Cross-state movers

[anyee.livejournal.com]

I've reached the point of having too much stuff and not enough youth to put everything in a U-Haul myself. As a result, I need a mover for my upcoming trip to Chicago. Has anyone had a positive experience with one particular moving company?

Comments

[gandalfgreyhame.livejournal.com]

I've always had really good experiences with Gentle Giant, but interstate moves are going to be super expensive no matter what.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Seconded. Our experience with Gentle Giant was that they were cheerful, efficient, careful, and came in under estimate.

[zenala.livejournal.com]

Thirded.

Gentle Giant didn't yet do out-of-state moves the last time I moved across state lines, but I've used them locally multiple times. The last time I moved across state lines I used someone cheap and ended up with broken antique furniture. Never had any problems with Gentle Giant.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

For the record, if you're OK driving the truck yourself once it's loaded, U-Haul now has a deal where you can book and pay for loading help on either or both ends, right on their website when you reserve the truck. I just did this (also for a move to the Chicago area!) and it was perfect for us, since we actually needed to transport ourselves as well and thus it made no sense to pay someone else to drive.

[anyee.livejournal.com]

Not interested. I'll be driving the car and I've had highly mediocre experiences with driving a truck.

[totient]

National moving companies are franchises, and your experience will depend very greatly on the franchisee at the point of departure. In some cases more than one franchisee covers the same area. If you go with a national company, check the reviews very locally, and ignore reviews from out of area.

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

I had a good experience with White House Movers, but I was only moving within New England.

[craigindaville.livejournal.com]

Our last move was a cross-country one, and after looking at options we went with ABF and their U-Pack program. You either get one of those pods, or they drop off a trailer at your home and you fill them yourselves. They take it away, and you unpack on the other side. For the price, it was great and we had zero problems.

For the actual loading of the stuff, there are a couple of local movers (Guy with a Van, etc) who can handle the heavy stuff with you and load it up.

Just wanted to throw it out there since it takes care of your concerns about having to move the car and discomfort with driving a U-Haul, along with good prices in exchange for just a little bit of extra hassle.

[jducoeur]

Another recommendation for Gentle Giant. I've only used them in-state, but I've worked with them several times, and they've been consistently excellent. Not the cheapest, but you do get what you pay for: well-trained, careful, and disconcertingly efficient if you've packed well...