1 Fair Moving

Review: I contacted the owner [redacted] several weeks before my move to get his price on my move. He tried to qive me an hourly rate like other reviewers have experienced. I asked if he would be willing to give me a flat rate for the move and he was more than willing to give me a price of $625 to move my two bedroom townhome. ** I will say that I had used him once before for a last minute removal of a washer and dryer and he was responsive, however charged me almost $400 for 1 hours work, which I didn't mind paying since I needed his help that day and he was the only one willing to come out at the last minute.

In our first phone call about my move, I told Travis that I had a two bedroom townhouse with a finished basement with furniture (sofa, tv, tv stand, etc.) as well as a full living room and dining room on the first floor. We agreed to the $625 price. About two weeks later I contacted [redacted] again to tell him that I had a washer/dryer that I needed picked up from a third location and he gave me a price of $100 to do that, so $725 total. That was fine, we scheduled the move and I gave him a $100 deposit via paypal immediately.

On the day of my move, two movers showed up with a 20ft Uhaul truck. They could barely drive the truck, but were really nice guys. I ended up backing it up and parking it for them the whole day. When they showed up they told me that Travis didn't give them money for gas so I would have to fill the truck up. I decided to put $30 gas in the tank because I know that rental trucks from Uhaul do not need to be returned with a full tank, only the portion of gas that you actually used.

The guys came into the house and I proceeded to show them around and tell them what was going and what was staying. I walked them down to the basement and showed them my couch and TV setup. They immediately started to squabble and said they would need to call Travis because "he didn't say anything about a basement and they don't think the truck was big enough to get it all in one trip." I told them that I explicitly told [redacted] all the details of my home and the move and that the basement was included in the price. They called [redacted] and put me on the phone with him. [redacted] said that I didn't tell him about the basement and there was going to be an additional charge for the additional trip. At this point I start to feel like I am being scammed and I told [redacted] that we had agreed on a price and that I had other bids that could possibly be better than his at this point. He assured me that it wouldn't be much more and that he wasn't going to try to "get into my pocket." I agreed without him giving me the updated price (dumb move on my part) and the guys started to move my belongings.

At this point I was afraid that if the movers took too long, I would be charged a lot more money so I started to move boxes and furniture myself and was basically the third mover for the day (I have a herniated disk in my back and was not expecting to move heavy items, especially for the price I was paying).

The day went by and we (me and the 2 hired movers) had the move done (two trips total) in about 7 1/2 hours. The guys were happy because they finished up earlier than they expected, I tipped them $80 each, and provided them with a big lunch and all the beverages that they could handle all day. By the way, the moving crew admitted to me that they weren't payed hourly, but by the job, which judging by what they told me was a very modest paycheck for the amount of money I was paying. This isn't any of my business and I operate a business so I'm all for capitalism and making a fair wage so I applaud Travis for being able to make a large amount of money for doing absolutely nothing.

I called Travis when they were finished, as instructed by him earlier, and he told me that my total would be $925. At this point it was much more than I was expecting to pay (especially since I did most of the grunt work myself) but was happy that it wasn't more. I agreed to his price, paid the moving crew $600 cash (I had cash based on his original quote of $725 minus my $100 deposit) and then immediately went online to his website to pay him the remaining $195 balance via paypal (this balance was what was left after the $100 deposit, $600 cash and $30 for gas for the uhaul truck) of the $925 total as agreed upon. I pride myself on being very prompt with my payments for services like this. I also think that I was more than generous to his crew with drinks, lunch and tip totalling $160.

After I made the $195 paypal payment I called Travis again just to let him know that the payment had been submitted and to thank him again for his crews work that day. This is when [redacted] became immediately irate and argumentative and told me that I was wrong in my math and that my total was $1025 ($100 more than he had told me just an hour or so before). I explained to him how I came to the total ($925-$100 deposit -$30 gas - $600 cash payment = $195 balance) in which he told me that my total didn't include my deposit (not what we agreed upon originally and not what is stated on his website and was entirely new information to me). He then started to tell me if I wanted to "be like that" he would meet me in the middle at an additional $50 dollars. $50 dollars! This is a case where the money is not the point because I would have gladly given him an extra $50 or $100 if he would have handled the situation differently instead of yelling at me and cutting me off after ever word that I attempted to get in.

I chose not to pay [redacted] an additional $50 because of the way that he treated me over the phone. The following day I received several calls and voicemail requesting an additional $50 payment from him. When I didn't return his calls, he called back the second day demanding money and was more threatening. I do not appreciate being threatened so I called him back and explained to him that due to the way the he handled this situation I did not plan on paying him the additional $50 that he "made up" at the last minute. He became irate again and told me to "f'n go [redacted] and enjoy my [redacted]." then hung up on me. He called back about 10 minutes later asking me "what is your cross street?" and I said "excuse me" taking this as a personal threat and then he hung up. 5 minutes later he calls from a new phone number and hangs up on me again. I called him back and he did not pick up, but has a new voicemail recording advertising a pain free chiropractic business. At this point I have contacted my local police agency and gave them a heads up about the threats. I have a video camera system at both of my homes so if he tries anything funny he will definitely be caught red handed.

If you want my honest opinion this company and [redacted] the owner, are a scam. They guarantee a low price to get the job and then tack on additional hours and fees and end up charging much more to the client. As I said earlier the two movers were very nice guys and worked hard but were by no means "professional." They argued with each other very loudly in my home and neighborhood using profanity and even my neighbors were getting upset. They even commented that they hardly ever do moving and one even recognized my dad from a [redacted]local homeless shelter) that my dad volunteers and donates to, saying he was a recent resident but was recently kicked out. This leads me to believe that [redacted] merely hires in-experienced day laborers and goes and rents them a uhaul truck and puts them to work. In fact, since I tipped the movers so well they gave me their personal cell phone numbers and told me to skip Travis and call them directly the next time I need help with anything. As long as I drive up to pick them up and drop them off when they are done they would be more than willing to help (at this point I'm thinking that possibly they don't even have a drivers license and could have been pulled over or caused an accident with my belongings in tow). Again, I see nothing wrong with this type of capitalism, but just feel that other prospective clients should know the type of "professionals" that will be in their home.

As someone who has used this mover twice, I am extremely disappointed with my second experience with [redacted] I honestly thought he was a good guy and provided an honest (and somewhat overpriced at the last minute) service however after my experience this weekend I see that I am wrong. I would not recommend them to anyone and I advise everyone to stay away.Desired Settlement: I would like the threats and harrassment to stop and I want the owner to quit contacting me. If he does not I will be following up with my local police agency and filing a protective order. I do not expect a settlement but want this on file with Revdex.com in case any further threats or actions are taken by [redacted]. I would like confirmation from Revdex.com of this.