If you are thinking about moving, be sure to research the Company that you are hiring before you make your decision. My daughter hired Destination Movers to move her contents from a 3 room apartment in Metuchen, NJ to a 3 room apartment in Somerville, MA. She tried to do her shopping for a good price using the internet but the initial quote of $1,200 that she was enticed with ended up being $3,600 with 2 very frustrating weeks of being continuously lied to.
My daughter paid $400 rent for a weeks rent so she could be all moved into to her apartment before starting her graduate school at MIT the following week. Destination movers had moved her out of her apartment in NJ one month previous and had put her belongings into storage. She had notified them of her desired August 25th date with 2 weeks of advance notice and was told that would be fine. How a business can function the way this Company does is simply beyond me.
They never called or made any attempt to notify her that this initial date would not be met, when she contacted them to find out what time they would arrive, then a prolonged series of daily lies began with destination movers telling her that they would deliver her belongings the following day. This daily routine of being lied to lasted for 2 weeks (the very fine print in their contract states they have 3 weeks of your desired date to deliver the stuff). If they had just been forthright enough to state they could not deliver for 2 weeks, I would have had a shred of understanding for them, but every day it was like a game they played saying they would be there at a certain time and not showing.
When you would call to find out why they weren't there, they would put you on hold for an hour until you gave up and hung up, or put someone on the phone with you that couldn't speak any English. The next thing that I would caution you about is when they might show up to move your stuff. Common sense would dictate that they would show up at a reasonable hour to move you (7AM to 11PM); when they moved her out, they showed up at 8PM and didn't finish packing until 3AM (needless to say her neighbors in the apartment were not happy).
This lack of concern for a reasonable time made the 2 weeks of waiting for the stuff to arrive quite frustrating because they would keep telling her right up until 11PM or midnight that they were only 1 hour away; so every night for these 2 weeks she was sitting up until 1AM thinking her stuff was coming.
For their method of payment they will only accept cash or a Postal money order. My daughter had got Money Orders from the Bank, so last minute we had to hit ATM machines to get cash; and you better get plenty extra, because this is when the extortion game begins. They are going to charge you for extra steps and stairs to actually deliver your furniture iregardless of whether or not it is warranted. They know that by having lied to you for 2 continous weeks that any chance for a tip is pretty much long gone, so the extra fees are their way of putting a little something extra in their pockets for a job horrendously done. We actually got a tape measure out to show them that the truck was parked well within the alloted distance but when they measured it but to refute our measurement, they only let the tape out 1/2 way which was very obvoius.
The bottom line, they have your stuff and they are holding it hostage and you will pay the just as we did so you can move on with your life. And for all of this, DO NOT expect your belongings to arrive undamaged or missing stuff. My daughter had quite a few pieces that were pretty much destroyed. I could tell when they opened the truck door that garbage men are more carefull when throwing trash into their trucks.
Bottom line, the next time my daughter moves, my son & I will rent a Uhaul and do it ourselves; if that is not an option for you, I strongly suggest that you read up on who you hire. The only possible reason I can can up with on why they lied about the stuff being delivered every single day for 2 weeks is that it is just a psychologocal ploy to wear you down so you fork over the extortion money when they do finally arrive.
Ken P
Trumbull, Connecticut