Simple Moving Labor

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

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

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