Moving Experience: Ana-Lisa’s Move with Bravo

In May 2024, Ana-Lisa moved herself and her dog, Dylan, from Citrus Heights, California, to Vermillion, South Dakota, to be closer to family. After living in seven states, the 62-year-old retired travel nurse says this is her last move.

With experience in nearly every type of move, Ana-Lisa started researching top moving companies and gathering quotes from full-service movers months in advance. Not only was Bravo Moving the first company to follow up via phone and email, but they also gave Ana-Lisa the lowest quote and had the best customer service. This made her final decision relatively easy — Bravo was the clear winner.

Now that all is said and done, did Bravo Moving deliver top-tier service, or does this seasoned traveler think she could have done a better job herself?

To help others planning a move like hers, Ana-Lisa participated in our Better Moves Project by documenting and sharing her experiences with Bravo Moving in exchange for a $500 relocation stipend.

In this post, we’ll look at what went well (and what didn’t go so well) with Ana-Lisa’s move, and what this Bob Dylan fan learned along the way.

Move day takeaways

• Communication: Bravo’s move coordinators were helpful and communicative at the beginning of the process and throughout the move. Unfortunately, they fell short when it came to answering questions about custom crates and insurance for her art.
• Pricing accuracy and transparency: The final cost of Ana-Lisa’s move was within pennies of what she was initially quoted. This initial estimate was also significantly lower compared to competitors and provided to her more efficiently.
• Professionalism: Bravo’s movers and drivers were friendly, careful, and efficient.
• Timeliness: Ana-Lisa’s household goods were picked up and delivered on time, down to the exact date she requested.
• Loss and damage: Ana-Lisa only had one damaged item — a $70 desk chair — that was not wrapped, so she did not blame the movers or file a claim.
• Would Ana-Lisa use Bravo Moving again? Ana-Lisa would absolutely use Bravo Moving again, as it was one of the smoothest moves she’s experienced. She would also recommend them to friends and family.

Ana-Lisa needed help relocating from California to South Dakota

With more than 30 boxes and household furnishings that weighed less than 3,000 pounds, Ana-Lisa’s move out of her four-bedroom home was not the largest she has ever made.

Ana-Lisa wanted her antiques moved carefully

However, she had a number of antiques and artwork that were worth more than the move itself — including a signed picture of Bob Dylan. Having dealt with professional movers who have damaged her belongings in the past, she was most concerned about this furniture and art.

Ana-Lisa was worried about negative reviews

She was also nervous and overwhelmed by the amount of negative reviews about moving companies, in general. While we completely understand how she was feeling, it’s important to note that reviews of long-distance movers should be taken with a grain of salt.

Customer feedback is certainly important — it’s something we consider when rating pro movers — but it can be hard to find input specifically related to long-distance relocations, since most consumer review sites like Yelp and Google don’t differentiate between types of moves. Local moves are by their very nature easier and typically result in higher customer satisfaction.

You may see more negative reviews for long-distance moves, since companies partner with smaller movers throughout the U.S., and service can vary depending on location and the specific crew that actually handles the move.

Ana-Lisa was happy to find moveBuddha’s moving cost calculator and resources

Needless to say, Ana-Lisa was relieved to find a resource, moveBuddha, which had all the information she needed in one place. Beyond detailed reviews, tools like our moving cost calculator helped her compare rough estimates before calling companies directly.

Due to her anxieties about her artwork, Ana-Lisa chose a moving company with customer service representatives who made her feel respected and understood.

Ana-Lisa’s move in a nutshell

Ana-Lisa got quotes from 5 movers

Ana-Lisa began her search on Google, which led her to moveBuddha. After reading through several reviews, she double-checked her favorite moving companies on other review sites like Yelp. Finally, she got quotes from five different companies including Bravo.

Ana-Lisa was immediately impressed by Bravo Moving, who reached out to her on the phone and via email before any of their competitors did. Bravo’s sales representative made her feel like he genuinely cared about her belongings and getting them to her new home safely. Ana Lisa also liked that Bravo gave her the lowest quote, which was much more affordable than she expected.

In contrast, many other companies with higher estimates either seemed disinterested and unconcerned with her move — or were just plain harassing her with constant calls.

After many phone calls and emails, Ana-Lisa was able to compile the following quotes:

Ana-Lisa has moved a LOT in two decades

Having a long career as a travel nurse, Ana-Lisa has moved 21 times since 2004 — sometimes with pets, sometimes with her children, and even a few moves with her ex-husband. Through this, she’s become a self-described expert in good moves and bad moves.

Despite her many moving experiences, she never worked with a moving company she loved enough to keep using. Having several friends who are moving out of California due to the rising cost of living, Ana-Lisa was hoping to find a moving company that would be good enough to recommend.

When she received a call from Joe, a sales representative at Bravo Moving, he efficiently took an inventory of her belongings over FaceTime and gave her a binding estimate before any other moving company. Although she took time to gather competitor quotes, she was pretty much sold on Bravo because they made her feel like a priority.

Ana-Lisa worried about communication gaps the week before her move

Although there was clear communication up until the time of booking, that communication died down significantly after Ana-Lisa paid a 30% deposit via check to secure her moving date. When she had additional questions about custom crates and extra insurance for her artwork, her point of contact, Joe, was only minimally responsive via text message.

From there, Joe canceled multiple FaceTime calls to take an inventory of the artwork and go over her insurance options. Growing increasingly nervous about her valuables, she decided to transport her art herself.

The bigger issue is that Joe had texted her that her movers would arrive on May 22. However, on May 20, Ana-Lisa received a call from Bravo Moving that they would arrive between 3 and 6 p.m. the following day. When Ana-Lisa contacted Joe for clarification, he insisted that her moving day was still May 22.

Since she had already lost trust in Joe’s ability to coordinate her move smoothly, she told him she was going to go by what the other reps at Bravo were telling her and planned to move the following day. Again, this was a full day ahead of schedule but luckily Ana-Lisa was basically a pro who was ready to go.

Moving day went smoothly (despite a few hiccups)

Not only did Bravo Moving arrive a day before Ana-Lisa initially expected, they also showed up at 11:16 a.m. instead of between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m., as she was told.

That said, Bravo’s service from that point on could not have been better. From loading to unloading, her team of movers was professional, efficient, and careful with all of her furniture and belongings

Once she stopped reaching out to her initial Bravo contact, Ana-Lisa communicated with Bravo via Instagram messages, then later with the delivery driver directly, who communicated with her along the way via cell phone. She anticipated that his large semi-truck would not be allowed in the tiny town she was moving to and that her belongings would need to be transferred to a smaller U-Haul rental truck.

To her surprise, Bravo’s delivery driver handled this transfer without charging her extra or delaying delivery. He gave her an estimated delivery date of June 1, and he showed up exactly on that date. From pickup to drop-off, Ana-Lisa was confident that Bravo Moving’s price and service could not be matched by other moving companies.

Ana-Lisa’s expert instincts saved her some headaches

Ana-Lisa has gone through so many moves through the course of her career that she could have had a second career as a professional mover. This expertise could have led to disruptive micromanaging for some people, but it was ultimately what helped her have an overall successful relocation

While her communication issues with Joe about her art could have stressed out a less savvy consumer and potentially led to more issues, Ana-Lisa had a backup plan ready to go when her questions about insurance were not adequately addressed. When her moving date was moved up a day due to a miscommunication (again, on Joe’s part), Ana-Lisa was able to adapt to this unexpected change because she was packed and ready to go ahead of schedule.

We love to see this! As in life, hiccups can happen when moving. Being flexible and rolling with plan B if things don’t go as expected will save you lots of anxiety and allow you to quickly change gears and stay on schedule.

Her delivery date could have been pushed back due to the need to transfer to a smaller U-Haul. But since she anticipated this ahead of time and gave Bravo a heads up, everything arrived on June 1, her estimated delivery date.

Our take on Ana-Lisa’s move

A big part of why Ana-Lisa’s move was so successful is that Bravo’s professional movers and delivery drivers went above and beyond her expectations. But before they arrived, a lack of communication made her concerned that her belongings would not be handled properly. Needless to say, Ana-Lisa was relieved to be wrong.

Unfortunately, communication issues are a common complaint about the moving industry (it’s not just Bravo). What is less common is how Ana-Lisa handled this. In fact, she is a great example of what it really takes to have a good moving experience. A company like Bravo Moving can do almost everything right, but one careless error or unanswered question can throw off the entire process.

Still, when customers stay on top of their move by following our detailed moving checklist, problems are far less likely to arise. When issues do come up, they can be easily addressed with that plan B we mentioned. Her autographed Bob Dylan picture making it safely to South Dakota is proof of that, and she unintentionally saved a little extra money on additional services by handing it herself.

The verdict: Did Bravo Moving make the grade?

Bravo picked up and delivered Ana-Lisa’s belongings on time with only minimal damage. It is worth noting that because her home was not ready, she had moved some boxes into storage and not yet unpacked them.

That said, everything appeared to be handled carefully and Ana-Lisa was grateful for the level of attention her move received from Bravo. One $70 desk chair was damaged because it was not wrapped, but Ana-Lisa was understanding and decided not to file a claim.

Looking back, the only thing that Ana-Lisa would have done differently is to have spoken to someone else at the company when her contact’s communication became inconsistent. That way, she would have been able to arrange for custom crating and added insurance for her artwork instead of handling it herself. But she didn’t let this one inconvenience spoil her outlook on an otherwise positive moving experience.

Here’s how Ana-Lisa rated Bravo Moving on a scale of 1 to 5:

• Communication: 5
• Timeliness: 5
• Quote accuracy: 5
• Overall experience: 5

Ana-Lisa’s advice for anyone planning a move like hers

Ana-Lisa recommends being as precise as possible with your inventory and doing a FaceTime or in-person walkthrough, if possible, before getting a quote. If you want to add more items or services, Ana-Lisa strongly recommends telling the moving company ahead of time — instead of trying to get away with add-ons at the last minute.

Learning from her experience, she also suggests finding a secondary contact at the moving company if your primary person isn’t communicating effectively. Although Ana-Lisa eventually accomplished this through Instagram, she wishes she acted sooner.

It was a positive moving experience partially because Bravo Moving delivered, but also because Ana-Lisa went into the process with realistic expectations. She expected that a few things would not go according to plan and was able to deal with it when that happened.

It wasn’t an entirely stress-free process, but Ana-Lisa would absolutely use Bravo Moving again. She is hoping that this is her last move, so hopefully she will just stick to recommending the moving company to her friends.