I would have really liked to have left a positive review for Ultimate Choice Movers. They started out so well, and if the morning had gone as well as the afternoon, I would have given them top marks. Sadly, it didn't.
The men they sent were top notch - friendly, hard working and professional. They arrived at 9:50, had my beds disassembled and everything wrapped and on the truck by 12:15. I was very pleased as we headed over to the new place, just 2 miles away. I got there ahead of them, even though I missed my turn, picked up my keys, did a walk-through with the landlord, and there was still no sign of their truck. At 12:49, I called the office. The man I spoke to called the guys, and then told me that the truck had overheated, they'd had to pull off, and they would be there "very soon".
At 12:57, the man at the office called me back and said that the truck was in need of repairs and it would be an hour. I advised him that I'd had to book the elevator in my new building and would only have it until 2:00. He waited while I spoke with the building manager, and I was able to get the elevator from 2:00 - 4:00 instead.
At 1:37, the moving guys called to let me know that they were broken down and still waiting. They said I should call the office. I did, and got Michelle - the woman who did my original booking. She assured me that she felt terrible about the situation, and pointed out how badly she was inconvenienced as well. She said that she would call the guys on the truck and see how much longer, and then she'd call me right back. She said, "I might not be able to get ahold of them instantly, but I'll call you back as quick as I can." I waited nearly an hour before calling back at 2:31. I got the same man I'd spoken to earlier and told him that, again, we were running out of time with the elevator and I could not get another time that day. He told me that Michelle was on the phone but she'd call me right back. Again, she did not, and I called again at 3:01. I'd been extremely patient, but now I was getting upset - I had the elevator for less than an hour before somebody else had it booked. I got the man again, who was very apologetic and said that, unfortunately, Michelle was tied up. I could hear her shout that they were working on "it" (meaning the truck), and I told him I couldn't be satisfied with that answer any longer. I told him that there was now less than an hour to unload, and - judging by the time it took to load - I didn't see that happening. I wanted to know what arrangements they were willing to make for storage overnight, since they had been unable to deliver them within the time frame that they, themselves, had requested. He sounded as though he felt very badly and said that he'd "try" to get Michelle to contact me - indicating quite clearly that she was avoiding my calls on purpose (something I had already figured out). Michelle finally got back on the line and was no longer pleasant to me at all. Her attitude the whole time had been, "Your inconvenienced? How do you think *I* feel? I've got another move this afternoon...blah...blah...blah." I've done office management and customer service/damage control for 22 years, and her attitude was outragious. I had been stuck in an empty apartment for 2.5 hours, hadn't eaten all day, had no idea when to expect everything I owned to turn up, was running out of time to unload it, still had to finish up at the old apartment, and I was getting grief from the person responsible, who was supposed to have some answers.
It was 3:25 before the truck pulled in. The unloading seemed to go on forever, and actually took an hour longer than it had to dismantle, wrap and load in the first place. I couldn't understand the delay until I saw my bill. First, they had overcharged me for the morning - 3.25 hours at $125/hour, when it had actually been only 2.5 when the truck broke down. When I pointed that out, Michelle got very angry and said that she'd had a very hard day and wasn't going to "quibble" over the difference of less than an hour - even though both of our phone records proved my case. She deducted less than $60 from the bill - 50% less than the price difference between the accurate time and their "made up" one - and refused to consider the matter further. She made it very clear that she felt I was extremely unreasonable and made excuses that the guys had to finish closing up the truck, etc...except that I was still at the house for all of that, and didn't leave until we were all in our vehicles and ready to go. The truck had been 2 cars behind me when it broke down at 12:20.
Worse, though, was that even though I had a contract for 3 men, she had only left me 2 men for the unloading. At a reduced rate, yes, but not reduced enough to make up for the extra time - 3 hours at $105/hour is a lot more than 1.5 - 2 hours at $125/hour.
Moving the contents of a 1-bedroom apartment 2 miles, took exactly 8.5 hours and cost me $900.
When everything goes right, I'm sure Ultimate Choice Movers seems great. But trust me when I tell you that you don't want them for movers when something goes wrong!