On July 8, I moved from my one-bedroom bungalow to a two-bedroom house literally across the street. I hired A Nice Jewish Boy Moving Company (aka Father & Sons Moving & Storage) to make this move.
I felt I was taken advantage of, in that the move (which was from a one-bedroom residence, across the street, to a two-bedroom residence) took two men *over 11 hours* to accomplish.in that there is no incentive for these men to move quickly (since they get paid by the hour), they were slow and seemingly unconcerned with the amount of time going by.
In addition, I was told by the owner during our intitial conversation discussing the pending move that I was to have three men, two of whom were named Jose and Miguel. The reason those men were selected — I was told — was that they were familiar with doing office moves, and I have a home office with a good deal of electronic equipment. I reiterated my concerns about the equipment several times during the initial conversation, since, in my opinion, that would be the greatest challenge.
Not only did Jose and Miguel not show up at my door, I was sent two men instead of three. When I spoke to the dispatcher of the company the morning of the 8th, he indicated that "several people had called in sick."
The two men had a limited command of English and, consequently, were unable to explain the contract to me. I had to call the office and speak to the dispatcher Tony (note that I made the call, not the men) and ask for clarification.in addition, repeatedly throughout the day, the men would not understand (or choose to ignore) requests that I made. For example, there were several items outside the house that were to be moved, with the exception of the lawnmower that was placed against the house. I said, no less than four times, "everything except the lawnmower." Once they began to unpack the second truckload (more on that in a minute), one of the first items they took off the truck — in the new location — was the lawnmower. This meant extra time while they took something BACK across the street.
That was not the only example of time being wasted. They couldn't pack a truck to save their lives (yes, they used a truck to move across the street). I watched them move objects from one end of the truck to the other several times, trying to figure out how to fit everything into the truck. They were inable to handle the electronic equipment (they were TOTALLY confused by it, although I will say they were careful in handling it), they didn't know how to put a room air conditioner in a window (I had to instruct them), they couldn't remove a door (to help with getting things into a room; I had to do it myself), they couldn't get my office desk into my office (they left it in the living room), and they couldn't get a small make-up table into my bedroom (I had to do it myself).
I supplied them with stretch wrap (plenty of it) and tape. I requested that the furniture be stretch-wrapped (which you and I had discussed ahead of time). While they did stretch-wrap several pieces, there were also several pieces on which they used tape. One armoire — with dark wood — had tape instead of stretch-wrap around it and when I removed the tape, the varnish came off in a wide strip. Another armoire had the doors tied closed (instead of stretch-wrapped); they tied it so tightly, it split the wood of the door.
All in all, this move was one of the worst experiences I've ever had. From the beginning, when I was led to believe that my requests would be met, to the end when I had to pay for 11 hours when the job should have taken — at most — six hours (and that's being conservative), I have felt totally taken advantage of.
Julia
Burbank, California
U.S.A.
0 comments