Welti Furrer

We moved from Zürich back to the U.S. in August 2023, and I received quotes from the largest, local moving firms a few months ahead of time. I chose Welti-Furrer (WF) as their quote was the cheapest; this turned out to be a big mistake! If you want to know the sordid details, then read on. Otherwise, just take my advice and avoid WF at all costs when planning your next, Swiss move!

WF appears to use the cheapest possible subcontractors to do its work, both in Switzerland and the States. As a result, some of our goods were very poorly packed by the Albanian crew which came to fill our 40-foot container, as we discovered a lot of damage upon unpacking in the States a few months later. Yes, they did manage to cram all our belongings into the container, as the WF estimator had promised, but took very little care when doing so. Some of the laborers were skilled, while others appeared to have been hired without any experience whatsoever. Furthermore, the crew misplaced much of the hardware needed to re-assemble some of our furniture, which cost us much inconvenience and added costs later on.

Once the container was packed and on its way, we received very few updates. WF just outsourced this role to an intermediary company in California, Dewitt Move Worldwide, which eventually obtained the services of a local moving company in the Atlanta area, Beltmann Moving, to deliver our goods. None of these companies provided satisfactory service, to say the least. I had to repeatedly ask for updates, as the delivery was delayed by several weeks due to various, questionable excuses ("it's a large shipment", "it's the busy season", "it's a holiday weekend", etc.). This container had been packed more than two months before, so its arrival date really should not have been a surprise to anyone involved.

A few weeks after the expected delivery date, our shipment finally arrived. Due to timing constraints and the unprofessionalism and lack of coordination between Dewitt, Beltmann, and whomever else was involved in this transaction, our container had to be emptied almost immediately after release by the U.S. customs authorities, rather than being delivered directly to our house - as we've been used to during all our previous, international moves. As a result, the almost comically unprofessional, local moving company (Beltmann) managed to damage several furniture pieces as they emptied the container into their warehouse, and again when loading up the moving truck, when they could finally find time to schedule our delivery. Furthermore, this questionable company apparently didn't have its own fleet of delivery trucks, so the moving crew showed up in a filthy U-Haul van the morning of our delivery, and had to make several runs between their facility and our new house throughout the day, using said U-Haul van. Again, all this excessive loading & unloading provided more opportunities for the crew to mishandle and drop our belongings on the way; therefore, there was a lot of unnecessary damage to table corners, etc. Some of the laborers appeared to have been hired right off the street, with zero training or experience.

As mentioned, the Zürich crew had misplaced some of the furniture hardware, which meant that we couldn't reassemble some of our furniture. WF and Dewitt then suggested using a 3rd party vendor to source the missing hardware and assemble the furniture; obviously, this would be covered under the expensive insurance policy which I obtained through WF, or so I thought! But no, after paying over $1K for two guys to come out to our house a few days later to fix this problem, I learned about the worthlessness of this insurance policy - for which I had paid about $3K (with a $500 deductible)! As someone else mentioned in their review, WF's insurer only allows a much too short 7-day period to notice and report any damages after receipt of moving goods. Since some of our furniture couldn't be assembled due to missing hardware (or was unpacked too late), I didn't notice some of the damage until after the 7-day deadline. Nevertheless, WF claimed that this matter was out of their hands, and that the 3rd party vendor's services wouldn't be covered by insurance, either.

After many emails back & forth, WF finally offered me a measly $500 to cover the damages caused by their subcontractors, i.e., not even enough to cover the cost of the 3rd party vendor who assembled our furniture. Mind you, this was after I had paid well over CHF 20K for a "full-service move" from Switzerland to the States, plus CHF 3K for the nearly worthless insurance. Even though the first WF sales rep/estimator who came to our house assured me that WF only used highly qualified, certified moving firms on both sides of the Atlantic, my moving experience certainly did not support that claim. Again, avoid this company!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: 23000CHF

Wir haben einen grossen Privathaushalt mit Welti-Furrer gezügelt und sind enttäuscht und desillusioniert über die effektiv geleistete Arbeit. Ausser dem zu erwähnenden Pluspunkt, dass alle Beteiligten aussnahmslos sehr freundlich waren, hat die eigentliche Performance wenig mit einem zuverlässigen Umzugspartner zu tun. - Einpacken und Vorbereitung ungenügend für die Crew der eigentlichen Umzugsarbeit, Kisten nicht oder falsch angeschrieben, nicht alles verpackt und/oder vorbereitet.ZuwenigMaterialdabeigehabt

- unvorbereitete Mannschaft am Zügeltag, kein Schutzmaterial (welches aber mit 1.5 Std Verspätung nachgeliefert wurde), interne Kommunikationsprobleme, die dazu geführt hatten, zu kleines Volumen berechnet, trotzdem vor dem Umzugstag eine ausführliche Besichtigung vor Ort stattgefunden hatte, deshalb zuwenig Mitarbeiter und zu wenig Ladekapazität am eigentlichen Umzugstag

- chaotisches Ausladen, wegen schlechter Vorbereitung. Obschon uns im Vorfeld versichert wurde, dass die Crew vorgängig das Zielobjekt besichtigt und sich vorbereitet, hatte nichtsdergleichen stattgefunden.

- Zuwenig Schutzmaterial dabei für den Neubau, zuwenig Schutzmaterial für die Möbel, diverse Schäden am Umzugsgut als Folge

- Entsorgung katastrophal. Mitarbeiter faul, auf Zeit machend, sich vor Arbeit gedrückt, ununterbrochen am Handy

Wenigstens war seitens Backoffice die Offenheit und Freundlichkeit gegenüber unserem Ärger stets vorhanden und es wurde eine befriedigende Endlösung gefunden. Fazit: leider nie wieder.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: 7500CHF

I fully agree with the bad review below. I have moved a lot and by far the worst move ever. Good communication until booked. After that very spotty. They entirely subcontracted without consent, and company was rude and multiple items damaged. They defend the other company and insurance claim is a joke. I am spending days to get anything close to recover cost of visible damaged items. It is clear rest was also handled without care. I even carried things myself, as the moving company saw no need and were throwing things or rolling expensive office chairs outside. Absolute disaster!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: €7000

Had a short notice move abroad. Employees were very knowledgeable and helpful, organising our move within days, sorting paper work, and answering all my questions promptly. There were no damages, no issues, no nasty surprises. It was a very stress free, hassle free move. The price is adequate. I did not have any furniture to move, so can't comment on that aspect of the service. Employees were very respectful when helping me pack and picking everything up. Very happy over all and would strongly recommend them based on my personal experience.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: 4100CHF

I have moved all over the world (a total of 7 times, 3 over ocean, Virginia to Denmark, Denmark to Massachusetts, Massachusetts to Switzerland) as a member of the US military and never had one item damaged in any move over my 33 year career. But, this companies packing and moving standards are so horrible they damaged 3 wardrobes, a LLadro, and a television stand just moving our property from Fullinsdorf to Saas-Fee a mere 205km! And, they charged us over 15,000CHF! The wardrobes (which we no longer have the use of at least one drawer on each) are valued at over 2000CHF, the LLadro 380CHF, TV stand 250CHF. And, when we filed for damages the company said they would only pay us 150CHF for our claim. We were even told that we only had 7 days to file a claim when there is NOTHING in our contract that stipulated any time frame for filing a claim. We provided them with pictures of all the damaged items! So, my advice to anyone look to have them move you is to stay as far away from them as you can. They are cheaters and liars that do not honor their commitment to reimbursing customers for damaged goods. I know I had to rate them on a scale 1-5 but they truly deserve a zero (0). I never would have thought that the Swiss would be such bad people! I would never recommend this company to anyone!!!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: 15000CHF