If there's one thing I learned through my move with Total Care, is that everything is open to interpretation. Let's take 'total care', to start. One could think that hiring professional movers with the name 'Total Care' would mean that the company cares more than to deliver your possessions in just 'useable condition'. That they would take 'care' of your belongings while in their hands, and would ensure that they are delivered in the same condition in which they were gathered at the begining of the move. Lesson learned. According to 'Total Care' moving company, causing damage to most of your wooden furniture (and fabric furniture, too), is a completely acceptable practice by a professional moving company.
Ok, so next would be 'wrapping' your furniture. Their advertisements show images of furniture nicely 'wrapped' in blankets, with said blankets held in place by plastic wrap. Their verbal communication to clients about their service including 'wrapping' WITH blankets, would further suggest (maybe more than suggest?), that they'll actually 'wrap' your furniture in blankets, and then bind with plastic wrap. Somehow, this is not the case. Somehow, the 'we'll wrap your furniture in blankets' ended up with furniture being either A)not wrapped in anything at all, or B)being wrapped in plastic wrap only.
Moving along, we come to 'professional'. It is inadvisable to believe that a 'professional' moving company would arrive with: a clean truck; enough straps to ensure that your belongs didn't fall over while in transit (yes, that happened); that they have their own step ladder to stack items and won't be asking their client if they can climb on their (unblanketed) furniture to which the client then has to supply them with a ladder; that they have enough blankets to protect the furniture (as discussed when hiring them); that they know enough about furniture to be aware that gauged wood cannot be repaired by simply 'wiping it clean' (as was suggested); that they know enough about furniture to know that stained, soiled, and frayed fabric cannot simply be 'wiped' clean (as was suggested); that they will actually pick up the phone and talk to their clients, and not hide behind a computer.
The crew were friendly and polite, and there was no issue with paying their reasonable fee which covered the truck, transit time, and 3 workers. No issues at all, had the move been handled by 'professional' movers who took 'total care' of my personal possessions, actually 'wrapped' them in blankets, and delivered my furniture in the same condition it was picked up in.
Dirty, stained, frayed, scratched, gauged & broken: sofa, loveseat, button-tufted coffee table, antique secretary, dining table, antique table, antique desk, decor, antique storage chest, cabinet. I did receive an offer of $100, along with an apology for damage & inconvenience, as compensation. They would not provide a detailed outline of their damage policy, nor a clear outline of how they handle situations where there was clearly a gross lack of care during service. They did, however, inform me that they talked to their crew about procedures so that this didn't happen again in future.
Perhaps I should've requested the same crew that garnered all the good reviews? Errors occur in every business. This company failed to own up to their error. The level of compensation typically reflects the magnitude of the error. They made sure to collect their payment prior to unloading the contents & allowing for inspection. Their offer for compensation would have only made up for the extra (mysterious) 45 minutes they took to arrive at the delivery location. (This 45 minutes did not include the 30 minute lunch break which I was not charged for)
I was quoted for 6 hours, but the crew took 9 hours, incuding help from myself, my eldery parents, and a friend. They were visibly tired about half-way through the move. Two of the workers were unloading small/light items & boxes very slowly on delivery.
If you're looking for 'total care' of your items while moving, do yourself a favour- hire a different company or, at the very least, ask them to assign a professional crew that's equipped with the skills & equipment to protect your belongings.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $1,750.00