Christine and Chris in Vancouver

We give Galaxy movers 2/5 for seemingly storing and returning some of our belongings and for the professional attitude of their front line staff (i.e. the movers). But all-in-all the experience was miserable from beginning to end. We gave 0/5 for recommending to others. We chose Galaxy because we didn’t want to load storage containers ourselves and they seemed to offer the full service at a reasonable price; but I would never use them again. Here are some highlights of our problems. 1) Poor Estimation of Moving Requirements: Told we would need an 8x24 container. Received four 6x8 containers instead although that wasn't enough. Shared rent on another 8x24 container (from another supplier) with our contractor to store the balance of our stuff. 2) Started move late due to truck breakdown. Had to finish the next day. Charged an extra 2 hours of travel time. 3) Poor Communication of Billing procedure: We were never informed in advance of billing/payment requirements (I honestly expected to receive monthly invoices). They require a cheque the day of move out and cash in advance before moving back in. I had to chase them down to figure out how to pay the monthly storage fees (cheques paid in advance). We also seemed to have to chase them down to get them to cash our cheques. 4)Sensationally rude and unprofessional: We made the mistake of complaining about the communications of their billing procedures saying: "...If you require prepayment then someone is going to have to give me some written notice. You really have to tidy up your invoicing and communication of these facts." I admit I was curt but not abusive and after all, we were trying to give them money. Here is how the responded: “Do you pay your mortgage car payment news paper strata fees golf fees after your done? Obviously you pay before now quit being an ass. Troy”. When I responded _“Seriously, this is your approach to customer relations. I don't know who you are Troy but I will be calling on Monday to complain.” Troy wrote back: "Of course you will, if it looks like a duck sounds like a duck pretty much gotta be a duck? I'm just calling it the way I see, based on my review of all your correspondence you have some sort of attitude and complex thinking you can talk to people this way? If this was a playground you'd be having a face wash and a pink belly. Your lucky it's only words. :) Troy..." When I complained to Brent, owner and CEO: "...Please advise if the final tone and content of the exchange is consistent with Galaxy's customer service policies and philosophy" Brent wrote back: "...Based on the emails you sent he was offended. (As am I) I do see his point and believe him to be right in his thinking, however he could have been a little softer in his approach. We are one of the most economical moving & storage companies around and constantly get calls and emails thanking and praising us that is why we are 100% full. So when you sent your rude emails he felt you to be an ingrate and pretty arrogant and spoke his mind. I apologize for any offending remarks and have advised Troy to not have any further correspondence with you and he will forward any of your emails to sales." We were far from satisfied with this response but we more or less gave up as there was no higher authority. 5)Questionable book keeping: The first cheque we sent them went missing so we sent them another one but both cheques got cashed. When I wrote them to inquire about this we got no official response (only another rude response from Troy). It was over two months later after we had withheld the final cheque that we got a response. To their credit, the matter was drop when we provided them with copies of the cashed cheques. 6)Strange practices: They unloaded two of our crates into trucks before delivering them back to our house so we have no idea of what went on at the warehouse. They also made us sign for receipt before unloading the truck (i.e. sign now or we'll drive away). We are not sure of why they did this and it doesn't seem like anything of value is missing (apart from three mirrors) but it was unnerving at the time. In conclusion, We have moved about 10 times and stored furniture once and never had such a bad experience. We really could not recommend Galaxy Moving & Storage.

It is not really our style to give 10/10s but based on our experience with East-to-West Carpentry vs. other contractors, it would be impossible not to give this rating. Simon managed a major renovation on our house involving a 90% gut including removal and rebuild of the back half of the house (essentially all but 4 of the original rooms in our house are new). When we approached Simon to do some finishing carpentry we had a general contractor lined up to take us to lock-up (i.e. demolition, excavation, foundation, framing, sheeting, doors, windows) and we were going to take it from there (in terms of general contracting). When that contractor backed out we asked Simon if he wanted to quote on the lock up and he said yes. Because his quote was competitive in terms of price and the best in terms of promised service (i.e complete project management including management of the plumber and electrician that we had already hired), we decided to go with him. As the project progressed Simon gained our complete confidence and we ended up giving the whole job to him. East-to-West Carpentry is completely competent and professional and are a shining example of how this type of business should operate. Communication was completely open and honest throughout the project so that we always felt we knew exactly what was going on and why (even when there were problems). The quality of the work was impeccable and we certainly feel that we got the best value for our money. Overall, Simon and East-to-West made the renovation as low stress as one possibly can for a project of this scope. Below are some of the extraordinary highlights of his performance. 1) At the beginning of the project we notice the architectural and engineering diagrams were deficient with one of the bathrooms designed to be about 5 feet in height and insufficient support beams. Simon redid the design turning the bathroom into a mechanical room and the mechanical room into the bathroom and did all the work for the engineer so all he had to do was sign off on the changes. 2) When we noticed our plumber placed a bathroom drain on the wrong side of the wall (i.e. in the living room rather than the bathroom) at 7:00 pm the night before they were scheduled to pour the foundation, Simon didn’t flinch - he dug up pipe and got the plumber back in at 6:00 am to fix it before the concrete truck arrived on schedule. 3) Relationship management with the neighbours. Simon seemed to know all our neighbours by name and they all seem to like him – no complaints. In the final analysis, East-to-West Carpentry is the real deal. They got all points covered including cost, quality, timing and reliability and it is unlikely that you can do much better. We recommend East-to-West to all are friends with 100% confidence.

The quality of the work was good; however, they were not very communicative about what requirements and associated work(plumbing and electric)needed to be done in order for them to complete there work. This led to extra costs. Beside this lack of cooperation with other subcontractors they were efficient and courteous. I would recommend them but be sure to understand what they need before they come and what other work needs to be done before inspection.