I had to move next door during a remodel. Yup, a whole 20 feet away and up a flight of stairs. Northstar moved my “stuff” including a huge alder wood desk without a scratch on my furniture, or a ding on my new house. Their price was very good, and they were professional and very efficient. Thank god I don’t have to move often, but if I do, I will certainly use them again.
Residential
Ron Cohen, Thank you to you and NorthStar Moving Company for all that you did to make my move go smoothly and successfully! This was my 5th move with your company – and once again, your team was the best! You and the NorthStar team came through for me again and made what could be a stressful experience into a very calm, positive experience. I really am grateful to you and will be happy to recommend you to all of my friends and family. Please share my appreciation with the team! You delivered top shelf premium customer service and I thank you!!!!
I would recommend NorthStar to my own parents. That’s how great they were with a $3,100 one bedroom apartment move across the country. Our stuff traveled more than 2,700 miles and not one item was broken, severely damaged, or lost. Amazing!
My NorthStar experience first began with a phone call with Ted. I had some basic questions and he was friendly and helpful. A few days later, Ilan D. came to our apartment with his laptop handy and made a quick assessment/inventory list of our belongings. He was calm, friendly, helpful and not pushy at all. Ilan seemed like a nice typical dad (in his early forties?) We had other companies also come out to do an in-house estimate, which I highly recommend. The guy from a company that contracts with North American was a bit annoying and pushy, so we are glad we went with NorthStar instead. Ilan immediately emailed us a flat rate/not-to-exceed estimate which we accepted and signed a few days later.
We painstakingly packed and labeled our items (everything except furniture) ourselves. I had my own secret labeling system. NorthStar sent three, young, nice, respectful, and thin men to us for the pick up. The guys were surprisingly strong and were extremely careful about disassembling our furniture. They took our heavy boxes and furniture down our treacherous stairs to their truck without incident. One kindly asked us if he could play music from his phone, which we all appreciated. It helped break the silence. We had cold bottled water, juices, and some energy/cereal bars for them.
They took our belongings to their storage facility in Chatsworth since we didn’t know the exact address of our new place yet. Finally, when we picked a new place I called NorthStar to give them the address. He recommended I email the info to their general email address. Unfortunately, the email was never read or the guy never entered it into their system. When I called a couple days later, they had no idea we were ready for pickup. But the second guy, Adam D., worked really hard to get the delivery going.
9th – Called NorthStar and emailed them that we were ready for delivery
13th – Called NorthStar for a delivery update and they had no idea we were ready for delivery
13th – Adam D. emailed me back and said our belongings would be delivered sometime between the 13th & 25th (13 day window)
27th – Actual delivery day. 18 days after I initially called. 14 days after my second call. Pretty good considering our building only allows moving in/out M-F during business hours.
Delivery was fine. It was three young (Russian?) guys who worked fast. I feel like the delivery guys had an easier time because they don’t have to be as careful putting together the furniture as the guys who take it apart. The guys who take it apart upon pick up have to spend a lot of time wrapping the furniture pieces and not lose little screws and bolts.
Our total move cost was approximately $3,100. It was approximately $400 over the original estimate because we used a few extra weeks of storage beyond the first free month ($130+), elevator at the destination ($50 ish), two “long carry” charges ($150 ish), and an additional 3% charge for using a credit card to pay.
Tips for moving:
Have several companies do an in-house estimate.
Buy moving insurance. http://Moveinsure.com was easy. Glad nothing happened to our stuff, but if it had caught on fire we would’ve been okay. Devastated, but okay.
Finish your packing before the movers arrive. They told me that we would be surprised by how many people aren’t finished packing their stuff when they arrive to take it away. It took me much longer than I thought.
If you’re doing a self pack like we did, make your own labeling system and keep a list of all the boxes and their contents handy upon pick up and delivery. Check off boxes/furniture items as they arrive at your new place. That way when the delivery guys are done, you can say, “Thanks, we have all our stuff” fairly quickly.
Have cold water bottles, gatorade, packaged snacks, etc. ready for the movers. It doesn’t cost much and they usually appreciate the gesture.
Tip. I don’t know how much the moving guys get paid, but a tip is usually appreciated by the guys. Actually, no matter how much they get paid they are working really hard to move your lazy ass’ heavy ass belongings.
Call the company several times leading up to the pick up date. Confirm that they are coming.
Call and email NorthStar several times about the delivery and get updates from them. I called to notify them that we were ready for delivery, but the guy who answered did not actually enter it into their computer system. Several days later, I called and they had no idea I was ready for delivery. Don’t hesitate to call them!
Review your moving company on yelp, google, transportreviews, etc. 🙂
Really great moving company.
Jessica at the main office was excellent at explaining rates-what’s covered per hour, and what the additional costs might be. She even verified it by email. She suggested a yelp coupon to save $ . She re-confirmed time + date + rates a few days before the move. Another good point is they always answer their phones in a professional manner.
The 3 man crew showed up on time and were eager to move. They were polite and respectful of my belongings and the building property. I was impressed how strong they were and how quickly they moved.
They finished earlier than we had expected which is unusual in a moving company that books by the hour.
I found their rates competitive. Some movers advertise low hourly rates but have other hidden costs which makes the job more expensive later—unfortuntately common w/ a few other moving companies . Some places claim longer driving times, go very slow to increase the bill, or just don’t care about how they’re carrying your boxes.
NorthStar is not like that. They were reliable and fair.
North Star was/is terrific! Someone came out before the move and gave us a dollar amount and promised it would not exceed this. Not only didn’t it not exceed the amount, but it ended up being like $800. less. The guys were on time and were all super nice. We had a unique move situation and they rolled with it all with good humor and care. I highly recommend North Star and would use them again for sure! They even put down plastic on our newly cleaned carpets so as not to stain them and removed their shoes when they had to step off the plastic. So thoughtful. I just recommended them to a friend. Truly, finding a moving company that you can trust is stressful. It’s nice to know that there is a company that takes all the stress out. Yay!
NorthStar was referred to me by a friend. I moved up to San Jose this week from LA. Ilan was our estimator and he was on time and thorough. Even after bothering him numerous times about re-vising my estimate, he would gladly and promptly take care of the revision. The movers were very professional. I am really happy with the price and service.
Ana Cardona and Jessica Flores are exemplary representative of your company. Both seemed highly organized and always courteous and polite. Ms. Cardona and Ms. Flores are a real credit to your company, in particular always following through whatever the concern was. Made our move a comfortable experience.
Sharon and Terry Chiapee
Sharon and Terry Chiapee
Alvaro Pena (forman), Antonio, and Jose were GREAT!
They did a fantastic job. They were on time, they were helpful in moving all of my furniture and boxes, they put together a lot of my furniture for me, and they cleared out all of the trash. Hooray! Stress free moving at its finest!
I have used Northstar 3 different times now, and I have enjoyed all of my experiences. They seem to do a great job and have discounts online most of the time too.
Highly recommended! 🙂
Definitely a great company to work with for a commonly stressful task. Alice, Ilan, Adam, Sam and Wendy were all great customer service providers, and the movers at my origin in California were fast and professional. They wrapped everything up very tightly, and you could tell that they were experienced. Things were not quite as smooth on delivery, including one lost item, but the staff worked to quickly compensate me above and beyond what was required. I used a Yelp deal as well and found the cost for an out-of-state move to be significantly less than other competitors. They also ship every day and could provide me with an exact pick-up day, which is also rare.
Northstar came to the rescue at the last minute when I was moving recently. I literally called on Thursday evening for a Saturday move over the Memorial Day weekend. I talked to Stefy and she was fantastic! She was really calm and helpful (especially with a stressed out customer like me). She even reminded me to purchase the yelp deal (thank you!!).
They really helped me get my stuff to my new place very quickly (I needed them even though it was only a mile away). I had 3 guys come with a large moving truck and they were extremely efficient. Very professional and the move was neatly done. None of my items were damaged and they were very careful about moving my furniture so as to not scratch the new walls or floors.
Additionally, the price was much lower than I expected, so I gave them a nice tip for their hard work (I also have annoying stairs to deal with). It was worth every cent! I definitely recommend them to anyone in LA that needs a stress-less move.
Oh and did I mention that they bring 10 wardrobe boxes? It was awesome!