When Peter arrived at my home in February, a solid six weeks in advance of my move, I happily contracted with him, giving him an $800 deposit, because he seemed professional, experienced and, most important to me, a premium mover with knowledge of the sort of antiques I own.
I have undergone three inter-city corporate moves in the past and know pretty much how it goes. Things happen, no matter how careful the movers.
Still, although I was only moving a very very short distance (1.5k!, it was going to be a very traumatic change for me, a big downsize from a five bedroom house to a three bedroom condo, and he seemed to be sympathetic to my cares and concerns.
And so I signed a contract for a five day move: two days of packing, one day of loading the truck, one day of unloading, and one day of unpacking. That is what he wrote down, in his own hand, on the contract with a an estimate of $4800 "more or less."
He did tell me several times that he had no idea how I would fit everything in my condo, but I assured him I had planned this well in advance. (Indeed, today, as I write this, almost everything is in its new place and there's ample storage to spare.) At no time did he ask to see my new place to survey the situation.
Which should have been my first clue.
Exactly one day after I signed the contract with him, my contractor doing the renos in the condo told me that I had to postpone my move by a week because the work would not be finished. I called Peter and told him that I would like to postpone the deal by one week and he informed that there would be no problem.
A few days before the move he arrived with his head mover, Jack, an experienced and polite professional and went over my possessions deciding how many boxes and rented bins would be required. I felt confident that I had chosen the right company.
The day before my planned move, Peter and I had a lengthy and very reassuring chat on the phone.
When he and the three man crew showed up on Monday, I started to sense that Peter was not as much on top of the situation as he should have been. Perhaps his mobility was an issue in my three-floor (plus basement) house. He was also constantly stepping out to have a cigarette.
Still the crew, including Jack, was polite and seemingly professional. I remained calm and in the kitchen, feeling I could leave them to their job while encouraging them to call me if they had questions. I even, at Peter's urging, bought them all (including Peter) lunch for three days running. This added to the cost of the move which also included gratuities (total $250).
It was only on wednesday, after my stuff was mostly in the truck, when **TO MY CONSIDERABLE SHOCK** I was informed by Peter that the contracted-for fifth day, the one for unpacking (and subsequent removal of bubble wrap, boxes etc.) was not to be. His claim? That I had agreed to only a four day deal (with no reduction in the estimated cost) when I had asked him to bump the move later by one week.
This was absolutely not the case. As I explain above. three corporate moves have taught me that I need that fifth day.
And so, by the Thursday night, when the crew left at 8 p.m., I was left with disassembled furniture and lamps, some 50 packed bins stacked high in my living room and dining room, sofas on their sides, plus a good chunk of my possessions (including antique silver and valuable art) in the condo building's moving room on the ground floor and a very nonchalant, that's-the-way-the-moving-cookie-crumbles attitude from Peter who blamed the size of my condo for the problem. He then had the effrontery to say we ran over the cost of the estimate by hundreds of dollars and demand payment for that. (At some point he actually videotaped all the stacked bins and boxes for some unexplained reason.)
Unpacking all this by myself was a nightmarish impossibility. And so I racked up more costs. For example, I had to hire a junk removal company ($700) to take away all the packing material. I also hired a declutter expert to help me unpack and put things away. ($400 and counting.) I did manage to privately hire Jack to come to my house to put my furniture together and move some stuff around. More expense.
Even Jack was appalled by some of the packing we discovered, including the stacking of antique china plates with no cushioning between them. Computer equipment was thrown in a garbage bag with a dog bed and an open bottle of hand lotion. Many things were mixed up with others. And there are some things I have yet to find.
The upside? My antique furniture survived. Nothing major was damaged. There were no significant chips in my new paint job. At least that worked out.
The fact that I am now sitting here in my new condo at my rebuilt desk at my re-set-up computer (another hire after paying one of Peter's workers $50 extra to set me up) with most things in their place a week later is a miracle.
A frustrating and expensive miracle.
I recognize that things go wrong with moves. I have moved often enough to know that. But I believe I paid top dollar to minimize the pain and frustration -- only to feel angry and exhausted. I do not believe I received the service I paid for.
