Hi All,
There are a lot of breathless and angry reviews about these guys and for the most part id say the people have a right to be angry. Im hoping that my experience might be helpful as well. I found these guys through an internet search and after talking to a number of companies over the phone and a couple who came out to the house Nationwide was definitely the cheapest. That’s always a red flag but we figured we’d roll the dice with them.
I feel like I beat them at their own game. Let me explain. We had a typical collection of boxes, furniture, and some electronics (tv, computers, etc) to move. I read the reviews on this site so I was armed with the knowledge that these guys were going to run a scam. During my first conversation with them I significantly over estimated the number of items they’d have to bring. I listed everything but the kitchen sink. This is important because THEY ARE COUNTING ON YOU TO FORGET THINGS!
In order to get out ahead of them I rented a uhaul trailer (only 120 bucks!) and brought down anything and everything important: breakables, glass items, and as many critical items as possible myself. Thus reducing the overall weight and alleviating any risk of getting our important things stolen or broken. What was left was our heavy furniture I couldn’t carry or move myself.
The guys seemed a little puzzled when they arrived “No tv?” , “No mirrors?” , “No glass?” of course not! Each of these items they’d have to wrap and package at an additional cost. They did hit me up for an additional 80 bucks to wrap two glass cabinets. Fine you win that one :) During the move they didn’t wrap any furniture but they did disassemble a couple of cribs and our bed, which was nice. Once everything was on their truck they tried to get my wife to sign a BLANK inventory slip, which she refused to do. They filled the inventory out then she signed. The guys where fine, they looked like two guys who needed some work and so they hump boxes and furniture full time. They very quickly made their way down to our destination (same day pick up and delivery) and did a pretty good job unloading the truck. The final price was almost exactly what the estimate was! Which I think is a victory for me!
What this all means is that there is a business case to use these guys as a consumer but it’s a narrow one. You absolutely must stay on top of things, do some leg work yourself, be very strict about what you are and are not giving to them, and know that they are going to try to run up the costs. I found these guys to be decent way to move stuff a relatively short distance (~120 miles) that id otherwise not be able to do without pulling in friends, neighbors or family members.
Bottom line: If you are looking for a full service, professional moving company look someplace else.
In the strictest sense these guys did get our stuff from point A (Delaware) to point B (Northern Virginia) very quickly and undamaged. But the organization is obviously based around low balling you on price then looking for ways to escalate the cost on moving day. I feel like if we (the consumers) banded together we could all cleverly drive these guys insane by destroying the margins on their mark up strategy. :)
