Metropolitan Movers

I am writing to report an incident with the Edmonton Branch of Metropolitan Movers involving being grossly overbilled for a small move and the movers themselves acting physically threatening to our female staff.

We had hired them to move our office (approx. 800 square feet, 20 pieces of furniture and about 50 boxes) 4 blocks away to a new location. We received a quote for 3 hours, for 3 movers at $150 per hour. As well as an additional cost of $45 to move our photocopier. In total, we expected to be billed between $600-$750 dollars.

On the day of the move, the mover in charge told us it was his first day on the job and openly admitted to not having much moving experience. Partway through loading the truck, a fourth mover showed up that we found out they started billing us for. Through the loading process the movers would sit in their truck for close to half an hour (racking up billable time) before coming to the office for the next load. It took them close to 6 hours to load up the small office mentioned above.

When they arrived at the new office, again, they would take 20-30 minute breaks in between bringing loads up to the office of complete inactivity (racking up billable time.) We tried multiple times to reach the owner during this process to express our concerns about the ongoing delays with no response.

The move (of one 800sf office with less than a truckload of items, 4 blocks total distance) concluded at close to 9pm. At the conclusion of the move our staff refused to sign the final work order and instead insisted that we speak to the company owner to express our concerns. At that time the movers PHYSICALLY THREATENED OUR FEMALE STAFF by blocking their ability to walk down hallways, physically imposing themselves in their personal space, yelling, and trying to physically trap them in cornered areas. Our ladies were very distressed and were only allowed to leave after they said they would call the police.

We attempted to call the owner of the company multiple times to discuss these issues with no response, 2 days later $2100 was billed to our credit card and to date we have received no response whatsoever from the owner of the company.

Move size: Office Move Service cost: $600

Had to cancel our move and they tried to charge me a penalty fee for 2 trucks 320$ each + tax. This was one weeks notice of cancellation. Then he said I will get charged for one truck and apparently a recording of me agreeing to this which I did not. I also reviewed the contract which does not state any specific day for cancellation. He says over the phone cancellation is a minimum of 7 days notice which is exactly how many I gave him and still said they are charging my card (I gave them over the phone for the deposit). When I called back later they “offered me a 200$ penalty fee”. Every other mover is 48 hour notice. This company just scams people out of money after getting their credit card info.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $1000

SAVE YOURSELF THE STRESS AND ANXIETY OF USING THIS SERVICE. I've moved around my entire life and I've never worked with such an abysmal moving service with non-existent communication with their customers. My anxiety was through the roof with my local coordinator's indifference to providing me info or following up with me.

- The movers DIDN’T SHOW UP when they were scheduled; the coordinator (Gary) offered no apologies for this when I called asking where they were. He said he’ll call the drivers – I waited about half an hour and he never called back, so I called asking for an update. He said he left them a message (I honestly don’t know what the expectation was here; I suppose he expected I wait around). He then sent me the drivers’ numbers and told me to contact them myself because apparently that's my job, not his?). I rescheduled for the next day and when they arrived, the driver showed me a text message when they were told about my job - which was right after I called asking why they weren't here the previous day.

- I was NEVER TOLD about a deposit I had to pay; I was told AFTER it was already processed.

- When the movers were done, I asked them about next steps, and they said I needed to call Metropolitan Movers as they knew nothing. I did, asking what to expect next; they told me the local coordinator will call me. 5 hours after my things were picked up, I still heard nothing – so I called Gary, asking for next steps, arrival info – he told ME to follow up with HIM (as opposed to the other way around, because again, apparently that's not his job) in a week for a narrowed range.

- I followed up as instructed in a week and Gary was still unprepared. He said he’d call the driver and get back to me. I followed up again as I heard nothing from him, and finally got a “between 27th to the 31st” range.

- I still hadn't heard anything on the 27th. I called Gary a few times around this time range and even up to the day the movers arrived, he went completely MIA - I never heard from him.

For comparison, I worked with several services at the same time – I ordered furniture from different vendors, coordinating with my new building manager, and a furniture donation organization. These services followed up with me, called/sent me a message when they were on the way, and followed up to close things off after. All these services went smoothly and I wasn’t getting anything close to this with Metropolitan Movers and they were 90% of why my move was extremely stressful. The profoundly awful communication made it incredibly difficult to coordinate ANYTHING on my end - when I should move out of my temporary housing, what I should tell my building coordinator about my move-in..

The local coordinator Gary obviously didn’t give a crap about my move, hence why he completely disappeared on me. Even calling "head office", their answer was always the same: "I'll tell Gary to call you" and never did. It was difficult getting "head office" to even pick up. They never took the initiative to ever follow up at any point during the process – no follow-ups to provide basic info, updates, or what to expect.

Friends, peers, and colleagues were appalled every time I gave them an update that I had no update and there was no effort at all in keeping me informed. Just so, so awful.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1650

Staff were very nice and were on time. Coordinator was also very available. Other than that, I wish I could say something positive about this company. Excruciatingly slow. Packers did not communicate with movers, causing so much delay. Terrible packing. I had to tell them to wrap everything and to write down content/room on each box. Movers fought in public. OMG so slow. Almost seemed like the movers did not want to work. No masks. No floor covering. We paid $2500 and honestly this move was not worth more than $1000. So much time wastage and zero accountability. On purpose they would go 1 or 2 minutes over the hour and charge an extra 1/2 hour. Just terrible. Do yourself a favour and call any other company. Can't see how a moving company can get any worse.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2500

This move happened back at the end of August, but I'm writing this review now since my partner already wrote his own and I wanted to add my own take.

So first off, we hired Metropolitan Movers, but they - without our knowledge - hired two unprepared guys from Maple Green Moving instead.

Day of, two guys show up who are very obviously stoned out of their minds - especially the one. The one guy in the first half of the move was completely incompetent, spending most of his time standing around looking to the other guy to be told what to do. We kept telling them what NOT to move (since we lived with my sister at the time, we obviously didn't want to take her things too) and they kept forgetting even though we JUST told them less than 5 minutes prior. We had to run out to the truck and retrieve some of her stuff from them. This happened TWICE.

The move itself took WAY longer than it should have, and that's partly because of the movers themselves that were hired. My partner himself started helping them and acted as the third mover - and he legitimately was far more competent than the two of them.

Just before we leave, My partner's old desk had broken (not the mover's fault, it was already falling apart) so we asked if we could dispose of it at our new place since our new place offered an area for dumped furniture. Instead of listening to us, they took it and dumped it at our current building which was NOT allowed. Because my partner was caught on camera standing by the truck while they did that, our building manager came after us afterwards and threatened my partner with charges if the landlord saw fit after seeing him on the camera.

After that hell, we finally start heading over to our new place. (which is about 10-15 minutes down the road, by the way) The movers head out first, and my partner and I order an uber. We both get there 10-15 minutes before they do... When they did get here, my partner said he saw them just chilling in the truck having a smoke - probably getting high again since they burnt out after taking so long just to put our things into a truck. ? They were at the very least smoking a joint BEFORE heading off to the new apartment - My partner witnessed this, and we know it was marijuana because they commented on it. Not only getting high on the job, but also getting high and driving. Cool.

First person to bring something into our new place is - shocker - my partner! With a whole loveseat, by himself. He hustled SO hard, constantly back and forth with boxes, furniture, etc. One of the guys started helping more, while the other started taking it easy and was just (very slowly) taking furniture and boxes out of the truck while my partner and the other guy did most of the work.

During this painful process the new door got scratched up quite a bit and the floors were scuffed and filthy. Some of the furniture ended up chipped in several spots and scratched up - especially our freezer - which we did list prior as an appliance, and now sits off balance because an entire foot is missing. By the time everything was done it had been approx 6 hours. Our total came to $800... Then when my partner signed the papers for payment he noticed they were a completely different company? They mentioned they were something like a side branch that were contracted - "Maple Green Moving and Logistics", and that they were told they were just doing a "student move", which definitely wasn't the case. I should also mention that they nearly left with several pieces of furniture of ours and thankfully we realized last second before they took off. They also left us with a couple bags of straight up GARBAGE from their truck that was likely never cleaned out from a previous move. I'm sure they didn't know but it's still disgusting and inexcusable.

Time skip to recently where my partner and I expressed our upset with our movers to several family and friends who all told us to try to get some money back as compensation. My partner called Metropolitan Movers MANY times, and after a while they NEVER answered him. Initially when he filed a complaint they said they'd get back to him in 10-14 days (why does it take that long?) so we waited, but nothing happened well after 14 days. We called again a few more times. We realized they blocked his number or just purposefully ignored it and refused to deal with our case, and we know this because immediately after calling from his phone with no answer, he called with mine and they picked up. He was told he'd be called back tomorrow morning (today) and to no one's surprise, there was no call. This was the worst move I've ever had in my life, and I've moved many times. This experience was an absolute nightmare. You'd be better off asking complete strangers off the street for help.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $800

I have a current complaint in with the BBB. PLEASE check the company background before hiring this franchise. Oleg, Anar & Mary are the company employees I dealt with through my complaint. They were charged to move a partially furnished townhouse, no living room & disassembled dining room. Between several calls throughout the day seeking help for 2 movers they sent who were unfortunately too inexperienced for the job & didn’t pack the truck right, throwing my belongings all over to leaving me stranded late at night with part of my furniture left outside mid November! They didn’t assemble the beds for us to sleep on as promised. To add insult to injury when I was at the worst of exhaustion after almost 16 hours of moving, yes! You read that right! Almost 16 hours to move a partially furnished townhouse! feeding the movers meals & coffee breaks as well as tipping them & hearing them tell me over & over that this company does these horrible things all the time to their customers! I had a mind to refuse payment & would only agree to settle after I could review everything in the coming days. The movers called a manager named Anar who at the top of his lungs verbally abused me using disgusting language! These people are shameful. Their response to my complaint on the BBB was to continue to blame me for the bad move. Oleg writes in his BBB response that I am looking to somehow get away with something. They will do everything to twist the truth. Oleg sent me a communication via email confirming the poor service & they will use my feedback to learn & better train in the future. This company thinks they can make idiots out of customers. I have documented each interaction. Text messages, photos & emails. Oleg refused to provide me with their commercial insurance. He alone acted as the insurance & refused my damage claim. He then tried to convince me to pay more as that would be the only way they could review a claim. As I said they look to treat clients as idiots & twist the truth. Please see the BBB reviews. The BBB has a confirmation on Metropolitan movers from 2018 that they are using a non compliant agreement with customers that they continue to distribute. I will continue to put these posts out there! If it saves anyone from going through what I did and what others are saying then we have done the right thing! I will not stop & take matters further to go public & display the shameful documented interactions with this franchise!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1800

Where to begin? This was the worst experience I had with a move ever. They took 6 hours to do a 2-bedroom condo moving, with everything already packed and ready to go. The last company that I've used made the same move within 2 hours, with time to spare). The movers were super slow, not wearing a uniform, not wearing gloves, forgot to bring the mattress cover, and they spend the whole time horsing around and talking on the phone in a foreign language. They then destroyed a baseboard at my building (which I had to pay and refused to refund). And then they ripped my new office chair, and of course, refused to repay). And then they took a 1:30h lunch and CHARGED ME for this time. You can always expect some wear and tear on any move, but almost every single piece of furniture got damaged. And then the absurd charge: $750 (Which they tried to get in cash not to pay any taxes). Never again!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $760

DO NOT HIRE THESE MOVERS

Warning! This is a long review but well worth a read as we are not disgruntled or upset by the experience but rather full-heartedly don’t want anyone else to go through what we went through.

We hired Metropolitain Movers to move my elderly parents from 2 separate residences to a shared apartment with one other stop involved. So while they had few possessions there were 3 stops involved in this move. We were quoted $800 for a truck and $150 per hour with an estimate of 7 hours. So here is what we experienced:

The Crew:

Two young men showed up as per contract. Although they showed up 2 hours late, making our timing to the booked elevators at a location unavailable for use. Unfortunately, they weren’t trained and had little expertise in moving. They didn’t know how to back the truck into places. They did not wear botties in the house, did not have any runners to protect the floor and didn’t even offer to wear masks (covid). Both commented on how much they hated management and were quitting (one the next day and one the next week)

The Truck:

The truck was a rusted pile of metal and apparently broke down requiring maintenance. Something was leaking inside and many of our boxes were wet when delivered. It was also much larger than we’d requested.

The move itself got off on a wrong foot with the late arrival and went downhill from there. They didn’t protect the furniture resulting in scratches and dents in many pieces of furniture (see photos). The worst thing was the travel time between places. The first stop was in St Catharines, the second in Alliston. It took them over 3 hours to get to Alliston (normal time is 1.5 hrs) Their excuse was they had to get gas and maintenance on the truck. They also said that they didn’t have roaming on their phones, so they couldn’t use GPS to map our addresses and had to rely on paper maps. Because we knew they elevator wouldn’t be available to them once they arrived, because they were running so late, my brother and nephew ended up bringing all the items down to a loading dock so the movers ended up just having to carry them into the truck. It then took over 3 hours to arrive in Cobourg (2 hr drive) where it was now dark because we were so behind schedule. There were no lights in the truck so we gave them flashlights and outdoor lights so they could see. Had they backed the truck in, they could have benefited from the house lights but they didn’t know how to do that. Again, because they were so late, we ended up moving everything in the house to the driveway so that when they arrived, they could just load the truck. While all this was happening I had to place many calls to the superintendent of the new home where he was sticking around to get the elevator on service for us. We finally arrived at the new home at 10p.m. (we were originally to be there for 3 pm) Again, we ended up moving all the boxes and furniture from the truck to the apartment. We are middle-aged people and the reason we hired movers was to avoid having to lift things!

The kicker was at the end of the move when they wanted payment for 12 hours of work. We said we were not comfortable paying for the extra travel time (getting lost) and time to fix the truck. The crew manager, Vlad was not accommodating at all, made no apologies and my husband, who was having this conversation with him past midnight, finally said we were done and we’d call him in the morning. My husband did that and we generously paid for 10 hours even though I still feel we should have been compensated more as we did most of the work. We also spoke to customer service, Edward, during the move itself and received no apology, offer of support or explanation for why things happened as they did. I am dumbfounded that this company gets the reviews online that it does – my only guess is that they generate them themselves. I did my research and I was initially fooled because the booking team, Clarise in particular seems so organized and accommodating.

I’ve moved a lot and I know a lot can go wrong, but what made this move so stressful in particular was the unapologetic nature of the employees and their lack of professionalism and care for customers

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3000