Oh, so very many things went wonky with this move.
First I sprained my left wrist while packing, so I was not as much help with the lifting as I’d hoped to me (the brace I was in meant I could only grip with my fingertips–not so great with the heavy boxes was I). Still, I ended up carting things out to the moving truck while the hired guys (all 3 of them) loped around and took copious smoke and cell-phone breaks.
Then there was the issue about the credit card payment. I reserved the truck with the card, as that was the stated preference according to their website, and then I was told, once the movers got to me (and after Todd had already signed for it so they could start loading his stuff up) that there was an extra fee for paying with a credit card! Not only had they NOT informed me of this when I made the reservation and confirmed I would be paying with said card, it violates standard Visa/MC merchant agreements to charge a percentage-based fee when credit cards are a normal form of payment accepted by a business. (Never try this on someone who actually READ the booklet that came with her office’s merchant account.)
Her: “Oh, well, it’s actually a cash discount, the guy just said it wrong.”
Me: “Well, then, why does your form here list the fee as an additional line item to be ADDED, not subtracted?”
Her: “It’s the same thing.”
Me: “No, it’s not, and I’d be curious to know what your merchant services provider would think of this.”
Her: “We’ll take that charge off, ma’am.”
That’s what I thought.
There were other money things, too. Like the mattress bags–they charged me for 2, when they only used one. They also failed to wrap the sofas (because they ran out of the big rolls of industrial Saran-Wrap), but tried to charge me for that, too. When I informed the office lady of these things (always read EVERY line of the bill, folks), she was pissed and threatened to fire her guys for being so careless.
Now, I don’t know how I feel about that part of it–after all, do you really want to be responsible for the firing of up to 3 guys and they know where you live?!
Anyway, I also had to file a claim based on the broken coat rack, a tote that was crunched from being improperly stacked, and our television set that decided to go wonky once it was hooked up after the move. Unfortunately they refused to cop to the last one, since there was no visible dent, even though a quick Google shows me that shaking of a set can jostle loose certain connections. At that point I was tired of dealing with them and let it slide–the set was still watchable, just went color-wonky on a regular basis.
End result? We decided movers were not worth the money. Maybe some companies are more conscientious that this one, but I don’t think we’ll be taking that chance again.