Moving to Washington - need moving company

[happybat4]

My wife got a promotion with her work. I am out of the country right now for work, and we need a moving company to move us. We got an apartment near seattle that she moves into on July 15th. Anybody have advice for moving companies. I am looking online and they all seem like scams. Horrible reviews and big time bait and switch.

[CaliAngel]

I'm a guy, I've worked in sales and have since left, but your wife will probably get worked, especially if she's calling them and doing it on her own.

 

True story, moving companies lick their chops at females in a bind calling up for their services, they get it all the time. I wouldn't doubt you'll get upcharged and swindled out of more than deserved, and your belongings will probably not be handled with great care. Unless you do it yourself or have a bunch of buddies (like DR) that can help you out in a rental Uhaul, you're what moving companies rely on to stay in business. "OHH you want that covered in a sheet during travel, well that's gonna cost blah blah blah." You're in a situation that's out of your hands and you need it fairly soon. It's like working on cars: the job sucks, nobody wants to do it, so the people that DO decide to do the job find ways to make the most money for their time.

 

Maybe someone on here knows a less "corporate" moving company that takes pride in providing quality services for fair prices. And when they do, tip the guy a couple hundy just for taking care of your ish.

 

If you've ever moved yourself, or friends, or worked on a car yourself, we all know it sucks. The companies that do these kind of service jobs cost and arm and a leg because of it.

[Brandon]

Yikes. The ladies best friend moved from here to Portland and paid 10k for everything moved. Seems extremely excessive.

[nate]

I got a quote Monday from Atlas to move from here to Milwaukee for just under 5k...

 

In the end we are going the Relocube route from Upack probably.

[Adam]

Seattle. Milwaukee.

 

Sorry fellas

[gotbeer]

LOL.  And of course the ad that shows up now on AW.com is a moving company.  

 

A lot of it will come down to how much of the work you/she wants to do herself.  But I've heard nightmare stories about small companies that won't return your stuff, unless you pay for extra charges.  If she's comfortable loading and doing all that stuff, look into those storage pod services.  If that's the direction she wants to go, she could hire some day laborers for the larger heavy stuff.  

 

Here are some articles I found online to search for a mover.  Hope it helps.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-mcholm/hiring-moving-company_b_3184413.html

 

http://www.movingscam.com/

[Tank]

Moving just isn't cheap. We hired a moving company or just a one mile cross town move and it was $1100. We were happy to pay it, too.

There are some companies that will pack your stuff for you but that seems like an invitation to steal and I wouldn't do it.

[Ray McKigney]

Perhaps somebody at your wife's work can recommend a company

[mrwicked]

Let the company take care of it.

Have them find and coordinate a mover, pay for it, and set you guys up at a place in the meantime.

You shouldn't have to pay a dime - her moving there for this position is doing the company a favor.

[2002_halos_II]

I'm surprised relocation expenses aren't covered...

[happybat4]

I wish they were covered but they are not. She applied for the promotion, she doesn't have to take it. It is a government job too, usually they pay for everything. I guess it is a tax write off though. I have found a website where there is reviews on moving companies. There are some with great reviews, they just charge more money.

[NJHalo]

U-Haul + Home Depot parking lot = major savings

[Vegas Halo Fan]

There are some companies that will pack your stuff for you but that seems like an invitation to steal and I wouldn't do it.

 

We did that when we moved from Oklahoma to Las Vegas. There is stuff that I never found (nothing terribly valuable, but some things that were tough to replace), a lot of inconsistency in packing (a paring knife that was wrapped in five layers of tissue vs. a computer keyboard that was tossed into a box with no protection at all), pieces missing off some of my desktop commercial aircraft models (never found those either), things that arrived broken (naturally, most of those were in boxes we opened after the deadline for damage claims). Live and learn. If I had it to do over again, I would have packed what I could pack myself, sold all of the furniture and just called it good.