Complaint Review: Meathead Movers - San Luis Obispo California

We used Meat Head Movers and their packing service the Princess Packers the beginning of February 2012. We had three problems with this company: unrealistic quotes, damage to property, and poor customer service after they left.

UNREALISTIC QUOTES BY BOTH THE PACKERS & MOVERS

When they came out and gave us a bid for their services, we were really impressed. They claimed it would take 3 to 4 hours tops for the Princess Packers to box all of our stuff, and their bid was within our budget.

We are military and we move quite often and the last move, it took packers 3 days to pack all of our household goods. So we were impressed that they thought they could pack us in 3 to 4 HOURS. We mentioned this and they told us that their company is different and they provide more packers to get the job done quicker than others. We asked them if they are typically spot on when it comes to guessing how long it will take (because we are on a budget) and they assured us that they had a program that calculates it pretty accurately. In reality, it took over double the amount of time they quoted us a bid for. Costing us to be over budget by almost 75%. Then the Meat Head Movers came the next day to load all of the boxes and furniture into PODS. They also took much longer than what we were quoted, so of course this bill was also about double. I was annoyed that it cost more than double to pack and move my possessions into PODS, but at this point I still had faith I was working with a professional moving company.

DAMAGE TO PROPERTY

During the packing process, one of the movers broke my queen sized head board. He had me fill out a damage report and told me we would be reimbursed for the loss. I immediately sent in the claim. A month later I get a letter in the mail saying that they will give me $42 for the head board that they broke and that is their final offer. It is not possible to replace a
headboard for $42. Being military this is obviously not our first move. EVERY other moving company, if they broke something, sends out an appraiser to look at the damaged item and then upon the appraisal sends you a check to replace the item at that value. They damaged it, so they replace it. The letter really confused me. How could a company break something and then not replace it?

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

While we could always get a person on the phone before we paid for their service, after we paid them was a different story. I called Meat Head Movers about the letter I received saying that they would not replace the headboard, but I couldnt get the appropriate person on the phone. I left a message and it took them over a week to call me back. When I asked them how I
was supposed to replace a headboard with $42, they said that they only pay $0.60 on the pound. So if my fine china which cost at least $2,000 is shattered they will only pay me $60 if it weighs 100 pounds. We haven t looked in the PODS yet, because our new place isnt ready. So who knows what else is broken and wont be replaced. The whole reason we chose to use a moving company, is that if something was broken it would be covered. That is what they advertise. I am so disappointed and appalled at this company. I hope someone will read this review and heed caution. They are misleading and they have terrible customer service. I wouldnt recommend this company to anyone.

UPDATE:

The above review was taken down because Meat Head Movers decided to pay us for the head board that they broke as long, as we took the review down. I agreed to this only if they would agree to work with us if we found more items to be damaged when we finally arrived at our destination. I should have known not to trust this company on their word of honor.

Upon unpacking we had two of the same problems: More damage to our property and consistently poor customer service.

DAMAGE TO PROPERTY

When we were unpacking into our new home, we found that there was no care in packing our household items. Almost every item of furniture that we owned was damaged. This damage was not caused by normal shifting in the POD during transportation, but rather, from being protected by plastic wrap or our own linens. Instead of the furniture being professionally blanket wrapped or bubble wrapped, most just had shrink/plastic wrap on it and plastic wrap is not designed to be protective packaging. The Princess Packers and the Meat Head Movers both advised that we set aside whatever linens, blankets, and comforters we had to be used to help cushion the furniture. This is the first time this has been suggested to us. I guess they recommended this to save us money, because their bids had been grossly under estimated. We did set aside
all of our linens for their use, instead of having them packed at their discretion. Most of these linens, if used at all, ended up with holes in them. Furthermore, the furniture was not blocked or braced to keep the shifting and movement of
the furniture and household goods within the POD to a minimum.

So when the PODs were opened at destination, it was obvious that they had not been loaded to withstand the normal rigors of
transportation. 

Whether the loads were to be moved cross- town or in our case, cross-country, they were not loaded properly. 

Here is a list of what was damaged

Master Bedroom Headboard
Master Bedroom Bedrails
Both Master Bedroom Nightstands
Master Bedroom Armoire
Master Bedroom Dresser
2nd Bedroom Dresser
Towel Rack
Decorative Poinsettias
Room Dividing Decorative Screen
Paper Shredder
Basset Furniture Wet Bar
Entry Hall Table
Budweiser Beer Stand
Brand Newstill had the receipt China Cabinet damaged beyond repair
Brand New Dryer dented and scratched
Picture Frame shattered and frame broken in half
Ashley Furniture Durablend leather couch, fabric pierced and frame damaged
Coffee Table
Decorative Chalkboard

These damages have been appraised by an impartial third party at $2,878.69. He said that the brand new china cabinet would cost more to fix than to replace. They did not wrap the glass shelves in anything. They laid them in the bottom of the china cabinet with the brass hardware underneath them. This caused the edges of the shelves to sliver glass everywhere. The weight of the glass shelves on top of the brass mounting hardware and the slivers of glass scratched and gouged the bottom of the china cabinet beyond repair.

We confronted Meat Head Movers about the damage to all of our property as soon as we opened the PODs. We even asked if they would like a third party representative to be present for them during the unloading process. They told us no, that it was company policy to just want the claim in writing with pictures and receipts if we had them. I took pictures of everything.

Meat Head Movers are clearly not a professional moving company. They even packed a propane tank, with the valve still open and connected to the grill. We also found melted candles, burst liquids, and even rotten vegetables included in our boxes. They packed fresh vegetables knowing that we were moving across the country and would not get to our household goods
for months. They even left some of our fine china still in the china cabinet. Luckily none of the china was damaged or that would have been thousands more in damages.

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE

Meat Head Movers claims that they are not liable due to the rigors of transportation, but this is just not true. If the PODs had been loaded properly this type of damage would not have occurred. It was due to their negligence that almost all of our property was damaged. We had a furniture repair man come out and estimate the damages so that we could provide Meat Head Movers with a full report. We included costs to replace and costs to repair for items that were not damaged beyond repair. It has been over 2 1/2 long months since we first notified Meat Head Movers of the severe damages and neglect we
found inside the PODs. Again their customer service is terrible. Only after mentioning, that this is the 4th or 5th time you have called for a manager in two days will you get any semblance of service.

Instead of a phone call we finally received two letters on the same day. One saying that they had received our claim and were working on it and another saying due to the rigors of travel they were not responsible for the damages to our lamp. We never had a lamp damaged, so why are we hearing about a damaged lamp?  When we called to question the two conflicting letters, the operations manager told us to disregard the letter that he signed because it was a mistake. He then deflected the blame to someone on his staff even though he signed both of the letters that we received.

Professional packers would not pack propane tanks, candles, fresh vegetables, or liquids because it is detrimental, if not illegal, to be transported. Yet, Meat Head Movers packed all of these items. In our past moves, as military members, professional movers have always set these items aside for our disposal. Yet when confronted, Meat Head Movers state that they have employee signed statements from their movers that they did a professional job. But how can a professional packer and mover claim that it was a professional job when so many basic rules were broken?

There are companies that pride themselves on fixing what they have legitimately done wrong because it is the right thing to do and then there are companies that hide behind corporate policy to try and get away with anything they can. Meat Head Movers will try to run with your money.  

To recap their customer service, after they have your money, is beyond terrible and their movers are not professionally trained.

Buyers Beware: If you trust any good review of Meat Head Movers, we would not be surprised if those reviews were paid for, since they basically tried to pay us to take down our first bad review.