Information on Movers

First yes you can convert a container to a outbuilding. and they come in sizes up to 48' long you would need to put it on a foundation, second the mover you choose is a major step, but you van also plot your own deal with some of the smaller trucking companies out there .

Another way you can move is rent the truck yourself. I've always got the cheapest price and bes equipment from Ryder which sold the non-commercial business to Budget. Call a local mover/movers and get a price/s to pack and load. Have them pack and load the truck you rented. Prearrange someone else to unload and unpack at the destination.

It was one of the easiest moves I ever did. All I had to do was watch the packing, and loading, then drive the truck and watch the mover on the other end unload and unpack. Then return the truck. I moved a guy from Wilmington, NC to Sacramento, CA in five days. Loaded on Monday and the truck was unloaded by noon, Friday.

Get everything including the price in writing. My deal with the company that packed and loaded was they would be paid after loading was completed but it must be finished on Monday. They started 8 in the morning and finished 8:30 in the evening.

The guy I moved had only his stuff on the truck and we knew when I'd get to CA barring something weird.

Why not U-haul?

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Brain, an apparatus with which we think we think.

KY Guest:

I did check into Ryder, and they do not do One Way Trips.

Snakeoil:

Uhaul charges $2,000 for a 24'truck, 1149 miles, and 5 days to do it in.

Steve

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"But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth. For He hath performed the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with Him."
Job 23: 13-14

Just an update: I emailed the movers and asked those pointed questions, and got a 3 page response which I forwarded to the BBB. The BBB also contacted me and reported that there actually is a "A-1Affordable Movers" in Fort Worth, but it's not these guys. They also said that they were going to send the other folks a Letter demanding they stop using their Logo. One interesting thing we both noticed was in trying to print up their main page, the graphics with the BBB Logo and the other items never printed. Strange, huh? Guess I saved myself $3,200 Bucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve

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"But He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth. For He hath performed the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with Him."
Job 23: 13-14

This is the funniest thing I have ever seen. I honestly can't stop laughing at this page full of people who are trying to be the hero with all of the answers when you really dont know what in the world you are talking about . Oh my......LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.
I must say that in the last 13 years I have moved over 8,000 families myself personally and I don't care whether anyone on this site believes this or not. I am the REAL professional here and I know every single thing there is to know about moving. First of all I think it's hysterical that Steve bought into all of your stupid suggestions and canceled his move with us. We have so much work we didnt need his job anyway. We turn as much work down as we accept. Second, I do hope his move went well with whomever he chose. Third, I will let the rest of you rookies in on a few secrets. Once a mover has your belongings there is absolutely nothing you can do. Plain and simple. I don't care who you choose, the biggest van line or the smallet mom and pop. If the guys who loaded your items are not honest then you are going to get screwed. There are about a dozen easy ways to cheat people and they will never know. Why am I telling you this ??? Because I am honest. If I was not I would keep these secrets for myself and cheat people out of money. If a mover convinces you that charging by the pound is the best way to go did you really think that you were safe ? Oh come on !!!!!!
What kind of Amazing Kreskin do you think this guy is ? How can he possibly know how much your load weighs ? Do you think he will figure high and risk losing your business ? He gets a commission off your job. He is going to low ball you and then hit you with the extras later. What are you going to do about it, your stuff is already on the truck. Well I saw the actual weight . SO WHAT ! Did you ever think that he weighed the truck first and then went and added 200 gallons of diesel fuel and drove over to your house, loaded you up and then weighed again ? You just paid for 200 gallons of fuel by the pound and he just drove half way across the country for free. as for those guys who keep your items for a long time. Thats usually the van lines who MUST fill up the 53' semi before they head out or they will lose money. Do you really think that the salesman is going to tell you thet he does not have another job heading in your direction ? He will lose his commission, heck no. You won't find that out until later when your stuff is 2 weeks late because they are waiting for another load. How about those guys who charge by the piece. In my experience I would say that over 95% of my customers understimate their boxes by at least 1/2. This means that a dishonest mover ( or an honest one for that matter) can charge you lots more for those extras. What are you going to do about it. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ! Pay the fees or don't get your stuff. Same goes for weight shipments...pay the extra fees or dont get your stuff. The only thing you can do is take them to small claims court and that is worthless. We won 10 times in 1995 and to this day have still never collected a dime from those deadbeat customers who paid us with a hot check. We dont even fool wit court anymore. That is why we only take cash on delivery now. Too many people out there are crooks and want a free move because they are broke and are just looking for a way to get their money back. And, to see some of you folks trying to insinuate that we may not be reputable makes me mad and shows just how ignorant you really are.
Did you know that movers who say they are insured are usually not or they insure themselves ? Most of the van lines insure themselves so when you pay extra for that you are usually only donating more money to the company because thats not real insurance. The law states that if a mover breaks your stuff they are only responsible for 60 cents per pound. So they drop your $2,000 plasma Tv and all you can due is sue them for about $20. Oh yes maam your items are fully insured ! What a joke. You had better get a rider policy on your homeowners insurance or take out real insurance with an actual insurance agency. What if the truck is stolen while the driver is asleep in the motel. I had a police officer tell me that it happens all the time. They hot wire the truck at the motel and drive it to a warehouse, unload everything and then leave the truck on the side of the road. How careful is your driver & moving company ? Do they take steps at night to completely disable the truck where the only way that thing is leaving the premises is with a giant tow truck or by going to Auto Zone ? I doubt it. WE DO !!!!!!!!!!!!
Because we care about our customers belongings like they were our own.
Did you mention to the mover that you had a long walk to the truck or stairs at the other end of your move. I hope so because most movers look for this as the easiest way to charge lots more. To be honest I think that most people deliberatly dont tell us hoping that we will do the extra work for free. Many times we do but it is still not honest for them to try and get away with this and I dont feel sorry for anyone who does this to another mover and gets charged plenty. They knew what they were trying to do. They dont work for free but they expect us to do so and most movers will hit you hard for that one.
I once was offerd the job of managing one of the largest moving companies in Dallas. In fact they have offices in nearly every major city. I acepted the job and on my first day for work I showed up at 5 am only to discover that every homeless person from the nearby overpass was trying to make some money by moving furniture. These guys show up and its first in, first out. So whenever they need drug or beer money they walk over to this major moving company with the $50,000 trucks and go out EVERYDAY as helpers. I could not believe it and quit halfway through my day and never went back. Bet you never expected that one ? No one does. Who want to move furniture for a living ? You dont. There are 2 kinds of movers, family men who are willing to work hard for good pay and irresponsible people who cant hold down a normal job. I dont care if you call the biggest van line or a mom and pop company, it all comes down to what guys show up at your door.
For all of you out there who suggested U-Haul, well I guess if you dont mind doing all the work yourself and using a hooptie truck that has a bazillion miles on it and paying about the same as we charge or even more in many cases, well that your choice. Have fun.
P.S. There are about a dozen A-1 Affordable Movers across the nation that are not affiliated with each other. They simply have a smart name that gets them first position in the yellow pages so please dont refer to us as those guys when you mention our name. We have been around the longest and really do have over 10,000 satisfied customers.
Thank you very much and I hope this posting was helpful to most of you !
www.a1affordablemovers.com

Job, I hadn't seen this thread when it was originally active, so I don't know if you're still planning your move or if you've happily got someone lined up.

We moved recently and I used emove.com to search for moving assistance. You just check what you need - packing help, loading help, driving, the whole shebang... whatever. Then a list of possible companies comes up and you get to read everyone's comments on them. You see how thrilled some were, how others had something broken but they were happily reimbursed a reasonable amount, and how others arrived late, tossed stuff around, etc.

To me, getting to read all the reviews from folks who actually used the various companies was great.

Best of luck to you in your adventure.

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

Stay away from Uhaul as they have problems getting the trucks fixed on the road. They don't pay or pay the repair shops slowly. When you break down or need a tire, you will sit for a day or 2, because no one will work or repair your Uhaul truck. I have personal knowledge of this happening.
We have since used Ryder and have had excellent results. We had a flat tire in Colorado and they had a tire dealer come out and put 2 tires on truck in 4 hours. Another item to bring up is to only rent a diesel truck or your move. Moving is not fun!

We used U-Haul, had a flat on the car dolly, and they had someone come out to us and change the flat on the spot. Would have been done in well under an hour, but we were close to the state line and they spent 30-45 minutes looking for us in the wrong state As it was, we were rolling again in less than two hours... maybe an hour and a half.

I've used U-Haul twice with good results. Never used Ryder though so it's possible they're better, or maybe it varies from area to area.

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Our homestead-in-the-making: Palazzo Rospo
Eating the dream

Daley and Wanzer are good. Did you try Bekins also?
Nice to know that the other trucking co is trolling...

No mover has a true Unblemished 10 year record. Not going to happen. thing happen even if nothing wrong was done. Even there Web sites is BS.
Nationwide number then they list a non toll free number, an accurate statement but misleading.. BBB has No record at this phone number or the name in Alvarado, Texas. yet they display the logo. They web site show an INSURED link, but in reallity they DONT have (I CALLED) insurance through that company. The movers sell you insurance (additional) through the baker insurance company. THe insurance company also has the company name listed as Affordable Van lines. CHaning similar names is another indicator of a scam. I coulnt find a physical address for the company on the web site, another possibility of a scam. A lot of people claim to be christian, but dont follow the work. The christian claim and the 911 never forget stuff also make me uneasy.

I personally would find someone else.

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Gary in Central Ohio

I agree with you Gary. When they Christian-owned, that's when I'm glad I have my billfold on a chain.

I just moved from Custer, SD to Yellville, AR and used NW Van lines and was EXTREMELY happy with the service and the bill. I had the estimator come out (twice in fact) and got a written, guarantied price based on his estimate. Too bad for them - he estimated 14,000 pounds which is what I paid for and the actual weight was 22,650 pounds!!! No extra charges and the driver brought 2 guys with him and paid them out of his own pocket to help unload the truck which was a full-sized semi and loaded with only MY stuff. Very pleased with the whole experience and they kept my full freezer plugged in so nothing thawed at all.

Well, A-1 appears to be riled with some of the posts here, but he's right when he says this: "I dont care if you call the biggest van line or a mom and pop company, it all comes down to what guys show up at your door."

We've moved 9 times mostly with well known companies like Mayflower, North American, Bekins, etc. We've also done a lot of moves with U-Haul and never had a problem with breakdowns or anything, although I've heard nightmares happen sometimes.

A-1's right that a lot of it boils down to who shows up at your door. Companies handled most of our larger moves so I'm not sure of all the specifics there. But the last move was the worst and it was a major company. They were two weeks late and lost some items in the move. They paid some amount of money to replace the items lost, but when you've just moved you don't have time to go out and replace stuff. And it's hard when you're already in your home and you must wait 2 weeks for the kitchen dishes, linens and most of your clothing to arrive.

If your truck driver, the head guy, is a good family man and responsible then he'll do his best to help you. But he can't control the office people figuring who goes where and when. If people in the office are irresponsible or overwhelmed during the busy season (summer) then there could be problems.

We've had the packing service before and that is really luxurious if you can afford it. In our case the company picked up the tab so we felt very blessed. Those people always do a really good job packing everything super well so we had very few breakages, if any, in all those moves. Whereas when we did U-Haul my sweet husband (and he truly is the best) accidentally stacked some stuff on top of our diningroom table scratching the surface. Always, always get plenty of blankets and cloth tarps to cover all furniture!

Never allow anything you really treasure a lot (like your husband ) go in the truck of a moving company. Never. You may never see him again.

A lot of the men who unloaded furniture for us were built to do the job and worked very, very hard. When we could tell they were doing their best, we always offered them cold cokes. Some of the truck drivers were good about managing those working for them.

There were some unsavory characters with some of our moves, one guy acted like someone who would be on a sex offender list the way he kept leering at me. Another one carried his live-in girlfriend with him and had her lifting heavy stuff, which to me was totally unacceptable in *all* ways.

A-1 is probably right that homeless people will get hired by some of these companies. I wouldn't doubt it.

Actually, we hired some homeless people through a company I can't recall the name of. It's national though. They all did a great job, but some were frail and it hurt me seeing them do work they weren't in condition for even though it was a very small job moving a piano. If we ever call that company again we'll request men who are stronger. I'm sure some of the guys suffer health problems if they're lifting too much too often. We stayed right with these guys to ensure nothing was lifted (stolen) to be on the safe side, but they all seemed like nice folks who were just going through hard times.

All in all I'd just say do your best to hire the best you can and if things go wrong, take a very deep breath, pray and just try to roll with it. When someone else is handling "your stuff" it's an emotional time and the entire experience will go better if you just accept ahead of time that things will probably go wrong someplace along the journey.

Then, if everything goes great, you haven't gone grey early.

Hope those experiences help some.

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LilyRose

I priced our move through emove and man the price difference ranged from 3 grand to 8 grand with me doing all the packing.Now I am sure the 3 grand was a scam I priced through Uhaul would cost me about 2700 plus fuel plus I still would need a trailer to move my birds on my own more fuel I am using PODS I am filling comtainer 2 right now total bill is about 3500 with 30 days on the containers ( man so cali prices are higher than elsewhere )delivered to me in about 8 days ( we will see )
Some companies are scammers But I am fortunate to be freinds with a man who grew up in the business his father owned a company. And notice I am doingb it my self

For someone who claims to be christian owned and operated, you certainly don't act it. Now Im rolling on the floor laughing at this post. I also find it ironic that you join and post to make comment about movers. You degrade others by suggesting their suggestions are mere stupid. Again your suppose to be christian? HA! Everyone who's posted suggestions have because they are trying to be helpful and you only have degraded that!
We've gotten quotes from another mover without them weighing the load and not charged any more money. Had no problem whatsoever! We had another mover two years ago who never required us to purchase insurance. Yet they damaged an antique lamp and put a crease in our refrigerator and on both items they paid for it with no problems!!
By the way thanks for wishing us good luck with our move, as they say in the Godfather movies, 'it's nothing personal, it's business."

Related article:

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/0...y-rogue-mov%2F

Go to their office and get the US DOT number from their truck door and go to this webpage and look at their safety history:

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/SafeStatMain.asp

Follow the link off to 'Safer' and check their insurance & authority too. If you find anything that looks bad, RUN away.

Bedbuggers can be the worst motor carriers going. They have scams and problems enough that the DOT is cracking down. You do get what you pay for and sticking to the 'big' names does help though they all use sub-contractors so you have to watch who you are actually working with. Pay attention to the insurance coverage and seek the companies that lock in their price.

Alot of the scammers are good at hyjacking your stuff until you pay more and only by doing the up-front research and dealing w/ a reputable company prevents bein scammed.

The over the road guys do call their 'company' agent in the destination town and request 'helpers' for the un-load. The quality fo the helpers depends on the destination agent. You may get skid row bums and homeless guys and having the nicest, honest, family guy driving won't prevent having harry the hobo carrying your stuff into your new home.

Federa Motor Carrier Safety Adminstration [FMCRA.gov] and type in househild goods in the search...

Interesting thread. I worked my way through college by driving for an agent of Allied Van Lines. Many years ago so there may be changes since then. I worked local moves during the school year and cross-country in the summers. There are many reputable movers besides Allied, there is Beakins, Wheaton, United, North American and more I am forgetting. Allied Van Lines is composed of over 500 agent offices across the country, with 3 or 4 central coordinating offices. If I had a shipment to load in Kansas and deliver in Pennsylvania the central office in Chicago handled the scheduling and arranged for an Allied agent in Penn to assist my delivery. If the customer in Kansas only had a partial load, then, Chicago would set me up to load another in Missouri going to the same general area. The customers were always kept informed as to scheduling. Usually the destination agent provided quality help to unload, but, there are exceptions. I did have occasion to dismiss 2 helpers one time and called the local agent for replacements. Took an hour or 2 but the customer didn't mind the wait, after seeing his TV scraped through a doorway.. As the driver I was in charge. A1 affordable is correct on one thing, your move is as good as your driver, but, 99% of the ones I met were very professional. Most customers were honest and accomodating as well, but there is always someone trying to pull a quick one and get something for nothing.
I guess the bottom line is "You get what you pay for". A cheepo mover will give you a cheap move. U-Haul is ok if you don't have a large home to move. An untrained person will never get a large load packed safely and efficiently.
A-1 Affordable has evidently worked as a mover but he has enough mistatements that I seriously doubt he knows as much as he asserts in his post. I never met a driver or local agent with his attitude. Maybe a helper.

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* I'm supposed to respect my elders, but its getting harder and harder for me to find one. .*-