Real Alberta Moving

I'll make this short. The moving company was very late picking up with no ETA phone call. My items had to be stored and redelivered. There were no "free blanket wrap" used on my furniture so it was very damaged when it arrived. I was missing numerous items and called twice while movers were present. I did several follow up emails with damages, pictures and missing item list. I also had another clients items that I sent a picture in to show. To date still no response. I had to put in a complaint with the BBB.
The pick up was June 30 and delivery was July 2. The picture provided is the other clients items so if they are recognized please contact me.
I had to click rating to post. I would give zero.

Service cost: $1200

I was surprised how quick my move was: got it picked up in Montreal September 5th, delivered September 19th in Edmonton. The guys who did delivery were professional and polite, used runners not to damage my floors. I was watching them the whole time and did not notice anything disagreeable. I did all the packing myself - and triple checked for damages - there were none - and sure you would expect some, going all he way across the country. I would have improved their inventory, but I made my own list that I was going by. I had o problems with this company and their rates are the cheapest.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $850

I had decided to use Ram before reading the reviews ( which are mostly negative for a good course). I called Amy to express my concern after reading them all, she assured she’ll personally make sure everything would be smooth & no surprise since my quote was all inclusive, that any variation would be based on weight. She had been helpful & seemingly honest to that point so I believed her.
I was moving from regina to Mississauga & had to go ahead since there wouldn’t be a pick up till after the holidays.
I called 2 days after my things were picked for final quote & 1.5weeks later but got nothing. Amy promised to check with the truck and mail me back & never did till delivery date. I get a call the day before delivery told to pay 600+, followed by email with account details. No details of the final quote.
Driver shows up next days (nice guy by the way) and I see they had padded in about $200 (scale,warehouse& fictitious 100+lb)
Looking at the bill, I could see they had been fiddling with the numbers(guess trying to work out how much they could scheme off without getting noticed)
Amy suddenly became clueless & was stupidly trying to justify wrong billing of items clearly stated on her quote at no additional cost. John comes on to convince me that my math was off & I should pay for 143lb extra instead of 43lb.
Long story short, I refused to pay till the scam was pulled. the genius finally saw his error & asked the driver to strike of all the extras. I paid only the $23 extra due.
Opened the boxes days later and found my monitor had been broken despite bold “fragile -computer screen” label.
Use them at your own risk, carry all your frigiles with you if you do.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $570

In Apr/17 My family used Real Alberta Moving Services to move my elderly parents belongings from Saskatchewan to Okotoks, AB. They were the worst moving service we could have chosen. Complete amateurs. Just a horrible experience.
- They quoted a price that turned out to be half the actual cost of the move, saying the weight was more than expected.
- Almost anything of value my parents had was damaged or broken.
- No proper wrapping of fragile items, furniture, etc. The most perplexing was couch cushions taped to the underside of a table as if to protect it but nothing on the table top (see photo). When the tape was removed it ruined the table top finish and all the edges of the table were damaged. The table became garbage.
- Only one item, a piano, was delivered into a house, the rest of the shipment into a garage for storage. The movers significantly gouged a 15 foot section of floor moving the piano, the only item they had to be more careful with! No straps or dolly used, nothing to protect the floor. The piano itself was damaged in over 10 places, no wrapping/blankets.
- Many smaller items were packed into large tower size clothing boxes with no wrap or anything to protect the items. Many of the boxes were crushed and items damaged or broken.
- When we complained, the company's offer was $100 provided we left no negative reviews with the BBB etc.
This company took advantage of two 80+ year olds and destroyed much of their personal effects aquired over a lifetime. They should not be in business.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4000

Promised 8-10 days delivery! Our shipment was picked up at our house in Ontario on July 21st and we got it at our new home in Sorrento on August 14th. Our shipment sat in Richmond for over a week because they did not have a full load coming to Sorrento BC. When spoke to the individual in Richmand was told "It is your problem not mine!" Unprofessional on each end for handling. Freezers turned upside down, labeling not understandable. They charged us $200.00 handling fee for our motorcycle. On both ends the delivery wanted us to ride bike up and down ramp!! Unbelievable damage. Pictures sent and was told after the $500 deductible they would give us $100 and then we were not allowed to give a bad review! When we responded it was not acceptable did not hear from them. Sent another email and still no response. So I hope this review will cost them thousands in lost customers. Plus there are some boxes missing because I could not make sense of the # system. When I explained that the boxes did not match any #,s on the box or items. I was told to count the # of items received to the # of items on the list. Doesn't work that way. Now I can't tell which boxes are missing because the #'s don't match. The worst of it all was that on every box we put our new address on and we still didn't get them all! So I hope RAM Moving that the money you saved by not paying us out is worth the thousands you hopefully lose to get a bad review??

Service cost: $5496

As per other reviews, I had a very similar experience from my from Calgary, Alberta to Regina, Saskatchewan moving experience.
Delivery date was not met, the manager, John A. yelled at me numerous times when I inquired about expected delivery date and lack of communication, Tracy Boyd continuously gave me the run around when asking for dates, majority of my belongings were damaged with no reimbursement or reply from the claims departments email provided, double charged for the stair fee and then verbally abused by the deliverers.
Overall, the company is very disrespectful and pull you in by dealing with Tracy, who seems very nice at first then avoids you after you have a complaint to address with them. John raised his voice multiple times at me when I was trying to get answers about where my stuff was and when I was going to receive it after being told it was going to be a week and didn't end up getting it in the same condition it was picked up in. Every single one of my durable totes, which made it through other moves perfectly fine, were completely destroyed and then taped up or tossed into bigger boxes, a new dresser was damaged and falling apart, mirror was broken and the list goes on.
When I was finally scheduled to get my belongings delivered, the deliverer swore and yelled at me after I stated I already paid for the stairs fee. I ended up spending well over the agreed amount in the beginning.
Obviously, I would not recommend this company for a move.

Service cost: $1555

I'm a post-secondary student, and as such, usually prefer to do the fiscally-sound thing and take care of moving on my own, when I have to do it. I noticed a few companies, Real Alberta Moving (RAM) being one of them, which listed price quotes for moving goods that were almost identical to the costs of renting a moving truck, and I decided to contact them. RAM provided me a quote, and told me in writing and verbally that they doubted I had more than 3000lbs of goods to move after I explicitly listed exactly what items I needed moved; I agreed - I had moved my home before on my own and knew what my goods weighed, approximately. They provided me a quote - in writing - that stated the price was for 'all inclusive service before tax'. The person at RAM also told me delivery dates were flexible to my needs - I indicated the dates I was wanting for delivery, and told this would not be a problem. Given an initial positive impression, I made a booking.

The following problems occurred:

- When the movers showed up, despite all our goods being packed and organized to go, we were told that some had to be put in 'certain kinds' (their words) of boxes/packing, and because ours were not in those 'certain kinds', they had to pack them for us. An 'approved' cardboard box for a TV was listed at $50, for example. A 'special' clothing box was about $30. We were told our bed had to be wrapped in vinyl/plastic, and that was even MORE money. When I called to inform the company of these hidden fees that were not listed on their website nor in our quote, I was rudely put on hold immediately, only to then be told that it was 'their policy' (how can it be policy if it isn't written anywhere?), and that beds (for example) can be worth thousands, so that's why they needed to be wrapped - again, nowhere in the price quote nor on their website does RAM state what type of packaging is required for one's goods. I have moved houses before - I know how to pack, and my goods were in boxes and everything that needed disassembly had been disassembled.

- The delivery was sub-contracted to someone else; our goods were taken to a central location in the province we were moving to and left there. Getting a hold of the people holding our goods was extremely problematic; call-backs were repeatedly promised, but did not occur for over ten days. When I did hear from someone, I was told they would only deliver to our new home on weekends, not weekdays. I explained how this was not what was agreed to, and how it didn't work as the company I was renting my house from had to be present and did not have an employee who worked weekends. I was told that there was no other option, and that they put multiple people's goods together for delivery, and would only deliver when they had enough goods to make a run. This was not revealed as company policy in advance.

- I was told that my household goods weight over 4200 pounds. As mentioned earlier, I had discussed my exact belongings with the company in advance and was told there was no way they would weigh that much. I have previously moved all of my goods in a five tonne truck on my own, and the truck wasn't even close to full. Given that I know what it took to move my goods before, and the fact that the company had lied about packing fees and delivery times, you can see why I found this alleged weight hard to believe; if they pack multiple people's goods into a truck for delivery from their central dispatch in the province I went to, what proof is there that they did not do the exact same thing when moving intra-provincially, and are just giving me the total truck weight with other people's goods on board as well? They could not provide any, and simply said the weight would be indicated on the invoice/weightbill.

In short, this company is terrible, and I am paying (literally) for not having done more research in advance. Their BBB rating is atrocious, their Yelp and other social media rankings even worse. You would think a company with such a terrible reputation might want to do something to improve it, but I was stone-walled at every turn.

Short version:

- They lied about their price quote being 'all inclusive' (exorbitant box/wrapping fees they don't tell you about).
- They lied about delivery dates, insofar as they refused to deliver when I had mentioned needing my goods.
- The movers who showed up remarked on how relatively little material we had. I listed in advance to them, in detail, what I needed moved, and was told that it would not exceed the 3000 pound quote; I could possibly see some room for variance, but not over 1200 pounds worth. This leaves me skeptical of them accurately measuring the weight of my goods, mostly because of the previous lies I was told.

Real Alberta Moving are fraudulent at worst, or if I was to be charitable, I would state that they are incompetent and deceitful. Stick with moving your home yourself, as I should have and normally do, or seek out a better-rated company.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2200

On July 1, Real Alberta Moving promised pickup between July 27 and 30 (actual date to be told 24 hours in advance) for a total cost of $6000 (CAD approx.) for a USA - Canada move, and took $300 in advance.
- I booked cleaners and handover to landlady for July 31 (who booked new tenants for August 1, and they booked their movers, etc.).
- I also booked hotels and tours (mostly non-refundable) for a week long drive from Phoenix to Calgary (for a family of four with two adults with full time jobs, and a six year and a two year old boy).

Dispatcher Sam from Real Alberta Moving called on July 27 to say cannot pick up before August 1 or 2.

None of the persons I spoke to subsequently helped me with this situation. Real Alberta Moving absolved themselves of all responsibility to our negotiated agreement, leaving me with with all associated costs. A complete run down of discussions below:

On July 1, 2017
- Sales Rep John made the sale and took the deposit.

On July 13, 2017
- I emailed to ask if a date of pickup is available.
- Tanya responded to say they "still have a window of the 27-30th. They haven’t narrowed it down yet." referring to the dispatchers.
- I called to ask John for some help but got Tanya on phone. She said John was away and that they would probably narrow the day not before the week of travel.

On July 24, 2017
- I called as this was the week of travel and three days before the earliest arrival date (i.e. July 27)
- John was not available to take my call
- Tanya said they would only give me the information "24 hours before arrival date"
- I asked for Supervisor.
- Office Manager Amy came on the line after 25 minutes and showed me where to find the "24 hours before arrival date" disclaimer.
- Upon my plea, she found information that the Truck would come on June 29 but would confirm time "24 hours before arrival"

On June 26
- I got a called from Real Alberta Moving dispatcher from Richmond BC asking if it would be possible to schedule the move for August 2.
- I said that not would be acceptable to me for many reasons (handover of rental property to landlord on to next tenant on July 31; cancellation of bookings and associated costs; stress on having to cancel and change travel plans with small children).
- The dispatcher said they would call back.

On July 27
- I called Real Alberta Moving and Amy answered; - I informed her about the call from the dispatcher.
- Amy said that dispatcher would call back once their Richmond BC office opened (in about 10 minutes).
- When no call back was received for two hours, I called Amy back, waited on hold for 25 minutes, and Amy told me the dispatcher is going to call me now.
- Dispatcher called right then, spoke aggressively and tried to back away from the deal, offered to give me my deposit back, refused to compensate for any other costs I would incur due to their breaking contract.
- I called Amy back and got John on the phone instead. Got a great sales pitch (a promise of discount on total cost), but no concrete offer to fix the problem. Instead, he asked me to tell landlady to postpone my move out and new tenants move in.

Found a different moving company (one that had reached out at the time of initial bid). They informed me that this is happening more often due to less stringent regulation and greater predatory practices of agents (not moving companies themselves). Overall, my cost increased by about 4000 dollars (CAD).

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000