I was referred to M&M Movers by my realtor, so I felt that I could trust the referral. Obviously, I…read moreshould have checked Yelp like I usually do for most services. I wish that I had.
It was easy enough to book the move, and to have Jeff come out and walk the house with me to get a quote. He knew the house from previous moves, which made me feel good about choosing them - they would know what to expect with the size of the house and how many rooms. He assured me that they would wrap and pack all china, glassware, artwork, etc. and pack. That's what I wanted, I wanted packing so I wasn't spending every waking minute of the next three weeks packing up a house around my three kids and still trying to function.
He also told me that they would come a day or two before to pack and then move me on the first. I cleared my calendar from February 27 thru March 1 to allow for this full on move. I began packing personal things into crates and rubbermaid tubs to make things a bit easier, too.
I am moving after a very recent divorce, so it's basically a "half move". But I would call it less than half, since I only took one bedroom set (we have five in our home) and that was out of the guest room with the bed already down in pieces. A couple of dressers from upstairs and a lingerie chest, one living room set and two buffets from downstairs, plus the normal kitchen stuff, that's it. The rest was clothing from the closets and dresser drawers (that weren't being moved) personal items and a few bookcases.
I tried to email them to let them know that I also had patio furniture that I needed to add on and a couple of other items, that would possibly increase the quoted price. No response.
A week before my move I called, left a message and a couple of days later finally spoke with Mora to confirm and make sure that they knew that I added on the outdoor furniture. She assured me that it was fine, the boys could add it on, no problem. We never discussed the quote in detail, but she informed me that my movers would be at my home at 1pm to get started. I asked if that was enough time, she told me it was a half truck move so not a problem. I'm assuming that Jeff has quoted the job correctly, and they're the pros so they know how long it will take to pack, move and unload.
A few days later, I call again to see when they will be coming to pack. At this point, I have not heard a word from them at all in three weeks, and have had to make the calls and send the emails (that never get answered, I even copied my realtor on the second email as a witness to this debacle) It takes Mora another day or two to get back to me, only to sound surprised that I expect them to pack me. She didn't have that in their records, that wasn't on the quote from what she remembered. I almost lost my shit. Seriously? Then I went into bitch mode and ranted that that was what we discussed and should be on my quote and if I had known that that was why they were coming at 1pm I would've hired another company or at least started packing, she said they would get it done and not to worry.
When the movers finally arrived at noon that day they were sort of pissy. It was snowing (seriously? It was just 60 degrees last week!) they were rushing from another job and now they "had to pack". It was utter chaos. One guy was so crabby the entire day it was unbelievable. The rest put their heads down and worked, but they did a half-ass job. I didn't want to hover, or get in the way, but now I wish that I had been more of a bitch and walked the house like a nightwatchman. To say they left stuff behind is an understatement.
I had pulled other items out that I wanted to get on the truck, but once this all began I decided not to because they were already pissy and snotty about the job, saying it was more than they quoted me to do, more packing than they expected, etc. At one time, I pointed out that they had "mistakenly"? closed a few drawers in my kitchen and didn't pack my tupperware or gadgets to which I was told by "Mr. Crabby" 'we're almost out of boxes, so I'm not sure we can get that in. I'm down to four boxes now, so I'll have to see' as he turned gruffly away and went upstairs. So, I went out to the truck and found Jeff and explained the situation to which he told me that they had plenty of boxes and he could always get more. What the hell??
In the end, they had to call over another truck to get two more guys to help pack and load and to use their truck to load extra pieces which ended up only being my kitchen/dining table. But again, they left stuff everywhere.
The unloading was so much better and fluid. They were unloaded in about two hours and kept my new house clean, which was a relief by 7:30pm. And the end charge was cheaper than quoted by $700. Go figure. I would have gladly paid more for more time to get it done right.
I still tipped the movers cash in the end, because regardless of the hassles and screw ups, they worked hard all day.
