Ask Candy: Mover Tyranny — What To Do When the Movers Don’t Show Up?
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A reader writes about a most unusual move: the movers showed up 8.5 hours late. Too late, in fact, to use the building elevators. Further, the owner of the moving company has a most unusual “love me or hate me” attitude — like I really don’t care, dude! Take a second to listen to the recorded phone convo after the jump. Oh customer service, where are ye?:
Candy: What do you do when your movers decide not to show up and apparently do not care? Does this happen? Sending you this from my hotel room as my condo is completely packed for today’s unsuccessful move.
Here’s a little rundown:
Pre-Move:
-Hired Around The Block movers to help facilitate my move two blocks down Allen street.
-When I first talked to them about setting up an appointment they told me they could do a 4PM – 5PM move. I told them that would not work as both the building I am moving out of and moving into do not allow moves past 5 PM.
-They then said they could do a move arriving between 8AM – 9AM. Discussed with them that I am moving from a one bedroom condo on the 4th floor to another one bedroom condo on the 3rd floor. They asked if I was moving fridge or washer/dryer and I told them no.
-They told me it should take 2 hours (3 max) and cover/shrink-wrap all. (Candy: Shrink wrap is good!)
-As most HOA’s require, I gave them my property managers contact information who sent the paperwork stating the moving regulations. Then paid my $500 deposit and scheduled the move with both buildings to reserve the elevators.
Move Day:-Stayed up till 7AM making sure EVERYTHING was packed, labeled and ready to go! Took a nap on the sofa using a towel as a blanket waiting for the movers arrival between 8AM – 9AM.
-10AM rolls around and no work. Finally get hold of them who then tell me they will be there at 2PM. Stressed to them that we only have the elevator till 4 PM.
-Scheduled to close on a house/property at 2PM with Providence Title. After calling Providence Title to explain that I am waiting on my movers, they saved the day and brought the closing documents to me so I would not miss the movers.
-Took the day off work and with no wifi access I sat around on my couch waiting.-2:30 rolls around and I call to see where they are. The poor assistant is flustered at this point (but as nice as can be).
-At 2:50 I get a call that they are one their way! Tell them again that we only have the elevator till four but they say it can get done. They finally show up at at 3:20.
– I tell the movers again that we only have till four. When they get into my condo they say it can not be done properly as my furniture is to nice to move that quickly (appreciate the guy’s honestly when not wanting to mess my stuff up). I tell him I need to speak to the manager/owner and they tell me he will not talk to me. Why not? “He does not like to deal with customers”
-Talk to the assistant who is crying to me at this point.
-Apparently her boss told her to tell me to find new movers. (customer service?)
-While crying she tells me she told her boss that he needs to call me and make this right. He tells her “Don’t tell me how to handle my customers, remember who signs your paychecks”
-She tells me that her boss will not talk to me. She then explains how he can be bi-polar and will be rude to me. I told her she needs to have her boss call me. Apparently no one will work for him and he has an executive suite somewhere and so on.
-At this point I feel awful for this poor women! She is now telling me how she worked for the owners of Classic BMW etc. and because of her disability she is forced to work for this guy.
-She is then still crying to me about her boss and upset that he will not talk to me. Calls me back shortly after telling me she told him he needs to call me. Warns me he will not care and I should start looking for new movers. She tells me they can fit me in at 12:30 the next day but her boss said I need a three man team and it will now be $40 dollars more an hour. He will not give me a break on price even though he messed up my move and I wasted an entire day of work waiting around for them. No sir.
-Boss calls me at his convenience FINALLY at 6:30 (ish) PM:
-Rude!!! Check the audio, you’ve got to her this!. Basically, it ended where I would rather move myself than give someone who treats their customers and employees with such disrespect.
Thankfully I do not close on my condo till next week but how often does this happen? Wonder if others experienced this mover tyranny? Pics attached and recording of my convo with the boss-man.
Good night — from the Holiday Inn Park Cities. At least I can get work done here with wifi!
— TK
Dear TK: We are speechless! But that’s also why we recommend the movers on this blog, like WG Storage & Delivery!
Posted in Ask Candy
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Wow, and I thought I was getting a bad deal when my movers showed up 2 hours late and unprepared to move the pool table I had already told them I needed moved. At least they were apologetic and gave me a discount.
I had the same experience with Across USA movers. I had to pay an extra $250 to use the building elevators after 5. They showed up three hours late and didn’t finish the move until midnight. They charged me double what they originally quoted.
Oh. My. Goodness. That is absolutely insane!
Two Men and a Truck: never called back to provide a quote despite me calling several times.
All My Sons: the WORST. They were a no show. Never called to say they weren’t coming, couldn’t come, etc. When I called, I got an excuse that sounded like a lie that one of their movers suffered hear stroke and was in the hospital. Okay, sorry if that really happened, but no one could call me? They were immediately belligerent and cursed at me and hung up.
Had to scramble to find another mover who could get me next day. I’ll never use or recommend either of these outfits.
Like I said, that’s why we will only work with certain movers on this blog. Movers are an area we hope to MOVE into, so to speak, in the future!
Only use Element Moving and Storage or Eveready Services. I use both, and neither has ever disappointed!!!
My son has used Apple Movers 4 times in the last 7-8 years, they have always been on time, charged what was quoted and never scratched or damaged one piece of furniture. Most recently, less than a month ago they moved him from Lakewood to Irving (yes I know, he hated to leave the area but the commute was killer) and they arrived 20 minutes early. They moved a one bedroom apartment in 2 1/2 hours!!! This story is I think everyone’s worst nightmare in a move. It’s good to know about these other moving services to put on my “never call” list.
Candy, I love that you expose the crooks in this town. You have no fear and that is so great! Keep it up girl!
Our family of companies is affiliated with Eveready Services….. I can’t even BEGIN to imagine Eveready treating clients like that!!
Oh we know that!
Well I think I probably can tell you exactly how this happen. First a little about my background. I Worked in the moving and storage business for 5 years and I know most of the owners that you mention personally and how a client ends up like this. The moving industry has very little regulations (which new laws are coming out that will protect the consumer a lot more). More then 80% of the moving companies in the DFW area are ran by immigrants from Israel and some from Russia. They come just as all do looking for a future. The way of business that they conduct is not the most honest. Almost all the the movers are illegals from Mexico that they pick up at the local home depot and or lowes. There are certain HD and Lowes that they go to be cause these guys are used to doing moving. Now they either have a couple people working at the office in town or they have a call center overseas. So what they tell the sells reps is book, book, book. what that does is make them way over booked. So now they look at the jobs for the day and see what ones are the most profitable and try and get workers for those jobs. Now if they can not get any workers for your job they will keep stringing you alot until they can get you fit in. They do this so that you believe in them and don’t call someone else. Then when you asked they what happen they always say a truck broke down which in the industry mean i will be there late and i had other more important jobs t (This could also happen do to them not having a truck. Many and I mean many so called moving companies rent trucks from Ryder or Enterprise). Now if you where to call someone else there is a chance that you are calling the same company and do not even know it. Most of them have 5-10 different names that they go by. And there is reason they do this is so that they do not get to many complaint on one name. If they start getting complaints on a name they will stop using it for and while and go write their own reviews to get their rating back up in hopes you do not see the true bad complaints. Same thing happens in long distance moving but even worse things can and usually do happen wit these type of movers
Billy, I want to blog more on this! I will email you…
No problem I would like to tell you all about the good the bad and the ugly of the moving industry. But most importantly I can let you know the steps to do so that you can avoid something like this happening in the future. I can also share how to properly look up a reputable company and not rely on just the review sites (95% of the positive reviews on moving companies on review cites are fake reviews). Most moving companies will either pay for reviews, do review swaps (means you write a positive review about my company and I will write one about yours. Even though neither one of us used the other service). Which I know people who has been paid by one of the companies listed on here for a positive review.
I must disclose that I do not currently work for one particular moving company so I am not here to be bias towards one company or another.
MoveStar. http://www.movestarinc.com
WHITE GLOVE moving is the ABSOLUTE BEST Moving and receiving company in the entire metroplex. As a designer they are the first people I use when I need help with receiving and installation for all my projects. These guys at White Glove are absolutely TOP NOTCH. I have moving nightmares as well. Never from White Glove!!! I love them and Highly Recommend them.
Thanks Kim. They advertise with us, and we checked them out — as we do all of our advertisers. My rule of thumb is that if I don’t want to use their services, I don’t want them on my blog!
I coordinate a lot of moves for my staging and design clients. There are several good moving companies in town. White Glove, Delivery Limited and Nice Moves are reputable and treat this as a true profession. My advice is always work with a company that will send someone out first to assess how long the move will take. There is NO way they can determine this on the phone. In my experience a typical two bedroom condo will take an entire day just to pack properly and a full day to move. Everyone’s furniture, regardless of whether it is “high end” or not, deserves to be wrapped and packed properly. EVERY high rise I’ve worked in has specific move in- move out hours and often you cannot book a move on a Friday. Any reputable company will know which high rises have these policies. If they don’t it’s a sure sign they are unprofessional. Don’t do anything without paperwork. Make sure you have a signed copy of the movers insurance policy ( if you live in a high rise, management will require this) and the names and phone numbers of everyone involved. I even get the cell numbers of the drivers. Take out the extra insurance. Moving companies pay pennies on the dollar if something is damaged so it’s always worthwhile to take out the extra insurance. Always insist on the first appointment of the day and have them call as they are leaving their warehouse/office and again as they arrive at your dock. Most of the high rises in Dallas have a list of movers they work with who understand the building policies so always ask your concierge. As with any service, word of mouth is king. Ask your friends who they recommend then call and talk to the manager to get a feel for how they respond to customers. Moving is stressful and the last thing anyone needs is a moving company ADDING stress.
In this case the company should have comped the entire move. Better a loss of money than a loss of reputation.
Thanks Karen. I might add Curtiss to the list. You saw my house this weekend, it will take a VILLAGE to move me. I better stay put!