topic Re: professional movers: my report in Home

professional movers: my report

granddi — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:19:47 GMT

We just used Mayflower to move a 3000 sq ft house + storage bldg. They packed our things too. My comments may seem harsh but the service was very very expensive= $11,000.00

6 packers showed up at my house as promised. I appreciate fast work but now that we are unpacking items were not packed with all the parts. I will find my slow cooker in one box and the lid in another and have yet to find the cord.

They had no tools. They would ask for screw drivers etc. They needed zip bags for "parts" and glad we had what was needed. They were at our house from 8:30- 4:00 and did not bring their own lunch. One guy said I'm getting hungry. I said well I'm moving so the pantry is bare. I had some cheese sticks, chips and bottled water.

Same thing happend when the loaders showed up. They had their own water but I went to McD for food for them.

We were told load on Friday and deliver on Monday. So after loading, the head guy said well it might be Thursday or Friday to deliver. After some begging, we got our stuff on Tuesday.

The delivery guys complained that boxes were not tapped well and they could not find parts as needed to put together beds etc. Again, worked all day and did not bring their own food.

You sign a very long contact that basically says we will pack your stuff and take it from A to B. There are no guarantees the condition it will arrive. One guy goes around and bar cods all items and codes each with the condition. Of course everything is used or scratched when it is loaded. When your things arrive, you sign that you are waving your right to "inventory" the delivery. So no claims for lost items. You have no way of knowing until all boxes are opened.

As they were unloading, I was un packing the "wardrobes" They first said no to removing the packing and boxes and said they would take a few. We asked if we can call the local Mayflower for box and packing pick up. Answer: well maybe

And everyone wants a tip.

So after 45 years in the same house we have relocated to be near to family. It is a very emotional time but life is good.

Re: professional movers: my report

lolakimono — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:31:12 GMT

@granddi

Is this a long distance move?

I probably would have downsized by half- 11K is a lot to move your possessions.

Did you have them tow a car as well?

Re: professional movers: my report

ccassaday — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:34:21 GMT

We will be hiring a moving company in a couple weeks. We are going to move everything ourselves except furniture or any heavy items. How far away did you move. That actually doesn't sound like a bad price if you moved a good distance and they actually packed everything.

Re: professional movers: my report

Sweet_Serenity — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:44:57 GMT

@lolakimono wrote:
@granddi
Is this a long distance move?
I probably would have downsized by half- 11K is a lot to move your possessions.
Did you have them tow a car as well?

Lola... Excellent points! Sold and gifted many things before moving. Never was much of a collector. Single thirty five years, Less is more. My lifestyle minimalist design. Keeps the energy flowing. Like it!🙋

Re: professional movers: my report

jaxs mom — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:49:20 GMT

I've done two long distance moves with professional movers and both times went fine. We used Bekins the first time but I can't remember who we used the second time. The first move was 2000 miles. We packed ourselves and it didn't take them long to load the truck. While we were in a 2500 sq ft house, we don't have tons of furniture. We do have a lot of books and cookware though and I mean a lot. We drove both of our vehicles and towed a small trailer behind one.

Re: professional movers: my report

NickNack — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:48:41 GMT

That sounds like a horrible experience. I would be upset, too. I can't believe they expected you to feed them. I haven't moved very often fortunately. How far away did you move?

Re: professional movers: my report

Kachina624 — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 21:57:27 GMT

It takes a lot of nerve for a company to send workers out without tools, expecting to be fed by a homeowner who is moving. I'd sure complain to someone at the company and online. I moved with Bekin and had none of that nonsense. I would have sent them off to the nearest fast food restaurant.

Re: professional movers: my report

Azcowgirl — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 22:02:27 GMT

Our was a bit less, but our house was half the size of yours. They brought their own lunches and we supplied bottled water. They all took cigarette breaks outside. I think the packers, movers did a pretty good job. At destination however, it was disorganized and one of the unpacker so was an older guy in really poor health who said " I told them I don't do stairs" well, a lot of things had to go upstairs in a warehouse storage room, and it was 110 degrees out, so the two other guys had to do the lions share, and we're not happy.

It was sad actually, I felt sorry for the situation and pitched in, DH kept saying "stop ! We are paying them a lot of money for this".

Any way, I don't think anything important got broken. Stressful time though.

Re: professional movers: my report

riley1 — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 22:04:16 GMT

My last move was 700+ miles. Our movers were great and the experience was fine. The owner of the truck actually came to my house and packed antique mirrors, art pieces and many other things. He wanted to know it was packed properly.

I also labeled every box as to what room it went in and a brief listing of what was in the box, i.e. pots, dishes, etc.

Re: professional movers: my report

flickerbulb — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 22:44:12 GMT

How far was the move? For that kind of dough, I sure would NOT be providing food or drinks. for the workers.

I expect them to know what they need and provide their own. No one buys my lunch at work!

Re: professional movers: my report

gardensla — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 22:56:07 GMT

I hired a company (Mayflower) to move a 2 bedroom household from Birmingham AL to Boston MA. The cost was estimated at about $8,000. It was not a huge amount of stuff so the price wasn't bad (well, relatively speaking).

The pick up went fine (it was all in a storage unit) and then the trouble started. The initial pick-up was moved to a central location where it would be combined with other order and shipped north all at once.

Mayflower kept delaying the move saying (get this) they didn't have an available truck. You're a moving company. That's like GAP saying they don't have jeans to sell.

I raised all kinds of outrage, got nowhere, and then finally looked at the contract. For every day that they were late delivering (the delivery date was on the contract) they had to knock $200.00 off the cost. They didn't deliver for another 5 weeks. FIVE WEEKS without a bed, clothes, appliances, etc.

But you know what? In the end because of this, the move cost less than 1K. And the guys who offloaded were so apologetic on behalf of the company that it was actually a nice day when they move happened.

Re: professional movers: my report

Marsha2003 — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 23:04:27 GMT

I'm sorry you had such a negative experience. I'm lucky in that all but one of my moves was handled through my work and believe me, corporate movers are much higher quality than local movers within the same company. I haven't moved in several years now and I dread the next move because I know it will be local and not corporate-sponsored...the worst combination.

They all pack weird things, though, so you have to be super organized about having all of the parts of items together. I would even follow the guys around with a bag and collect shelf supports, picture hangers, keys, basically any small, easy-to-lose item. I'll never forget the box I opened that was full of wire hangers and dry cleaning bags.

Re: professional movers: my report

homedecor1 — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 23:29:50 GMT

@granddi

that's terrible!!

When we were moving south I'll never forget when Allied & Bohrens came in to give us a estimate to move all my treasures from my 3,000 sq ft house. I don't know whose heart stopped first mine or my spouse!!!

We decided sell everything & start fresh. We used a POD to bring what we wanted - everything was packed by us & upon delivery all was fine.

Many many wishes for a wonderful new journey having your family close to you. There is nothing more important!!!

Re: professional movers: my report

granddi — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 23:36:15 GMT

Interesting to read your experiences.

We moved in state 350 miles.

A friend used Mayflower and house was about 2200 sq ft and it was $8,000.00 to move in state 500 miles. We did have lots of stuff.

There were 3 unloaders and the driver. One of the guys was older had had some sort of issue with his legs. I felt so sorry for him having to do such hard work. His lower legs looked swollen as if he had no ankles. Two young guys were probably college students said that they "just show up at the warehouse and thye tell us where we are going " They worked hard and never complained. Interesting the driver paid them in cash.

When the local office broke the news that the truck would not arrive as first promised, he said all the delivery schedules are set by Mayflower corporate.

Nothing really bad happened. Just surprised about the details. I thought I would report for those looking at the same task.

Re: professional movers: my report

Big Sister — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 02:36:11 GMT

When you are signing the docs. for a moving company to move your items, add extra insurance for any lost or damaged pieces.

My DH bought extra insurance (I would never have thought about it) and thank goodness he did. The moving van burned and 90% of the items were lost to fire.

Also, if that happens, you will have to give the company a written inventory of every item that was in the truck.

Re: professional movers: my report

Big Sister — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 02:39:21 GMT

@granddi Sounds like you went above and beyond to "serve" the crew.

I would not have fed them and/or given them a tip. That's taken care of by the company; it's called salary.

Re: professional movers: my report

aubnwa01 — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 03:07:34 GMT

I moved in 2006 from WA to AZ & the movers (United Van Lines) that came to load the big truck in WA were excellent. I had a month between my house in WA closing escrow & the one here closing, so my stuff was stored at United's warehouse in WA for a month.

When the driver arrived with my stuff down here, he picked up a couple of local guys from United's affiliate here & he & one of the local guys got into a huge shouting match out in the street in front of my house that nearly turned to violence over how much money he would pay the local guys here to help him unload. The driver told me he carries a gun in the cab of his truck since he drives long hauls & very nearly pulled it on the other guy, but the guy got off of the running board of the big truck & got in his pickup truck & roared off before it came to blows. Sheesh!

They dropped a large antique cherry desk in my driveway when the wheel on the dolly slipped off of the ramp out of the truck, which I witnessed, so the driver took it back with him up to WA to get it repaired. It took over 3 months to get it back when the driver was delivering another load down here & it's never been the same, but I was so fed up with the whole thing, I didn't press it. I found my leaf blower (in it's original clearly marked box) & some other "garage" stuff in a bedroom. I was not a happy camper after the whole experience!

I think if/when I move again, I'll give away most of my stuff & not move it!

Re: professional movers: my report

151949 — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 12:37:13 GMT

When we moved from Pa to Fl we used Mayflower van lines thru a local Pittsburgh company. We packed our own stuff so it was just packing the truck and moving it. The movers were there early AM , packed our entire house , including our golf cart. They also did not stop to eat anything but I certainly did not feel it was my responsibility to feed them. One of the movers had a packed lunch and he asked me for a cup of water.

When our furniture arrived in Fl. was a mess for sure. We had purchased some pieces and they were being delivered at the same time as the movers were there. The driver of the van was constantly argueing with the delivery guys.There was some pushing and shoving etc. My DH had to step in.

We moved 1200 miles and it only cost $3500.

Re: professional movers: my report

ID2 — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 10:24:10 GMT

$11,000 to move only 350 miles??? Really? I've moved several times in my lifetime and always packed my own boxes. Last time we moved, 3 years ago we rented a UHaul truck, packed our own boxes, packed the truck ourselves and here we are. We moved 250 miles away.

Re: professional movers: my report

ScrapHappy — Sat, 22 Jul 2017 13:50:57 GMT

We moved from California to Georgia last summer. Our move cost $18,000...yes $18,000. It was a small house, 1500 square feet and we did all the packing ourselves excpet for large items such as furniture, appliances, and some things in sheds. We also decluttered (husband huge into collectibles) and many items worth a pretty penny so we did a POD unit. In it was everything from his office (including collectibles) and my dining table and china hutch. The POD cost an additional $5000. It was my first big move with belongings. I learned from it, what to do/what not to do. The problem with packing many of your own things is how they wrote it for inventory. They would just put a number sticker on it and write "large box or small box" on their inventory sheet even though I would write "dishes" or something. They said they didn't pack it, so it had to be done this way. I didn't opt for them to pack our things because I didn't think they would pack as well and take as much care as I would. I did put things on their high value sheet, like my new washer and dryer, TV and art. It took all day for them to load the truck, even with all the packing of just about everything else in the house. One problem we had is the truck they bought to load us up was too small. I told them it looked too small, they said no, no, no. Sure enough, they had to call for another truck. Movers started before 8a.m. and we didn't didn't done until close to 6 p.m. The truck broke down traveling cross country. Was never informed until I had called asking about a different question. I was warned by the United agent that the truck driver would "urge" me to sign the inventory paper before all belongings were taken off truck. She was right, he did but I refused. But turns out that many of the number stickers that were put on the boxes in California for inventory fell off. So, if I ever move again, I'd write the numbers on the box with marker myself. I would also keep my own inventory list with more specifics as to what it is. But, now I'm living in Georgia and myself and my family are much happier here.