yelp moving company reviews

You’re likely to check Yelp moving company reviews because word of mouth and neighbors’ opinions are valuable. Today, though, your “neighbor” may be a stranger online. Sometimes moving company review websites provide a place to rant, sometimes they are extremely helpful, and sometimes they are downright outrageous.

Yelp moving company reviews can be golden when it comes to acquiring some insight into how well a business provides services and how they address customers concerns, but how truthful are those reviews? While we want to think that these reviews are all 100% accurate all the time, the question is,  “Can you really trust all of the Yelp moving company reviews you read online?”

How do Yelp moving company reviews work?

To understand a Yelp moving company review and to know whether or not you can trust it, you need to first exactly how the review site works.

Yelp filters all its reviews using an automated system and pulls out the ones that meet certain criteria (that list of criteria is secret, by the way) – each review is either “recommended” or “not recommended.” Only recommended reviews are published. There could be dozens, if not hundreds, that you won’t even see on a Yelp moving company reviews page. As explained in this short video about Yelp business reviews, according to Yelp, “every Yelp business review is automatically evaluated by Yelp’s recommendation software based on quality, reliability, and user activity on Yelp. More often than not, those useful reviews come from active members of the Yelp community.”

yelp moving company reviewsOne thing to note here is that Yelp claims to highly regard its most active users so those who are newer to the site write reviews that tend to get up in the “not recommended” filter no matter how positive those reviews may be. In other words, Yelp favors users who have written multiple reviews and is wary of those who write one off reviews or first timers. It’s a bit like trying to get a job with no experience, but not being able to get experience without the job!

Additionally, you need to know that studies have found that reviewers on sites like Yelp are more likely to engage in writing a review after they have had “extreme experiences, whether they are good or bad.” This means that you may not necessarily be getting a very clear picture of how a moving company conducts business as anyone who has a stress-free, complaint-free, but normal and uneventful moving experience is not likely to take the time to share. As the saying goes, one bad apple spoils the barrel-and in the case of Yelp moving company reviews, the bad apples are typically the ones being filtered to the top.

The good, the bad, and the ugly of Yelp moving company reviews.

The best thing about Yelp moving company reviews is that you can hear real world accounts of what to expect from your moving company of choice. The bad is that so many reviews that are valuable have been filtered out and you’ll never see them. You also need to be aware of the ugly. The ugly is that, quite honestly, some customers use Yelp moving reviews as a threat. It’s that one bad apple scenario again, but believe it or not, some people threaten to write bad reviews, whether true or not, if they are not refunded the cost of their services. All in all, if you read something that seems too outrageous to be true, it likely IS too outrageous to be true and may only be there because the business owner refused to “pay up”.

Common complaints and how to avoid them in your own move:

Here are three things to keep in mind when looking at Yelp moving company reviews:

Complaints about damaged items:

One of the biggest complaints you will come across is damaged property. More often than not, the issue here is the failure to hire the moving company to pack for them or to follow proper packing advice  when packing for themselves. Did the customer pack their own belongings? If so, professional movers are not responsible for damage due to improper packing. When you prepare for your own move, you will help minimize damaged items if you allow Fox Moving and Storage to provide you with professional packers. If not, consider investing in the appropriate packing materials and strictly following best practices and tips, and never underestimate the value of extended insurance.

Complaints about cost above and beyond estimates:

When browsing Yelp moving company reviews, you may come across cost complaints. It is important to understand that, without providing you with an in-home estimate, a moving company cannot provide you an estimate and will only be able to offer you an hourly rate with some input on time expectations. Several things can help you avoid the pitfalls of unexpected expense: be completely honest with your moving specialist via telephone with regards to the amount of property you need to have moved, follow your moving specialist’s advice about how many trucks and movers will be needed to move within a reasonable timeframe, and if you have a large home and/or a lot of belongings, schedule an in-home, binding estimate.

Complaints about lateness:

There is nothing worse than waiting for a service provider to arrive and having them run late which causes you stress and anxiety. We certainly understand that moving is stressful and your time is important, but there are some things to keep in mind. With the exception of morning starts, all moving times are scheduled during a WINDOW of arrival. This is due to the fact that professional movers often service many customers a day. Appointments that run long will impact following appointments just as in any business. Be prepared. If your window of arrival is 1pm to 3pm, understand that a moving crew is not “late” when they don’t arrive at 1pm.

At Fox Moving and Storage, we do our best to deliver the best quality customer and moving services. If you are looking for a reliable Atlanta moving company, please fill out our FREE QUOTE form and we will be in touch to discuss your moving needs.