For the second time, my wife and I utilized the wonderful services of On The Move, moving company…read moreand had excellent results. I shopped around for various moving company quotes which ranged in under $1000 to over $4000. Primarily, I looked at 3 things to help in selecting a moving company: 1) Reviews 2) Price and 3) Location. As we were moving houses in-state (from Cumming to Duluth), it was important to find one that was not very far away. My wife and I made several smaller trips to the new house with boxes to help save on the costs.
Pro Tip:
- If you're able, consider moving smaller boxes by yourself piece by piece. This saves overall time on the day of move and their final quote.
- I disassembled as much furniture as I could before they arrived. (bed frames, mirrors in boxes etc.)As such, the movers told me how grateful they were and also helped to lower the final costs a bit.
Setting up the move:
- Simple process of going to their website and submitting items needing moved. Since we had mostly the heavy bulky furniture, it made quoting process simple.
- Once I narrowed down OTM, I made contact Lauren W. via phone who was very friendly and responsive. I informed her that I had an upright piano that I requested to be moved and she made sure to put in the work notes that the movers would need a piano dolly.
- I paid a $150 deposit to "lock in" the date.
Communication:
- OTM movers were very responsive with keeping me updated with times of arrival and any questions answered.
- They sent emails a few days before the move and the day before. They also called about an hour before they arrived to do a final confirmation.
Day of Move:
- On the day of the move, the crew (Joseph, Jayson, and Archie) showed up on time with their big box truck.
- They greeted me then did a walk through to ensure they understood all the items needing moved. Once they understood, they went to work and started in. You could tell they were pros in how they communicated to each other with how they lifted and moved items.
- From start to finish at the "old house" took about 2-3 hours.
- I informed them that the piano had gotten damaged by other movers in the past and I did not want it to happen again. They made sure that it was handled with care, and it was.
- After everything was moved to the truck and tied down, they did a final walk through with me to ensure they had not missed anything.
- As it was getting close to lunch, Joseph communicated that they would be taking about an hour break and would meet me at the new house.
- They arrived at the new house on time, then I told them where the furniture would need to go. They again started transporting the furniture.
- 2 guys typically unloaded while the third assembled.
- After everything was unloaded from the truck, I did a final walkthrough with Jayson to ensure everything was where it needed to be, no damage was present and if I needed them to readjust or remove anything.
Costs:
- While the quote was estimated between 850-950, the actual cost was 1331.69, which I felt was fair.
- I paid with check and they lowered the overall cost a bit to wave processing fees if using a CC.
Pros:
- Joseph (crew chief), Jayson, and Karchie did a great job. They were friendly, enthusiastic, hard working, and communicated well.
- They moved 2 heavy refrigerators at the "new house" when asked.
- They appreciated that I had taken time to disassemble furniture beforehand and didn't have many boxes they had to pack or load.
Cons:
Minor complaints: these can be corrected by their crews being more aware of surroundings at customers houses.
- They left used and empty tape rolls, soda bottles and trash in the rooms instead of cleaning them up.
- After they had left for lunch, I did a walk-through at the "old house" and discovered one of them had forgotten to take their drill they used to assemble some furniture. They were glad when I gave it to them and seemed embarrassed that it had happened.
Final thoughts:
- OTM is a great company to have you help with your move. I felt the prices were fair and the workers they employed were great.
- While we didn't run into serious issues (furniture damaged, personnel problems etc.) I'm confident that OTM upper leadership would not hesitate to make sure the problem was corrected and alleviated.
- Another happy customer for OTM!
