Saturday, July 16, 2011

My experience moving with United Van Lines


We are moving out of state... we need a mover. How to choose one?
We decided to search on the internet and found abundant information about how to choose a mover, say like the one in eHow.
We decide to interview 3 candidates, Graebel, Allied and United Van Lines. They all accredited by BBB.

I called each companies and all of them have a very fast respond to send their sales person in. They walked around the house and gave estimate. Amazingly, they all came with similar quote, similar service including wrapping the sofa, putting carpet and door protector. One thing that I think differentiate Graebel and United, all Graebel crew employed by Graebel while United (Barrett Moving) is contracted out.

Since we asked the quote more than 2 month from our moving date, United will re do the quotation again, but the other two didn't offer that service. They would do it if you ask.

We went through each estimate and talked to each of the sales person with questions and narrowed down to two movers and decided on one. We chose United because the sales person is very easy to communicate both by email or phone. Tony M is very professional, can explain questions in detail and very structured.

We requested "not to exceed" quote instead of "straight talk" to cap our moving expense.
Then, we're connected with the coordinator, Muge. She is very easy to communicate, explains our questions in very detail and clear.

About 2 days before the loading day, the packers crew came. Three ladies came and put all of our stuff in the boxes within 6 hours. They left few open boxes for our blankets and our last minute items. They numbered every box.

On the loading day, a huge truck parked in front of our drive way. They arrived within the time estimated. Two very strong men and a driver came, put door protection and started taking box by box out in the staging area before they put all in the truck. The last items to go in are bigger items like bike, lawn mower, shelf, .. those that can't go in a box. It took them about 8 hours to load everything up. I'm glad that all of our stuff can fit into one truck.

Three days later, about 1035 miles away from our home, the truck arrived, on time. The only familiar face is the driver. They have two other strong men to unload the boxes and assembly the beds. It took them about 5 hrs to unload everything.

I have a good experience with them. They are very professional and reliable. Yes, if I move out of state again, I'd choose them... But I think it's going to be a long time before we need a mover again...

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