Getting to this review a little late, but I wanted to put my two cents in about this company, and…read morefor the most part, it is all pretty positive.
My wife and have learned the hard way just how hard it is to find a good moving company for moving from state to state. It is really really hard, and a scary experience when you feel like a novice, or you are only experienced at local moving. There are way too many companies out there all to happy to scam you so you have to use your best judgement, and do not give in till you are satisfied you feel comfortable with your mover.
First off, we did a corporate move that her company paid for, and we chose a company called Virgin Van lines. Total disaster. Took us months to get our stuff, and sadly for other families, they are still tied up in court awaiting budget, who sued virgin, to find a way to get them their stuff.
I had to move my stuff that was left after her, since she had to leave first, and I had a few months left on my lease. This time I was determined to do my homework and not get scammed.
This time I had every company I was interested in come and visit, and if they refused, I crossed them off the list. I had about seven different companies come and visit, all of them with their own scheme, no matter how reputable they seemed. Even ones from moving scam.com who came highly recommended were shady. All star movers wanted to charge my 7,000 dollars to move from NYC to Austin Tx!!!!
Cut to Graebel, and a very no nonsense woman named Ann who phoned me at 7 pm at night because I had asked for a rep to call me. At first, I was deeply put off, as she suggested I might not be able to afford Graebel, and that if I was looking to cut corners, they were not the company I wanted. She also told me it might be a waste of her time if she came out to see me the next day. I know it sounds bad, but, something told me she was testing me. She wanted to see if I was going to balk at her price, which actually turned out to be the right middle number I was looking for based on prices that were low balls, and too expensive. I insisted she come, because I had a feeling she was the one I was looking for. Crazy I know.
After insisting for an hour, I got her to come down, and thank god she did. She was actually a really nice lady, smart, knowledgeable and frank. She told me how the business works, with no BS. I liked her already. And I knew that whatever she said, the company trusted her with 20 plus years on the job, so what she says and promises sticks.
My middle ground was about 2350, not cheap, but also not horrible considering NY to texas is about 6,000 miles plus. She mad sure it was binding, but a real binding, not a promise to bind. The difference, whatever she quoted was her responsibility, so if her estimated weight went over, and my items actually weighed more when it got to my home in tx, I was not responsible for any extra charges. However, if it came in below, I would get the refund. The trick to this of course, is that the company will at a minimum, want what is qouted, so even if it might come out to less, they will probably weight it in a way that ensures they get the quoted price. They tell you of course you can be there for the final weighing, but once you are getting your stuff, and just happy it arrived and you are on budget, you tend to forget and just want to get on with it.
The one thing they do do differently, which she admitted saves the company money, is on labor. They use 2 man, or in my case, for pick up, two women crews. For the drop off it was two men. This of course can be a disadvantage because it puts more work on one individual without a third man to help. The upside to it for me the tip is a little easier to figure out.
There was some hiccups. Once or twice I had to go back and forth with Graebel management about mis quoting the price, but it was fixed fast. Also, the guys who dropped of were nice, but a bit grumpy. It was specifically stated my bed would be put back together once they arrived, but they were not happy about doing so, and were told they were given no such directive. I insisted, and they let it go, and did it, but not happily. It gone done, that was all I cared about. The check was given over, and that was that, all was done. No surprise surcharges, no last minute demands, and they overall did a good job.
The moral here, do you homework. Nothing will be perfect, no moving company is, but it is as close to perfect as it could get considering the circumstances and nothing like the disaster our first move was. They kept me updated, and returned all my phone calls. They really did not do follow up to make sure I was happy, but I let it go, as the job got done on time and on budget, and just in under two weeks.
So I can recommend them. Be clear on what you want and do not take no for an answer. Moving is stressful, and if you do not educate yourself it will go wrong.
Jr from Round Rock Tx
