Flat Rate Moving And Storage No Longer In Business

Flate Rate Movers were good guys to have. I appreciated their professional attitude. It was obvious they cared about doing a good job. Fair prices and definitely eased up the actual moving portion of my move.

A Good Tip: be sure to tell them exactly what they'll be moving (overestimate if you're estimating)
matan

This is the email quote I received from the company:

"I've discussed this with our management team and we can provide you a flat rate quote for two men and one truck including mileage and fuel fees as well as complementary furniture padding for items on the truck as well as a wardrobe box for $305. This price is a flat rate and includes all the services that are mentioned above. Please keep in mind that many companies do not mention many hidden fees until the day of the move. Please keep in mind that there are no hidden fees associated with the price that I have quoted you in this email."

After this email, I still spoke to Mariam on the phone to confirm that there would be no hidden charges or costs associated with the move and the quoted price is what I will pay, and she kept convincing me that this is the final price with no hidden charges. Guess what happened on the day of the move?

They told me to book the elevators from 9-12 at the first location and 9-1 at the second, even though I told them it would be a tight schedule, but they probably wanted to fit in another move after so I went with their suggestion, and they showed up 40 mins late, with only two hours remaining in the elevator booking, they started moving and finished at 12:20 and I only had 40 mins left with the second elevator, and they finally arrived at the new place at 12:50pm, thank god no one had the elevator booked after so it worked out.

They moved everything into the truck, charged me extra for the furniture padding, charged me another $250 labour for PUTTING the furniture padding on the furniture, and with all the hidden costs for tape used, carton used, the total went from $305 to $1,040. After calling Mariam and asking her about the hidden charges, she tried to deny any conversation stating there are no hidden fees, and kept saying only the labour was covered with the $305 quote, but that is not the understanding I get with the email above.

I would highly recommend people to NOT use their services as you will get surprise charges and there are tons of hidden costs, including 1.25/foot of walking from the elevator to your door, using tapes, no info about labour costs as they just make up an amount to charge you what ever they want.

Scenario: I received a quote based on industry standards for a two bedroom apartment with one occupant. I had everything packed and labeled into twenty-five 27x14x12 inch plastic boxes.

There were only 3 cardboard boxes that needed to be assembled. The TV, stand and queen sized-bed needed to be wrapped up. The couches had to be covered before moving. I had discussed all of the items with the transition consultant so nothing would be a surprise and the estimate would be accurate.

I was provided with an estimate based on industry standards for a two bedroom apartment and quoted around $600. The elevators were booked in both locations from 9-12 and 1-3 respectively given that the move should take around 6-7 hours. I noticed these timelines were emphatically stated by on the instructions provided to the movers.

What happened?:
The movers showed up on time which was great.
Somehow the process of just moving boxes and wrapping the previously mentioned items spilled over past the initial noon hour deadline. There were no apologies and I wasn’t even provided with a warning that our elevator bookings might be in jeopardy. I tried to call both security desks and see if there were other timeslots available during the day. I was very fortunate and lucky that nobody had the next timeslots or we would have been in serious trouble.

The movers took their time getting to the downtown condo. I was concerned because I’d called ahead to take the next time slot from 3-5pm and it became clear unloading in an hour was going to be impossible. I had to call two friends to help me unload . At this point, I was given an unbelievable shock. The new price was not $600 but had more than doubled to $1500?!! Keep in mind the movers were way behind schedule. They refused to unload the truck until I agreed to sign the paperwork and pay the difference. I had to quickly run to the bank and try to scrape together the extra cash because obviously I wanted my things off that truck asap. It didn't feel right at all, even the teller at RBC was shocked that my quote from a company called FLAT RATE moving had ballooned so severely.

Outcome:
1) My friends and I ended up moving a majority of my items.
2) My couch and mirror were damaged.
3) The movers left a lot of boxes in the hallway and took off in such a rush they left their own packing materials behind. A security guard chipped in to help us clear the hallway.
4) The move took 12 hours from start of finish...inxcusable for two bedroom condo move from North York to downtown.
5) We took photos of all the issues including the ones my neighbours took of us moving OUR OWN boxes up and down the elevators, and sent a complaint hoping to get some of that money back....no response.
6) The final bill was over $1500.
7) One mover was very rude the entire time.

Be careful with this company.

I called the company and they sent an estimator and they quoted me for 20cent/lbl. The overall cost was ~$1500 I explained to the agents that I want 30 days storage and he confirmed that the storage is free of charge.
As a sign on mismanagement, on the day of moving the movers forgot to bring the stickers, the movers even got me to sign an empty work order insuring me that all is fine!
After the final quote was sent to me it was $2500 (more than 60%)! The quote was filled with hidden fees like fee for wrapping each blankets + storage fee they even billed me for the tapes the movers used.
I would not trust this company at all. Save your self a headache and go with a company your friends had good experience with.

I called the rep for Flat Rate Moving after finding their listing & he simply asked when I was looking to move, from where to where, and what needed to be moved...gave me a very reasonable estimate and we were all set.

This being my first move within the city, I was very nervous. The movers arrived right on time. I simply showed them what needed to be moved and they took care of everything! They were definitely experienced and knew how to take care of everything...including dis-assembly of an bed in approximately 2 minutes. Another thing to note, is we had a couple more boxes than we estimated and they did not increase the cost of our move at all. We also had a lot of stuff, and the move took about 6 hours.

Once at my new apartment, they loaded everything in and built the bed again in about 30 minutes! It was quite impressive to see how well they worked. Also, the gentlemen were extremely pleasant and nice to be around!

I would HIGHLY recommend these guys. They followed through exactly with what was promised, highly professional, and a true pleasure!

Honestly the best mover I've ever encountered. Flat Rate was the most reliable moving company I have ever worked with.
I called the rep and listed off the larger items so he could give me an estimate (which was extremely fair might I add!)

John dropped off the plastic bins 3 days early for us to pack our items into. The larger items he said to leave as they were and he and his team would wrap them.
When he arrived he introduced me to everyone on his team and it made everything feel very personal. I felt they wanted to take care of my things and would be careful in packing and loading them.

We had a problem with the building manager and John was calm and dealt with everything so professionally. He calmly dealt with the rude building managers and made EVERYTHING easy. I recommend John to anyone who is moving and needs a good friendly hand!

He is the kind of guy you want to invite to dinner with your family.

I have no stress about moving again because I know John will have my back.

I am so thankful for Flat Rate moving. . I somehow miraculously stumbled upon Flat Rate moving so i called to find out more. It was a friday night around 8pm the night before my move and i didn't think i would have much luck. To my surprise, a very friendly woman answered and gave me a quote. After i explained to her the stress i was going through she assured me that they were a professional family run business that had over 10 years of experience. . Most importantly: the truck they put your stuff on is the same truck you will see when they drop off your stuff. She was absolutely 100% correct. She arranged for my things to be picked up the next day. I have an entire 1 bedroom apartment's worth of furniture and it all arrived in NYC (my new destination) just fine. They were on time, careful, friendly, and kept me posted as to when my stuff would arrive. I was flabbergasted at how smoothly everything went and for such a reasonable price.

I've never really had to move myself before, so when I leased an apartment and had to move my bedroom stuff out of my parents' house, I was pretty nervous. These guys seemed professional and they quoted me a decent price, so I went ahead and scheduled them for a Friday morning.
The three of them showed up right on schedule and had smiles on their faces the whole time. They put quilts down on the hardwood floor, "So we don't mess up your beautiful house."
Granted, I only had one bedroom's worth of furniture to move--a queen size bed, dresser, desk, bookshelf, nightstand, and office chair; I'm not sure how it would have gone if I'd have to move a whole apartment or house. But for the few items of they did move, they were simply amazing. They were super fast and yet very careful with my stuff. They wrapped everything in plastic and then in quilts, so nothing was damaged or scratched.
The best part was, they got to my house at 8 AM to pack everything up, and left my apartment at 10 AM having finished the whole job. They disassembled everything themselves and then reassembled it all on the other end, in one hour. They do charge for a minimum of two hours, but I really didn't mind paying for the extra hour because it was such a hassle-free process. Also note that paying in cash is better because they charge a small fee for credit card payments.
Hopefully I don't have to go through the moving process again anytime soon, but if and when I do, I will be using Flat Rate Moving.