Experience with Professional Movers? Advice Needed.

In My Humble Opinion
1

We are doing an intrastate relocation, not much more than 500 miles, and while we’ve always gone the U-Haul route before, this time we’d like to have a moving company help us out.

Does anyone out there want to give us some advice, horror stories with a point, or even better, SF Bay Area recommendations of trustworthy companies?

One company I found on-line who sounded pretty good unfortunately had an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB for 8 unresponded to complaints in the last 36 months–I’d feel like a dip if I went with this co. and got screwed too, but how much should I vest in the BBB’s rating’s? Do they count spurious claims (e.g. “I packed my grandmother’s crystal carefully with my rock collection and those sweaty bastards broke it.”)? I wish I could see what the complaints were–at least with eBay ratings, however brief and sometimes whimsical, you can spot a trend in behaviours.

$.45/lb seems to be the going rate, does that seem right?

We just don’t want to end up like a Starving Students customer. (For those who missed it, I guess SS had some sort of scam going were they would hold the customer’s property hostage until they coughed up more money.)

Thanks in advance!

2

I have only had inter-city experience. I will note a few common sense thoughts.

  1. Pack and cover as much as possible yourself. i.e. That priceless hand-me-down table from great grandma.
  2. Valuables. Keep them with you. We all know what happened to Tommy and Pam… (yes I know it was not movers)
  3. Consider an insurance policy seperate from the moving co. Can we say “conflict of intrest”?

Hope all goes well.

3

Please pay careful attention to the BBB’s rating. They do not rate a company negatively without cause. All claims are checked out, and a negative rating is only given if the claim goes unresolved.

I’ve used a moving company twice, from Massachusetts to South Carolina, and then back a year later. My advice:

Use a nationally known company. United Van Lines moved us both times, and did a good job. I remember Mayflower moving our familiy when I was a kid, and can’t recall my parents having any complaints.

I completely disagree with chewbasta’s 1st point (sorry!). If you pack a piece yourself, it will not be insured if broken. Make sure the movers understand how valuable a piece is to you, and supervise the packing, but let them do the work. They have experience with how to best pack a piece to make sure it is safe, and are liable if anything happens to items that they packed.

Make sure you keep detailed records of the boxes that go in and come out of the truck. Watch them pack, and mark off the numbered boxes and furniture as they go into the truck. (They’ll give you a sheet and a range of numbers used, to help you keep track.) Then, when they unpack your items, check off each number as it’s unloaded. That said, if there is something that you just couldn’t bear to lose, take it with you in the car. I did this with my late grandfather’s 1952 Gibson acoustic/electric - my prized possession and the only thing of his that I have.

Label the boxes as clearly as possible. Write which room they’ll go into when they get to their destination, and a quick bulleted list of the items in each box. Omit anything that might make the box a little too hard to resist, like “Bose Stereo” or “Flat Screen TV.”

Definitely keep valuables with you. Also, put together a box of stuff that you’ll need right away, like toiletries, medication, paper towels, cleaning supplies, paper plates, a phone, pet dishes, etc, and take it with you in the car.

I recommend the “unpack” service, if you can swing it. They take everything out of the boxes and leave it on the floor, but the key is they take away the empty boxes. Empty boxes are a bitch to get rid of, and you will be glad you paid the extra money.

Good luck!

4

I’m sure no one would be as stupid as I was, but just for the heck of it – make sure more than one person is there to “supervise” the actual moving. I was alone and got so totally ripped off. I was very intimidated because they were two guys to one of me so I didn’t argue when they took 3 HOURS to drive 40 miles and then charged me $500 over the set price. I would have called the moving company and complained but then I had the “they sure know where I live” thought so I just let it go.

5

I’ve moved 13 times in 15 years, and for the past 10 I’ve used moving companies. I’ve always been impressed with Mayflower, but United also did a good job. Someone came out to my apartment and we talked about various options and he came up with an estimate. In my case, as soon as I could afford it, I had the moving guys pack my kitchen for me, as well as all my framed artwork. There is an hourly charge for packing, but I always felt that the moving men were working as fast as they could, so I didn’t get ripped off (one guy packed while the other guy loaded everything he could alone, when all the packing was done, they took the big stuff out together). I haven’t had them upack for me, although they have always set up my beds for me (anything they take apart, they put back together).

** Morgainelf’s** advice is all good and I second it. Professional moving companies are just that–professional. Go with a nationally known company, get an estimate and then relax and let them do their job.

6

We moved from the Bay Area to Pennsylvania and had a good experience with Paul Arpin. We were moving an apartment load of stuff and found that the larger companies really jerked us around. They’d send some smoothie out to make an estimate and come up with something twice as high as the smaller companies. They clearly didn’t want our business, so I don’t know why they didn’t just say so. Maybe they hook enough oblivious or expense-accounted people to make it worthwhile.

7

Hmmmm…well, BBB has nice things to say about Daly Movers Inc. “also doing business as Paul Arpin Van Lines,” so I huess I’ll be giving them a call to see if they can move us down to San Diego. So thanks cher3!

I’ll also call Mayflower and United to see what their intrastate rates are, and if anyone elso out there has a recommendation, please let me know.

Anyone have any thoughts/ ever used Cor-O-Van?

8

Good advice from all. Re: packing yourself. Some moving companies will allow you to do it and will insure it, if you leave the box open for their inspection and allow them to tape it closed. Ask first. Also, watch them closely when they pack your stuff. Movers often get paid by weight and materials and some will overstuff your boxes with packing material to run up the bill. Do NOT pack money, jewelry or other things of that nature. Make sure that the moving truck can get as close as possible to your front door. Some will charge extra if they have to park more than say, 50 feet away. Ask when they plan to arrive at the destination. Check inventories carefully for accurate description of contents. Lots more, I’m sure.