Reviews of All Star Moving (New York City)

[Diane]

MovingScam.com has decided to add All Star Moving (New York City) to its list of endorsed movers because of its excellent performance for customers posting here over a number of years. Below is All Star's entry listed under Brooklyn in the "New York City" section of the Superlist linked to below my name. It contains a link to many more reviews of All Star. I am posting this as a placeholder while we wait for more reviews to come in.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:--All Star Moving & Storage, Inc. (independent) in Brooklyn.
A STAR PERFORMER with more than 20 good reviews and no bad reviews on this website. Its contact information and dozens of rave reviews (too many to list individually here) are on this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=2038
All Star has a Manhattan phone number, which is 212-254-2638, and a Brooklyn phone number, which is 718-643-4705. The Manhattan phone number is a carryover from a time when it was located in the East Village some years ago. Its website is http://www.allstarnewyork.com and it has MC #261594. As of 1/12, it has no BBB complaints over the past 36 months.

All Star is a long-established mid-size moving company primarily focusing on shipments within a 250-mile radius of New York City, although it does go farther if the shipment is large enough. For example, it goes to Chicago and Florida. It routinely goes to New Jersey and Connecticut as well as to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. It can also assist people doing self-moves by sending workers to load or unload ABF U-Pack trucks or containers and Broadway Express trailers.

I have known Rich Barrale (pronounced burralley), the hands-on owner of All Star, since April 2005. In September 2011, Rich moved his office from 424 Park Avenue to a larger facility at 2525 Tilden Avenue in Brooklyn, but the phone numbers for the company - listed above - remain unchanged. The people who usually answer the phone are Rodney Arnold and Anthony Polemeni. Rich and his estimators Louis Fields and Carlos Paredes are also in the office a lot and they too may answer calls.

Over the years, I've found Rich to be a straight shooter with strong opinions grounded in a deep moral sense. He is an animal lover who really cares about the environment, often riding his bike around the city, even between Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Below are photos of one of the All Star trucks near the Brooklyn Bridge and Rich (owner) at his desk.

. . . Rich Barrale-->

Go to this thread to read prior reviews and discussion of this company - viewtopic.php?t=2038 I don't think it has ever had a BBB complaint.

As of 3/12, All Star has almost 20 excellent reviews on Yelp at this URL - http://www.yelp.com/biz/all-star-moving ... e-brooklyn Two more are posted at this alternate URL - http://www.yelp.com/biz/all-star-moving ... brooklyn-4 In addition, of the 19 reviews filtered out by Yelp, almost all are excellent. (Unfortunately, Yelp often filters out reviews where the person has posted only once in the apparent belief that they may not be genuine.) Finally, customers say that All Star has excellent reviews posted on Angie's List, although I myself haven't seen them because only paid subscribers can do so. I do know that All Star won a Super Service Award from Angie's List in 2011, as it has in years past.

[bitor]

I have worked with All Star Moving several times in the past for corporate moves in NYC. They were very timely,thorough & polite. Would definitely recommend.

[Diane]

All Star was featured in a segment on avoiding moving scams on the Today show several Saturdays ago. I saw a tape of the segment when I was in NYC recently. A satisfied All Star customer set it up and recommended that they be shown on the segment. Nick Van Eeden was shown hoisting loads around on his back--probably not what he does on a daily basis (!) but as a former actor he looked great walking and talking at the same time while the cameraman walked backward filming him as they do on HGTV.

[Brooklyn]

All Star just completed a move from Dallas, TX back to NYC for me, and they did it all at a very reasonable price, and very quickly. Nothing was damaged, save for on minor scratch on a painted trash can, and they even assembled our Ikea bed for us. All in all, I'm very happy with the service we got. (And very happy to be back in NY.)

[Diane]

Re-posting a very positive review of All Star that was recently sent in to the "Comments" section of this website and forwarded to me.

I recently moved from Stamford, Connecticut to the Baltimore/DC area. Before I chose a moving company, I found this website and I'm glad I did. Your recommendation for All Star Moving out of NY was spot on. I used them for a full-service move. From the packing day through delivery -- theywere thorough, methodical and professional. And, in addition, the guys I worked with had great personalities that actually made the move fun. Thank you for the website and thank you for the recommendation.

Kind regards,
Janna

[Aziz]

Hi,

I have a question related to All star. i have two quotes for a move from NY to Chicago, one from All Star and the other from another company that get sterling reviews on this site. All star, however, is 2000 bucks more than the other company but will deliver in half the time-lag between pick up and delivery. which seems

Is there any reason to opt for All star in this situation? Or should one negotiate?

thanks for any advice! This is my first time making a long distance move.

[MusicMom]

All Star has offered a shorter delivery frame with a higher price tag?

Which is more important to you?

[Diane]

Aziz,

A lot depends on who the other company is. If it's Moovers Inc., the company that picks up your things will be the company that delivers them in Chicago - same as with All Star. That's a very good thing. The higher price with All Star is probably because they would have to go to Chicago with only your load on a (fairly small) truck, whereas Moovers would be able to use a tractor-trailer containing other shipments for cost efficiency, but would need to wait until it had those other shipments going west. I doubt whether you will be able to negotiate very much with All Star. They have to cover their expenses and make a profit.

[Aziz]

Thanks much! These responses were very helpful. In the end I went with All Star. The additional cost is, to my mind, a bit like insurance: Pay for a known quality and the less likely it is that things go wrong. Will report back!

[cparekh]

I used All-Star for a move from Brooklyn to Chicago in August 2008. They were, by far, the best moving company I have used. They were quick (3 days from pickup in BK to delivery in Chicago), and they were professional and courteous. They treated my things as if they were the owners and took the time to carefully, pack, wrap, unpack, and unwrap. The supervisor took the time to supervise, and the crew was experienced and professional.

The price did not increase --- they provided a binding quote.

I would highly recommend them to anyone.

[asilver54]

My son just used All Star Moving (New York City) to move from Washington DC to NYC. They were EXCELLENT. They quoted a reasonable price, stuck to it, were helpful on the phone before the move, arrived on time, worked extremely hard in extreme heat, maintained their good humor throughout the long day of the move, were very careful with all of his possessions, and were very helpful in setting up the furniture. We would recommend them HIGHLY.

[Diane]

I've known the owner of All Star (Rich Barrale) for many years and I would concur with your assessment of his company. He is the real deal and a mensch. He won't disappoint.

Although some companies in the NY metro area offer lower rates, I believe that they may be doing so by underpaying their workers, using people who are undocumented, and so on. Rich doesn't do that.

[doubleuxyz]

Hey Diane,

Perhaps it's time to update the basic info for All Star? Used them back in 2006, absolutely zero complaints about them, but called up just now to get an estimate for a local move (spoke to Chris) and they are no longer providing in house estimates and no longer offering "guarantee not to exceed" pricing.

I'm in the process of getting estimates, and who knows, may end up with All Star, but wanted to share this info in case it's relevant to others on what to expect.

[Diane]

I'm not completely surprised by your comment, since Rich told me recently that he is moving away from giving GNTE estimates for local moves. He said that he explains to customers that he simply wants to be paid fairly for the time and labor involved in doing those moves. It is dog-eat-dog in NYC and I believe that some other companies there give rock-bottom estimates for a number of reasons, not all good (see my post above). If peoplle want superior service for a fair price, I think All Star is still very much worth considering.

As for not giving in-residence estimates, I'm pretty sure they still do that for larger moves of 2 bedrooms or more, and for long-distance moves. Basically, remember, you get what you pay for. Rich has been in business for a long, long time with zero BBB complaints. I think that says a lot.

[rydog444]

He's never had a BBB complaint or he hasn't had one filed in the 36 month period? If he's never had one, that pretty much is amazing!