It is definitely the worst experience I have ever had, and it continues to be the move from hell. The apartment looks like a dump truck just dumped everything into a pile, and anyone who has seen it has commented on how unbelievable this move worked. First, the packing was a nightmare. It, like the move, was slow as molasses, and everything was just randomly dumped into boxes. The guy who did the kitchen took ALL DAY, and the boxes are filled with half paper with nothing in them, while small objects had three or four large pieces of paper wrapped around them. No wonder the materials expense was so incredibly expensive. Those who are helping me unpack and say things like, “hey, you got to see this one” as four pieces of paper contain a single butter knife, a small container of glue, and a pair of scissors. Not to mention that he packed medications and items I told him multiples times NOT TO PACK, and even put them to the side. I still can’t find them. The boxes were not correctly marked or marked at all, so every box has to be opened and unwrapped to find anything. I still haven’t found the everyday items like shampoo and cat food that I need. I have had to go out and buy items.
The boxes were not secured on the truck, so that all of the wardrobe boxes had the items that were put in them in a wrinkled heap on the bottom of the box. They might as well been thrown in garbage bags. Too, they left A LOT in the old apartment. When we did the walkthrough at the end, the first thing I saw was the espresso maker, grinder and microwave sitting on the kitchen counter. As I walked through, I realized they had closed all the doors—one of the bathrooms had not been done at all. There were a lot of items just left sitting, like rugs (big rugs) bathroom rugs, small paintings that I found the next day, etc. Two antique chests of drawers wound up with deep gashes on the top of them, which I need to put a claim in for. That would have been easy to avoid. Most of the time only the team leader was in the apartment, and the others were just hanging around the truck downstairs. It was not properly packed into the truck, obviously, so I do not know what they were doing.
This was the slowest move I have ever experienced (despite the other problems) and by the end it seemed like something was getting moved about every 15 minutes. I understand that they were tired, but I really just wanted them out of the apartment. The chaos that they left behind is incredible. I should have taken pictures.
I do not think that these were professional movers, and it was very expensive. Had I actually paid for the entire time they spent, it would have been double the estimate. As it was, it was still a good 700 over the estimate. I am not hard to get along with, and would have had no problem with it going over the estimate if everything else had been handled professionally. But this was and it incredible. It is going to take a long time to unpack this place. I am sleeping on the couch because why label the box that had linens in it? All of the clothing that was in wardrobes will have to be cleaned or ironed. I paid for those boxes, and getting that clothing back in shape will be another expense I wasn’t prepared for. I really can go on further about things like packing that made absolutely no sense. The amount of paper alone with nothing in it is a sight to see.