Two Men And A Truck

Good phone service, arrived promptly, were ready to work. I was expecting two men, but three arrived. When I inquired, I was told he was a trainee.  The supervisor was good, but he was too busy with paperwork to supervise two helpers who should not have left unsupervised with furniture. Those two guys would have reliable moving boxes of books, pots and pans, toys, bedding, etc but not furniture. They had not the habit of making a plan before lifting each piece: how should it be picked up, where was it going, what were the obstacles, how would it fit through the doors, etc.  Having worked as a mover as a teenager, I ca accept having paintwork marred by a slow-moving collision with furniture, but I don't accept a high-speed collision, actually denting the woodwork.  While waiting for his partner, one man picked up one end of an antique table (+100 years old) 4 feet high, putting the legs still remaining on the floor under a very large leverage; I was thankful they were not broken off. 

Lessons:
1. If applicable, make it clear during the initial contact that antiques will be moved and the normal workforce probably won't be acceptable. 2. Never accept a trainee; make him sit in the truck during the work.  3. Never accept a third man. Three allows work to be done in places you cannot monitor.  4. Do not allow any work to occur while you are completing paperwork, even if you are paying by the hour. You need to be looking, not filling out forms (and there are so many, a paranoid person might think distraction and/or delay was the point of having so many forms). 5.  Insist that the forms be sent to you ahead of time so you can at least read them without the crew onsite. 6. Run them off at the first dumb thing they do-don't wait for the second. 7. Schedule the work so that you have the luxury of running them off so that a delay won't put you in a bind. 

Before their arrival, I had emptied the room of everything I could so the job would be small, quick and uncomplicated. There were only 6 pieces of furniture to be moved. From arrival to departure required 18 minutes, including paperwork. I shudder to think what would have happened in a house-to-house move requiring all day.  If I ever hire them again, the list of lessons above will be rigorously followed. 

They were very careful with my furniture. They made sure it was placed exactly where I wanted it. They were pleasant and attentive to what I needed. Before they left they had me check each room to make sure they had done everything that I wanted. Would use again-office staff nice and attentive also.

Initially we were thrilled with our move. The movers themselves were great, on time, lots of hussle, and got everything from one location to another. However when our furniture arrived at our new home an antique tea cart that I had inherited from my grandmother had the marble top broken into three pieces. It was noted, i was assured it would be taken care if and not to worry. 
I did receive a call from Clay the next day and was once again assured it would be fixed or the marble replaced, I was not to worry.
Well as it turns out the gentleman who came to our home flat out lied to us about how the insurance worked when specifically questioned about what would happen if one of our family heirlooms were damaged. We were told that the .60 a lb does not apply to those items which were clearly shown to him so he would know which few items fell into that catagory. (Who only gets .60 per lb insurance on family antiques??) we signed up for the move and got it scheduled.
The guys showed up on time and were really great, no complaints about them. The office staff from the estimator, to Clay, to Kevin Childs the Operations manager, that is another story entirely. They have come across as dishonest and unwilling to live up to what their employees promise to their customers. 
In spite of being told ahead of time (when we could have/would have purchased additional insurance)that it was not required for the antiques, and assurances by Clay after the fact that it would be taken care of, they basically told us we signed the contract and they will not honor what we were told.
Be very careful in dealing with this organization before trusting them to move your life. They tout that they are the experts, you can relax and leave the move to them. I expect you can as long as nothing is damaged or broken and you try to get them to make it right as you were assured it would be.
I would not use these movers again, however if you choose to use them, make sure you inspect all furniture and ensure all items are present and accounted for before signing off on the contract once they say they are done. Once you sign that they will quit any effort to remedy your damages

They were literally around the corner from where we were. When they packed the house, they failed to pack one of the rooms. The quality of the things that were packed were sort of thrown in haphazardly. It was not done as professionally as we would have liked. They were right on schedule.