Deb in Mississauga

This is a budget moving company that charges rates well above the service level they provide. They were horrible. The moving team itself wasn't entirely bad. But the team leader, Ray, was an obnoxious man -- not just to me, but also to his team. In summary: I was one person in a small bungalow. A move that cost $700 and required half the number of men 5 years earlier cost double with Moveworks and required double the number of men and took the same amount of time. Ray was obnoxious, verbally harassing his staff in front of customers and, even worse, was unforgivably rude to me. He tried every trick in the book to dump my stuff, snatch the money, and run even though it was clear that I lived alone and would be left to do a lot of heavy lifting on my own. I felt so harassed and mistreated at the end that I paid them to make them go away, not because I was satisfied with the service. And I resented being treated badly for refusing to pay for a job that was not yet finished. The details: Let me start with the "what you can expect from us" list they leave with their quote: 1. Unless hoodies and sweats are uniforms, these movers don't have uniforms. 2. They had 2 dirty cloths that they threw down on the floor that covered maybe 15 feet. These were the "floor runners." 3. There were no "special cartons" for pictures, mirrors, and glass 4. The wardrobe cartons were broken down, ratty things. And they didn't bring enough of them. Some were missing the hanging bar. I was told repeatedly to just throw my clothing into the bottom of box (which defeats the purpose of a wardrobe box) 5. My upholstered furniture was not wrapped in plastic. Dirty moving blankets were used for everything. 6. My belongings were *not* removed from the house in an orderly fashion. They were put on the truck willy nilly (and, as a result, there was a lot of gouging and scratching of objects). I had to ask them not to put my belongings on the ground in the snow. 7. When we got to the condo, the obnoxious team leader Ray said he had a great idea -- they would just put all of the boxes in the middle of the room and I could decide later where they should go. I am a woman who lives alone ... and he wanted to dump everything and run. I had to harass them to get them to put the furniture and boxes where they belonged. 8. They disassembled several pieces of furniture. They only bothered to reassemble 1 piece. And there's more: - they started harassing me for payment the minute they stepped through the door -- yes, before they had even put anything on the truck, they asked to be paid! - they put the metal frame for the small guest bed in the snow at the side of the house... and left it there. I found it 2 days later when I returned to the house. - when I insisted on climbing into the truck to look for pieces of my belongings that might have fallen off and were left on the floor of the truck, Ray got angry, told me that I "complained too much" and then launched into a tirade in a different language. I couldn't understand the words, but it was obviously unpleasant and directed at me. The guys on the team looked embarrassed. One looked at me with pity and said under his breath "Not nice!" - The word FRAGILE means nothing to these guys. Several boxes marked FRAGILE were crushed because heavy objects were piled on top of them in the truck. And the crushed boxes contained broken items that would not have broken of they had been treated as fragile - When I pointed out some damage to my bookshelves, I was told they were “cheap IKEA furniture,” so damage was inevitable (and yet the previous movers had managed *not* to damage them) - I had to politely ask that my belongings be carried, not thrown, out of the elevator - the owner of the company who did the quote included my piano and all of the contents of the garage. When I said that I was going to have professional piano movers take care of the piano, and would not be taking most of the garage contents to a condo, he assured me that the quote was a maximum amount and would be adjusted on moving day. This did *not* happen -- even though (thank God!) I did not let this company move my piano, and very little of the contents of the garage was put on the truck - I declined the insurance when it was quoted. I declined it again on moving day. I then asked for a refund when I realized I had accidentally paid for it. I was promised a refund cheque. A month later, I still haven't received it. - they backed the truck onto the snow on the lawn, assuring me it would do no damage. It did plenty of damage that was visible when the snow melted 2 days later: there were multiple 6” deep wheel ruts that had torn up the lawn - I was told that, because I was moving in January, I would be billed a lower rate ($115) to reflect the low season. On moving day, they showed up with an invoice for the quoted amount - I was billed for a full crew for a full day … but one of the crew disappeared sometime around 4 in the afternoon - In addition to being harassed to pay for the job before it was finished, I was told to go to the bank and get them cash because they prefer to be paid in cash (wouldn't we all? I hate being asked to hand over my heavily taxed salary in cash so that other people don't have to pay tax!) - I received the pre-move letter they send to their customers … in the mail a few days *after* the move … and, believe it or not, there’s more. But I’ll stop here. Bottom line: these folks were not worth the price and the aggravation. Don’t be fooled by the fast-talking salesman. And the “this is the absolute MOST that you will pay” line is just that -- a line. To add insult to injury, I was insulted in addition to being ripped off. The next time I’m called names and verbally abused by a stranger, hopefully I won’t have to write a $1500 cheque when he’s finished badmouthing me.

Turns out "standard" delivery of a washer and dryer from Sears no longer includes installation. It just means they dump it on the floor, with no apology for showing up two hours late after I sat around waiting for them from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. as requested. When Ipourted out that, as a 5'4" woman, I could not lift the dryer and install it on top of the washer in the space-saving stacked position that had made are buy the wore expensive front loaders in the first place, it war suggested that my "husband can do it." When I said I didn't have a husband, they shrugged and told me to sign for the delivery. It wasn't until they were at the truck already that I noticed the big dent in the top of the dryer. Something very heavy had obviously been dropped on it while it was still in the box. The delivery guys had to have noticed it when they unpacked the dryer from the box, but they brought it in, dumped it, and drove away. I called the store to tell them that I needed a replacement. I was offered a $100 discount instead. When I suggested that the dryer had such a big dent that it may have been damaged, the sales rep was clearly annoyed that I was insisting on a new, undamaged machine. A few days later, a new dryer arrived. This time, at least, I got it installed on top of the washer. After the installers left, I opened it and, to my surprise, found it dirty and full of dead bugs. It had obviously not come straight from the manufacturer. Suspecting that it had been used and returned to Sears, had sat in an unsealed box in a warehouse for awhile, and then had been repackaged and sent to me as a "new" dryer, I called the store again. I was told by an annoyed salesperson that the dryers were on backorder and I would have to wait at least 10 days to get a new one. I had to do laundry, so I cleaned out the dead bugs and used the dryer. I quickly found out why a pervious customer had returned it: it would run for awhile and then stop. The only way to start it again was to open the door to reset the cycle and start over again ... and again, until the dryer finally decided that it would keep going. When the third dryer finally arrived, I was called and given a delivery time. When I came home from work a half hour before the scheduled delivery, I found the truck setting in front of the house. It turned out that they had arrived early and had been banging on the door for the past half hour, driving my dog into a barking frenzy, and driving my tenant living in my basement apartment crazy. The third dryer had all of the packing materials from the manufacturer still inside, contained no dead bugs, and had no dents. Three weeks after I ordered a new washer and dryer, and after being treated like a royal pain in the neck by the sales staff and delivery people for insisting that I get what I paid for -- a brand new dryer ... that's What I finally got.