UPDATE: CMS delivered 2 missing items. The water fountain is missing the 2 large middle sections and the pump. The top part (woman holding dish) is shattered. Can't use it and it's irreplaceable!! One other box had been opened and shuffled through. CMS is ignoring my emails, demanding them to find the rest of my fountain and 8 boxes. read more

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They have excellent professional service from Sales, Customer Svc, Moving Operators....up n down throughout their whole operation. They are transparent, no hidden adder fees, and fully responsible for your valuables. Best of all , you're not dealing with a third party broker quoting you. They're the best! read more

California Moving Systems is capable of Breaking Rocks - in half [see photo] Moving is a tough job and this is why we may hire a company to help. The movers [I am guessing] are under management pressure to maximize profits which could mean, move fast and with minimal staff. The movers that came to my home are contracted and are NOT CMS employees. Also, the lead mover had a broken hand to accomplish the near impossible. The question. How do you handle a disaster that leaves you powerless, emotionally devastated and financially crippled knowing that you are complaining about a crew that left likely exhausted and perhaps a little injured? Where do you find within all of that fair and reasonable balance so you come across sane when you feel like you lost your mind! I am a CMS casualty and I spent over $32k for a move. Moving is personal - intimate. You are letting strangers into your life, your home and trusting them with your memories...with items you have worked a lifetime to afford and acquire. You are letting them touch things that your spouse and family have given over a lifetime. In my case, my mother died last year and many items left to me CMS destroyed. This hurts - broke my heart and I get to relive loss. CMS broke over 120 items. At that point, I just stopped counting and instead, tossed the memories and money into the trash. Some of the damage senseless such as a rock. Takes two to three guys to lift. They broke it. This shows the level of carelessness. Example, they broke one of the chairs that connects to a $17,000 couch. They broke the mechanicals within the chair. One could suggest great force and seemingly little regard. The moving company retained my financial information from a prior authorized charge and without my consent, charged $17k+ to my AMEX card at a later date. I received a text message with an apology and that the owner had retained my credit card information on file. I did not consent. But it is alleged that I had. There is no document that I signed and no verbal recording authorized. Why randomly charge my card without calling knowing it's AMEX and bill is due EOM. Destruction and Financial Hardship. Ouch! I am not saying "don't ever hire CMS" because this may be the very nature of moving companies...so you may be just stuck with the risks. But you can learn from my mistakes and do better than I. I learned from AMEX that you can put a block on a vendor that forbids them passing charges without your authorization. In my case, You can manually permit a one-time charge. Control the payment process because the costs are high! Don't assume and do not blindly trust. Maintain control over your finances - protect yourself from a company just holding on to your credit card information without your knowledge or they didn't make it clear, we will use your card info again. Ask questions, get clarity. GET IT IN WRITING and make sure they sign in ink. You may feel rushed as I did...OPEN EVERY SINGLE BOX before it enters your HOME. Prepare yourself for the frowns...but they also get a break too. Inspect for damage. If damaged, refuse the item. SEND IT BACK! CMS uses bar code labels. They told me, it does not damage wood. But it did. Every single piece of wood furniture was left with a glue residue stain. Some of it came off and some items are forever stained [see photo] I can't stress enough. Document and if possible, set up a security camera to document how rough the movers are handling your items. I know, annoying but if you are a victim, you will wish you had. NestCams are cheap. Just do it. Capture as much evidence as possible. Back to the bar codes. All the items are label with a bar code. Document the item and bar code. In my case, and this is my fault, I trusted the lead that I didn't need to go through the inventory list and verify. Don't do this. Take the time and painstakingly verify each and every item that it is there and not broken. Yes, this will take a lot of time. But you will be miserable after if you do not. They will leave and you are left pretty much helpless. In my case, missing items. Yep...gone with the wind. Oh... and I also learned when filing a claim...you had better have a receipt for every item you claim. OH BOY DO NOT ASSUME YOU ARE COVERED! They are going to ask for evidence of purchase. So that painting or whatever gift your mom gave you. No receipt...bye bye - see ya! Such as my lamps. Missing shade. No receipt... Sorry! You are screwed. And finally...READ READ READ the terms and conditions - front and back. The guys are selling you a service and you may find yourself feeling...oh, I can trust XYZ. Don't do this. Read the fine print. Because the honeymoon phase ends swiftly into a divorce. Don't assume trust. Trust is earned. As of 2nd of October 2018. Despite owners comment that they are working me puzzles me. Zero Repairs and Reimbursement. I would welcome any effort on their part. read more

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I used California Moving Systems for my move from California to Idaho. The move was fantastic and everything arrived intact and was delivered on time. From my personal experience, California Moving Systems is definitely a 5* company. read more

Everyone at California Moving were total pros. They are a top notch company that has extremely competitive pricing. I did the yelp thing where I looked at 7 different companies and evaluated them on price, reviews, time to response, and the professionalism of the people I interacted with over the phone. Selecting a moving company is really hard because it feels like you are looking for a company that just won't mess up. It is a lot like being a goalie in soccer, you never get to have the glory, but if you mess up, everyone hates you. A tough place to start from. Here is a bit on my experience. I booked them to move my 3/2 home from redwood city to coronado, ca. From the first phone call from the owner (Chris) to the professionalism of the driver (Bill), to the billing department and the muscle (4 movers at pickup and 2 at dropoff) they were amazing. They event took the time tag every item to make sure everything was accounted for. Nothing broken and arrived on time at pickup and dropoff. Amazing service that I will be recommending to anyone looking for a moving company. Super professional. So great to have such a good experience. Huge thank you to Bill, Chris, and the loaders and unloaders for taking such good care of our things. You made a stressful thing (moving my family) so much better because everything was done so well. Thank you! read more

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Chris Higdon is a TRUE professional and I would highly recommend this moving Co. Due to unforeseen escrow and COVID issues--our move/loan was delayed multiple times. Every single time, Chris would cooperate with us. He was also very responsive, quick and kind. Moving is a terrible and stressful time, but he made us feel better the whole way and especially with our fragile items (memories, piano, fridge...). Also very honest and competitive pricing. We would highly recommend this moving Co hands down! Thanks again Chris!! read more

I had an estimate done on a Tuesday. Dan Skoglund came to do the estimate. Because he had to leave soon after, he wasn't able to give me a written quote right away. He said he would call me that Friday and then mail me the quote the week after, as I didn't have a fax machine. It is now the following Friday and I haven't heard from Mr Skoglund. I am sure I ought to call California Moving Systems to inquire about my quote, but I have already decided to go with a different moving company so I will just leave it at that. Mr Skoglund may just be quite busy and he forgot to get back to me. I'm not upset, because all it takes is one phone call on my part to inquire about my quote but there's no point anyway. I read on a moving website that California Moving Systems had some good reviews, hence I chose them as a company to do a quote. I still recommend them if you are looking for a reputable moving company, as there are a ton of moving companies out there that are a nightmare to deal with. read more

My daughter and I were on site during one of California Moving Systems deliveries from El Dorado Hills to Lake Tahoe . I have always been fearful of having people unknown to me pack and move the things I love. Witnessing this confirmed my worst fears ~ items broken that were irreplaceable combined with movers trying to say it was not their fault ( impossible as they were the people in charge of said items from start to finish ) turned what should have been an exciting time for new homeowners into a source or stress and heartache. read more

I seriously suspect the ratings I see for California Moving Systems as my extremely poor customer service experience was not an anomaly. We used CMS to complete a move from California to Florida and we couldn't have received worst service. Packers on the origin side were inflexible and not properly coordinated, delivery was delayed a week once enroute, coordination between CMS, Altas and CMS's furniture crating company was non-existent, damage to the furniture and the new home was considerable, and just extremely BAD customer service from Michelle have made me take the time to warn others to avoid CMS at all cost. The biggest issue we had with CMS (Michelle) was that they didn't respond to resolve issues, and they outright lied. Our furniture was delivered in Florida two days before Christmas and coordination between the Atlas driver, CMS and CMS's crating company was needed to successfully complete the move. The driver unfortunately was eager to head home for the holidays, so the crated furniture was left in the garage. The crating company that CMS used , when they finally showed up, would not move the furniture into the house once it was uncrated because "that's the movers' job", and Michelle was totally incapable of resolving the issue. After all of CMS's contract workers left late at night the day before Christmas Eve, Michelle offered to contact two of the furniture lifters if we would pay $400 up front with the agreement that CMS would reimburse us after the holidays. BIG LIE! We were bounced back and forth between CMS and Atlas with both pointing the finger at the other. I filed a dispute with my credit card company, but because we didn't pay the additional $400 with the credit card, the dispute was denied. My advice to others is to look at the poor Yelp reviews. If you're OK with the experience you see from the customers that rated CMS low, then by all means, use CMS as you'll likely experience something similar. read more

We moved from El Dorado Hills to Phoenix and used California Moving Systems to pack us, store our belongings for 4 months and then deliver to AZ. Our Agent highly recommended them. Chris was great to work with on the business side of things. He represented his company well with confidence and patience. Bill was the driver in charge of the packing, loading, storage, and delivery. Super Professional and an all around good guy. I wouldn't hesitate to use this company again for any future need we may have. DN from EDH to AZ read more

95° and humid in Sacramento, no problem for these guys. Right on time, professional appearance, no nonsense approach. They unloaded our storage unit for us into our rental truck, but I'd have been confident having them do our entire move (Wish we could have had them with us on the other end in Oregon!). We even got these guys on a Sunday, which for some moving companies was not even possible. Top notch, no wasted time, and they tied everything down in the truck so it wouldn't move. Obviously, I only used these two guys, but if the rest of the company has this same work ethic, you can't go wrong. (The only slight glitch, and why it's 4 stars and not 5, was that my phone contact promised me a callback on Friday and I didn't hear from him until Sunday morning when we were getting ready to move, but it all worked out. Just the same, might not hurt to have a backup plan) read more

I requested a competitive bid from three moving lines for a one way office furniture move from Sacramento to Los Angeles. Janet showed up on time to look everything over and provided a quote very shortly thereafter. The original quote was higher than expected but we were impressed with Janet during the whole process, so I requested her to revisit the quote. Janet was able to revise the pricing favorably and so we scheduled the move. The day the movers were supposed to show up, they did and on time. They packed everything up, well protected, and no nonsense. I received a call the next day with an delivery ETA. On delivery day, the movers called when they arrived and worked to unload everything in a well organized manner. The furniture was well protected and arrived complete and without damage. I will use this company again and would recommend. read more

CMS (aka Jack Higdon Movers) moved my family in Sacramento during October 2010. We had some VERY heavy furniture items that had to go upstairs in our new place (with a turned staircase). They were like surgeons with these items and worked steadily and carefully. I would highly recommend them. I believe the foreman's name was Dan, and he and his crew were great. read more

Wow they are way over priced!! The guy looked at my cars and all of the sudden my prices skyrocketed!! I'm using Pacnbox movers they are way better price and their fees don't go up and down based on the type of luxury cars you drive . Remember a quote is a quote it should be the same across the board. read more

I completed a move with California Moving Systems last year in July from Sacramento to Seattle. The prices were slightly above average compared to other moving companies we received detailed quotes from (we had 5 quotes). We also were having CMS pack up our house as well. The service I received before the move was fantastic. The lady who came and gave me the quote was wonderful, professional, timely, and her estimate of both time and materials needed to pack was spot on. Zero complaints with this part of the process. The packing team came the day before the move. It was a crew of a foreman who was also the moving truck driver and 3 additional gentlemen. They were great. They took great care to ask me questions about how I wanted things packed. They also did a great job with packing valuables and breakables. They finished about 97% of the packing during that day, and had no problems with my dogs hanging out either. I was a little wary once we got to the labeling part. The team uses a labeling system to inventory everything going on the truck. Since we were moving a 4 bedroom house with 2 dogs and 2 toddlers, we had a lot of stuff. There were hundreds of boxes and the inventory wasn't as specific as it should have been. But since they were expected to pack everything in several different areas of the house in one day, I felt that was understandable. The move itself went smoothly as well. The team arrived on time on move in day in Seattle. I was a little annoyed that I was told at that time that payment was due in full, but they could only accept credit card payments. No check or electronic transfer. Since the final charge was more than $12k, I needed to spend some time on the phone with my credit card company to allow this giant charge to come through. That issue was resolved, though I think it would be wise to make the methods of payment accepted clear in the beginning of the process. The team unloaded in great time and they were also great about putting everything in the correct rooms and placing the furniture for us. They did dent one wall, but it was a small repair and acknowledged by the foreman so I wasn't concerned. So, now we come to where things get difficult. After the truck was unloaded, the driver asked me to sign off that everything was delivered. I was immediately hesitant to do this and asked how I could possibly know at this point if everything was delivered? He assured me that I needed to sign off to say that I inspected the truck and made sure there wasn't anything left on it. If I did end up discovering that something was missing, I could file a claim with the company. He pointed out the line on the form stating that signing did not mean that I couldn't file a claim if something was in fact missing. I signed it feeling assured. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND ANYONE ELSE DO THIS. We noticed a couple big one off items missing a few days after the move. The most glaring thing was one of our babies' changing table mattress, but also included other things like our long extension cord and a step ladder. I called the company to inquire about how to proceed with a claim. I spoke with Melissa who assured me that I had plenty of time to file my claim (they give you 9 months to file the claim). So I waited to file the claim until we completely unpacked to be sure we weren't missing any other items or had any damage. I filed my claim for $365 worth of missing items from our move about 8 months after our actual move in date. I probably should have filed it sooner, but that is how long it took us to unpack and since the time limit was 9 months, I was within the time frame. Please note that our claim was for $365 from a $12k move. The claim was comprised of a $150 wall repair and 7 missing items totaling about $200. The company approved the wall repair and rejected the 7 missing items stating that I SIGNED THE FORM SAYING EVERYTHING WAS DELIVERED. See what they did there? I went back and forth with their incredibly rude Customer Service manager Melissa. I couldn't understand why they would even have a claim process for missing items if they don't allow you to claim missing items except for the day of delivery. They gave me a lot of feedback ranging from, "if I had filed the claim sooner, they could have potentially found the items" or "since I signed the form that nothing was on the truck, that everything must have been delivered." I appealed the decision to the owner (Dave Higdon), who agreed with his employee's findings but offered me the full amount of my claim as a goodwill gesture. This annoyed me to no end, but I accepted. It then took them 8 weeks to send me a check, which I have a sneaking suspicion may have been due to my push back on the "customer service manager", but I received the check which is what matters I suppose. Overall, I had a great moving experience and a shitty customer service experience afterwards. Hope this helps someone else! read more

These movers were great! They were efficient and very careful with our furniture. They also made the move fun with their high energy and funny sense of humor. I would highly recommend them. read more

The team at California Moving Systems is excellent! Thorough and professional and flexible to changing conditions. A really top notch operation. read more

I used this moving company recently and I am very, very disappointed with their service. This company was recommended to me by my realtors so I trusted them. The actual moving experience was okay. However, following the move I had some issues and dealing with the owner, Dave Higdon, was a very negative experience. Before the movers finished moving me I was told by the head mover that he could not connect my washing machine up in my new home because the water hoses were bad and they would leak. When I spoke to a repairman I was told that the water hoses were fine and I did not need new ones. I believe the head mover did not want to take any more time to connect my washer and get it working. I was most upset when I next discovered that my dryer wasn't working properly following the move. It turned on but it wasn't heating up. I called CMS multiple times to get some help with this matter. Eventually I was told by the secretaries and then Dave Higdon that my dryer's heating element wasn't working and I needed to call a repairman to fix it. I objected and said my dryer had been heating up just fine right before the move. I repeatedly requested that CMS send someone to my home to see if they possibly forgot to connect something in my gas dryer. I was repeatedly rejected regarding this request. Basically, I was told that it was my responsibility to get my dryer fixed and if it turned out to be the fault of CMS then they would reimburse me for the cost of the service repair. I disagreed with this policy but Dave Higdon would not budge and did not care that I was without the use of my dryer for 12 days. In the end, the problem was the fault of CMS because the head mover forgot to turn on the gas for my gas dryer (i.e., it had nothing to do with a broken heating element in my dryer). My realtor informed Dave Higdon of this, but I never received an apology from Dave. Needless to say, I was furious at not being listened to or respected. This is poor customer service when the customer is assumed to be wrong! My last complaint is that I was charged $800 when I purchased 100 moving boxes from CMS. Overall, dealing with CMS was a very negative,frustrating, stressful and expensive experience. Stay away from California Moving Systems! read more

Incredible. I've moved several times in the past few years for work and this has by far been the best moving experience ever. The three man team arrived promptly and despite the 100 degree weather had my apartment packed up within seven hours. They were polite, professional, and incredibly efficient. I couldn't have asked for a better team. read more

California Moving Systems moved my family yesterday and they did a great job. They showed up right on time and the work was professional. They didn't scratch anything and they were so careful with our belongings. I had a huge custom fridge and they were able to move it to my new house without any damage. Loved the whole crew! The final charge came out to be $30 less than the estimate. That is amazingly close. My family loved them! Worth every dime! read more

They moved me from Auburn to Roseville. They were careful, efficient and very professional. I highly recommend this moving company.

This company is the best. The professional help they provided us with storing our whole house during a remodel was fantastic. The guys who did the work were helpful and efficient. When you need a moving company use California Moving Systems. read more

This company has hidden fees! They came out to do an estimate but never mentioned verbally or in writing that there was a minimum number of hours they required and that they charged for drive time. The rounded up on the time they took to move, did not tell me about the minimum service hours they required until they showed up at my residence with the truck and ready to move, and they did not tell me about being charged driving time at the full moving rate until they were done moving my things and charged me 1/2 hour! They also said they would cover and cushion all furniture, but my brand new bedroom set and a wood furniture shelving unit were not protected and all were scratched, chipped, nicked and dented. One mover took my unprotected furniture out on a dolly with heavy, sharp objects sitting on it! They also broke some items. read more

The following morning February 21st, I was surprised to see only one truck arriving at my parents' house to unload a portion of my property. I asked what happened to the 2nd truck. I was told that California Moving System had unloaded the trucks in their yard and repacked the truck and in addition there was another load added which was going to a customer in Huntington Beach. So initially what took two trucks to load was now consolidated to approximately ¾ of a truck. Common sense would indicate that property being moved on and off trucks is not a good thing, plus I was lead to believe that this would not occur. The delivered Items at my parents' house went fairly smooth, an inventory was done and most of the things designated to be dropped off at their residence had occurred. The rest of the items were to be delivered to a storage facility which would soon become another chapter in an ongoing nightmare. The crew arrived at the Public Storage facility where I had secured two 10 x 30 units. I explained to the driver "T" that one unit was going to be for furniture only and the other for boxes and miscellaneous items. The contract had indicated that I would inspect my property and that the furniture would be wrapped in paper pads, and the mattress box seams were to be sealed with tape (this did not happen). I asked the crew if they would like me to order pizza for them. They said that would be great. I explained that I had to put mothballs and rat poison down in the units and that I would go to the front office wash my hands and order the pizza. When I returned to the unit the crew had ignored my requests of furniture only and had already ¼ the unit filled with my property. I did not get to inspect the items and no inventory was done. I asked why they were not wrapping my furniture with paper pads as stated in the contract. The driver stated that he did not have any supplies and did not have the contract with the instructions. I immediately called Greg to let him know what was happening. I was informed by Greg that he told them to put the supplies on the truck, however the driver denied it. To make things even worse the crew that was acquired from the Atlas facility in El Monte refused to wrap the furniture and threatened to leave. So now I had a small mutiny on my hands where the workers were going to leave. The driver decided to use blankets to cover my furniture and talked the crew into staying. One of the crew didn't want to stay because he wanted to go to his son ball game. My furniture was damaged; I witnessed the crew taking fragile items and stacking heavy items on top of them, flipping boxes labeled fragile end over end with no regard for my property. One of the mover took two 20 gallon pots that still had some dirt in it and turned it upside down spilling soil on the finish of a very nice executive desk. I was perplexed when my aquarium came off the truck with water in it after I had emptied and dried it out weeks before my move. Because of the chaos, close to 300 items had not been inventoried and I had no clue to where most my stuff was. On two occasions one of the crew (Nick) climb up and across my furniture to look for items that I needed access to. Later I discovered that he had broken one of the legs off an end table while doing this. Several days latter I spoke with one of the owners Dave Higdon who acknowledge the nightmare and wanted to send a crew down to unpack the unit's, inventory, and finish off the work. Mr. Higdon sent CJ down on March 11th 2014 with two additional helpers. CJ had with him several of my items that had gone to the Huntington Beach job and I ended up with a picture from another customer. Needless to say we were able to consolidate the furniture in one unit and do a complete inventory of my property. As suspected there was more damage to my personal belonging that I had originally noted. I appreciate that California Moving systems made an effort to try and fix things but as I review all that has happened the negative experience and stress that I have endured far exceeds the positive. I am currently in the middle of trying to document the damages which at a glance may exceed the cost of moving. I am fearful that after all the issues that occurred with California Moving Systems, and this review, that the movers and insurance company will not compensate me appropriately for my time (weeks) and the damages to my property!! I will keep you posted!! read more

Robert G.'s response to my review was indicative of my entire experience with California Moving Systems, saving one aspect: it evinced regret about the unprofessionalism and offered an apology. Otherwise it was de rigeur for the company: nothing of substance, an enormous amount of excuses and also a few attempts at proving the customer wrong on issues of enormously trivial importance... not to mention it was factually wrong. But we can talk at each other all day with a he said/he said. The fact remains: this company dropped the ball, and it dropped the ball hard. I've been in one form or another of customer service for 13 years and I know when I've been screwed. When that happens and the offending company goes into a defensive stance something is wrong. All of this could have been mitigated by a simple, professional and immediate response. Responding to my Yelp review? Of course that's gonna catch the company's eye. When it came to a customer's happiness we were left spinning in the wind, but as soon as peer reviewed social media came into play the response was quick. I am unsurprised. read more