Complaint Review: Moving Help

I've had a below average experience when it came to the standards of the so-called "moving help". These self-proclaimed saviors of pain are a big pain in the neck themselves.

Although my heart goes out to the person who does the actual hauling of heavy goods in and out of the apartment...but folks, it is the PIMP who actually manages the show (at times behind the scenes - pulling strings) is the real d****ebag that you need to deal with on an initial basis. They are the ones who do the first hand talking with you (again, not the ones on the central moving-help number, but the local agency enrolled for moving-help) and haggle over the time, money, effort and everything possible to make you more helpless and have their way with your move.

In spite of all my alertness and efforts in ensuring that my Move goes smoothly, I encountered unexpected (and unwarranted) trouble on the very day of my Move. Quite remarkable, that the experience was same (more or less); both at the start (loading) and the destination (unloading) of my journey...goes to show that this is their typical trait of the so-called moving business!
1> During Loading (at Starting point), I was misled by "UHaul" retailer into providing me "helpers" along with the vehicle - a promise that he couldn't keep, but that's a different story...

I had to immediately turn to MovingHelp, whose Customer Care advised me of the "available" movers in the area. It is obvious for a new customer like me to assume that movers are being referred to me, only because they are available. But here comes the class of professionalism: On calling the actual Moving Helper (single Point of Contact - "SPOC" - who does the initial talking), he bluntly refused to handle my request on the same day. My whole point of planning the start date of my journey failed, as my arrival date was jeopardized (this was a drive half-way across the country, incurring 3 full days at a minimum). How insensitive of the folks to not understand this?

I was then helplessly juggling with Customer Care and the Mover SPOC to fix a proper time-frame beginning to doubt if I cud ever move! Although Customer Care was willing to provide me an alternate Moving agency, they hardly seem to have any direct "control" over the Movers (which cud be another Area of Improvement!). While Customer Care asked me to go by what the Mover said, the Mover SPOC kept denying any hopes of moving on the same day. My travel was planned to start at morning, but it was already past afternoon that I was having this discussion. A few hours later (around 3 pm) in a feat-of-realisation, the Mover SPOC called and told me they were willing to Load my stuff the same day.

On pointing out that it was quite late in the day for me to start my travel even if I were to be fully loaded and ready, the Mover SPOC insisted that "THEY" have made up their mind, and will meet me in a couple of hours. Then he went on to give me tips on preparing for the move (getting a rope, tape, rug etc). Hell! aren't professional movers supposed to handle it all? I probably was so frustrated by that time, that I may have overlooked the merit inhaving those essentials that looked "nice-to-have", but were seriously sounding as "instructions" from the Mover! I still was all positive about the happenings, and anyways appreciated their decision to get me loaded the same day (since all I had to do was lay back, rest and just worry about my interstate drive the following day), but my arrival date was invariably missed. But I ended up helping them in partially loading the stuff myself.

Would like to mention that the actual laborer (other than the SPOC) was very caring about my expensive commodities, and showed excellent knowledge of electronic equipment in dealing with my LCD TV. He also disassembled my bed with great care without even having to mention about it.

2> I would naturally believe that my Unloading process wud be a walk-in-the-park, but was probably dreaming! I was in regular communication with the Moving agency (again the Mover SPOC - who does initial talking) at my destination, who asked me to message me when I get close to the destination considering there was a 2-3 day slack for the unloading to actually happen. But "there" was the catch. They wait for your most desired date and once known, play around with it. All along my drive I was re/calculating the estimated time of arrival and logically informed the Mover of the most suitable date for unloading my belongings into the new apartment.

Then is when things started taking a different turn. The Mover SPOC insisted that he was not available on date I suggested date, and that the unloading be done a day prior to that day. He adamantly asked me to give him the exact time. I had no view of what the situation was at my prospective residence. I was single handedly hauling my furniture in a truck, towing a vehicle to a new place, and totally new to the process of Moving per se; let alone seeking "Moving-Help".  I was speechless as he pressurized me on telling the time, and had to give into his urge just to be considerate to the aptitude of the person actually offering physical labor (only to find out that the person was a pimp whose only smartness was doing-the-talking!).

Boy, the kind of colors he showed on the day of unloading (well, I never got to see the guy, but the laborers he provided were quite humble). While it was late in the evening and I was about to get my move-in formalities completed around the time business hours for all offices were closed, he constantly kept calling me on the phone saying that he cannot keep his workers waiting, literally sat on top of my head pestering me, and at one point even accused me for not picking my phone. How despicably disrespectful of him to not realize that I had relented to carry out the unloading that very evening only because of his s****.>

I had given him enough warning that it may get late in the evening, and even he acknowledged and insisted the unloading be done by night, if not the evening. In spite of this understanding, here I was - haggling on "time" whether 6 pm or 7 pm with this unknown face behind the scenes when all I should be concerned about was, how I get all my stuff into my apartment and spend a night of sound sleep after a really long weary day. Doesn't quite bring the BEST out of the experience, rather adds to the inconvenience which is all what this so-called "Help" had been.

I must mention the kindness of the actual workers who gave me a ride to the nearby ATM (since my vehicle was towed to the truck), needless to say - for which I did pay them a hefty tip!

In dealing with the entire Moving Help fiasco, I observe that the trick-of-the-trade simply means:-
Make the customer desperate....patronize him for his helplessness...and then take advantage of his situation. I really feel that I am doing a great favor on Moving-Help by spending valuable time & effort in giving this feedback for improvising their service free-of-cost.