This was my first time using movers and I wanted to like this company so much more than I did…read more
It started well. I asked for a 9 am slot. Sharon called the day before to confirm and told me they'd be there between 9 and 9:30. They arrived at 8:45 (points for punctuality). I wanted to be completely moved out of my 4th floor walk-up in 2 hours. Between the 3 movers, my boyfriend and I, and a few friends, we hit that deadline on the nose. These guys were like a mule team! There was no chatting or checking messages. From the time they arrived until they left, they were working. They didnt even stop for water until I offered them some. There wasnt much for us to do because they were so efficient.
So why the low star rating? Well, things went sour soon after they arrived when one of them (a tall, thin middle eastern guy. I think his name was Moshay) started trying to price gouge us. I read the fine print in the contract which said they charge extra to wrap mirrors & TVs. Since we'd already wrapped most of our breakables in thick layers of bubble wrap (and were wrapping the rest when they arrived), all they had to do was wrap their "complimentary" blankets around the stuff and get it on the truck.
Imagine our surprise when ol' Mo tells us that it'll be $10 extra PER MIRROR to wrap & move our mirrors (which I'd already wrapped, mind you), $25 extra per TV and whatever the hell extra they planned to charge us for the couch & mattresses. We said we didnt need all of those extras. Moshay insisted that we had to have them since they didnt want to be responsible for broken items. We said we'd put the fragile stuff on the truck ourselves if that was the case because we weren't gonna pay all these last minute a la carte fees when we already had packing materials and were wrapping it ourselves.
By this time I was ready to cancel: I was already annoyed that Sharon increased the price between my initial quote and the scheduled move, and now this. Finally, he said that they'd do the wrapping and moving for $110 an hour. It was "only" $15 more an hour (plus the $10 more than I was initially quoted), so I decided to cough up the extra $100 bucks (which is what it cost after all was said and done) to get this show on the road.
I wont outright call it a scam, but their business practices are sketchy at best. They quote you a low rate so that you'll choose them. Then when they arrive, they start piling on fees. In our case, even though we wrapped everything, they wanted to do it their way & charge us. And since you dont know what they're going to try and charge you for until they arrive, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. They know you won't cancel your move, especially because it'll be too late to book anyone else, so you're stuck paying the fees. Granted, they were still cheaper than most of the other places I found, but I didnt need that headache from them first thing in the morning.
Moshay said I should've asked for "full packing". Sharon offered it to me, but she didnt explain what it entailed. To me, "full packing" sounds like they'll pack AND move us, which we didnt need since we'd been packing for over a month.
What THEY call "full packing" is wrapping TVs, mirrors and furniture in blankets & shrink wrap to protect it. Had it been explained that way, instead the arbitrary and misleading moniker, this whole misunderstanding would've been avoided.
I also didnt like how Moshay tried to coddle me & engage me in several conversations to justify the upcharges or discuss his side of the story. (I am not paying by the hour for that). Instead, he spent the rest of the move trying smooth talk me: offering me unsolicited advice, trying to chat me up, expressing his disagreement with some of our furniture placement choices. I found it insulting because he spoke to me like I was some poor ingénue instead of a paying (and, at this point, pissed off) client, while sparing my boyfriend the same BS. I understand wanting a happy customer, but let the work do the talking.
If you deal with Moshay, make sure you control the conversation. He's like a fly: He starts buzzing and soon you're so distracted trying to shoo him away and get on with things that you stop paying attention to what else is going on around you. I'm not exactly sure what time my move started or ended: I just signed the papers (without getting a copy of the receipt!) to hurry and get him out of my house. Based on my own estimate of when they started and ended, the charges seem correct, but if he can distract someone as meticulous, focused and organized as I pride myself on being, he'll probably distract you too.
I can't say whether or not I would book them again. They did a very good job: they were quick and efficient and not one of our items was damaged. However, I dont like sneaky, deceptive or underhanded business practices (or people who undermine me because of my gender) whether intentional or not.