Transparent International Movers Avis 

The company took 7 months to ship household items from US to Spain. They do not do what they say they will do and come up with false charges for uncharacteristically high weight tickets when the weight was known from the beginning. They use this against you when you are waiting for your items. They do not tell the truth and will simply lie. Avoid this company at all costs.

This was, by far, one of the worst transactional experiences I’ve ever had. Do not use this company. They made promises they didn't keep and had a terrible communication system. The person who lures you in is a master communicator, things fall apart as soon as pay. They hired subcontractors whom they did not communicate with. They were not available by phone when disaster naturally occured. They refused to make things right at the time of the move. We ended up having to leave some things behind and pay extra to ship those things separately. Lots of unnecessary suffering during an alreadydifficult move. Crooks. Stay away.

I moved from the US to Brazil and used Transparent International to ship about 20 boxes. They were affordable and their method made sense – combine shipments going in the same direction to reduce costs. They picked up my boxes from my home in Virginia, but that’s where the helpfulness ended. Once the boxes left, it was extremely difficult to get any information on where they were or when they were expected to be in Brazil. I knew this would take time. I had the boxes picked up a month before I left for Brazil and I wasn’t expecting them right away. However, what I found out was that my boxes sat in a warehouse in Miami for _literally_ over two months! Then they sat again in Brazil for weeks. No one was helpful in any way and it was like trying to pull teeth to get any help or updates.
Let me be clear – this was not a case of delays in customs or clearing ports or anything like that. This was the company allowing our boxes to sit. All in all, it took four and a half MONTHS to get our belongings. We had to buy replacements for what was in the boxes because we needed it, but didn’t have yet. We literally told them “we’re really hurting here” and they didn’t seem to care at all.
It could be that US to Brazil is not a popular route and maybe US to Europe or other routes is fine, but in general I WOULD STEER VERY CLEAR OF THIS COMPANY and use anyone else. I don’t normally write reviews, but I feel compelled to warn everyone else. I WOULDN’T USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN EVEN IF IT WAS FREE.

We did not end up going through the whole process with them, but what communication we did have was positive. They were knowledgeable and good at following up.

If I could give zero stars, I would. Transparent International Movers is one of the most inept, disorganized, and unaccountable companies I’ve ever encountered. You would genuinely be better off hiring random people off the street—at least then you’d know exactly what kind of chaos you’re signing up for. With Transparent, you’re paying thousands of dollars for a premium service and getting third-rate treatment in return.

From day one, I was extremely clear: I needed a comprehensive international moving service—packing, transport, and shipping—all included. I confirmed this multiple times with both the sales associate and my assigned coordinator. They assured me it was. That turned out to be false.

After I signed the contract and paid promptly, I was suddenly charged for services I was told were included. I was billed for stairs after specifically disclosing the number of floors in both properties. Then I was told packing wasn’t included—despite that being the *only reason* I chose their more expensive quote over four others, including one that was $6,000 less.

The issues didn’t stop there. After my items were picked up in mid-July, they went silent. I was not informed of any shipment status or delays. Then, more than 40 days later, I was hit with surprise overage charges—with no supporting packing list or explanation. It turns out the movers packed absurdly inefficiently (e.g., one bowl in a massive box) because “it would fit in one container anyway,” and then crated everything in oversized wooden boxes, inflating the volume. I had no say in how it was packed and yet I’m the one being charged.

To make matters worse, my shipment sat at the port for two weeks—unattended—because no one at Transparent knew it had arrived. My assigned coordinator had been let go, and no one else picked up the case. The Italian receiving company had no idea who to contact on the U.S. side because Transparent completely dropped the ball on communication.

And if that wasn’t enough, they had the audacity to offer me a $500 discount ONLY IF I signed a document waiving my right to hold them accountable for their errors. Let me be very clear: they wanted to buy their way out of responsibility with a $500 bribe after causing weeks of stress, confusion, and financial burden.

They are quick to send an invoice, but utterly absent when it comes to communication, customer service, or basic professionalism. My experience with Transparent International Movers has been a nightmare.

Avoid this company at all costs. There is nothing transparent about Transparent International. They overpromise, underdeliver, and then try to bully you into silence. I wouldn’t trust them with a suitcase, let alone an international move.

Estimated delivery for our home goods was 4-16 weeks, but we were told to anticipate 8-12 weeks in moving from Washington to Ireland. Having made 4 moves back and forth across the Pacific to Hawaii when I was active duty in the military, this seemed accurate and reasonable. It has now been 36 weeks. We had to threaten to engage a lawyer in order to even get it on a boat out of the USA after they had had our things in their possession for over 6 months. Our home goods are still not delivered and there is no end in sight. They have been terrible with communication. They have repeatedly let us down. They cannot complete the job. I have zero confidence they even actually know where our things are as they have not responded to questions of who has actual physical custody of our things or the physical address it is currently being held at. The shipping agent assigned to our move told us our things were arriving to Dublin, Ireland, on May 6, 2025. That was a lie. We found out about a month later that it was actually in Northampton, England- not from transparent international- from our local UK destination agent- when the local agent was being abruptly replaced as they could not complete the job. The next person they assigned to complete the job sent an email after we reached out to them saying they did not have our things, and once they received them, it would be another estimated 4-6 weeks to arrive to Ireland with no guarantee of time of delivery, and no timeframe from time of arrival into Dublin to then bring it to our home in Donegal. Worst moving experience of my life. Their quote was similar to the other companies. I went with them because their company seemed very forthcoming and responsive when trying to book our shipment. That all disappears the moment they have your things and your money. Did I mention you pay fully in advance? Thousands of dollars to not have your things ever actually delivered to you. Shipper beware.

I have read the good and not so good reviews; the negative reviews do not seem to represent the company or shipping agent that I used.
My move from Alabama to New Zealand was easy, seamless, fairly priced and I experienced marvelous customer service from Patrick Strickland. He and the company deftly and expeditiously organized a second packer and shipper, Alabama Relocators, when the first company back out at the last minute. Alabama Relocators arrived 1 day after the originally planned date and expertly packed my personal goods and soon after my goods were placed in a container in Mobile and shipped. The container arrived in Auckland 3 months later and after 3 weeks of Customs and Biosecurity inspections awa transshipment to Nelson and then 2 weeks at the port for disposition, the goods were delivered. The pack up, transport and delivery of my goods was approximately 4 months from door to door; as estimated by Patrick Strickland at Transparent International.
Upon unpacking , I found all my items in the same condition as they were when packed; not one piece of china or glassware was damaged nor any other items and all arrived per the packing list.
Patrick and his team were “transparent” 👍, efficient, courteous, conscientious and responded to me via email with little to no delays.
For me, Transparent International delivered as promised.
I recommend Patrick, his team and company 100%.
Cheers 🍻🥂🇺🇸🇳🇿
Leland S Blough Jr

Very good at promising, extremely bad at delivering and live up to its promises. If you like to chase an organisation to understand where is your shipping and when you can expect it, then you can work with them. No customer service conscience. I was yield at when I ask information about the where about of my goods and I was told I had to find a solution as my furntiures were still at the point of origin after being picked up by Transparent Internationa partner. Only after chasing Transparent International and offering assistance to put them in contact with a competitor, this organisation started to move in the right direction. I still had to chase them for any basic updates.

Anthony Scalafani of Transparent provided very competitive estimates that made me decide to use their moving company. He was very patient with providing different quotes that allowed me to see costs depending on the amount of furniture I wanted to ship in my move to France.

Anthony S was extremely helpful and diligent with the follow up I requested. Thank you Anthony it was a pleasure working with you.

I had a great experience working with Anthony at Transparent International. Even though I ultimately didn’t move forward with shipping, he was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and professional throughout the process. Communication was fast, pricing was clear and competitive, and I really appreciated the time and effort he put into helping me.

I dealt with Jacob Hodgson for an international move to India. I still haven't got my stuff. It's been over 9 months. This company hasn't paid the local movers who are partnered with Agarwal Movers. This company owes 948 dollars. I wonder if these people will pay? I have already shelled out 7000 dollars.

Sales pitch claimed items would be sealed up in their container as soon as they were packed by the moving company and would be untouched until delivered. Not true! Items were separated from packing boxes and some items never arrived. They shipped from San Francisco to Valencia, Spain. The shipment came via the Netherlands. Those people were able to find one item that had been packed but not a whole box of stuff that was missing. I contacted the company in New York and they didn’t even bother to reply. Using Transparent was a mistake and I cannot recommend them, sadly.

Too bad I have to choose a star. This company lies to its customers. Any good reviews on here are probably phony. Believe the bad reviews! They lie to you about cost and are anything be transparent. There are many other reputable moving companies. Please don’t use this company. I ended up paying double of what they quoted me and my shipment was damaged and had to throw much of it away.

In preparation for my move from San Francisco to London, I spoke multiple times with Anthony Sclafani to get a quote, share the details of my move and required services, and ask a handful of questions. Anthony was extremely knowledgeable, polite, professional, and transparent with information about the international shipping process. When corresponding via e-mail, Anthony always provided timely responses, and his attention to detail was fantastic. He also expressed willingness to look at quotes from competitors and do what he could to match prices.

Ultimately, I did not select Transparent International Movers to handle my move to London, but I know that I would have been in good hands with Anthony at the helm. For anyone considering Transparent International Movers, ask for Anthony. You will not be disappointed.

I wish I could give them 0 stars. They are no in business for their customers. The company does not care if you receive your shipment or not. Once they have your money, they extort more money from you by stating that you will have to pay additional storage costs if you don't give them more money. This is the most arrogant company I have ever had to deal with.

For the purposes of this review I’m giving Transparent International a one star review so I can write this. I employed Transparent International to move my stuff to Chiang Mai, Thailand and they lost my uncle’s wheelchair and have made no attempt to find it, reach out to me to explain what happened or, file an insurance claim. Do not waste your time or money with this company.

Beware of bait & switch tactics, non-itemized invoices, inaccurate dates, ghosting, indecipherable erratic emails and unprofessionalism.

TLDR; promised locked in rate, rate keeps changing. Promised groupage, got palletization. Promised pay upon delivery, forced to pay before pickup. Expect to get ghosted at key points in the timeline. Expect non itemized invoices with math typos. Expect storage fees that pre-date pick-up date. Expect demands for payments that are 400% higher than the signed estimate. Expect to not ever get your items back.

We hired these brokers to move boxes from Oregon to Denmark.

Apparently we fell for a common scam. This company did an excellent job during the sales call. Barrett (sales rep) promised us that our deposit would guarantee a "locked in rate per cf" regardless of amount shipped or point in time items were picked up. Barrett explained to us the difference between "groupage" and "palletization" and informed us that their company uses groupage, which takes longer but is cheaper. Barrett told us that after our items were loaded into a container (groupage) a final cf would be calculated and then we would be alerted to the final amount owed for “door to door” shipping/delivery. Barrett told us that the final amount would be due when our items were delivered to their destination.

We paid the deposit which should have secured a rate of $23.92 per cf. We have the estimate invoice to prove this.

Alarm bells started to go off after we paid our deposit. Our moving rep, Joseph, told us that Barrett was wrong, that we had to pay the full estimated amount before pick-up, not at time of delivery. The amount they were demanding was based on 263cf when we had already communicated that our estimated load was approximately 90cf. We successfully negotiated a lower invoice amount and paid it, but it took three weeks and was not resolved until a few days before our pick-up day. On pick up day the movers collected 84.6cf of cargo, all regular moving boxes, nothing irregular or unusual.

Then it got worse, a lot worse.

Four weeks after they picked up our items we were emailed an invoice for “overages” with a payment due date already expired. They are charging us for 125cf, even though our collected items equaled 84.6cf. They changed the cost per cf to either $56.95 or $42.02 (invoice has conflicting math).

When we questioned this we were told that our items were being palletized– not shipped using groupage. Questions about the illogical cost per cf were ignored.

For the next two months we emailed several times a week. We occasionally heard back from Joseph, but always with non-answer answers. We continually tried to work out a solution but were unable to get anyone at this company to respond in a timely way with anything resembling a trustworthy reply. At one point Joseph offered us an NDA to sign but refused to provide it to us to review. Joseph’s emails are often composed with a mish-mash of garbled legalese– he never directly replies to any of our clearly stated questions.

We then got hit with a series of invoices for storage fees. These invoices date back to before our items were even picked up.

Upon writing this review we are still stuck in this mess. We have already paid close to 200% of what Barrett promised us it would cost. They are holding our items hostage and demanding an amount close to another 200%. Additionally, we have no faith that our items are secure, safe and protected from damage. We have no faith that our items will be shipped to us. We are filing complaints with all the relevant oversight bureaus.

Don’t hire this company to move your most precious possessions– don’t trust them with an international move– any move is profoundly stressful. These people are not trustworthy and they will scam you.

This company uses unethical tactics. They give you a price, but once they have your goods, they say you owe more money, and if you don't pay, you will incur storage costs.

Myself and my immediate family have used International shipping companies for years and this is by far the worst.
Our recent move from Denver to the UK has been smooth other than our dealings with Transparent International.
They will ghost you after taking your money.
We have no idea where our items are at this point and they have refused to answer multiple emails.
Josh and Paola are great until they have your money then they will completely ignore you. We were told we would get an update and that was 12 weeks ago.
We are now putting forward a case for fraud with our banking institution.

Update Jan 2025
Just been hit with an $855 CBP inspection charge.
Still no progress on receiving our items in the UK after 7 months.
Alot of 5* reviews popping up from customers with only 1 review.
Beware of this company.

Update 14th Feb 2025
Another bill for $2,000 and the shipment hasn't even left US soil. $10,000 for a small shipment at this point.
Again, Avoid this company.

March 2025 update
Finly received our goods. There are multiple expensive items missing including all our cutlery, plates, a Kitchenaid mixer, Instant Pot and various other electrical items.
Emailed Jacob who says he will check with the warehouse and have had no contact since despite emailing to follow up.
Again, do yourself a favor and do not use this company.