Moving Disaster - Need Advice Pls

[eyephone]

But 1k for the move (say what!), sounds high.

Huh?

Curious what would it cost you to do a DIY move-- renting a large truck and four laborers for 9 hours?

Well I used affordable movers! I think I paid $300-$400 for 3 hours included a truck.

Like I previously said: if they had bunch of stuff it will take long or the movers weren't fast enough. (I don't know)

3 hours?  You must not have a lot of stuff. It took 3 hours just to load the truck at my house. And my guys were super efficient but it takes time wrap furniture carefully, unassemble beds, move bulky items, etc.

Your correct, there's a lot of things we donated. Also, trashed a lot of things.

Even so, we still had a good share to be moved. The key is we prepared things/wrapped it. I moved all the bulky things downstairs. Also, I helped them move boxes into the truck. (Time is money)

 

[bones]

;lj

 

[ZeroLot]

Tough lesson on cheap movers... Really sorry you guys had a bad experience.

Actually the lesson I learned here is go with opensky's recommendations (Excalibur) and not IHOs.

Or go with ZeroLot's (except maybe not her painter).

Sorry guys can't help out here.  I didn't have a good moving experience because of a mixup.  All I can say is its common to have bad moving experiences.  I've read so many reviews about moving companies but very few are true.  Definitely don't trust Yelp reviews when it comes to moving.

Angie's List reviews are better but very hard to find good ones with a flawless record. Something is bound to break or get crushed along the way.

But go with the smaller mom and pop shops.  And go with a specific recommended crew.  If someone on TI recommends a particular crew that info is 10x better than to go with a random crew from the same company.

Hope this helps.  Good luck with moving.  I moved the majority of my stuff with my bros, Mr. Z, and U-haul.  A couple neighbors from CV came by to help too.  Nothing ever breaks when I move with friends.    I think they know they'll have me to deal with after.

 

[ZeroLot]

Ahh ok. Then yea. I mean $1k may seem like a lot to you then.  My back is way too precious to be moving heavy boxes. I'm no youngin anymore.

$1k to move a house is a great deal.  I was moving from a one story two bedroom condo with very little furniture (I sold majority of my old furniture) and it costed me close to $500.  And that's without them touching the expensive stuff like the TV, computers, etc.  I also left behind all my appliances.

Appliances will cost extra. 

I think my entire move costed around $1k factoring in the one trip with movers and the remainder with a U Haul.  I did have to go to a few chiro appointments after tho but that was cheaper than if my TV broke.

But if I have had a bad back I would have just let the guys do all the work.  No point injuring oneself over a move.

 

[irvinehusky]

So true.  We boxed and moved most of the things by ourselves.  We only hired the movers to move the big things and they still damaged our coffee tables, etc.

If I ever do it again, I'll be smarter and rent a U-Haul truck.    I never drove one of those trucks and was scared to, so we moved things in our van.  But after about 25 trips, and having to remove (and reinstall) 4 heavy seats out of the van each time (our old van doesn't have seats that fold into the floor), I don't think I want to do that again.  I did rent one for something else a few months ago and it wasn't that bad.

As they say, if you must do it right, do it yourself...but within reason. 

  I moved the majority of my stuff with my bros, Mr. Z, and U-haul.  A couple neighbors from CV came by to help too.  Nothing ever breaks when I move with friends. 

 

[jerometl]

Just an update.  Talked to the owner and he is apologetic and is willing to reimburse us up to the full amount we paid whatever makes us satisfied.  We'll probably just ask reimbursement for the incidental cost we spend to try to repair the damage done.

 

[ZeroLot]

If I ever do it again, I'll be smarter and rent a U-Haul truck.    I never drove one of those trucks and was scared to, so we moved things in our van.  But after about 25 trips, and having to remove (and reinstall) 4 heavy seats out of the van each time (our old van doesn't have seats that fold into the floor), I don't think I want to do that again.  I did rent one for something else a few months ago and it wasn't that bad.

25 trips with the van!  My that brings back memories!  That goes back to my college days when I moved into the condo.  Couldn't afford movers back in college.

I was afraid with the U-Haul too.  But once you get used to it, it's actually quite easy. 

I booked the U-haul online first.  Bit the bullet and purchased that extra insurance for peace of mind.  Although nothing ever happened and we had the U-Haul for 5 days.  One day here, one day there, and a 3 BIG day for the big move + emptying of two storage units from Woodbridge Self Storage.  Love those guys at Woodbridge Storage.

I first went cheap with the u-Haul and chose the one without the ramp.  Then I realized we REALLY need the ramp and on my second and third rentals we got the one with the ramp.  We also rented their rolling carts too.  We added EXTRA items onto our order AFTER we arrived in the store for pickup.  It was actually cheaper to add-on in store than on their website.

Pick up was a little tougher because so many people come early in the morning to pick-up so there's a line.  But drop off was super easy. 

We even got a little lock to lock up the U-Haul because we couldn't empty everything out in one day.  That's it.  Gave everyone that helped me Korean BBQ and all went more smoothly than with a moving company.

 

[ZeroLot]

Just an update.  Talked to the owner and he is apologetic and is willing to reimburse us up to the full amount we paid whatever makes us satisfied.  We'll probably just ask reimbursement for the incidental cost we spend to try to repair the damage done.

Great!  So glad it worked out for you.  I also got my full amount back too due to the mixup.  I think that's pretty cool some moving companies are willing to offer that. 

 

[bones]

[qw

 

[Leano]

I didn't have a good experience either when we moved back in November 2013.  What I did was complain on yelp.  The owner gave me a full refund.

 

[jerometl]

We asked for a $350 refund out of the $1100+ we paid (I itemized the incidental cost breakdown of how I got to $350 on the email to him).  The owner agreed and will send a check.  If we asked for a full refund, I think the owner would oblige but we don't think it's right either as they did do a back breaking task for 9 hours and need to also be justly compensated for it.