Hired these guys based on reviews found online to move me from the suburbs into Toronto. The truck was only 15 minutes late showing up (totally acceptable) and the guys were great. Overall I had zero complaints about how smooth the move went, until that is, AFTER the move when I realized my 40" LCD television was no longer working. (for the record, it was working the morning of the move, but hasn't worked since). The TV was packed in its original box complete with styrofoam, etc. the day of the move. It was the last thing we packed.
Upon unpacking it and setting it up in my master bedroom in the new house, I discovered it was no longer working. The TV turns on/off, but there is no picture which indicates the bulb was busted in the move. I immediately contacted Firemen Movers and the gentlemen I spoke with the first time asked me why I waited a week to contact them (which, for the record, I thought was complete BS). I work full time. I have a 3-bedroom house to unpack. I have a daughter to register for school. There are a million things I was dealing with, so hooking up the television in my master bedroom was NOT at the top of my list of priorities. Needless to say, I got nowhere with him except "this has never happened to us before" and a promise to call me back after the weekend.
I also contacted a TV repair company who indicated this will happen if the TV is mishandled (dropped, bumped, etc). After 3 weeks of back and forth phone tag with the moving company, I finally connected with them today to be told there is nothing they will do because they are not responsible for anything they themselves did not pack. So, either I hire them to not only move me but pack me up as well (that would have easily cost $3000 in time alone) or I pay $1200, pack my belongings myself, but risk being stuck with a barely 2 year old $1400 LCD TV that doesn't work. Awesome situation.
So, given the way they've dealt with this - would I recommend them? Nope. I would not. Based on the way they have chosen to handle this.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,200.00
- Company Response
Firemen Movers is very sorry that this clients Flat Screen TV did not work when she went to plug it back in. It is unfortunate, however, we at Firemen Movers would like to explain why we were unable to process this clients claim.
Being a moving company, we have to be able to have control over how household items are packed for moving or we are unable to take responsibility for them. On all of our Order Confirmations and Invoices it clearly states that Firememn Movers can not be held responsible for boxes packed by the client. If we do not adhere to this principle it would open up the possibilty of fraudulent claims against our company that could make it impossible to do business. Please note that under NO circumstances are we at Firemen Movers saying that this clients claim is fraudulant. We do sympathise with her situation however we can not say for sure when the TV would have been damaged. We as a company have moved many Flat Scren TVs and we have never had a claim for one. They are a sensitive item, and we have excellent results moving them, but we can't take resonsibility for items that were removed from a wall, packed, unpacked and reinstalled without having control over the situation. We moved her TV with the utmost care as we did with all of the contents of her home.
Again, we do sympathise with her but we hope she can understand our position in this case.