I apologize for the length of this, but I've waited a year to make sure it is factually accurate and nothing is exaggerated. I finally decided to get it posted. Let me say, if I had to do it over again, I would never use this company The owner over-promised and under-delivered, in every possible way.
All was fine, up until the day before, with the office rep confirming three times the date/time for packing up and the date/time for the move. The first day arrives, 9am, 9:30, 10am and no one shows up. I call the company; where are you? The rep says, oh, sorry, I made a mistake, we can't pack you up today, we have to do it tomorrow. No apology or anything and when I ask the owner to give me a discount, he refuses, saying he is already giving me a good deal. That is b.s as his price is the same as or higher than all the other companies that gave me bids. I chose him because he sounded good and my realtor recommended him.
So, at the last minute I had to scramble, because we are moving out, other people are moving into our house, based on our dates. The new owner agreed to push things out one more day and all seemed okay..Fortunately, the new owners didn't charge us for getting out one day later.
Packing day arrives, four guys (including one who is the crew lead). They get started and begin packing. I clarify with one of them who is working in my office that a pile of things there are to be left for the new owners. They are not to be packed. He says okay. Packing went fine.
Next day arrives and three of the same guys show up, but one new person is the lead. He has to be brought up to speed. Loading begins and as the house is emptying, I walk upstairs to vacuum and verify things are empty. All good upstairs. Then I start to look around the rest of the house to make sure everything is packed. One of the guys comes and gets me and says we don't have time for you to check; everything is loaded up and we have to go now. Rush, rush, start the drive to Brentwood, and I am unable to check closets, cabinets, shelves and outdoors of the main floor.
Unloading all goes smoothly and we begin unpacking. I gave each of the guys a $20 to thank them, but I did think the young one who worked in my office was sloppy and disorganized. It turns out as we were unpacking, ALL the things in my office that were to be left for the new owners, were packed up and we had to find a way to get them back to the new owners. Not happy about that.
A few things were broken: a big crystal bowl, two large plastic storage containers that had damaged handles, and a decorative glass item from Amsterdam that was simply at the bottom of a box, not packed in paper or bubble wrap, broken in two.
When I called to make a claim, the owner says okay, my guys will call you. One of the head guys calls and says "we packed everything properly; nothing could have broken". Of course I show them pictures of what was broken, what the item from Amsterdam looked like in the bottom of the box before we unpacked it, and he told me that they would have to pay me for the broken items. That is not right so I call the office rep who reiterates that their insurance policy, for which I had to pay $200, was simply to make the moving guys pay for everything that was broken.Not fair to me or the guys who did the packing and moving. Although they may have packed incorrectly in those cases where things were broken, they don't make much money and it is wrong to make them cover the costs. So, I asked for my $200 to be sent back to me and I said I wouldn't make a claim at all. That is not how an insurance policy works Why do I have to pay for a policy if the guys were supposed to make me whole anyway? In past years when I've moved, I purchased an insurance policy and if things were broken, the insurance company pays for the damage. This is beyond ridiculous and very unfair to the guys, IMHO.
Then as we continue to unpack, we keep getting texts and photos from the new owners: the bathroom medicine closet wasn't packed, the dining room cabinet had three big drawers that had not been emptied, there were things outside that hadn't been packed, stuff in the garage that had been left -on and on. I was annoyed and had to call the company and I told them I tried to check things but the guys were in a hurry. The owner said they were not in a hurry, they just worked quickly. Honestly, by now I was really tired of his b.s. Finally, one of the sweet moving guys from the company, on his own time and in his own truck, came to pick me up and we went to Pleasanton and he brought back all the things that had been left. There were a few big boxes of stuff.
When again I approached the owner about compensation, he adamantly refused.
I would never use this company again. They were dishonest, one of the packers was sloppy and careless and the owner untrustworthy.Three of the moving/packing guys were great though and it's too bad they work for such an unethical and dishonest owner. read more