AMS is only as good as the company they use to move your stuff
Glenn Bloom
Submitted this review about
Americas-Moving-Services
Review made Live: 2/27/2011 10:07:00 AM
I used AMS based on the many positive reviews on this website. I did not have a good experience, and thought it might help others to know what happened to me.
Although I didn't realize it at the time I contacted them, Americas Moving Services is not a moving company...it is merely a moving service broker (at least in my situation). AMS did perform their brokerage service adequately - they took a $600 "deposit," and farmed the job to a 3rd party moving company to execute the move. Unfortunately for me they gave my move to CEH Moving, a company whom I never would have hired myself based on their reviews on this site. We had many problems with CEH, and they all stemmed from their refusal to return our calls. On moving day, the movers weren't able to fit all of our belongings into their truck, but we were reassured that another truck could come by the following night to collect the remaining 10 boxes. Well...we didn't get those final boxes until over 2 months later. The primary contact at CEH Moving, Jacobi, was nearly impossible to reach during those two months. If we wanted our phone calls answered we'd have to call AMS, and AMS would insist that they call us for an update. In that regard AMS *was* very helpful.
My problem with AMS is that they shouldn't use CEH Moving. When I made this complaint to AMS, they defended CEH Moving by reminding me that CEH Moving had fulfilled their obligation by having moved the contractually specified number of pounds. The move of the leftover boxes was a courtesy for which I was to be grateful and patient with the timing.
By the way, had CEH Moving returned our calls to answer our packing questions in the days leading up to the move, perhaps the movers would have been able to get our 8,000 pounds into a truck that was supposedly capable of handling 10,000 pounds.
In retrospect, I regret not hiring one of the movers that had come to my house and gave me an in-person estimate. Yes, it would have cost more, but I presume they would have treated the job not as an arbitrary number of pounds but as a move of a family's home and treasured belongings. That's an element that you don't get with AMS because everything is done by phone. AMS simply estimates the weight of your belongings based on a phone interview, and then passes the job to a third party who may or may not provide you good service.
The move was terribly stressful on many levels primarily because CEH Moving overpromised and undercommunicated. Neither Eric at AMS nor Jacobi from CEH met us face-to-face to understand the terrible stress that the entire experience created. For that reason, I cannot recommend AMS despite the many good experiences had by others.
