FAQ Sheet about ABF and Broadway Express (with photos)

[srinikam]

Thanks Diane. BE is booked until 16th of July. Luckily, I could get ABF to help me out with my move.

I have a question about the wooden furniture. I have about 5 book cases (from IKEA), a dining table, and a computer work desk. As I understand, ABF's spring trailers are not quite good in providing a smooth ride to my wooden furniture. Based on user's experience, could you let me know the best way to keep the furniture safe? should I spend hundred's of dollars on quilts and such?

any info would be quite helpful.

Srini

[Diane]

Hi - glad that ABF could drop off a trailer for you.

I moved two IKEA bookcases and some other inexpensive furniture probably similar to yours. None of it was damaged except that a shelf in our entertainment center started to tear away from the side wall because I had a TV on the shelf and it must have jounced up and down with substantial force.

I wrapped my furniture pieces where they came in contact with each other or the trailer walls. You don't have to spend a lot on moving blankets. Use your own older bedding--someone recommended even buying old quilts and blankets at a thrift shop, then re-donating them at your destination. Someone else said that WalMart has cheap quilts that work well. I used a few paper "blankets" but in my opinion they don't provide much protection because the corners of the furniture can tear through the paper. Don't use good bedding because there may be a small amount of fine, almost invisible black dust in the trailer that will get on the bedding. It washes out, but not easily.

You just have to picture in your mind a car going over a speed bump and then visualize that happening to the ABF trailer. Your things will be jounced up and down, and if they aren't secured in some way, the items stacked on top will probably topple over. The toppling will be toward the rear of the trailer.

I'm told that some of the trailers have rings on the walls that you can tie straps to. You could request a trailer like that, but you may not get one. I was also told that you can hammer nails in the walls, but my own trailer had a "non-nailable" surface on it. So I just loaded things extremely tightly and hoped for the best. Wedge soft things into the spaces between furniture items to try to keep them from moving and rubbing on each other.

[hardatwork]

If you find and use the paperpads instead of bedding then all you have to do is wrap the furniture completly with the paperpads. Next cut old boxes so they lay flat and tape them to completly cover the top, bottom, and side edges of the furniture or anywhere they can come in contact with any other item. Cheaper than bedding.

I also sugget you try to stagger your wooden furniture within the load so that they do not touch each other if possible.

Keep in mind the cost of protecting the item should not cost more than the item is worth.

Very very important make sure that you never ever put tape directly on any wood finish because when you pull off the tape you pull off the finish.

[Rick]

Diane, before I can address your question posted in the North American thread (http://movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5512&start=45) about “what other HHG transporters you would put in the same category as BE with regard to performance”, it would be useful to define what metrics most visitors use to determine performance? And how broadly should we describe household goods transporters? Finally, what is acceptable quality?

[Diane]

Hi again Rick,

The performance variables that seem to matter most to consumers posting on this website are on-time pickup and delivery, quick transport, low cost, minimal damage, prompt settlement of legitimate claims, and friendly customer service. If you know of other companies that do as well in these areas as Broadway Express (whether they are freight companies or full-service movers), I would like to know about them. I would say that ABF does as well but lacks important amenities such as the moving blankets and ramp and the driver being available to help load. All Star Moving does as well in most areas but is not particularly low cost because it (unlike the freight companies) is supplying loading and unloading labor.

Just to clarify, I asked and the Golden Eagle dropdeck trailer that you mentioned as being pictured on the BE website is an older trailer that they own. It operates under the same MC# as their other trailers. BE does sometimes broker out loads that they can't cover but they have never brokered out a self-move of HHGs.

[Rick]

I sorta suspected that when I felt my butt against the wall and the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Sorry, but I can’t indulge your request unless you better define your critical success factors or provide objective measurements of acceptable quality.

For instance, what were BE’s direct load and delivery results (expressed in %) for 2004 and YTD 2005? Can you provide a copy of their transit schedule for comparative purposes showing the required number of days for loading (in 5’ increments), driving (in 500 mile increments) and delivering?

How are you measuring low cost? As the closest number to “free “, or as the BE price relates to the applicable discounted charges on a similar, full service move calculated under the 400N?

What is minimal damage? $5.00, $50.00 or $500.00? Is this defined by what the customer claims, or BE pays out? What is BE’s claims frequency, claims expense as a % of their transportation revenue, and their average claim liability amount?

Since BE is not a full service mover, and their customer is expected to assume considerably more risk and unknown liability, what is the average amount that their individual shipper pays to have their furniture, electronics or appliances repaired when they break them? Is this amount included in the measure of minimal damage? Who is responsible for repairing and repainting the home when the dresser gouges the walls when the hired BE driver assists in bringing it down the stairs? Does BE help administer or defend the workman’s comp claims (or lawsuits) that the customer is responsible for when a family member, neighbor or hired day laborer breaks their leg by falling off BE’s walkboard or suffers a concussion when stuck in the head by an unsecured set of bedrails in their trailer? Is so, how is this calculated.

Finally, how many customers did BE move in 2004 and what percentage would use their service again?

[Diane]

Hi, Rick - I don't think anyone's hair should be standing on end since this is not an adversarial situation where people are fighting about life and death matters. I was just trying to set the record straight about who owned the trailer in question. I certainly appreciate your many helpful contributions here on this messageboard.

Your questions are good but obviously I wouldn't have enough information to answer them unless I was an employee of the company. I will say that liability for customer or hired worker injury while loading is one of my big worries with the freight companies. I'm not so worried about property damage because that is only property. I think that, where possible, people should hire workers who come with worker's comp.

Both ABF and BE (and probably other companies like Help-U-Move) have clauses in their contracts saying that the customers assume all liability for injury to themselves and/or their workers. ABF tells me that it has not had a major problem with this so far (knock on wood), but from having been on many BE and ABF trailers myself during loading and unloading I think it would be fairly easy for someone to be injured. People should be extremely careful while working in or around the trailers.

Among the possible hazards are falling off the side of the walkboard, getting hit by the end of a cargo beam or the edge of a sheet of plywood being carried by someone else in a BE trailer, and having the plywood bulkhead fall on you in an ABF trailer when you're trying to remove it.

[xvs07]

Apparently ABF has a new service for small moves:
http://www.upack.com/moving-services/moving-container.asp

They're these little 6X7X8' containers that they drop off instead of a whole trailer. Much more efficient, and it makes U-Pack services an option for deep-city folk like me.

[Diane]

Hi - yes; we have known about these for some time. They were introduced this spring. See ABF review #23 for a discussion and photos.

[Guest]

Just a note on the issue of car transport with BE. We are moving two cars and flying from FL to CA. (Our 6 year old son and cat would not make the trip in a car.) Anyhow, with two cars, we are going to fill the whole trailer with the stuff from our 4/2 house and the cost is VERY competitive. Prices drop a bit for the whole trailer and then the car transport ends up being quite cost efficient.

In essence we will transport 2 cars plus 28 linear feet of goods (upwards of 10,000 lbs) for just $7600 plus labor costs at each end. No one else could even touch that, not even the scammers! What's more, because we have the whole truck, the driver will appraently go straight from our house in FL to the one in CA. No stopping and picking up other loads, leading to a quick and predicable move (knock on wood!) We'll see how it goes, but at least in this way, transporting the cars with BE ended up being much cheaper than other options.

[nirvanahoy]

Hello, I'm planning a move across the country this summer and I've visited both the ABE and BE websites. Both however don't seem to answer my particularly specific question. And neither seem to have people around on the weekend to man the phones (so sad)...So maybe you can. We taking approx. 6 weeks to cross, is there any way for them to store our stuff until we get there and find a place or a storage unit?
Thanks!

[Diane]

Hi - the answer depends to some extent on how much stuff you have. If you have just a little, ABF can store its mobile storage containers at the nearest ABF terminal for $125 a month for each one. Each container holds up to 2000 pounds or a small studio's worth of household goods.

If you have a LOT of stuff, BE can store it at its warehouse in Effingham, IL. I believe that it usually lets you put the stuff in a wooden vault (storage container) at pickup and stores it in the vault, then delivers the vault to the destination when you're ready for it. All the cases I know about have been large shipments, maybe even a full trailerload of 25,000 pounds or so. I don't think they usually store small shipments.

[tess773]

[Guest]

I'm thinking about going the u-pack route and using BE but in general I was curious about how hard it is for these companies to get their large trucks up mountain roads.

We are planning a move to the mountains outside Boulder, CO and our house is up near 9,000 feet on a dirt road that is rather wide but has a few hairpin turns.

Only the last 3 miles are like that but I am concerned about their getting to the house as well as back down to the paved road.

Any and all assistance will be greatly appreciated

[Diane]

You may have to use a local moving company to get up the dirt road. Someone recently had a problem with a BE truck in VT being unable to access the residence. In Denver/Golden, "jen" (BE review #70) successfully used Amazing Moves at www.amazingmoves.com, phone 303-668-7444. They may be able to recommend a company in Boulder if they can't do the job themselves.
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Diane
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