My wife was the one who set up the move with our representative. His name is Josh and we were to deal with him for everything up until the day before the move when we would be contacted by the drivers. My wife went through room by room and explained everything we would be moving in order to put together the estimate. We have not used a moving company before and money is tight so we are both very careful and she was very descriptive with our furniture. When we actually got the estimate, it had a partial list at the bottom, but we figured it was okay because we told them everything anyway. This was a problem later along with the fact that we did not specify things like how our bunk bed also included two mattresses. I guess common sense doesn’t matter with some people.
My wife asked specifically about the moving process and was told we would be contacted the day before the move by the movers themselves. We would be given a time frame for when they would show up and would have to have half the remaining payment (after the deposit) in cash or postal check. The move would be a full service move and could include packing if we needed it. We live on the third floor and were concerned about additional costs for stairs and were told we would not be charged extra. Being extra cautious, we got this in writing. We were then told our items would be loaded on the truck and could be stored for 30 days without additional cost. The storage is part of why we chose this company and we were told our belongings would be stored in the trailer similar to other pod moving systems and that when we wanted them delivered, we should call two days in advance. The items would be delivered to our new home where we would pay the remaining balance in the same cash or postal check. It all sounded pretty good, but this is not how the company works.
We were scheduled to have the movers arrive on a Friday between 11:00 and 2:00, but were called the night before and told they would not make it until Saturday. At first, we were told the delay was because of weather, but later found out the family being moved us didn’t have the money to pay for the move. I didn’t realize until later that this was probably because they increased the price on that other family. When the move was changed to Saturday, we were guaranteed the movers would arrive between the times they told us of 8:00 and noon. They showed up at 2:00.
After the movers arrived, they itemized our belongings and said that because so many items were not on their list, the move would cost at least $700-$800 more than the estimate of about $1,750. The movers tried to get us to switch our rate from a weight basis to a cubic foot basis which I was told would be more accurate, but I guessed would have cost more. We were also told that none of the bedding, towels, or other items in plastic bags could be moved. We asked why and they said it was a liability if one of the bags ripped and something spilled on them. It is understandable, but if we were told this up front, we would have had everything in boxes. Because we had lots of bags, the movers suggested they could box our stuff for us and they would not even charge us for packaging. They would have to charge us for the boxes though at $5.50 per box. When we tried to argue that nothing we were moving could spill and ruin the things in the bags, they told us it was also in case someone else’s things spilled. Thinking our things would be kept in a truck by themselves, we found out they would be transported from Utah to LA and stored in a warehouse until we needed to move in. At that time, the movers would have 7-14 days to move our things to our new home in Colorado. That means if we called two days before the move, we might not get our stuff until 10 days later.
At this point, my wife and I decided to turn them away without providing any service to us. We were contacted by the company to try to get a lower price so we would still use them to move, but my lack of trust outweighed any discount they could offer. I told them if they wanted to keep me happy, they should refund my deposit, but they would not. I paid the deposit with a credit card and I am in the process of refuting the charge. Any company that treats people this way should not be in business. DO NOT USE THEM. If you have already paid the deposit like I did, make a backup plan and cover yourself as best you can. Good luck.
