AVIV MOVING & STORAGE

We used Aviv to move us from Boston's South End to Roslindale in 2000, and based on our excellent experience, we hired them to pack and move us this year. A crew came on 6/21/12 to begin packing. All seemed to go pretty well until we inspected some of their work after they left on that first day. We found a few things just sort of crammed into boxes every which way. This was in direct contrast to the excellent job they did wrapping most of our furniture. I called as soon as we found the damage and sent pictures. The next morning, the crew arrived again and one person was set to work repacking the boxes packed by the guy who did a bad job. By this time, the crew leader called the office to tell them they could not get everything on one truck. I also talked with the office, and it was agreed that when the first truck was mostly full a second truck would be dispatched. At the point the first truck was full, the foreman wanted one of us to go with him and the crew to Western Mass. I reminded him that the office said he was to call for another truck before that. He was argumentative. I told him to call the office. He went into the back yard. When I looked out the window, it was clear he was yelling at whomever he was talking to and at one point he picked up a chair from our outdoor set and threw it to the ground. I called the office and demanded he be taken off the job right away. After talking with him again, the office said he'd been instructed to wait on the sidewalk for someone to pick him up and a crew member was appointed acting foreman. After he had been instructed to wait on the sidewalk he came into the house. He was very calm and said he was surprised we had called the office and told them he had behaved unprofessionally and asked why we did it. When I told him what I described above I saw him do, he denied it. After telling him a few times that he needed to leave, I called the office again, and they told me to call the police if he didn't leave. With that threat, he did leave the premises and the rest of the move went smoothly. I left with the first truck while my husband waited for the second truck. A member of the second crew reported to my husband that the foreman had just been rehired after being fired for being stubborn and always insisting that his way was the right way. This only added to our sense that Aviv was irresponsible in having this employee. Since the move, we've been unpacking some stuff slowly. Again, all the furniture was handled beautifully, but we continue to find things damaged that Aviv packed. Yesterday, we found a collector's quality toy in the original packaging, and the package had been crushed (perhaps our fault for not packing it ourselves). Today, we discovered the casters broken off a small filing cabinet when we went to move it for the first time. In summary there were three big problems that force me to give Aviv an F: 1) In spite of a site visit by an estimator, the packing and moving took much longer and was more expensive than quoted. We watched so we know that guys were working constantly so we paid without protest. The company gave us a good rate on the second unexpected truck. I think the price was fair, but if I had been on a tight budget, I don't know what we would have done. 2) Aviv sent a completely inappropriate person with a history of performance problems as a supervisor on our job. 3) It was a huge mistake to buy their packing services. We only did this because we could not do it ourselves. The packing ranged from very good to terrible, which resulted in damage to some irreplaceable things. They did an A job on the furniture, but get an F for the other stuff. My own view is that they should not offer that service because they can't deliver it in a high quality way. It is disappointing to have to write this review as I considered this company in a very different light based on our first experience and often recommended them.