Moving help for hire?
Jason emails:
I see that you have a few old Ask AOA posts on moving companies (from 2011 and 2010) which may be helpful to me, but was wondering if you'd consider opening that topic up again?
[W]e have some friends who will be moving to Niskayuna from Brooklyn. They're packing up their stuff there and will be driving it up in a truck they've rented. What they're looking for is to hire a few movers to unload the truck for a few hours on a Sunday morning. Based on what they have to unload, and the help of a few friends already lined up, they're figuring to hire two movers for two hours.
So I'd be interested to hear referrals to reliable companies that would do something like this, or maybe trustworthy freelancers. I also would be curious to know roughly what one could/should expect to pay for such a service?
Like most things, experience can make a big difference. We're always kind of amazed to see how experienced movers can maneuver some huge, heavy piece of furniture or appliance with relative ease.
So, got a suggestion for Jason and his friends? Please share!
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Jason, I just moved locally from Albany to Troy but I used Affordable Reliable Movers - Mike Henderson. I've put the craigslist link they have at the bottom.
I had need for a truck too so my moving costs would be more than what you would need and it was $105hr. This included the price of the truck, labor, dollies, moving blankets, and anything else needed to make your move easier.
The guys were great and quick but super careful. Especially careful with my large art canvases. One guy even was a handyman as well and I'm looking to contact him for some housework. To empty out my 2nd floor apt and then bring everything to the new house and carry stuff upstairs again for me took about 3.5 hours.
I'd give them an email and see if they would just hire out the labor and what it would cost.
https://albany.craigslist.org/lbs/4629702646.html
... said Hollie on Aug 21, 2014 at 1:20 PM | link
UHaul.com has a listing of people who will help you load or unload your truck: http://www.uhaul.com/MovingHelp/
That's where I went when I moved. I think I used Affordable Reliable Moving and they were great: on time, super fast, organized, reasonably priced, pleasant and professional. I hate moving, but was very impressed by the whole process.
... said Tiffany on Aug 21, 2014 at 1:23 PM | link
Niskayuna from Brooklyn? Poor dears.
... said Jason on Aug 21, 2014 at 3:42 PM | link
We moved a few weeks ago and used the RPI Rent-a-Rowers and they were great.
http://crew.union.rpi.edu/rent-a-rower/
... said Valerae on Aug 21, 2014 at 4:35 PM | link
Thanks AOA for posting and thanks for the tips to those who have chimed in. We reached out to Affordable Reliable as well as a few from the older post who seem to still be in operation - MoveOn had a bunch of recs in that one.
That Rent a Rower program is good to know about too - thanks for the tip! May look into that as an option as well..
... said laiskiainen (Jason) on Aug 22, 2014 at 8:30 AM | link
Sorry, that would be "Moving On" not "Move On" for anyone else who is looking. http://movingon-ny.com/
I'll try to remember to post back here with anything we learn from the process that may be useful to others.
... said laiskiainen (Jason) on Aug 22, 2014 at 1:23 PM | link
Check with NYSDOT to make sure whoever you hire is licensed there is a lot of history of fraud and theft in the moving industry
... said Mark on Aug 24, 2014 at 11:23 PM | link
The move is this Sunday morning. They hired these guys -
http://albany.craigslist.org/lbs/4638388107.html "Discount Movers"
It's $120 cash for 2 guys for 3 hours - (labor only, they aren't providing a truck or anything).
We had trouble getting responses from a lot of the bigger moving companies, and some of them either didn't do small jobs like this or had fairly high minimums.
Rent a Rowers got back to me and it sounded like that would have worked out if they could find two volunteers for that day, but my friends wanted more experienced movers and opted for the Craigslist guys.
I'll post here again if they turn out to be exceptionally amazing or (hopefully not) horrible. Otherwise, assume things went fine and as expected :)
... said laiskiainen (Jason) on Sep 4, 2014 at 1:43 PM | link
I'm sad to report that our experience with "Discount Movers" (this Craigslist link - http://albany.craigslist.org/lbs/4638388107.html) was not good. I would advise everyone to steer clear of this operation. Wish we had just gone with the rowers instead.
After confirming multiple times the address and start time (8am) including the day before, they were a no-show as we started work. Finally around 8:30 we contacted them to see what the deal was and received a text back that they had us down for 10am - um, why/how? - after a crew was finished up in Latham. They didn't actually show up until at least 10:15, a crew of 3 (we had agreed on 2, but whatever) and by then we had moved all but the biggest stuff. My friend paid the guys $60 for about 40 minutes of work and sent them on their way. Ten or fifteen minutes later, they returned with an angry dispatcher on the phone yelling at my friend that he owed him more $, being really aggressive and unpleasant. At one point he told my friend (paraphrased) "I know where you live and I'm going to get my money" at which point my friend asked if he was threatening him and the guy backed off of that a little bit, eventually just yelling and hanging up on him.
Very unreliable, unprofessional, and an attempted shakedown. Ridiculous.
... said laiskiainen (Jason) on Sep 8, 2014 at 2:55 PM | link