Moving Disaster - Need Advice Pls

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MrsGH

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We finally moved to our new home and I'd like to share our experience, plus also seek some advice. Our whole move lasted more than 9 hours, with 2 trips. Not sure if this is the normal time? We did not really finish moving everything and had to make about 4 more extra trips over the weekend (with our SUV) to completely clean out our old house. Anyway, the movers had a hard time moving our washer and dryer. I'm not sure if it's inexperience or what, but after they disconnected the hoses to the washer, water was all over the floor, making their shoes wet. They did not lay blankets on the carpet so the wet shoe left marks. To make things worse, when they dragged the washer out, detergent and fabric softener spilled and left drop marks all over the carpet, and a trail down the stairs. When they started moving the flower pots they spilled soil all over the carpet too. When we got to the new house, I asked them to be more careful and make sure they lay blankets on the stairs all the way to the laundry room. Something they should've done, and I think shouldn't be told to do?
Anyway, for some reason when they got to the new house, they decided not to carry it up but use a dolly(?) instead. (In the old house they carried it down.) I cringed as I saw and heard my washer and dryer banging every step up. I don't have a cheap washer dryer so it was painful to watch. I thought movers should have a strap or some way to support the lift, but this one did not.
Last was my fridge. It was big, so they decided to take the handles off. That's normal as I remember the first time I had it the delivery crew did that too. After they took out the handles, they tried to squeeze it through the door. It was late, it was the last thing that was moved, and I guess they just wanted to get the job done, so they forced the fridge in. Now my stainless steel fridge bears scratch marks from top to bottom.  Really huge wide scratch marks probably as wide as the door jamb.
And as if it's not enough, that night as I was running the dryer, I smelled gas. I called in the gas company the next day, sure enough they did not connect the hose right and I have a huge leak. Gas company charged me $63 to redo it, parts and labor. And my washing machine, they did not connect the hoses right, interchanged the cold and hot. That's not a big deal though, just a hassle.
Add to that all the paint scratches, dings on the cabinets where the paint got chipped off and dents on my new banister. Those I can live with. What I'm upset about were the damages done, carpet and appliances, not to mention the gas leak. We had to rent the rug doctor to try and clean the carpet before it stains, didn't work. We hired cleaners to clean it, $175, still didn't work. And I have a refrigerator that reminds me everyday what a disaster the whole move was. You can see the scratch from every angle. And given it took more than 9 hours, the total move cost us over $1k.
Question is, what would you do? Would you call the moving company and complain about the damages? Or just let it go? Thanks in advance for your input. I appreciate it.
 
I would complain to the moving company.

What did they say when you showed them all the damages during the move? Or did you not do that at that time?

I don't know exactly how many things you had to move but 9 hours sounds like quite a long time for a move, I've moved quite a few times in the last 10 years and it never took longer than 5 hours. How many movers were on their crew?

Do you not want to share which moving company you used so that TI can avoid them considering your experience?
 
thatOSguy said:
First, DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. Scan all the receipts and take lots of photos. Then I'd call the moving company and get a refund for your out-of-pocket expenses. If you get hassle, you can share your intent to post your story on TI, Yelp and Angie's List and everywhere else you can.

Secondly, these guys are the Better Business Bureau of moving companies:
http://www.moving.org/content.asp?contentid=22

I'd file a complaint with them if you don't get anywhere with the moving company.

By the way, $1k for a full day move is very inexpensive. How many trucks and movers? Did you use someone reputable?  There are a lot of recommendations on this forum...
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I do have photos of the carpet and fridge. 1 truck 4 movers, same as IHO $115/hr. Most likely same company? GH got the recommendation from here. He also does not want to file a complaint nor let the moving company know, hence why I started this thread. I thought it's only fair to let the moving company know about the damages, especially the gas leak (washer dryer hookup). If they don't know how, don't advertise as knowing how. GH couldn't even smell the gas leak and thought I was crazy. I called the gas company anyway and their meter beeped so loud so fast the guy said i have a huge leak. Yes I think they are reputable (according to GH) and have high yelp ratings and came TI recommended.

The first thing that made me doubt them was the truck they used was a Budget rental truck. Second the guys weren't wearing any back support nor official moving company shirts. But that's not really it though. It was the truck and lack of professional tools that made me suspect. But by then, it was too late as they've been hired and it was day of the move. The guys were very nice, very courteous, young and not serious but easy to talk to. I guess it was just inexperience that really led to all this disaster.



 
thatOSguy said:
I use a 4 man crew. Usually costs $115/hour. Add a trucks for another $20/hour. But there's double drive time inbetween plus incidentals like boxes.
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Hmm... I think a 4-man crew is $105/hr with them, so that's closer to $1k.

But no drive time or additional truck per hour fee either.

I'm quoting Mission Movers, who did you use?

And I'm hoping MrsGH did not use Mission Movers as I will stop recommending them.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
thatOSguy said:
By the way, $1k for a full day move is very inexpensive.
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I actually think that is expensive.

For the movers that people I know use,  it's $765 for a 3-man crew for 9 hours.
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I saw the damage to the fridge way after they left. GH was at the old house when they soiled the carpet so I did not see that either until the weekend when we went back to grab the leftover stuff. I was there when the water on the washer leaked upon disconnecting the hoses, and they said it's normal. I had vinyl floors so it wasn't a big deal for me to clean it up. Just the hassle. When the detergent and fabric softener leaked I told them to be careful and to stop, lay blankets, but by then it was too late. It was all over the floor already so I told them to make sure it doesn't happen on the new house, lay blankets, which they did over there. I also think they did not have enough blankets with them. After covering our furniture, I didn't see them have enough leftover to lay on the floor.
Blankets, I think that would be something they would have more than enough of. They did not lay blankets on the carpet in the new house, so my brand new carpet was traipsed by their dirty shoes. They only had enough to cover the stairs for the washer/dryer path. And that's probably from some of the furniture they had already uncovered.

$115 per hour, 4 man crew, no additional charge for drive time, but we only took 2 trips. We don't even have a lot of stuff which is why I still don't understand why it took us 9+ hours. 2 beds, fridge, washer, dryer, 3 sofas, crib. Those were the big ones. Not sure if they're just slow, took their time, wasn't efficient .. I don't really know.
 
I would still contact the owner just to let them know what happened.

It sounds like you may have got a bad crew but that's not a good excuse.

Please let us know how this turns out.
 
I also moved this weekend and was happy with my move.  We hired abc moveing company.  It was $145 (cash value) for 4 man and a 26 ft truck. 

We moved about 5 hour and 45 minutes.  Our total cost is $145 * 5.75 + $130 (tip) = around $960.  Since they finish around 1pm, they told us they will grab their own lunch.

Here is the break down
it took 2 hour and 30 minutes to move from old house to trunk
45 minutes to drive from old house to new house (needs multiple by 2 because of round trip)
1 hour and 30 minutes to move from truck to new house.

our big furnitures includes 1 upright piano, 3 bed set (queen size bed, dresser, 2 nightstand), 1 crib, 1 TV, 2 desks, 1 huge glass cabinet, 2 sofa

Please use this sitehttp://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/CEC/z_cpucconsumers/d_movers.htmand click on "List of Companies" link to verify moving company.  check their license and workers comp because you dont want the headache if movers injuries themselves.

here is couple tips:
1. Disassemble your own beds before they arrive.
2. Pack everything.
3. Move big/heavy items to new house locations (bedroom, living room).
4. Move light items to new house garage because you can move them yourselves
 
yaliu07 said:
Please use this sitehttp://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/CEC/z_cpucconsumers/d_movers.htmand click on "List of Companies" link to verify moving company.  check their license and workers comp because you dont want the headache if movers injuries themselves.
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I couldn't find ABC Moving on that site.
here is couple tips:
1. Disassemble your own beds before they arrive.
2. Pack everything.
3. Move big/heavy items to new house locations (bedroom, living room).
4. Move light items to new house garage because you can move them yourselves
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Agreed.

I would actually only have them move things we couldn't ourselves (furniture, appliances and boxes). Usually, all our clothes in our closets we do on our own.
 
IHO, yes it was Mission Movers .. they have all 5 star review on yelp (150+ reviews) so I didn't really doubt them.  Jeremiah (the owner I presume) was also very nice over the phone.

bones, I did called Excalibur.  I was turned off by the snubbish person I talked on the phone .. Also, they are more expensive and has a 6 hr min ..  They do also have a good rating in Yelp though but on lesser number of reviews.

I did also called ocmovers.com and Incredible movers.. can't remember why I passed on them (I think they did have some bad comments on yelp).

 
GH said:
IHO, yes it was Mission Movers .. they have all 5 star review on yelp (150+ reviews) so I didn't really doubt them.  Jeremiah (the owner I presume) was also very nice over the phone.
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Gah.

They were my rec so I feel bad. My relatives used them and had a great experience and were lower priced than the others.

I think you should let Jeremiah know, not only to help you with what happened to you but also to prevent this from happening to others.

Sorry yours didn't turn out well.

@WasToldTo:

Most of my clothes are in the drawers (which movers usually move with the clothes inside) and what's hanging in my closet is easily moved in one trip in the IHOMobile. The wife is more particular about her clothes and prefers to move them herself. She doesn't want to pack her clothes because she's not sure what she will be wearing and doesn't want to dig through boxes looking for them in case the movers don't put them where she wants them.

But I agree, if you can pack them, pack them... but if you're short on time and need to pack other stuff like dishes/pots/pans, it's easier to move the clothes yourself than it is those boxes with heavy items in it.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
GH said:
IHO, yes it was Mission Movers .. they have all 5 star review on yelp (150+ reviews) so I didn't really doubt them.  Jeremiah (the owner I presume) was also very nice over the phone.
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Gah.

They were my rec so I feel bad. My relatives used them and had a great experience and were lower priced than the others.

I think you should let Jeremiah know, not only to help you with what happened to you but also to prevent this from happening to others.

Sorry yours didn't turn out well.
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no worry IHO .. I didn't even remember where I got them or who recommended until you mentioned it .. MrsGH will take care of writing Jeremiah an email :)  I'm usually not good at those because am too nice :p
 
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