Avenue Moving & Storage Ltd

One of the worst companies I've ever had the misfortune of using - without even having the choice.

I ordered multiple pieces of furniture from Restoration Hardware and these guys are the contracted distributor.

RH sent us a number of broken pieces so we kept having to return them. (It was RH, not AMS, that damaged them). However AMS is the only one who can do delivery and pickup and they only come to our area once a week (?!). So when we make orders and they're wrong or damaged and RH needs to send us new pieces, we have to wait for AMS to schedule with us on the 1 day a week they come to our area. You can imagine how frustrating that is.

Well, it's even more t's been 3 times in a row where they have not been able to meet the time they have scheduled with us.

First time, we scheduled with them, then booked the elevator. Our building only let's us do it in certain time chunks, so I booked it for 12-4 and asked AMS for that time. They called to confirm and said we were booked between 11:30-1:30. I said, ok, well my building won't let you in until 12, so they may have to wait. They said "oh, no, if they have to wait longer than 15 minutes, they leave." But my scheduled time window was 11:30-1:30, so why would they leave? That's my time window! The person on the phone couldn't answer me. Luckily, they came at 12, so it was fine. Imagine if they had come earlier.

Second time, they are supposed to bring replacement pieces for 2 pieces that are broken that we still have here. They are running late. Won't make it before 5, which is the deadline for our condo to let people in. I said they better make it because we already had to wait 2 weeks (cause of RH) for these replacements. They said fine, they'll bring a different team. They do, the replacement pieces are also broken (because of RH) so they need to send them back. At this point, I'm over RH and say, just take it all, I want all my money back. They can't fit the other pieces in their truck because they only brought a small one. So I'm stuck with 3 pieces I don't want and can't get my money back until it's returned.

Since they only come to my area once a week, I have to wait another week to get my money back. (Meanwhile, this is on a credit card with credit card deadlines that I have to pay, so time isn't exactly free here.)

I get RH to schedule them to pick up next week between 2-4 so this can be done with. The following week (week of the pickup) on Monday, I get a call from Jeff asking me to schedule pickup of the console. I call him back saying "um, we have 3 pieces for pickup, and we already scheduled this last week between 2-4, please confirm." He sounds confused and then says ok it's fine. Ok, fine.

On Wednesday, I get a call from someone else confirming pick up for these pieces is between 6:30-7:30. Nope. My building won't let you in past 5 and that was not what was scheduled last week or with Jeff on Monday. Ok, fine, they said. Ok, fine. No one seems to know what's going on.

Today, pickup day, between 2-4, I get a call at 2 - we won't be able to make it by 2, we'll be there at 3. Ok... I missed an important meeting because I didn't think I'd be home by 2, but fine, be here are 3. At 3, get a call - we'll be there at 3:30.... 3:30, they're not here. 4, they're not here. I call - they're stuck in traffic, but they are on their way. 4:45 I call again because they are *still not here* and the manager says they'll have to reschedule. NOPE. Been waiting ANOTHER WEEK to get my money back from RH because you guys can't get to my area any other day during the week? You can't even get here on the one day of the week! Apparently, they get here are 4:50 and are turned away by security. OBVIOUSLY - you can't move furniture out of a building in 10 minutes.

So now I'm stuck with over $13,000 bill on my credit card because AMS can't stick to their own moving schedules. Not to mention how rude they've been this ENTIRE time.

Side note- the movers themselves are SO nice and I appreciated them every time they came here.

I am just trying to return furniture back to RH so I can my money back, and AMS is holding us hostage!

If you can avoid using them for anything, AVOID THEM.

Nancy was amazing to work with when we first booked our move. On the day of the move, it rained. Mike and his crew wrapped all of the furniture and worked diligently to ensure nothing got wet or damaged. On the day the furniture was delivered, it also rained, and Mike and his crew made sure our floors stayed dry and again that nothing was damaged from the rain. A great group of guys and I wouldn't hesitate to move with them again.

Delivered on behalf of urban barn. Terrible and rude. Had the wrong address, was yelled at by both dispatch and delivery men. DO NOT recommend this company.
Urban barn needs a new delivery service.

The worst delivery company ever ever ever no customer care bad communication... 100% i will never use this company again !! #SOBAD #NOCOMMUNICATION #AVENUEMOVING #URBANBARN #LASTIME #MOVING #AVENUE #HOMEDELIVERY #

Our sofa was too big to fit the stairs, so it was necessary to take a little detour through the back yard, The movers actually declined to move the sofa to the living room because of muddy road conditions, (totally understandable as the road was still unpaved and it has been raining)so the sofa was left in our garage, interestingly our friends came over and helped us move the sofa same day without a problem...so we weren't sure why we even bothered using a moving company.

My elderly parents had to move from a house to a condo. We chose Avenue Movers based on recommendations from family and friends. And those recommendations were really, totally correct. Nancy paid us a visit, gave us a pretty accurate estimate. The 3 guys who came were absolute professionals. they took pride in what they did, the care they took was phenomenal, whether lifting furniture or cartons. They were jolly (taking the stress out of moving),extremely courteous, and went out of their way, to accommodate all our challenges (moving seniors, bring stuff upto the condo, and then relocating to the locker when stuff could not fit. There may be cheaper outfits out there, but these guys, especially the crew that came today, was first class. Excellent job guys, very well done!!!

Called a moving company to move storage locker contents to new house/garage. The office staff were polite and easy to deal with. The movers (3 guys) were punctual and worked very quickly. The storage locker was not professionally packed, and there were a lot of bags and loose items, so they had to deal with sorting that mess. They repacked the items into our garage very efficiently and very quickly. Not a cheap company, but zero complaints with the service.

We bought a house that had to have renovations done. The condo sold, and so we had the Avenue Moving guys come give an estimate based on some internet research.

The office people are very good. professional, etc. The 'estimator' was also "ok", no problems there. This is not a cheap company by any stretch, but I didn't want headaches in this area.

The initial "leg" out of our move, which was condo into the storage facility they use went fine. We had pre-packed everything into boxes, marked heavy boxes, etc., so "all" that had to be done by the movers was take apart a bed, a cabinet (as a part of their 'deal' is if they take it apart, they put it back together), and move the boxes into the van and out. This move had 1 head mover and 2 'other' movers/helpers.

A few months later, the same "head / lead" mover was in charge of the move from storage into our house. This time however, it was only him plus one other fellow/helper.

Before reading the rest, note that we had just installed brand new "estate" hardwood flooring throughout. The guys came, and put up the thin protector/non-slip sheets going up the stairs, and down the hallway. However unlike in their move OUT of the condo, they didn't cover their shoes. So what does this mean? After two "in-outs" I saw a thin scratch on our hardwood close to the door. The mover noticed me looking and said, "hey you've got a scratch there eh?" Now I know for sure that it wasn't there before, but hey, what can I say....
So time passes, and they have to move a rectangular (longer height) up the stairs and into a bedroom. Given that at this point I was a bit 'nervous' of these guys, I went up the stairs first, and into the room. I saw them struggle up the stairs, into the room, and the 'lead guy' says "it's going down" and drops the edge on the sheet covering the ground. After seeing that he was ok, I wanted to check the floor with them, and there was a good 1/3" compression of the wood for about 2" across. The colour was not damaged however. The lead person's first words: "That was there before". I was SO angry that I told him: "So what you're telling me is that you dropped this RIGHT THERE, right in front of me, and that somehow in the exact location that happened to exist?"

Anyways, they left, and I called the head-office. The lady who picked up was shocked (in a "oh no" way), and said that they'd send over the "Floor Doctor" in a couple of weeks to take a look. I sent her a couple of pictures for her records.

A year has now past, and the "Floor Doctor" hasn't come yet. I'm not even bothering to call these guys back, and will make sure all my friends know of this experience.

I actually am giving the 3 stars solely based on the "condo to storage" leg of the move.

We recently hired Avenue movers to move our 3 bedroom house. We were very happy with the service. They were very fast and professional and took good care of all our belongings. In contrast the people moving out of our new house used a discount moving company and their truck broke down in the driveway with all their belongings inside and blocking their car on the other side - the company refused to call a tow truck saying it was too expensive and it sat in our driveway till the next morning. Our movers were very accommodating and managed to move all of our stuff around their broken down truck. I would definitely recommend them.

We have moved 6 times and Avenue Movers were the best by far. Nancy's quote was bang-on and $4000 less than other movers who frequent Lawrence Park. The packers spent 2 days and everything was beautifully protected. Moving day, the guys were awesome. Polite, careful and most important, cheerful. They were quick and experienced. We had to hoist furniture through a 3rd floor door and when my bed frame didn't fit, they hoisted that too. They were slow and careful with a piano. A week later, Mike was happy to come take away leftover boxes and wrapping paper even though it was left outside in the rain. Even at 10:30 that night, they stayed upbeat and seemed to be happy to be doing their job. Best movers ever.