Here's a little (okay, long) update after a few days of research...
I perused the phone book and started searching around through the BBB and asking opinions of friends and leasing agents.
I put in a request to EasyMovers, and didn't hear back immediately. About a day later I got a call from one of their guys and he left me a rather curt message on my work voice mail. So when I didn't call them right back, they called my work
every day this week, listened to my message, and then HUNG UP. (I knew it was them from the caller ID.) No message. It was weird and stalkery. A little too desperate. I decided to move on.
I was visited by Jerry Lawrence from Lawrence Transportation Systems (United.) He was very nice and courteous, and talked a steady stream as we went through my home. He seemed to take careful notes though. He provided me with all the necessary literature, told me all about the company, and assured me that they use all their own people. He said they did over 16,000 moves last year, and had a 95% satisfaction rate. One out of 15 moves filed a claim, and the average claim amount was $250. That sounded like pretty good odds! I had the chance to ask all the questions I needed, and felt really good about the experience when he left. He told me he would be going out of town for a few days, but would be back by Friday, and he would get me my estimate before then. He also told me I could call his coworker if I had any questions before he got back.
So I got the quote in the mail, and was initially let down that he provided me with a non-binding estimate, spelled my name wrong, and got the street number incorrect. Oh well. The estimate was for 6200 lbs. My completely amateur opinion was 5K, so I figured okay. He put in a charge for boxing up my mattress and box spring, because he said it was required. And that's where the "calculations I completely understand" end.
What are orig/dest serv chrgs?
Then there's a fuel surcharge, rate .21, for 367.00 based on the 1747.62 "transportation charges." (Apparently there's a 64% reduction on the packing, transportation charges, and the service charges?)
It says Full Value $35,000 for $358 and "Ins. related" (?) based on the same 1747.62 at a rate of .04, for 69.90.
That subtotal was excluded from discount, for a subtotal of 794.90
That makes my total estimate from United/Lawrence $2729.88 with 110% at $3002.87
Okay, I think I get it now, good enough.
Then today I had a visit from Vicki from Security Storage Company (Atlas.) She was supposed to be here at 10am, and at 9:59 she called me to say she couldn't figure out where to park in my parking deck. I advised her that if there were no open spaces then she might have to park on the street at one of the meters, and I apologized. I told her I would come downstairs to meet her, and that I have bright red hair so I would be hard to miss! I went down there and wandered around for a few minutes looking for her. Vicki came out of the leasing office...in a huff! She said, "Okay, we have 35 minutes! That's all the money I had for the meter." She was dressed not very professionally, but more like she was going out clubbing. I was a little taken aback by both her appearance and her demeanor. I tried to make a little small talk to lighten the mood, but she said, "Nobody likes having to drive in uptown." As we walked back in, I asked if she at least made a note of what time it was, and she grumbled about not needing to get a ticket or towed and that she didn't have any more change. I said that was okay, if it came down to it, I had some change.
So Vicki came upstairs to my apartment and started to unload her things on my counter. I asked if she didn't want to move to the other side of the counter where there was more room, and she grumbled and picked up the stuff she had taken out and brought it over. She then started flying through reading material and pamphlets, and put back the ones about packing because I said I would be doing the packing myself. She had a small handheld barcode reader and a sheet of bar codes, and while she was readying it, I asked her how many moves they do on average, and she looked at me like I was from Mars. She said, "Wow, I don't know. A LOT. I do about three surveys a day..." and then she started taking inventory.
Vicki didn't really talk to me much while she was walking around except to ask a few questions about what was going or staying. I advised her about a few extra things she wouldn't see, like the rubbermaid totes and the desk that were coming from my fiancee's apartment, and my bicycle. I brought her up to my storage space, and she seemed shocked. My storage space really looks just like a tiny indoor garage. Lots of empty boxes, but I told her they were empty. The rest of the visit was rather unremarkable. I walked her back downstairs, and she said she would get the quote to me today, and (finally) shook my hand and said thank you.
So later this afternoon, I got two emails from Vicki. The first was a copy of my inventory sheet. I skimmed it over, and it seemed like she got everything. Her estimated weight was 7,000 lbs. The second email was addressed to "John" and said "It was nice meeting you yesterday." ???
But my quote was attached to it.
It was much easier to read and understand, and referred to being a binding quote with APP, and an explanation of what that was. She had also told me that if I book with her, and have AAA, FVP would be free. The quote reflected that. The total was $2757.43 (including boxing up the mattress.)
I sent her an email to say she might want to check her records because she had addressed my letter to "John." Around 4:30 I got a phone call from her, and she apologized. She said she was sorry, but she just forgot to change the name on the letter. She seemed like she was in a much better mood, and much nicer about it. She asked if I was going to make a decision this week or the next, and I told her this week. She thanked me and told me to give her a call if I had any more questions...
So the first guy was a lot nicer and reassured me more, but the second price was better, and guaranteed. Sigh.
I'm now waiting on a rep from Sterling Moving and Storage, whom North American referred me to as my "local" rep, but it must be local to my destination. When I search for them here as advised, it shows me about 20 pages of posts, but I can only review the first page. If I try to go to the next page it gives me that weird "No topics or posts met your search criteria." Bizarre. The most I can gather here is that there is confusion over several companies with the same name...
Haven't heard back from Hildrup or Berger yet.
So that's my update for now. I'll keep posting as I find out more, and maybe it will help some other poor soul later!
