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620 reviews for NorthStar Moving Company that are not currently recommended
Note: The reviews below are not factored into the business's overall star rating.-
- Dan J.
- San Francisco, CA
- 0 friends
- 3 reviews
We contacted NorthStar Moving company to do a cross country move for us from the San Francisco Bay Area to Drummond Island Michigan in upper Michigan. I gave the lady who I first contacted the exact address, zip code, etc. A gentleman named Michael Pomeroy came out to look at all our stuff and sent us a bid the next day. The bid was a favorable bid for us and we wanted to go with the company. We then contacted Michael because the bid was missing lots of items that we showed him. Also we noticed that the destination was not what we had given them initially and was a very small out of the way town in lower Michigan. We emailed Michael about this and never got a response. We then called him twice and he promised to get back to us with a revised bid. He never got back to us. Eventually we went up the ladder and got some lady who called us back and explained that they don't move anyone to our location and that they couldn't help us. I pointed out that the zip code they had down on the bid was more remote than where we were and was only 1 hour and 15 minutes away but she kept repeating very impatiently that they don't go there so what do we want her to do? I told her what I wanted her to do is to figure out a way to assist us since this was their mistake and we had decided to go with them after we received the bid and didn't arrange to meet with other moving companies. She got mad and said emphatically "we can't move you because we don't go there". This whole experience wasted exactly 9 days and our move date is coming up very soon. It is ironic that the first things Michael said when he arrived is that we want to take the stress and worry out of your move. They actually have created so much more stress and worry for us.
5/6/2021 Dear Dan,
We truly regret that there were problems with your move. Rest assured that we are looking… Dear Dan,
We truly regret that there were problems with your move. Rest assured that we are looking into this matter with the goal to arrive at a satisfactory resolution for you.
Regards,
David L.
Business Manager
Client Loyalty Team Mehr lesen -
- Kuan-Chih H.
- Newark, CA
- 8 friends
- 1 review
- 5 photos
NorthStar is a well reviewed moving company on internet but my personal experience with them is extremely horrible. They damaged my house in many places: They knocked off and chipped the baseboard along my stairs, broke the stair rail, and also created permanent scratches on the stair rail. This is the worst moving experience I have ever had. Please see the entire story below.
1. Didn't show up on time: I scheduled my appointment with them via phone 2 weeks prior to the moving date. I was told that the arrival window is from 12 to 6 pm and then they eventually showed up at 6:30 pm when it was completely dark outside. They were about to unload my stuff from my Pod's container without any light. I had to tell them to turn on the truck headlight (the truck was parked next to my container) to be able to see my packages in order to avoid any dropping. If you don't have any strategy about how to move at night, why did you arrive at night?
2. Movers not in a good condition: After they arrived, I can feel that all the movers are really really tired especially the driver. The crew told me that they drove 2.5 hours from the last location to my house and they had worked 9 hours at last location so that they are very exhausted. I was like if you have to move my stuff very carefully and efficiently, how can you let yourself be in this kind of condition? If you are professional and responsible, why did you take my case if you will be exhausted before getting to my house?
3. Damage to my house: When I scheduled my appointment, I clearly said that I want to unload my stuff completely from my Pod's container to my house. I mentioned that there are washer, dryer, and refrigerator that need to be moved to the 2nd and the 3rd floor, and the operator, Stephanie, said it is ok. This is a normal request. However, when it's time to move my refrigerator, one of the three movers said I'm the only one who can do this. This is too heavy for the other 2 movers. Sorry we cannot do this today. I was really surprised and mad so I called their manager, Jason. I said I am not going to pay you unless you move my stuff up as what we agreed before. He said you have to pay today and I'll send someone who can do this later to take care of your refrigerator. Why did you send a crew who cannot accomplish my request to my house? We said we are ok with having someone come later since we want the job to be done nicely without damaging our house but we will pay after the refrigerator is moved. Then the manager called the movers and asked them to move the refrigerator up no matter what as told by the driver. Firstly, they could not even think of a way to move my refrigerator into my house as they don't know or don't want to remove the house door. They spent 20 mins struggling how to do it and then eventually they removed the door and brought in the refrigerator. Now comes the worst, my stair to the 2nd floor is 40 inch wide and the refrigerator is 34 inch wide. Not only did they create multiple scratches on the stair rail, but they also broke the stair rail and knocked off a piece of baseboard. I immediately sent the images of damages to the manager and he said call xxx-xxx-xxxx on Monday and someone from customer care department will help you. Now I really regret that I paid the movers the fee. Even if they can pay the repair fee, I have to go through all kinds of appointments to get all the damages repaired. This is a really frustrating experience and I'll never ever use NorthStar nor recommend anyone I know to this company. -
- Michael L.
- Boston, MA
- 0 friends
- 1 review
- 22 photos
If you're considering this company, I beg you to walk away.
This company DESTROYED all of our wedding dishes, damaged our dining table and chairs, and failed to deliver all of our boxes.
Sequence of events:
1) Shipment sat in a warehouse for three weeks before being shipped and shipped only AFTER several complaints
2) Things arrived completely destroyed
3) Notified company about our things being broken
4) Didn't hear back from them for a week, so I made a follow up call
5) On the receiving end of a diatribe about how it's my fault and the customer service rep refused to send me a claim form
6) Most likely won't get any of my money back and they will claim all sorts of things about how they aren't at fault, BUT the photos below tell you everything you need to know
Long story short. If you want an experience from hell, then this is your company. But most people don't want an experience from hell.7/12/2018 Dear Michael,
This response is for you, and also for Casey, your wife, who posted a review on 7/8.… Dear Michael,
This response is for you, and also for Casey, your wife, who posted a review on 7/8. These responses are identical because your reviews are for the same move.
We were incredibly sorry to hear that the wedding presents you packed were damaged in transit. We would never wish this to happen to anyone, client of ours or not, and you have our sympathy as this is a sad and stressful occurrence.
However, there is a very good reason moving companies are not responsible for boxes they do not pack.
If we had packed your boxes, they would not have arrived damaged as the way the boxes were stacked in the truck was not the issue, the packing job on some of the boxes themselves were. Again, we're sorry that you did not like hearing this from us when we spoke about your move, but it is simply the truth.
The proper way to pack a dish box involves layering packing paper at the bottom of the box, carefully wrapping each dish in still more packing paper, then utilizing more paper on top of the dishes, leaving no space or loose room. A firm pack like this virtually ensures your dishes will be protected during transit. The box you packed did not show signs of collapsing when we loaded it, but after a few hundred miles and several hours on the road, the improper packing job caused the boxes to collapse. Again, we are incredibly heartbroken on your behalf and wish we could turn back time and re-pack your boxes for you.
Additionally, you and your wife have both complained about our arrival time being late. We were NOT late for your move. We arrived within the delivery window you were quoted. Your service complaints regarding late arrival began before we showed up and while we were still well within our window.
We truly wish there was something we could do to satisfy you. If we had done something wrong we would absolutely do our best to make it right. We believe we've acted in good faith and while we feel your accusations are unjust, we respect your right to your opinion.
Very truly yours,
Lauren Fitzgerald
Client Loyalty Team Mehr lesen -
- Jennifer J.
- San Francisco, CA
- 0 friends
- 3 reviews
Update: the movers lost one of our boxes with an invaluable painting and personal objects. Additionally, we have had a horrible experience trying to locate the missing box - we are still waiting.
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- A J.
- San Jose, CA
- 42 friends
- 67 reviews
- 75 photos
Update: April 2015:
Since I have written this updated review, my hubby and I have moved (yet) again. Same distance, but much more furniture, and our new moving company that we used only took 5 hours to complete the move (but we had issues with the elevator in our new place, which caused delays). This just goes to show how bad NorthStar really is and proves that it was NorthStar's fault for sending us inadequate movers that re-packed the truck 3+ times, and damaged our furniture over the course of 11 hours of "moving"!!!
**********
2014 update (Aug 2013 Move):
This company is trying to harass me to take this post down! It just goes to show how unprofessional they are if they can't take accountability for their mistakes and bad service. Do you want to trust this type of company? My story of caution:
These guys were terrific the first couple of times I used them, but they've gone downhill since. They effectively moved us in under 3 hours in our move a few years ago. Less than 2 years later (same amount of stuff) they took over 11 hours!!!! They also scratched most of our furniture and attempted to cover scratches with black sharpie marker!!!
Customer service was apologetic but it took over a month to get our claim resolved. They were polite, but did ask that I consider taking my negative Yelp review down and then kept our claim "in process" until I agreed to take down the review. They paid us out approx. $400 for damage across several pieces of furniture worth thousands of dollars.
Decided to rewrite another review as I've seen them in our neighborhood, and they have the same ineffective crew leader that makes a simple job into several hours worth of work.
Bottom line: I've realized they've become one of those sleazy moving companies that covers up damages and extends jobs to make more money. Think about it: why do a job efficiently within a couple of hours when you can hire some crooks to move around furniture in the truck for a few hours? It's their new tactic to make more money. We witnessed them pack and unpack our truck 3 times!!! We thought it was just because our crew was inexperienced, but then we saw them doing the same thing and goofing off on a neighbor's move!
I do not recommend!!!!
Edit - MGMT continues to call & harass me to take this post down. In response to Lauren's ignorant comment - It's not feasible for me to add that more stuff within less than 2 years. We barely filled a 2 bedroom apartment, and our friends always comment that our place looks too bare. This last time I hired your company the crew didn't know what they were doing which is why THEY took so long. If I had the other crew I worked with previously we would have been done in around 3-4 hours. It's your company's fault for retaining the same shady team leader. Shame on you for blaming your customer rather than addressing your problem employees. You have no right to comment as you were not involved in this transaction; however, your ignorant comment inspired me to post my damage photos Also, a "full valuation" option was never offered on any move I've done with your company. If it was you guys would be broke from paying out too many claims. =)
Update - the company paid yelp to take my damage photos down. Also, they pay yelp to minimize negative reviews. There are a ton of negative reviews, but only the positive ones are counted into their rating or "recommended" and magically float to the top.6/13/2014 Amber,
You claim that you saw the crew who moved you performing another move in your neighborhood… Amber,
You claim that you saw the crew who moved you performing another move in your neighborhood recently, which sparked you to write this review; I am not sure it's the most important thing here, but out of the three movers who performed your move a year ago, only one still works for us. The other two moved on (one went back to school and the other went on to work in a different industry) and could not have been part of the crew you saw.
For what it's worth, the Team Leader of your crew was such a great mover that he actually got 15 five star reviews on Yelp during a one month period, which we consider an amazing achievement.
It is obvious from reading your review that you were very unhappy with your most recent move with us. You are accusing us of extending jobs to make more money. Let me be clear: we do not extend jobs to make more money. Period.
I'm genuinely sorry that we could not excel for you the way we did the first two times we moved you, but I respectfully believe that you may have overstated some issues.
You ask in your review, "Why do a job efficiently?" implying that by not trying our hardest, we will ultimately make more money. The answer for us has always been easy: because it is the right thing to do, the decent thing to do, and that is the kind of company we are. The proof is in the literally thousands of happy, satisfied customers we service every single year. The sort of sleazy tactics you're mistakenly accusing us of do not earn the reputation we take great pride in; it also does not earn the volume of repeat business that our clients honor us with.
To be frank, we have no motivation to intentionally drag our feet on a move. We are a very busy company and spending more time on your move actually hurts us, as it means we likely had to shuffle our schedule around to take care of someone else's move.
In regard to the time you say it took to move the "same amount of stuff." There is simply NO WAY a job that took 3 hours would suddenly take 11. It just isn't feasible. An incredibly inefficient day might stretch that move an extra half hour; at most, it could delay an hour. Something must have happened. Perhaps you accumulated more new things than you realized or maybe there was something different about the building you moved into. Perhaps traffic conditions were much worse. I can only speculate, but we have been doing this a very long time and respectfully, there is no way a delay of that magnitude could have occurred without extenuating circumstances.
In regard to your complaint of damages: we are genuinely sorry you claim you found damages on your furniture and that you feel someone on your crew may have made the mistake of attempting to hide them. If that is the case, it is absolutely wrong. The $400.00 you complain about in your review was remitted to you, rather than the thousands of dollars you claim, only because you did not choose the full valuation protection that was offered to you at the time of your move.
At the end of the day, we aren't perfect. We never said we were. But, if we make a mistake, we do our best to make it right again, as we did in your case.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Lauren Mehr lesen -
- Alyssa C.
- Saint Louis, MO
- 0 friends
- 1 review
Damaged my furniture. Extremely disappointed.
10/22/2020 Dear Alyssa,
We truly regret that there were problems with your move. Rest assured that we are… Dear Alyssa,
We truly regret that there were problems with your move. Rest assured that we are looking into this matter and will contact you with the goal to arrive at a satisfactory resolution.
Regards,
David L.
Client Loyalty Team Mehr lesen -
- Aryn W.
- Walnut Creek, CA
- 0 friends
- 1 review
Update: After I posted this review someone from their corporate office in LA contacted me about the experience and worked with me on the issue. I'm still not happy with the whole process that we went through for the office move itself and I'm still upset about the fact that the estimate was so much lower than the actual cost, however I do appreciate that they worked to fix it.
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- Mo P.
- San Francisco, CA
- 127 friends
- 15 reviews
- 1 photo
I thought all was well until I got to the bottom of a large box and saw that they had smashed a $1000 feather headdress from Trinidad underneath a heavy luggage bag. I had the headdress on a display stand on top of my dresser (not under my bed or in a drawer somewhere), it was obviously of high importance. Now it is completely ruined and irreparable as it was handmade and made of feathers. I am SO sad.
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- Anju B.
- Oakland, CA
- 85 friends
- 33 reviews
The CEO of this company has since called me and apologized.
This company has the worst customer… DO NOT DEPEND ON THIS COMPANY FOR YOUR LONG DISTANCE MOVE! This company has the worst customer service of any company I've ever dealt with. Bar none. When I moved from the bay area to Providence I chose this company because I had used Moishes in NY (who I loved) and apparently the two companies are affiliated. The summary: I slept on the floor for three weeks because of the company's inability to give an accurate moving day, the drivers quoted different prices and promised they'd come on different days (often cancelling the morning of), there were extra charges for things I never approved of, and finally, I paid for services I didn't receive (e.g. packing AND unpacking services). I got my final price at 8:30 pm the night before delivery. And they needed cash or a certified check of several thousand dollars by 8am the next day. That's not possible. I get a feeling from the reviews that this company can't handle long distance reviews. I had a "must be moved in" cut off day because I was starting a new job in Providence and I wanted to be settled in. Even though guarenteed they would move me in no later than that day, my stuff came three weeks later. Why? A series of emergencies. First, the tire blew out. Then, other customers along the way refused to accept delivery. Then - guess what? The tire blew out. Again. The only reason I heard these pathetic excuses was because different drivers took turns calling me whenever was convenient for them. I called one driver back and he texted "call back later. i'm busy." What? The worst part - when I had finally had enough I told the long distance driver, Adam, that I couldn't be there on move in day. Because of the late delivery I had already started work. I asked them to wait so I could make sure they unpacked correctly. My new job was paying for the move so I asked for both packing and unpacking services. Instead, they just dumped the stuff in my apartment and left town. I couldn't even open the door by the time I got home. Take my advice - do NOT use this moving company. I have moved 5 times in the past 7 years and this is by far the worst moving company I have ever dealt with. It's the worst COMPANY i've ever dealt with. Mehr lesen11/13/2012 Dear Linda,
My name is Ram Katalan and I am the CEO of NorthStar Moving. I'm the one that called you… Dear Linda,
My name is Ram Katalan and I am the CEO of NorthStar Moving. I'm the one that called you and apologized for your inconvenience and stress with your move.
As I communicated with you, we move thousands and thousands of clients every year and most of them are extremely satisfied with our Long Distance Moving services. It does happen sometimes that we drop the ball, and obviously by how unhappy you are with our service we did so it your move. For that I am sorry. It is always our intention to provide a stress free moving experience to our clients (to the extent this is in our control, of course. Moving, and especially moving Long Distance and out of state, is a very stressful experience overall no matter how good the moving company may or may not be).
The way your move was handled by our company or at least on the follow up and communication fronts, are absolutely not acceptable to me just as they were unacceptable to you.
Some of the other aspects related to your move were actually done right, as they should have of course. For example, one issue that was brought up in your review was that we were late for your delivery which respectfully is not accurate; your delivery window was September 16 to October 2, 2012. Your belongings were ready for delivery to you as early as Saturday, September 29, but since your building could not accommodate deliveries over the weekend and you could not be there to take delivery on Monday, October 1, because of your work schedule. Therefore we ended up delivering to you on October 2 which was still within the delivery window and NOT late. I know you were hoping to have the delivery done on or before Friday the 27th but we never promised it can be done. Please look at your confirmation email from us that was sent before you even moved with us and at the paperwork that was filled up and signed by you on the day of the pickup at your CA home and see that the delivery window did, in fact, end on October 2.
Another fact that I would like to bring light on is the fact that your claim of paying both of packing and unpacking services is not accurate. You did pay for some packing services which were performed by the pickup moving crew in CA. You did NOT pay for any unpacking services, and therefore the delivery crew in Rhodes Island did not unpack your belongings. Had you been there to meet us and be present at the delivery address you could have told us you wanted the unpacking services done and we would have performed them, but since you left someone else to open the door for us and you could not meet us for the delivery ( I understand, you are a busy woman, I certainly am not blaming you for it) there was no one there for you to tell the movers what to unpack.
Overall I am sorry you were not satisfied with our moving services and that we did not provide you with better communication and better service. Please accept my sincere apology for it. I also hope you take into consideration that we did deliver your belongings on time and in good condition for the quoted price. In any event, as I wrote to you in my previous email, I would be happy and honored to hear from you in the future for your next move. I would love the opportunity to show you how amazingly good we usually are with ALL aspects of our long distance moves.
Yours truly,
Ram Katalan
Co-Founder and CEO
(818) 727-0139 Mehr lesen -
- Miranda F.
- Los Angeles, CA
- 0 friends
- 6 reviews
Updated review:
Bottom line: Their customer service is truly amazing and I would recommend North Star for that reason alone.
Strengths:
-I cannot speak more highly about my customer service experience. They took the time to investigate and learn from all of my complaints. For that alone, I would recommend their moving service
-If there are any issues, send them an email and they will take the time to resolve it
-Very responsive by phone as well
-Delivered within the estimated time frame
-Cheaper rates than competitors
Suggestions for improvements:
-Logistics issues: we moved into an apartment building in which we needed to reserve the freight elevator well in advance. At one point, we were told by phone that our boxes were on a truck heading our way and they gave us about a 3-day window. So we booked the freight elevator and cleared our plans, but the day before this time frame, we received an email with a new delivery window that was about 3 weeks from then. After calling them up, we found out that our belongings actually hadn't left California. When our things were finally on the way, North Star kept pushing the delivery date out by a day.
-No masks: when our belongings arrived, although the city we moved to had a mask mandate at the time, the movers did not wear masks until I handed them some.
-About 30 broken items: we paid for the movers to pack up our belongings. The items I was most worried about - the things I insisted were treated with extra care - were fine. However, it was items that were not wrapped or treated with care that broke. For instance, decorative and fragile containers were thrown into large boxes with no packaging and my nice leather shoes were put at the very bottom of large heavy boxes where they were scuffed and bent out of shape. Another strange packaging choice was putting our toilet bowl cleaning brush in with toothbrushes with no protective packaging in between.
-Filing a claim: the insurance check came quickly, although North Star could make it easier to file a claim. We first reached out to the person who did the quote to get an email address since instructions were not listed on the website. I drafted an email with photos only to find out we had to fill out a specific form. It was a time consuming process.1/6/2022 Hi Miranda, thank you for speaking with us. We are glad that we were able to make things right for… Hi Miranda, thank you for speaking with us. We are glad that we were able to make things right for you. We may not be perfect at all times, but we are a company who cares about each and every one of our client's happiness.
Sincerely,
David L.
Business Manager
Client Loyalty Team Mehr lesen
47 Reviews Removed for Violating our Terms of Service
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- Treesja T.
- St. Louis, MO
- 0 friends
- 1 review
This review has been removed for violating our Terms of Service
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- Germaine M.
- Phoenix, AZ
- 0 friends
- 5 reviews
- 9 photos
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- San Francisco, CA
- 0 friends
- 6 reviews
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- Yel P.
- Los Angeles, CA
- 10 friends
- 86 reviews
- 259 photos
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- Newark, CA
- 8 friends
- 1 review
- 5 photos
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- San Jose, CA
- 396 friends
- 90 reviews
- 2 photos
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- Albany, NY
- 4 friends
- 225 reviews
- 353 photos
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- Encino, Los Angeles, CA
- 0 friends
- 31 reviews
- 9 photos
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- Austin, TX
- 19 friends
- 334 reviews
- 29 photos
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