BE WARNED – DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Around Town Moving is the VERY WORST moving experience I have ever had in my life. In fact, it was the move from hell for the following reasons;
1. Dishonest time assessment
Devonte arrived at my apartment at 8:45 a.m. and spent at least a half hour assessing the furniture and boxes to be moved. He told me he would be running his clock from 8:30 a.m. He completed the dumping of the furniture and boxes at my new place before 5:00 p.m. and then told me he would be charging me until 5:30 p.m.
2. Argumentative individual
Devonte preferred to argue about every matter, rather than move the furniture. He and the other two movers would stand around while Devonte screamed about the move.
3. Inexperience movers
It was obvious that the two movers Devonte hired were not experienced. However, the one mover, Omar, did work hard and did more than his share of the move, despite his inexperience. However, inexperience means that the individuals have to be told what to do and Devonte enjoyed lecturing these individuals.
I had chosen to go with three movers rather than two with the hopes that the move would be quicker that way. It turned out that the three movers could not do what a previous two-man job had done in the past.
4. Disrespect for property
Devonte pointed out that moving my dining room table would be a problem. No other movers in the past had ever identified my table as a problem. He noted the beginnings of a crack in the one leg of my table. I asked him to be extra cautious when handling the table. But as Devonte would have it, the movers broke the leg of the table. Parts of my two sofas were badly scratched. One of my dining room chairs sustained a serious chip. Other furniture pieces were scratched due to poor handling of the property.
5. Not the right sized truck
I had told Devonte I was moving from a two-bedroomed apartment to a two-bedroomed condo.
No surprises. However, Devonte turned up with a truck that was too small such that he could not fit the contents on it in one trip. When my daughter suggested repacking it a different way he got defensive and suggested she do it. He claimed he had a 2pm appointment and was not taking his time to make more money. If that were true then he not only came unprepared, and angered me by finishing at 5pm, but he must have angered his next customer by showing up 3-4 hours late.
In fact, when we got to the condo another moving company was removing the contents of a two-bedroomed condo onto a much larger van than Devonte used. The contents on that truck were far more than my own. Devonte had decided to use a 20’ truck – no name on the truck! Wouldn’t a professional company be proud of displaying their name on the truck! So – Devonte had to make a second trip to pick up the sofas, a bicycle and lamp he could not load onto the truck in the first place. The distance between the two places is ten minutes. He took more than an hour to bring these pieces to the condo. Meanwhile, he left the one mover, Omar, to deal with some of the furniture he had unloaded to make space for the items he could not place in the truck in the first instance. My son assisted Omar in bringing the items that were left behind to the condo. The two of them had completed bringing up these items long before the truck returned from its second pick-up.
6. Settlement of the account
Devonte overcharges for the services he delivers. When I told him how unhappy I was with the move, he claimed he had done a good job. If leaving a place looking like a hurricane had hit it with the furniture dumped all over the show and having boxes clearly labelled bathroom ending up in the kitchen and items that were labelled kitchen ending up in the bedroom, etc. a good job, I do not want to see what a bad job would look like.
7. Other Facts
We told Devonte to leave before the beds had been assembled because we had had enough of his delaying tactics and nasty behavior.
If I listed all the areas of dissatisfaction experienced during this move I would end up writing a book!
My advice: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Do not make the mistake I did.
I have to refute Devonte's claim to the work he did.
1. I had no choice in the size of the truck. Devonte supposedly could not use the bigger truck because he claimed it was being used for a $3000 job. He gave me no choice as to the size of the truck that could be used.
2.. I have never ever had to pay a moving company for assessing the work they had to do. Devonte made me pay for the assessment, it was not complimentary as he claimed. It was part of the charges!!
3. Devonte claims that "All of our staff is both experienced and well trained". Devonte had a student who was only doing the job for four days before returning to school. His other staff member spent time carrying in an ironing board and generally standing around not knowing what to do! If caring about property means breaking it - think again, Devonte. I had cups, plates and glasses broken and most importantly a dining room table! There was nothing professional about this move. I believe that most of the reviews re Around Town Moving have been written by the company.
4.. You claim that I was "insistent on going ahead with the table the same way as your other furniture". That is not true, as I asked you to be especially mindful of this piece of furniture.
5. I had no choice in the matter of the two trips. It is outrageous for you to claim that I " agreed to the two trips". You screamed at me and told me that you would not alter the final bill. Please do not claim that you did! That is not honest.
I believe you have written your own glowing reports!
My advice to other would be clients stands: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Do not make the mistake I did.
