The gentlemen that came to do the actual moving were great. Did a good job. no damage to anything, we're very nice people to deal with. Unfortunately I can't say the same for one of the owners, Grant. He wanted to come out to see what all needed to be moved. Was supposed to be there for 5:15 pm on Saturday of the long weekend. Didn't show up until 10:15 pm. Said it was because he's a single dad, really busy. Tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and be understanding as I have friends who are single parents and I understand the struggle. I paid the deposit to have them out on May 27 by 9:00 am. As he was leaving, I mentioned that we were probably too late to go to the fireworks with the group we were now very late meeting and just cancelled on. He then mentioned "Yeah, that's what my kids held me up for, they wanted to make arrangements to see the fireworks at the Forks sunday." Nice, so your plans are fine, mine were screwed waiting for you. I digress.
Roll around to May 27 when 9:00 am comes and goes, as does 10:00 am... 10:30.... Text Grant. No answer. Call him. No answer and can't leave a voicemail. My husband call's the office, they seem to have no idea what we're talking about but will call back. No call back. Call again at 11:00 am, woman who answers says they're on their way. We ask about a reduction in fee for lateness. Says we have to work it out with the owner and that she's just a volunteer (a volunteer answering the phones for a business? Fishy, but whatever). Call him again, phone is now shut off. Guys show up at noon and Grant finally calls me back. Starts in with the excuses again. I ask him for a discounted rate since we have just waited 3 hours, combine that with the 5 hours the weekend prior, it's the equivalent to a work day. He says he won't give a discount, starts in with the excuses again like the original mover hurt himself (which contradicted what the lady who answered the phone had said who advised someone didn't show up for work), he's a single dad (what this has to do with anything I'll never know), he was driving around on a fork lift, he started at 6:30 this morning, and so on. He then proceeds to throw one of the movers under the bus saying it was his fault they were late and refuses any kind of discount (proceeded to tell me he pays $40,000 in land taxes and can't afford a discount). My husband got a bit vocal because Grant wouldn't listen, wouldn't stop talking, which wasn't the right thing to do, but we were so frustrated. I took the phone back and he just kept talking over me, so I just hung up. I apologized profusely to the movers that were there and doing a great job, bought them some Tim's as they were truly wonderful.
As someone in a branch of the service industry, when my product isn't there by the promised time, I apologize, explain myself and instantly offer a discount for the inconvenience. The thing is, I'm normally the most passive person and I get walked on a lot for it. When he was 5 hours late the first time, I should have cut it there. If someone had just called at any point saying "I'm sorry, we're running late", I probably wouldn't have expected some kind of recompense, this review might have been a lot shorter, and a lot kinder. Oh, and low cost? Nope. The other quotes I got were $100 an hour and truck rental of $50. I paid $450 and it took 2.5 hours. Sorry for the length... just thought you deserved to know what you were looking into.
Nicky Sul-Wiebe
