J. W. Cole & Sons, Inc.

Atlas recently moved us from California to Montana. We had made several long moves before but never experienced the outstanding degree of care and professionalism reflected by our drivers, Ken and Karen McByrd-Bell. They handled everything with such skill and experience, it was admirable. All of ...

Atlas recently moved us from California to Montana. We had made several long moves before but never experienced the outstanding degree of care and professionalism reflected by our drivers, Ken and Karen McByrd-Bell. They handled everything with such skill and experience, it was admirable. All of our belongings arrived unbroken and intact. The men they acquired at both ends to help pack, load and unload were very good as well. We have several antiques, fine china, electronic equipment and clocks, all of which arrived in excellent condition. We can't say enough about Ken and Karen and their expertise; most importantly they are both just super people. Moving this far is an exhausting experience and they were a vital part of making it all possible for us. We are grateful to them and are so glad we chose Atlas.

Three weeks ago I was frustrated, and anxiously anticipating a nightmare from Atlas "sometime" on Saturday, June 20th. What actually happened was nothing short of miraculous. A lot of things had gone wrong during the process to coordinate the move for our 90-year-old mother from Anaheim, CA to ...

Three weeks ago I was frustrated, and anxiously anticipating a nightmare from Atlas "sometime" on Saturday, June 20th. What actually happened was nothing short of miraculous. A lot of things had gone wrong during the process to coordinate the move for our 90-year-old mother from Anaheim, CA to Poulsbo, WA. The biggest problem was the lack of communication along the way. A number of details were missing. The final detail of not getting a call within the promised 24 hours in advance of the delivery was almost the deal breaker. Were it not for Paul answering the phone at the Anaheim warehouse, just as he was ready to leave for the day on Friday, June 19th, and giving me the phone number in Tacoma, WA. And were it not for Sandy answering the phone late on Friday evening, and going to great lengths to track down a delivery time from the dispatcher in Tacoma, I would have been out of luck. Thank you both for being there and helping me with a desperate situation. There was a trail of miscommunication right from the start. We had two pick-up locations and there were to be two delivery locations. The original contract was set up that way because my mother's items were being moved both from her home and from her assisted living apartment in Anaheim. These items were to be delivered to her assisted living apartment here in Washing State and to a nearby storage unit. The confusion happened when I was told that the deliveries had to go to locations that could accommodate a large 80' moving truck. The storage unit could not accommodate the truck, so we needed to cancel that part of the delivery order, and I was left with the idea of being alone in a parking lot with a pile of things that needed to go to storage unit. How to get them there and who would do all the lifting and moving? I have a bad back, and right before the delivery date had a major painful flare up. No one bothered to let me know that a smaller truck would ultimately be used, and making both deliveries was no problem. I could have been saved a lot of stress and sleepless nights. Besides this mix up, both loads that were picked up in Anaheim we intermixed. They were to be kept separate, with the things from the house going into storage, and the things from the apartment going into the apartment here. Everything was off loaded into the Anaheim warehouse and crated all together, how ever it would fit. You can imagine the puzzle of trying to sort things out as they were unloaded at the first delivery location. One other frustration came during the actual packing process. There were three men quickly packing and loading up the van. My sister, Deanna Butterfield, at the Anaheim locations was trying to oversee things. The men worked too fast, they were eager to get to another job, for Deanna to supervise everything and consequently there was a wake of problems that occurred. The person(s) who unhooked the washing machine in the garage, opened up the garage door (without checking with Deanna), and loaded it into the moving van, did not add it to the inventory documents, and soon the entire team drove away from the premises. They left behind a leaking water pipe where the washer had been and a broken garage door opener. Deanna had to have a repair person come out to get the door down and secured, and she had to get the water pipe closed off, before she could leave to drive up to Washington. The final issue was that one of the packers had used a bathroom without asking, and left a bowel movement mess because the toilet was not flushing, without letting Deanna know. Had he politely asked, he could have used another bathroom and saved Deanna from finding an unwanted surprise. On the plus side, although Laura Patrick, from the Anaheim office, was out on medical leave, she made herself available to me via email. She was a huge source of help and information, and encouragement. I am immensely grateful to her. Laura was the one constant I could count on amongst the many phone calls that were never returned by others in the Anaheim office. If it hadn't been for her understanding the situation and making every effort to help straighten things out, I don't know what I would have done. Laura via email arranged for the two deliveries to be made and the payment amount was adjusted to accommodate the change. Then on delivery day, in walked Rebecca Benfield and her team. They were on time, even 10 minutes early, and they were ready to make the move happen. They listened to the predicament we were in needing to separate out the load, some things for the apartment, and some things going to storage. They had not gotten the memo about the two delivery locations, but no problem. It was a painstaking procedure to unload all of the crates and sort things out, but I never heard a word of complaint. Rebecca, Rico Pader and Deshawn Moore were professional, polite, and patient with our 90-year-old mom. The senior living facility employees even noticed how nice they were to everyone whose paths they crossed. They were efficient, and long suffering, during a long, hot day. Rebecca and her team were the redeeming factor in making a difficult experience turn out positive. The load came through complete (even the missing washing machine showed up) and in good condition. [We did notice later than an artificial ficus tree had the top broken out of it. However, I watched the team unload it here and I'm sure the damage had to have happened at the Anaheim end, when things were off loaded and then crated. We didn't notice the shortened tree until the dust had settled after the move.] They left the site clean and free of damage. Rebecca took a particular interest in my mom and whatever Mom wanted, Rebecca made it happen. Rebecca was so very kind to Mom, helped her figure out where to place her furniture, arranged and re-arranged things, so they would fit in her small space. She genuinely cared for her. Rebecca and her team were awesome. They truly went the extra mile for us. They made a stressful process less hectic. Although the moving team was efficient, they never indicated that they were in a hurry to move on. They took as much time as was needed to finish the job satisfactorily. Many, many thanks to each one of the team. They were absolutely a blessing to us. They are an excellent example of the kind of employees who make a company successful.