All About Moving

The owner of the company came to do an in-home estimate for an in-town move, something I could not get the better known local company to do. I pointed out the large pieces that I wanted moved and was quoted a price. This was followed by a written agreement in the mail which also contained instructions for how to prepare my belongings for moving. After this arrived I called to see if I could add to the list of items to be moved, and was instructed to talk to the movers when they arrive and they will let me know how much the extra charges would be.

Moving day arrived, and the two-man crew was right on time. Mover A was a young man I recognized, and it turned out I had provided a professional service to him several years ago. The other young man we will call Mover B. I showed them through the house to locate the items that had been previously agreed upon, and asked if I could add to the list. I wanted to add a queen mattress set, all the twin mattresses, and two lightweight desks. When the mover told me the queen set would add $25, I edited my list. We added that set and a sofa we had purchased over the weekend and one other item, which in total added $85 to the estimate.

The loading went fairly well. It was a rainy day and I noticed the only time I saw any mats used was on their ramp into the truck loading a sofa and dresser from the garage. I didn't see them at all at the new house.

It was the unloading that became more difficult. We were moving into a 100 year old house, small doorways with turns. It didn't help that the owner had been installing eztra trim into the living room doorway, which narrowed it quite a bit. Larger items were brought through the back door first with the larger entry. Then they moved around to the front of the house. We have a fairly large TV stand/entertainment center. It holds a large HD TV and features a display case, so it is quite wide. For over half an hour the movers, with some armchair quarterbacking by us on the other side, attempted to bring it through the front entry. They tried turning it, flipping it, going up the stairs with it, even removing the front door from its hinges. They were obviously frustrated. We asked a couple of several times if it would fit through the back door, which was wider. Mover A repeated said it would not work. He also said at one point that if it didn't work with this try, we were going to have to put it somewhere else, because he had somewhere to be. While Mover A was outside having a cigarette (brought by someone he spoke to on his celphone...), Mover B went to the back and measured the doorway. The two movers carried the piece to the back door and withing 5 minutes it was in the door.

During this last part I attempted to contact the owner by phone. When he didin't answer right away I texted him saying we needed a little supervision because the movers were getting a little frustrated. He called Mover A (I eavesdropped a little...) and then he called me. I told him what Mover A had said, including an earlier outburst where he fended off my husband's suggestions saying he had been d*** this job 3 1/2 years, he knew what he was doing. I felt this a big unprofessional and inappropriate, and so did the owner.

Mover A brought me the paperwork to sign with the final total. I asked him about the damages. He said he wouldhave the owner call me and I could tell him then. I could then hear Mover A talking loudly to Mover B telling him about me asking about damages a generally complaining about me. It was as if he wanted me to hear him.

A couple of days later the owner and Mover B arrived to assess the damages, which included a few deep gouges on the TV stand. They attempted to repair it with a "stick" of some kind. It worked for half of the repair. There were not that many damages, I was more concerned with the attitude of Mover A. The owner agreed. He discounted the move $20 (it's the thought that counts...) and I signed the paper. There is still a drawer rail that is missing and as of today they have not found it. They found and returned one rail.