Ocean Moving and Storage - Moving Review

My moving experience with Ocean Moving and Storage has been an absolute nightmare.

My move went from Winter Park, FL to Manhattan, NY. Victor Gaslow contacted me about a month prior to my move after I'd submitted an online request for a moving company. Victor spoke confidently of his company. He gave me an over the phone quote for my move of $1200 based on the amount of furniture that I owned and an estimate of how many boxes I'd have. I would be paying half at pickup and half at delivery. Despite my better judgment I quickly jumped at the offer because it was less than half of what another company quoted. I told Victor that I wasn't sure of exactly how many boxes I'd be moving. He informed me that I could call him at any time to report more or less items and he'd adjust the quote for me.

About a week prior to the move I called Victor to inform him that I would have a few more boxes than we had originally estimated. He informed me that I "shouldn't worry about it unless we're moving something huge like a hot tub or a grand piano". I was reassured that it wouldn't need to be logged down. At this point I was fully aware that my price was most likely going to be higher than the quote.

On June 23rd the movers showed up. There were three of them total. Joe seemed to be in charge of the paperwork and pricing. Joe informed me that the price was going to be higher than the quote. I told him that I suspected it would be. He was unable to give me even a ballpark estimate when asked. Once about half of my belongings were on the truck he finally broke the news that I would be paying around $2500 for the move! I was shocked. Not only was half of my stuff already on their truck, but also the feeling of being shanghaied was beginning to sink in.

I was trapped. Half my stuff was on the truck and because of how soon it was to my move out date I had no choice but to agree to the pricing - and they knew it. After everything was said and done my move came out to around $2600! Another thing I was never informed about was the fact that they were also charging for the packing supplies like the tape that they were applying to all of my boxes very liberally. Of course, the contract stated that I agreed to knowing about the cost of packing supplies, but reading it on the actual contract itself was the first time I had been informed about it.

After everything was on the truck Joe pulled me aside and actually asked me for a tip. Repeatedly. Despite the fact that doing that was highly unprofessional and would ordinarily result in no tip, I tipped them. They had all of my stuff and I felt pressured to do so. Joe informed me that I would "most likely" have my stuff in NYC by Monday or Tuesday (the 29th) at the absolute latest.

I got to NYC on Monday with nothing but my dog and a suitcase. The entire move took two weeks, rather than the 5 business days they originally told me.

On top of all of that the deliverymen (who were different from the ones who picked up my stuff) were absolutely the rudest servicemen I've ever dealt with in my entire life. They were constantly swearing at me about how heavy my belongings were. One of them even made fun of me over some of the things I owned. They also made fun of the size of the apartment I was living in. The best thing I can say about them is that they at least never asked for a tip, unlike the pickup guys.

Relocating was made many times more difficult and expensive than it should have been thanks to Ocean Moving. I spent two weeks sleeping on a floor without any possessions outside of what I packed in my suitcase and the entire experience cost me more than twice my estimate. I understand the way they charged based on how much space you take up on the truck, but they could easily be more accurate about their estimates. Joe, one of my pickup movers, even stated, "no one ever pays what they think they should for this". My thoughts exactly, Joe.

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