Bad Experience with JK Moving in Northern Virginia

[GnB2]

I just wanted to drop a line about JK Moving in Northern Virginia.

My family and I did a move with JK Moving about a year ago (I am posting this now, because I need to move again and I re-registered with the forum -- I posted as "GnB" several years ago about my move from Seattle to Northern Virginia).

It was a corporate move, but I got to select the mover. I chose JK Moving mainly based on the very good reviews here despite misgivings about the phony reviews and the BBB hits.

Well, I should've listened to my instincts. My wife and I were very unsatisfied with the result.

First of all, the packers spoke no English. ZERO. So they did not understand our instructions on what to pack and what not to pack. And they packed our lamps very badly -- most of them were broken when we opened the boxes.

Second, the driver/foreman had an extremely bad attitude and was almost hostile and condescending. For example, when I expressed a concern that the crew was not diassembling my commercial grade treadmill properly (they were hammering it, literally!), the guy actually YELLED at me ("Hey, if you don't want me to do it, you can do it yourself!"). By the way, that's after they tried to smash the treadmill through a door without disassembling it and damaging both the treadmill and the door frame.

The salesman/estimator earlier promised that our washer and dryer would be uninstalled, moved and re-installed, but on the day of the move, the packers refused to do any of it. It took several phone calls on that very busy and confusing moving day to iron it out. But I should not have bothered as they installed the washer incorrectly and I ended up flooding the laundry room when I turned the washer on at the end of the move.

Similarly, they reassembled our custom-made hardwood bed very poorly. I had to have the maker send a crew to fix what they screwed up.

Two of the movers seem to be very nice and experienced (actually they seemed almost apologetic). The third mover was new and inexperienced. It was the driver/foreman who was absolutely horrible. He exuded arrogance as if he were too good to move us. He told us rather proudly when the move started that JK Moving moved the Clintons.

The whole experience was unpleasant. We would NEVER again use JK Moving and would not recommend it to anyone else.

[MusicMom]

I'm very sorry to hear this. What was JK's response to your concerns?

[BigLeeCalif]

It is unfortunate that you had an unfortunate situation with JK.

It seems that yours is a situation unique to an independant van line with not the extensive network of agents that major van lines employ. JK is a smaller van line that has to rely on companies it normally doesn't know to provide services where they have no agent in place.

That being said, do you recall the name of the company that did your in home survey? They would have been the company that sent the non English speaking packers out.

I don't see in your post that you contacted JK directly. They could have forced that agent to complete the services that you had been told about.

The driver, on the other hand, should have kept his mouth shut.

The reviews that you have seen about JK are not fake. JK has a very good reputation, and they have moved Presidents to and from the White House, including the current one from Illinois.

Our company works with them in Southern California, providing storage and destination for their customers. We have never had any problems with them, and just 2 weeks ago, 2 of their trucks came into our facility.

I apologize on their behalf. In the future don't wait so long to notify the carrier if you have had a situation that required better service and communication. A call to JK on packing day may have saved you a lot of stress.
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"It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt" Mark Twain

[RebeccaJK]

Dear GNB2,

This is Rebecca from JK Moving Services. I cannot tell from your post exactly when and where your move occurred (i.e., are you referencing a recent move with us, or the move from a year ago from Seatle to Northern VA?).

If this is about the move from a year ago, did you contact us when you were having the problems? It's always best to contact us "in the moment" if you're having a problem so we can address it immediately.

We strive for top-notch customer service at every point of the process for our customers, so this is a distressing post to see.

I would be happy to look into your concerns, if you can provide more details about the move. Please feel free to send me a private message on this forum, or contact me at rebecca.chanin@jkmoving.com.

Thank you.
_________________
Rebecca Chanin, Marketing Director, JK Moving Services, Sterling, VA

[GnB2]

Let me clarify my earlier post.

About six years ago, I used Star Moving from Seattle to Northern Virginia. Great packers, outstanding driver. Excellent all around. Really the best moving experience of my life (and I have moved A LOT).

The only problem was one of the workers who was assigned to the driver (by United, I think) when the driver arrived in NoVA. That was beyond Star Moving's control, so I didn't hold it against them. My review of that mover selection and moving experience is here somewhere in the deep recesses of the forum. I think it's even summarized on "the Super List."

About a year ago, I used JK Moving for a move from Northern Virginia to the Hampton Roads area. This is what I described in the original post.

And if you read my earlier post, I DID call my moving coordinator several times on the day of the move (mostly to get the washer/dryer uninstalled and loaded) because the driver simply refused to do it. His response to just about everything was: "Well, why don't YOU do it then?"

After the move, I did let the coordinator/salesman know that I was unhappy with the experience through his voice mail, but I never got any response back and let the matter drop there, because frankly I was too exhausted with the whole ordeal.

I thought about pursuing it further, but decided not to because the broken lamps did not amount to a significant monetary value (just a nuissance to replace), the treadmill still worked after I took it apart and reassembled it (dents and all), I corrected the washer/dryer re-install and cleaned up the flooded laundry room and the makers of our custom hardwood furniture sent a crew to fix the bed for me -- all of which took less time than any possible response/recourse from JK Moving.

I did relate all this to my employer, who was about to select a mover for its corporate contract and was using me as a guinea pig of sorts.

I am posting this now, because I recently re-registered with this forum (mainly to seek advice on another move from the Hampton Roads area back to Northern VA) and I thought would add my story belatedly for the benefit of other consumers in the area.

[RebeccaJK]

Certainly, if you feel you had a less-than-excellent experience with us, then we would like to review the situation. When there are problems, we want to know about them in a timely manner, address the situation, and learn from those experiences.

Our customer service and operations teams have tried to locate a file on your move, based on the information you provided in this forum (2010 move from Northern VA to Hampton Roads, etc.).

We cannot find a file, but as mentioned, we would like to understand more about your specific move experience. Can you please send me a private message with your name (or more precisely, the name used to book the move), the date of your move, and the exact move cities (from/to)?

Even when it's not positive, we appreciate the feedback.
_________________
Rebecca Chanin, Marketing Director, JK Moving Services, Sterling, VA

[cnoblit]

[Diane]

GnB2,

Thanks for this review, even if belated. Please let us know if anything comes of JK's offer to look into what happened. It sounds as if you got a bad driver.
_________________
Diane
Check out domestic companies on this thread. Click here for a detailed, authoritative article on international moving.

[GnB2]

Yes, bad driver and bad packers. As I stated before, two of the movers were quite nice. Also, there was clearly breakdown of communication between the sales person/coordinator and the driver.

[ArchieWhite]

[PaigeHolden]

I'm sorry you had a bad move GnB2. I hope that you and JK have a meaningful discussion offline. Good for you for posting and good for JK for responding.

On a different note, it was nice to see some of the movers respond with some helpful comments too. I think it's good for the industry as a whole.

Archie, I think you were right on. Miscommunication happens to the best of us. I'm sure we all be hearing some stories this summer.

Reminds me that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
_________________
Paige Holden

[Ruges]

[ArchieWhite]

[GnB2]

Rebecca from JK Moving and I exchanged a few private messages.

I provided her some more details of the move and the experience. She told me she shared them with the company leadership and it will supposedly use our case as a learning experience. Someone will also talk to the particular driver who made our moving experience unpleasant.

I was told that my case was "unfortunate" and that it was not a typical JK Moving experience.

Rebecca also told me that a third-party conducted a telephone survey from my wife and me rating the experience as "excellent" and "would recommend to others." I replied that we gave no such responses to a survey and there was clearly a mistake somewhere in the process.

And that was the end of that.

[Diane]