Hilldrup Mayflower

Run, don't walk, to Atlas if you're reading this. Seriously. We had 3 quotes on a 4/3 house move from FL to NC. United came in in the middle. I had heard really good things about Atlas but they were very high (on an already expensive move) so I reluctantly went with Hilldrup. I should have pushed Atlas harder on their price instead. This will be quite long and irritated, so buckle up. If you haven’t noticed, interstate moving is a racket. You “contract” with a company, who then basically subs out every aspect of the process. They (and you) have almost no control, and you will rarely hear from anyone along the way. Here’s a list of how things went: * Unfortunately we had to move in June, high season, no capacity in trucks * Even after scheduling the move 2 months in advance, a Mayflower truck showed up, already 1/3 full; who the heck are you? * Driver decided to only take the first floor’s belongings (easier for him) and keep more room for yet another person’s belongings * Driver blamed “dispatch” who is the Mob behind everything, I guess, and decides where your items will go. * At 4pm on moving day we still had 1/3 of our belongings, and the truck pulled away * Hilldrup sent 2 poor guys with no support, and almost no supplies, to load our stuff onto a local truck and cart it back to their warehouse. Their ONLY concern was getting out as fast as possible - our furniture be damned. * We could get no information on when the rest of our belongings would be shipped. * The original driver did a decent job of what he took - if he’d had everything we would have been less irritated at the process. But he did not, and then complained that on the NC end he had to take things upstairs! * Several weeks went by, trying to see when the next truck would arrive with our “overflow.” * Eventually found out it had been crated and sent as freight. * If I had wanted to send it via POD, I would have packed it myself - I’m sure we would have been more careful than whomever threw our overflow into those crates. * Weeks later, a truck arrived, also at 4PM, with 2 overworked guys who again wanted nothing more than to race through the unloading. It took 6 hours. * Sofas were put in the crate with no covering, items were simply tossed in, boxes that said “top load” were crushed int he middle of a stack. This company, or set of contractors, or whatever they pretend to be, makes a huge amount of money from you for a high-end, full-service move, and then basically hires the lowest-paid people they can get away with. Your belongings are of no concern to anyone. To do this again, I think I’d hire 2 Men and a Truck, and a POD for everything else. Don’t waste your time here. Or your money.

Both crews involved (4 for move out of/storage on truck from old residence; 3 for offloading contents/moving into new residence) were efficient, professional, courteous, conscientious with keeping our goods protected, clean and organized. They put furnishings where desired, assembled items requiring same correctly, no breakage or missing items (421 items!).

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The same three men were involved in both the packing/removal and delivery of my household goods over a two day period. They were clean, polite, well spoken and respectful of my house and belongings and me. They were on time both days and worked steadily. They disassembled beds and doors as needed and reassembled at the new location. They attached protective covering where needed and removed same when finished. Of all the moves I have made over my long life, this was the ONLY one that was pleasant. Yes...it was not only not unpleasant and not stressful, it was actually pleasant.