Metropolitan Movers

We used Metropolitan Movers to move and store furniture. After almost two years we asked to retrieve our furniture and arranged to have a third-party driver pick up the furniture. It took 3 weeks for them to respond to our request. When they finally released the furniture to us, they gave the driver additional material that belonged to another one of their customers (which they had mistakenly packaged with our stuff). Upon receipt, we advised them of this and asked them to pick up the extra materials that did not belong to us. They refused to do this and did not take accountability for their error. We contacted Customer Service several times and wrote to the President of the Company to resolve this issue. Customer Service was ineffective and kept asking us to call this one individual from the company; this individual was rude, not helpful or responsive. And we have yet to receive a response from the President. We returned the extra materials to Metropolitan Movers at our own cost. This company is unprofessional, unreliable and unresponsive. They have no regard for the possessions of their customers and do not take accountability for errors they make. Do not use this company under any circumstances. They are not to be trusted.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $2000

I hired Metropolitan Movers to both pack and move my house and I can honestly say this was the worst moving experience that I have ever had.

The Packing team arrived 2 hours late, broke things, forgot things and took 3 hours longer than estimated. They estimated 6 hours, but actually took 9 hours. I can accept a little overage, but even after 9 hours, there was much that was not packed.

Overall, I guess they weren't horrible, but for the amount of money I paid them, I guess I expected more.

The actual move itself, is a completely different story and to be honest, I'm still in shock at how horribly this went.

The 2-Truck / 4-Man crew were only 30 minutes late this time, so not as bad as the packing crew, but after that, we hit high speed going downhill....

It was a warm (not hot) day and about an hour into loading the first truck, one of the guys asked if I had any water. I would have assumed they would bring their own refreshments, but whatever....I said, sure, there is a case of bottled water in the refrigerator, help yourself. I didn't realize until much later, just how much they 'helped themselves'. Next to the water in the fridge was a case of beer and at least a dozen Smirinoff and other assorted Vodka coolers. Let's just say that by the end of the day, all of the coolers and about a dozen beer were "missing"... Much to my surprise, I found numerous empty and crushed beer and cooler cans littered all over the driveway at both the old and new houses as well as several crushed cans littered throughout the old house after everything (well....mostly everything) was removed. The crew being *drunk* may have something to do with how horribly the rest of the move went.

Originally estimated at 9 hours, the final tally was 15 hours, billed hourly of course. At the end of the day, there were numerous items damaged, broken or simply destroyed. To name just a few of the issues:

- 2 mattresses have huge holes torn in the bottom of them

- Large chair has a huge hole ripped in the bottom of it

- They claimed a Foosball table wouldn't fit down the stairs, I suggested they take the legs off Instead they put it in the back yard. It was completely destroyed when it rained later that night.

- They also put 2 powered leather recliners in the backyard. Also destroyed by the rain

- It looks like they stood in the doorway and simply heaved things into the garage and shed, as a result a number of items were crushed, torn, and/or broken.

- They packed the contents of the refrigerator and stand-up freezer in unmarked boxes early in the day and put them on the truck. Everything melted by the time it got to the new house and I found the boxes containing food and other frozen items. My freezer was definitely less full after the move than it was before, so I'm guessing that I will eventually find a box full of completely spoiled (no longer) frozen food somewhere in my basement as I unpack more boxes.

- The desk I've had for over 20 years looks like it was dropped onto the floor of the truck and shoved across a nail or something else which cut a huge groove into the surface, essentially ruining the desk.

- This is just a sample of the numerous items that were damaged

I called the company to complain and the "supervisor" I spoke with said that this was not possible as this was his 'best crew' and they would never do such things. He then tried to tell me that it was I who had told the crew to put the foosball table and leather furniture in the back yard instead of inside the house or garage. I laughed out loud at the stupidity of what he was trying to sell...

He told me to file a claim on their website seeing as they are supposed to be insured against damage. All in all, I estimate the damage/loss of my possessions to be approximately $7,000. And on top of that, I now have to pay someone to come and remove the furniture that was destroyed.

It's now been over a month since I filed my claim and I was told last week that they are still 'assessing' the claim and someone would get back to me. Obviously, I'm not holding my breath.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7500

What a hassle! Poor communication with us, contacting us AFTER the end of a business day- to inform us they changed our move time from 9am to 1pm the day prior to moving!!! Absolutely refused to accommodate or assist us in any way shape or form, saying it's "impossible" to refund a deposit or discount the service.

They double booked their truck and employees at our move time, then told us we had no choice but to take the later time, as the other job was out of town (which worried us they would not finish in the 4 allotted hours, pushing our move time even FURTHER back, after we had taken the morning off work for said move).

The good news is they are very well practiced in politely informing you there is nothing they can do.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $700

On top of the rate being upped the day before the move because the first rep I talked to didn't ask about my deep freeze aka "appliances" so the 110 an hour became 150 with out me being given enough time to shop. the move time got pushed foward by an hour. there was no mention in the phone call that metro subcontracted to fly by night companies the company I got "motion express" comprised of to men who spoke little english and one guy who was on his first day on the job, he ended up quitting because of how unproffessional the other 2 were. it took them 8 hours just to load the truck I was moving from a single floor 900 square foot main floor of a duplex. they dropped multiple boxes dropped my deep freeze down my front steps they spent as much time arguing as they did working, almost everyt peice of furnature they moved ended up damaged. at the new house they took almost 2 hours to find a replacement for the guy who walked off the job they scratched or damaged my walls in around 20 places. put almost every box in the wrong room spent more time arguing on the front street, they were carrying 20 pound boxes one at a time I ended up having to help just to get the move finished. all in all they took over 12 hours to complete a move from a 900 square foot unit to a town house. I tried contacting metropolitain movers 8 hours into the move to tell them how horrible the move was going and that the move was going to be way over my budget as well as not worth what the final charge was becomming they told me they would call me back in 15 min they never called back the final bill is still being delt with. .

Service cost: $2000