Greater Dayton Moving and Storage

Review and Compliant By Tanela Hicks, Trotwood Ohio I would like to first lay out some context facts before I provide my review of Greater Dayton Moving and Storage. I hired this company approximately a month ago. I called to confirm twice and ask basic logistically questions. The move was a basic but large family move, 4 bedrooms, and garage. The service was booked for Saturday 06/27/2020. I hired a 3 team moving crew. The booked time was 8 am-10 am. The company was booked solely because of the great service they provided to my grandmother during her move over 4 months ago. These are the facts. The execution of my request was the biggest fail for Great Dayton Moving and Storage. We were supposed to be moved on Saturday 06/27/2020. After organizing childcare for my 3 young children and strategically packing my home; at 8:00 am we were ready to move. At 10:32 am I spoke with Amy. She informed me that one of the crew had a family emergency. The emergency was taking his wife to urgent care. I expressed my sympathy, and then ask what that meant for us. She requested I be okay with moving Sunday 06/28/2020. I would like to pause here to explain my main point of anger and disappointment. I am understanding and empathic. I understand things happen. People call off, emergencies happen, cars break. I was not mad that the employee of Greater Dayton Moving and Storage had an emergency, and I truly hoped that they would be okay. I am angry because the leader/owner did not have a contingency plan to accommodate this emergency. As the client, I should not be left in the cold because you (the company) have a staffing issue. I will get to the many options that could have been considered later. After a few calls back and forth with Amy, I reconfirmed that moving a different day was not possible. Our beds were dismounted and broken down. The lights, water, and gas were to be shut off, and most importantly, we (my husband and I) promised our children they would get to sleep in their new home. She was friendly and did try a few options (hotel, discounts, etc.) But all involved changing the already planned, and in-process move…to Sunday 06/28/2020. I declined and offered several options. 1. Can you send just the two guys and my husband and can help? 2. Can you send just the one and the truck, I can get some guys? 3. What about contracting our job out to another company, Greater Dayton Moving and Storage negotiate the rate with them and I get my move? 4. What about hiring day workers? All of these options were turned down. While I am sure the company has solid reasons for not wanting to do any of these; at the end of the day, that is not my (the client) problem. I needed to be moved Saturday 06/27/2020. After my final “no” to change my move date, Amy called back and said she found another crew. According to her, only 2 crews hired on Saturdays. The other crew was on a pretty big job but would be able to come at 3:00 pm on Saturday 06/27/2020. She stated it would be a crew of 4 (at no charge) and assured me it would go fast. I was annoyed but thankful for the solution. Amy gave me the mover's name (Roger) and his phone number. She also upon my request gave me the manager number (John Singleton) and I ask for the owner’s name. She assured me that they would be there at 3 pm after their other job was completed. I specifically expressed my worried and distrust that the problem was resolved. Amy stated, “We will not leave you out to dry, I promise”. Since she had been very friendly and did seem to try hard to resolve their companies staffing issue, I believed her. At 3:30 pm no movers, no calls! I began calling all the numbers I could find. I spoke with a man named Roger first and he indicated he know something was going on with the “other move”, but was unsure. When I asked was he coming he said “I don’t know, we are still on this job and it is a large one”. While I am not certain, it sounded as if this employee had heard there was another issue, but because he was booked at another move today, he was busy WORKING. He did not seem to know he was due to come to our home and move us. Someone got there move Saturday, and my family was just left out. At about 4:00 pm I got a hold of one of the owners (Cindy). At this point, I was irate because I had moved a lot of things in my personal SUV and Mini Van. After Greater Dayton Moving and Storage morning failings, we began trying to move as much as we could ourselves. This is not what we intended. The goal of hiring a moving company is to have them move all your items. They are trained and skilled at fast hauling of heavy items. My husband and I are able-bodied, but after previous DIY moving experiences, we decided to invest in the service. Cindy apologized and explained she was the owner and she was on vacation in another state. She said she would call me back after she made some calls to see what is going on. I never heard back from Cindy. As of today 07/01/2020, I still have not heard back from the owner, a manager, or any other company representative with an apology, satisfaction check, nothing. I left at minimum 3 voicemails on Amy’s voicemail, 1 on the manager’s (John) voicemail, and spoke with an owner. No one called me back. About 10 minutes after speaking with Cindy, Roger (from the other moving job) called me and stated that he would not be able to “get to me” today. He apologized and began his version of customer service. He offered discounts and asked to set a new time to move for Sunday at 8 am, with 4 guys. With NO CHOICE and NOWHERE TO GO, I agreed. We moved 2 of the beds ourselves and ended up staying in our new home without our children. I had to arrange an additional day of childcare. When I asked Roger did someone tell him to call me back (Cindy), he said no, he was just following up from my previous call to him. On Sunday 06/28/2020 promptly at 8 am, 3 guys and a Greater Dayton Moving Storage truck pulled up to my old address and started right away. I will pause here to say this. The moving crew was friendly and very fast. They carefully removed my fragile furniture pieces and placed them in my home with no damage. While at times they were a little chatty, they definitely did a good job with the actual act of moving. I have no real complaints with them. Other than the fact they seemed to not be aware of my previous issues and several times indicated that they were OFF AND AVAILABLE on Saturday, I have no problems with the actual labor crew. Summary- If you own or manage a company that depends on sets of teams, have a contingency plan. The customer should not be left to fend for themselves. When it comes to moving, people hire companies to make it EASY. This was not easy! I was not satisfied with the customer service and problem-solving skills of this company. Aside from the physical labor of the job, they failed at every level. I did not get a move on Sunday 06/28/2020. I truly believe you guys had someone available to move, but could not or would not ask them to come into work. It should not be on me, the client, to prove to you why moving on Saturday 06/27/2020 was important. You guys acted as though I was being unreasonable. Yes, I received a 25% discount, but that did not take away from the anger frustration and time I spent trying to REORGANIZE my life, for Greater Dayton Moving and Storage’s business failings. Consider setting some backup plans. Consider the client’s alternative options, when you have a problem. What is their satisfactory solution? Perhaps institute a deposit policy, that will help you ensure you have adequate staff available, to provide both security and trust between you and the client. I would have paid it to make sure that I was moved on Saturday 06/27/2020. This was not a partnership, were we both accommodate to meet a unified specific goal. This was contracted work, for you the company to execute. Again I am not saying control all problems that arise on the fly. I am saying, as leaders you should plan for the problems and at minimum have a rough viewpoint on how to handle them in a way that doesn’t put the customer out. And after the problem is resolved, follow-up, ensure it is done. I felt forgotten and dismissed by the manager (who never call back and I never spoke to) and the owner (who never called back). I was left out to dry by Amy after she promised that the crew would be there at 3 pm. Even if they were late, if they had come; I would not be as upset about the whole situation. This was a horrible experience and I will make sure it is shared on the appropriate channels. I will share with my family, who until today thought they were a decent company, that we should not use them. In my opinion, Greater Dayton Moving and Storage failed on the business front, big time.