As many of you know, I’m preparing to move from Colorado to Michigan. We have a quote from a moving company (North American), and the guy we’re dealing with seems to be on the ball and we like him. We may end up getting a quote from another place, but we may be lazy and blow it off. From what I’ve heard, prices and services seem to be a lot the same, and the guy we’re dealing with at NA makes us feel confident and he feels trustworthy.
Are there any “gotchas” we need to know about when making a big move like this? Any companies to stay away from? How about insurance - we can purchase insurance from NA, or we can rely on our homeowner’s insurance. I have a call in to my insurance agent to see how this works, but haven’t heard from him yet.
Has anyone had good/bad experiences with moves like this? It scares me a bit to put everything I own on a truck and trust that it gets 1400 miles away without a hitch.
North American is a pretty large, nationwide moving company so I think on the whole you are relatively safe with them. I once used a no-name moving company on the cheap and got royally screwed ten different ways. Never again. I only use nationally known moving companies now even if they cost a bit more.
I’d try and be aware of all costs associated with your move. In my experience the original quote rarely does justice to the final bill. Certainly they will adhere to the quote but the little things like boxes, tape and so on really add-up. Additionally see what fees are associated with storage of your stuff if for some reason you can’t move in immediatley when the truck arrives in Michigan. They will not only charge a storage fee but a fee for unloading and re-loading the truck and that can start getting expensive as well.
Insurance is definitely something to watch. Movers usually have a few plans to choose from. I firmly believe if you choose the more expensive insurance that covers replacement costs of your items the movers tend to be more careful. However, some moving companies then insist that they are only responsible for stuff they pack so you get packing charges as well as pricey insurance. If you go for the cheaper insurance you are lucky to get a fraction on the dollar for damaged items. Finally, even if you go for full replacement cost, be prepared for the moving company to fight tooth and nail to pay-up. I did this once and while the mover’s ultimately paid they dragged their feet, sent inspectors, sent repair men and so on to avoid writing a check.
God I hate moving…
I’ve moved cross-country with large moving companies a number of times.
I think you’ll be fine with NA, but just as a little word of advice - any particularly precious items you should move yourself. This seems like common sense but sometimes you don’t think about things like a really nice vase from your Granny, or Great Uncle Albert’s WWI musket and what not. Somethings insurance just can’t replace.
Also, any jewlery you should move yourself. Ditto for plants - they really don’t do well in the back of one of those vans.
Remember that any carrier with a national affilition is still just a franchisee. They all differ in quality. That said, though, there’s still a better appeals process through a national organization than a small local carrier.
One thing is that if it’s of any value, don’t pack it yourself. Self-packed boxes are not usually covered by their insurance - how do they know it wasn’t packed already broken?
Set aside a closet or someplace similar with a big sign with “Don’t Pack” on it. This is where you’ll put the things you’ll want to cross the country with and don’t want on the truck.
Get them to commit to a delivery date range. They probably won’t give you a specific single date but they will give a range. My truck driver stopped in Oklahoma to visit family for a few days, the range of dates was so big. I was days living in a lawn chair in an empty apartment.
Plan what you’ll dress & live with before the truck arrives. My car had folding chairs, the cat stuff, lots of instant food, a couple of pans, bathroom stuff, etc. It sounds like a lot but really it’s just a few days of camping stuff.
Inventory everything coming off the truck, sometimes other families are combined on a truck to save costs and you don’t want your stuff going to somebody else. Be careful about signing away your rights to submit a claim for damage. Often, when you sign, you are certifying that your furniture is undamaged (or not further damaged) on arrival. If you’ve got a video or digital camera, go crazy shooting pics of your good furniture so you have a good before-the-move record of their condition.
Strange things get left behind. Do a sweep of the property before the truck pulls away and make sure everything is gone that is supposed to go.
That’s all I can think of right now - there’s probably more.
-B
Hiring someone to move you will probably put you in the most vulnerable situation you’ve ever been in.
Think about it. You’re giving someone permission to take everything you own. You want to be sure that you’re going to get it back, and get it back in something close to the condition it left in.
There are too many horror stories than could be listed here.
My parent’s arrive in a new city with little baby Neptune on their knee. At least, he’d be on their knee if they could sit down, but they can’t. It was weeks before their stuff showed up. Try to live for a couple weeks with nothing, especially with four children. And every single item was smashed!
Neptune moves. Where’s my stuff? In storage? Huh? I paid you to move my stuff not to store it. I have to pay for the storage? Are you kidding? Three weeks before my stuff shows up. Why are there tire tracks on my furniture? They showed me a form with my signature that said my stuff had tire tracks on it when they took it. Huh? What slight of hand did they use to get that? I think that I signed it, and handed it back to them so the guy could tear off the carbons, and that he added stuff to it before he took off the carbons.
I’ve heard of worse. Stuff ends up in storage. When the client refused to pay for storage, they kept her stuff. After years of lawyers and finally getting a court order to return her stuff, she discovers that they sold her stuff to pay for her bills. She tries to charge them with theft, but the judge rules that she gave them permission to take the stuff so it’s not theft.
Be very very careful. Check with the Better Business Bureau. Get recommendations from your friends. Interview the companies. Get quotes from several companies. Don’t go with anyone who leaves you with any doubt. And especially be very careful when you sign that sheet that describes the condition of your stuff. If you sign a paper that says your coffee table is scratched it’ll show up with huge gashes.
I’ve done two cross-country moves, and the only burn I’ve had (aside from the unexpected expense of boxes and tape) is the time it can take for your stuff to arrive. The first move had me living with cold cereal and a sleeping bag in an empty apartment for two weeks. The next one took three weeks!
No doubt about it, moving sucks! But the change is pretty exciting…
When my grandmother moved from her home in AZ into a retirement condo thingy, she had a chuck of her stuff shipped up to us relatives here in Minnesota. It was quite the ordeal- we all flew down to AZ and went through the things we wanted and tagged them for the movers. We flew back and eagerly awaited the arrival of ‘stuff’ (I couldn’t wait to get my grandfathers old mahogany desk and some other neato trinkets from my childhood).
It never showed.
The truck was stolen in St. Louis and found a month later stripped and cleaned of all but a few odds and ends. Sucked, big time. No one ever thought to get an exact dollar amount on what was being sent, we just went with the ‘typicals’. What we got in compensation couldn’t begin to cover what the stuff actually cost, both real and sentimental.
Again, sucked big time.
But, but… it could have been worse. The family who had their entire house in the back portion of the truck lost it all.
F’in thieves.
My advice? Ship anything and everything of value (Sentimental or otherwise) on your own and insure the hell out of what’s being moved.
My apologies. While my moving experience was an ordeal, I certainly didn’t intend on others reading about it being even worse.
Chris needs sleep. Goodnight.
My big hint is: Label EVERY BOX with exactly what’s inside. This will save hunting through twelve boxes marked “Kitchen stuff” for a pot to cook supper in, the first night in the new house. What you want is “KITCHEN–pots & lids”, “KITCHEN–bowls & cups”, etc.
Second hint: Don’t ask the moving company to pack stuff for you, as they will put tiny amounts of Stuff in enormous boxes, filling them only half-full. Do your own packing.
Third hint: Be aware that things do break, in spite of all precautions. When my mom moved, the moving guy put his butt through the glass of her antique glass-fronted china cabinet. The moving company paid to have the glass replaced, of course, but it wasn’t antique glass. So one more vote here for “move Great-Aunt Pauline’s mantelpiece clock yourself, in the back of the car or something”.
We used North American to move us from Austin, TX to San Diego, CA in May 1998. I’d say my experience with them was pretty good, and they were the most reasonably priced of the three quotes we got (all of which were national companies). All three indicated our stuff would be on a truck with other family’s stuff being dropped off along the way, which made us a little nervous some of our items might get accidentally given to someone else. But since they ALL did this, I assumed they knew what they were doing. We packed everything ourselves and they gave us a three day window for delivery in San Diego. They even let us drive to their warehouse and get some of their used boxes for free.
The only thing that pissed me off was when they came to pick up the stuff. We were careful to label and document exactly how many boxes we had, and even placed item in neat piles to allow for easy movement with dollies. The driver who showed up was a feeble guy in his 70s with one young, buff helper guy. As you might guess, the old driver was unable to move many of our heavier items. As a result, my choices were to:
A) help the younger strong guy load the truck myself (NOT part of the contract) and risk throwing out my back or
B) wait half a day or more for them to get someone else to help this younger guy, since the old guy couldn’t cut it.
I went with option A and got quite a workout that day which I wasn’t expecting. The old driver guy also needed a break about every 30 minutes, while the other guy and myself worked straight through.
When everything was said and done, I called the company to tell them that they had better make sure they had sufficient help on the other end to unload the stuff because I was pissed I had to provide free help as it was. No partial refund was offered or asked for, though I probably could have gotten something back. They showed up on the last of the three days of their three day window, but they did, in fact have two huge guys to unload everything so the 70-something driver wasn’t an issue. All our boxes were there and intact and unloaded fairly carefully. The only damage that occured was when one of the unloader guys tried to pick up a 150 pound steamer chest by it’s handle (it was loaded by dolly in Austin), breaking said handle. No big deal
Since you’re looking for suggestions and advice more than facts, I’ll move this over to IMHO.
my $1100 cross country move turned into over $2500 because I didn’t do some of the things listed at these sites:
http://www.bendover.com/gmtquestion.asp?faq=5&fldAuto=253
Phouchg
Lovable Rogue