Don't hire Blue Whale Moving Co. The move itself, and the follow up customer service was a severe disappointment.
We have never hired a professional moving company -- we have always moved ourselves, but due to a recent car accident, one of us wasn't able to move the big stuff.
I did a lot of research leading up to hiring Blue Whale. I read many reviews on Next Door, Google, Yelp, Angie's List, and others. Blue Whale came highly recommended. They were hands down our first choice.
I was given specific instructions via email and phone on how to best prep for the move and their movers. I am an organizer anyway, so the instructions were simple. I labeled every box, specified what items would be going to the new house and what items would be going to storage, and finally, I drew a map of our new house and a diagram of where all the furniture would go. This was somewhat time consuming and expensive, but I wanted the move to be as easy and seamless as possible.
We were scheduled for a noon - 4:00 pm move on a Saturday. The customer service rep said they had one job before us but it was an easy one and could they start earlier if the first job ended before noon. I said sure. I asked for a 30 - minute call ahead.
Since I did not hear from anyone I rushed over to the old house by 11:45 am to be there for the movers by noon. No movers. I waited an over an hour in an empty house until they called after 1:00 saying they were running behind, hadn't eaten lunch and that they were going to stop and eat and then come to my house. They said it would take them 45 minutes (making them close to 2 hours late). I told them I really would have appreciated a call earlier since I had been sitting at the house waiting on them. They were not very apologetic.
They finally arrived around 2 pm. I waited at my old house until they arrived, which was a BIG WASTE of my time and Saturday. I went over all the boxes, which items would be going to the new house and what items would be going to storage, then showed them the map I had drawn of the new place and where all the furniture would go (per the instructions). Things couldn't have been more clear or organized.
When they loaded the truck they accidentally mixed up the house and storage items and had to completely unload and reload the truck. There were only two guys and the loading and unloading to a VERY LONG TIME.
They did not finish loading the truck until 5:30 pm. The whole move was supposed to be completed by 4:00 pm. I had spent the entire day at the old house waiting on them with nothing to do. Again, a huge waste of time.
We stopped at the storage unit first. Again, they did not have the truck organized enough to find all the "storage" labeled items, so some of the storage boxes ended up at the new house, which my husband and I had to take to the storage unit later.
We did not arrive to our new house until 6:30 pm. My husband was very frustrated and didn't understand what took so long (neither did I). He ended up helping them unload the truck, finishing the job. The map that I drew of the new place served no purpose because they just piled everything up and left it in the main living areas. I had to later sort out the boxes and put them in the appropriate rooms.
They finished the job at 9:30 pm. It was absolutely the worst experience. Once I started unpacking several dishes were broken and our dining table top was scratched. We have very nice furniture and it was not handled with care.
A few days after the move the service rep called to ask how the move went. I told her in detail how horrible the experience was and how disappointed we were. She offered little-to-no apology and said she would share this info with the team. There was no discount offered, no refund offered, and no follow up from an owner or manager. I even let her know I would be writing a detailed review and posting it on review sites. Again, no remedy or consolation.
I am from the world of customer service and place a high value on making sure clients are happy with their experiences. I also know the best form of marketing is word of mouth and personal referrals.
That said, I would never hire Blue Whale Moving Co. again and I would not recommend them to anyone I know or don't know.