WILLIAM LAWTON & SON INC

This was not a happy experience. The movers took 45 minutes to get to our house in the morning, which we felt was an excessively long time to make the trip from Warwick to the East Side. Almost from the beginning, there was complaining and arguing among the men. They billed themselves as piano movers, but the lead man repeatedly said to us that he didn't think he could get the piano out (even though it had been brought UP without trouble in the first place). He was also convinced that a large loveseat could not come out, and he and the three other guys spent a good hour fussing and fuming and finally forcing it out a window (although it had been brought UP through the stairwell). They ended up leaving a large bookcase that they insisted could not be moved down, even though my husband and I had moved it up ourselves. The "driver" (manager of the move) was not a good leader. He argued repeatedly with the men and belittled them. There was a lot of shouting, and we heard a number of private complaints from the workers. This did NOT help productivity. We saw a lot of standing around, and in general these guys didn't hustle. By midday, the truck was filling up, and it looked like they wouldn't be able to take everything. The driver said that he would have to make two trips. We said absolutely not, and that we would prefer that they focus on putting the heaviest and bulkiest items in the truck; we would find a way to move the remaining items ourselves. My husband specified that they should take his exercise bench and weights. In the end, they took the bench, but left the weights. They brought tiny, featherweight boxes of Christmas ornaments and a junky piece of child's plastic outdoor furniture, but left a large trunk of clothes and other heavier boxes. At the new house, we discovered that the knob had been broken on the washer, but placed back carefully to make it look like it was intact. They broke an antique chair. They did not re-staple the fabric from the loveseat (they had to remove a leg to get it out of the window) and one of the guys got a staple in his hand when they moved it in. They stacked heavy boxes of books on top of boxes clearly labeled "Fragile" (luckily nothing broke). Worst of all, they took apart the frame of our air mattress, but didn't tell us they had done so and neglected to return the hardware. So we didn't have a bed at all the first night. The stuff was finally found the next day and returned to us. The absolute worst part of all of this was my husband's experience with one of the owners, Bill Lawton. When he called to outline a list of complaints (and to ask about the missing items), he hit a wall of resistance. Lawton was rude and defensive, interrupting constantly and refusing to listen. He called my husband "irate" and "ignorant." It was a good hour on the phone before he calmed down and agreed to find and return the missing things. This was no way to treat a customer.

I DIDN'T LIKE THAT THEY WERE SO FAR OFF THEIR ESTIMATED PRICE. THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE THEIR BIG TRUCK WAS BROKE DOWN AND THEY HAD TO MAKE TWO TRIPS WITH THE SMALL TRUCK. OTHER THAN THE PRICE, THEY WERE VERY CAREFUL WITH OUR POSSESSIONS.

THE PRICE WAS REALLY GOOD FOR ALL THE WORK THAT THEY DID. THEY BROKE A COUPLE OF MY CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS BUT I DON'T THINK IT WAS THEIR FAULT. I LIKED THAT THEY WERE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WITH ALL THE THINGS THAT WE REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME.