Federal Companies - Peoria IL Movers

Staff and movers were great. Cole, our driver, and Bernard his partner/helper were careful at both our homes as we left and when we arrived- the move being from IL to AZ.

What a nightmare! This was a first time move. (July-Sept 2018) Salesman insisted we need the best insurance against damage. Promised we could pay half down and half on pickup date. Not true. Does not work that way at all. Our belongings were picked up to go to storage in East Peoria. One person tags our belongings and then leaves. The driver presents me with the lists to sign. The tagger had listed most of our belongings as worn, scratched, faded. Because this was totally false, I was refusing to sign, but the driver said he could not leave until I signed, so I eventually signed. A couple of times I wrote on the copy--brand new. But wait, the worst is yet to come. I have to give East Peoria a week range of when our belongings can be delivered. But they can't tell me anything but a load date. Then I find out the load date got changed about three times. They tell me the truck driver will call me. Right, Mr. Ellison only calls the day before he will arrive. So finally our belongings make it to Florida to our brand new home. The movers scratch our new wood floors and cover it up with file cabinets. BEWARE: Only problems caught and reported the day of the move are covered. So if the movers cover up their dirty work and you do not find it for some time later, sorry, your insurance is worthless. The movers bring in things that do not belong to me. I present them with the incorrect colored tags and make them take it back to the truck. Everything is finally in our house. Mr. Ellison presents me with the same lists to sign again. I tell him I do not have all my stuff according to my check off list. He tells me that he has delivered all my stuff and that he can't leave until I sign. I tell him I am not signing. I do not have all my stuff. He repeats that he can not and will not leave until I sign. He just stands there staring at me and repeats that he can't leave and I need to sign. I was intimidated by this guy and I signed, thinking that somehow someone will find my things and return them. WRONG! My advice, NEVER SIGN THOSE PAGES FOR THE DRIVER. Once you sign, everything is considered delivered and no matter what kind of insurance you have, nothing is covered. And damaged belongings are covered at just a fraction of the cost. We lived in Peoria 45 years and trusted Federal Companies to make our first move a pleasant experience. It was anything but pleasant. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes. DO NOT SIGN THOSE PAPERS even if you have to call the police to get the driver removed from your property. And your certainly do not want Mr. Ellison. From the salesman to the drivers it is one big racket to get your money. I finally had to call to get my refund from their overbid on my move. WHAT A NIGHTMARE! FIND SOMEONE ELSE!

I wish I would have read google reviews before I committed to a contract with Federal. I choose them because they were a local company that seemed very responsive and professional with the initial stages of estimates/moving. The physical move itself was fine; however, the service disappeared after they had collected their money. I was overcharged more than $1000 and have left voicemails and emails without response. This has been ongoing for over 1.5 months now. I feel forced to leave a poor review in order to get some follow up.

Federal is a great company.

We hired Federal Companies to pack and move us. It's been over 3 weeks now and I still can't get a receipt or a bill. They've charged my credit card once for an estimate and once more because they said the packing ended up being more than what they estimated. The driver and the movers were great but I am not happy with Bonnie, the office contact that I was given. I was told by the initial gentleman that came for the estimate and by the driver that they would come out once free of charge to pick up boxes when we were done unpacking. Bonnie told me that if they really said that they would have included it in the quote. She basically called me a liar. I told her it really sours my entire experience with Federal Companies. She didn't seem to care. She said she would ask a manager and I still have not heard back. I've called twice now asking for the total charges and for a receipt and she just keeps saying it takes a while. The packers did a pretty good job and the driver and the movers did a good job but I am very unhappy with the level of service from the office.