Verified Company
The 2 guys who moved me were good. They explained how I could help keep costs down, were pleasant to deal with, and worked hard, with no breaks.
My experIence with the company, however, is a mixed bag. Arranging the move with a single phone call was fast and easy. The estimate was reasonable.
The first red flag was the “insurance.” It pays 60 cents per pound for damaged items. This might sound ok at first, but in practice, it’s virtually worthless. I suspect that most people misunderstand this, at least initially, because it is not how most insurance works. Homeowners insurance, for example, pays for replacement value or at minimum, current value, depending on the policy.
However, the value of your cherished belongings does not correlate with their weight. Most paintings and framed art weigh less than 25 pounds. The insurance pays only $15 for 25 pounds. A large, unframed painting on canvas, weighing 5 pounds, would have an insurance payout of only $3, regardless of value. A 500-800 pound baby grand piano costing $10,000 to $40,000 would net only $300 to $480 if destroyed. This means there is little financial incentive for the company to make sure your belongings arrive undamaged, and you get only pennies on the dollar if they are damaged.
In my experience, there is always some damage in a home move, whether it’s a self-move or by a moving company.
There seemed to be no system in place by the company to record items broken or damaged during the move, or to initiate an insurance claim.for them, puny as it would be.
The company’s initial estimate turned out to be far too low. The estimated drive time was unrealistic, even under the best traffic conditions, resulting in the move taking 2 days instead of the 1 day estimated. Additional charges for the second day unload (and rental of large boxes @$5 each, which was expected) raised the cost another $750, an increase of 40%.
This put the total cost of the move into the above average range. I downsized from a 3/2 house to a 2/2 condo, so I sold a lot of stuff and left a lot behind. There were no beds, no dressers, no couch, no recliner, no large dining table or hutch, no tools, no yard care equipment, and no automotive items among the furniture moved. It was mostly smaller chairs, large artwork, a dinette table with 4 chairs, multiple boxes of books and household items already packed, multiple suit cases already packed with clothes, a heavy outdoor sculpture, a concrete birdbath, a bicycle, 2 room-size rugs, 3 area rugs, multiple end tables, 2 coffee tables (1 with a glass top), 2 round dining-type tables, multiple wood or glass shelves, 2 free-standing cabinets with 2 wood or glass doors each, a full length mirror, and 2 mirrors that hang on the wall.
I would call this a below average move with an above average price and inadequate insurance coverage. Fortunately, the replacement cost of the relatively few items broken or damaged was not substantial. My gripe is the company misleads with its estimates and useless insurance. November is typically the least expensive time to move because demand is lowest. Not in my case with City Movers.
