What a horrible experience!! My apologies for not getting this posted sooner…read more....
We recently just relocated from Charlottesville to Boulder Colorado and contracted "Move Me charlottesville" to simply move the furniture from the house into to the moving van we rented. Here is how the movers packed my items for moving 2000 miles (give or take), across country....
As you can see from the picture, this is how the "Experienced and Knowledgeable Movers" loaded the van which resulted in EXTENSIVE damaged furniture and inefficiently utilized space within the 26' moving van. Keep in mind a 26' moving van is rated to move up to a 5-bedroom (plus) house, complete with furniture/appliances. Our home was approximately 2000 square feet, with only one full bedroom set of furniture (king size bed w/headboard and footboard, dresser w/mirror, 6-drawer dresser and two nightstands. No appliances!
Additional furniture included a kitchen table with 6 chairs, a waist high buffet, an antique pie safe, antique three corner cabinet, six end tables, a coffee table, 4-wicker outdoor chairs, two fire pits approximately 36 inches in diameter, an outdoor settee set with 2 chairs and a table, a gas grill, three kayaks, a golf cart and a 500 lb. gun safe. Play loaded the golf cart myself. Additional items included approximately 50 packed boxes (16 x 16 and 20 x 20 inches), inclusive of 4 Pelican Cases/hard cases (approximately 40 x 20 x 20), three rocking chairs, and a 24 x 24 x 6' wooden antique shelf. This was everything for a 26-foot moving van.
The movers mixed heavy and lightweight objects (symmetrical and non-symettrical together, including heavyweight objects on top of lightweight objects--with the boxes identified as "fragile/do not stack/top box only), did not adequately pad furniture to keep it from rubbing against other pieces (significant scratches/impressions/dents/cracks), I collapsed rooftop on my golf cart and broke the crown molding on the top of a 150-year old solid cherry three corner cupboard.
It was obvious from the beginning the movers did not know how to properly load/stack the truck with heavy objects on the bottom, lighter/symmetrical objects on top, and fill dead spaces with non-symmetrical/lighter weight objects as they loaded from rear to front.
I personally had to contact the manager/owner of another moving company named "Professional Movers" in order to have him come out to assess and coach the movers in moving the safe from my basement up to the driveway to the moving van. Yes, as the manager of Move Me stated, he assisted the movers, however, having witnessed firsthand was more of a coach than body in order to motivate the movers to move the safe. This resulted in a three-hour delay which inadvertently caused us to delay our moves and reschedule hotel stays from Charlottesville to Boulder, CO.
On another note, I PERSONALLY, ON MANY OCCASSIONS had to advise the moving crew on how to remove/angle furniture (the king size headboard and three corner cupboard) from the house, as well as make suggestions on how to properly load the moving van. Per Move Me's manager, Charlene, who ended up coming to the residence, her advice to me was "you can tell them how you want them to move/pack the furniture. My question is this..."Why should the person hiring the moving company need/have to do this!?" If I am not mistaken, this is what the company (supposedly) is hired to do, correct?
Also, one of the movers smelled as if he had just left the bar at 3:00 a.m. in the morning after a night of heavy drinking. Additionally, several of the movers outwardly complained and made statements to the effect of "when will this move be over" and other derogatory comments about moving contents from the house to the moving van. Also, one mover commented, as he was literally holding furniture to keep it from falling out in order to close the roll down door, "would hate to be the person who opened this door!" Hence, back to the initial picture of what it looked like when the door was open. Hence, back to the initial picture of what it looked like when the door was opened for the first time in boulder. TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL.
Upon arrival in Boulder, a company I hired to unload the moving van and its contents (Boulder All Star Movers, LLC) were nothing but top notch. First and foremost the movers were "amazed and astounded" of the manner in which the moving van was loaded. These movers were professional, trained, knowledgeable and efficient. The movers padded doors and used blankets to pad doorway entrances into the house/rooms, stair railings, etc. Additionally, the movers pointed out the damages incurred from furniture/belongings improperly stacked, padded, damaged and rubbing against one another. These movers even commented they would be happy to testify as witnesses if I wished to make claims on the damaged furniture in court. Horrible! If closer, we would be in court!