Relocation Horror Story

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I am in the process of moving from Seabrook (Houston) to San Clemente, CA and the movers have made this a nightmare so far.

They were supposed to be here on Monday morning the 17th to pack our belongings and load their truck. They were supposed to move out on Tuesday morning the 18th so they could make the drive from Houston to South Orange County, CA in 3 days. I arranged for that so our time spent in a hotel with our 2 small children would be minimized since we close on the sale of our home on Thursday morning the 20th and fly out right after. Well, Monday morning comes and goes with no word from anyone. I call dispatch and they say they will have someone call me in 20 minutes. Nope. I call back each hour only to be told I would get a call back in 10 or 15 minutes. Nope. Finally I get ahold of someone who informs me Monday night that the packers wouldn't be able to make it Monday. Really. Ya think? So they will be there first thing Tuesday morning, the 18th. Well, Tuesday morning comes and goes and I find out they are not going to be able to make it until about noon. Nope. They arrive at 3:50 PM to start packing at the time they should have had our **** well past Ozona. Now I've unnecessarily paid for a night in a hotel and a day's car rental since we could have held off on the vehicle transport for a day.

Well, they worked until about 10:30pm Tuesday night and said they will be leaving and will be back first thing in the morning on Wednesday (today). Nope. 10 AM comes and goes. Noon comes and goes. I call dispatch, they will have someone call me back in 10 or 15 minutes. Nope. Noon comes and goes. Then, at 1:30 I hear the truck backing into the driveway. I open the garage so they can load the truck. I go inside because they rang the doorbell. I open the door and they start the truck and take off like a bat out of hell. They don't return until 2:45 PM.

Here it is the afternoon of the 19th and they haven't loaded item one into their truck. It is very likely they will not be finished until around midnight tonight. We sign our closing papers on this house tomorrow morning. Worst case, they should be in Tucson by now, but no, they are still here in Houston ******* around with my **** because these ************* cannot agree upon a time and stick with it. At this rate, I will be lucky if I receive my **** by next Tuesday.

Why did I bother going through all the trouble to logically arrange the logistics of this move only to have these imbeciles keep to their own schedule which is pretty much nowhere close to the schedule I need?

Can anyone give me a reason why I should be empathetic toward them? If they told me a time, shouldn't they have arrived when they said they would or am I out of line?

Now, mind you that this is only half of the job. I really hope there isn't more to come of this story on the other side with this move, but nothing at this point surprises me anymore.
 
as for a serious reply, other than screaming at dispatch (which will only accomplish you having every breakable item in your inventory be broken), you really have no choice.

They know they have you by the short and curlies and you dont have enough time to switch to a different company for any sort of reasonable price.

if the main office is close by, I would strongly recommend you drive over there, get the general manager to the counter- and SOFTLY explain the situation and that due to the 3 day delays, the movers MUST be at your house by 5am tomorrow morning to get the rest of the stuff they cant pick up tonight.

I would get his/ her promise that the movers are showing up and I would even finagle getting his/her's personal cell phone number so you can call them in the morning if the movers dont show up - the manager isnt going to put up with a 5am call without chewing some tail
 
I would feel sorry for you but I've moved to and from Alaska where it takes 4-6 weeks for your **** to arrive. So, I only feel a little sorry for you.


wink.gif
 
**** them. you should document it, charge it, and dispute the charges*.

*i'm not a lawyer.

also, didn't you just build a kickass bar in your backyard and are essentially self-emplyed? why the sudden move?
 
after typing that i realized just how creepy it is that you learn a lot of personal **** about people on a message board.
 
Moving sucks enough on it's own. You sure as hell don't need Mo, Larry and Curly Moveco to make it more stressful.

I'm no attorney either but it seems you could at least get documentation from the hotel and rental car company and back that out of the total.

Another thing you can do is not tip them after they're done. I believe tipping movers is almost like tipping waiters these days...expected. Maybe that's not true but everyone I know tips them. Hell, I tipped our last movers and then drove to the store to buy them a case of beer when they finished. But they were damned good; curtious, prompt and not a scratch on anything.
 
Ever see Moving with Richard Pryor?
That is pretty much how I view all movers. They don't care at all. They are on their schedule.
 
Take a Delorean. Add and flux capacitor and a Mr. Fusion Home Energy Source. Set it for 03/01/08, and give yourself the following advice before finalizing the moving plan:

"Hey, me! Make sure the moving contract spells out incentives for getting finished on time and penalties for otherwise."
 
I'm not a lawyer by any stretch of the imagination, but why can't you go with another company, bite the costs, then sue the original company in a small claims court for the difference? From what I understand, you HAVE to be moved out soon, and they have proved to be unreliable and did not deliver on their promised deadlines. Was there no contract indicating any timelines? Someone else might want to chime in on what other evidence you would need to make your case, but I would pursue changing companies in a HEARTBEAT if suing were an option.
 
****, I thought 100 dollars each was sort of a lot. Depends I guess. Some people don't tip, likely because they don't know.

I have a friend that's a mover, but I don't think he does out of town moves.
 
Hopefully you haven't paid them anything. If so, hopefully it isn't anywhere close to the full amount. First of all absolutely zero tip whatsoever. If they ask for it tell them a tip is earned and shouldn't be expected no matter what field they work in. Then tell them the reasons they didn't earn a tip and if you wanted to handle it the way you handle your business they would actually owe you money. Then I would do one of 2 things. Option 1: figure out their daily rate and multiply that by however many days late they are and subtract that from the price they quoted you. Option 2: figure out your daily (or hourly rate) and multiply that by the time they have set you back (phone calls, waiting at the house for them to show up, staying up late while they pack, etc) and subtract that from the price they quoted you. Then I would subtract your extra expenses (extra hotel nights, extra car rental, eating out since I'm guess you aren't able to cook at home, etc) to get the total you are willing to pay them. After they get all of your stuff unpacked safely in your house I would write them a check for the amount you come up with after subtracting everything and let them know they won't be receiving a tip. I would then tell them they have exactly 1 minute to get the hell off your property before you call the cops and have them arrested for trespassing and slam the door in their face. Of course this is just the way I would handle it.
 
I have a very similar story when we relocated to Dallas two years ago. I was thinking I am finally growned up now that a company wanted to hire me and actually pay for the relocation.

I didn't feel so special once the move began. Like I said, very similar to your story. We "fired" the first movers because the were scratching the floors and furniture. We then "fired" the movers at our new home when they failed to show up after two days. We ended up just finding our own movers and charged it to the relocation company.
 
When we moved from Houston to Tuscaloosa, the driver of the truck showed up a day before they were supposed to load so he could evaluate how long it would take them to pack. He looked around and asked if it would be okay if he started to load by himself. That ONE guy ended up loading the entire house load of stuff (piano and all) all by himself! When the guys showed up the next morning to load, there was nothing for them to do so they went home. On top of that, the truck driver was waiting at our new house and ready to unload when we pulled up. Nothing scratched, nothing broken.
When we move from here you can bet I am calling that same company.
 
I am sure that driver had all of his hours of service logs in order too. Something tells me your mover/driver was on something. Or maybe he is just awesome.
 
I have one very important word for you :

INSURANCE

Be sure to double up on your insurance. I bet these guys will break SOMETHING you value on the way, if not NUMEROUS items.... I have my fingers crossed for you....
brickwall.gif
 
Alright, it is Monday, 3/24, and they rolled up at 1:00pm to start unloading. Right away, we have a night stand we don't recognize and it's full of condoms. WTF?
 
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