A-Z Moving

I was in charge of moving our office from one downtown location to another also in downtown Chicago. Called A-​Z Movers a full month before the move. They sent 2 young guys to look at the office and a few days later gave us a quote which we accepted. We set up a day and time between the Christmas and New Years holiday as we had to be out of the old building before December 31^st. We were packed and ready to go the morning of the big move, when I noticed a missed call from New York. I called it back even though there wasn’t even a voicemail left for me and was told that they wouldn’t be able to move us because their trucks were locked in a garage until the next week and was it ok to move us then! I screamed that our entire company was waiting for the movers to get the job completed!!! I was left to find another moving company to come and give us an estimate and moved us the next morning on short notice and no problem. If I could rate A-​Z movers a ZERO it would be too high!!!
Before all this happened we had sent them a Christmas present to say thank you and it was returned by the delivery carrier saying that wasn’t the address for A-​Z movers.
They are a total SCAM… If you are thinking of using them… Just DON’T !!!
You’ve been warned !!!

Awful.
Showed up two hours late.
One of the two employees sent to help decided he was tired and hid in the truck. Fell on me to pull his share since I was out of time to move. I recently had had shoulder surgery, which is why I hired movers.
They got lost on the way to the new location.
Once they arrived at the new place I had to call nearby friends to come help. Friends and I did nearly all the remaining unloading.
No discount or apology received.

A-​Z Movers canceled after being an hour late to my scheduled move (literally with the Uhaul in loading dock). I called Midway Movers and did a great job coming right away and getting us packed. Use Midway Movers not anyone else!
NEVER EVER USE A-​Z MOVERS!

We changed our move date at the last-​minute and A-​Z was the only company available… bad decision. AVOID THIS COMPANY.
First, they sent movers who could barely lift the (standard sized) boxes we’d packed. They were found multiple times sitting around and they didn’t know how to efficiently load a truck (they tried to load smaller items first and then spent a bunch of time re-​arranging items). Consequently, they took 3 hours longer than the estimate quoted to us over the phone and charged an extra $ 500! Seriously?
Second, they damaged a number of our items, including structurally damaging our couch, scratching two dressers, and scraping the walls of our new apartment. Our bad for not buying the insurance, but we didn’t think it would be needed to this extent.
Third, they lost a box of our dinnerware. I have no idea where this went.
In sum, if you HAVE to use this company, monitor workers to ensure they are working, help them move heavy items to avoid damaging them, instruct them how to load a truck to speed it up, help them load things into the truck (also to speed it up), help them unload the boxes to be sure they don’t lose them, help them carry the boxes to your new apartment so they don’t scrape up your new walls… actually you should just move yourself before using this company.

AVOID AVOID AVOID
First of all, shame on me for ignoring the bad reviews on Unilocal and hiring this company anyways. My move was AWFUL!
Two guys and a big truck arrived to move my one bedroom that consisted of a bed, dresser and about 20 – 15 boxes. Speaking very little to no English, one dressed in skinny jeans and dress shoes, the other tried to convince me that I needed to buy more boxes when all my things had already been packed away and sealed. After watching them work for about 20min I had to direct them to move the heavier and bulkier items first such as the bed, and dresser and to leave the small items like the IRONING BOARD and HAMPERS to me. It took them two hours to load up the truck…
Although Unilocal says they accept credit cards as payment, the men that I spoke with to reserve told me they only accepted cash, which should have been a red flag for me because I very rarely deal in cash. I was to give them the first payment upon arrival to the new location. It took them over an hour to arrive when I had gone to the bank, and gotten there in about 30min from Devon to 47^th street (in virtually no traffic).
Once they arrived and I payed for the first three hours, they began to unload boxes one by one up the stairs and onto the service elevator. At this point I’m irritated because they are not at all utilizing the dollies, flatbed and ramp that are available. So again, I had to firmly direct them to stack the boxes and wheel them instead of carry them and fill the elevator before taking it up to unload.
At the end, when closing the contract, they held my mini fridge and television hostage until I payed them the final total which was an additional hour than the price I was quoted. The manager Alec attempted to bully me over the phone telling me to hurry up and tried to charge me an additional $ 140 after I had just argued with him about the extra hour being charged. It took 5 hours + 1 hour travel time to load and unload my few things. Please spare yourself the headache these guys absolutely hustled me! Oh, and they scuffed up my furniture!

After calling A-​Z Moving with my complaints the very nice man on the phone informed me that I had no real concerns because the movers «did everything they were supposed to do.» So the following is a narrative that will show you what A-​Z movers are «supposed to do.» With this information you can decide if you wish to give them a lot of your money.
Here are some of the highlights of the move.
* I was promised by the dispatcher that the full cost of using them would be cheaper than Two Men and a Truck. They most certainly were not.
* The movers arrived late and with only ¾ of the workers present. The 4^th didn’t arrive until 50 minutes after their start time; the first 3 were about 30 minutes late.
* They took a 15 minute break every hour. When I say they, I mean all of them. Their 15 minute smoke breaks every hour are well and good if I didn’t have to pay them by the hour.
* They told me that they needed to make a second trip because everything did not fit in the truck that they brought. So their 2^nd trip, which of course would take longer, would be on my dime.
* I was told that for them to unload that I would have to pay cash despite the fact that on all of the cards that they inundated my neighborhood with clearly states that they will take Visa or Mastercard.
* I drove by the alley while they were on one of their many breaks and saw all of my things packed poorly within the truck (they were on a break). If the slightest effort was made they could have easily made it on one trip.
* In between taking the things to our new place they had to drive to get gas. This took them over 30 minutes to do so, of course on my dime.
* When unloading they showed me a book shelf that they completely crushed and cannot be used anymore. Later while unpacking I saw that a box of crystal bowls were completely shattered. Almost every other piece of furniture we had was scratched and dented.
* Once in the apartment they refused to move things into their rooms if it offered the slightest challenge. They would say that it wouldn’t fit. Afterwards my wife moved them in by herself (she is not a professional mover in case you were wondering).
* We lost our deposit at our new place because of the damage done while they moved items in (wall scratches, holes, etc.)
Honestly I was planning on letting this absurd shit show described above in bullets slide until they refused to move in the couch. These worthless sloths couldn’t figure out how to get the 2^nd part of the couch up the stairs. After talking for 30 minutes and doing exactly nothing, they told us that they couldn’t move the couch up and it was in fact, impossible. These rocket scientists had a 30 minute discussion on how to get the couch up the stairs. At one point during this meeting, it was suggested to them that maybe 3 or four of them could help (only two were trying while the other were doing nothing). This revolutionary idea was a total shocker to these intellectually gifted bunch but they were still unsuccessful. We were then told that if they were going to continue to try to get it up the stairs they would need more money. Considering the impossibility of the task it didn’t seem like a good investment. Therefore, my wife and I then moved the couch up with relative ease up the front stairs. I would like to reiterate neither of us are professional movers but we do have fully functional brains.
As briefly stated above, I did call their boss and he was very clear that they did everything they were supposed to do as movers. This was after I explained above in even more detail. So here’s what you can expect them to do: Arrive late, drive around and charge you for it, break things, and refuse to move items in. The man on the phone suggested that it was OK that they didn’t move the couch in because they tried and they just didn’t know how to do it so it’s OK. Amazing, simply amazing.
They did say they would pay 30 cents a pound for the broken items. So all I need is a scale that will cost more than the money I’d get back from weighing my items and everything will be fine.
I assure you that you’d be much better off hiring a wild pack of chimpanzees to move your things. It would be cheaper and more entertaining. Either that or hire anyone else. Literally anyone. That guy that shit himself on the CTA, I know you’ve seen him. Wake his ass up and put him to work. He’d be more reliable than these absolute clowns.

BED BUGS! Enough said. Add a bad attitude and deaf ears and you have a clear picture of who these people are. Do yourself a favor and back away… back away… far away.

Unfortunately I decided to go with this moving company after receiving one of their cards. Regret! Moved from a 1^st floor (no stairs) 1 bedroom to a 3^rd floor 1 bedroom 1.5 miles apart and the move took over 5 hours and cost me $ 650! There was way too much time without any unloading and we even helped load and unload! Tried to convince me the couch wouldn’t fit and failed to get my boxspring up too! I felt very taken advantage off. Never did I think a local easy move would cost so much. AND they hit the oven in my old place and cracked it! LOOK ELSEWHERE! Wish I would have…

As one can see, A-​Z Moving has a severe credibility issue and a growing number of unsatisfied customers. In addition to Unilocal reviews, I’d encourage prospective customers to use other resources such as the BBB and Angie’s List when determining whether or not to use them. I made a critical error when deciding to use this company as my movers by trusting them with my personal belongings. I should have done my research before attempting to do business with them. I hope I can spare others the same misfortune.
I had a very simple and highly prepared move that I contracted AZ to do. My belongings were packed well, the distance was short and the heaviest piece of furniture was my queen size mattress. The movers were mostly swift although somewhat careless (must you really lay my bicycle on top of my leather couch?) and the trouble didn’t come until it was time to pay.
The company movers pulled a «bait and switch» line and said they would only accept cash despite our agreement for credit by payment. The movers stated they would not move the last of my furniture until I delivered cash in hand to them. At worst this is extortionary at best extremely unethical. Please do your homework and don’t get pinched the same way I did.

Like many of the other reviewers, I was told one thing and received another. I got many phone calls confirming that the truck was running just a little behind schedule; that they had just left the previous job and would be there in 20 minutes. After 4.5 hours of this and many phone calls later, the truck finally showed up. The driver, the manager (dustin?) and the district manager (mike?) all provided me the same lackluster, insincere apology and we were fed up.
From reading these other reviews, I’m glad we sent them home then before they had time to damage our belongings. Terrible experience and I hope everyone else has the foresight to read some reviews before hiring them.

TERRIBLE. When you ask to have movers at 4pm and they still aren’t here at 7:30pm you know they are going to be horrible.
Edit…they didnt get there until 10:00 as soon as they showed up they were sent home. This place should not be in business.

I do not recommend A-​Z movers. Like many other reviewers, I found their card in my door and thought I’d give them a whirl. They were not professional.
They get credit for being on time (early, actually), but they wasted a bunch of time in the middle of the move driving all around the city looking for a bridge that their truck would fit under. Shouldn’t that be homework? Due to the head mover’s thick accent, I had no idea why they disappeared for 45 minutes between our 1^st and 2^nd moving site, which were 0.8 miles apart. I seriously thought they had stolen my stuff!
They damaged the walls in my apartment’s hallway moving a couch, then proceeded to break a huge tree branch in front of our new house with their truck, which was a hazard until the city removed it (a call we had to make). They were inconsistent in wrapping our furniture and several pieces were damaged. They did not wrap a nice table that my fiancé very much likes and it got scratches all up and down both sides during the move. They also managed to take a chunk of wood out of the top of my fiancé’s hifi, another prized furniture piece. Lastly, they could not support a heavy Ikea bookshelf as they attempted to move it up our stairs, and our stairs ended up getting scratched and dented… this after we had just paid $ 3000 to get them redone.
These were clearly not moving professionals. 2 of the 3 movers were skinny college students from eastern Europe, in Chicago for the summer for some sort of work exchange program. They were perfectly nice, well-​meaning boys, but certainly lacking the experience and muscle-​power it takes to be a mover.

I wish I had seen the bad reviews before I even called this company. DO NOT USE AZ MOVING. My move day was one of the worst experiences of my life.
I called 2 weeks before my move and was quoted $ 180 for the first two hours then $ 79 for each additional hour, this was on the contingent that I paid cash. I was immediately called back and told that it would be an additional $ 20 gas fee because my move to location was so far outside the city. At the time I had no problem with this. My move was scheduled between 12−2pm. At the booking time I expressed my concern about traffic because I was going to move from the City to the suburbs which on a normal traffic day takes over an hour, but during rush hour can take two hours or more. The man I spoke with on the phone (Dastan Miller) assured me that it wouldn’t be an issue. He e-​mailed me a quote and also let me know that someone would contact me the day before to confirm my move.
The day before I called them after 5pm when I had not heard from them all day. I left a message. Dastan did eventually call me to confirm. Shortly after I received another call from someone else from the company to set-​up my move. Apparently they didn’t even bother to listen to my message because they thought I was a new client.
The day of my move. I had everything ready to go by my 12pm time and did not hear from the driver until after 2pm. At that point he told me that they were running late because of traffic. I asked him when he thought he would arrive, he told me 20 minutes. An hour later they arrived. When they pulled into the alley behind my apartment they hit the balcony of the apartment next door. They were worried about the damage done to their truck. I was really starting to get worried about traffic leaving the city. The driver came up to do the estimate and the other guy started moving boxes.
While the driver was writing up the contract I received a call from Dastan. He told me that he gave me the wrong base price. Because I was moving so far away (aprox 40 miles) the base price would be $ 280 (which is $ 100 more than he originally quoted me). Our whole conversation was ridiculous and he told me that he had another client only 15 minutes away. I told him that a bunch of my stuff was already loaded on the truck. He said it was no problem for them to move the stuff back into my apartment. At this point I was livid. I needed to be out of my apartment and didn’t think I would be able to find last minute movers over the weekend. I expressed my dissatisfaction over the fact that the movers were also an hour late which would cause us to be stuck in rush hour traffic. He said it would be fine for his men to leave.
If I felt I had any other choice I would have let them leave. I feel like I was totally taken advantage of. I had a quote from them for what I felt was a fair price. I would have never agreed to the price he raised it to in the first place. Only shady, unethical business people work like this.
I am also going to make sure I report them to the IRS since I paid in cash. If I ever see any of their business cards I’ll make sure to grab them all and burn them.
The men who moved were nice and did make every effort to protect my belongings. But I would agree with other reviews who stated that they are slow. When I moved into this apartment it took 4 hours from point A to point B (which includes travel time). This move took almost 6 hours, they took almost 2 hours just to load my one-​bedroom apartment. And I’m still furious that we spent 2 hours in traffic because they were so late.
If you value your sanity do not use AZ Moving.

These guys are the biggest SCAM artists in the world. This company was an absolute nightmare for our recent move. My fiancé had spoken to these guys several times in the weeks prior to our move. We were scheduled to move out on a Saturday morning. Well the company calls a week early and leaves a message that they will be there the next morning to start our move. We had to call them back immediately to inform them they had the wrong date in their system and we weren’t moving till the next week. They apologized and said they have a new system software and it has a few glitches. (That should have been our first sign to back out).
Well the day of our move came and this is where the excitement begins. The call that morning and ask if we can push our move back till 3pm. We already had it scheduled for 2 weeks for them to show up at 9am. They said that they were extremely busy that day and didn’t know if they could make it. We said absolutely not and they need to honor their contract and be at our place by 9am. They end up showing up at 9am with 3 young guys and a manager with the contract in hand. The contract has in writing the terms of our agreement, the agreed upon cost, our home address we were moving out of, and our new address we were moving into. It has everything we agreed upon written out. So my fiancé signs the agreement and goes on with the move. We had them scheduled for a 4 hour move because that is what we were told we would need and we had arleady boxed up the entire house and hand it move into the garage waiting for the movers. Should have been an easy move out process. Well it wasn’t! Their movers had no idea what they were doing. They barely knew how to wrap things up and they move extrememly slow. My parents inlaws ended up moving more of the boxes and items than the movers did. They just worked at their own lazy pace. After about 2 hours the entire house had been packed up and in the truck getting ready to be driven to our new place. Then ironically my fiancé receives a phone call from the AZ Moving manager stating that we owe more money. Almost double what we originally agreed upon. AZ Moving didn’t realize that we lived outside of Chicago (which obviously that is a lie because the contract had our addresses on there and their guys showed up to our location), he also said that they judged wrong on the movers and the amount of time. My fiancé said absoltely not, we had agreed and signed on a contract that morning stating everything and that is what we are sticking to. The guy then said that his guys were going to leave with our stuff locked in the truck and we couldn’t get it back until we agreed to pay the adjusted price. My fiancé then threatened to call the police on them and parked our car in front of their truck to block the truck from leaving. After about an hour of fighting with them on the phone, the movers finally gave in. They moved our stuff into the new place but at an even slower pace than what they were moving before. I had no idea that they could move at such a slow pace to begin with.
The other nice perk was that they had obviously rented a truck from somewhere. Was a blank white truck with Indiana plates. It was taller than any truck I had ever seen before. We then had to reroute our entire drive over the new place because the truck was too big to go under standard overpasses. Not a huge big deal but annoying after everything we had already been through.
Also watch out for their insurance policy. Their insurance only coves $.03 per every lb of stuff they move. So if you have a flat panel TV and they accidentally drop and break it, they are only covering about $ 3 of that TV. This place is the biggest SCAM artists in the books. I’m sure we aren’t the only ones who they have tried to pull this SCAM over on. It was too ironic that the moment all our stuf is moved on the truck their manager calls and says give us more money or we are leaving. DO NOT GO WITH THESE GUYS!!! If you have to pay a little more money, then do it. Their lowball price isn’t worth the headache of such a poorly run business. They are not professional. As you can see there are more than 1 bad review on these guys.

DO NOT use these movers.
I’m not a good writer, so let me list the reasons:
–Horrible customer service on the phone (I was lied to multiple times)
–The movers came 6.5 hours late (I only got out on time because I had to help)
–The movers were unprofessional (hired simply to cover the busy day)
–I hired three movers, one barely did anything
–The movers didn’t really know what they were doing when it came down to it
–They banged up the floors and walls of both my old and new apartment

I did price shopping and decided to go with AZ moving because they had the most competitive prices in Chicago. They were timely and completed the move quickly.
After the movers left the apartment, I noticed a very clear crack that spanned the entire side of one of our dressers. Note that this was a very simple move (3 blocks, 5 large pieces of furniture). If you do decide to go with this mover, I highly recommend opting for their insurance. My roommate and I decided against it, and clearly, we regret that decision.

We worked with AZ movers in September 2011. Overall the experience was horrible. Here’s a run down of events that we incurred.
* Appointment scheduled well in advance and confirmed the day before as well as the night before. Movers showed up three hours late. Excuses for lateness did not ring true. The tardiness caused issues and fees with the new building manager since the move time scheduled in advance was not properly utilized.
* When finally arrived in a small Budget Rent-​a-​Truck, it was clear that it wasn’t going to be big enough and a second truck was required even though we clarified the amount of furniture that was to be moved in advance
* Although polite, workers were slow, not well organized and not all seemed particularly experienced. Extra time needed for disorganization and slowness added a lot of money that was not anticipated.
* All boxes were sealed and labeled, indicating where in the new apartment they should go. Delivery was chaotic. Boxes not put in the right spots and had to be moved again — adding to the overall time increase, therefore cost increase.
* They couldn’t figure out how to put one of the beds back together (they had taken it apart) and said there was something wrong with the bed which was not true and added a lot of time to the move, costing money that shouldn’t have been charged for a simple process that is expected when moving beds.
* Quoted three hours for the move. It took six hours. Actual $‘s charged was almost three times the amount quoted. We moved out of one highrise and into another, we were charged by both buildings for using the elevators for more than the alloted amount of time. AZ Movers did not pay for this error, even though it was their fault that they were late.
* After movers left, we discovered a deep scratch in the wood floor and a significant hole in the drywall in one of the closets where they had placed numerous boxes. Also, the top of a floor lamp (valued at $ 200) is missing. We asked them about this before they left, but they just shrugged, this is unacceptable and we need to be reimbursed for the loss since the lamp cannot be replaced.
After several conversations following the move with the owner we were not reimbursed for any of the damages. This was completely unprofessional and an overall horrible experience. I see them place their business cards in the doors of of my neighbors in Old Town and I always make a point to take them down and throw them out so that others are not scammed like I was.

I didn’t have really high expectations for these guys going into the move, and I was proven right.
My new wife and I were renting a condo at a hi-​rise from the owners, and we only had a 3 ½ hour window to use the freight elevator and get everything into a two bedroom. The night before we had gotten a Uhaul and moved out of my wife’s apartment, my apartment, and all of our wedding gifts from my mom’s house in the north suburbs. So all we needed was movers to unload the truck and move everything in.
The reason I hired these guys was because the other movers I called all said they couldn’t make it until 2:30pm, since it was the first of the month and they all had jobs in the morning that could run long. AZ said they would have there guys there «right at 1pm» when i had access to the elevator. From what I could tell they were new to the Chicago market (website says they are mainly in New York), so i was betting that they weren’t as busy as the other more established movers and would be my best bet for someone showing up on time. They were also competitive on price, asking what others were quoting then beating it (or so I thought).
So of course, they’re two hours late. They did call to let me know but never gave me an ETA until they were a few blocks out. By this time I had gotten 90% of the boxes into my apartment (tons of boxes due to wedding gifts) and some of the furniture out of the truck. During the move they worked hard, but seemed unorganized and a little unprofessional. One of the guys was wearing dress shoes instead of sneakers, and they just didn’t seem to have a good plan for how to coordinate things. To make sure we got everything in the apartment i ended up working as the 4^th mover the entire time, carrying boxes and furniture. Bottom line is we got everything in within my time frame, but I don’t think we would have if I wasn’t helping. Overall they were nice guys who worked pretty hard, but weren’t masters of their craft by any means.
So we agree the move took about 2 hours and then we start to settle the bill and I’m told $ 295. I was quoted $ 108 for the first two hours, but he said there was a driving charge that brought it up to $ 295. News to me of course, but at that point I just wanted to be done with it.
But the cost just went up another $ 225 becuase that’s how much damage the condo association office says was done to the common areas on my floor. There ripped a lot of paint off my door frame and scratched another door on in the hall, plus who knows what else. Good times.
Anyway, unfortunately they met my expectations for what discount movers are and cost me more in the long run as the more expensive movers. So while the movers themselves were ok, I wouldn’t recommend this company.

This was hands down the most unprofessional group of people I have ever worked with. After noticing one of the 100s of cards stuck in the doors in my neighborhood, I decided to call them. I called early in the week to set up an appt for between 5 – 6 on the following Saturday. After taking my address and name, the guy said I was good to go.
3:30pm…I hadn’t received any confirmation as to my appointment, so I called the number again. The guy who answered said that I was still confirmed for 5 – 6 but that they should be there right at 5 as they were just finishing another move. This was very important to me, as I had dinner plans at 7:30 and I knew the move wouldn’t take more than 2 hours.
5:45pm…No movers and no call from them on an ETA. I decide to call them again and the guy who answered again said that they were just finishing up and should be there soon. I asked him to call the movers themselves to get an ETA and he said he’d call me back. The movers then called me directly and informed me that it would be another 45 minutes before they were there. I couldn’t really do anything so I just said that I would be there when they showed up.
6:45pm…still no word from A-​Z and when I call both numbers, both VMs are full. At this point I had decided to either reschedule for the morning or to find somebody else to do the job in the morning. There really wasn’t that much stuff, and I knew it would be a quick move. Tried calling a few more times and to no avail, so I called a competitor (Richard and Company, also found on Unilocal)
7pm…I decide to jump in the shower to get ready for my night, not knowing when or if A-​Z is even going to show up
7:15pm…I receive a call that the guys are at the front door and I needed to let them in. I told the man that I had already gotten someone to match their price and do it in the morning for me, and that I didn’t need their services. The man became upset and kept talking about how professional and quick they would be and wanted to get the move done.
Professional is showing up on time for your appointments, or at least giving some sort of accurate ETA so that customers don’t have to sit around and wait for you to show up, so I cancelled the move and had a great experience with Richard and Company.
UPDATE: I too have been offered $ 100 cash or a free move to take down my review. I talked a length with the manager/​owner and we came to the agreement that he would move me for free next time, and that if I received good service that I would write a good review. I told him that I wasn’t taking this review down, but that I would give him a second chance if he wanted me as a customer and write about the service I received. If I received good service, the updated review would balance out the bad and we would be even. I was just informed that the manager will not honor that agreement because I won’t take down this review.
My integrity is worth a lot more than $ 100…

Another update: to the two whiners who have emailed me about their bad experience with this company– again I am not vested in the financial success of A-​Z moving but let me know how you would like me to prove a negative. So sorry about your $ 200 TV, Ryan but maybe you could pop over to Goodwill to see if they have any in your price range.
Update: Please note that I am NOT vested in this company in any way. My review here is simply an evaluation of my personal experience — one move– with these guys. I cannot be held responsible if others do not have the same experience. Check my other reviews, I am perfectly happy to give a thumbs-​down when necessary. So please stop kvetching to me if you have had a bad experience!!!
These guys are fantastic. Everything about them was top notch and they took great care of my stuff. I had an excellent experience, the movers were so helpful! They wouldn’t let me lift anything heavy, they held doors for me, they wrapped my flat screen tv and my paintings without me even asking. They were quick and efficient and didn’t even complain about my 10,000 books. Cost quoted was right on the money. A professional experience all around. A-​Z moving came highly recommended to me and I was NOT disappointed! Would definitely use them again.