After at least ten successful moves with Fairfax Transfer's professional movers between family and…read moremyself, I hired them again (or so I thought). On moving day a truck from A2B Movers rolled up and upon verifying with Fairfax Transfer I was informed they were under the same ownership umbrella. In retrospect, the only clue I had was a terms & conditions email from Fairfax on A2B letterhead. While Fairfax provided two trucks (one full-size and one smaller) for my last move of a 3-level house, only one small truck showed this time. And thus began the most expensive and disastrous move I've ever had.
Based on my experience, these were not professionals. On a move estimated to take 7-8 hours total they took 5 hours just to empty the first house, despite everything being packed and ready to go. Ultimately the move took 13 hours and cost over $3135 (on an estimate of $1912-2132). While the estimate called for a four-man crew, I got three men and a petite, 5'2" young lady who moved one small box at a time by hand: there is no way this was a professional mover. There was not a dolly or blanket in sight. My antique wooden desk was placed directly into the truck with no protection and was used as a platform to stack other items (and yes, of course it was damaged). I personally witnessed them dropping boxes and dragging a heavy desk across my hardwood floors. Several of the crew would disappear for long periods of time, and the guy who appeared to be in charge was argumentative about where to place items (everything goes on the first floor, apparently).
Due to the lack of adequate truck space, two trips became necessary, and the crew chief made his displeasure about this abundantly clear. He then argued about which items he had to take in an attempt to finish the day, trying to leave items behind in the first house. I guess my wife - who was 8 months pregnant at the time - and I could move the stuff he didn't want to take on our own.
When the crew finally left, we discovered a heavy safe it took two of them to carry had been left lying on its back in the middle of the floor, and we chased the truck down the driveway to ask them to place it upright. The boss and one of the other movers grumpily came back into the house and set it up on its base (it took two of them but I guess my pregnant wife and I were supposed to do it).
Only once they were gone did we get a true sense of this terrible move. While some damage is normal in a move, I've never had so much, thanks to the lack of any kind of protection used for my items. I'm still finding furniture with scratches and pieces broken off. Several small antique tables with glass tops are just missing the glass - they must have broken it and not bothered to tell us. But I also found our bed was sloppily assembled (see photos) with the supports not fully secured underneath. The box spring on our guest bed was placed upside down, which we only discovered when pulling up the mattress to put sheets on.
To add insult to injury, after all of this I received an email from Fairfax Transfer asking for a social review and I replied telling them everything that was unacceptable about this move and demanding an adjustment to this bill. For three months now, I've heard that they are "interviewing the crew," "meeting with management," and that they "forwarded this email and the claim to the operations manager directly and he will reach out." It's obvious they have no intention of doing anything to try to mitigate this awful experience, but I'd have much more respect for them if they simply said no, rather than BS-ing me for three months. Keep that in mind when you see the reply asking me to call them to discuss this or just calling me a liar.
To be fair, Joe, the claims manager at A2B who handles damage claims was responsive and apologetic, but his role is limited to the compensation rate for damaged items. I have declined to accept that compensation because it requires me to sign a non-disparagement clause and I refuse to waive my right to share this awful experience,
They wasted my time and my money, and may well have endangered my family with their lousy work. I will never do business with either company again, and neither should you.
