I was nervous picking out a moving company for my long distant move from the Lower Mainland to Victoria. In the end I selected Cloverdale Moving. Initially I was hesitant after booking them as when I had questions, I didn't get a call back promptly for a business. Their machine always picked up and Selma would eventually call back or I'd have to call again the next day.
This move was quoted by weight, not time. I was quoted for an average one bedroom apartment. I knew I didn't have an average one bedroom apartment and told them this, but still nobody made a visit to do a more accurate quote.
August 1, 2017 on my moving day, Angelo and his partner arrived on schedule which was great. Both guys were very nice and friendly. It alarmed me that a very large piece of furniture would be moved out on a dolly by one guy. Even smaller items like my coffee table was placed upside down on a dolly with several other items stacked all over it and then wheeled out by one guy. Although this may seem very efficient, I realized at the time that because time is not being billed, they moved extremely quickly, which was very rough on all my belongings. My entire very large one bedroom was loaded up in less than an hour. I was stunned.
My entire life belongings were now in their care until August 3rd, sitting on their truck with the possibility that everything would be moved off that truck into a locker if that truck was needed for another move. The truck was weighed at a weigh station after they loaded it. The price came in at almost twice the average one bedroom apartment. Surprise surprise. I expected it would happen, but not that much. I was told I could pay with my Visa, then upon arriving to load my stuff, was told I had to pay cash. This was over a $2,000 move. I called the next day to quote my email and they relented and allowed the visa.
Angelo, his wife and young son showed up on August 3rd to unload my belongings. His partner was not available that day which really surprised me. I didn't think I paid to have a young boy unload my stuff. He was a very nice boy and very helpful. Angelo's wife was strong and very nice too. Great family. The first thing I noticed was my mattress and box spring were now strapped to the tailgate of the truck instead of being inside as they were when the truck left Burnaby. The biggest problem was that the mattress was on the outside of the box spring with a tie down strap digging into the middle of the mattress, so it was hanging over the strap causing the mattress be damaged. My bed was fairly new, so this upset me. There was some obvious juggling around to accommodate another persons belongings in the same truck.
After Angelo and his family left, my partner and I unwrapped things. The mattress definitely suffered, most wood furniture items had small scrapes and scratches and my brand new $4,000 leather sofa was damaged in a very small but critical area on the arm. The sofa was wrapped by a friend of mine with 4 moving blankets and then completely shrink wrapped. He does this for a living and did an awesome job on it.
I called Angelo to let him know about the damage to my sofa. He said it probably wasn't packed properly, so that would be the cause of the damage. The area of damage was covered by a blanket and now ripped shrink wrap. It was very apparent it had been dragged/dropped on the ground. The damage was like a carpet burn that scuffed the leather and tore 2 stitches on the arm. Making a claim was not an option as the deductible was ridiculously high. I hired a leather repair person to fix the broken stitches and Angelo did pay for that.
All in all even though the guys were nice, the cost was double the estimated price and they damaged so many items. Aside from the bed and sofa, most were small scuffs and dents.
I would not use this company again. I just moved again yesterday and used another company and had a much better experience.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $2,026.22
- Company Response
Hello Sandra W.
I wasn't aware that you had a problem with the move since we haven't heard from you since your moving date which was over 6 months ago. We appreciate and respect all feedback but we don't appreciate when we are left in the dark and nothing is brought up to our attention right away.
You first stated you had an issues with "getting your questions answered" I did response and answer any question you had via email or telephone. If I wasn't in the office or you called outside of office hours, I got back to you in a timely manner. When I originally emailed you the quote back in June 28, 2017 you did state you had a one bedroom but didn't know how much your items weighed, but you never stated you had more than what we quoted. I emailed you back the same date and stated "If you weight goes go over the quoted 2000 lbs then there will be an additional cost" and I also provided you a quote for 3500 lbs when you emailed me back you did mention you were at work so it was hard to get a hold of you and that's why I emailed you that way it was easy for you to get back to me instead of me always leaving you voicemails. That same day (June 28, 2017) we reserved your move and you wanted to go with 2000 lbs instead of the other option I provided which was 3500 lbs, we send you a confirmation email with all the details.
As for the delivery date, we always schedule our movers in advance and one of our movers had an emergency manner that came up and wasn't able to assist Angelo in your move. Instead of us cancelling or rescheduling your move we were able to find another option to proceed with your move that day. As for your mattress being attached to the back, our trucks have passed all safety guidelines and the mattress was safe, secured and well kept. Your move was a shared load and that's why we didn't charge you the full fee for the ferry and that's why your mattress was attached since there wasn't enough room in the truck.
Also, you did mention you had damage on your sofa which our movers never saw, when we arrived the sofa was already packed up and covered. If the move caused your sofa damage it would of caused damage to the blankets and the shrink wrap but there was no signs of damage on either. You didn’t want to go through Cargo Insurance because of the deductible (which we have no control over) regardless, we wanted to make sure you were happy and had your sofa fixed and paid for the fee. Also, the reason we were quicker was because you only had the elevator for one hour, even your brother helped us with some items to make sure we can get everything done.
Even after your move we exchanged emails and nothing was brought to my attention about your concerns, it would be been ideal for you to mention any issues you many of had after the move and not 6 months later. On behalf of everyone at Cloverdale Moving we wish you all the best and thank you for your business!