Simple Moving Labor

I booked this company a week in advance to send 2 men to load a small truck of household items - 5 heavy furniture pieces and lots of boxes. I asked that they arrive at 8am. When it was 9am, I called the company and was told the movers had until 9am to arrive. When they hadn't arrived by 9:04, I was told that "the movers said you changed the time and told them to come later." I said that wasn't true, that in fact, I had just called at 8am to check on where they were, that I did not have the movers' numbers. They called back and said they had looked at the wrong account and had told the movers the wrong time, that they would be there by 10. We called back at 10:08 when no one had arrived and spoke to Emerald Baker for 16 minutes, strive specialist, who said the movers had a personal issue. I asked which was it? They had been given the wrong time or had a personal issue. She said both. She said she was trying to reach them. She called back at 10:33 and asked if they had arrived. After talking for 4 minutes, she said she'd call back in 30 minutes, that she'd try to get a new crew. By that time, my husband and I had staged the whole area for loading. I went and found two men doing yard work and paid them for 20 minutes work to load the real heavy stuff for us. We did the rest. The supervisor called back at 11:12 to say she could get us a new crew. We cancelled them and asked for a refund, which we got. We got on the road much later than planned and were very tired. This company was untrustworthy and undependable, but did refund our money.

Service cost: $285

I used SML before when I first moved to NH and they were outstanding. The move this time was average except for Steve who I thought was good. He seemed to be the spokesman of the two. He was considerate of what I wanted. The other guy was okay, but he didn't seem to me to be using his head when it came to stacking my boxes. He put a crushed box underneath a couple of others. I hesitated at first on trying to move the boxes around while they were trying to do their job, but decided to do it anyway because it didn't make sense putting a crushed box under other boxes. Now some of the crushed boxes it would have been unavoidable, but in this particular case it was common sense. They're supposed to be professional movers, so I expect them to know how to stack boxes. I was told on my first move that helpers just help you lift things and you have to tell them where you want stuff & professional movers are supposed to know how to load the stuff which is why I went with pro-movers. He also kept forgetting that I needed certain boxes up towards the front once we got to the unloading destination so I had to move some of the stuff for him and these boxes were very obvious as to what they were, so it wasn't rocket science. Overall the move was okay; there was nothing that stood out about it. Like I said the first move was outstanding & this one was average, so it all depends on who you get. Will I use them next year when I move? I don't know, I'll have to think about it. I'll certainly be doing more research on it and not just assuming because the Penske site recommends them, that that's who I should go with.
By the way MyMovingReviews.com you need to proofread your text. Exaggerations is not spelled exaggrations. I'm assuming that's the word you meant to use.

Service cost: $563

It looked like this company was the answer to the stress of moving. It was NOT. I did not receive their "terms" until I had made my deposit. Evidently they are not liable for ANYTHING and it was my responsibility to supervise the entire loading of the truck, while their website says they are experienced and insured/bonded. That is clearly not the case. The movers did not use furniture pads though I had more than an adequate supply for them. I had many, many scratches and gouges in my furniture. The steps you have to take to even make a claim is ridiculous, and an effort in futility.

Service cost: $610

It looked like this company was the answer to the stress of moving. It was NOT. I did not receive their "terms" until I had made my deposit. Evidently they are not liable for ANYTHING and it was my responsibility to supervise the entire loading of the truck, while their website says they are experienced and insured/bonded. That is clearly not the case. The movers did not use furniture pads though I had more than an adequate supply for them. I had many, many scratches and gouges in my furniture. The steps you have to take to even make a claim is ridiculous, and an effort in futility.

Service cost: $610

We rented a Penske truck from Naples Florida and through them we were told to get a hold of SML "professional movers".
We had supplied moving blankets for the movers as well as shrink wrap. When my wife asked about tying down the load we were advised not to worry as they would take care of that. We advised we did not have any rope but they said they would take care of it.
When we arrived in Minnesota the load had shifted with substantial damage to our furniture.
When we contacted SML we jumped through hoops and sent detailed pictures and information on all of the damage.
I received a letter that the claim was denied because SML is only responsible for the loading and/or unloading of the truck.
I guess once they put you belongings in the truck they don't care what happens next.
I would suggest you don't waste your time or money working with this fly by night company.

Service cost: $200

Terrible experience. Had to call as the movers were an hour late only to be told that "it's kind of funny" that it would be at least another hour before the movers arrived. What would be funny about that. Then when I told the guy to just cancel my order, he argued that I should not do that. Never once apologized for screwing up our move, more like he thought we had no other choice but to use them so it didn't matter how badly we were treated. Received a call from another CSR in the midst of now trying to load ourselves and she wanted to argue about our not cancelling - again, never an apology for screwing up our day. Can't imagine how these folks stay in business. We have used Movinghelp.com several times and they are consistently outstanding. I would highly recommend them.

These folks just plain suck.

Service cost: $239

I have used simple moving labor 6 times in less than 2 years-- both in N. Idaho & the San Francisco Bay area. I have been extremely happy with the quality of work. These guys are very strong & work very hard. I will say, you should definitely take apart any furniture that needs disassembly before they get there, otherwise it will just slow them down.
Each time, they have packed a 26 foot truck absolutely full of belongings with no damage.
Extremely necessary on your part, though, to have plenty of packing blankets and tape-- also, do not forget the tiedowns !

Service cost: $600

Two pleasant young men showed up, timing was perfect, and they got right to work, got the job done in one hour.
My only issues: They seemed to have no training or experience in how to load a truck so items were secure. Also, l was NOT impressed when one guy jumped up on the bookcase my grandfather built almost sixty years ago, using it like it was a construction area ladder. That did not make me happy at all.

FYI, they loaded the truck, l drove it.

Otherwise, fine, but if l were to recommend this service to anyone - ask for a trained, professional. Otherwise, the service was too expensive.

Service cost: $279

Not only did they NOT show up on time, they were quite literally dragging their feet! I paid for an extra hour because they were walking so slow. They broke 2 pieces of furniture - one was my Lazy Boy Recliner. It was dropped and the frame broke! One guy was carrying a chain saw thru the house to the garage (when I asked him to walk around the house outside to get to the garage) and he walked right into the wall! Not only is there damage to my stuff, now there is damage to the house! They did not follow instructions at all. The 2 guys that came also drank an entire 6 pack of bottled water and were looking for more from me! I don't mind handing out a bottle or two but if you know you will be working (LABOR) and sweating, bring your own water! I paid $327.50 to unload a 16 foot truck and it should have only taken 2 hours. $3.98 for bottled water, $129 for a broken storage cabinet, and $865 for a new recliner. This was an expensive move and I will never use them or Penske again. My advise: DO NOT USE SIMPLE MOVERS LABOR!!

Service cost: $328

Hired 2 movers to load and unload our furniture and some boxes. We were only moving 4 blocks. They showed up on time. Both nice gentlemen, but both were hearing impaired. They did not hear at all. The move went smoothly until they unloaded my 3 month old Side By Side Refrigerator/Freezer. When they started to move it into our new home, they scratched and dented the front of the appliance.
My husband (who is 70) ran from his car to the doorway to try and stop them, but it was too late.

We reported the damage, took pictures, called Simple Moving and they asked us to get repair estimates. We did. The doors had to be replaced per all three estimates. The esimates ranged from $1100 to $1400. After all this, the company informed us that they were sending us a check for $175 and some odd cents. I called and was told us that was what the going rate of reimbursement based on the weight of the fridge.'

I was also told that I had agreed to this in the printed contract (in the fine print). Why put us through all the time to get estimates, the cost of getting pictures printed, the mailing expenses and the time off work to be at home when the different service companies came to give their repair estimates??

The rep that I spoke to was extremely rude. She more or less blew off my question about an equitable settlement off.

After I posted a review (which I cannot find now on the site) I received a phone call from a person in "customer service" who offered platitudes and told me they had given my credit card a $100 refund (from over $1000 cost of the move) as an additional refund due to my "unfortunate" experience.

I was also assured that their website was going to make more explicit reference to the fact that they only reimburse damage caused by their personnel at a government rate based on the weight of the item -- again due to my unfortunate experience.

I haven't found a change on the website. And if/when the change is made that sure as heck doesn't help the fact that their movers damaged a 3 month old top of the line appliance and they offered less than 1/4 cost of replacement of the damaged item.

The men couldn't hear that they were scraping and denting the doors of the side-by-side. Why on earth would anyone send two non-hearing individuals who cannot hear to move a household?

I have bought and sold 14 homes in my life due to transfers and promotions. Never had anything damaged other than a minor scratch. Have personal family experience with the hearing impaired relative so I am familiar with this disablity.

The customer service is non-existent. They stick to the scripted replies and could really care less about damages. I was treated very rudely by on rep. I would recommend that if you contract with this company, that you ask for at least one hearing individual to be in the moving team. I will never recommend their service. They won't even meet me half way on the low estimate. I am just devastated by their complete lack of responsibility for what their employees did.

Service cost: $1050

Not only was Simple Movers expensive, but their movers helped themselves to my jewelry. Items that cannot be replaced. When contacting the company in Bedford, Texas, the female manager was rude to me and said I must have "misplaced" my items. I didn't misplace them.. they ended up in the pocket of a criminal.. a person Simple Movers felt perfectly comfortable sending to handle my items. I thought by going through Penske Trucking Company's referral, I would get at the very least professional movers. Never use this company! They are horribly unprofessional and rude.

Service cost: $700

Movers arrived on time but as time to leave grew closer, the got much sloppier. We had to remind them several times about getting the mattresses for our adjustable bed from the master bedroom as they failed to take it with the rest of the bed. Both of my Side by side refrigerators had numerous scratches and dings when they arrived. The loaders made no effort to secure anything. Just kind of threw things into the truck wherever they might fit. instead of loading front to back they loaded a single layer and then climbed on top of my belongings to stack more stuff. When the scheduled time ran out, the movers could not wait to get out and go home or wherever. Even though they wanted to leave on time, our computer desk and our bed in the master bedroom had not even been brought outside which we had repeatedly asked them to do. Finally got the bed loaded but ended up having to leave my desk behind. I am suffering from heart failure and unable to lift which is why we hired these guys in the first place. I definitely do not recommend them. We only used this company due to the recommendations from Penske.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $391

Do not go with this moving company. When the movers arrived two hours late, I told them to let me know when the two hours I paid for was up so I can make a financial decision as to where we were at to add more hours on. They told me that it was a flat rate and we were not charged per hour. I pointed to the contract and they said that it was a formality and a flat rate. They spent an hour and a half taking off my front door while the other one sat in the truck listening to music. I even joked with Jonathan saying “good thing you’re not charging per hour” and he laughed because it took so long to take the door off. They only took the door off for one piece of furniture down the stairs. They were very nice and did a great job once the door was off, but I had to pay them for all that time we took breaks and sat down because they said we were paying a flat rate. I was charged an extra $400 and when I called the mover, he said he as misinformed and it was his fault and he was so sorry. He said he would take care of it and explain and discuss about the door because that was on him. After speaking with the company, they said that [NAME EDIT] had never mentioned about the door or the extra hours and they were taking their employee’s word over mine. They were not willing to negotiate and [NAME EDIT] was extremely rude and disrespectful on the phone. She kept saying that their hands were tied if their employee was saying this. If you do go with this company, I guess tape the whole thing because if something goes wrong, they will take the other word from it. I will never use this company again and intend to tell as many people as I can so no one has to be out this money as I was. It’s a scam.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $640

They were friendly and worked hard. They had a lot to pack and did it well. However when I went to add a 250 mile move vs just packing the price went very high. Never the less I was in a time bind and hired them for the move. They came on time and loaded. Their arrival was two hours later than I was told. The big problem was the damaged some furniture. The owner said to send pictures and he would turn it over to insurance. He said they paid by the pound and if they had paid it would have been inadequate. But, the insurance never contacted me and he stopped answering my texts. Use him at your own risk.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3000

I booked SML because of the Penske coupon - it brought them into line with the other companies. There was an extra piano charge which was fair. After I paid the deposit, I got a call saying they had to add $110 at each location for an extra person for the piano, bringing the total to $440 each in Cincinnati and in Houston. And they still wanted the piano fee. I felt really screwed.
I checked around and found UHaul moving helpers could do it with two guys in Cincinnati for higher piano fee but less total bill. The guys from Premier were awesome! And Hireahelper.com in Houston was the same. And those two guys from Unity worked hard in the summer heat!
Fortunately, when I cancelled, I got my deposit back from SML.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $880

Our team arrived promptly, with a dolly and hand truck. We had reserved a service elevator in our building, and the team very efficiently packed our furniture and boxes into the elevator, so they only needed 2 or 3 trips to completely empty our two bedroom apartment and load it all on our rented truck. They finished well within the two hour minimum time. Very respectful of our belongings and our preferences, and we would certainly use them again (although we are determined that this will be our last move!).

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $200

Overall, the moving assistance was good, not great. The two movers arrived at the very end of the window of time that they were due to get to my new place. One of them had to first use my restroom and the other was still eating his breakfast. Not a great first impression at all. Very unprofessional. After that things went pretty smooth as I had already emptied half of a 16 foot POD myself (female) the day before and earlier the same morning. We were done in 1 hour in 40 minutes so I did not have to complain about the restroom and breakfast episode. I had time to have them hook up my washer and dryer before they left. So in summary I do not think these folks are worth the doctors hourly wage that they charging for these moving hands. I do believe that this was the very first move for one of the two guys as he was straight out of the hood and left his breakfast garbage in my driveway. The other was more experienced and respectful of my belongings. It was a difficult task to find moving hands only as I did not need a truck or assembly. Booking this was easy and reps were very informative. I would have to re-think this choice in the future because of the rate and the caliber of the moving hands that appeared at my door.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $259

Both crews arrived promptly and the gentlemen on both crews were very polite.

The Michigan crew were not seasoned movers. Their errors in judgement created scratches and dents. I supplied two moving blankets and shrink wrap and asked them to wrap a leather recliner I did not have time wrap. They threw the blankets on the seat of the chair and applied the shrink wrap around the top of the chair only. The load, luckily, made it to NC with damage only to a refrigerator, computer printer, and scrapes on unimportant furniture items. (I repacked the recliner after it was loaded on the truck.) Boxes that were labeled "Fragile" or "This end up" were placed on the bottom of stacked boxes in the wrong orientation.

In North Carolina, one mover was seasoned and the other was not. Overall, they did a much better job than the crew in Michigan. My only complaint was that they would follow my instructions about 70% of the time. I never knew if it was because I wasn't clear in what I was asking. If that was the case, I wish they would have asked for clarification.

I also really disliked that I was asked to evaluate the movers at the end of the move with them being present. That pressures me to rate them better than I would have otherwise because the last thing I wanted to do was get into a heated discussion about why I wasn't satisfied. Your service may want to re-think that. Many moving companies do the same. I have made five major moves (business and personal) over the last 18 months alone, and all services tend to request evaluation at the end of the move.. but I can assure the moving companies that many (if not most) of those evaluations are not truthful.

In summary, I will not use SML again. I have been fortunate to work with very professional and seasoned movers and neither of the crews hired on this move were, what I consider, professional, seasoned movers.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1800

This was my first time ever hiring movers to move my things. It was the WORST experience of my life!! First of all, the movers arrived a half an hour late!! They were supposed to come between 10-11. They showed up at 1133am!! No apology, nothing!! Then the last 25-30 minutes of the move, my son and I had to help them. They were sitting on the truck doing nothing so my son and I started moving our own stuff!! Then when I get to my house and turn on my TV, there is a huge crack in it and the TV no longer works!! I WILL NEVER USE THIS SERVICE AGAIN!! I wouldn’t recommend this unprofessional company to anyone!! Needless to say, I am highly upset right now!!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $655

Moving day is stressful enough, NOT to mention especially when the MOVERS are a NO SHOW!! Our movers were scheduled to show up 6/30/18 between 9-10 AM - at 9:59 am., I called to advise the Company that movers were not there. I was placed on hold while the customer service rep called the movers. I was told their GPS said 11am. Where in the world have they been and where are they coming from? So after relaying this news to my husband, he got on the phone with SML and spoke to a manager. She also stated the ETA of 11AM. So at 10:45 am., I got the call - movers just got into an accident and will not be there, sorry would they like to see if we can get a backup crew? Did they EVEN have to ask? So while I waited I called ppl and was able to have two men from the U-Haul company show up in 30 and we had the job done in 4 hours! When the manager called me back she said maybe someone would be able to arrive today between 3-5!! She said tomorrow would be a better day for me. I said too bad I rented the truck for today, and I had the move scheduled for today. I asked for my deposit back and immediately called AMEX to make sure no further charges were accrued from this crooked company. The last thing SML said to me when I said Thanks, but no thanks was “Good Luck on your move:”….seriously apparently so…what a joke.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1400