Actually, this is more of a 2.5 star review. Tom and his crew moved my fiance and I back at the end of October '07 from a 1 bedroom in downtown SF to a 1 story house in Golden Gate Heights. It was a good day to move, dry and crisp and we were all ready to go way before our 1pm move appt.
That's when the crap started. 1pm came and went and no movers and no call. Fortunately, we had their number handy and I called and Tom picked up and told me they were running late and would be there as soon as they could. This scene went on for the next 4 hours or so and they finally rolled to our apartment around 5pm.
Now I understand that things can run late due to the previous morning client not being ready, etc. But not being proactive in contacting the customer or even semi-accurate in predicting when they would actually show up was not professional or even remotely acceptable. My fiance and I ended up waiting on Bush St in the cold October wind for them because they kept telling us they were coming "soon."
And not even a real apology when they finally started or an offer of something to appease the customer for their extreme tardiness. As I said, I understand that sometimes things happen beyond the movers' control but that does not lessen the impact on the waiting customer. But we remained calm and I went and bought them water and asked them if they needed a dinner break...yeah, by the time they got all of our stuff loaded, it was dinnertime!
We got to our new place around 7pm and it was pretty much dark already. Not really how we had envisioned moving into the new house. By this time, I was pretty frustrated with the lack of customer service and I asked Tom whether he'd be able to give us a discount on the move cost due to their tardiness. He looked at me as if I were crazy to ask and said something to the effect that this wasn't their fault and no, they would not offer a discount.
Then things really went even more downhill as the 3rd man he had helping him that day (lucky us) overheard my request and physically got in my face and SCREAMED at me blaming us for them running late!!! Now I'm a pretty small Asian female but I'm in no way shape or form afraid of confrontation, even from a frothing, larger man getting in my space. My fiance had to pull us apart as I stood my ground while this person got angrier and angrier and more in my face.
After that confrontation, this 3rd man essentially became very careless in how he was unloading our stuff and setting things down in the house. Unfortunately, he was the 1 out of 3 men who moved us that day who was at the end of the assembly line, meaning Tom and the more petite Irish guy was moving stuff from the truck and this guy was the one to put it down in the house.
My fiance and I really had to watch him close to make sure he didn't deliberately destroy our things. And he glared at me with venom everytime he went by which was frankly immature and unnecessary. I can tell you that he lost the pegs to put together our stereo cabinet with and made scratches on our newly refinished wood floors in 2 rooms because he stayed so angry. I couldn't wait to get that uncouth person out of our new house!!!
So why 2.5 stars instead of 0 stars? First, even though he refused a discount for us, I do believe that Tom, the owner, was trying to do his best in an unfortunate situation. Our move was to consist of 2 stops and since they were running so late, he couldn't pick up a few boxes from my place, the 2nd stop that night. He offered to pick it up the next day and deliver them to the new house without additional charge. He followed through on that and was much more friendly that day.
He also let me borrow and ultimately keep a couple of wardrobe boxes as I didn't quite have enough on the day of the move. Also, his partner, the smaller Irish guys was quite friendly throughout and apologized for his partners' often brutish behavior.
Based on my experience with the move, I would recommend NEVER booking an afternoon appointment with Tom and his guys as you never know when they will run late. Also, be well aware that he seems to pull in part-time "help," if you can call it that, for his 3rd and 4th guys who may or may not be rabid "ass****s" and threaten you physically! It seems like move experiences with them are pretty much hit or miss so beware! read more