O'LAKERS MOVING & STORAGE

Description of Work: We moved to Florida from Wisconsin. It was a job transfer so we had to go through a relocation company. We used Stephens Moving out of Michigan and the mover they used in Florida was O'Lakers in Brandon.

Description of Work: I got quotes from multiple national moving providers Atlas, Allied, Mayflower, two men & a truck ect. This agent from Stevens was the cheapest out of all the national carriers. Out of all the sales people Ernie was the most easy, quick estimator that came out to the house. He didn't really try to itemize everything like all the other estimators. This sort of made me feel better about the experience since he wasn't trying to nickle and dime me counting for every item. He gave me a flat "guaranteed" not to exceed price. He kept on emphasizing that he is not giving me an estimate but a "guaranteed price". So that seemed like a good secure deal. So when I called Ernie and told him that its a go for the move from Florida to Chicago he came out to sign the paperwork and an important measure he took after I read the agreement is that the agreement is pre-printed to allow for an adjustment should the estimated weight be too low. Ernie crossed that out and put flat rate and then he initialed and I initialed that change. I felt good so far with the deal but when the mover Fred Young and his crew of geriatric movers I felt a sinking hole feeling in my stomach. At first sight I considered reneging and turning them back. I mean these guys were over or close to 50 years old. Anyway, Fred came in and starting tagging and documenting all the boxes and his elderly crew were left to load the truck. Everything was going fine until I asked him how much weight he thought I had. He said well estimated is 7,000 ish pounds but your deal is whatever it weighs it weighs and we would then adjust the cost to actual weight. I advised Fred that this is a flat rate deal and showed him a copy of the agreement. He then stopped tagging and called the office and started a very long drawn out conversation with them. After he was done I asked him when does he think he will deliver my items. He said that he didn't know yet he is waiting on some other shipper to confirm but per the delivery spread it could be up to 14 days. He loaded up on a Friday and said that he would call me Monday to confirm delivery. They then finished loading up around 6-7 PM with a crew of 3 that should have taken till 3-4 PM as it did with other movers. My neighbor also noticed that the two helpers were not working but loafing around and came up to me asked if I'm paying these guys by the hour since they were loafing. Fred didn't help out much in the loading process since he was tagging and talking to his wife and others on the phone while the other 2 were loading. After all the items were loaded Fred spent about an hour pacing in front of my house talking on the phone. These guys were slow but what do you expect from the elderly. One of the other guys called Fred over to show them some damage to the furniture and I was close by and I heard Fred ask the mover if he told the owner (me) about the damage. He said yea, but then I walked up and confronted him and said that I wasn't aware of any damage and that he didn't mention anything to me. Now this mover spoke some sort of backwoods bayou form of English that you could barley understand. The best example would be from King of the Hill the guy who kept on saying yea man. Fred never called me on Monday to confirm delivery so I decided to call him at about 2:00 PM, no answer. I called again at 4:30 PM, no answer. At 5:30 I called Ernie the sales guy and he gave me the managers number stating that the mover should call immediately after leaving the message and that this was not normal for mover not to return calls. The manager called back and stated that they are still waiting to confirm pick-up from another shipper and didn't know when they would deliver my furniture. I advised that Every time I moved before the driver told me the date of delivery upon picking up my shipment. He said that they can deliver any day per the delivery spread up to 14 days. Ok so its now Tuesday, still no word from Fred. I call again and leave a message. He calls back and is still waiting for the other guy. I then ask for a round about date and he snaps on me. He yelled at me and said "what do you want me to lie to you? I don't know when I'll deliver I'm waiting for the other guy to pick up his stuff." He then said he'll call me on Wednesday. Wednesday still no word I call and leave him a message. He then decides to call me on Thursday night and tells me that Friday at 8:00 AM he will deliver. A knock on the door at 6:30 AM and its Fred ready to deliver. Me and my wife get out of bed and let the guys in. There was some minor damage to our stuff but after reading horror stories I'm glad my items arrived.

Description of Work: House visit and estimate generation, scheduling, packing/boxing/crating, loading, transport, unloading, furniture placement for an 8000 sq. ft household's move from St.Petersburg FL to Boston MA.