My wife and I decided to use Uptown Movers based on the seemingly good reviews on Thumbtack. However, based on our experience on August 9th, this was a huge mistake.
1) Tyler agreed to start at 8am. From his email: "8 am Friday is perfect." The evening before we called to confirm and he said, "My timeframe is 8-10am." He didn't show up until 11:30am! 3.5 hours late.
2) When he arrived 3.5 hours late, the first words out of Tyler's mouth was not an apology, it was, "there's a 3.5% credit card fee." Verbally and in writing we confirmed there was no fee to use a credit card. He denied it. We argued over this and he said "hey, I'm a small business."
3) I told Tyler that I wanted to do it in one trip and said that I will rent a truck if it won't all fit in his truck. I asked him to see if everything would fit in his truck. He said "it should." I told him if it won't, I will go rent a U-haul truck at my expense. I asked him to keep us updated and if it won't fit, then I will go rent a truck. He said nothing.
4) They damaged multiple items during the move causing hundreds of dollars in damage. Tyler blamed us for "insisting" we put this in one truck. Untrue. We insisted he do this in one trip and I said I would get a second truck if needed. A professional mover would have told us if there may be damage by doing it in one truck, but Tyler said nothing. They also ran out of blankets and asked if we had any, which is probably why a lot of our furniture was scratched. Obviously, keeping our belongings safe was not his priority.
5) His Thumbtack moving quote said: "All men uniformed and trained professionals." They were not in any uniform. Even though they were not in uniform. the two college guys Tyler hired were very professional and hard working. We can't say that about Tyler. See next point.
6) I found we didn't get 3 movers, but two movers and a foreman. His two hires did most of the work. After he was standing around in the back of the truck for 45 minutes, I had to prod Tyler to start carrying stuff into the house. He was just waiting for the two other guys to move everything in. We moved the exact same amount of stuff the same distance 5 years ago with another company and it took less than 5 hours. Tyler managed to do it in 8. It's a 20-30 minute drive from the old house to the new. They arrive an hour later. He said we had to pay for their lunch time.
7) Although he said he owned two trucks, he uses a rental truck. Most websites say that is a red flag about moving companies. He claims that he has insurance, but that his insurance will not cover the damages to our property. "It doesn't work like that."
8) When we paid the bill he took $150 off for the damages, but that wasn't near enough to cover everything, including what we discovered after he left. We also were not given a receipt for the work performed.
9) Tyler is rude and unprofessional. We contacted him seeking appropriate compensation and this was his email response: "Under no circumstance am I going to compensate you for decisions that you made. Next time you hire a professional I advise you stay out of there way and dont be so cheap. In the future I will refuse to do business with people of your sort all together who hound me with stipulations of what I am to do and how I to do it before I ever arrive especially on a job where I have given a competitive bid nonetheless."
Obviously Tyler has a problem with customer service. I guess "my sort" is expecting him to be on time, honest, and do a professional job in a timely manner. So much for the "100% Satisfaction Guarantee" that he advertises on his website. I am sure there will be another "it's not his fault" response from him to this review.
That's our experience. If you are the “sort of person” that has a minimum expectation from movers, then buyer be warned.
tyler1986
addison,#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, September 18, 2013
We have made compensation to Mr mcfeely, and have resolved the situation. After this posting was already submitted.