GULLIVER'S MOVERS & STORAGE

Let me begin by saying this is the third time we have used this company. The first two times all went VERY well so of course we used them again. Additionally, we recently referred them to friends about a year ago and they also used Gulliver's. Our old house was a five bedroom four bath house. It included a home gym, woodworking shop and my wife's home office. Our estimate was for $5300. The plan was to pack everything on May 6th and move it to our new house May 7th (about 1.5 miles away) - they used a six man crew three trucks. In total they broke only one item - a lamp i didn't like much. They finished moving everything into the new house around 2pm - very quick. The final bill - $4300. Here is the problem - they left a significant amount of items at the old house. My work bench, tool chest, all of my hand power tools, the master closet, everything in the pantry, everything in the linen closet, all the outdoor pots, printers, etc.. It took me 8 full loads in my F150 to finish the move (thank God I have a truck). I would rather have paid the extra $1000 and had them move everything. That said, they worked hard and what they did move they did very well.

Tow truck, Drunk employee and an ambulance...not a good move day. I requested an all inclusive guarantee quote and they sent Cindy Vogel to my home to do an estimate. She explained that they wouldn't guarantee the quote but that her guys usually come in below it and their goal is to beat the estimate--which was for $980.10. I booked them and they were to arrive at 8 a.m. on Monday, June 23rd. When they hadn't arrived at 9 a.m., I called the office. One of the movers called back momentarily to explain they were in front of my building and that DC Police Department were towing their moving truck for violations and they were waiting on a new truck to be delivered. The first mover arrived in my condo about 9:15 a.m. and began the packing. Sometime around noon, when it was clear there was still much packing to be done, they told me it was going to take longer than they expected. I shared with them what I had been told and they indicated it really was a three person job, rather than two and that they could make up some of the packing time in the move time. The driver started moving some things down and it was about this time that I overheard the one mover and driver complaining about his schedule and being overworked to his colleague. It was a shift from how he was acting earlier--bordering on belligerence. Short time later, the older of the two movers came back down from the truck and told me it was just him now. He said he had to remove the other worker from his duties because he was drunk and he was telling me because he was sure I could smell the alcohol on him. I asked if he had notified his office and he said they were sending a replacement mover/driver. I called the office to confirm and the receptionist/operator said yes, they were aware and were sending someone--not at all apologetic and more like I was bothering them. Some time passes and the mover returns from another trip to the truck and tells me the other guy is now passed out and he needs to wait downstairs for his manager to arrive. At this point, I decide to go downstairs and find the truck wide open with some of my things in it and completely unattended in the alley. I walk around the building where the cab is sticking out near the sidewalk to find several police cars and a firetruck---then the ambulance arrives. EMT asked the standing mover when he last saw the guy up and around and he told him it had been a half an hour or so. EMT said couldn't be just alcohol b/c he wouldn't go down that quick and that hard in such a short time. Mover 1 was really worried about the guy getting in trouble and noted he had a wife and kids---I could tell he had compassion for his younger colleague who was going through a rough patch. He had asked me not to tell Cindy who bid the job about the guys drinking--that was before the ambulance arrived--and didn't want him to lose his job. Mover 1 was good and assured me several times not to worry about the bill and all the time. When the manager arrived with the replacement mover/driver, he told me the mover would bring back paperwork and then he would call me tomorrow to work out the bill and they would take care of it. We finally arrived at the new place and the movers had left the bill of lading at the old place, so I went to get it. They finally finished the move around 7:15 pm. Gulliver's never called me about the bill---they just billed me for the entire day, $1440.50--including the time their movers were out of commission. That's 147% of the estimate they provided. To date, I've sent several emails and made several calls to attempt to return mover 2's personal belongings which were left behind and discuss the bill. They have yet to return a call or email---even when I've been promised a manager will call back within the day. I don't post reviews lightly--particularly a negative review that impacts business. I understand mistakes happen and I'd like to think this was an isolated incident. However, the way in which they've handled it by refusing to return calls and emails indicates this must be more common and the standard way they operate. I mean if you're employee is drunk on the job and hospitalized, don't you think you'd return a call? Gulliver's has had a good reputation and my real estate office has been recommending them to our clients for some time. However, when I filed my complaint with the Better Business Bureau, i noticed another one filed this year with similar concerns (though no ambulance trip) by someone who had been a previous and satisfied customer. Perhaps there's new management or something has shifted, but I've never had a company perform so poorly and then refuse to take any responsibility and in fact bill for time their incapacitated employee is drawing crowds of passerby on the sidewalk.

First of all I called them on a Saturday morning to have the sofa picked up on that Sunday. (the previous mover had had to cancel at the last minute.) Gulliver's was kind enough to agree to accomodate me and accepted the job. The men showed up on time wrapped the sofa as if it were a delicate antique and delivered it. They were very careful at both ends not to touch or damage any piece of furniture that was on the path from the door to where the sofa was to go. When it was where I wanted it they carefully took off the blankets and tape. It was a wonderful experience as I have several valuable pieces of art that though I had moved most out of the way they moved a couple more just to be safe. This was a small job, handled as if it were a large job that would make much more money for them. I will gladly call them for any moves as I know first hand the amount of care they put into taking care of what they are moving. I highly recommend them to anyone needing movers.

Moving can often be stressful, but Gulliver's did wonders for reducing ours. The movers showed up exactly on time, worked efficiently and professionally, and didn't break a thing (as far as we are aware :-)). All three movers were respectful and friendly, and the move was exactly on budget. We'd definitely use them again for a future move!

They were okay. They did break 1 item, but they compensated a dollar amount for it. The communication wasn't great. They set the price based on the amount of time they estimated the job to take. So it seemed they gave the estimate for how long it would take and then made sure it took that long. It took them a lot longer to get to the new location than it took us, taking the same route at the same time of day. In addition, they didn't do any kind of follow up afterwards and we never heard from them again, which surprised me since my impression of them was that they were one of the better companies in the area.

On the day of the move the movers got lost, called for help but arrived about an hour late. Once in place they efficiently began their work with a walk through to separate what was to go where. They were extremely professional and took extra care in packing the furniture including a number of items with lots of glass. The men were courteous, worked efficiently and left the area clean and picked up. They were able to execute a very difficult stairway move of a bed without damaging anything. The packing did take longer than expected so the trip from Virginia to Baltimore encountered Washington area rush hour gridlock. Travel took an hour longer than it would have otherwise. However, unpacking was equally professional. They encountered no difficulty in keeping the Baltimore and Connecticut items separate. The delivery to Connecticut the following day was on time and equally competent. Everything was delivered and set up without any damage. While the day was longer than anticipated and they used one more person than their estimate, they honored the quote that had been provided. I would use them again.