Moving from Edmonton to Ottawa
I do not recommend this moving company because of the following reasons:
1) Their first estimate is totally misleading:
After calling to several moving companies the Provincial Moving company gave me the lowest rate. They told me that for a one bedroom from Edmonton to Ottawa it is about $2100 and if we need packing, it would be flat $500. We called and gave them the details of our belongings, they increased the initial estimate and gave us electronically, it was about $3000 without packing! Gary was the guy we talked with. He told on the phone that the real cost would be the same as the estimate and the only line might change is the weight, which is 70 cents for each pound! After loading, they sent us immediately a bill more than $5000 and all of the lines were changed and they told us that this is what it is!! They deliberately give you a lower estimate but the final bill is much more than that. BE CAREFUL!
2) Not optimized packing!
We asked them just to pack our fragile dishes. They took 2 super big cartons and one of them got full! The other carton was about ¼ full and they asked for something else. They filled the rest of the carton with plastic and very light and non-fragile stuff. BUT they charged us for two big cartons! Instead of those big cartons, they could use one small and one big! These are extra charges for nothing ….
3) They lost one box:
The worst thing in moving is that you stuff is missing or damaged. Their inventory was wrong. They did not put any tag on one box when packing and they did not find another box on the day of delivery. They told that this box with no tag is the missing box! They told that you have all the boxes!! However, after unpacking the boxes, I figured out one box is missing. And after lots of follow ups, eventually, they found our box!
4) They do not reply your request emails and no sorry for their damaged or missing items:
It was very hard to follow up with them to find our missing box. When we called them, they told: “email us”. But no one was replying to the email. We had to call them again, please read our email! We had to call them several times, and they did not feel responsible or sorry for the missing box. They never apologized for that!
5) They do not care about damaged stuff:
Some of our items were damaged and I sent them their picture. They never replied us ….
- Approximate cost of services:
- $5,000.00
- Company Response
This customer seems to have misunderstood many of the things communicated. When they first called or emailed, the rate of $2100 was given in regards to the average one bedroom apartment to Ottawa. This included no tax, no packing, etc, but this figure should not even be brought up because in his own words they state after giving us a list the price became $3000 + Packing + 13% HST.
So why bring up that figure, it is not relevant to your review at all, and the fact that the $2100 figure is brought up is actually misleading. The Customer also forgot to mention that they required a month of storage as well, which added additional costs.
The customer seemed to misunderstand that adding items increases the fuel surcharge as well not just the 0.60 - 0.70 you pay per pound more. Some charges stay the same such as scaling and pickup, but others such as the fuel also increase as you add items you wish to ship. And based on the customers writing you can conclude that they were already asking/preparing to add items. The customer also went to go see the truck being scaled both times but he is not going to bring that up because that makes us transparent which would make us look good. And with any customer I try to be as transparent as possible.
The Customer also says we didn’t respond to his emails. I responded to his emails the next day. I told the driver to get a hold of him. I am not the driver, but there are other shipments on the truck that need to be delivered. I can’t say for certain that the driver was as prompt as I was. I was told by the driver the next time he was close to the Ottawa area he would make arrangements to deliver the box and he did.
The customer says we damaged items, I don’t have a copy of the customer’s inventories, and our head office in Vancouver has them. They can contact them to file a claim. But I have seen the pictures of the damage. The damage described by the client is most likely not from moving but from everyday use. But they can still contact our head office and make a claim.
I will end my response by this; we never mislead this customer or any customer in our 30 years of business. This customer was given an initial quote and then another where they saw what charges stay the same and which fluctuate, before they went ahead with us. The claim that they were misled is completely fabricated. Had the customer been upfront with what they were actually moving, and what services they needed this whole ordeal could have been avoided.One side was transparent, the other was not. One side has moved thousands of individuals over the years, and one has moved maybe a few times.