Marathon Movers

Parker Vivoda was original owner who moved out of state the day of my move, His partner was Eric Meister. Parker provided the estimate and met with me about the planned move, and to whom I provided specific instructions regarding things that were not yet packed (e.g. garden/garage items). He also recommended the storage site I had my furnishings moved to. The day of the move 3 young men and 1 older They wound up using 2 moving trucks (smaller) for contents of 5 rooms + garage and said there was no more room. Only 1 bed + 1 small futon, no couches or large chairs, no other large items, most things in boxes except for a few lamps, bedding and garage. They packed nothing, e.g. carrying out a small lamp at a time, putting nothing from garage into boxes despite having boxes there (which Parker had delivered earlier); pots were just carried out in a pile. I have moved several times; loading has always been a priority for the movers, with the lead man carefully packing everything into the smallest space. These people just stacked everything into the truck as they went, lamps with shades on top of boxes, dirty garden items next to anything. I specifically asked that they pack/protect a large, expensive painting with elaborate, carved frame and was assured that would be the case. NOTHING was done to it- when I went to the locker later it was sitting on the floor of an outdoor container with possibly cardboard under it. A garden piece was pressed against the front of the painting. Not one item was covered except for a few pieces of packing paper. A wood top was scratched. My few wood pieces had no protection. Lamps were placed on the top of everything in storage locker and the few wood pieces had no protection whatsoever. When I entered the locker a couple weeks later, 100 ft of dirty hose was thrown in as the last item. We were unable to enter the 40 foot container and had to move items as well as we could to halfway back to create an aisle in an attempt to rescue the most vulnerable items (including the picture). I had specifically requested that rakes, shovels etc be taped together and was assured that would happen. Not one tool was taped together; they were stood up against a wall or furniture. (Because I was recovering from 2 surgeries and had emergency care the day of move, I was not able to effectively supervise). The move wound up taking over 5 hours with 4 "movers"- I previously had an 8 room house with a piano on a 600 mile move loaded in less than 4 hours, without a scratch or damage to anything, and 3 movers. I complained to Eric Meister after visiting the storage locker recommended by them. Eric denied there were any problems and blamed me for anything that was wrong, including telling me that a new lamp table had "obviously" been previously scratched- this was after licking his finger and rubbing the scratch. He said that everything had been done "very professionally" and refused to acknowledge even 1 error on their part. I had no way to contact Parker Vivoda and believe that nothing can be done about the complete mess I was left with. I will have to carry out all the unpacked items myself, for transport. I don't believe I have any recourse with them and will have to deal with the problems they have caused by myself. The final complaint is that the "great" storage locker which was so "secure" has been infiltrated with a heavy layer of dust and dirt, which will require hours of cleaning. This includes bedding materials as well as lampshades and pictures. The few smaller items that weren't packed by me were placed on the uncovered cloth futon material. The remaining boxes they couldn't fit on the 2 trucks (but which should easily have been able to if done right) I had to move myself, although a 40 ft storage unit wasn't big enough, since nothing was packed in correctly. Not only did this save nothing over a standard moving company, it will cost more in the long run due to correcting the damage, cleaning and having to move much myself because no professional movers will accept goods shoved in like they are. I won't know the full extent of their carelessness until everything is moved again.