Very inexperienced. Came without proper equipment for moving. Overpriced especially given their extreme lack of experience. Added a $175 charge for a truck I know costs $29 to rent. read more

Hired Hands was definitely one of the cheapest options. They provided movers who were college students. They were very nice and very conscientious but these were not huge hulking dudes. My only complaint is from the management side. We weren't told when the movers would be arriving and when I tried to call to find out nobody answered the phone or returned my calls. I didn't appreciate that. read more

I had a hard quote from hired hands. But on the day, they didn't show up. I called them; they didn't answer. I called them again. No answer. Then they texted--they had a LABOR shortage, could we reschedule at a discount? But I tried to reschedule--they never responded. So BAD! DO NOT USE read more

These gentlemen were simply SPECTACULAR. From the initial call, the estimate, the responsiveness and then the actual move. Thomas and Willie were all that --they took great care of all the things and hands down the best moving experience I've ever had (and as retired military--I've moved A LOT. the price is great and the quality is superb. Thanks to all y'all there for a very smooth move. read more

After hearing about some of the questionable practices from the more established movers in Ithaca, I went with Hired Hands for my move from Ithaca to Manhattan. The rates were far less than any other quote I received, but with no recommendations at all from anyone, personal or otherwise, I was a bit nervous. I was so relieved. Hired Hands is a student-run organization that seems to be managed by current or recently graduated Cornell students, and hires mainly college-aged guys for part time labor. Knowing that, I'm sure everyone's experience can be a bit variable, but my experience was impeccable. Everyone showed up on time for the move out, the truck and the guys arrived on time for the move in, and everyone worked their asses off moving all of my junk on those hot summer days. This is especially shocking (I'm a cynic, I know), since they charge per hour. The way they were carrying two, three boxes up my walk-up at a time, it could've t fooled me. Keep in mind that these guys are licensed only for in-state moves, but you can forget about hauling stuff to California, but if you're moving between NYC and Ithaca, I couldn't recommend these guys more strongly. read more

TERRIBLE booked in January for Tuesday May 31 move out for son's apartment. A week before they tried to move it to Monday (Memorial Day?) or Wednesday- couldn't do that, had to get back to a job, so they said they could keep it Tuesday. Day before at 12:16 pm email me they can't do it Tuesday, Thursday would be best!!!! Ended up canceling them. Now have to go to more expense to come back to Ithaca again with another company to do the move. NEVER USE THIS COMPANY. read more

Second time hiring them was a much better experience. They were early, wearing company shirts, better at planning and bringing supplies. Only bad thing was they never introduced themselves with names, but they were efficient and friendly. read more

Here's the thing. The guys who actually came to do the move? They did a great job. Really impressed with how well they did. They are not the reason for the one star review. This move was scheduled weeks in advance. There were follow up calls and emails to confirm as we got closer. Yet on the day of the move, not only were the movers over 2 hours late, they also went to the wrong address. Again, this wasn't on the movers, but on their supervisors. It was their supervisors who provided the incorrect time and address. THAT is poor management and terrible business. But we were willing to let it slide because the supervisor relayed to us that they would give us a discount for the trouble and inconvenience. Now, let me be clear. With everything going on right now with the coronavirus, companies have to make adjustments and people need to be patient. I'm not insensitive to any of this. So when the supervisor in question had relayed that they were having to close until further notice due to the current situation, we understood. When he said that they might charge us for the full amount, but if they did, they would refund us a check for the discounted rate, we were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But now, here we are. Weeks have past. We were charged the full amount. No check with a partial refund has arrived. We've called and left voicemails. No check with a partial refund has arrived. We've sent emails. No check with a partial refund has arrived. If they can take the time to charge our card the incorrect amount, they can take the time to write out a check and send it to us. Or call us back. Or reply to an email. For those of you reading this looking for help with movers, I'll say this: the guys who show up to work are reliable. But those who are responsible for handling your money are not. It's just bad business. Think long and hard before you choose them for your moving needs, especially if you're on a budget. For those of you reading this that are supervisors at Hired Hands: shame on you for screwing us over. "Shame on you", incidentally, is about as nice of a criticism that I can give you since this is a public post. I have other words that describe my feelings more accurately. Feel free to call and I'll be happy to share them with you. read more

THEY NEVER SHOWED. THEY JUST... NEVER SHOWED UP. We scheduled Hired Hands to pack our apartment into a U-haul truck for 2pm on a Sunday. We were driving to Boston the next morning. 3pm rolled around, and we started worrying. We could not get anybody on the phone or on email. We got a call at 1pm THE NEXT DAY with NO EXCUSE. Just "um, we apologize for that." read more

I have been appalled at the service I received and am shocked by this. I hired them to pack my large moving truck to go to move accross states. Two men showed up 30 minutes late, they packed the truck horrendously taking no care of fragile things and leaving a giant hole in the middle of the truck, and they could not fit everything in. I had to repack my entire truck which set me back hours and so much frustration. What did I just pay $780 dollars for?? When ive contacted them to be refunded some of my money since they admittedly sent two men with zero experience Packing moving trucks I was told that I needed to supervise (for $200 and hour I NEED to supervise??) and whey will give me $100 back. They have not called back now when they said they would and this is clearly run by a group of students who do not care about your previous things or your time. I know many experiences have been great, but when they are bad they are REALLY bad here. read more

I used hired hands for my move from Ithaca to NYC and they were great! My apartment building in New York required a lot of paperwork to show proof of insurance, addition coverage, proof of workmen's comp. etc... and they were able to secure all of that for me very quickly so that we could move on to the important logistics of the move. The movers on move out day and move in day (moved out Ithaca on Wed. moved in NYC Thurs. ) were polite, hard working, and efficient. They took great care with my belongings. They can help you pack and provide packing materials, but since they charge by the hour it would be better to have everything packed before they arrive. They are not the kind of movers that bring tons of packing material and make custom boxes for you like some big, cross country moving companies. If you are concerned about some valuable or fragile pieces of furniture be sure to ask them to bring plenty of blankets and tell them the items you want blanketed. If you have a sofa bed be sure to tell them and ask them to bring a strap to hold it together. They are eager to do a good job and take instruction well. read more

We had to vacate our apartment after 2 months due to structural issues, and our landlord opted to use Hired Hands to move us (they were paying, so their choice). The move itself went well, no real damage past minor scuffs on walls (that you'd expect with any movers). The students are VERY polite and work hard; had I been rating this one move I'd have given 4 or 5 stars, but am leaving it at 3 due to no resolution on the handling of the damage from our first move (see initial post) - that's on management... read more

I didn't fully realize quite how excellent these movers were until I unfortunately took a chance on another company (because of ostensibly lower rates). By comparison, they are in a league of their own. Ultimately I paid $200 less for Hired Hands to move my one bedroom apartment to a storage unit and then all the way to a third floor walk-up in Brooklyn than I did for another company to move my items from a first floor one bedroom in Manhattan to a storage unit in Ithaca. They worked fast and without complaint, they showed up on time, they did not damage any of my belongings, they loaded the storage unit in such a way that many of my items were still accessible over the Summer, and they were even willing to accommodate a request to unload the storage unit without me present, which saved me a four hour drive. Their professionalism made what should have been a very stressful experience incredibly easy. read more

I'm not sure why the other reviewers said they never showed up because I have never experienced that. On the contrary, Hired Hands were so consistently efficient and responsive to any of my inquiries. Because of my crazy schedule, I always contacted Zac really late at night and he always responded within 10 minutes to 30 minutes. I have never written a long and detailed review, but Hired Hands have been so helpful and efficient that I'm too grateful not to write about my great experience with them. I had to leave Ithaca in a hurry and started working in NYC the next day after I left so my boyfriend had to let the movers in the apartment. He told me that the movers were super friendly, called him ahead of time and showed up in time to move everything quickly. Several challenging situations have came up; but Zac and Hired Hands have been so helpful throughout the entire move that all my stuff has arrived in my apartment safe and sound; all of my stuff was in my apartment when I got off work! If I had chosen another moving company, I don't think they would have been as understanding and efficient as Hired Hands. First, due to my crazy schedule, I didn't have time to contact them until two days before the move and they arranged my move on the date I requested without giving me any problem or complaints. Second, I didn't realize that my building requires moving companies to email them a certificate of insurance until 11pm - the night before the moving day. After I told Zac about the situation, he was really understanding and said he would try his best to get the COI before the truck arrived. But the management office of my building just wouldn't pick up the call the entire day so there was no way for Zac to put in a request for COI. I was stuck at work and meetings the entire day so I couldn't do anything about it, but Zac had been on top of things the entire day that he managed to finally get the COI (through repeated over two dozens of phone calls!) and sent it in time before the truck arrived! I was literally in tears when he texted me right away that everything was resolved because I have so many expensive items in those boxes that I wouldn't want them to be left on the sidewalks. Third, I wasn't home to sign the receipt so I had to sign the receipt electronically and they didn't give me a hard time or any complaint about that either! Fourth, their rates are really reasonable after I inquired about other moving companies and Zac even gave me a discount on the moving labor charges. Thank you Zac! Overall, this has been a really great moving experience and Hired Hands have been professional, efficient, helpful and understanding throughout the entire move. I would recommend them to any one of my friends when they relocate from Ithaca to NYC next year! read more

Hired Hands Moving Company is great! As a new grad student in Ithaca doing a cross country move, I hired Hired Hands to help me move all my things into my new apartment. I was very satisfied with their services and have used them for every move I've made in Ithaca since (Comes out to FOUR moves total, and they were GREAT every time). I admit I was surprised and impressed that several times they assured me that I would be able to pack all my belongings into a single storage unit and/or Relo-cube, and did it both times with room to spare! They're fast and professional. Most movers are recent Cornell grads or local Ithacans back home for break, which is nice because you're helping college folks earn some extra cash. Friendly folks, good rates. read more

We hired them to move us from Ithaca to Cortland. They were very professional, and worked really hard (we tried to get them to take breaks, it was really hot! and they just kept working...more impressive considering they charge by the hour). No major damage to any of our belongings, and I would recommend them to anyone. read more

Hired Hands movers were awesome. They showed up on time, were fast, efficient, very mindful while moving our belongings and all around nice guys. I've used a few moving companies in the area and they were by far the best! Thanks guys! read more

These movers did a great job of getting us from the Ithaca area to Flint, Michigan. They managed to load the truck, drive eight hours, and unload the truck all in one day. All arrived in great shape. Respectful, very helpful, and just easy to work with!! We highly recommend them! read more

The long and short of my review is that I do NOT recommend "Hired Hands Moving Company"... at all. I spoke to one of the General Managers Jack D'Agostino, initially, to see what services they were able to provide. After stating I would be moving from a 2BR apartment in NY to VA and sending him the pictures of the large items that would need to be moved, he gave me a quote. The week of the move, he called me and quoted me another (much higher) price. For the inconvenience of this, he didn't charge me for the supplies needed to pack up my place... which means that typically he would be charging me an additional cost to pack up and move my possessions, which is why I was hiring them in the first place. For those who have moved before, your expectation is that movers disassemble items requiring disassembly to get the items out of the home and into the next. This company does NOT have a tool box. You must provide these items yourself. If an item is disassembled prior to them arriving, they won't reassemble it, but if there is damage to an item that wasn't disassembled, they aren't responsible for it. Think about that. This was not expressed prior to their arrival. This was in paperwork I was to sign upon their arrival prior to them starting. Mind you, I packed up my entire apartment except for kitchen dishes, large framed pictures and the large furniture items (beds, dresser, television, desk, couches). Movers are supposed to be trouble shooters and problem solvers in moving items. Because they were unable to get a loveseat couch out (with the peg legs still on), they were going to leave it... and they didn't care. I had to run to different home goods stores to find screw cutters since the screws were stripped. I cut the screws because they weren't able to. Not only were they going to leave my furniture, they had no regard for my framed pictures. The photos are heirlooms from the early 1900s and they stuffed multiple pictures in a box and half-heartedly put bubble wrap on some of the corners. They were NOT individually wrapped. Needless to say, some of my frames were damaged and glass was broken. I took pictures and spoke to Jack D'Agostino, who by this time was tired of hearing from me and had not problem letting me know that he really didn't want to hear from me anymore. The attitude and disregard for my personal property was an absolute disgrace. Two movers came. There were supposed to be 3, but the third had an emergency. The movers were nice, but didn't know how to pack items and were moving at the slowest of paces. I was paying them by the hour and was given an estimate of 4 hours for moving. That would be in experienced hands, but these were students who were asking me what I wanted taken down first. My mother and I were the 3rd and 4th movers, because otherwise it would have taken 24 hours for my items to be put in the truck.... it ended up taking EIGHT hours. Again, I had already packed everything other than the kitchen dishes, framed pictures, beds, dresser, etc. Then, the rental truck they were using had a dead battery, because they left the lights on. My mother told them the lights were on and they said it would be ok. It was going to take the rental company 1-2 hours to send someone to jump the truck. I wasn't leaving this truck with all my possessions with people who didn't value my items... so we stayed and found a neighbor with a big enough truck to jump the truck. I still had a 4 hour drive to make after this fiasco. The general managers were hard to get a hold of throughout this process. The movers could contact them, but not the customer. I could go into more detail, but you should get the picture that this is not the company to use. I suggested that they should clarify the actual services they provide because their services are much less than standard moving companies. They should have been paying me and my mom for how much work we put in. This is a student-run company and though the idea is great, the maturity to deal with moving issues and customer complaints was lacking simply due to lack of life experience. read more

My experience with Hired Hands was a total moving day nightmare. My family (tried to) use Hired Hands for our move recently. On Friday, one day before the move, we got a call from the manager at Hired Hands saying they "didn't have the guys" to move us on Saturday so they would have to come on Sunday at 10am. Sunday rolls around and the movers never showed up. They did not call. To make matters worse, they had no one in their office and we were given no way to contact any of the guys directly. We finally heard back from the Hired Hands Headquarters in Massachusetts around 6pm on Sunday. They were apologetic, but did nothing to rectify the situation. Please be weary in hiring this company. If you use them, expect to be flexible in dealing with a company run by college students. read more

I recently hired Hired Hands to help load a truck for me in Ithaca. The two college students that were sent for the job were nice guys and hard working. However, once my wife and I arrived to our destination to unload the truck (out-of-state), the movers we had there helping us said they had never seen a truck loaded so carelessly before. Much of my furniture was damaged because it had not been covered with the pads I provided, glass picture frames were broken because glass had been laid flat instead of upright, and generally, my things were stacked haphazardly in the truck and therefore were damaged. Please be aware that Hired Hands makes you sign a "released value" statement before they will move you. This means that if any of your property is damaged, they will only pay you 30 cents per pound for the item. The norm with many other companies is 60 cents per pound for an item and most companies allow for a full value protection option. I would encourage those moving not to go with this company, and especially not to sign this release statement. You are signing away nearly all liability the company has for damaged goods which are very likely to occur given that the company's workers seem to be young, untrained, and careless. read more

I contracted with Hired Hands in July for my move from Ithaca to NYC. They did a fantastic job of coordinating complex logistics in moving me from a large home to a small apartment with many items moved into separate storage as well. They accomplished all this while I was out of the country and did a tremendous job! Everything was handled with great care including fragile and antique belongings. I have also referred close personal friends as well as work colleagues to Hired Hands. The feedback shared with me in each case was that the company was efficient, friendly, extremely flexible in meeting scheduling needs and professional in all aspects of handling personal belongings. Hired Hands was also very competitively priced compared to other moving companies. This feedback was based on moves within Ithaca, as well as moves from Ithaca to New York City. read more

Great guys, great experience. Loved the process, and the students were very courteous and easy to talk to

I've moved many times, usually moving myself to save money and a few times with national companies. Hired Hands is the best and most cost-effective moving company I've ever worked with. From start to finish, they were friendly, timely, and did the job as well as it could possibly be done. If you live in the Ithaca area, look no further. These guys are wonderful, sincere people and not only do a fantastic job but deserve the area's support. read more

I recently moved to Cortland, NY from Michigan. In early July, I called Hired Hands to schedule three movers to unload my belongings into my house in Cortland. I received verbal confirmation from an assistant manager that they would be there to meet me on August 6 at 2:00pm. After driving all of my belongings to Cortland in time to meet the movers there by 2:00pm on August 6, they no-showed me. At 2:15, I called them and got their voicemail with a message saying that they were out of the office on August 4, but would be returning calls on August 5...which was all the more confusing because it was August 6. I continued to call back, but wasn't able to leave a voicemail because the mailbox was full. I called the parent company, which was also closed. I called another company under the parent company (they are all housed in the same building), and they had no idea where any of the Hired Hands employees were. I was forced to get a hotel that night (I couldn't unload any of the furniture myself), adding to my total moving expenses, and had to find some last-minute movers who were twice as expensive as Hired Hands and frankly didn't do a great job. On Friday, August 8, I finally received a call back from Hired Hands. The person who called blamed the issue on another employee and offered to come unload my things on August 12! Ridiculous. After seeing all of the positive reviews, I felt sure that this was the best company around. But after being out an additional $500 (because of the hotel and more expensive movers), I certainly don't recommend them. read more

Moving is not my favorite pastime but with the help of Hired Hands, it made this impossible two week move from Ithaca, New York to Absecon, New Jersey enjoyable. We had Sean, Demetri and "Goose" as our movers and you couldn't have asked for a better crew. They were put through the ringer with pouring rain to steep stairs to move heavy furniture but they did it with a smile. They are very hard working young men and I can't begin to express my gratitude to them. read more

Diligent workers, excellent communication, very professional. Student workers who behave like pros. Only words of advice to the guys: work gloves and steel toed shoes! Great job today. read more

Hired Hands moved our belongings from a storage unit in Ithaca to Manhattan. They did a great job. Everything arrived in perfect condition. The movers were very friendly guys and worked very quickly. The building required proof of insurance and a certain delivery time window and they provided both. Would definitely use again and would recommend to other people. They did an excellent job. Their rates were extremely reasonable especially since they had to drive into Manhattan. read more

Hired Hands made my typically stressful moving process incredibly easy and stress free. Zach was an excellent leader and very responsive to all of my questions. I highly recommend!! read more