I wish I had read the June 2011 review prior to hiring Beal's Moving. I hired them in September 2011 to move a vertical Steinway piano from my parents' home in Northern California to my home in Central Calfiornia and a vertical Boston Piano from my home to a friend's home. I purchased $10,500 in insurance with a $500 deductible on the Steinway as it would have to be moved down two half flights of stairs. As the other reviewers noted, the Beal's people were quite pleasant on the phone.
I could not be there when the Steinway was picked up. The realtors who had sold my parents' home were there and told me everything had gone well. Beal's needed to store the Steinway piano until they had enough of a load to drive from Santa Rosa to my area. It would be stored in a non-climate controlled environment. I was not comfortable with this, due to the heat in Santa Rosa, but I agreed to it. The piano was stored for three weeks. I had to remind Beal's more than once to provide me the paperwork. It took two weeks to receive it.
Beal's Moving advertises itself as piano experts and assured me of their expertise before I contracted with them. The day they were to deliver the piano, I was emailed that Mr. Beal had been trying to contact me since the night before but that my cell phone went straight to voice mail. I had no missed calls on my phone. We made contact and then had to wait for the local person Mr. Beal had hired to assist with the move. While his assistant was pleasant, he clearly had no experience with piano moving. The dolly they used was rather precarious.
Mr. Beal immediately commented that the piano was not in very good shape. He had already provided me a schema indicating scratches, etc., to the surface prior to the move, as I would expect any mover to do. The piano is over fifty years old, and I was well aware of nicks and scratches to the wood, the result of being played and loved by generations of children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Mr. Beal did not seem to understand, however, the unique nature of a Steinway, that the value is in the instrument itself, not in its qualities as a piece of furniture.
After they had set the piano down we noticed that the right leg was askew. Mr. Beal pulled it back into position. I then followed him for the delivery of the Boston piano.
When I returned home, we noticed that there was damage to the piano where the leg had been askew. I immediately called Beal's Moving. I provided them pictures. First they tried to tell me what I was showing them was the left leg, which showed damage on the schema they'd provided me. I agreed that the damage to the left leg was pre-existing and said that was not the damage to which I was referring. After numerous phone calls and emails, Beal's conceded there was damage around the right leg and gave me the name of a furniture refinisher who would look at the piano.
I contacted Steinway & Sons in New York and was given the name of a local Steinway expert. The person Beal's had contacted never contacted me. About a month after the piano was delivered, Mr. Beal was in town again and wanted to look at the piano. He took the leg off and said it would be a simple repair. I informed him, the repairman he had contacted had never contacted me, and we agreed that the Steinway expert I had called would provide an estimate. Beal's continued to remind me that I had a $500 deductible. They clearly felt the repair would not exceed that.
The estimate was over $1,200. At that point, Beal's referred the claim to their insurer. The insurer contacted me saying Beal's believed the repair would cost $300 and they wanted another estimate. The second estimate came in at $1,310. Subtracting the $500 deductible, Beal's was to pay $500 and the insurance company $310.
It has now been well over two months since Beal's was notified of how much they are to pay me, and over sixth months since I made the claim, and Beal's has yet to pay the claim. I have been told by the insurance company on three separate occasions that Beal's has said they were mailing a check to the insurance company. Beal's says that the second time they said they would mail a check, they actually did not do so because they did not know to whom to make out the check. Beal's not asking the insurance company this question, but rather waiting until the insurance company again asked for the check, is indicative of Beal's manner of doing business since this incident began, which is to not do anything until pushed to do so.
Contrary to their claim, Beal's Moving are not experts in piano moving. In addition, they have failed to pay for damages they caused, under the terms of the contract for additional insurance I have with them. I would not recommend Beal's Moving for moving any sort of goods whatsoever. read more
