Mclaughlin Transportation Systems, Inc.

DO NOT USE. There are so many reasons to note but the major takeaway is find another company. Totally unprofessional from the owner of the company down to the movers. The sales rep was great, responsive, knowledgeable and pleasant work with but it all ended there. Prior to posting I waited several weeks for a resolution of the issues but they won't even reply back. Unfortunately this is a case where you don't get what you paid for.

I had difficulty in getting the contract. It took three weeks for it to be emailed to me.
Their agent was most helpful in bring boxes to the house for packing. He always responded to my phone calls.
On the day of pick-up I was told they would arrive between 9 and 10. After calling their dispatch twice the truck arrived at 2:45 in the afternoon. After sealing the pod I found they had left items in the entry by the door. They had to unseal the pod and complete the re loading. They were rushed as they had another job to go to. I was unable to read the paper work nor allowed time to review the work.
I could see squashed boxes in the pod before it was sealed.
The driver and leader of the group asked me to lie to the company if they called me. He did not want to go to the other job and wanted me to say they would be at my house for another 45 minutes. He sat in the driveway screaming into his phone to the dispatcher.
Not happy at all with their service.

8/2014 ?
In estimate papers of $3,700.00, Heather said that last
month of storage is included in moving expenses & is written on the
paperwork that I signed.
 
9/11- Move date was postponed until September. The day
before, Martha said that storage expenses needed to be paid prior to the move
date & that I needed to bring the check to the office that afternoon. I
explained what I had been told & that I was unable to bring a check that afternoon.
(I was not in NH.) She agreed to take my credit card to satisfy the requirement
of 687.20 & would waive the finance charge. She told me that the driver
would have a credit card authorization form for me to sign in the morning. I
asked her the amount that I needed for check payment of the moving & Martha
clearly stated that the charge had been included in the 2013 removal to
storage. I expressed surprise but Martha assured me that the information was
correct as Perry had just given it to her.
 
9/12 -The movers arrived at 9 AM. My house is in historic
district of Portsmouth. The streets are narrow & parking was difficulty
parking. The driver had the credit card authorization form & I signed it.
The men began to unload the van. At 10:30, the driver said that he had received
a parking ticket & that he had to move the van. I made multiple phone calls
for approximately 30 minutes & determined that, according to a city
regulation, a permit & a police detail is required when obstructing a lane
of traffic. According to the Public Works & Police department, the moving
company should have acquired permit & arranged for police detail prior to
the moving day. Both requirements needed prior notice & police detail
needed to be paid in advance of $55.00/hour for a minimum of 4 hours. The
Police dept was unsure if they would have an off-duty officer who would be
available. Public works offered to contact McLaughlin Mayflower Moving Company
to arrange for them to pre-pay the Police dept. Public works called to inform
me that the Company was in transit to acquire the permit & pre-pay the
police.
 
Perry Saunders phoned to inform me that he was coming to
pick me up to do the aforementioned items. I questioned my need to pay for the
Company?s neglect in arranging this in advance. Perry informed me that he had
called the Police dept the previous year when they removed my furnishings to
storage & was told nothing was required. He mistakenly made the assumption
that nothing was required again this year. As I was acquiring the permit ($25.00)
& the detail ($218.00), Martha called to inform me that I needed a check
for approximately $5,000.00 to be given to the driver that afternoon. This
information upset me greatly as she told me less than 24 hours previously that
I owed nothing more. When I had returned to my house, the police detail had
arrived & the men were working. It was approximately 12:30 PM when I called
Martha & was informed that the additional charges included 5 hours of ?down
time? at $282.00/hour for 3 workers & the truck. I told her that I would
not pay for 5 hours of down time, as it was, in the first place, inaccurate &
the ?stoppage? was a result of Company negligence.
 
In the meantime, Perry called me to say that in order for
the move to continue, that I needed to pay my storage fees immediately. He was
informed by Martha that they were outstanding. I denied the claim & called
Martha who after many reminders found the credit card charge from the previous
day. Martha had also informed Martin McLaughlin, the Company owner, that I had
not paid the storage fees. The owner immediately told the driver to stop
working until I paid. I called the owner to clarify but he screamed at me for
calling his cell phone & hung up on me.
 
Work was resumed for a short period of time before the driver
said that the owner told him leave immediately as I was refusing to pay. The
owner refused my credit card payment saying that I would not pay him. Meanwhile,
the police officer was pre-paid for 4 hours & he was standing around having
worked less than one hour. Perry & Martha tried to contact the owner
without success for the remainder of the day to correct the misinformation.
Perry told me that, if I were to acquire a Bank check for $4,500.00 immediately
that the work could resume. I complied & took the check to the office, but the
owner refused calls. I spoke with Martha who said she would call me that
evening to re-set the move date. I needed to find housing, an additional
expense, until the move could be completed, as my house was not livable.
 
The next day, I noticed a credit card charge of $4,500.00. The
new move date was Tuesday. The work would again require a police detail & permit
which was my expense. The charge to my credit card would be removed.
 
The neglect of McLaughlin Company & forgetfulness/miscommunications
of the staff resulted in emotional distress & additional expenses for me. The
Company accepted no responsibility.
 
9/19  Called
McLaughlin to question billing.  Martha
said that she is not in charge of billing. Scott said he would look into it &
get back to me.
 
9/29  Called Scott to
find out where he was in process. He said that he remembered speaking with me
but had not received answers to my questions. I reiterated my
questions/concerns & also asked for an itemized account of the $4,500.00
plus $760.20 bill. He said he would look into it & get back to me. At this
point, I have found broken items in my storage/delivery.
 
10/1  Did not hear
from Scott, so called him. Left voicemail message that I wanted/needed an
itemized receipt, regardless of the answers to the questions. I requested that
he fax it to the Portsmouth office for pick up that afternoon. I left my number
for a call back. Also, called the Portsmouth office to notify Jeff of my
request & approximate time of visit. Approximately 3:30 pm, I visited Jeff
in the Portsmouth office. He had spoken with Scott & Scott told him that if
he were unable to find it, he would telephone me. I had not heard from Scott.
 
10/3  Called Scott &
left voice mail message requesting an itemized receipt, regardless of the
answers to the questions. I left my number. I asked him what I could do to
facilitate the request as I felt that 3 weeks was adequate time. I left voice
mail message with Martha asking for her help in facilitating my request. I left
my number for a call back. I called Perry, left message & asked for call
back.
Finally spoke to Scott who still did not have my paperwork. A
supervisor would be reviewing this afternoon & he promised to give me update.
He believed issue would be resolved by the beginning of week. I have not heard
from him since that time.
 
As I have tried to resolve this issue for 3 weeks. The
credit card charge is due. I placed a dispute on the credit card charge for
storage & finance charge.
 

The move went well, the best cross-country move we've had yet. They came to my home and gave me an estimate, which turned out to be almost exactly right. their prices were neither the highest nor the lowest, but reasonably fair. The movers were professional, full time employees, wore basic uniforms, and were very respectful. The ones who packed our china and crystal had a lot of experience and training doing it. And all of our china, crystal, dinner plates, etc made it through the move intact. We had two days of packing/moving due to the large amount of stuff in our house and the amount of packing help we asked for. The first day one of the movers packed something he shouldn't have (the baby monitor), and when I called that night, they tried to help me find it over the phone, and the next morning they unpacked boxes till they found it, so I was satisfied by that. We only had one breakage, an old TV, and thanks to the insurance they promptly gave us a check for the replacement amount. We had to send them photos of the TV and the carton, and they originally said we needed to have someone come look at it, but after the photos they just sent us a check. Not too bad, considering our other three long distance moves all had several items of furniture broken. We had them move a pinball machine, (with my husband doing some meticulous research), and it came through fine. They were also reasonably responsive to my many calls leading up to the move and ended up giving us two estimates because I forgot about a storage unit we had. So, all in all, a decent move. The only thing I really didn't like was that at the destination we only had the same driver, the unloading labor was a different Mayflower moving company's employees. But these guys were nice too, also professionals and not day labor, and they did a decent job. My house did not get dinged up. Overall this was a good move.

Overall very good. Price was competitive and the crew delivered. Harold, the crew leader was punctual, polite and hard working. Heather, from the office checked progress and satisfaction throughout the day.

Packed me up and then dropped me off on 10/10/12. The service was great. They were very timely. The salesperson explained everything to me. They also explained the prices and how it worked. They went out of their way to make the moving process easy for me. Very understanding and patient when I had to make changes.

Overall the experience was good. Broken down into steps: We called for an estimate. They sent Mike to our apartment and he was very informative, quick, had all the useful documents and paperwork, quoted for us on the spot (and was in the end quite accurate in his quote). If we signed to move with McLaughlin Mayflower on the spot with Mike he waived the weekend move surchage, so we did. When he left he said he would call the day before and let us know when the movers would arrive, but usually moves begin at 8am. On the day before we never got a call to tell us when movers would arrive. When I called McLaughlin Mayflower (a couple times, after 6pm which was the time they said they would call me) no one picked up or returned my call. I was mildly concerned they had forgotten about us, but at 7:58am the next day we heard a knock at the door and there were the 3 movers. We LOVED our movers -- incredibly fast, very professional and respectful, knew what they were doing, worked with each other well, and held enjoyable conversation with us. There were 2 very effective movers, and 1 less so, but the 2 great movers more than made up for their 3rd friend. Everything that mildly needed bundling up got wrapped in blankets, taped up, etc. They put down runners since we were moving during a torrential downpour and the carpets weren't the least bit dirty afterwards. Later when I tried contacting the company to get a receipt for the final amount (they charged me the quoted amount of time + an extra $100 deposit, so the documentation I had did not have a final price on them) to get reimbursed, they never got that to me, although they kept saying they would.

So overall, the movers were incredible, but the office is not the most responsive. Nothing was broken. There are certainly cheaper options out there, but the movers did make an otherwise stressful day quite enjoyable.

Company broke our piano during the move Unfortunately this mischievous company finds it very opportune to 'forget' to itemize the most expensive items from the moving list. In our case it was our piano.... June 4th 2010 also very conveniently, the people who pack and move your house, do not 'remember' the existence of your piano, so once the piano arrives broken... after you make your claim to be paid for it, they just say, sorry Sir, we do not remember your piano. If you like you can start the arbitration process. So I say: no arbitration thank you, I will just tell the world wide web about your lying and horrible business practices. Please do not use these people, they broke over 6 big painting frames, a couple of items of furniture, but most importantly our beloved, yet non existent piano!