Moving company recommendations (Cleveland: sale, insurance, movers)

[cincy_native]

Good evening all.

We will be relocating from Cincy to Charlotte this summer. Are any of you familiar with the local branches of the large out-of-town moving companies? I'm looking for recommendations for a long-distance move. I am an Angie's List member, but there was a paucity of reviews for the moving company category. Any suggestions/anecdotal experiences would be appreciated!

[Señor Slick]

Berger Transfer is a good agent (Allied) and they have branches in both Cincy and Charlotte. Regardless of which company you go with, book as early as possible if you are going to move during the summer "peak" season. The later the registration the higher the price you will pay.

[Ohiogirl81]

Don't use Brendamour. I found them to be extremely incompetent -- unprepared to pack items, flat out refusal to pack items upon request, unprepared to take apart or wrap furniture, etc. They broke two overhead light fixtures moving boxes out of the house, and refused to replace them.

After all that, they delivered my stuff to the wrong address.

[kjbrill]

I wouldn't automatically assume Brendamour and Berger Transfer are the same outfit. Many cross-country movers in the business. But definitely sign up early for a move and read everything they provide for damage claims, etc.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

I wouldn't automatically assume Brendamour and Berger Transfer are the same outfit.

What are you talking about? Who said they were?

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Don't use Brendamour. I found them to be extremely incompetent -- unprepared to pack items, flat out refusal to pack items upon request, unprepared to take apart or wrap furniture, etc. They broke two overhead light fixtures moving boxes out of the house, and refused to replace them.

After all that, they delivered my stuff to the wrong address.

You must have had the SAME DRIVER with Brendamour as I had when they moved me from Cleveland to Chicago.

My wife had arranged with the local Chicago Mayflower office to have three experienced packers at my place in Chicago when the truck was scheduled to arrive. The driver called up the Chicago office and CANCELLED the experienced guy so he could use his two kids. They did a terrible job and caused over $800 in damages.

The company wanted to fight the damage charges ... Since I had to approve the payment of the moving bill, I asked them to hold the check until the damages were paid for.

I have had EIGHT intercity relocations in the past 35 years. I had only one bad one.

===========================

In general, you are best to get a few bids as often the bids are quite divergent. On my move in July, I had bids of $8700, $10,800, and $11,200 all based on the estimated weight of the load.

If you talk with the estimator, make sure that you understand whether they contract out the move or any part of the move.

Graebel did my last move (Chicago - Tucson) very well but wavered a bit on the price from when I received the estimate until it was scheduled. They were the cheapest as they underestimated the load by 1,800 labs.

[cincy_native]

Great information everybody. Thanks so much. For those of you with experience, when you scheduled the move, were you locked into the date? Our actual move date is relatively fluid. We could move anytime between last week of June and first week of July, depending on sale and close of the Cincy house and purchase/close of Charlotte house. Neither event has occurred yet so we don't have an actual firm move date. The advice to lock in a mover early has me suddenly very anxious now though!

[kjbrill]

Too bad about your moving problems, I have made exactly two moves in my entire life. Frankly don't expect to make any more than that, if any. Good luck everybody.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by cincy_native

Great information everybody. Thanks so much. For those of you with experience, when you scheduled the move, were you locked into the date? Our actual move date is relatively fluid. We could move anytime between last week of June and first week of July, depending on sale and close of the Cincy house and purchase/close of Charlotte house. Neither event has occurred yet so we don't have an actual firm move date. The advice to lock in a mover early has me suddenly very anxious now though!

When you move with a professional mover, you are paying for five things:

1) Packing the goods. The more you pack, the more complicated the packing is (fragiles, odd and bulky items, etc. ) the more you pay. And by the way, what YOU pack is generally NOT insured against breakage).

2) Truck miles - the DOT distance between towns

3) Weight of the load

4) Insurance requested. If you are shipping antiques, you will want a lot more insurance than if you pack IKEA furniture.

5) Unpacking the goods. You can pay them to drop the boxes off where you want them or a full unpack which can be a real hassle.

The more services you want, the more complicated the move, the more you will pay.

=======================

The first question is whether you have a full trailer of goods. If so, the moving company will see when they have a truck available to pull the goods and life is simple. Do remember that you MUST be there at the load in the old location and the unload at the new location. If you have a half trailer, they will find another load to fill the truck so that they are not operating half full. That will require more flexibility.

Last summer, we loaded on June 18th as our sale was set to close on June 20th. They delivered on July 15th as they did not have a truck available. They held our goods in storage for two weeks at an additional cost. We owned the new place and had furniture there so we did not care when they delivered. In hindsight, we could have delayed the load as the sale finally closed on September 1st. Nothing ever quite works out to plan.

[Señor Slick]

cincy_native .... just so you know ...... those two weeks are about the busiest weeks of the summer for HHG moves. If you are going to move then you should start talking to van lines now and lock something in soon.

Good luck!