For Those Who Used a Moving Company to Your Retirement Home (years, twin)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Wow this thread sure is an eye opener. Not sure how anyone can say it's easier and cheaper to sell your stuff and buy new, unless you have all Ikea. But this thread and the pod stories sure made me concerned about paying thousands only to face these potential issues. I'm also not sure why you would need to purchade their insurance to cover damage caused by the moving company's mistakes. If it's packed correctly there should be little ir no damage.
The "unloading" question is one you have to ask each mover you interview. But I think on Long Distance moves, that might be standard procedure. They're not going to drive 700 miles with a half-empty truck. In our case, we needed a couple of days to settle all affairs in Jersey and close on the house in Charleston.
I think if you have anything more that a fully loaded U-haul worth of stuff.....you should at least interview a few LD Movers.
People I talked to about this, said it's sometimes easier to donate the furniture and buy new at your destination. Some of ours was recently purchased up north, so I wasn't keen on buying it again.
Of course it's 'easier' if you are wealthy and don't care for your current possessions. God bless those in that situation.
Wow! I thought that with U-Pack that you packed the stuff in the trailer and they drove THAT trailer--that they did not move it to another trailer or repack it. That is what I thought one of their main selling points was.
Why did they repack yours?
That is the service my neighbor used. It depends on what you choose from them. He picked the linear feet to get a full trailer.
Wow this thread sure is an eye opener. Not sure how anyone can say it's easier and cheaper to sell your stuff and buy new, unless you have all Ikea. But this thread and the pod stories sure made me concerned about paying thousands only to face these potential issues. I'm also not sure why you would need to purchade their insurance to cover damage caused by the moving company's mistakes. If it's packed correctly there should be little ir no damage.
I agree about the furniture. We have very nice furniture, and it makes absolutely no sense to me to dispose of it and buy new at the other end.
We're facing a long distance move next year, and to me the biggest negative of the Pod/ABF U-Pack alternatives is the lack of recourse if something is damaged. Since Pod/ABF don't pack your belongings, they have limited liability for damage to your belongings unless it's something very negligent that damages the pod itself.
My understanding is that the standard insurance coverage with a full service mover is based on a certain dollar value per pound. If you have nice furniture this may not be enough coverage, and there is an option to buy supplemental coverage for more valuable items.
You get what you pay for. In the Moving Forum there is a lot of info on how to select a "good" mover. Worth a read.
To distill it down, all of the "discount" operations...from Two guys and a truck, to Pods, to ABF drops off a trailer, to rent a truck and move it yourself... have risk associated with them. If you have valuable furniture, you hire a professional mover.
To find a professional nmover, you ask people of a similar ilk who have recently made a move similar to that contemplated by you. Once you have it narrowed down to a handfgul, you have their rep come out and give you a quote. A good company will "inventory" your stuff, estimate the weight, and give you a quote. Not necessarily on the spot.
Once you have quotes in hand, you can throw out the people who obviously don't understand the requirements of your move. Four people say you have 20,000 pounds, and one guy says it is 32,000 or 15,000. Maybe no.
Select three and start doing your homework. Insurance? Trucks? Crew? Storage? Guaranteed delivery date? Full trailer, or shared? Quote incudes "ferry service" from big truck to little truck to your door? Placement, by room? Boxes? Wrapping? Cardboard? Blankets?
Go look at their trucks, and their warehouse and their crews. Clean, neat, modern and professional? Same crew loads and unloads? Floors covered at both houses? No outdoor shoes inside? Able to move big items, like the baby grand? Security? Insurance covers what, and costs what? All good furniture wrapped in blankets, the surrounded by cardboard, them shrink wrapped? How many "crew" members? You want no more than four, otherwise they get sloppy and in a hurry. Two guys pack/prep; Two guys move and pack truck.
And on and on. Professional movers are a pleasure to work with, and they do a super job. Feed them; water them; and tip them well. That extra few hundred bucks is less than it would cost to replace a single piece of damaged furniture.
My last move was outstanding. 1,000 miles over five days. Two days to load. Day and one half to travel. Day and one half to unload. I think they made it back "home" in one day. Cost me about $13,000 plus maybe $600 in tips, food and miscellaneous. They reassembled everything, and nothing was lost or damaged in the least. Not the cheapest quote I received, but they knew what they were doing, knew that my furniture was a treasure to me, and they treated it all as if they were moving a precious museum--not loading scrap steel to the junk yard.
Wow! I thought that with U-Pack that you packed the stuff in the trailer and they drove THAT trailer--that they did not move it to another trailer or repack it. That is what I thought one of their main selling points was.
Why did they repack yours?
That's what you THINK! But that's not really what happens! It arrived 8 weeks later in a different truck.
I did not move most of my furniture - just a bookcase built for me. I wanted new furniture in retirement. I moved from a suburban MD apartment complex to a suburban TN apartment complex in the Spring of 2007.
The movers (Atlas) came on a Monday. They told me my stuff would arrive at my new home on Thursday. Perfect. Half of my boxes were books.
I put a folded lightweight beach chair, a lamp, toilet paper, soap, shampoo, deodorant, a toothbrush and toothpaste, one set of eating utensils, a dish, a cup, a bath towel, a book, a radio and a new shower curtain with hooks in my car. After the Atlas movers and Got Junk (my favorite people in my move) left my MD apartment, I waited for Stanley Steemer to clean my carpets with nothing in the apartment, while I sat in my car. When they were done, I turned in my keys to the apartment complex rental office and stayed in a MD hotel for the night. P.S. I lived in that apartment for 12 years. I got my entire security deposit back because the carpet looked so great after Stanley Steemer did their thing.
I wanted to start my solo drive (easy peasy) first thing in the morning on Tuesday (an all day drive) so I could clear the DC Beltway before morning rush hour. I had to drive to my TN town's electric department to have the power turned on and arrive there before 5PM on Tuesday to do that. Took care of that and picked up my keys at the new apartment. Put the stuff in the car in the new apartment. The apartment complex had just been built and I was the first tenant in that apartment. I stayed in a hotel in my new TN town, Tuesday night and Wednesday night.
On Wednesday, I bought a bedroom set, a living room set, lamps, a fold out into a bed loveseat for a second bedroom that I did not have before in MD, a desk, a washer and a dryer and then went to Wal-Mart for some kitchen, linens and bathroom items (I had an extra bathroom that I did not have in MD). I arranged for the cable guy and the telephone guy to come on Friday. My bank, my insurance company and my cable company didn't change. That was a big relief. I went to the library and got a library card so I could e-mail my friends from the library's computers.
On Thursday, I went to my new apartment, sat in my beach chair and waited. The movers arrived first. Everything was great. The guy in charge was very nice. I was happy with Atlas both on the MD end and the TN end. The new furniture I bought arrived from the furniture store just as the movers were leaving. The new washer and dryer arrived and was installed right after that. I unpacked. Note: The mover left MD in a big moving van which did not just have my stuff on it. When they arrived in TN my stuff was shifted to a smaller Atlas truck. That smaller truck with local guys is what showed up at my door. Although it didn't apply to me, the moving guy told me if you live in a big city or are moving to a big city, your move will be more complicated as the big moving vans are not allowed in most places. I took it to mean --- more expensive.
On Friday, the cable guy came, the telephone guy came and I went to the County Clerk's office (which is right down the street) and registered my car and registered to vote. I picked up my mail at the post office and told them to start delivering.
The only complication was my new desk took 6 weeks to be delivered from a furniture store. I refused to hook up my desktop PC until it arrived so I continued to use the library's computers until the desk came.
All of the above is exhausting now that I read it as an old lady but when I did it I was relatively YOUNG!
If you intend to arrive at your destination prior to your furniture and all of the delivery guys, put a cheap folding aluminum beach chair in the car to sit on or plan to buy one as soon as you get there.
That's what you THINK! But that's not really what happens! It arrived 8 weeks later in a different truck.
Very odd. My former neighbor used them a few times (he moved in, away for a while, back and away again) that I know of. He rented his house during the moves away and back as he knew it would be short term. Anyway, it may be that you have to arrange it specifically (and pay for the full length even if you don't fill it) but the reason he liked using them was that everything was exactly as he packed it when it got to the other end.
I'm glad folks are talking about keeping their furniture. I lost almost everything a few years back & when I finally received compensation for the car accident one of the first things I did was buy some decent furniture. I'm not going to sell these things at a loss as I chose to buy nice furniture that will last the rest of my life. It would be worth the money to move them.
I'm nowhere ready to go anywhere but this thread, along with the moving thread, will help me be informed.
My son moved from the west coast to the east coast and they only brought what would fit in a U-Box from U-Haul. I think they packed the box at a U-Haul location (saving box transport costs), and U-Haul shipped it cross country (dependent on their schedule which worked out). U-Haul also offered independent contractor loading and unloading service, which they took advantage of the unloading service. It all worked out for them. Later, they bought a house and contacted the contractor who unloaded them. The contractor gave them a really good quote on a truck and 3 movers, door-to-door. When he tried to help move boxes, they told him to stop as that was what he was paying them to do. He definitely lucked out.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
