone call. She said that she would call on September 21 at 18:00 EST. She actually called at 12:47 EST. I totally get that things happen and sometimes appointments cannot be exactly at the time they were scheduled. I was planning on being available a few hours before and a few hours after that pre-arranged time. I was absolutely NOT available at the time she called.

I called back that day and left a message. I sent an email to the email address that she emailed me from. I figured that it may not be until the next day or two that she gets back to me because it was the weekend. The next day or two passed. I called again and left a message. I sent another email. So, I made 4 attempts to contact and no response. I was trying to be understanding. Here I am, the day before the movers are supposed to come, and two days before my lease expires, and I have not heard from movers or Kristin (the Quality Assurance Manager).

I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but my experience was starting to seem eerily similar to the other bad reviews. I could not risk the moving company not showing up on the day they said they would or in the timeframe they would have arranged. I could not risk my belongings not showing up at the final destination until weeks later. I could see that everything that everybody else was complaining about was happening to me too, so I decided to jump ship early.

I called Purple Heart and told them that I wanted to cancel the move. The woman who answered the phone did not have a voice or attitude for customer service, but that really did not hurt my feelings or make me think any worse of the company. I explained that I had arranged for a move, but that I wanted to cancel it. She asked why. I relayed all of the aforementioned things. She said that the movers call 2-4 days before they arrive. Um, okay. It is ONE day before they are to arrive and I have not heard anything. She repeated the statement a few times throughout the phone call. I gave up on trying to explain that what she is saying should happen actually did NOT happen. Then she said, "All you had to do is email Kristin and she will email you back." Yeah, sure. How many times do I need to email her?

I called twice and left messages on her personal voicemail and emailed her twice. She told me that she had the schedule and the movers were going to pick my stuff up the next day. I told her that was fine, but I wanted to cancel the move. "So you want to forfeit your deposit of $1270.40 when the movers are scheduled to be there tomorrow (at such and such a time)?" Yes! I canceled the move. They can keep the deposit. After how much additional money everybody else has ended up paying, I will gladly forfeit the deposit. I would rather pay a good company 10 times the amount I was quoted from Purple Heart than to give Purple Heart another dollar of my money.

In the end, I'm having to pay for another week of rent and also paid a deposit to a moving company that did not do the move. So, that is money lost. I am GLADLY paying about 4-5 times the quoted price from Purple Heart to a different moving company. People, don't be a fool like me. Just spend a little more on the move. You can't put a price on companies that do what they say they will, are honest, and your own peace of mind.

Original Review: Sept. 19, 2019

A financial resolution has been agreed upon pending their payment to cover and lessen the financial loss to me during my move. I have update their rating to a 3-star per the agreement.

This will be lengthy but please read it in its entirety to save yourself time, money and tremendous heartache. I booked a move from CO to NC explaining that I would be in NC and not able to be present for the pack and load. I was told everything I needed to hear during the initial conversations. From we will walk you through this to consistent updates to personal care and being assured of a highly professional company. Well, NONE of that was true. I was lied to, ignored, patronized and left with no options.

My biggest concerns were they did not follow their own policy which left me without the opportunity to adjust my inventory prior to the arrival of the packers. So the 'estimate' jumped $4,000. I did have more items than the initial inventory but once the packers arrived Purple Heart told me they were out of the equation. This left me in a vulnerable position since I was out of the state and my house was closing the next week. I had no time to secure another moving company once things started to go bad with Purple Heart.

The care of my belongings was worse than neglectful. I left specific instructions on how to handle some antiques but these were ignored and an actual crowbar was used to take apart an antique desk, breaking two pieces that needed to be fabricated to allow the desk to be put back together. Boxes I had packed were all opened and most of the boxes I packed were dumped into large wardrobe boxes. I do mean dumped. No packing paper. Books on top of glass decorations, lawn equipment in with art work to name a few. Some of the boxes weighed over 160#. Leather furniture cut, torn and EVERY piece of furniture was scratched or broken.

Purple Heart uses jobbers and day labor to complete these moves. They used a company that is located near their office in Florida. Not a local moving company. Hired temporary help to load my belongings into Enterprise rental trucks. They put my items out for bid for the transportation to NC. An owner/operator who also worked for Boost Express took the job.

Once picked up I was told the driver was going to Pennsylvania to deliver another load then to me. Weeks later I received a call that the delivery would happen on Monday between 10-11am. I made arrangements to be there at 10, I waited until 3pm for their arrival. The 'team' they were to arrive with was the driver and one person. Taking two days to unload.

**Throughout this process, I NEVER spoke to a manager or supervisor. I made multiple calls and sent emails attempting to speak to someone who could help me. I was told that Kristen ** was the only supervisor that would talk to customers. I was only able to receive emails from her sometimes a day later during critical times of the move.

The truck was able to park 35 feet from my house. The driver said the stairs were too difficult to navigate. Wanted to walk around to the back of the house to deliver the items from downstairs. That is fine EXCEPT then he tried to charge me $580 for extra distance from the truck. Charging me for the walk around distance. When I told him I would not pay since he could park 35 feet away--well within the 50 feet requirement he offered to take $400 in cash. Needless to say, I did not pay that either. The driver also wanted to back down my driveway which has a grade that would have scraped the bottom of the moving truck since it has low clearance. I refused saying the truck would damage my driveway. The driver said yes it would. Then he was mad I would not let him.

I have already paid over $1000 to repair and replace items. The claim process is terrible. Once you submit a claim then they tell you they require box number, boxes, packaging etc to process. Which were mostly thrown away at that point. So, my move went from $10,000 to $14,000. I paid $1,000 to repair and replace items that would not be covered by their claim process. A state's attorney needs to look into their practices. I am notifying every Federal and State agency about their practices. Final word: DO NOT TRUST THEM.

I ultimately had major issues with the moving company due to the estimate being incorrect, this wasn't caught because I never had a quality assurance walk-through. Why? Because the quality assurance department consists of one person who was out of the office. I was told that I could e-mail him and he would respond if available. Don't believe a word that Josh tells you and do yourself a favor and book directly with a van line that owns its own equipment.

There is not the time here to provide all the horrible facts of the move, but let me share some key points: Purple Heart got over $3,000 to basically provide our name to another moving Company (Cheetah). We were not given the name of the mover until they were to showed up to perform the move. The movers did NOT show up on the scheduled day. They kept calling throughout the day moving the arrival time out by 2-3-4 hours until we called it off for the day. We Tried calling Purple Heart's "after hours" line as we finally called off the move for that day at 10 pm, and there was NOBODY there to help. Purple Heart could not or would not make any accommodations or arrangements to get a replacement mover.

The movers finally showed up the second day (12 hours before we had to close on our house) - with a rented "Enterprise Rental Van" (not what we would consider a "moving van". The movers, we learned, came from a Labor Pool that the lead move consultant had hired from Home Depot that morning (neither had ever performed a move before). Concerned with our "contents" - we sought help from Purple Heart who provided NOTHING. When we could finally get a hold of them, they made excuses for the moving company assuring us they were professional and had done hundreds of moves for Purple Heart?

Fast forward and the move continued to deteriorate. We asked Purple Heart if we could add insurance and pay with a credit card, as we were concerned the move would continue to have problems, and we wanted some recourse. We were denied at every turn. Purple Heart said they were "obligated" to tell the third party moving company we wanted to pay by credit card, at which point they threatened to terminate the move (we were now down to just hours before final walk-through and we completely held hostage: with NO help from Purple Heart). We paid cash for that portion of the move and "reviewed" the language of the contact to ensure the movers would uphold the contract on the other end which included the re-assembling of all our furniture.

Once in Southern CA, we had a final installment due, and based on the experience to date, we said we would pay once the job was complete: AGAIN we were threatened by the moving company and were told that would not even open up the truck unless we paid 100% in full. We paid (as the only way to get our stuff, and proceeded to watch them unload and see the damage they had caused - over 65% or our things had some, and in a few cases, major damage). The moving company left the job with only a few items reassembled, because they felt they had already spent too much time (not to mention some things were broken, and missing parts to reassemble?).

Again, we tried working with Purple Heart, only to watch them "wash their hands" of the move. They point back to the "contract" that was between us and the moving company they vetted on our behalf, and turned out to be horrible. (We could not have vetted Cheetah, as they were not revealed to us by PH, until the day of move?)

We tried to work with Purple Heart to get some reimbursement for the horrible experience we had. (And this is were it gets even more interesting.) After weeks of back and forth writing complaint letters and even consulting an attorney, Purple heart offered a 10% reduction in "their" brokerage fee (not the total move) - a ridiculously low offer considering they did not uphold anything they were paid to do: Provide a quality moving experience with professional, experienced movers. We reviewed the offer with an attorney who basically said, you are dealing with a second-rate firm, and you will spend more time fighting this than it is worth, just accept the offer and move on. We accepted the small offer and waited.

Two weeks went by and not a word from Purple Heart. We inquired again, only to learn that PH felt we took too long to accept the offer (1 week; most of which we were out of town and had not seen the offer) and rescinded it? (It was the final classic example of what summed up our experience with Purple Heart: Not a company to be trusted, clearly does not vet the movers they place, unwilling to stand behind their services, and finally not even willing to make good on a gesture made to try and make it right: It is the worst commercial experience we had ever been a part of?)

I share all these details to simply suggest you find a quality "moving company" that will do the work and can provide references that give you comfort in your decision. Purple Heart is NOT a moving company, they are a broker who are only as good as the moving company they stick you with. For the large brokerage fee they retain (and provide little to NO support), I highly recommend you spend the time vetting actual moving companies directly, and use some of that wasted "brokerage" fee to buy additional insurance. I hope my experience will help at least one of you out there avoid the experience we had.

The next morning the moving company they have contracted calls you and tells you approximately what time they will arrive. When their employees show up and you tell them what you have to add they scam you out of a cash tip. A cash tip of $600.00 so you don't have to be inconvenienced to go out on a Sunday to get the cashiers check amended... like they are doing you a favor. The best part after all of this they were scheduled to deliver in Florida on Wednesday but the moving truck breaks down in Georgia in a Walmart parking lot. Now you try to reach Purple Heart and cannot get anyone to call you back letting you know where your belongings are.

Finally, someone from the moving company they contacted let you know that your things have been taken to a warehouse but they cannot give you a date as to when they can delivery your belongings. So, after 10 days of trying to get answers they finally deliver most of your belongings with damage of course. Then you have to constantly reach out to them to try and find out when they can deliver the last of your belongings. Finally, they delivered the balance of what they found 3 weeks later with damage. NEVER USE PURPLE HEART!!! Their CS person wanted me to look at it from their side since they had 600 moves that month... I guess they were overworked just like the rest of except we would have been fired for doing such poor job!!!!

It's been 19 days and I have not received the missing item. I have been calling the main moving company ("Purple heart Moving group" and their local company "Brooklyn Moving INC) for the last 2 weeks to find where my item is at. Nobody seems to care now that they got their money! Also, they ended up adding a lot of hidden charges which was not disclosed when I was getting a quote from this company! Try to avoid working with this company as they don't really care about customers and there is no definition of customer service in this company's culture!

Nick ** is our point of contact on 8/15/19 at PHMG. He did a preliminary phone inventory of our home taking down everything we were to move quoting us a DO NOT EXCEED move rate of $4900. Stating the cubic square feet he figured was on the high end and our move quote of $5500 would decrease once his movers arrive. He asked us for a cash deposit to secure the DO NOT EXCEED rate and move date of 8/23 for pack and 8/24 for move.

On 8/21 I called to verify move; lo and behold; PHMG is NOT NOT NOT a moving company as sold to us. They are a moving broker who sold our move to American Knights moving; a company we had no choice in and would not have decided to move with had the decision been left to us! We asked to cancel the move due to misrepresentation of the company and we were told we would lose our deposit. I called our bank; but because we had PAID CASH; there was nothing they could do to recoup the lost funds.

We called and spoke again with Nick who reassured us everything would be okay, we just needed to speak with Kevin in Quality Assurance. Once I went through my entire home again with Kevin he told me "Your inventory had everything listed, but it has been entered incorrectly. This will take me a little while to correct." Nick then sends us a new and revised quote removing the 1114 Cubic Square feet originally quoted and replacing it with 2362 cubic square feet doubling our quoted amount of $4900 to $11275.02. There is no way we can afford this amount and due to the fact it was changed 3 days before our move PHMG refuses to refund our $1550 deposit stating we didn't cancel our move in the 5 day window allot. We have spoken with Kristin and Mercedes in customer service who have no sympathy or empathy to the situation. It is a well oiled scamming machine. Our quote number is **.

We are devastated by the loss of $1550 and have to search for a reputable mover and move before our close date of Monday the 26th. I am heartbroken that a company would prey on people during one of the most vulnerable times in their lives. Please please please be aware and DO NOT choose this group as movers; they are BROKERS who will steal from you.

I only know that my Peloton bike is in a Kansas City WAREHOUSE (I moved from 2.5 hours away from KC) because the mover told me he left it there by accident. No one at this company has been able to locate it for me or let me know when it will be delivered. Absolutely sketchy and terrible service all around, I would never recommend them to anyone, and I cannot express how much time I have spent trying to get ahold of them to resolve these issues with ZERO answers.

1. We sent an email with all of the items in our ONE bedroom apartment. Some of those items didn’t make it on the list they sent back (of course we assumed they weren’t the kind of items they added).

2. We were first told they’d pick us up on Saturday. Then it changed to Sunday. Then it changed to Sunday night. Then, at around 9pm on Sunday night, the driver said he had a flat tire. We arranged with the new tenants to have them move in later (we were supposed to be out of the apartment at midnight Sunday).

3. They show up on Monday. Pack everything up. Then tell us we have more stuff than they estimated (keep in mind they were already the highest price)...they say they need $1100 more or they wont load the truck. We have a 1 bedroom NYC apartment (read...not even a walk in closet). We were not even supposed to be in the apartment...we were being held hostage with no way to fix the situation. We had to pay.

4. This was July 1st. We told them we wanted to be in our new apartment in Denver by July 17th. They said that was no problem at all.

5. We called about a week before to make sure everything was on schedule. They told us that they weren’t even going to put it on a truck til the 17th. When we complained and said that’s ludicrous, they said we should read our contract closer and that they have 30 days and we have no recourse! At that point, Purple Heart referred us to Fragile Moving, and never spoke with us again. We have yet to actually hear from them, even after the move.

6. We learned, they are a broker. The salesperson who was professional and nice but never speaks to you again after you give a deposit. They’re just the sales people. After that, there’s no more professionalism! And, once they send you off to another company, you are left to deal with them...a company you did not choose! A company you did not google and did not read reviews on!

7. Fragile Moving. That’s the company that we now had to deal with. We called and called and were told over and over again that they weren’t sure when they’d even get our stuff on a truck. Finally, on July 19th (2 days after we moved into an empty apartment), they gave us a delivery window of Wednesday-Friday the following week. We had to buy blankets, towels, air mattress, pillows. Hundreds of dollars spent just so we could eat, sleep, shower.

8. On that following Wednesday we still hadn’t heard anything, so we called again. Now we were told that we had to talk to the driver (we’ll find out later that this is yet another subcontractor, not under the control of Fragile Moving). The driver wouldn’t tell us when he was coming. Fragile Moving called back and said the window was now Friday to Sunday.

9. On Saturday the driver finally talks to us and says he’ll be at our place around 5 or 6. Then later he says could be as late as 9. We say 9 is late, but we’re desperate to get off this air mattress and so it’s fine. He calls at 9 and says it’ll be 10. We say that’s probably too late at an apartment complex and he starts yelling at my husband and tells him we don’t have a choice! The guy was a raging jerk!!! They show up...say we have to pay $525 because the hallway is long. And yes...that too is in the fine print. The estimate only covers 50ft from the truck to the door! No apartment is 50 feet to the truck!!! They know this and they don’t tell you!

10. So, at 11:30 pm, they say if we can’t pay them $525 cash, they will leave our things in the hallway. We can’t get a dolly, we can’t hire help...BECAUSE IT’S ALMOST MIDNIGHT!!!

11. Now, here is where I was going to praise Andy from Fragile Moving. Even though this whole process was infuriating, he maintained his professionalism and was kind. But it appears that he had no control over the third company we were passed to! AND...turns out, Andy just provided professional lip service. When the movers (and it was JUST the driver, Hyme - the people who actually worked were lovely) were holding our things hostage, Andy said it was our problem not his. Then, he stopped answering the phone! As with Purple Heart, we never heard from Andy again!

12. All told, what would have cost us $3900 with another company cost us over $5500 with Purple Heart/Fragile Moving...and that doesn’t include the hundreds of dollars we spent just to eat and sleep without our stuff for almost 2 weeks! And, while Hyme said he would be there to deliver at 9 and it would only take an hour...he showed up at 10 and didn’t leave til after 1am!!! And the $525 "long carry fee" he extorted from us? Went straight to his pocket. He gave none of it to the three nice men who actually did all of the hard work and carrying. In fact, they disclosed to us that they had been hired THAT DAY on Craigslist, for $13/hr!!!

DO NOT USE PURPLE HEART!!! They are nothing short of criminals, and hopefully our complaints to the Better Business Bureau and other actions we intend to take will shut them down before they can harm anyone else.