Warning: Never use Careful Movers
Crossposting this from reddit to warn people here as well.
I had to move last week, and wanted to treat myself to some movers instead of lugging everything around myself as I usually do . After reading some reviews and getting some recommendations, I eventually decided to use Careful Movers (1442742 Alberta Ltd) in Calgary to move my 1 bedroom apartment to another building literally right across the street.
Now, if anyone isn't aware, when you move out of one of these new apartment buildings, the person moving out generally needs to pay to reserve the elevator so that the move can happen quickly (in a 2 hour window). Unfortunately it's expensive ($160 in my case) and I had to do it twice - one for each building.
Careful Movers were supposed to show up at 12:30 to start wrapping the very small amount of furniture I have (a single couch and mattress), so they would be ready for 1pm to use the elevator. Instead, me and security were standing around until 1pm with no word from the movers. I then called, and he said he was running late and would be there in 20-30 minutes. Almost one and a half hours later at 1:50, they showed up and were ready to move.
I then get a call at 4:30 from security at my new building saying that the movers aren't allowed to use the elevator because they took too long, and my reservation was over. Great. After expressing my frustration towards the head office of Careful Movers, I got a call back saying that the movers will hold on to my things until 8pm when it's not as busy, to which they can start loading up the elevator
At this point, I've been wandering around downtown trying to kill time thinking that it would originally take about 3 hours, and now I've got to kill an additional 4 hours because these guys don't know how to schedule their time properly. I ended up at a friends house with and asked the movers to contact him when they were ready as my phone had died, and my charger was in a box. I get a phone call at about 8:30 saying they need the contract signed and I should head back. One thing to mention - I would have signed the contact when they arrived in my apartment, but they forgot to bring a pen (and of course all my stuff is packed up) so I had to hold on to it for the time being.
So I tell them I'll be 20 minutes (as I have to walk back) and they start texting my friend after 10 minutes asking where I was and that I need to come back asap. So I grab all my things in a hurry and book it back to my place, and I see the guys still unloading the truck. He keeps repeating to me that he needs the contract, and I'm trying to drill it into his head that he is wasting more of my time by calling me back thinking they were done, only to tell me that they still need another hour. Great, so I end up sitting with security in the lobby for close to an hour and a half, while the security guard is telling me these movers are some of the sloppiest movers he's ever seen (he's in charge of all of the moves for the building). Residents are trying to use the elevator to get to their homes, and the guys at Careful Movers are actually not letting them in the elevator so they can continue to move stuff in.
You'd think my lovely experience would be over by now, but when I go up to check on them, I see both of them with their shoes on dragging their crap around on my freshly shampooed white carpet. What's that smell? Oh it's a bottle of vinegar that they spilled in a box (which couldn't have possibly been spilled unless they were carrying it on their side). After him not cutting me a deal for the 10 hours of inconvenience he has caused me, he tells me that he can't accept credit card "at this hour". What does that even mean? Is MasterCard taking a break at 10pm? Last but not least, he couldn't find the keys to the other apartment, so he disappears for 15 minutes to which I hear the other guy saying he saw them on the ground by the truck when they came in. Ugh.
He said he's been doing it for 19 years or something, but it felt like this was his first day. The fact that they didn't discount the rate at all despite all this is actually mind blowing to me. I'm going to continue to spread this review to as many sites and people as possible so hopefully people can avoid using this hack of a company in the future.
TL : DR
Almost 2 hours late, delayed 4 hours, spilled goods, walked around freshly shampooed white carpet with shoes on, lied about not being able to take credit card, left my keys on the ground outside, refused to remove one hour off the entire bill after my entire day was ruined, broke my tv.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comm..._moving_never/
Updates
Sunday, Aug 4th
I just got a phone call from careful movers after seeing this post, and it looks like they are taking the first steps to resolve some of the issues. He's calling back tomorrow, I'll post another update after.
Monday, Aug 5th
Today was the day he told me he was going to call back, and look at that, they never did! I'll be following up with them tomorrow.
Tuesday, Aug 6th
Talked to Adam, he mentioned that the mover would meet me tonight to give me the receipt. He texted me once saying "free now?" then didn't respond to the next 4 messages saying I was available and ready to meet.
Wednesday, Aug 7th
Sent an email, and left a message this morning saying that if they didn't respond to my emails or calls by 2pm, I would start the small claims process. I also got a lovely message from a CBC reporter saying she was interested in the story as well. I called them at 2pm today to follow up, and proceeded to get hung up on twice, after them telling me that Adam was "on vacation" and will be back by monday. That must have slipped his mind when I talked to him yesterday.
Looks like CBC is coming friday morning to do a story.
Quote
I was about to call them to schedule a move, looks like I will call someone else now
