The four times I've paid for removal, I've ended up doing as much lifting as they did on the day. I don't know who I hate more; the guys who showed up four hours late, pissed all over the toilet seat and asked me to order them a pizza (I didn't) or the guys who showed up four hours late, told me we had been underquoted by 75% and that there was only 3 hours to get everything in the truck or they would miss the freight cutoff.
From now on when I move locally I rent the biggest thing I can drive without a truck license. If I have to move interstate ever again I'm selling everything and starting over.
> If I have to move interstate ever again I'm selling everything and starting over.
That's more or less what my wife and I did the last time we did an interstate move. The stuff we simply couldn't part with, I drove myself. Truck rental prices were outrageous (this was during COVID), so I ended up making multiple trips with my SUV stuffed to the gills. The rest we sold or gave away, and then we bought new stuff for the new place. Moving the stuff would have cost more anyway with prices as they were.
I'm reminded of a saying which I think is originally Chinese: During the course of a long life, a wise man will be prepared to abandon his baggage several times. I think the saying was originally about avoiding being caught in a war zone, but it seems like it applies to interstate moves these days.
I can't figure out how in this day and age of Internet and social networks it is not possible to establish trusted mover companies. Maybe people with good experiences don't care?
Like a number of other service businesses with reputation problems - plumbers, locksmiths, garage door technicians (no, really) - it's a service which customers only need very infrequently, and where the customer is typically under pressure to choose a vendor quickly when they need service. There's very little repeat business; as such, there's not a lot of pressure against dishonest or substandard vendors.
It used to be that third parties would act as brokers to give vendors an incentive to be honest. For example, my parents had to do several interstate PCS moves when I was a kid while my dad was in the Navy, and each time the movers were hired through the military. They knew there was a lot of repeat business there, so they had an incentive not to screw us. I only remember one mishap during those moves, where a nice desk that was originally from Hong Kong was damaged while the movers were bringing it up a short flight of stairs. They paid the insurance claim without any haggling. The desk was fixed, and I still have it.
Unfortunately, I don't know if even military PCS moves have that level of trustworthiness these days.
There are so many variables. All it takes is a few able bodied guys to start up a company and prey on people who need to move, sometimes short notice. If a job gets screwed up, no big deal, just start another company or have another friend do it and team up.
From now on when I move locally I rent the biggest thing I can drive without a truck license. If I have to move interstate ever again I'm selling everything and starting over.