We experienced a lack of professionalism - Moving Review

We hired the Atlanta branch of this corporation, but only corresponded with John Daley at corporate. We expected professional movers, and we were willing to pay more than other companies asked in order to get the move done right.

We did all the packing and unpacking (not sure why this form indicates we paid for unpacking services).

We were initially told the movers would come between 2 and 4 on a Sunday, which was perfect. I had to work at a church that morning, and we both had to fly out the next day on business.

We were quoted around $112 per hour for a four-hour or so move. We only had a small storage unit (on-site in the apartment complex we were leaving) and a one-bedroom apartment. Not a ton of stuff. Three movers came. The day before, the head mover asked if they could come at noon, due to the heat, instead of between 2 and 4. We said this was fine, and made some changes to our schedule.

It took them about seven hours. There was a walk between both apartments and the truck, plus elevator rides, but this seemed significantly slower than we had been quoted. I thought it was because they were being careful with our stuff, and nothing showed up broken, so that was correct. I now wonder if they were inexperienced. We moved about a mile away, so there wasn't any traffic.

We paid a total of $784. After this move, we are now missing an ironing board, a Blu-Ray player, and a portable clothes rack (perhaps not stolen by the movers, but stolen by someone else while in the possession of the movers, as the truck was empty at the end of the move).

The head mover asked us, at the very end of the move, to pay half of the fee in cash even though the central office had two of our credit card numbers. He wouldn't take a check. And when the head mover left the apartment, peeved that we wouldn't pay them part of it in cash (trying to making a $400 withdrawal on a Sunday night from the closest ATM that does not belong to my bank actually shut down my debit card), and peeved that we couldn't tip them, he told the other movers in the hallway (we could hear): "they paid us with a credit card; there's no money." Then he tried to call someone to make arrangements to pay the other movers.

This last thing he did really surprised us. We suspect he was a subcontractor, which would explain why his truck had no decal or identifying marks from the moving company, and that the other movers were not on the payroll, i.e. being paid in cash under the table. A subcontractor is one thing, if they had told us they would be using one (the company did not tell us that), but using non-payroll employees is really not appropriate. If I am hiring someone under the table, I want to make that decision myself. I do not want a professional, insured moving company sending me people who get paid in cash only. That is a very exploitative practice.

We also were not informed by the office we would need to pay anything in cash, and no one told us the policy was to tip the movers. We would have been prepared, but instead, we felt like the mover was trying to take advantage of us by insisting, at the very end of the move, on cash.

We have tried to contact Milestone Relocation Services by phone and email. They called back once and left a message (we missed the call). They haven't tried again even though we have sent two emails. There has been no response via email and no additional phone call.

We are unsure how to file a claim regarding the missing items. We have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and have yet to hear back.

Share this review on