Appalachian Movers

If you have a relatively small to medium, fairly local move Tom and his crew are probably okay or better for your needs.

If you have a larger home they don't handle it well. I have computer wires in different, improperly marked boxes (thus no office from which to work yet, it has been 2 weeks); they jammed both full and empty boxes into my new office so that it was literally impossible to get past the door! Spite? maybe.

Boxes of kitchen, closet, and office supplies look like they were shaken along the way. Or maybe just dumped into as they were in a hurry to finish packing.

Most of my delicate objects were well wrapped, but book boxes were placed on "fragile" boxes, which of course collapsed. Every cloth lampshade is damaged. So far the lamps seem to be in good shape. Several fragile items were cracked, chipped, or downright broken, truly unacceptable.

It was a big job, and they moved almost 1/2 a room's worth of things, they were told to leave (including a desk and shelves from my old office) and boxes clearly marked on top and SIDES as donations and to be left for me to deal with, even one labelled 'garbage'. Shelves come with PEGS, I have two good sized units which are unusable due to the disappearance of said pegs. Did they leave them? did they pocket them? will I ever "find" them?

Conclusion: they are good at what they can handle, they get rushed, antsy and downright careless when they are pressed. When I contracted with Tom, he assured me that they could handle a large, complicated move across the state, no problem. Well they got me and my stuff here but they were in a hurry and left me with some serious challenges as I put my new home into order. Trust me: that is a real problem.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6000

I would start by saying that this company did not bother to respond to the Better Business Bureau regarding my complaint. Please contact me for verification showing BBB letter.

I hired Appalachian Movers to move my daughter within State College, PA, and things turned out quite poorly. My deal with Appalachian was for three men and a truck for $145 an hour with a three hour minimum, plus $16 per wardrobe box.

As a customer, you are usually at the mercy of a mover, as they show up with a lengthy small-print contract that they direct you to sign and initial all over the place prior to them starting the work. In this case, they put their "show-up" time on the contract, so that if I wanted to read the contract, it is at my expense. As a customer, you truly have to trust that they will do right by the customer before, during and after the move. That surely, has not happened here. Like many movers, Appalachian has billed itself as a full service mover, and they failed miserably in this representation.

It took an hour and a half (of the three hour minimum that I paid for) to move my daughter's belongings out of one location and drive less than a half mile to unload at the new location. I had over 30 boxes and a dozen contractor bags labeled for five rooms, and they dumped these items in the correct rooms, but the items were placed at the mover's convenience, and placed helter-skelter so that you could not move about. I asked the lead crew member to stay and help out. He said, "Sorry bud, once we move your stuff off the truck, we're done." He basically slammed the door shut on me, and I did not feel like telling his boss that this hulk, while standing in front of me, was using a severe lack of judgment with a customer. This occurred at the time he was pushing the bill in front of me getting me to pay-up. I, also, thought (incorrectly) that a reputable moving company would make things right, regardless of timing.

When the owner Tom DiLella returned my call to me four days later (from my two calls), he had nothing but excuses and in my opinion, was looking for any way out. He, many times, asked what I asked the crew to do. As stated correctly above, I told Tom, I asked for some additional help. Yet, Tom's lead guy offered no explanation why they would not do more. Tom, kept asking questions that would put my request out of the realm of reason, like why did I not contract for them to do additional service other than moving. I would ask, why didn't you show up on time? Or, why did I not address this at the time of payment, like I wanted to get in a tiff with a bully standing there. I only want to ask Tom, why were you three hours late, now causing us to move in the rain? At this point, you are wondering whether the mover will show up, and you start moving odds and ends, yourself. How does one factor this in? I was fed up with Tom DiLella and told him that I was going to trash him on the internet (as it was clear to me that dealing with this guy was like squeezing blood from a turnip). For now, I have chosen this course, instead.

When I contracted the move, I told Tom DiLella that we needed three to four wardrobe boxes in which to put my daughter's clothes. Instead, his men show up with who knows how many wardrobe boxes, but only one cross-bar to support the clothes. I did not watch them pack the boxes, but I later come to find out that they dumped 10' of clothing into 4' of wardrobe boxes (TWO BOXES). This is ridiculous, as the clothes were tossed into the bottom of the box with the crossbar (plus having a fully loaded crossbar) and clothes were dumped into the other box (without the crossbar), top to bottom. What better way to raise your profits as a mover, especially when you know you are not going to unpack the boxes.

So, I ask, how do you deal with movers today? How do you plan anything when they show up three hours late, and then refuse to do ordinary, customary services done by most movers? Tom DiLella used the following excuse as to why they were late; "our customer is really being particular about placement of furniture and other things." How does this not apply to me? In essence, Appalachian Movers wants my flexibility, but offers nothing in return. This, truly, is a skunk of a business model, a skunk of a company.

At 71 years of age, I was a trusting customer that has been abused. Let me summarize.

* Every mover that I have used in the past (quite many) loads and unloads wardrobe boxes in a professional manner, as a matter of course. In this case, one guy dumped the clothing in the boxes in probably 10 minutes, based on examination. Then, Appalachian did not unpack the clothing and hang it up in customary fashion. What makes this worse, they broke two expensive plastic and metal hangers that are worth $2 each or more, and I now had to unpack the boxes which took over an hour or more because of the tangled mess of hangers and clothing. In other words, I spent an hour or more unpacking clothing that should have been in four wardrobe boxes that any other mover would have unpacked as customary. This is an hour of work that I contracted with Appalachian Movers to do as part of the contract. No wonder they wanted to leave the scene before I saw the mess they left me.

I cannot really explain what happened from Appalachian's end. At first, I wondered, was it a rogue employee or is it about the company? Given the response of the owner, Tom DiLella, I can only conclude that the owner has no problem of using its advantage over "occasional customers."

* With regard to leaving the boxes and bags all over the place, the simple fact is that I paid for three hours of work and Appalachian movers refused to do any more than half that by straightening out the mess they left. I have no problem living with a three hour minimum, but I do have a problem when the mover refuses to do the customary services that movers do as part of a job, especially when paid for. Now, I refer you back to the excuse that Tom DiLella used for being late. Which is it Tom? How can you do these normal services for another customer and deny them to me and walk off the job?

I can probably justify paying Appalachian Movers no more than and hour and a half, despite the three hour minimum plus $16 per wardrobe box. I am willing to settle for no less than a $100 refund. I also ask that you refer me to State authorities that protect seniors from unscrupulous contractors.

Service cost: $435