I had a negative experience with Move Assist and am sharing so that others don't make the same mistake I did by hiring them. I too saw the Living Social deal during December, and booked two of Mark's movers for Sat Jan 4. The rate was reasonable and Mark was responsive.
Fast forward to Jan 4 - my stepmom passed away out of state unexpectedly three days before the move, so on the morning of Jan 4, I called Mark to tell him that my husband would be supervising the move. Mark let me know that his movers were running an hour late, which was understandable. They took longer than the expected time, which put my husband into Ohio too late to unload, and he had to reschedule the unloaders on THAT end. Again, I understand that the time quote is just that, an estimate.
Here is my issue. I assumed that the movers work for Move Assist, but everyone should know, they do NOT; and Mark is NOT responsible for their damage.
My husband said the movers were very nice, but they cracked my bedroom wall literally right in front of him, and said they were sorry. No big deal right, the wall can be fixed. Then when my dresser mirror was unwrapped in Ohio (our new home), a chunk of the wood was missing. When my husband called to report the two items damaged, Mark did not respond. I then called Mark, and he asked for pictures. Two days went by with no response, and when I texted (Mark prefers texting, not phone calls by the way), he informed me that his business hours ended at 7pm and not to text him. Ok - then be professional and pick up your phone during business hours.
The next day, he texted to say that he'd 'spent hours investigating my claims' and that he could not find his movers responsible. I understand the broken dresser mirror (they definitely broke it - but hey, how do I prove that) - but the wall?! They literally cracked it IN FRONT of my husband, apologized right then, then denied it a few days later. WOW. I fixed the wall myself and it wasn't detrimental, but it's frustrating to hire professionals and have them damage things. Mark said if they were responsible, the money would come right out of their paycheck...ummm duh, when I mess up at work, I'm held accountable, so why shouldn't they?
But here's what I want everyone to know:
- Mark said I could take up my claims for damage directly with the movers, and that he is "just a 3rd party that would charge them accordingly and remit the payment" to me. MOVE ASSIST IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGE- he sent this to me directly in text. He then refused to give me their phone numbers, and instead gave me two addresses on the South Side of Chicago. It's 2014, not 1984 - without an email address or phone number, what am I supposed to do?
- What I was EXTREMELY upset about is that Mark claims I called him from out of state on Jan 4, AFTER the move, TO IMMEDIATELY ABSOLVE HIS MOVERS OF RESPONSIBILITY. WTF?! I was at the funeral and there was NO call made that afternoon.The fact that he would blatantly LIE about me calling him from a visitation/funeral is so disgusting and unprofessional. He said someone called from my phone to say the damage was forgiven and that "maybe it was your sister." Unbelievable. My husband's sister did call him from Chicago (from a different phone, NOT mine) after the move to say that her cell phone was stolen during the move. She did NOT call him to say hey, totally fine that your movers cracked a wall and furniture. P.s. that the phone never turned up and we don't know who stole it.
Mark said the damage is 'he said she said' (via text) and that I can take the movers to small claims court. I'm just a young professional in Chicago that wants him to fix what was broken. Lesson learned - don't hire movers with coupons, and don't hire a company that will not be responsible for their movers when they cause damage.
Was the damage awful? No. Were the rates too high? No. But to have a death in the family, followed by the movers making up a story about absolving them of the damage - sickening and ill-timed.
Now, here's where Mark will reply and deny his unprofessionalism, deny the damage, and his lie about the phone call on the day of the funeral to forgive the damage. ~ Kelly read more
