Happy customer
Keith Curran
Submitted this review about
yourmovingday
Review made Live: 4/6/2009 10:08:00 AM
I was offered a new job near Tacoma, Washington and currently lived in New Jersey.
Okay let me start with the fact this was my very first state to state move. I was very hesitant and worried about giving all my house hold items to a total stranger, but my new company was offering a $7,000 relocation package. I started to research moving companies and relocation firms.
** PICKING THE MOVER: **
I had no idea who, when, where or how I was going to move my 4 bedroom, 2 car garage, house with a basement. I was looking for a mover on www.yourmovingday.com I had been asked a few basic questions about when, where, and how much you’d be moving. I left my email address and telephone number. Within about 5 minutes 2 different internet moving companies called me. They were willing to take an estimate of my household over the phone. They both came back with a best case/worst case cost estimate. They both insured me that the final cost was going to be based on the weight of the items we were moving. With this is in mind I made my final decision and went with america's moving services.
Yourmovingday.com is just a service that estimates the move. Once a price and moving date have been agreed upon they then contract the hauler.
My estimate came out at around 6000 lbs. The cost was going to be about $5,800 dollars. They then sent me lots of forms to read over, sign, and fax back to them.
TAKE THE TIME TO READ OVER EVERYTHING CAREFULLY.
I was reading the form about the insurance the hauler had, and was alarmed to read they only covered .60 cents on the pound. Since I was being allotted $7,000 dollars by my new company as a relocation package, I decided to add insurance onto the cost. For another $525.00 I got $45,000 dollars worth of insurance for a $0 deductible. Believe me when you’re moving your life’s possessions $525 is NOT that much.
** MY TIPS AND ADVICE BEFORE YOU PACK: **
Since I now knew the final price was going to be determined by weight and that any relocation money I had left over I could use towards closing costs on a new home my wife and I set out on a mission of purging unwanted items!!! Let me tell you, no matter if you’ve lived in your house for 5 years, or 50 years you WILL collect, store, and have crap, sorry stuff, that you end up shaking your head at, saying “why did we keep this”. We have no children, but I’ve been told it only gets worse with children.
I’ve broken my advice to you into the following things:
1. GOODWILL: My wife and I started with our clothes, and off loaded things we didn’t wear, or didn’t fit into anymore. Silly grade school artwork and jackets were all donated to goodwill along with several other bags of clothes.
2. YARD SALE: Have a yard sale. Get rid of tools and things you might now need at your new place (i.e. a snow shovel in Florida?)
3. PRE-MOVE STUFF (if possible): I my case my move was only a 4 hour drive so I was able to move a lot of things like my stereo, TV, and other delicate things on my own.
4. If you’re packing yourself, go to Wal-Mart and buy those plastic storage containers. I highly recommend them over cardboard boxes. They’re about $5 a piece but their strength and protection of your goods is unbeatable. Why pay $2 for cardboard boxes when for the extra money you get a permanent secure container.
** MOVING DAY (almost): **
Heading up to our January, 17th moving day I was called by america's moving services 2 days prior to tell me that the driver would be at my house on the 17th. I was given the drivers phone number and told they would call me the night before move to confirm their arrival time. I came down with the Flu the week before the move which wasn’t the great. The Friday before the big day,americas called to say they were running behind schedule and wanted to know if they could push it back to Sunday. Myself being so sick suggested they reschedule until the following Saturday. The driver had no problem with this and the date was pushed back to January 24th. I called america's to inform them of the date change.
** MOVING DAY (again): **
As the new weekend approached I was feeling much better, when the driver (andy) called again on Friday and said they would be here on the said date. Well 9am came and went and still no movers. I called them at 9:30am, and was told they were on their way and should be there around 10:00am. So my wife and I continued to move things closer to the front door, and in the garage. At 10:30pm they finally arrived. It was 3 guys. They started by loading all our plastic storage containers and cardboard boxes first. They packed the 26 foot truck very tight. Then they started with our larger furniture, wrapping it in either moving blankets (which they brought) or shrink/bubble wrap. My wife and I helped them when we could and try to stay out of their way when they needed us to. We have a very detailed carved 7 piece Oak Bedroom set that I was very worried about. I really wanted those pieces treated like gold, which they did. I sprung for pizza and soda half way through the load (for which they politely thanked me), and five hours later the truck was loaded. At 5:30 pm we pushed off for our new house in Washington.
** THE UNLOAD: **
My wife and I both drove ahead of the truck with car loads of goodies (and our 2 dogs). We waited for the movers. I had given them directions to our new place and they called a few times to confirm they were going the correct direction. They arrived at 11:30 pm 9 days later and started unloading our stuff immediately! We moved from a 4 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom townhouse as a temporary place until we can find a house (we got rid of a lot of stuff, see the 6 steps above). They carried ALL our bedroom stuff up to the third floor without complaining once considering the task. They maneuvered several large bedroom pieces around some tight corners extremely well. The unloaded our computer desks (some big, heavy pieces), and put them into our new office. Couches, 7 foot TV entertainment center, chairs, kitchen, and dining room sets all came off without a scratch. The boxes and extra furniture we brought was all stored in our garage. All in all they worked fast quickly and efficiently.
** THE DAMAGES: **
Okay, I really don’t think it’s possible to move without having something damaged or nicked. I mean I’m sure it’s happened, but the factors pitted against you are just enormous. Stairs, doorways, and big furniture don’t mix. Our damages were very minimal. We had an antique chair get some wood nicked off the front legs. Our refrigerator got a very small dimple mark. The stairway walls in our old house and new house received some nicks (nothing spackle couldn’t fix).
** THE “OTHER” DAMAGES (cost): **
We were quoted $5,800 dollars (that’s including the $525 for extra insurance). We came in 400 lbs over weight which only cost us $80 more. In the end it didn’t really matter because america's moving services and yourmovingday did an INCREDIBLE job!
I would recommend using www.movingcost.com to anyone!
