It pains me to have to write a bad review of a black-owned business, but I feel it makes sense to give a fair warning about Amin Moving.
Due to a bizarre work situation, my family was forced to move twice within a very short period of time. The first move was scheduled for October 21, 2017 and Amin Moving was recommended by a good friend as a fantastic moving company. I trust my friend so I called immediately and scheduled the move.
I was frustrated by the slow communication and difficulty getting a confirmation about the date but I figured it was because the company was busy. The move was scheduled for a Saturday afternoon and when the day came I got a call from Amin that morning indicating that there was a problem with the moving truck that would cause a delay. We were informed that the original start time of 10:00am would be closer to noon. What followed was a day filled with false promises of arrivals and unreturned calls until finally it was after 9:00pm.
The movers never showed that day and put us in a very bad spot. The next day, however, the movers arrived and moved us at a discounted rate. The crew was professional and careful with our belongings. They seemed to make a real effort to make up for the previous day's unprofessionalism. I felt very positive about Amin and his business.
Fast forward to January 20th. Shortly after giving birth to a new born baby on December 12, a work situation caused us to have to move back in to DC. Given the positive recovery following the missed move date the first time around, I immediately called Amin.
I both texted and emailed the move date and a day or so later he emailed confirming. In both the text and email I left the move date, January 20th. I included the date in the title of the email.
By the time the move date came around I wrote Amin to confirm the move. The night before he messaged in response to tell me that instead of moving at 9:00am as scheduled, we would be unable to begin the move until 12:30pm. This caused us a major issue as we'd paid to reserve parking spaces with the DC DMV that only allotted us from 7:00am-3:00pm. I would have understood the late start, except that in his text he said that he was going to be late because I included the wrong date in my email, which I promptly checked and found to be patently false. I re-forwarded the email showing the correct date to which he never replied correcting his incorrect assertion.
On the move date Amin arrived on time but his crew didn't arrive until over and hour and a half later. The work began around 2:00pm and at that one Amin said he would leave the work to his crew while he attended to some matter in the truck.
Unlike the crew who did the first move, this crew was slow. The crew did not take care of our belongings. We purchased a brand new baby recliner rocker that was never wrapped or covered (I didn't know until later during the unloading). A piece of furniture that I had moved upstairs with my 13 year old son was left when the crew said it would not fit down the stairs until I went up and did it myself.
Two of his crew members took an excessive number of breaks and loaded the truck so poorly that when Amin finally emerged from the truck, he had to repack the entire vehicle to fit the same items we had moved only a few months prior.
All said, the move took over 9 hours. Boxes were tossed upside down. Dishes were smashed, tables were scratched, and light-colored furniture was soiled. In the end, we were charged full price and after I wrote an email explaining the condition of our belongings a day or two later, Amin never even responded.
I understand that moving is a hard business, and we hired Amin moving because we couldn't do it ourselves with a newborn. However, there is a minimum basis of care anyone should expect. Boxes clearly labeled in large read print, 'Kitchen Fragile" should not be tossed in the floor upside down. A light colored chair should not be placed in the truck without being covered. A large map on poster board should not be taped to shield the glass of a cabinet. And clients shouldn't be charged full price when the entire truck has to be reorganized.
I always look to support black business and as a result, I am truly sad to have to write this. I hope this was a one-off, and perhaps a bad crew that Amin should have more closely supervised and didn't realize until too late. However, the disrespect with which our belongings were treated in this move, I can't help but take personally and felt the need to inform other potential clients about our experience.
What's sad is that just before the move we had informed a family friend of Amin Moving and the good job it had done. After our move we called to rescind our endorsement. read more