Quote:
Originally posted by AXiD670
Thank you. 
The problem is that we won't even see the bill. I will have no idea what it cost to move us. So...what's 15% to 20% of _____ ?
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You can't really say that one company is better than another, in diff parts of the country. When some friends moved to Miami using Bekins (paid for by the Univ. of Miami), their stuff was smashed, and the movers damaged the outside tiles of the building. These movers probably hired 1-2 guys "off the street" and who caused the damage.
When we moved from Miami to Seattle, it was paid for by Microsoft. The movers were United Vanlines (I think). But the packers were some local company...I'm guessing subcontracted by United.
First off, a rep from the local company came to survey our stuff. Next day or so, 2 guys came to pack everything. It took several hours. I think I tipped them $100 each. I also bought lunch (subs)& dinner (pizza). Though I was upset when they emptied the bureau drawers without telling me... as far as I can tell to this day, everything I had is still in my possession.
There's really no way to keep track of everything these guys pack in each box. They just label the box with the room name, and maybe what's in the box. (ie "OFFICE. Computer parts, office items")
Then, they numbered each box with stickers, and kept all this on a master sheet, listing the numbered with the contents. This is the hard part. We had over 500 boxes, and when it all arrived in Seattle, one or two were missing. Were the stickers just never there? Or did we lose the boxes forever? I don't know...but I don't seem to be missing anything of importance.
The next day or so, another team (from United VanLines) came over to load the boxes + furniture onto the moving truck.
There were about 3-4 guys loading the furniture, and a husband&wife who were the team leaders (and the truck drivers). I gave them an envelope with $50 for each of them. I had also bought plenty of pizza for all of us.
Like I said, I had no idea how much the total move was going to cost, and since I'd never moved like this before, I was clueless. (My husband had already moved to Seattle - I was on my own to pack up & sell the house. With all the help, of course
Anyway, Besides the "missing" boxes, there was also some damaged furniture. I never file a claim, because a few weeks after we moved into our house, I had a baby. Believe me, I didn't care about a few hundred bucks of damage at that point!
Oh, one more thing: if you have any furniture (oh, what's that stuff called? The kind you get @ Office Depot & put together yourself? Not exactly strudy stuff?)... if you have any of this kind of stuff, the movers (I think it was the packer guys) have to disassemble it, because it can't fit on the truck. What no one tells you is you cannot reassemble this stuff (correct me if I"m wrong?). PLus, during disassemling, some of the pieces will break. So you might as well try to get rid of it before you move & just buy new stuff when you arrive.
BTW, I still have about 50 boxes in our storage room that I haven't unpacked. Mostly it's our china & crystal, which I can't really set out because of our now toddler-aged son!
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