Simple Moving Labor

We hired SML to help us load and unload for a move from New York State to Georgia. We were told by SML that we would be fully taken care of for our move and that they would make life easy for us. This is not what happened. We had two movers show up for the load day. They did not move any furniture out of our home. My Husband and my son moved all of the furniture. Including all dressers and heavy pieces from the upstairs of our home. One of the movers only carried boxes and handed them to the other mover who waited in the truck. One of the movers was continuously on his cell phone texting. They could not stay the entire time we needed them, we had to finish loading the truck ourselves. The last 1/2 hour they were at our home they sat and talked to their boss on the phone and then tacked it on to our hourly rate. They did nothing during that time except talk on their phone. We called sml the next day to cancel out unload to explain why. We spoke with a representative named Emerald. She was extremely rude to us on the phone over the course of several phone calls spanning three days. She claimed we were not telling the truth, throated to keep our deposit money. I have never had such a bad experience with a company that I have hired to do labor. For that matter I have never been treated so rudely by a company either. They did give us a small refund for our troubles. But in no way did it make it worth what services we received. I did report them to Penske who had referred SML to us. I will never recommend SML to anyone.

Service cost: $563

After reading recent reviews, I guess mine is not original. My problem was with loading help in Phila area. Labor arrived 1/2 late after the 1 hour window. It was a hot day and they were shirtless which was my first clue they were not professional. They said they wanted to stage the loading so half of my furniture and possessions wound up on the lawn adjacent to the truck, they would then figure out how they would load it. They were asked to wrap furniture with 4 doz moving blankets and shrink wrap. That barely happened as most of the blankets and wrap were ever used. They were also provided with 8 heavy duty ratchet straps to tie in parts of the load. They did not know how to use them and would up tieing them together.
What pro mover doesn't know how to use ratchet straps?
They wanted to shut down the job half way thru, because they did not like being criticized for their work nor open to any suggestions to rectify problems with the loading process. After an hour on the phone with a SML coordinator, they agreed to finish the load. Childish ?
The load took 5 hours, and should have been 3.

Service cost: $450

I carefully planned our moving schedule to coincide with our arrival from another state 400 miles away. When the time came for the laborers to show up, they called and said they would be 45 minutes late. I reluctantly said that was okay, but I made it clear it could not be delayed any longer than that because I needed the truck loaded before dark. They showed up 2 hours later. When I reiterated my concern about darkness falling soon and that there were no lights available, they said not to worry because they had lights. They proceeded to load the truck without any lighting. What happened to the lights they said they had? On top of that, it started to rain, getting my things wet. Had they been on time, the rain and the lighting would not have been an issue. If I hire moving labor, I expect them to be on time, and not be condescending if I voice my concerns.

Service cost: $250

Mario and his crew packed my 26 foot truck great. Polite and courteous as could be. They called because they were stuck in traffic in Nashville which was the right thing to do. Can't say enough good things about that crew.

Jackson was a whole different story. Suppose to unload between 12:30 and 1:30 - no shows. Kept calling and getting the run around for several hours. Finally someone was suppose to show up at 5:00PM. They showed up at 6:00 PM; so you know unloading a 26 foot truck in the dark is a nightmare in the making. My girl friend, her husband,son and I had to help these two and it took them way longer than it should have. Boxes and furniture got put everywhere. Had to end up buying a new bed frame as one of the parts was missing. Check the truck twice, called back to my place in Nashville - just gone.

Service cost: $500

SML was great to deal with from beginning to end. Our rental truck company recommended them. The quote process was efficient by phone and online. We packed and drove the truck ourselves but used SML to help unpack. We had a two story house to move into and most of our man power wasn't coming along. It worked out great. We contracted for two men for two hours each. They arrived on time and were courteous and hard working throughout. They got everything into place with no damage to our belongings or the new house. Would definitely recommend them. Might use them for packing next time too. Only one small suggestion, it was raining and some mud got tracked onto carpet. Shoe removal should be routine in such a situation. Still, overall a great experience.

Service cost: $325

I hired 2 professionals to unload my rental truck at my destination. They were supposed to bring their own hand truck (dolly). They did not. Fortunately, I had rented one for the load-up that they were able to use. They did a good job moving my furniture up one flight of narrow stairs. The older of the two professionals seemed too old to be moving such large items but he managed to work the entire time. He also seemed to be the supervisor and gave direction to the younger worker.

Service cost: $250

We hired movers from SML to load a truck from a storage locker. They moved all of our large items putting much more on the truck than we could have figured out.They were fast, took great care with our furniture and when we went to unload nothing had moved. We were so thankful that we had their help.

All of the movers were knowledgeable, polite and professional. We had never used a mover before, SML changed our thinking about receiving help next time we have a large move.

Service cost: $320

We arranged for a team of two people to unload our truck. The team came from Bennett Movers in Elizabethton, TN.

The unloaders arrived on time, were courteous, friendly and professional. They were careful to take pictures as they approached each new layer of goods in the truck. They pointed out any concerns they had due to the loading (done by another company in another state).

The unloaders took care when entering the house to deliver the goods. They were careful with the goods and careful with floors, carpets and walls of the house.

They got the work done quickly and efficiently and I would recommend them to others.

Service cost: $319