moving companies

The move is within manhattan

Have moved with Allstar 4 times and have always been satisfied. Never did the pack/unpack thing though. They are pretty good dealing with coops.

hi ueside- how many beds did they move? any antiques/art?

I highly highly recommend Scanio Moving 212-722-6850. I was skeptical of all moving companies but I could not have been more impressed with Scanio. Jimmy is the office manager and the 2 guys they sent over (John & Brian) were phenomenal. They were professional, extremely conscientious and highly efficient. We gave them a nice tip which brought the grand total above what was quoted at the beginning but we felt it was well worth the quality of work. Good luck with your move.

I used flat rate. Good experience -btw I got 2 quotes and sat on them( I don't know when you are moving) and when I got called back I asked for a better price and they came down to a really good price. I think there is a lot of deals to be made now. I like paying a flat rate - hate when they come back and add on all these extras

We have many threads on here about this. They are easily searched by "movers" or the name "Flatrate" will pull up every thread, too. Personally, I've used Flatrate 3 times and am about to use them a forth time. Storage fees at their Bronx facility are very reasonable, they do what they say, when they say they will do it, and customer service is outstanding in coordinating your job. It is the only non-stressful part of my moves.

I used Flatrate twice and my last experience last year was horrible.
They sent a driver who was sick. He dropped boxes on top of other boxes. T The driver spit up his phlegm on the carpet of my new building in front of me. I paid them a tip just to get rid of them. The central office didn't care, barely could apologize for lousy service. Very disappointing. I'm looking for a new one for next time. I think basically people who use them are post-college types without valuables, living in rental buildings.

My understanding is that Flatrate pays fixed 27% of the quoted price to its moving crew, and they do not get a salary. The result is that the crew is motivated to get the job done in minimum amount of time and least use of material. Though tips are a motivating factor, the quality is highly inconsistent and depends totally on the moving crew.

I used another moving company "divine moving"- time (per hour) & material (sold) billing. They are motivated to maximize the use of time and material in the move. I would not recommend Divine. I was provided approximation of 6-7 hours of time (Junior 4 move 20 blocks), but they ended up with 9.5 hours. Crew leader knew what he was doing, but the others were totally green. On top of that, when I opened the boxes they had packed (we packed most of the stuff ourselves), only 50% of them were filled with items, there were boxes inside boxes. They "sold" me $450 worth of extra material - they could have done the job with $150. Part of it was my fault for not monitoring them closely enough.

Both the models have flaws and incentive issues. Any company you use, make sure that you get a estimates from the crew leader (before they start) on time and also material and tie any tip to meeting those benchmarks and not breaking anything.

I have used Flat Rate 3 times and have been satisfied with them.

We have used Westside Movers 3 times and were happy each time. Used Flatrate 6 months ago and was also happy. Try and negotiate the price though - worked for us and made a big difference.

hi

thanks for all this, I am looking for information on these three movers only. BTW, didn't include flatrate as there are mixed reviews and a lot of bad ones on movingscam.com. Although, I did have them come out, I was not impressed with Flatrate's quote (11K and then their weekly deduction/specials/just for being you discount techniques). I am going to request a binding not to exceed estimate from all three, so I will "fix" the price of the move. Currently they are all coming in around 7-7.5K for a three bedroom.

Would appreciate advice especially from those who have used the pack/unpack experiences.

I've used Moishes (twice) and Brownstone Movers (once). While I prefered that latter, the former was fine. While I didn't have them pack/unpack, I had a fair number of fragile things and art pieces that needed to be taken care of, and they did fine, same with the baby grand, which isn't such an easy thing to move without incident with small elevators.

We've used Flatrate once and they were fine for what we had to move (no major valuables, no top-of-the-line pieces of furniture, etc), though they somehow lost a set of dumbbells along the way. Not a major problem, and they did agree to pay for the weights. BUT, I was concerned that anything had been misplaced at all.

All in all, Flatrate's prices are very competitive and they're basically hassle-free, which we appreciated. I don't think I'd recommend them, though, if you're moving art and/or antiques. You get what you pay for, and I don't believe these guys are experts in the safe handling of valuable, delicate items. For that you'll need movers who are specially trained. And that will cost more money.

I strongly recommended all star here
http://www.streeteasy.com/nyc/talk/discussion/8489-in-contract-now-need-moving-company

I have used Moishes and all star and the difference is night and day although I used the packimg/unpacking service with all star but not with Moishes.

With all star they send an experienced estimator who will give you a fixed price based on a thorough walk through. although the cost is quite high, they do not subsequently nickel and dime you for differences on the day of the move. Both the estimator and movers do an efficient job and you basically don't have to worry about where they are (I've had that happen in the past), will they break anything, how long will it take etc.

With Moishes they did nickel and dime, were careless and hassled me for a larger tip - already about 15% but they weren't happy.

For me it boils down to hassle and worry free vs. having to keep an eye on someone because they do not instill confidence. You pay more but it's worth it for me.

Thanks for all this, what kind of nickel and dime did people experience?

They get you in different ways. Major one is insurance. Basic quote values your property by the pound--as in they'll insure $0.10/lb up to $100.00. Add'l real insurance costs a couple hundred more. If you don't do a walk through with a company before the move and price quote, they'll charge you for whatever you forgot to tell them: the flight down from the service entrance, the limited capacity of the service elevator, the cubic feet of stuff is larger than you indicated by phone, ... The safest way is to insist on an on-sight firm quote like Flatrate and others provide. They look at the building, the stuff, how things will be moved in and out, etc. That way, they can't claim any surprises on day of move.

I should add a caveat: I'm talking about the reputable ones! The problematic movers have no limits in the fees they'll invent. Stick with the major ones endorsed on the countless threads here. The threads give you a very good sense of the consensus of which companies are good enough to consider.

Any advice on who to use if you are doing a move within your building? It seems like such a waste to wrap everything up just to take it upstairs in the elevator. At the same time, we really need help moving some large pieces of furniture.

Super and a porter interested in doing it for you? Otherwise, I'd work something out with one of the real companies. I'm sure they'd give a good reduced price. They are all hurting for business now. I just negotiated a bid down a lot for a move I'm making with Flatrate--all I had to do was ask really. And then ask again.

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