There are not many options out there if you need to ship something large, bulky, fragile, unpackaged, etc. Your basic options: 1. Household movers: They don't want to deal with small shipments -- typically $5k minimum. 2. Traditional freight: Goods must be packaged/palletized and long wait times to drop off private shipments. 3. UPS/FedEx freight: Goods must be packaged/palletized and service is hugely expensive. 4. Traditional pack & ship stores: Typically don't want to touch anything over 75 lbs. 5. UShip: Buyer beware. Quality of service varies greatly person-to-person. Craters and Freighters slots neatly into the gap where you have something valuable to ship that's too difficult to package safely yourself. Examples: electronics, lab equipment, furniture, etc. C&F will pickup the shipment at your door, take it to their warehouse, build a custom crate for it, and arrange for it to be freighted to its destination. C&F is a chain but the locations appear to be independently operated and quality can vary quite a bit depending on local management. The Boston location (in Randolph, MA) is under new ownership as of 2013-2014. Previous management was a disaster and they were on the verge of losing my business. Fortunately, there is good news--the new crew is great! Shipments are going out as predicted, the guys doing pickups arrive when they promise, and so far all my shipments have arrived safely. There's still a bit of room for improvement -- a couple of recommendations for the team: 1. The estimating process is cumbersome and it can take 24-48 hours. There should be some quicker options to get a ballpark (say +/- 20%) estimate within minutes. 2. The service is still pricey, but as stated above, there are not a lot of good alternatives. read more

It took a full week to receive a shipping estimate from Craters and Freighters. I tried not once but multiple times to reach the representative who had provided me with the original quote, to ask him a few follow-up questions. Over the course of the next three weeks, I emailed them five times and called at least four times. No one answered my emails. No one returned my phone calls. No one even picked up the phone. Eventually I gave up and hired XPS Extreme Packing Solutions instead. Never have I encountered such an unprofessional company. read more

The worst. Whatever you do DO NO SHIP WITH THESE GUYS! They destroyed my dad's heirloom, hand-made grandfather clock and refuse to pay damages. Why? "Because you didn't open it and find the damage fast enough". Does that sound like someone you want to ship with? Add to that, they idiotically packaged the matched pendulum set in some left-over packaged material with no label, no highlights and no special line item on the BOL. It got tossed with the rest of the packing material before I knew it was missing. Thinking about shipping with these guys. DON'T DO IT!!!!!! PS. I would have given them 0 stars but this app won't let me. read more

I have never reviewed anything on Yelp before, but I'm making a special exception for Craters and Freighters. Remember the phrase 'highway robbery'? I think it aptly describes this outfit. I asked for a quote to ship one cylinder (0.45 liter volume) filled with 2 liters of CO2 (67 psi), a non-flammable gas in a quantity that presents low hazard. However, because of the pressure, it's considered dangerous goods. From the manufacturer in OH, it cost $392.00 total including product, shipping, and hazmat fee to ship to CA. To ship from CA to AK, C&F provided the following quote: "$1148.90 SJC153624 includes: Appointment pickup in San Mateo, CA UN approved fiberboard box/packaging (as needed) Door to door, air transport to Fairbanks, Alaska HazMat Markings, Labels and Documentation DAP, excludes duties and taxes" $1148.90 to ship 4 lbs total mass of dangerous goods (see above) to AK from CA. You be the judge, good deal or highway robbery? A racket for sure, but that is my opinion. One star is not low enough. read more

My experience with Craters and Freighters Boston service has been outstanding. I had to ship some intricate and fragile aluminum sculptures from Boston to LA and they under took everything: The pick up, the packaging, shipment and delivery. The whole process has been very well organized, and Eric and Jenna were very responsive in the emails and phone calls throughout it. Everyone was very cautious and responsible with the custom needs of the shipment and I felt I can totally rely on them. read more

I moved from Boston area to Tucson and used two shipping services. The 1st one I used to send all of my art and fragile items. In fact, 161 items arrived well packed and in fine shape. This 1st company wasn't available so I used Craters and Freighters to ship stuff that was more household or personal. First of all, they gave me a quote that was too pricey for the stuff I was sending. When I decided to cut the stuff in half, the quote decreased by about 10%. I was in Tucson and had a friend at my house to let the shippers in. While the first company gave me an itemized receipt the same day they picked it up, I had to call Craters and Freighters several times over several weeks to get them to send a list, which was very basic and not an itemization. When the shipment arrived, it was in several crates. I signed off and once I started unpacking, I was stunned. A lot of stuff was just thrown into boxes. In fact C&F has thrown a heavy hard drive into a box with fragile items. So there were family photos with broken glass. A stained glass sculpture had been wedged, unwrapped between 2 boxes. Not only did it get bent, but 21 panes of glass were damaged. The quote for fixing this piece is $1500. When I contacted them they denied doing anything negligent. They told me every excuse in the book, but offered no help. In fact, the told me that they would have had to repack everything in order to insure it. No one told me this upfront. They also claimed that since I signed off on the delivery, I couldn't make any claims. But it took me many hours to unpack so it was impossible to object to the condition at the time of delivery. All in all I would be very careful in dealing with this company. Compared to the 1st company, this was a total rip-off. read more

I purchased a large painting and encouraged the seller to ship via a professional art handler. Instead the seller had Craters and Freighters transport the painting from Arizona to Florida for $1,200. While Craters and Freighters do their own crating, they subcontract the shipping to the cheapest idiot shipping company they can find and then wash their hands of the whole deal as soon as the package leaves their door. After three missed deliveries by Estes Express (Craters' selected shipper), the Phoenix Craters and Freighters took no responsibility for the shipping and responded with the following blurb from the shipping contract. "Craters & Freighters is only liable for loss, damage, delay, misdelivery, or nondelivery caused by its own negligence. Craters & Freighters is not liable for loss, damage, delay, misdelivery or nondelivery caused by (i) the act, default or omission of contracted party, or any other party who claims an interest in the shipment, (ii) the nature of the shipment or any defect, or any characteristic thereof, (iii) violation by any party of any of the conditions of Contract contained in this Contract, including, but not limited to improper or insufficient packaging, securing, marking or addressing, or failure to observe any of the rules relating to the shipment(s) not acceptable for transportation or shipments acceptable only under certain conditions, (iv) acts of God, perils of the air, public enemies, public authorities acting with actual or apparent authority of law, acts of omissions of customs or quarantine officials, riots, strikes or other local disputes, civil commotions, hazards incident to a state of war or acts of terrorism, weather conditions or mechanical delay of aircraft, or (v) acts or omissions of any person other than Craters & Freighters, including compliance with delivery instructions from contracted party. Further, Craters & Freighters shall not be liable for: (a) Customer packed goods where there is loss or damage to articles loaded or sealed in packages provided by party; (b) any mechanical failure of any electronics, musical instruments, appliances, clocks, radios, cameras, or other mechanical or electronic items of any kind or nature; (c) any claims for damage where such damage recurred in a place where prior damage existed, or where such prior damage was previously repaired or restored; (d) for any claims or damages resulting from or to finishes incompletely or inadequately cured or dried, or which were previously broken down from age, abuse, or otherwise; (e) any claims for loss or damage to abandoned goods or for shipments refused, delayed, redelivered, misdelivered or not delivered by reason of the fault of the contracted party, whether in the possession of Craters & Freighters, Carrier, or any third party; (f) any internal, unsecured or insufficiently secured, or other inherent vice contained within item(s) shipped which results in damage to item(s); (g) spoilage, contamination, freezing, rusting, oxidization, discoloration, scratching, denting, marring, chipping, mechanical and/or electrical derangement, extremes of temperature or air pressure, shrinkage, evaporation, change in flavor, appearance, or texture; (h) damage caused by hazardous materials where proper information was not provided prior to tendering the item(s)" read more

The worst service in my life. We shipped 12 boxes from Phoenix to Boston (supposedly on a palate). One box was lost and the other 11 were delivered in horrific condition! The boxes were all broken, items falling out and everything was broken into pieces. I was unable to savage anything. Also the boxes had been opened, we found a laborer's beanie in our boxes. The worst part was that the company said there is nothing we can do! We contacted the CEO and COO and they did nothing to resolve our issue. The employees are the rudest people I've ever encountered. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! TOTAL DISAPPOINTMENT! read more

They did a great job completely emptying a store we bought out in bankruptcy- they then packaged everything beautifully and shipped to our facility a few states over. Great job. read more

I used this shipping company to move my, over 100 year old, China Cabinet, from Boston to San Diego. The cabinet showed up as scheduled and was packaged awesomely. I highly recommend this company. I would have given them 5 stars, but I must say they were not the best when it came to communicating. E-mails and phone calls were not always returned and when they did respond back it was not always in a timely fashion. When I did communicate with them they were pleasant and informative. read more

I used Craters and Freighters for a cross-country shipment Boston to Seattle. I worked with Jenna and she was so helpful and accommodating. Not only did Craters and Freighters give me the best quote of any company I considered, but they had the best service. They were timely, came on a weekend morning to work with my schedule, and gave me a discount even when the weight of my shipment was higher than I estimated. The guys who came to pick up my stuff were very efficient and did in 20 minutes what would have taken me two hours. When my shipment arrived, it was carefully wrapped and packed, which I did not expect and was a pleasant surprise. I would absolutely use their services again next time I move! read more

Every single person I have dealt with at C&F has always been polite, prompt, attentive, and caring--from Rick to Jenna to the staffers who pick up and crate. And, let me add; they do what they say they are going to do. read more

Jenna and her team were wonderful. My item was very heavy, fragile with complicated movements and parts. They handled it like true professionals. read more