Movers----A Cautionary Tale

It has come to my attention that we had more than one anniversary a couple of weeks ago.  The first was our forty-sixth wedding anniversary.  The second was the eighth anniversary of being in this house.  What a surprise!  Who knew, starting out, that we would be gypsies, moving in and out of houses, fifteen in all, like we were in the Witness Protection Program?  Well, we did live the longest, sixteen years, in the house our boys grew up in and that was the best, but I'm startled to realize that besides that one, we have been here longer than any others.

I just wrote, and deleted, a whole blog about being moved by professionals. It is exciting all by itself, but today, students, let's talk about what NOT to do if you are arranging for your own movers.  As I said, we have had several moves in the past, two cross-country, two inter-state, and after the turn of this century, there were four local moves in a five-year period.  I thought I was pretty proficient at this.  I thought I spoke "Mover". The downfall came the very, last time we moved, and it was only from Tulsa to Broken Arrow. How hard could that be?

For the first time in all the moves, I was in charge of engaging the movers.  Here is where I made my big mistake: I tried to do it all by phone. Here where I made my biggest mistake: I took the lowest bid. We had pared things down considerably in those last few moves and I knew exactly what we had and what would fit on the truck. For goodness sake, the stickers were still on all the boxes.

The very friendly gentleman, Dan, that I spoke to assured me his crew could do it all in a morning and it would only cost $400.  He was family-owned.  He had been in business for a number of years.  He would take personal care of us.  He knew how stressful even these short moves could be. Not to worry; he would treat me like his own mother. We set up a time for his truck to be at our duplex.  I called the utility companies and arranged for the stop date.

The morning of the move Dennis left for work.  I answered the door to the mover.  He didn't look like he was going to treat me like his own mother.  "Hey." he snarled. " I'm Jack. Dan's truck broke down and he sent me over to move you."  He began to stroll through the house, looking at the boxes already packed in the garage.  He looked me over too.  Here is where he made his big mistake:  "I can get this for you, lady, but it's gonna cost you $700."

I stood there, dumbfounded. "But, Dan told me he could do it for $400. That is the price we agreed on."

"Yeah, well, that's because he has a bigger truck.  I will have to make two trips and it's gonna cost you $700.  We need to get going here. I know you have to get out of here today."  And here is where he made his biggest mistake:  "An Elderly Person, like yourself," he said, "needs to take what help you can get.  You can't do it yourself, can ya?"

I sent him packing, and I don't mean with my furniture.  I realize now that it was a scam from the beginning, a bait and switch, and had I let him get our belongings on his truck, he probably would have kept them there and refused to unload until I had paid him even more than the $700.  My biggest regret is that I didn't call the police on the spot.

And then this Elderly Person got cracking.  I loaded every box and every piece of furniture I could fit into the back of my mini-van and moved it myself.  Bet you didn't know I can carry a wing back chair on my head, did you?  I lifted every end table, the coffee table, all the heavy oak chairs from our dining set, night stands, rocking chairs, boxes and more.  If it fit it into the back of the van, I moved it.  There may have been some adrenaline involved.

It took a whole bunch of trips and we had to stay in a dark house with no electricity that night and brush our teeth with bottled water, but the next day another local mover came and moved the big furniture and the appliances.  I did not pay them $700.

So here are some things to remember:

1. Interview movers at your house and get written bids.

2. Pack one box with toilet paper, bedding, and cleaning supplies and load it last so it can come off the truck first. 

3. If your refrigerator is going to be turned off for more than a day or two, put lumps of charcoal in an old sock and leave it in the refrigerator to absorb odors. (Don't get that charcoal embedded with starter fluid that smells like kerosene. Just sayin.')

4. Don't call me Elderly.