We decided to hire Daryl with Innovative Moving Co. because his quote was in the middle price-wise, not too high and not too low, and his ratings were high. It turned out to be the move from hell.
To start, his two men were 6 hours late with a Budget Rental truck. 6 HOURS late. One of those hours could have been spent packing had the driver owned GPS, or at least known how to look at a map. My family lived off a main road; not difficult to find. The men did not finish loading the truck until after 11pm, which in turn made my husband take a three-hour road trip to our new home in the middle of the night and not arrive home until 3am. Had Daryl sent four men, as he had originally said, this would not have been an issue.
The next day the truck arrived in the afternoon. As they were unloading, I quickly learned they broke a $500 art sculpture we had purchased from a local Seattle artist. How did this happen, especially considering it is made from steel? The piece is 6ft tall and rests of four thin poles, designed to sway. The movers laid it horizontally over a box, creating a point of pressure, and one of the poles snapped off the bottom and another from the top.
The man who had packed the kitchen obviously had no experience as a mover. While unpacking boxes, I learned he had put my oils in sideways, which lead them to tip over upside down and spill, leaking through the box onto others. I often found boxes with delicate ceramic bowls on the bottom and canned goods on top, causing several breaks and chips. The worst case, is when he decided to unload my husband's large standing tool chest, and add a delicate dish box on top. While bringing it down the rails, he lost control, caught an edge, and I watched as my dish box went flying off the top and smashed into the concrete. Several wine glasses and serving bowls were smashed to pieces (why were they packed together?).
As if things could not get worse, they did not pack our 2300 sq ft home entirely into their truck, so my husband had to spend $400 on UHaul, drive another 3 hours to our previous home, load up rest of the stuff (which didn't even take half the small truck), and drive the 3 hours back. Another 3am arrival. Our main living room and the office contained no furniture, so I was disapointed they were not able to load everything on the first try.
Despite trying to negotiate price with Daryl for over an hour and his EXTREME negligence and unprofessional movers, he only knocked $60 off our bill. A whopping $60.
Save your sanity and hire someone else. read more
