Applause Moving and Storage Reviews 

Highly unprofessional, incompetent, and undependable. Applause Moving was contracted by Northern Moving Systems to perform a move of household goods from SC to RI. My “binding estimate” doubled due to “excessive cubic feet” and extra care needed for items with glass. Apparently, my goods were placed in storage for 2+ months, not at my request. After numerous phone calls (many never returned), and countless excuses, my goods were delivered after 65 days. There was significant damage to almost every piece of furniture, missing dresser drawers and recliner, missing coffee table legs, destroyed floor lamps, broken glass, unrepairable damage to a vacuum and coatrack, and a moldy/wet mattress. Many pieces of furniture will need to be disposed of due to the extent of damage. Over 30+ years in the US Navy, I have had household goods moved at least 12 times. This move was by far the worst with the longest unexplained delay and most damage and missing items. If you have to move household goods, avoid Applause Moving unless you want to pay exorbitant fees, wait 2+ months for delivery, and end up with damaged/broken or missing goods.

Hired Top Tier Moving Group as my broker after they promised to personally handle my move from start to finish. Instead, they secretly contracted Applause Moving & Storage without my knowledge — directly contradicting what I was told. They also intentionally left items off the inventory despite a full walkthrough, which set the stage for what came next.
On moving day, Applause showed up and claimed a half-full 10x30 storage unit wouldn't fit on their truck and demanded an extra $1,699 above the original $5,401 quote — while I had no choice but to comply. This was a basic furniture move from a storage unit, not a full-service move, yet they applied full-service pricing and charges. At delivery, a standard moving truck was used, proving the capacity claim was false.
On top of all this, a $2,500 overpayment sent via Zelle has never been refunded. Applause claims they didn't receive it but refuses to investigate or return the funds. It has been over a month with zero resolution from either company.
Total paid: $9,600 against a $5,401 quote. Formal complaints have been filed with the Consumer Protection Agency, Better Business Bureau, and the FMCSA.

AVOID BOTH COMPANIES!!!

My experience with Applause Moving and Storage was by far the worst experience I've had with a business in my life. I feel that we were blatantly lied to multiple times, and had unjustified price increases after they had our non refundable deposit. They (or who they hired) also delivered our stuff 3 days late, with some of the material water damaged.

In our initial call with Applause I asked specific questions to understand the process and avoid surprises. We were told that only Applause employees would be handling our stuff from pickup to delivery and the guy bragged that Applause has hubs in all 50 states and that with Applause we were dealing with an actual moving company not a moving broker. If we deal with nearly anyone else it would be a moving broker, we were told. When asked who I should call if there is a problem he said I could call him directly, 7 days a week and that there would be no other fees. Based off of his answers we went with Applause. This was a big mistake. There was no mention of possibility of doing a video survey of stuff to be moved via phone.

About 2 days before the move my wife receives a call from another person (I'll call #2) asking for more details about stuff to be moved. He raises price but says don't worry the driver will measure and price could go down. There was no mention of possibility of doing a video survey of stuff to be moved via phone. He e mails an updated bill. I notice that although it still has the first guys name on it, that it was actually e mailed from this persons name at toptiermovinggroup.com . So from another company, not Applause. This after I was told I would only be dealing with Applause.

So I try to call the first guy but it turns out the phone # we had used for him before is now out of service! I then try e mailing him and get a fatal error reply. So, I call another # on the contract and they refuse to connect me with the first guy. Eventually they connect me with a guy claiming to be a manager (I'll call #3). He claims that the first guy is on vacation and that is why the phone and e mail would not work (total Bull). When asked about the e mail coming from Top Tier Moving he says they used to do business with them but no more and their IT needs to update the e mail address. When directly asked he states the person who called my wife is an Applause employee not Top Tier. He tells me if I run into any problems I can call him instead of the first guy.

Day before move, I have everything packed in boxes and in my garage. I wanted to make it easy for them and minimize opportunity for any unexpected added charges. I measured the volume of all the boxes collectively, all in one pile. This is pretty easy with everything together in one pile, not rocket science, basic arithmetic. It was only 174 cubic feet. So, less than original bill and about half of revised bill.

Day of move driver is outraged that I bring up that volume is below what is on contract and that guy #2 said driver would measure and could lower bill, and driver tells me that the price can only go up, never down. He refuses to take any measurements or look at my measurements. I call the third guy/#3 and of course he will not get on the phone. I ask for a call back which of course never happens. Driver also extorts "lunch money" out of us after everything is loaded on vehicle. Not sure what would have happened to our stuff if we didn't give him this.

I find the Top Tier moving website and see that right on their home page they disclose they are a broker (unlike the Applause website). I call up Top Tier using the phone # on their website and confirm that the guy #2 is a Top Tier Moving employee, unlike what guy #3 had stated.

The day the stuff is to be delivered we receive no call, so we call the Applause customer service # on the contract. They don't know where our stuff is and say they will get a hold of the driver and after they hear back they will call us. We call back in 40 minutes after hearing nothing (we're stuck in a hotel paying every day until we can complete the move) and they will not pickup. So, we have our daughter call from her phone and they pickup immediately. So, it looks like they don't hesitate to not take your call and / or block it. At one point while on hold, we have to listen to their recorded advertising. It says "...with Top Tier Moving...". So, either Top Tier Moving is Applause or perhaps Applause somehow sold our agreement to Top Tier.

Eventually the stuff is delivered 3 days late with some water damage. Oh and the price went up again and we were required to pay in cash. I asked the final driver what company he works for. It was not Applause or Top tier but rather his own company.

If you have any doubts about whether Applause is a moving broker masquerading as an actual moving company, consider doing a google street view search of the Applause address and look Applause up on the government's FMCSA website.