We had heard lots of good stories, so when it was time for us to move, it seemed like Sanders Moving and Storage was a wise decision. Looking back, it was one of the worst decisions we made. We were moving from a 2700 square foot house to an 1100 square foot apartment, with the rest of our belongings going into long term climate controlled, secure storage also owned by Sanders. After describing our belongings, we were given a quote of $1500. We knew this could go up because it was based on time, but at least we had a start.
The Saturday of the move 3 guys arrived (30 minutes late) with 1 truck. The guy in charge looked around and said "Well, this won't all fit on one truck." My reply "We were told there would be 2 guys in 2 trucks." They ended up calling in another truck with another 3 guys. It was a hot day, but even with doors open, we let our air conditioning run to keep the temperature down. The moving men appeared to take VERY frequent breaks and moved slowly. I left and went to our apartment to wait while they finished up. When they were moving our belongings into our 3rd floor apartment, I noticed many boxes were not right side up. Our dresser was carried upstairs on end, almost to the point of tipping over. Boxes were crushed and it appeared the movers were tired and just wanted to be done. I was also concerned as we began unpacking that we couldn't find things. We were told basically screws, etc. would be taped onto the back of items, or put in something close. This seems very odd to me. When they finally finished (almost 10 hours after they started!) the head guy handed us a survey to fill out while he finished the bill. I was peeved at the long day and slow service but filled out the survey with average marks. I then got the bill. It was $3400!! Wow! That is quite a change from $1500. When questioned, he basically said they used more men and it took too long. We had little choice but to pay the bill. After he left my husband told me about our house. Sanders put holes in the walls, made the carpets horribly dirty and did not treat our belongings well at all. Again, we didn't feel like we had much recourse, so we didn't say anything. That Monday, I received a notice from my credit card that Sanders had charged another $400 to our card. I called to question, and was told they took longer to unload at the storage unit than they thought. I protested and described how much more expensive they had been than the original estimate, and it was now even higher. She talked to Bill, and he did take the additional charge off the card.
When we knew we were moving into our house, we knew that the movers would NOT be Sanders. We contacted them to get access for the new movers to our storage pods. When we got there, the Sanders employee let my husband in the building. He apologized to my husband about our previous move and said he wished they had the opportunity to make it up to us with this move. This will turn ironic shortly. After talking with my husband, the Sanders employee said he had to go and left. He said if he wasn't back to simply close the doors when they were done! The movers began loading and finding damage. That was very discouraging, but even more discouraging was to find belongings ON TOP OF THE POD! How is this secure storage? As things were unloaded at the new house, more damage became apparent. I know that particle board furniture is not covered, but my office desk was essentially ripped into two pieces. Hunks of wood were gouged out. We moved 900 miles with little damage. Sanders moved us 20 miles and caused tremendous damage. I then noticed a large cabinet was missing from my office. I contacted Tim at Sanders and he said he would look into it. He then contacted me on Monday to say my cabinet had been found in another storage unit. How does that work??? Our storage is our storage. If it is in someone else's pod, what prevents them from taking it? How would other movers know what was and was not ours? This was again concerning, but Tim assured me it would be delivered. When I mentioned rain, he told me that it would be in a moving truck and not outside. When it was delivered, it was wrapped in cellophane, and dripping wet inside. The cellophane was holding water inside. How did that happen? The only way would be if it got rained on and THEN was wrapped. I was irate. I have now discovered that 2 of the 4 moveable shelves from this cabinet are missing. (Shelves appear to be just randomly placed with your belongings. Ours were wrapped in a rug in our wheelbarrow. My bike helmet was storage for the tines of our Mantis lawn tiller!) I asked Tim to check for the shelves or compensate us for them and he has not responded.
To say Sanders Moving and Storage is a disappointment is putting it mildly. I will have to replace my office desk, and purchase new shelves (if I can) to replace the ones that Sanders lost. I am not hard to please, read more
