southwestamericanmoving.com

A Terrible Choice

A Terrible ChoiceI engaged this company to move my deceased parents' things from a storage unit in Summerville, SC to my storage unit in Colorado on Nov 25, and had much the same experience as the person who also wrote a review in Nov, 2025. I researched moving companies thoroughly and chose this carrier. Mark, the sales rep who sold me the job assured me they were a very professional company, cared a lot about customer service, had a good crew and proper trucks. I did almost all the packing with new cardboard boxes.* The truck was to arrive between 1--5 p.m. At 5:45 a pickup truck pulling a long,ramshackle trailer arrived with only the driver, no crew, and 72 year-old me standing in the dark outside waiting for them. No insignia or logos or uniforms or crew. The driver insisted he needed to load the "pick up" then and go.*When questioned about the 'crew' the driver said he could do it all himself, he didn't need anyone else. *I expressed my concerns about the trailer and its low clearance and shabbiness. I told him I did not feel comfortable putting my possessions in that trailer, nor did I feel good that he had no uniform, no helpers, had arrived late and insisted on doing the move that night.*He called customer service to have them talk to me. I told them what I had expected and paid for. *As I was talking with Customer Service, the driver, Kosta, said he was going to pick up his helper! This, after he had told me he was going to load the truck by himself! This local man was the only good thing about the whole ordeal.*Customer service had the owner of the company call me. I had not let them load the trailer because I had a terrible gut feeling about the whole thing by then.*The owner, a man named Michael with a military background, Mark said, was not interested in hearing or solving my concerns about going forward with the move: the equipment, the lateness. the lack of a crew, etc. When told that I didn't feel confident that the trailer was roadworthy, and why, he got mad and said I was "Snooty," that the trailer had been inspected and registered to do the kind of job it was there to do. I said I had expected a uniformed crew in a proper moving truck with logo, etc. He said I was wasting time complaining, for which I was going to have to pay $250 per hour, so I should just relax and let the men do their jobs so they could go home to their families. We had a shouting match and he screamed at me: "YOU ARE WRONG! THE CUSTOMER IS WRONG, THE CUSTOMER IS WRONG!!" He told me he could send a proper truck, etc, but I would have to wait several more weeks for it to be arranged. I was totally at a loss and told Michael that because he had me over a barrel I would let the men go ahead but that I didn't like the whole situation and it wasn't the end of this. I asked for his last name and he said he didn't want to tell me because he didn't want me showing up at his house!!! I told him I was going to report this whole situation. (And by the way, SW American Moving is not a member of the Better Business Bureau; now I know why).*The helper loaded most of my things into the trailer. Kosta didn't do much but sit in the truck. I had a terrible feeling as I saw my boxes go into the trailer. I knew it was not going to end well, and it didn't. After the helper finished loading about 8:45, I went ahead and took the helper home because Kosta was still calculating. He finished at 10:00 p.m. and told me that I owed more money than what I was told to bring with me to pay at pick-up.--more than $800!! I gave him a check.*Early morning on Dec 8, I got a text saying "we are trying to deliver today to you in Boulder." Another mover (not SW American Moving) had my things and needed to drop them off that day, with no previous notice! When the truck got to my storage unit with the things, the boxes jingled with broken glass and china. They were crushed, bent, gouged, torn and in terrible shape. The local crew the mover had picked up in Boulder were great but the mover was not, having told me that she had looked at the boxes when they were being loaded and they looked OK!!! I called customer service and gave the employee the whole story in a formal complaint. He said I would hear back from them; I have not. Choosing this company ended up causing me substantial trauma.

Date of experience: Nov 24, 2025