Buyer beware - Do Not use PNW Movers. #1 - They did a poor job packing, even on items where we had agreed to the approach, resulting in damaged good #2 - they were very inefficient -- lots of chatting and not bringing the right packaging products, creating multiple trips to UHaul stores and costing me extra money on time and #3 - despite their commitment both to having coverage and to making things right through a refund, they are now backing out on their promise. Details below.
I used PNW to pack my apartment into a 17' UHaul for a move to CA. Before the move, I had confirmed via text message that I had some fragile items, that I wanted to make sure my mattresses were wrapped etc (you'll see from the pictures that didn't happen). I had 3 mattress bags and was told the other could be shrink wrapped. I shared pictures so that they could bring the right packing materials which they said they were on. While Jamal seemed professional, his otherpacker (John), was a chatty cathy, talking more than packing, wasting both time and money. Twice after he stated the kitchen was finished, I had to open cabinets and see what he had missed. I had put the small number of items I needed wrapped carefully in one area and yet I found him taking a fragile glass plate and putting it on the top of pots and pans without wrapping. Fortunately we caught that. While Jamal was more efficient and a better packer, they were still unorganized. Even though I sent photos beforehand and a full inventory list, the two of them kept running out of boxes, and made 3 trips to the U-Haul store during that day (plus the 1 I made), and suboptimized the packing to the extent that some of the kitchen stuff was packed into large boxes so heavy that even my unpackers had to use both guys to unload them. I would have been screwed if my boyfriend and I had had to move that on my own.
At the end, they were stuffing things into whatever box or bags they could find and shoving it into the Uhaul. Unfortunately, I didn't get a final picture of that.
Once the packers finished, we closed up the Uhaul and drove to CA, not opening it until we arrived. You can imagine my surprise to find that the guys had thrown a bag of cleaning products into a black plastic bag (again, they had run out of boxes towards the end) and put it somewhere on top of the items. As you can see from the pictures, there was detergent everywhere. While I had been supervising, I missed that they had *NOT* wrapped the boxspring, which has detergent all over it. I've already had to throw out some repair one piece of art and throw out some other items of sentimental value. And, since I moved into storage (and John didn't keep my fragile items together but rather scattered them everywhere), there are some items missing such that I don't even know the extent of all the damage.Furthermore, while they had packed the art, they had not put down a blanket or sufficient padding to keep the packaging from tearing on the drive. Several of my frames are damaged. Even outside of these items, they did a sloppy job. If you look at the photos you can see that they put a heavy lamp base on a laundry hamper, stacked my bike on top of it with no padding in between and laid that bike directly on a piece of wood furniture, scratching everything in the process.
Despite that, the worst part has been the experience since and their underhanded behavior. I understand small businesses have issues and that sometimes you hire a bad egg (John). Jamal and I communicated multiple times and promised to make it right and to get me a refund. He even told me the check was ready (see the text photo) but I knew something was fishy because he wouldn't tell me when he was putting it in the mail. I didn't put up a review because i felt that if a business makes a mistake but does right by it (they let that guy go which they did and gave me the refund) that they'd take care of other customers, good or bad. However after 4 weeks of promises, I told him if i didn't hear from someone I would have to share this publically as I couldn't in good conscious let others hire them Today I finally heard from Angela, the other owner, who is not honoring Jamal's commitment, said they no longer use Square so she can't even tell me how she's going to refund me (she wouldn't even commit to sending a check)and is questioning whether this was their doing. I have just called my credit card company to see what they can do.
These guys advertise themselves as insured and therefore the safe option however had I known then what I am sharing here, I never would have worked with them. It's been a waste of my time and money. Don't waste your time and money as well. There are plenty of great movers out there who will honor their word and make sure your things are appropriately packed to transport safely and undamaged. After all, isn't that what one hires movers for? read more