Mambo Movers Inc

Write a Review215-670-9535

OPEN NOW - Closes at 5:00pm

I hired Mambo Movers to move items from my apartment in Center City Philadelphia. During the course of the move, several items were broken. The first was a desk that I purchased from BoConcept for around $1200. The second thing was a light I acquired off Amazon that was about $130. The third thing they broke was an entertainment center that I also purchased from BoConcept. They were able to partially fix the entertainment center by drilling new holes for the rails, but the fact that the damage occurred speaks to how poorly they handled all of the furniture during the move. I've asked to be compensated for the furniture, and they have refused. This is in spite of the fact that during the move, while they were breaking things, the movers told me not to worry and that the office would take care of me. This was said multiple times by two of the movers, and witnessed by several members of my family. Now they are refusing to honor their word and trying to fallback on their insurance disclaimer that they only pay for up to $0.60/lb for broken items. I intentionally listed on the insurance form that they broke my desk, in an effort to exclude that, which Chris (the mover) told me was the right thing to do at the time. Now they are trying to tell me to deal with the insurance and haven't replied to anymore emails. In retrospect, I wish I had found these other Yellow Pages reviews prior to hiring Mambo.

The movers came Monday morning and for the most part were okay but often times I would find them around the truck smoking and talking. They arrived at 10:30 in the morning and finished packing the truck at 3:30, for a 2 bedroom apartment. They then said they were running to grab sandwiches and ended up taking a 2 hour lunch but never letting us know.We were waiting at the storage unit indefinitely! They ended up calling us after their 2 hour leisure lunch to let us know their truck broke down. I ‘m not as upset about the truck breaking down as I am about the unknown 2 hour lunch. If they had told us they were going to take a 2 hour lunch we would have gone somewhere to eat and regroup, bad business!! Upon contacting management/owner Sergio and Mike discussing our dismay at how things panned out, they wanted to hear none of it and kept justifying that the movers have dietary restrictions and need time to find their vegetarian food. My time is VALUBLE, and with them taking a 2 hour lunch, I ended up losing hours of my time on move day in addition to 100's of dollars in perishables that were also being moved. Might I add that the next day they finished the move into a storage unit, totaling out a 2 bedroom apartment move in 7.5 hours! If your looking for a good efficient moving company Mambo is not the choice.

I would definitely NOT recommend Mambo Movers unless you have old furniture you do not care about. They can move you from point A to B at a reasonable cost, but if you have nice things, beware that they will break them and refuse to pay for the damage. They broke a very expensive piece of furniture of mine and tried to blame me for doing it. Then, they invented a dramatic story about how they know the guy from the last company that moved me and he admitted to them that he broke the table...uh huh. I later learned that they have been banned from several residential highrises in Philadelphia for damaging residents' things as well as the buildings' hallways. I would never want my clients to experience what I did so do NOT use this company. The old adage rings true...you get what you pay for. Spend more money on a professional moving company that knows how to handle nice things gently and will stand behind their service.

When I needed a moving company to move my daughter to downtown Philadelphia, I figured I’m screwed. I mean the average person ‘moves” what, maybe 3 or 4 times tops in their lifetime? So why the hell should they care if I’m a ‘satisfied customer’?

So I Googled, “moving company”, “Philadelphia”, and got exactly what I expected. EVERY “moving company” website looked the same.



And then I saw this: Mambo Movers - Philadelphia's premier movers, local artists and musicians. OK, at least something different, not exactly what I had in mind, ‘local artists and musicians’. I guess I had ‘local weight lifters’ or ‘local ex-bouncers’ in mind, but what the hell, I’ll take a look.



OK, so I’ll call. Spoke with Serge, described on the site as “mover emeritus / graphic manipulator” and he looked normal in his photo so I figure I’ll give it a shot. Short and sweet conversation, “yes we are available March 3rd”, “yes we will move the contents of your daughter’s 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in West Chester to a 3rd floor apartment in Center City in Philly, “our rates are simple; 20 foot truck, 3 guys, all padding, etc $117 per hour”, “you pay with cash, money order or certified check at the completion of the move”, nothing up-front, no contract, “when we say we’ll be there, we’ll be there”. Checked the Better Business Bureau, A rating, BBB Accredited, so I gave Serge the OK and held my breath for 2 weeks.



We got a call from ‘Nelson’ on March 3rd saying that Mambo Movers would be there in 1 hour. Everything was packed and ready to go, I was just praying they were too. The doorbell rang and here it was, an ‘artfully adorned’ 20 foot moving truck and 3 of ‘Philadelphia's premier movers, local artists and musicians’. And my fears were realized, not a bouncer or weight lifter in the bunch, hell the 3 of them combined didn’t weigh as much as my daughter’s dining room table. Nelson, the crew leader introduced himself and his crew, Victor and Jeremy. I pointed out that everything was packed and in the living room and dining room and all bedroom furniture was packed and up stairs. As I was laying out my ‘ground rules’ to Nelson; “everything is boxed and packed” and to “be careful with the wood furniture” and….. I turned around as Victor buzzed by us with 3, yes 3 Home Depot “Large” packing boxes ON HIS BACK followed within 5 feet by Jeremy with 3 Home Depot “Large” packing boxes on HIS back heading to the truck. I stood stunned for a moment BECAUSE, while packing, I had made sure that no one packed the Home Depot “Large” packing boxes too heavily so they could be carried INDIVIDUALLY . Here I should say that I am 6 foot 1, 235 lbs and was college football player. None of these guys, NOT ONE weighed over 160 lbs. soaking wet and they were carrying 3 of the boxes that I had determined were of the proper weight to be carried INDIVIDUALLY! OK, so here I had to get my bearings, I’m still in charge here. Nelson then stated, “This will be a piece of cake, we’ll be done in an hour and a half, you guys did a good job packing”. An hour and a half, are you kidding me? OK, so Nelson was wrong, it took Nelson, the video producer, Victor the art show coordinator and I forget what Jeremy does, 1 HOUR and 20 MINUTES to load the truck and get on the road!



I won’t bore you with any more details but in the end my daughter paid Mambo Movers about $250 MORE for this move than if we had rented a 16 foot Uhaul, moving pads, a dolly, gas and mileage charges AND DONE ALL THE LABOR OURSELVES, which wouldn’t have been possible.



I’ve never written a recommendation for anyone, in my 60 years, but Mambo Movers deserve it.

Mambo movers should be renamed Bait-n-Switch Movers. I've been burned twice,

and it won't happen again. First time, moving an entire household, they

promised 2 trucks & 4 strapping young men; Mambo showed up with one truck

and 2 guys - and charged me double their estimate because it took twice as

long! AND left a van full of my stuff on the porch! Adding insult to

injury, I had to shell out more money to rent a truck the next day, a

holiday, and scramble for friends to help me recover the 'left behinds.'



Second time, figured it was a much smaller job and they could handle it.

Wrong! I contracted them to move a bed, rug and coffee table, and a couple

of boxes from a friend's house to mine. They moved out my old bed, then,

after pushing the new mattress through a window at my friends' house, told

me it wouldn't fit up the stairs of my house. They started to cart the old

stuff back in, I pointed out there was 8" clearance and the new mattress was

only 4" larger - they had the audacity to charge me an extra 150 bucks to go

back and re-move the new one!



I have since heard horror stories from others: holes punched in walls by an

ill-handled armoire; boxes left as trash on the curb; the legs cut off of a

sofa when Mambo got it stuck in the turn of a hall.



Twice burned, they won't get a chance for "3 strikes." They are OUT.

Beware of Mambo Movers...



Unfortunately, there is no option to give this "company' a -100 star rating..



Mambo" moved" me last October..



In the process, they lost or stole $35,000 worth of my belongings.



They have an insurance policy with Travelers Insurance that will pay 30 cents per pound for my losses..and for yours...



They "lost" or stole one item that cost me $15,000, but weighed no more than 2 pounds, and can now only be replaced for $30,000 at today's prices..



Their insurance company will pay me 60 cents for this item....



Mambo was required to ask for an inventory before the move, but didn't..They also couldn't provide an accurate receipt....



I have asked Mambo to deal with me directly, but have only recieved physical threats and hang up calls from one of their owners named Serge, in return...



Mambo also receives most of their payments in cash. No credit cards, no personal checks....



Which means..



1. the customer has no recourse..



2. They are hiding money from the IRS, which means they're stealing tax dollars from all of us, even from "satisfied" customers...



They know what they're doing - do you????



I tipped their "workers" generously...and like a reviewer on another site stated, what a big mistake that was..



If you choose to hire these pirates at your own peril...DON'T TIP, DONT PAY - UNTIL YOU UNPACK...



Beware of liars, thieves, con artists and thugs...



Beware of Mambo Movers.....

Moving is a very stressful time for most. A co-worker had mentioned Mambo to me. So I called. The gentlemen on the phone was evasive & slightly rude. I told him I was doing a 2 part move & not quite sure where my temporary housing was going to be. That I wanted to move a few things out the house for the first leg of the move & then the rest for the second part. He did not want to give me any pricing. I asked what their minimum charge was due to the fact that the first part of the move was just boxes & few pieces of furniture. He refused again. In my amazement I said why would I hire you if you won't even go over pricing with me. He said call someone else. Must be nice in this economy to have more business than you need. Anyway I took his advise & called someone else. I was thrilled with my movers. They have 50 some odd 5 star reviews on this site & they were all true. I guess my experience with Mambo explains why they don't.