Simple Moving Labor

SML IS NOT MOVING COMPANY BUT RATHER A BROKER FOR MOVING COMPANIES. THEY HAVE NOT VETTED THOSE COMPANIES AND DO NOT INTERVENE WHEN THERE IS EXTREMELY POOR SERVICE. IF USING PENSKE TRUCK RENTAL IT IS BEST TO HIRE DIRECT WITH A LOCAL COMPANY. NEVER AGAIN.

THIS WAS ONLY A 1/4 TRUCK UNLOAD.

MOVERS ARRIVED FOUR HOURS LATE AND DID NOT KNOW THE COMPANY THEY WERE "WORKING" FOR. I CALLED SML AND THEY SAID THEY COULD DO NOTHING. BUT, I COULD FILE A COMPLAINT, WHICH I DID. STILL SILENCE FROM SML.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $650

Hired SML on recommendation of Penske (from which we rented a junk truck, but this review is about SML). Using SML's web tools, we followed the suggestion to request three guys to load our household in Florida and then unload it in Michigan. The Florida crew arrived precisely on time, but within the first 30 minutes it was obvious we had made a very big mistake. From the first floor of our two story home, it sounded like we had a demolition crew working upstairs. After around an hour of loading our pre-packed boxes and storage tubs in the truck, I heard a giant crash. I ran to the truck only to see everything scattered on the floor. They had put very light boxes on the bottom of their floor to ceiling stacks and very heavy boxes/tubs on top. So an hour was wasted while they refilled the boxes and tubs (disregarding all the damaged items and foregoing any hint of organization) then re-stacking them with heavier units on the bottom. I wish things had gotten better from there, but they didn't.

After the avalanche inside the truck, I began supervising more closely and noticed that only two of the three men were actually working while the third seemed to be there only to get in the way and slow things down. I noticed that they would use a dolly for literally everything. A filing cabinet that would be quickly and easily carried by two men was instead removed *upside down* ensuring the finish would be damaged by the steel dolly and the few contents left inside would be scrambled as if put into a blender. I saw a single empty drawer from a dresser brought out on a dolly. Our realtor stopped by and unprodded asked why we hadn't hired "real movers." Neighbors stood around gawking at the spectacle as it seemed it would never end. A Herman Miller Aeron chair had heavy tools stacked on it in the truck. After roughly three times the estimate SML's website provided, the men declared themselves done and indeed our belongings had reached the back of the truck. This was mainly due to incredibly sloppy and inefficient loading, but were far too exhausted to debate the matter so we signed their form and sent them on their way. We wound up with a full storage unit we paid a "real mover" to remove the next day while we drove North hoping to get back on schedule.

As it happened, we were a day late in arriving, but were able to reschedule the unloading crew easily enough (the Comcast folks were a little less accommodating). The Michigan crew was over an hour late and we feared a duplicate of our experience with the loading crew in Florida. Happily, we were wrong. Within 30 minutes it was extremely obvious that two of the three guys in Michigan were highly experienced and took good care of our (now damaged) belongings. The third guy, well, again his purpose seemed mainly to get in the way and ask stupid questions (i.e. a box labeled "kitchen" would have him standing around untill I or my wife walked by and he would ask, "where this one go?"). Even with this boat anchor slowing them down, the Michigan crew finished the job causing no new damage and in less time than estimated. I would gladly hire them again, just without the third guy.

So .. SML. A totally mixed experience. They were hands-down, no contest, by far the worst and most incompetent movers I've ever seen. They were a bad Saturday Night Live parody of a moving crew except it's NOT funny when it's your stuff getting banged up and your wallet getting emptied as they slowly wheeled out a single 20lb box on a dolly (sometimes taking two guys with one to keep the box on the dolly and the other to pull the dolly itself).

Yet like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, SML sent us a couple of real professional movers in Michigan. We have moved quite a bit over the years and the SML Michigan guys were easily in the top five (maybe top two and tied for first place) among the dozen or so movers we've encountered. So, would I hire SML again? The answer is "No." What good is a competent professional crew when your stuff is already torn up by incompetents? As good as the Michigan crew was, they couldn't fix the damage (both to my furnishings and property as well as my wallet) caused by their Florida counterparts. If you are moving locally in Michigan and get the same crew we had, I'd recommend them without hesitation. But since most people want to move out of Michigan, this scenario is unlikely at best. My advice then is to seek a recommendation from your friends, family, or realtor. And allow yourself a flexible schedule so if you have a nightmare crew you can fire them on the spot and wait a day or two for a competent crew to be found and hired.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2000

They showed up 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours late, which made me to change my plan. I assumed they were professional movers but only one of them was. They had only one dolly while they supposed to have one each.
They were slow so that at the end it took longer than it should for professional movers.
I called them to give my feedback and someone just took notes but the people that dealt with me never call me back, they only sent the invoice.
I would not recommend them.
 
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Service cost: $575

To avoid confusion, we only hired them to load the truck.. SML damaged my furniture upon loading our truck, their two "Professional" movers were actually one senior citizen and a college kid (first day on the job) I am not being sarcastic or exaggerating. I am a pharmacy trainer, I have a 3 year old daughter and my wife is a Dentist, we are by no means a family that complains. This is one time though that I am truly angered by a company who sells a service that claims to be "professional" and "insured" ..it takes a lot! To get me to take the time and write a review like this. If I can get through to one person then the damages to our belongings will not go unpaid.I filed a complaint and they made me take 3 photos of each item damaged, fill out paperworks with lists and explanations, dates of purchase, etc.. I had to use photoshop to number each photo and sequence it to my explanation and definitions (nightmare) before they would review it! Today, 3 weeks later, I got a letter stating that the damage happened on the drive to our destination, they're not responsible, thank you :) .. I saw it happen! Do not use them. I paid extra for the professional, licensed, insured movers and this is what I got! The scratch on the leather sofa was done when they squeezed it through our front door and scrapped it across the exterior stucko wall. The Photo of the chipped leg is on our Pottery Barn entertainment center. They chipped that when they pushed it from the road, up the ramp leading to the interrrior of the rental on a square roller thing on 4 wheels, placed in the middle of the cabinet. The trailing end of it scrapeed due to its length. It should have been carried up the ramp. (Professional??) I should have done t myself but my wife said to hire movers because she didn't want me to hurt my back anymore. .

Service cost: $467

Totally disatisfied with Simple Moving Labor (SML).  Despite quickly completing all the necessary documents, scanning them back to SML, providing deposit - completing all the necessary steps required - on the day of the move the help never showed up.  When I contacted SML - the person said there was "a situation" and she could send the help out two to three hours later.  Since I was moving out of a high-rise, we had the elevator reserved for a specified time.  SML not showing up to help was a real inconvenience that resulted in us having to complete the move all by ourselves that day and not getting on the road until much later.  I would not recommend anyone use this company.  Since the lack of providing the contracted service, no one from SML has contacted me to offer any apology or reason for their breach of contract.  I feel we should be offered the deposit amount as compensation, much as we would have forfeited it had we broken the agreement like they did.Don't Count on SML.

Service cost: $350

I would not use this mover at this point.  Everything started out great..scheduling, working through permit issues, arriving on time (loading and unloading).  However, where the rubber meets the road, they failed badly.  Their labor is suppose to be their own employees who are trained well.  These guys, although very polite throughout, loaded the van poorly and did not use the provided shrink wrap and blankets on much of my furniture.  I was moving from Chicago to Austin..NOT a short move!  The result was damaged to almost every one of my nicer pieces that I had decided to keep.  Now you can get insurance above the 10 cent per pound per item at a pretty penny (besides, most home owner policies cover the big events that could happen).  The extreme hassle of the claim process makes it not even worth your time in the money you'll get back.  My 4 new dining rooms chairs ALL loaded at the very end without even a blanket, would bring me maybe $5!  Even though the damage was clearly from negligence..not exceptions that always will happen..there is NO RECOURSE FOR THE CLIENT.  Unloading was careless and scuffed up my new walls and, as the day went on, they quit asking where things went and most everything ended up in the closest room to the truck.  Set up great, execution by movers extremely disappointing.

Service cost: $4912

If it was possible to give a zero star, I would. RUN AWAY FROM SML!! BE AWARE THAT THIS COMPANY OPERATES OUT OF OTHER CITIES - not just Texas - so if you are considering them somewhere else, THIS IS THE SAME COMPANY!!We paid the "pro movers" for our Chicago to LA move. We were very clear in our expectations with our Chicago moving crew - all furniture items were to be wrapped in furniture pads before packing and we repeatedly asked if they needed more pads or any other additional supplies to do their job. We were told that things were being wrapped properly and that things were being packed safely and to our specifications and professional standards your company proports to provide. Upon arriving in LA, our Los Angeles based SML crew started unpacking and found the following things:Expensive Wood and Metal Furniture, unwrapped and stacked on top of other furniture causing breakage, scratching and a pethora of holes and rips. This is solid wood furniture, mind you. Extremely expensive and not easily damaged.A brand new Kingsized Matresses folded in half and taped - that right, folded in half.Books folded in half inside boxes!!A 1,500 office chair tossed on top of a couch, ripping both the couch and the chair.Boxes smashed, overpacked and improperly packed. Our change bowl stolen! ( In hindsight this should have not been loaded on, but still - it was about $200 worth of change)Check out some images of the damages! dropbox.com/sh/xuk54dfz7…Even their own movers in LA told us it was the worst packing job they had ever seen! They coudn't believe the damage that had been done to our things. The frustrating thing is that they caused damage in person, and when we asked if there was anything damaged, they lied to us. They even managed to break a brand new ladder. They didn't come out and tell us this, just asked us if the ladder was ours. When we said we had purchased it but were planning to return it,  they told us we should because it was a cheap ladder. They knew they broke it, but we didn't find that out until we arrived in Los Angeles and found the end smashed in.We also watched them damage a bed (and walked in on them taking a picture of it), then asked at the end if anything had been damaged and they answered no. We have moved several times - even fully across the country - and we have never had this kind of damage done to our things. It can only be described as negligence and willful deception, since we repeatedly made our expectations clear and were assured they were being met.  The load-in of the truck took twice as long as our previous move-out of a 3-story home, which was a much more complicated move with almost all the same furniture.  It took that crew 4 hours, as opposed to 8 hours with SML.  It also appears that they contract other companies to do the moving for them. We saw the name JC movers in our claims form, so they literally have zero information or training for the people they are sending you. I would love to know how you can qualify them as professionals if they have no training and no oversight. Avoid them at all costs! They will absolutely take advantage of you and not stand by their work. They should be shut down!

Service cost: $2340

This company pushes for folks to use their more expensive ProMover crews.  I elected to take that route but sincerely regret taking Penske's recommendation to even think about using SML.  The following is part of the story: The first crew arrived on time but everything went downhill from that point forward. Upon arriving the ProMovers were shown each item that was to be loaded. After approximately 2 1/2 hours the lead mover indicated the truck (26') was much larger than needed. (I did not oversee or even watch ProMovers.) In checking the progress around 1:30 PM it became apparent to me that items were not being carefully placed into the truck, shrink wrap was not being used and moving pads were seldom used. The ProMovers were unable to fit the balance of the shipment into the truck in spite of their earlier comment.  I took pictures and contacted SML, sending pictures showing a catastrophic loading to SML. The lady I spoke with was sincerely concerned.  Too bad she wasn't loading my valuables. Ultimately SML told ProMovers to totally unload and reload the truck.  That crew started to unload but only took approximately 1/3 of the inventory off of the truck.  The shipper again contacted SML and that crew was told by SML to terminate. I'm only able to post one picture .. but it's worth a thousand words! A second ProMover crew arrived at approximately 6:15 PM and they were also told to fully unload and reload the truck. They did not do that, instead they forced the remaining inventory back into the truck with more damage. I might be able to understand the lack of professionalism or expertise with one ProMover crew .. but two! If you would like to see more pictures of damage and/or know more feel free to contact me at blair@blairgilbert.com.

Service cost: $3000

 
Simply look at the photo I have attached of the individuals supplied by SML. It tells the whole story. My wife took the photo. BTW, I’m the one on the right doing all of the work. I'm not sure what form of assistance the guy in the background is performing. When they arrived, I was packing our moving truck. I showed them the bedroom and asked if they could bring out the mattress. I returned to the truck. After an unusually long period of time, they arrived carrying the box spring. They required constant supervision and were more of a hindrance than help. In the end, I sent them home and we loaded the truck ourselves. I will never use this service again.

Service cost: $18