Recently I hired Paula's Movers for an 1,132-mile major move. The owner, David (his Israeli name is Ronen), began conversations with me in a friendly, almost begging manner, since he needed the business. His company's estimated cost to me seemed reasonable and I had added a 20% cushion to my inventory list in order to assure the cost quoted would remain as quoted. I hired them because David convinced (conned?) me into believing he'd be perfect for the job.
On moving day, David arrived with a crew of three other men and almost immediately began yelling at me for the cubic feet my possessions would occupy in their 26-foot van. I was dumbstruck by David's rudeness and insolence--that he would dare speak to (yell at) a paying customer as he did. He was crude, vulgar, and insulting--and his crew was embarrassed by him. They told me so.
By day's end, they had packed his van with all my earthly belongings, and on the street, at the back of his van, David screamed at me that he refused to make my move for me at the price they quoted. He wanted to double the price, which would have added thousands more to my bill. (p.s. Everything must be paid in cash or by Zelle. They do not accept credit cards.). He informed me--with great hostility--that if I didn't pay his new price, he would offload my possessions and I could make other arrangements with a different mover. What choice did I have? I paid the new price. I later learned that after leaving my apartment that day, David & his crew returned to his warehouse, offloaded all my possessions, then contacted a third-party mover from Chicago who happened to be near David's warehouse and with whom he contracted to have the delivery made across the 1,132 miles.
When these new movers arrived in my new city, I was surprised to learn they were a different company from Paula's Movers and therefore knew nothing about the fragile glass, porcelain vases, priceless artwork, and other extremely FRAGILE items--which I had gone over in great detail with David. Several of these valuable items were smashed or seriously damaged somewhere along the line, but the second group of movers had left my new home before I could wrap up final details with them. One of their crew stole a crucial bottle of prescription medication I had left on my kitchen counter, in the morass of boxes everywhere, and this risked causing me a serious health crisis. What's more, they did not assemble my bed or my office desk or many other items that I'd contracted with David to assemble. (He referred to his "exquisite" moving services as truly "a boutique product" (read: very few employees) for V.I.P.'s (I am not a V.I.P., just an ordinary person who values trust, honor, and extreme carefulness with other people's property).
This second company of movers, while lacking in excellence, were infinitely friendlier and more eager to do a good job than Paula's Movers. For this reason I won't name them, but they had picked up two of their crew in the parking lot of Kmart from a group of illegal immigrants who knew nothing about how to move furniture..... or how to speak English, as in: "Please move the table about one foot to the left," a request greeted with a blank stare by the non-English speaker.
It has taken me weeks to get PAULA'S MOVERS out of my system and I urge potential customers NOT to hire them for your move, since they will let you down in almost every way. I have text messages, emails, and taped conversations to verify all I've written in this sad review. I cannot imagine who the people are who have given PAULA'S MOVERS 5-star reviews, but I'm suspicious about their connection to this nightmarish "company." read more
