We used Pro100 Movers for our local move in Bethesda the last Saturday of April 2013. I would not recommend this moving company to a friend.
Our situation: Moving out of 3 bedroom house with basement and 1 car garage in Bethesda into a larger house about 0.3 miles away. Same neighborhood, literally 3 blocks. We had everything packed in boxes. EVERYTHING. The movers actually commented on how they had never seen people so prepared.
I contacted Al a few weeks in advance and booked our move for 7am on Saturday morning. After describing our home and stuff, he recommended 3 guys. I said I would prefer 4 since it's a lot of stuff and we would rather pay a higher hourly rate and get done faster. Obviously we requested the largest truck they have (I think 24'). And I also requested that the movers disassemble and reassemble the furniture. Al said no problem.
The day before when confirming Al said the crew wouldn't be there until 8am, because of the time it would take them to ride the metro to get the truck and show up. I wasn't thrilled about this, but okay. Not sure why this was something figured out the day before rather than 3 weeks prior.
Moving day: A little after 8am, I got a call from one of the movers saying he was in front of my house. I said "No, you are not. I'm in front of my house. And you are not here." After going back and forth a few times arguing about whether or not he was in fact at my house, we determined he was one street south and directed him to the correct location.
Out of the truck came 3 movers, NOT the 4 I had requested. I pointed this out. Oh, he was sick. Felt like a lie, but not much I could do about it. They let me know I'd be charged a lower rate since only 3 movers. I again said, well, it's a lot of stuff. I just thought 4 would be much better. Sigh - nothing I could do.
These guys were nice guys just trying to make an honest living, but they were NOT professional movers. The website definitely said uniformed professionals, No. Not uniformed. Not professional movers.
Like a previous review said, lots of hiking up of too baggy pants. Not really properly attired. And slow. Very slow. And lacking a plan or leadership.
Professional movers use a hand cart and in every trip from house to truck have a full load, i.e. a hand cart with 3-4 boxes on it. These guys would carry one box at a time. I even saw one guy make a trip from truck to house with one folding metal chair. ONE folding metal chair!
Very quickly my husband determined these guys needed "a platoon leader" otherwise this was going to take all day. So he ended up being the 4th mover. And in reality probably did about half of the moving (Not one-quarter as you might think.) I was pregnant with twins and trying not to lift stuff, o/w I likely would have been the fifth.
It took 3 trips back and forth between the two houses with the truck, in part I think because it was not expertly packed. For us moving 3 blocks this wasn't such a big deal, but I can't imagine how much it would have added to the time and cost had our move been a bit further.
Getting a rather heavy safe upstairs into the new house was a bit exciting. The 3 movers started to do it, without using any straps or equipment. They started to drop it, we were worried someone was going to lose a toe. My husband basically had to step in and take charge. He grabbed the strap, had the strongest of the three assist him, and basically the two (my husband and the strongest) got it upstairs with my husband doing the bulk of it.
Once everything was unloaded into the new house, it took a great deal of baby-sitting to get the furniture re-assembled. Essentially my husband took one of the guys and I took the other 2 and monitored and directed their every movement to make sure the furniture got re-assembled properly. If I didn't micromanage, they would just stand there. "Okay, now let's put together the dining room table, that's done, let's do the bed." Etc, you couldn't just say "re-assemble all the furniture" and expect it to happen. I'm a white-collar DC urbanite with not much work-with-my-hands expertise, but thank goodness I was there supervising, because these guys were putting bolts and table legs backwards, etc.
All in all, it took over 8 hours. We bought them lunch, provided drinks, and tipped well, because they seemed earnest and honest. Just were not professionals and lacked initiative. In the end, I guess the lesson learned is you get what you pay for. These rates were much less than some of the other moving companies. Also, I have to say that none of our furniture was damaged. There were no holes in the walls, so that's good.
We paid cash to get a 5% discount on the price, rather than credit card.
I wouldn't use them again. And wouldn't recommend Pro100Movers. read more