We may be putting in an offer on a house soon, and for the first time in our lives, we’re going to need movers to get from one house to the other. Well, maybe not need, but we’re at a point in our lives where we have more stuff than available friends, and we also have a bit of antique furniture that needs TLC rather than a U-Haul and some buddies working for pizza and beer.
So, movers it is. But seeing as we’ve gone the pizza and beer route for every previous move, we’re not sure what we should be asking the movers beyond the basics. Is there anything you’ve learned in your moving experience that you wish you’d asked the people you hired? What factors should I be using to compare companies? And what questions should I be asking when I interview them?
This is an in-town move rather than long-distance, just in case it matters.
I do not have a lot of experience with movers, but there are some other good threads here if I recall correctly.
One thing suggested was make sure their vans had their name on it, and were not rental vans. I wish I’d been able to do this with the one move I did, as it might have been my best tip off (I’d gone through a lot of the other suggested hoops) that they were going to end up scamming me.
Are you looking for packing too, or just moving from point A to point B?
Find out if they’re asking for an hourly rate or a flat rate for the entire job. Pros and cons to both. An hourly rate encourages them to pad the bill. A flat rate encourages them to rush the job.
Are you going to be present during the packing and unpacking?
Find out what condition they expect your property to be in. Do they want everything pre-boxed? Do they want to box everything themselves?
Have you considered one of those pod movers? They deliver a “pod” to your house. It’s like a huge box. You load all your possessions into the pod at your own pace. When you’re ready you call the company. They come and pick up the pod and transport it to your new house. You then unpack it and again call them when it’s empty. More work obviously but it’s cheaper and you’re packing your antiques yourself.
In-town vs long-distance certainly matters. With any mover, you face the possibility of them packing and shipping sloppily, and damaging your belongings, but if you’re going long distance, you additionally run the risk of them not delivering by the date promised, or tacking on mysterious charges while in transit, and keeping your things for months, before even bothering to ship them. Yes, months, and you’re far away from your home and things, so you can’t even say “Screw it,” and go back and get it yourself.
But you don’t have to worry about all of that. You may still have to worry about the “mysterious charges” game movers play. Find out about fueling charges, packing labor and equipment fees, and make sure their contract doesn’t come with any surprises. Scummy moving companies are not uncommon, and neither are complaints about them online.
Please, please, please, I cannot enforce this enough, check them out with the Federal Motor Carriers and BBB. Aside from those, there are some pretty good user-run websites about movers that will help. I had a big move about 3 years ago, so a lot of this is fresh in my mind, but apparently not fresh enough for me to give better details.
Must run, but my internet addiction is forcing me to type this. Will be back later with actual info.
We do have Angie’s List, and plan to check it before we even start calling people.
And yeah, we’ll probably be looking for at least some packing, as we both work full-time and have a toddler, so while we can pack some of it, it’ll be tough for us to do it all.
I’d love to give you a recommendation if you happen to be in Phoenix!
I’ve moved so many times it’s not even funny and this last time I found the movers that I will use forever. Very reasonable, very considerate and very fast!
Local movers are listed there with large amounts of customer feedback, and all the money goes through the company, so you have recourse if the guys don’t show. Anyway, I made sure I picked a company with tons of positive, recent feedback and was not disappointed. Just make sure you don’t use U-Haul for the truck!
Last time I moved I found it much cheaper to ship all the boxed stuff to myself UPS, then I shipped the furniture on a van lines truck. It took two weeks to get the furniture, but there was no haggling over price before he unloaded the truck and the UPS stuff came in 3 days.
Since I’d brought the basics (kitchen bath bedding and clothes) in my car I was fine with the waiting, and I managed an interstate move of a three bdrm house for $700.00
You’re in the Chicago area, right? We’ve had very good luck (2 moves in the past 3 years) with The Professionals; we had most of the stuff packed before they got there but they did do some last-minute stuff. (And they brought garment boxes as part of the deal to load all our hanging stuff into). There was one chair that started out cracked and ended up more cracked by the end of the second move.
After speaking with my sis who has hired several different movers over the years, she has one BIG bit of advice.
***Get it in writing! ***
Every single charge needs to be detailed. If they say unloading and unpacking is free then have them show you where it says that in the contract. If they say that hauling away the waste packing material is free then have them show you where it says that in the contract. Agree on a specified delivery time and then have them show you where it says that in the contract. Find out their policy on damaged goods and then have them show you where it says that in the contract. If it’s not spelled out then it’s up for on-site negotiation and they have your stuff on their truck! Don’t think they won’t screw you just to prove that they can.
Where are you moving from and to (distance wise)?
Well, that might not even matter. If I ever do it again, either across town or across country, I’d use Mayflower again. They were originally recommended to me by a neighbor, who didn’t need to move, but had flood damage, and needed the contents of a house packed up while it was being repaired. They came down, inventoried everything, noted any existing damage, packed it away on the truck, and then put it all back exactly as it was after the repairs were complete.
We just used them to move my mother 600 miles, and they kept the same excellent level of service. The actual driver even insisted on filing a claim, because he found a damaged lamp, which he had marked as “Good Condition” on his inventory. Extremely professional, punctual, and pleasant to deal with. For that move, they came, quoted a price and did it turnkey. After the fact, they actually refunded some of the cost as the packing and unpacking took half the time they had originally thought.
YMMV, but they do seem to do it right.
You can even get quick estimates on their website.
When we did a similar move, we got estimates from 3 local places. IIRC, all were local branches of “national” movers. At least one was a verbal referral from a friend.
We had all 3 come to the house to give estimates. 2 were much higher (about a thousand dollars) than the third; all three included packing and all materials and were based on hourly figures vs flat-rates.
We wound up picking one of the two higher bids, because we were puzzled at the discrepancy.
Then it turned out it took 'em less time than they’d estimated… and they came in very close to the lower bid!
Anyway… I’d strongly recommend getting multiple bids for the work. Good advice from others re dedicated crews vs whoever’s standing in the day labor line.
I definitely recommend doing this! With our local move, we knew we didn’t have the time to do much packing at all… so we didn’t. The bids we requested all included one day to pack, and one day to move. Best money we ever spent!!
We did opt to move the crystal ourselves (fragile and irreplaceable), and the computer (ditto), and of course the movers wouldn’t take certain household items (propane cylinder etc.). Also the houseplants.
Make sure your estimate is binding. Even if you call the movers in to do a walk through, which you’d assume would give them a fairer assessment and a darn good estimate of how much your moving costs will actually be, a scummy moving company will come up with ways to hike up your cost. Their estimates and contracts often contain goofy wording that says you may or may not have to pay more based on unexpected packing or shipping costs, or whatever the hell. Of course, there are still truly scummy companies that offer binding estimates and still do not abide by them.
Well shit, George, how do I know I’m not getting an estimate from scumbags? Angie’s List, MovingScam.com, Federal Motor Carriers and the BBB are good places to look. While looking at forums specifically dedicated to reviews, it may look like you’re coming across a bunch of whiners (because you are), but that whining may be good and warranted. If you get a good quote, look them up, and it looks like everybody and their dog is whining about them on Angie’s List, run over to the FMCSA or BBB and see if it’s just a bunch of disgruntled babies, or if the problems with the company is wider spread.
For comparison, here is Mayflower’s BBB Rating: Good
After my things were held hostage, I started looking into my movers, and seeing what I could do. Huh? What do you mean I did this backwards? Good luck.
I moved three weeks ago. I found my moving company on Yelp.com
I just used the one that had the most reviews with the highest rating. I was very happy with them! If you have Yelp available in your area, try that for recommendations.