Express Movers

I called Express Movers with a small moving job mid day, mid month and mid week (typically quiet moving times). I explained that I needed an armoire moved from my main floor to my upstairs and that the stairs were tricky to manoeuvre and would require lifting it over a bannister. I was quoted $119/hour. Since the job was small and the price seemed reasonable, I asked if they would move a sofa for me as well to a condo 8 km (20 mins) away. I was told it would be an extra $99 for the truck.

When the two men arrived, they had no moving equipment whatsoever; no straps, no blankets, no moving materials.  They were nice enough, but certainly not professional movers - basically just two young guys with a truck.  I panicked when they started to slide the armoire across my stained hardwood floors, and so I provided moving sliders to use. They grabbed my painters' tape from my counter and proceeded to wrap several layers around the cabinet before I realized and before I could ask them to stop because it would pull the finish off. It was too late, however, and the finish was pulled off the armoire in numerous places.

I expressed concern about getting the cabinet up the stairs without straps but they said “let’s try”. They basically started dragging/sliding the cabinet up the carpet stairs until I expressed concern that they would take more of the finish off. I ended up having to lift one corner of the bottom end to ensure that the cabinet was lifted (as opposed to dragged) up the stairs.  Once we could rest it at the top, the men took over and in turning it around the corner, ended up scratching/gouging both the cabinet and my bannister in numerous places.  I once again had to go get the moving sliders so they wouldn't just drag it along the hardwood floor upstairs. 

They then loaded the sofa into their truck, and one other cabinet that I had asked them to move to a third location. I provided the moving blankets, straps, and bottles of water as requested by one of the men!  When we arrived at the condo and were just about to take the sofa out of the elevator (exactly 1 hour 15 minutes since they had arrived at my doorstep), I was told I needed to etransfer $650 before they would finish the job!  I couldn't believe the charge and thought that they had made a mistake since they were charging me for 4 hours. I called the owner; he told me I had to pay for travel time which he had never once mentioned when he quoted me $119/hour. I disputed the pricing based on his misrepresentation to me and the fact that it had only taken just over 1 hour, but in order to get my sofa and to release the elevator (and not forfeit my $500 security deposit with the condo management!), I had no choice but to pay him $500.  (I also rationalized that it would probably be another half hour going to the other location).  Once I paid him, he then refused to take the other cabinet, unless I paid even more money!  I refused to pay any more, and so my cabinet was unloaded from the truck and I was left to deal with the cabinet downtown on my own!

This company is incredibly unprofessional and untrustworthy, and I want to warn others not to ever use this company.