HANSEN'S MOVING & STORAGE

Jack Hansen and 2 employees packed up our household over the course of a week in Menlo Park. Because of difficult driveway access, they shuttled items from our home to a warehouse in smaller trucks, and eventually loaded everything onto a large truck for the cross country move. Mr. Hansen said he'd prefer to do most of the packing, so things would fit better. We packed hundreds of books ourselves, but waited for him to pack breakables such as kitchen items, lamps, and artwork. When it became obvious toward the end of a week of loading that he was going to run out of time for packing, we packed the kitchen ourselves. Once he reached Pennsylvania, after we provided final payment, he let us know not everything fit on the truck. He said there were about half a dozen items, including a large ladder and patio furniture, and he'd pay us to replace what was to bulky to ship, and get the rest to us once he got back to California. He DIDN'T tell us not everything fit before leaving CA, not before receiving payment. And it turned out to be over 60 items that didn't make it. He shipped some boxes via UPS, 2 pallets of large boxes via a 3rd party trucking company, and finally delivered the patio furniture, ladders, etc. 2 months after the initial move. As we went back and forth, he tried to say everything would have fit if we'd let him pack it. Or, that we should have known what would fit on a 53' truck, despite this being his profession, not ours. This, despite the fact that we gave a way a pool table he had originally contracted to move, and left behind some other bulky outdoor items. Basically, he mis-estimated the space needed from the beginning. In addition, some items were damaged during the move. That is to be expected, and most can be repaired fairly easily. However, we had just had hard wood floors refinished in our new home before the move. He did nothing to protect the floor, and our foyer has long gouges that will need to be repaired from them sliding heavy antique pieces across the floor. Three different dining and kitchen chairs needed repair as do 2 delicate antique pieces, 2 lamps, all packed by Mr. Hansen. Some kitchen items which he shipped UPS arrived shattered. They were in boxes we packed, but we intended them to be carried on and off a moving truck, not shipped via UPS. So a large platter in a box with cookie sheets and cutting boards was shattered, the base of a Cuisinart food processor was smashed, and a Kitchenaid stand mixer was broken. Those latter appliances are pretty sturdy; seems like you'd have to work hard to break those. All in all, if we had it to do over, we'd choose someone else, even at a higher cost, because this is the worst moving experience we've ever had.

They provided excellent service. I have used them before and went back to them because of the prior good experience. The movers were friendly, professional, and very careful. Price was reasonable for the work done, and they were finished ahead of schedule. I really appreciated the flexibility and work ethic. Nobody sitting around or trying to slow it down to jack up the bill. Very pleased with the result. No damage to anything.