They moved us on 1/15 and were nearly an hour late to show up. So at 9:18 I was told that they were starting at 9 am. I looked at my watch and commented on the time difference and was told "ohh well we were in the parking lot then". This was the start to a long and frustrating day.
After being an hour late to arrive it took an hour and a half longer to pack the moving truck than the owner estimated. I asked multiple times if there was anything I could do to help (as it was taking longer than they anticipated) and they declined the help. At one point all three guys disappeared for 45 minutes to "reorganize the load". During which time I watched them stand around in the back of the truck outside doing nothing. I actually have a video of the lead guy moving blankets back and forth for 2 minutes. Finally one of the owners called and asked what was up and I noted that there was still furniture and boxes in the apartment (this was at 1:30 PM.... 30 minutes past when they estimated they would be done packing). At which point things started to move again at a pretty good clip and they were done at 2:08 so I called and let the owner know that they were finished and taking lunch and I proceeded to my new place so I would be there waiting for them.
One of them commented that it had taken a long time to pack so they were going to take an hour lunch. I wasn't concerned about this because I’d been assured that i wouldn't pay for lunch and just told them to give me a call when they were on their way to my place as it was a private neighborhood and the addresses didn't log right on google maps when I’d tried to use it. As I pulled out of the apartment about 2:20 i noticed the truck was still there but the door was closed and the truck was facing the opposite direction. What they were waiting around for I'm not sure.
At 3:14 I got a call from the guy who was the lead stating they would be leaving their 45 minute lunch in about 10 minutes (now the lunch is only 45 minutes? and it started at 2:40?) After some confusion around the address (this part was my fault... I’d read the address on my lease and hadn't double checked it on the building) they arrived at 3:45. At this point one of the owners showed up and it was amazing how much more effective they were!
Over the next 2 hours we unloaded the truck that took 5 hours to pack. This was partly aided in the fact that I told them to just unload about half the truck into the garage to save time and the fact I was helping but it seemed like the team was much more eager to work when their boss was there. No one was standing around waiting for things like seemed to regularly happen when we were packing. They wrapped up at 5:50. Once again they rounded to their favor and said 6:00. At this point I expected nothing less, but the real kicker was when they calculated out the hourly and said they only took 45 minutes for lunch, so I owed them for 8.25 hours of work at $150 an hour. Like I said earlier they were done by 2:20 and they didn’t start again until 3:45 so I was baffled by where that extra 40 minutes went but at this point I just wanted them out of my house so I didn’t argue and just signed the check.
... more on next post...