Simple Moving Labor

The movers were over an hour late but no one from the company felt it useful to call and explain why. I called six different times, talked to six different morons, and got six, "I will check on that and call you back" answers. Then, after cursing on the phone with a rep, was told to "not use that language" because "it's never acceptable." Seriously? You're going to not give me any answers and then tell me how to speak? Give me a break. Turns out they swapped out a mover and didn't feel like letting us know until I called and demanded information. Then, the movers they sent were useless. I don't think they've ever moved anything before. Save yourself stress and don't hire these idiots.

Service cost: $219

I ordered two helpers to arrive sometime between 8 and 9.  One guy showed up at 9:15.  The other guy never came.  Myself (65 years young) and the guy that showed up loaded the truck.  Now after 3 doctors visit my back pain is somewhat relieved.  This company sucks to put it mildly. Now I'm a bit annoyed at doing this review because I have to type 350 characters just to get the text to go through.  So I will spend my time wishing everyone who reads this message in May a very very merry christmas and a happy new year 2016 so I can have enough characters to allow this to be sent.   thank you very much.

Service cost: $120

I hired this company at the suggestion of Penske to help load my Penske truck in Frisco, Texas.  I had to sign a 1-page contract, which stated that if I cancelled less than 3 hours before they were scheduled to show up, I would forfeit my deposit ($90.00).  The total amount of the contract was $236.00.  After flying back to Dallas and finding that my car would not start, I could not pick up the Penske truck and, therefore, had no truck to load.  I contacted SML right away and was told that I would have to forfeit my deposit and, "possibly," some additional fees.  These people never showed up, although the person I spoke with said that she could not reach them to cancel them.  Turns out that the additional fees were actually the remaining balance of the contract, which they promptly charged to my credit card.  I paid this company $236.00 to do absolutely nothing.
 
This company is a rip off.  I have tried twice now to resolve the issue and at least get part of the money back, but I am reminded that I signed an "agreement" which does NOT state that they would be entitled to the entire contract amount in the event that I had to cancel at the last minute.  Penske should stop referring people to this company.  I ended up having to load an entire apartment of furniture by myself the next day.

Service cost: $236

SML provided a three-man crew for loading of my Penske Rental Truck in Pittsburgh. They showed up on time but with three children in tow because it was "National Take Your Kid to Work Day". Okay for some work situations, but not cool when the three kids are in my rental truck and sliding down the ramp! They were a distraction. But, who wants to offend the help when they are about to move YOUR furniture? Letting their kids be actually on the job site was NOT professional. So much for SML touting "professional" movers.
The team leader "Jason" took time to pack our furniture to the front of the truck, and it seemed like he did a good job at the time. However, upon arrival at our destination, we discovered that our furniture had shifted quite a bit, there was wood rubbing on wood, and one blanket chest had slid off of a table and was hanging precariously. Our furniture received a lot of dings, dents, and scrapes, so I have to get some stains to repair it. The unloading labor at my destination (a different company) remarked that the furniture was not properly packed on the truck. Again, SML claims to provide "professional" labor, but it doesn't seem quite so. The team leader Jason got upset and argumentative when I made comments on his review form about the children being present and about some minor dings to furniture. Is that professional? I give them only an average rating because even though they generally seemed to be careful with the furniture, the price was twice what I paid the labor at my destination.

Service cost: $499

SML is all lies: "You'll get two professional movers; they do this for a living." They claim "professional" often, but do not deliver. They are not a moving company. They find local movers, add a surcharge, and clearly do not vet their movers in any way. My movers arrived 2 hr 40 min late reeking of heavy liquor. By the time they got there I had done nearly all of the heavy lifting (47 of 56 boxes). I sent the drunks away after 30 minutes, but SML still charged me $240 (a $50 discount). Yet, SML continued to insist that I got "professional" movers. During my wait, SML told me four times that the movers were 20 minutes away. Then, after they finally arrived, the SML dispatcher challenged my frustration by saying that they had told me that the movers were held up on another job (untrue, they said no such thing; plus, they were held up drinking, not by another move). The SML folks in TX are awful liars. Do not believe their rehearsed claims. Shame on Penske for linking to these people on their truck rental website. Zero stars. Awful company.

Service cost: $240

I was told the individuals would be "hired muscle". They weren't. They were unfit and overweight. They were unable to lift the furniture. They ended up heaving, shoving, sliding and dropping the 3 pieces of furniture I needed moved. Horrible scratches all over two of the pieces. I told them to load the dresser right side up. They ignored me and proceeded to load it in upside down. They were then unable to turn it over. After much heaving and shoving they finally got it turned over and let it crash down. At my destination my brother in law and nephew unloaded the furniture by lifting it off the truck and then carried it up two flights of stairs.

The guys then pressured me to give them a tip. I told them the booking office didn't say anything about tipping them (which it didn't). I would have tipped if they had done a decent job; but it was terrible. Finally the guy said, could I at least give them some money so they could get lunch. Against my better judgement I gave them some money. However I regret it.

Service cost: $225

Pickup in MI went fine. 2 nice fellows showed up close to starting time and did a excellent job loading my POD. Careful, no goofing off, friendly, professional.
Unload in Florida totally different. SML called and said guys were on the way at 8:10am and would call me for directions. DID NOT HAPPEN. When I called back I was told they should be there in 20-30 minutes. 3 hours later and at least 6 phone calls I was still being lied to and told they are on the way. Obviously, the excuse of my home was not on GPS was a BS story as I gave all the needed info to SML. We had multiple deliveries and tradesmen here all week that found our home, but NO, NOT SML. Poor excuse at best.
2 guys showed up at our main gate 3.5 hours later and tell us they were just call 30 minutes ago.
Very sad. All we got from SML was lies about the 'crew is on the way and will be there in 20-30minutes". FOR 3.5 hours!
SML in the end gave us a $70 discount to placate us for the huge mess they created. Nothing but lies and mis-direction.
I would rather they told me the truth, were above board with me, rather than screw me around for the whole morning.
I would recommend looking elsewhere.
I understand that moving labor the PODS people endorse are excellent as being rated by BBB and 1000's of happy customers.
Original quote of $275 for 2 men for 2 hours was discounted.
My wife and I, both Seniors, unloaded the POD ourselves to about 30% left for the SML guys to unload. LOOK ELSEWHERE!!

Service cost: $275

Very disappointed with this company. I paid for professional movers and got idiots, but was in such a bind for movers that day I had to accept them. I had professional movers
set up for the day before but my closing date for the sale of my house was moved, so I went with this company. I had no choice I had to get my belongings out of my house. Two guys showed up to my house and looked at my furniture and started complaining right away. They just threw everything on top of everything since I paid for professionals I didn't think I had to babysit it was raining and didn't think I had to stand in the rain to watch everything but I see now I should have. I explained everything I had before I booked them. I have very expensive things my bedroom set costs 16,000.00 and I have a sleep number bed and expensive furniture from Lazyboy. When I arrived at my destination in another state and the movers there started unpacking, everything I had was damaged gauges of wood was missing from my bedroom set. My sleep number bed was ripped I had nowhere to sleep until I ordered another one and it took a week to come in. It was drizzling when they packed my truck I rented 50 clothes to cover my furniture they didn't want to use them they said it's harder to pick up the furniture with the clothes on it and I paid for 4 hrs. it took them 7hrs. every piece of furniture they moved they took a 20-minute break. I filed a claim with the company, there is a clause in the contract stating they are not responsible for things damaged in the transit. That's the way they get away with not paying for damages. I'm extremely angry over this and will be seeking an attorney. I just wanted people to know think twice before booking this company you may be sorry. Believe me, you can find better help than this.

From: very sorry for ever using this company!

Service cost: $780

We were referred by a friend who used this company a month ago and couldn't be more pleased. The guys that loaded us showed up at the end of the one hour window and started working right away, they seemed a little rushed and said they had another job after ours but they weren't careless and they finished in the 3 hr window the SML phone rep said they would. We didn't use SML for the unload but really wish we did. It was really harder than we thought and after the long drive we were really tired when we arrived. Thanks again.

Service cost: $285

This was the 1st time I have ever used any kind of moving service. My son had this service 2 years ago, when he moved from Ft. Lauderdale, FL. to Plano, Texas. He was very happy with how it went, and told me about it, so I thought I would give it a try. Very glad I did. They were prompt, polite and professional, and did it all in a reasonable amount of time. I also had another crew at the other end, to un-pack the truck, who did a great job as well. I would highly recommend this service to anyone.

Service cost: $625

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