First of all, this company operates under various different phone numbers and names, often on sites like Kijiji or Craigslist, listing themselves as last-minute movers who charge no hidden fees. (That last bit is complete bull.)
I ended up with these guys when my originally-reserved mover stood me up. It was supposed to be an evening move on the last day of the month, on Easter Sunday, and I was left with no choice but to go on Craigslist and find movers who could come right away. These guys advertised themselves as "Best Moving Company", tel # 647-300-8525. Told me over the phone that it would be $40/hour. As soon as they arrived, they pressured me to sign this document that basically said that it would cost extra for appliances, extra if something was "heavy", extra if they had to walk "far" from elevator to the apartment door at the new building, extra for each person it took to move an appliance or heavy item, extra for basic wrapping (like covering up the TV), etc etc. They also asked for a $350 deposit. I was skeptical - that's about 8-9 hours worth at $40/hour! Why did they need such a huge deposit? I didn't have any smaller bills, and asked for $10 change after handing them $360, and they had none to give. I should've known by then that they were planning on the final bill being waaaaayyyy more than that, since they weren't even carrying any change to refund unused portions of it.
Movers took 5 HOURS to load very well-packed items (even they themselves told me my stuff was packed very well) into the truck. They explained that this was their fifth job for the day and they hadn't eaten anything. At midnight, after they had all my belongings on their truck, they then had me talk to their shady "dispatcher" who told me that I can't expect these guys to work all day (Why is this my fault? I only called them at around 7pm, I didn't ask them to send me a couple of overworked guys.), said that they will have to continue the move the next day (even though I assured them that the superintendent at my new building didn't mind us doing a midnight move), would charge me $80 to store my stuff overnight on the truck, and that the total bill would come out to almost $800. I was forced to hastily find a place to sleep for the night. I had NOTHING on me except for the clothes on my back.
The move was finally completed the next afternoon. One of the movers spent much of the time talking on his cellphone. They charged me 10 hours PLUS an hour of travel time to move me from a 1 bedroom; plus overnight storage and all those extra charges. The promise made by the movers the night before, that they would take as long as they need to unload my stuff - all for the quoted price - was not honoured by the rude "dispatcher" who goes by the name of "Bob", who threatened to charge me even more. Their extra charges are ridiculous. Take an a/c unit for example. This is not an overly heavy unit, less than 50 pounds. I've moved this thing all over the place myself using a store-bought dolly. They charge $20 because it's an appliance, another $20 because it's "heavy", AND another $20 because it required ONE person to move (was the alternative to have it move on its own?). It's not just $20 for that one appliance. That should give you an idea of the kind of operation these guys are running. They prey on the desperate, and they will milk you for all it's worth, especially once your belongings are on their truck and you are completely at their mercy. Now that I've unpacked and surveyed most of my stuff, I realized that they paid no attention whatsoever to the boxes that I had marked as "fragile". I'm finding broken items, and many of the boxes that were marked "fragile" were dumped upside down after being brought to my new apartment. The guys had tried to make me take a lot of items with me in my own car simply because they didn't have the right tools to properly protect them, or they were too lazy or apathetic to do so. The problem is, the more items I take on my own, the more I have to take up by myself to my new place. What was I paying these guys for then?
If you do have to call some no-name company, do your very best to make sure that you're not inadvertently calling these jokers. Better yet, realize (like I do now) that when it comes to movers, it really is worth it to just stick with the tried and true, even if they cost more. I've come to the conclusion that anyone advertising rates of less than $60 an hour are probably bogus.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $800.00