I hope you're sitting and comfortable. This one will take a while. I want to tell you the story of what actually happened the day we received our belongings. But first, let's begin with the biggest issue.
We received estimates from several moving companies. Freedom was not the cheapest, but they were not too much higher in price than some of the others. They'd been a little more responsive than a few of the other companies, so we decided to choose them.
We gave them a VERY detailed list of our possessions. I'm organized to a fault (some might even say OCD), and my girlfriend plans everything we do as if her life depends on it. You have no idea. We gave them a specific list of EVERYTHING we own, including dimensions when appropriate. We also gave them an estimated number of boxes we thought we'd end up having.in the end we actually ended up with a lot fewer than we guessed. We were told that we needed to have a FINAL box count two days before the movers arrived to pick up our stuff? Which we did. Again, I'd be willing to bet that they've never gotten such a detailed and thorough list. This is what our final estimate was based on. The movers arrived and loaded the truck, and at that point all was going well. Until he told us the actual price of the move. Based on the ACTUAL square footage (now that it was on the truck), it was going to be $1300 DOLLARS OVER THE ESTIMATE.
We're not stupid people. We know that an estimate is just that? An estimate. We were prepared for some fluctuation between it and the actual price. But $1300? After we gave them such an accurate and detailed list? Clearly something is wrong with their estimation process if they can be off by that much. Either that or they just lure you in with a low estimate and sock it to you once your stuff is on the truck. That's my theory, because at that point your only option is to tell them to take it back off - and most people don't have the time or resources to change moving companies at that point. They got ya! They definitely got us. Basically in that moment, our moving budget was shot to shreds. We haven't completely recovered yet.
Now, for the day our stuff arrived. We were told it would be delivered anywhere from 2-14 days from the day we were available to receive it. Turns out it's 14 BUSINESS days - which really gives them about 3 actual weeks. They used every bit of it. For 3 weeks we ate take out, sat on two lawn chairs, washed our few changes of clothes over and over (good thing our washer and dryer came with our apartment and wasn't on the truck), and slept on an air mattress. During the course of the three weeks, they gave us several potential delivery dates, thusly getting our hopes up each time, only to push it back each time.
The movers FINALLY called us about 10:30 A.M. Last Sunday morning saying they were on the way. The driver, Daryl, said they were about 36 miles out, and would arrive in about an hour. It didn't seem to me like it should take an hour to drive 36 miles, but he's the professional. And he probably wanted to eat lunch before arriving. Fair enough.
Well... An hour passed. And then another hour passed. And then another hour passed after that. Finally, they called and said they were "running late" (no kidding?), and would arrive in about 30 minutes. He gave us the intersection they were at, and it was about 8 blocks northeast of us. So the allotted 30 minutes passed. And then an hour. And then another hour. Finally he called again and said they ran into a little problem (literally).
On the way to our place, they got the truck stuck under an overpass. Just ran right up under a bridge and lodged the truck in good and tight. He further explained that to try and get out, he was going to let the air out of the tires and see if that lowered the truck enough to back up. Once they did that, they'd have to drive to a service station and put air back in the tires. But after that they'd be right over! And then an hour passed. And another one.
Then we got the next call. The truck died in a busy intersection - about 6 blocks southwest of us. How the did they get there? They had to drive right past us and keep going a few blocks to do it. Were they just driving all over Chicago looking for mishaps to fall into? Then he asked if we could drive to his location and jump off his truck. We're paying how much for this professional service? So we got in the car (good thing we have one, many Chicago residents don't) and met up with them. I had to drive AGAINST TRAFFIC to pull the front of the car up to the truck. After what seemed like an eternity, the truck finally started.
We extracted ourselves from the intersection, and I let them follow me back to the apartment. I drove REALLY slow to make sure they didn't somehow lose us and drive 3 miles in the wrong direction to have a head-on collision with the Sears Tower or something.
They finally got to the apartment, and there was much rejoicing.By this time it was about 6:30 P.M., and we still didn't have a single item unloaded. Then the haggling began.
Let me give a little background. This was my third out-of-state move. I've also had several other run-ins with professional movers. I know how they work. Being smart, we told the company about the apartment setup in advance. They always try to hose you with additional, on-the-spot charges for things like stairs, or a "long walk" if you're more than 50 feet from the curb, or things like that. To avoid those hassles, we were very clear with the moving company during the estimate process. We told them we didn't want ANY surprise charges when our stuff arrived. We went ahead and paid the stairs and long walk fees up front. We asked if there were ANY other possible charges that could be added when they arrived, and were assured there were none.
Fast forward to the delivery. Daryl tells us we're going to have to pay an additional fee for stairs and for the long walk. Ummmmm... No?!? We explained to him that we paid it up front, and even showed him the contract from his company detailing those fees in our advance estimate. He then explained to us that he has nothing to do with any of that, and those fees need to be paid directly to him - because he is the one actually doing the work. Our response to him was "then you need to get the money from your company, because we already paid it to them. And it's not OUR fault that they didn't pay it to you - or however it is they get that money into your hands." Then it turned into an argument back and forth about how we were screwing him and his partner by not paying them, and they were screwing us by trying to charge us the same exorbitant fees twice.
The only thing I can figure is Daryl viewed himself as an independent contractor working for the moving company, and we were viewing him as a part of the company. That's where the discussion broke down as best I can tell. Given his view, I can understand why he felt we needed to pay him. But given ours, there was no way we were going to. We reached an impasse. He was not going to unload the truck until we paid him and we had no intentions of paying anyone another dime.
We ended up calling his manager, Johnny, at home.By this time it was about 7:00 P.M. We explained the situation to him, and he said we needed to pay the fees. This is how they operate. They hold your stuff for so long that by the time they finally deliver it, you're so desperate you'll pay anything to get it off the truck. But we'd already paid these fees!
In the end, we agreed to pay half to get the stuff unloaded. Daryl acted like we'd just held him at gunpoint, but I know we were the ones that were really getting robbed - at least by the actual moving company. And this after our move cost $1300 more than expected.
But anyway, they finally started unloading the truck between 7:00 and 7:30 P.M. Out comes the first box and! It's not ours. Three weeks of waiting followed by this ordeal today, only to get someone else's stuff? I was about to cry. Fortunately, it was just a fluke, and the rest of the boxes on the truck belonged to us.
Among the deceased was a kitchen chair with a leg completely broken off and a six-legged dresser that arrived with only three legs still attached. Also MIA is a very pricey painting that was carefully, expensively, and painstakingly packed to avoid damage. It was a very large painting, and easily the largest actual box we had - so it only makes sense that it's the one they lost.
That's it. But that's enough. My girlfriend talked to Johnny the next day to ask about the broken and missing items, and he said to give him a couple days and he'd call back. She gave him a week and then called back today. Turns out he's no longer with the company. We were given no explanation. You read the story, and you can be the judge. Is this a company you want to trust with everything you own?
Steve
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.
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