Lots of Damage, No Accountability
Sharon Castellanos
Submitted this review about
Hilldrup Moving & Storage
Review made Live: 11/26/2011 11:47:00 PM
We've moved across oceans and across the country, a total of seven times. We're not newbies to the business. I researched a lot of local companies to do our latest move, from Northern Virginia to Austin, TX, and got three quotes. I chose Hilldrup because of positive customer reviews and a competitive quote.
What a disappointment. Now that the move is complete, we've got a whole stack of damaged furniture, more than we've ever had, combined, for any of our moves. I'm still waiting for one box to be delivered, which was left on the truck. No one contacted me to say that they had this leftover box in the truck and gee, am I missing anything? It was on me to track people down and keep on them to get it delivered.
Here are my major problems with Hilldrup moving, starting from the beginning of the move.
1) Packers and loaders are two different teams. They sent two guys to pack and they were slow as molasses. Having two different teams on the loading end meant everyone could point fingers at someone else for the crappy packing job.
2) The truck was packed poorly, with some of our stuff packed behind other people's stuff and vice versa. The delivery team spent the day asking us, "Is this yours?" We were beyond annoyed and we knew that something was going to get left on that truck. Despite our best efforts (we scavanged our lawn mower off the truck at the last minute, and literally had to wave down the departing truck to take someone else's stuff they had left on our lawn)
3) The amount of damage--unacceptable. The boxes were poorly packed, many were crushed in on top upon delivery. We submitted claims for nine items, damage adding up to around $3,500.
4) They used 3rd party services to move our piano, and the "piano mover" they used on the Texas end knew NOTHING about pianos. He literally fooled around with the soundboard until he figured out how to unlock the keys, despite my protestations that if he doesn't know for sure how to do it he should leave it.
5) They tout their professionalism as a plus, but I tell you I've never felt more like a number. They were professional, but I felt like no one really gave a crap about our stuff or how the move went. They just wanted to get our move off the books.
I definitely would not use Hilldrup movers again.
Update: The missing box? Shipped by Hilldrup via UPS and all the stuff was smashed to smitherines. It was packed like crap with barely any paper in a huge box full of glass and breakables.
The companies response? Contact UPS and make a claim on them. I have yet to receive an apology of any kind for their terrible performance. I'm downgrading their rating from two stars to one.
