Silver Star Moving Group describes itself as a “fully organized and complete moving company” that will take the stress out of a long-distance move, but my experience was a moving nightmare.
The Florida-based company has plenty of positive Google reviews and a 4-star average. But I wish I had read the reviews from other sources like the Better Business Bureau prior to giving them my money.
In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know before you consider doing business with Silver Star.
Silver Star Moving Group: How I was ripped off
As a personal finance writer and former network TV journalist, facts matter to me. Everything in this article is true. I have evidence to support the claims that you’re about to read.
Here’s a summary of my experience, followed by a chronological review of everything that went wrong…
Silver Star Moving Group review: Key details
- The initial binding moving estimate was $1,915.30 for 43 total pieces. After minor revisions, it was increased just days before the move to $2,391.68 for 40 total pieces.
- On the day of the move, the movers tried to add additional charges for things the sales staff said would be included: lamps, mirrors and TV sets.
- Silver Star told me to pay the mover the additional charges and they would refund my credit card $100. They didn’t.
- My belongings were supposed to be taken to a storage facility not far from my final destination. Instead, they were stored about 700 miles away.
- The moving company tried to get me to pay $200/month for storage, not the agreed amount of $130/month.
- I was ready to have my furniture delivered to my new home on July 9, 2019. However, the delivery was not completed until August 1.
- Damaged items: Mirror, TV set, multiple pieces of furniture chipped and scratched.
- After the move, Silver Star’s customer service told me someone from billing would reach out to resolve the matter within two days. No one called.
- Total calls to Silver Star Moving Group’s customer service since April 2019: At least 30, according to cell phone records.
Now that you have a snapshot of my move with Silver Star Moving Group, I want to take you through a chronological review of my experience. Names of Silver Star employees are being withheld.
Table of contents
- Moving estimate
- Quality Assurance department
- Moving day
- Storage
- Delivery of furniture
- After the move
Moving estimate
I called Silver Star Moving Group for an estimate on March 6, 2019. I was planning a move from Atlanta to Miami Beach, but I needed several months of storage.
This was my first time hiring movers. I have always done the work myself in the past.
After filling out an inventory list, Silver Star gave me an estimate of $1,915.30. This wasn’t the cheapest quote I got, but the other companies I was considering had worse reviews.
In retrospect, I wish I had spent more time reading reviews of Silver Star. They are plenty of horror stories and people labeling the company a scam or ripoff.
During my time speaking with the sales team, the staff didn’t make it clear that Silver Star wouldn’t be moving my stuff. They are just a broker. The actual carrier assigned to my move was Star USA Moving.
Although Silver Star’s staff wasn’t transparent about what they do, it is stated clearly in the cancellation policy.
I made my first payment to Silver Star for $633. This was the broker fee. The remaining balance would be paid in cash to the moving company in two payments.
Quality Assurance department
Just three days before my move, someone from Silver Star’s Quality Assurance department called me to review my inventory.
I ended up selling a few items on my inventory list, so I expected my estimate to go down. However, it actually increased by nearly $500 to $2,391.68.
The employee said it was because of the changes I made to the boxes I was using.
The lower estimate called for 20 medium boxes, but I only ended up needing 16 boxes shipped. Some of those 16 boxes were large boxes.
The employee was rude and didn’t seem to understand why I was frustrated. I had no choice but to pay up.
After the call, I grew suspicious about Silver Star and began to check out more reviews that I should have read in the first place. Other people complained about similar changes to their binding estimate.
That same night, I emailed the Quality Assurance representative with a question that came up in multiple reviews:
“Will they be charging extra to put the TVs in the box? I was told this would be included if I bought the box.”
I received no response to that email from April 8, 2019, but this would become an issue on moving day.
To be clear, the salesperson said that the moving company would take care of packing my TV if I purchased the box. He advised me to purchase those boxes from The Home Depot for about $20 each.
Moving day
On the day of my move, the moving company (Star USA Moving, not Silver Star Moving Group) showed up late and the carrier tried to start adding charges almost immediately.
The binding estimate included a $75 charge for stairs, but the moving company wanted me to pay $100. I refused.
Next, the issue of packing TVs, mirrors and lamps. The salesperson indicated that this would be included, but the carrier wanted more money to pack these items.
In fact, my binding estimate notes “Complete packing for mirror.”
I called Silver Star Moving Group’s customer service to ask why these additional fees were being added. They told me to pay the carrier and they’d refund my credit card $100.
I gave the carrier the extra cash, but I’m still waiting for that refund from Silver Star.
The additional charges from the moving company likely would have exceeded $100 had I not chosen to transport the lampshades in my personal vehicle to stop arguing with them.
At this point, we were already behind schedule because the movers were late and I had to call in about the extra fees.
Storage
After my items were loaded onto the truck, they were supposed to be taken to a storage facility in West Palm Beach, Florida — at least that’s what the salesperson at Silver Star told me.
As it turned out, the items were being stored about 30 miles from Atlanta, Georgia.
Why does this matter? Since I was moving to Florida, Silver Star said having my belongings in nearby West Palm Beach would ensure quick delivery of my stuff when I was ready for it.
There was also an issue related to the price of the storage, which came with one month free.
As I explained to the salesperson from the start, I needed a few months of storage. He told me it would be $130/month after the free month, but the moving company demanded $200/month.
At this point, I had to call Silver Star again and have them work with Star USA Moving to honor the $130/month price.
Delivery of furniture
After several months in storage, I was ready to have my furniture delivered on July 9, 2019. I informed Silver Star Moving Group and Star USA Moving in advance.
Silver Star told me that items are usually delivered within 3 to 10 days, but mine took much longer.
I spent several weeks sleeping on the floor and wondering if my belongings would ever arrive. Star USA Moving repeatedly told me they were “working on getting my furniture on a truck.”
My condo building only permits weekday deliveries during business hours, which was one excuse I was given for the delay.
Finally, after calling Silver Star Moving Group nearly every day for three weeks, my belongings were loaded on a truck and began the journey from Atlanta.
The moving company was supposed to call 24 hours in advance for me to schedule an elevator. They gave 12 hours notice.
The moving company showed up about an hour late and demanded payment. They unloaded the truck as quickly as they could and dropped everything all over the place, not reassembling any furniture.
According to this email I received from Silver Star, reassembling furniture was part of the deal.
While the movers were still there, I noticed that a mirror was cracked, boxes were crushed and legs to a table were missing. My TV was also damaged.
So glad that I paid extra to move the TV and mirror!
I called the movers a few minutes after they left to ask about the other missing items. They said they would come back that same day after another delivery, but I didn’t hear from them until the next morning.
I waited around a few more hours to receive the missing boxes and even the legs to the kitchen table.
After the move
Once the movers left for the second time, I called Silver Star Moving Group to let them know what happened. I was told someone from billing would reach out to me within two days, but they never called.
That doesn’t really surprise me because I’m still waiting for the $100 refund from the day my furniture was picked up.
Dealing with Silver Star Moving Group was a hassle from start to finish. I made more than 30 calls to their customer service department because many times they don’t call back when they say they will.
This was supposed to be easier than renting a U-Haul and moving my own stuff, but it wasn’t. It was hell.
If Silver Star Moving Group and/or Star USA Moving provide compensation for the trouble that they caused me, I’ll update this review to let you know. To be continued…
Have you had a similar experience with Silver Star Moving Group? Add your review in the comments below!
I have a very similar experience as you but moving from Huntington Beach, CA to Morrisville, NC. I’m about to write my horror story with Mike a representative of Silver Star Moving in yelp/google. What a deceiving name for a pathetic company – no silver and stars at all! I really hope people will read your article before they fall into this evil trap of lies and offering “cheap services”.
I’m sorry this happened to you as well.
I know that this site is a bit older but I happened to come upon it while I was searching SilverStar. We were also victims of SilverStar’s deception when we moved about a year and a half ago. I am STILL bitter about the way they took advantage of us. As typical when getting ready to move, one starts to reach out for moving quotes. After we had secured the services of U-pack, Dillon and then Michael from SilverStar contacted us to provide a quote over the phone. I guess that should have been the first red flag. We went through our inventory and did our best to provide accurate information. While the quote was higher than the U-pack quote, we decided to cancel U-pack at the last minute and use SilverStar’s moving services because, as Michael said, you may be paying a couple of thousand dollars more but you will be receiving great service. Let me pause to say that we relied (to our detriment) on SilverStar’s expertise in the moving industry when they provided the initial quote to us as we have never used a moving company in the past. It wasn’t until Cameron (from SilverStar) contacted us to go over the inventory again that we were told the quote was DOUBLE what we were originally quoted by Michael. This was clearly a bait and switch tactic. Unfortunately, by the time they provided the new quote, we had no option to secure a different moving option because we had to be out of our house within a few days. They were well aware of this. We were told the movers would arrive on a specific day and then when they called to confirm, they told us it told us the movers would arrive a day later than what was scheduled. Added stress and calls ensued until we were able to confirm arrival on the date originally promised. When the movers arrived, we were told the price was increasing again (due to weight) and we had to agree to pay it or they would stop the move. Obviously, again, we had no choice but to pay. We were moving across country but it took several weeks for our furniture to arrive…weeks! When it arrived, we had multiple items that were broken during the move. I’ve thought to put a claim in but honestly don’t have the energy to expend or the fight in me to deal with this horrible company.
I’m so sorry this happened to you. I’m still bitter too. Mostly I’m reminded of it when I look at my damaged furniture. I wish that I would have rented a U-Haul and done it myself. I hope you’re happy in your new home.
I agree, worst company ever! PLEASE, do not use this company if you’re looking to move. They have a great sales pitch but that is where it ends. They called to confirm items for my move, I tried to call back, no answer or returned calls. The Movers show up in an enterprise rent a truck, and could not fit all my items on the truck. They were extremely rude.
They then called me and told me 5-7 days for delivery, 10 days had passed so I called the driver myself. He told me it would be the 2nd delivery, the next day! They never showed up, I tried to call around dinner time… no answer!! They then decide to show up the next day, with no notice, we were not home! They sent my fiancé and myself text messages saying “you can find your belonging at the good will 10 miles from your house”. They cussed at me on the phone, they yelled at me on the phone.
They over charged! The driver of the semi was a new driver and refused to come to the ally to finally deliver the items. We had to pay almost $1000 more to have them move our stuff into a smaller box truck to deliver it. They forgot some of our items on their semi and told us if we wanted them, we had to go get them! We refused to sign the paper work until we had all our items. The delivery drivers complained and whined the entire time!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE— do NOT use this company!!
We are also victims of the broker Silver Star Moving Group. Our household belongings were picked up by Erik at Apollo Moving Systems (the company hired by Silver Star) on March 26th in Oregon. They were to be placed in storage on our request until we arrived in Florida and they were to deliver the week of May 20th. We had many conversations on the phone and email with Dylan, Cameron, Lisa, Jake and Skyler at Silver Star. Apollo doesn’t answer their phones. Today is October 7th. We never received our stuff. Yes, our entire household has been deemed “theft” by our insurance company and we’ve received our money back from our Credit Card due to “fraud”. 40 years of our memories are gone. Our entire home. We have felt sick, stupid and now just darned ticket off.
What we have done initially was to write Silver Star and Apollo an official complaint. We called the police in Oregon. They gave us a case number but said this is a civil matter, they couldn’t help. Next we contacted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ( FMCSA) and filed a complaint. We contacted our insurance company. They were unable to locate our household items. They deemed it theft. We’ve had to seek out legal advice. We have also written our Congressman who happens to sit on the Transportation Board in Florida. We actually started to get some action with Silver Star once we contacted Congressman Daniel Webser. This company needs to be investigated. We believe that if enough people write to this Congressman that maybe some attention will be placed on this company and we can save others from becoming caught in this scam. So please write!!
We are moving forward. The loss has been devastating. We will do what we can to make others aware of these companies.
Wade and Wendy Hyatt
Congressman Daniel Webster
318 South 2nd Street #A
Leesburg, Florida. 34748
I am so sorry to hear about what happened to you. It is much worse than my experience. I will help spread the word so that others will know the damage this company has done.
*BUYER BEWARE – WARNING!!!*
“SILVER STAR MOVING GROUP”
Good reviews are FALSE and misleading, because They are a broker, the Don’t move you under their name, they use other unreliable random moving companies. After the Double charge you and take as much $ as they can get from you, you’ll be left completely in the DARK as at what’s happening with all your belongings. No call! from them on my moving day, after I gave them a $855.00 deposit. I called them repeatedly to get a time estimate and got various people putting me on hold to check. 1st they said be there at 8am to get a time estimate then after I called them, they said 11am-1pm, then I called and got 3pm-5pm, then was told there being held up and could be 6pm-8pm. I said, are you sure their even going to come, a lady named Lisa said yes, they’ll make it. So No Show! Then after 9pm these guys showed up and said I didn’t mention that I had big couches, (there standard couches) and that my queen mattress is too big, (it has a pillow top on it, not one from the 1970’s lol), I stated before I had everything packed that I would probably have around 100-125 boxes, but not a lot of furniture. They wrote 65 boxes, not my fault. The guy had me signing documents to start the move and I noticed it said Brooklyn Moving Co. not Silver Star Moving and only wanted CASH or money order, (Red Flag!). I said whats the name of the moving company I hired, he didnt know. I didnt know who these guys were and only picked Silver Star because of their reviews. Then the guy said by eyeballing it I had 700 sq cu ft, and it would cost about $4000. Silver Star Moving quoted me at 350 sq cu ft. $2165, then the guy talked to his boss and said I have 500 sq cu ft, then went around my apt. and said 600 sq cu ft. and it would cost me $3,340. At this point, this guy is just making up shit, he doesn’t really know, and as a customer, I wouldn’t know how many cubic square feet I have. I would just have to trust this Brooklyn moving company that I’ve never heard of, Silver Star Moving Co., with their lack of communicatiion during my move, never told me about this Other co., and them showing up “13 HOURS LATER!” and changing my sq cu ft. and price by almost double every 5 min. They finally after an hour brought my quoted price of originally approx. $2160 to $3340, still hi balled me over $1000, saying there was stairs, which he said I forgot to mention, which I pointed out on the invoice, it’s noted that I HAVE stairs and the 1st set of stairs are supposed to be FREE anyway. They said it could probably cost me more after they pack the truck it was after 10pm now and they hadn’t started, at which I told them I don’t like their bait and switch tactics, I don’t know who you guys are, never was given an opportunity to look you up or read their reviews and I don’t trust them, because they want CASH and can’t name the company I hired they could leave. I took time off of work bought a RT ticket to SD from OR and waited over 13 hrs. for nothing but a scam, that I’m sure the CA State Licensing Board would like to know about. Now I had to tell my old Apt. office that I can’t move for another week, (after they already rented my apt. out. So I have to pay a weeks worth of rent at old apt. for boxes! (I Don’t live in SD anymore, as well as pay rent at apt. in OR). I have to take another 2 days off work and buy another RT ticket back to SD to get movers to come and sign my lease out. I’m out $855.00 for Deposit and $1500 for missed work, plane tickets and 1 week of rent, where do I send my invoice to for my wasted time and $?
These people wouldn’t give me my deposit back and when I said I would dispute it. Lisa said she would fight it and win. They weren’t apologetic at all! They said they would send out a different moving company, didn’t once offer me a discount or any compensation for All the $ I was already out on this move, which was over $2000 with deposit, extra week rent, plane tickets and missed work and my stuff still wasn’t moved yet. WORST MOVING CO. EVER! But I couldn’t get my deposit back from Silver Star Moving Group to use a different moving company, truthfully at this point any moving company would be better. I’ve read Horror stories of moving companies and this one wasn’t looking good, but my deposit was being withheld from me. I decided to give them another chance to make it right. I got another quote from a different moving company and They matched it, no deal, no discount for pain and suffering. They had another moving company come out and get my stuff. It went fine. Then I didn’t here from Anyone for over 2 weeks, so I called, left several messages, but for some reason Silver Star Moving Group Never updates you or calls you back after they take your $. Your in the complete dark, after they take $3500.00 from you and have ALL your belongings, can you imagine that? Andy, a manager I got a hold of said, he would call the company and see what the hold up was and call me back, 4 days later, No call back, but Saturday morning I get a knock on the door from this 5’2 and 200 lb. kid saying he has my stuff downstairs but the other guy No Showed and it would Only be him moving all my stuff, I live upstairs. I said, pfft! Really? How’s is that going to work? He said, he’d try his best. I got on the phone and called Silver Star and left them a message, because of course, there was No answer. I called my boyfriend and told him this 1 overweight kid showed up by himself and he said, I bet he’s going to try to make you move your own stuff that you paid $3,500 to move. I watched the kid downstairs grab my Queen mattress, then shout at me for 10 min. on the 1st floor, “Please, please, please Help Me! Neighbor’s started opening their doors and staring. I thought, you got to be kidding me! I went down to see in flip flops, it started raining in Oregon, of course. He said, can you please pick up the bottom of mattress, the heaviest part. I had to help this one guy move most of my things in the rain for nearly 5 hours upstairs, ( the stairs that I had to pay $300 extra for! My move ended up costing $3500!) He couldn’t even bring up the queen box spring on his own. After We brought the sofa in, it was the couch next, we struggled to get it up the flights of stairs and then couldn’t make it through the door. I told the guy, “let’s take off all the blankets, tape and cushions and then it should easily make it through, “he said, “No! There’s no way it’s going to make it through”. I said, “we should at least try, I’m not going to leave my new couch in the pouring rain”. A neighbor came out and said he would help the guy hoist it with rope on the side of the bldg., The moving guy said, “No! It’s against his liability and he wasn’t going to help, with a smile on his face”. I said, “your not going to help me get this couch in, after I helped you move my OWN shit in for almost 5 hrs. and paying you $3500 to do it! ” I’m pretty sure it’s against your liability for the customer to be moving their OWN stuff in the rain down a truck ramp, wearing flip flops. Silver Star Moving Group is a broker that hired this 1 guy from J & B Relocation to move my stuff. Now my couch is sitting in the rain, the guy took off after I told him I need a receipt and I’m not signing anything until I get it. I still have my receipt from the money gram store. My neighbor ended up helping me hoist my couch up on side up bldg. 3 stories high, through my balcony, I paid him $100 for the help. I said, ” for shits and giggles, let’s remove the blankets, tape and cushions to see if it would have made it in, Pfft! It sure did, what a waste of time and $1000’s of $’s. After a quick inspection, 20% of my boxes were smashed, My 2nd TV made a horrible crackling sound and was broken, I’m missing a large box of boots, a box of dishes that had an expensive tea set inside , I fan is missing the front piece, No Shark vacuum ever made it here, I have a lamp shade with no lamp, rolling vanity and a shelf is missing, but I do have someone else’s, dining table leaf with brackets, go figure. I told Andy from Silver Star I wasn’t happy! To say the least, he said, ” I should be livid pissed, which I was. He said he would reimburse me for stairs $300, which he Never did, and would compensate me for my damaged and missing items and see about getting me reimbursed some for my having to move my own stuff, which he Never did and now refuses to contact me Ever and said, “Our job is done, I signed the final papers”. Which is an outright LIE!!!! I made sure, I didn’t sign anything! So they must have Forged my signature, which is FRAUDULENT!!! This is the Absolute WORST Crooked Co. you could possibly hire. Please use ANY other moving company, Learn by my and many others Horrible Nightmare experience. The Only way SILVER STAR MOVING GROUP could have been worse is if they set my stuff on fire
Ask for Andy, he lied to me and stole $1000″s of my hard earned $ while double charging and losing and breaking most of my belongings.
Silver Star Moving Group
866-428-9279
561-279-6300
Fax: 561-423-3152
info@silverstarmovinggroup.com
http://www.silverstarmovinggroup.com
I never ended up going through with the move. Thank god from the reviews I am reading. He called from June 13th 2019 to June 18th 2019 that claimed to be a navy seal and Christian. I was in crisis and at 11am he called if he couldn’t reach me he would text concerned for my safety. When he received the deposit of $1166.00 I was never able to reach him again. I felt like he scammed me like men do on dating sites and this was a extremely horrible time for me in my life and he knew it. I am disabled and all the stress flared my disorder and doctor said no unnecessary stress or this could last years. I received letter on how items need to be packed and was dumbfounded cause he never told me and I had already bought vacuum bags and started packing also picked up boxes they asked for certain kind of boxes I called and was told I was &@$#’x stressing her out. I got off tried reaching the MAN to no avail so emailed I was canceling that got call back It happened again I called every day several times I was suppose to have contact after 3rd time I did cancel. Put in dispute and months later cc puts back on card. Because I didn’t cancel within 72 hours.They hadn’t even booked movers I was told same thing they were full service company. I canceled over 30 days before my move . this has been a nightmare. I can’t afford this kind of money for them doing not one thing.god forgive them for taking advantage of someone going through physical mental crisis.
I never ended up going through with the move. Thank god from the reviews I am reading from June 13th 2019 to June 18th 2019 I was called by this gentleman that claimed to be a navy seal and Christian. I was in crisis and at 11am he called if couldn’t reach me he would text concerned for my safety. When he received the deposit of $1166.00 never able to reach him again I felt like he scammed me like men do on dating sites and this was a extremely horrible time for me in my life and he knew it. I am disabled and all the stress flared my disorder and doctor said no unnecessary stress or this could last years. I received letter on how items need to be packed and was dumbfounded cause he never told me and I had already bought vacuum bags and started packing also picked up boxes they asked for certain kind I called and was told I was &@$#’x stressing her out. I got off tried reaching the MAN to no avail so emailed I was canceling that got call not. Reaching them happened again I called every day several times I was suppose to have contact after 3rd time I did cancel. Put in dispute and months later cc puts back on card. Because I didn’t cancel within 72 hours.They hadn’t even booked movers I was told same thing they were full service company. I canceled over 30 days before my move also warned 3 times first being 10 days before. It cost me $5000for transport for car and 7×7 pod I had to give away half my stuff this has been a nightmare. I can’t afford this kind of money for them doing not one thing.godd forgive them for taking advantage of someone going through physical mental crisis.
I am going through something similar. Got fooled by the google reviews (which seem to artificially fabricated now). At the time of sales they act like they are a moving company and after-sales they behave like their only job was to connect you to the movers. What was the moving company they hooked you up with?
Star USA Moving was the actual moving company. FYI: The “insurance” process also seems very sketchy and not worth it. Silver Star Moving Group has never called back or provided the compensation they promised.