Movers?

[ASammy1]

I need your help! Can anyone recommend cross country residential movers? Online reviews make me nervous because you never know who is actually writing them...

Thanks!

[PamNY]

I had excellent service from Graebel with a move from Tennessee to New York. They were completely professional and courteous, everything was well-packed, and there was a single contact person who was responsible for coordinating the move from beginning to end.

I've heard horror stories about moving companies located through online services, so I avoided anything online and got recommendations from real-life people. Graebel was recommended by a real estate agent.

[ASammy1]

Great! Thanks Pam. I'm glad to hear that other people don't trust online searches too.

[GLC1968]

A second for Graebel - they did a fantastic job for us coming from NC to Oregon. I've used no less than 5 different moving companies in my life time and Graebel wins, hands down. The coordinator made a HUGE difference and was super helpful - particularly when we kept changing our minds about what we were shipping and what we were driving!

If I am not mistaken, Graebel is the only independent (and I believe employee owned) moving company left in this country.

[bmccasland]

At least you get a choice - I've had Uncle Sam do the contract, thus no choice and little recourse.

I would suggest that if you have packers as part of your contract - make certain the things you want packed are in their correct rooms. And if you have stuff in storage (like your garage), that you want in a specific room in your future home, put it in the correct room a couple of days before your packers arrive, even if it's in the middle of the floor. If you have fragile stuff, like small sculptures, pottery, etc., pack them yourself in a small labeled boxes, then have your packer pack the boxes. Be honest about crating or not - I've had packers (gov't furnished) that said crating wasn't in the contract, but when they saw the items - a large shadow box and a German Grandmother clock - one time they crated anyway and the other time they packed them in double boxes.

Once you arrive, find out if they're going to unpack you and haul away the boxes. One move I was told that I could unpack at my leisure, breakdown the boxes, store them in my garage, then call them (moving company's local office) within a month and they'd come back and get them. This worked out best and spoiled me. Most times, they'll unpack and haul away boxes only that day, which is quite chaotic. You never realize how much STUFF you have until you start unpacking it - each individual piece is wrapped in a piece of paper.

I found that doing little things for the movers helped improve their dispositions and thus job performance... My last move was in August, to hot muggy south Louisiana - I offered to make an iced drink run for the guys (water, gatorade, soda) and took orders. Then knowing that *I* didn't have a kitchen, but did have a car - told the guys that I knew where some diners were, and were they ready for a lunch break? I think it may have been the first time that those older black gentlemen had a white woman willingly eat lunch with them - I just batted my eyes and said I was moving in from California. Then later in the day, did another cold drink and cookie run.

ASammy - good luck on your pending move. Watch your inventory.

[ASammy1]

Great ideas Beth! Thanks for the tips :D

[GLC1968]

Oh, I should have also mentioned that when we got packed up, some stuff was destined for long term storage, some was destined for our new apartment, and some was to be left out as it was going in our cars with us. We also had to have them pack up both our house and an off-site storage facility that was about 5 miles from where we lived. Graebel got it all 100% correct and it flowed like water. I was amazed. :)