The first thing I want to make sure and mention, is that the movers, Juan and Luis were top notch professionals. If I had only worked with them, this would be a 5-star review, easily. They were efficient, careful, and quite honestly, impressive with their handling of all of our valuables. Nothing was so much as scratched, and watching them wrap everything in blankets and tape things up was very reassuring. We had originally been nervous about hiring someone to handle our breakables but we were put at ease as soon as we saw them go to work.
My complaint is about Cliff. First off, I called around to a lot of moving companies to gather quotes based on the size of the apartment and our inventory. I sent pictures and lists to everyone and many of the quotes came back at around $1,700. Cliff's was similar at $1,600, and I let him know I'd think about it. Shortly after that call, I received an email that he could do it for $1,400, flat rate, which was a bargain! I quickly (and gratefully) signed off on that offer, and thought, how nice!!
Fast forward to our actual move, and the truck that was brought was too small to accommodate all of our things. They brought a 16' truck, and the pictures attached show how much was left behind. The movers, being the professionals they were, did their best to prioritize the big stuff and stuff the truck as full as possible for us. Fortunately, we needed to return the next day anyway for a dr. appt. The original plan had been to clean up the apartment and then let the listing agent take over by Monday. Since so much was left behind, we were going to have to change the plan to move the rest of our things somehow. I got a call from the company that they needed payment for the remaining balance and I asked Cliff if something could be done to help us with the remaining load. Either a discount, since we were expecting everything to be moved, and would now have to rent a truck on our own to move things, or help getting the rest moved, as was originally agreed. He charged us the full amount owed on the move and said the quote should have been higher for a 20' truck based on the pictures and list of items and asked who quoted us... I told him it was him. He said his staff should have followed up, etc. etc. Then he proceeded to admit that he changed the quote from $1,600 and a 20' truck to $1,400 and a 16' truck because he reviewed the pictures and list again and felt it could be done at the second quote. Clearly, he was mistaken, and...that's not my fault? Anyway, it felt like he was trying to blame his team for the admin issue and I wasn't crazy about that, but as long as it's sorted, no big deal I guess. He seemed to want to make it right, and I was very happy that I had called and asked in the first place because I almost hadn't bothered. He told me he'd scramble up a team to come back over same-day and help us with the rest of the items that needed to be moved, and I was ecstatic! I was actually going to offer to pay the difference of what should have been charged for the mix-up in the quote and leave a glowing review for his effort to make things right.
The problem happened when the movers arrived back at the property without a truck. They asked, where's your truck? Our boss said you had a truck for us to help you load up. I called Cliff while standing in the parking lot with a confused team of movers and told him I don't have a truck, and I thought he was sending one to make things right? He turned a full 180 in his attitude working with me. We had a good rapport leading up to this point, and I thought we understood each other. He dropped all professionalism and told me he had been led to believe that I had a U-Haul, as if his misunderstanding and lack of clear communication was my fault. I never once said I had a U-Haul, and he should not have "assumed." I corrected him and told him that I had said I would be disappointed if I had to get a U-Haul since I had already paid for a full move.
First, he said, "well what did you think this was?" Then that he's not sending his guys all the way back to Williamsburg, and that he was just going to have them come fill up our U-Haul at no cost. I asked, well what would it take for us to get a truck then? I needed a truck, there was no way around that. He said he wasn't going to have them go all the way back to get a truck and then come back, etc. That's a whole new move. Then he said he had hoped "to be done with this." I was at a loss. My husband and I had to apologetically send Juan and Luis back on a wasted trip, and now we're back to square one, trying to figure out how to move this last load of stuff, which we have already paid to have moved. In Cliff's own words, "wow that's a lot of stuff they left behind." In the end, we paid for the full move, but were left with this. As someone who runs a small business myself, I don't make this review lightly, but I would also never treat a customer this way.