I am debating between 1 -2 stars. The upright Kawai piano was moved from Oakland to Sacramento. $200 flat fee for moving piano, $400 for transportation, and $5/step, with ~30 steps, comes to $150. that's $750 (although he never stated this number, he stated $650 and "a little more for the stairs"... there may have been miscommunication and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, lets call the quote $750...). I called Howard's piano moving because it is a licensed company with insurance, and in the website the mover seemed thoughtful.
However, I was quoted ~$650 on a Friday even after giving the estimate of 20-30 stairs because I was promised he would "try to keep the step costs low". the move was to be on Monday. On the day before the move I was asked for cash: that's right, on a Sunday evening I was asked to come up with ~$600 in cash. That's a bit difficult, don't you think, with banks being closed on Sunday...why didn't he ask for cash when we had originally talked on Friday? I was able to get to the bank.
The piano was moved, I told them to take their time, and they did. The good: the carpet of the stairs wasn't ruined and the piano, I think, is OK.
However, due to the "immense difficulty of the stairs" in my apartment (I guess they are deep, thick carpeted stairs), I was charged $10/step in the apartment. I don't want to even look at the bill currently since it's so depressing ---I was somehow charged $150 extra instead of $50 (10*5). I'll come back and edit the review later when I the mental strength to look at it. It is not my fault he did not prepare, or ask me for pictures beforehand or dimensions (which I offered to do). If i had been told up front it could be as high as $900 and that's what it takes to get the job done right, I have no problem. However, I do have a problem with classic bait and switch. That is, I do not doubt the stairs were hard, however, I was repeatedly told he would try to "reduce the amount" the extra stairs would cost. If he had just upfront told me the maximum, instead of me saying "OK, it's $650 most likely, but might be a little more, right" and him agreeing and then pretending later that a $250-150 increase on a quote is only "a little more" this wouldn't be such a low review. It was heartbreaking to see the bill. I wish the number "$650" hadn't been tossed around so much, it gave me the impression of the move being about $650, regardless of what he might have said about the stair rates, which, again, he promised he would try to keep as low as possible...only later after the move when the stairs were "so hard" I was hit with $10/step, which should have only been a $50 increase, but somehow came to $150 increase.
Also upon going to the website and seeing the other reviews: the two people that came to my apartment were certainly not brothers...I don't think the newest owner of Howard's piano moving is the original owner, and that might be why my review is so different from the others.
Lastly, I finally had the mental strength to look at the bill: 200+400+280 ($10/step)+160 -140 discount. I have no idea what the 160 is for, when he was explaining the bill, I was so stunned I couldn't even do the math. read more