We ended up with Royal when we contracted with America's Moving Services who did not tell us that they were only an agent and would sub-contract another company.
My impression is that there were codes between the sales agent and the actual lead mover to let them know what price they really expected us to pay. They clearly undercut our estimate just to get our business. Then the lead mover who is actually from Royal Moving, worked us all day to let us know the price would go up. This was after arriving late with a too small truck for a 4 bedroom house, that was clearly rented and covered in graffiti.
I knew when he started discussing the authenticity of my designer handbag that we were in a for a snow job. It was totally inappropriate.
They finished at 10:30 at night and handed us a bill that was 160% higher than the original estimate. We eventually negotiated the price to about 30% above the original, but I still felt conned.
After all of our things were loaded on the truck, at 10:30 PM, the crew leader met with us to negotiate a new “deal” by which he would give us take it or leave it price as opposed to determining cost by having the truck weighed, as set out in America’s Moving’s contract. He blatantly told us that, if we accepted his “deal” they would expect a higher tip. The new deal was 160% higher than the original estimate. We eventually negotiated the price to about 60% above the original, but I still felt conned.
We then negotiated them down to 30% above, but the whole thing was clearly a big con.
We ordered the full pack and now we are unpacking. They did a horrible job; treating fragile items poorly and over-packing other items in order to sell us more boxes. They actually wrapped tupperware in paper while folding my daughter's artwork. Nothing is organized. Things were just thrown hap hazardly into boxes. Nothing is marked. They didn't even manage to keep things from the same room in one box. Unpacking, I feel my anger rise every day.
Here is one trick I learned. They charge you by weight and the number of boxes you use. if they undercut the estimate, they charge you .60 cents per pound for overage that would have been .30 cents had they given me a higher estimate. So the trick is to go with a high estimate and come in under that number rather than have overage. In all, I learned a lot. The biggest lesson learned though, is don't use America's Moving Services or Royal Relocation.
