This is without a doubt the worst moving company I've ever hired. I'm going to just state facts in…read morepoint form. To summarize, in case you don't want to read this: There were thousands of dollars of damage done, they were slow and sloppy, they didn't work hard, and only responded to my damages claim after 3 emails a couple weeks apart and the threat of a lawsuit.
On the way in:
-They were extremely slow. They worked like they were getting paid by the hour. They did not show care, or seem to have any strategy for wrapping items nor putting them in the truck. Most of the time one person would be working and the other person would be watching them.
-After I specifically instructed mover Eric to please put moving blankets between each painting and picture, he agreed. I came back 10 minutes later to see he had stacked all 15 pictures and paintings against each other, with nothing in between them, not even going back to back, front to front. The weight and friction of this (especially wires against the front of each piece of art caused many scratches on both the frames and actual art, seriously damaging them. He could offer no explanation as to why he didn't do as he said he would, and commented that they were in fact damaged, and that he knows that often the frames are more expensive than the pieces. Although parts of this are covered in their waiver, the damage occured not during the move, but before, because the mover didn't actually wrap them. Estimated damages to frames and art by art repairer: $3000
-Eric later decided that even though I asked him to please wrap our fabric headboard before moving it, that it was ok not to, and that it was a good idea to please it fabric side down on the floor of the garbage room/moving area. Then later, on the floor of the dusty, dirty moving truck
-After I asked mover Alex to please get back to work, he had a freak out, screamed at me, stopped working and walked off. The boss (Denis) came by and couldn't find him. He was pouting in the truck, as his boss was doing his job for him. He was in there, getting paid, not working, for over an hour. Eventually Denis convinced him to come out and work, but he mostly just stood around.
-They stored our stuff for the week while our new place was undergoing renos. Because of the trouble, they waived the storage fee which was very nice. They also didn't charge us for wardrobe boxes, which again was very nice.
A week later on the move in:
-They used 3 movers to speed up the process. They lifted an armoire (fairly heavy) and placed it down too hard on one leg, and it snapped.
-1 mover (Mike) arrived from the storage facility to our house, and got to work. Even though he left at the same time as the other two, they decided to go for coffee (while we were paying them $135/hour) and arrived 25 minutes after him.
-They dropped the aforementioned armoire down the stairs while moving it 5 times. This was due to constant miscommunications about how to lift it. I've moved this armoire with my dad 3 times and never had a problem. We are not professional movers. Yes, 5 times. Of course it was dented all over with gouges and scratches. Estimated damage by carpenter: $1500
-The stairs were also destroyed from the armoire crashing into the 5 times. Not just scratched, but dented and gouged all over. They will have to be completely replaced. Estimated replacement cost by carpenter: $2000
I stupidly paid the bill after this and should have refused. It took 3 emails to get a response about the damages claim, and they got back to me only after I told them I would be taking them to small claims court. I sent pictures of all the damages, of course. They came and took a look, and then I didn't hear from them for a couple weeks despite numerous emails. Eventually, they told me they would offer me $300 as compensation. Wanting to be done with them, I took it rather than pursue them in small claims court. They did fix the glass for one of the pictures that was broken, so there's that. $300 to offset about $6500 worth of damages. I sure learned my lesson about going with a cheap moving company!
