Our Disastrous Movers

As proof of the worst moving experience I have ever had (I miss the days when everything I owned fit in the back of my car), I provide you the following photos of how our boxes arrived in Massachusetts from Seattle. I almost had a heart attack. If you'd like to read about the entire disastrous experience, scroll down below the pictures and I will relay to you the dramatic unfolding in detail. Please don't ever use this company, if you want your stuff to arrive in one piece, or even arrive at all:

This used to be a box of dishes. Marked fragile. It was in shatters when I opened it, and didn't even sit straight on the counter.

Nevermind the "fragile" labels. Geesh.

Boxes arrived torn open, just like this one.

What a joke.

I cringe at the thought that these guys made money off of bringing our stuff to us like this.

Once again... FRAGILE! That means, be careful because there are breakable things inside. Oh, you didn't know?

Virgin Van Lines was about as unprofessional as they come. They do a good job selling you their service over the phone initially, but after they have you hooked all customer service goes out the window.

 

First of all, not once did they ever call to give us an update on when the movers would actually come to pick up our stuff. They make you give a several day window of availability, and the day prior I still had not been notified. So I called over and over again to get an update. Finally, after telling me to call the "manager" Danny myself (awesome service, guys), they let me know they'd be there that Friday, so I took the day off of work to be home when they arrived. The day came and went, and all throughout the day I called them for updates. Not once did they call to give me the latest. Finally, by 5:30pm they admitted they would not be coming that day (they had a "big" job that took up all their time), but would arrive the next morning at 7:30 instead. They finally arrived after 10am, over 30 hours late. But of course, they never called to tell me they were running behind. I had to call them.  If you need to move on a certain date they will not be there.  Incredibly unreliable. When we called to complain to Danny, because the movers messed up our Saturday plans, he argued back that we did not have to agree to having the movers come on Saturday. Seriously?! What were our other options? They offered none.

They also quote a low price and then add fees like nobody's business, and since you wouldn't have time to get another mover at that time you just have to pay it.  Add at least 600 dollars to any quote they give you.  It's absurd.

We only had a one bedroom apartment (not much stuff at all) all packed and ready to go.  They took 6 hours to move it out. SIX!  I could have done it myself in 2 hours. I wish I would have. Every time we went outside to see what was happening, one of the two guys was taking a smoking/lunch break. They also made it known that they weren't happy to be there. Over and over again "Steve" mentioned how he had been working three weeks straight and should be at home instead. Awesome.

By the time they arrived to our new destination in Massachusetts, it was exactly four weeks later (for reference, we also shipped our car, and it arrived in 6 days. Six.). They promised to give 24 hours notice upon arrival, but the morning of they let us know they were coming.

The photos posted above are just a small sampling of their terrible service. Boxes dinged, dented, ripped open, missing tops, crushed, list every disastrous adjective available, and that's how our stuff arrived. Our boxes looked like a ton of bricks had been stored on top of them. The movers on the "arrival" end were different guys then the movers in Seattle, and actually apologized for the condition of our stuff. They called the original movers an embarrassment. An entire box of dishes arrived in shambles, and picture frames arrived dinged up and damaged. Some of our most prized possessions (journals, photos, home videos, and my massive jewelry collection (which I know now I should have never trusted with movers) did not arrive at all. Overall, they LOST 3 boxes, one lovely wall mirror we had recently purchased, our bed frame, and two plastic containers of more goods. The box my jewelry was in was torn open... I'm sure that didn't happen on accident.

 

If you want to pay a lot of money to have your items lost, be treated poorly, and have to deal with an incompetent man like the manager Danny, go for it. When I called to complain to the front office, Michelle, promised the movers were being reprimanded. Well, that's fine. Way to punish your irresponsible, terrible employees, who have no business dealing with others belongings. But what about our stuff?! No apology? No explanation? TERRIBLE customer service. Terrible. I get steamed up just thinking about it. 

If you are looking for movers, I would look somewhere else. In fact, I BEG OF YOU to look somewhere else. Anywhere else. Heck, pay me to move for you. I promise I would do a much better job.