Thursday, September 29, 2011

Don't Jet With Jet!

Who I Should've Used
I was about to open with a nice, grandiose comment about how I've been gone so long but, thank goodness I'm back, blah, blah, blah. However, it seems that nearly everyone has been so busy lately, I don't seem to have, um, been missed too terribly. But I'm not worried. My cats, my girlfriend and my mom still love me. Dammit.

I was trying to figure out what to write about. I'm still kinda fried from moving so some of the deep stuff I've been knocking around my noggin is gonna have to wait until my brain isn't so batter-dipped. But—speaking of moving...

I'm finally in the Seattle area. Yippity-doo-dah! A few years ago, I moved from one state to another and hired a mover to do all the heavy lifting. That move went off without a hitch: the guys that packed me up and loaded me onto a very big truck were punctual, polite, professional and honest. My stuff arrived in a few days and all was right with my world. This move, however, was the exact opposite. Herewith, my warning: Don't use a moving company ya ain't heard of.

And before any of you start rolling your eyes and saying "Well, duh!" out loud to yourselves as you read this, I need you to know that I swear I did my due diligence. I visited their website to check em out, and they looked pretty legit. (Being a graphic designer, one of my first superficial opinions of a company is based on how well-designed their website is.) Then I went to the BBB website and looked them up. Not only did they have an A- rating, they were even members of the BBB while many companies are not. (You don't have to join the BBB to be rated by them.) Then I looked up their rating on half a dozen movers association websites. Everything...checked...out. Why, I even called a former customer of theirs and chatted with him about his experience. Two thumbs up from Mr. Former Customer.

So I went for it. And about 6 weeks later came to wholly regret it. Holy crap. They showed up the day of the move and the foreman took a cursory glance at my apartment and proceeded to jack the price up to nearly double the estimate I'd lived with for weeks. He did me the "favor" of bumping it back down a little and, in the same breath, demanded a $150 cash, off-the-books tip for "his guys and supplies" before they even began the job. (He subsequently hammered Christy for the tip every time I left the room.) A very long story short, they made a mess of my apartment and the surrounding area, tried to steal some of my tools, ransacked my refrigerator and took 12 1/2 hours to pack a 1-bed-den apartment. I didn't give him the $150 tip.

Three and a half weeks later, my stuff finally arrived at my new home. The good news: the crew that unloaded my stuff was headed up by a guy who knew his sh*t. The bad news: he still showed up a day later than he said, so I spent an entire day sitting in an empty apartment. Waiting. (That's a bit of artistic hyperbole. I only waited four hours, but it felt like all day.)

Without getting into all of the nuances of how Middle Easterners do business ("No, no, no – I do you favor, my friend! I give you good deal, my friend.") or how annoying the guy who moved me was ("You have enough glasses for ten people, my friend!" "You have too much stuff, my friend!"), I'll say this: DO NOT USE JET VAN LINES, INC. Yes, that's a direct dig at the actual company that mangled my move (and my mood) for the better part of a month.

I'm now in the process of filing a claim with a third-party company that facilitates this sort of thing. I'm keeping fingers crossed that they'll elect to imprison the staff and demolish their headquarters. But I'm not holding my breath.

On the plus side, I couldn't be happier that I'm finally up here! I'm in the same state and time zone as my two favorite women, the weather's beautiful, the scenery is even more beautifuller, and my new digs rock.

But did I mention that the move sucked?

6 comments:

  1. First of all - your friends on the web had pretty much given up on hearing from you again. Do you know how many nasty comments we posted on your wall and we got not so much as a nibble?!? ;-)
    Secondly I'm sorry your move sucked, but "too bad so sad" at least YOU are now in a much better place. Seriously though, when we moved from NC to TN back in the 90's the dumb asses stole hubby's toolbox (with all the tools in it of course), a freakin' lawn chair (albeit one of the nicer ones), a tv remote, and who knows what else. Oh, did i mention this was a move facilitated by the US gov't. Guess the guys figured they weren't getting paid enough.
    Greedy bastards! (pardon my language)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, and just because the other company is called STEVENS moving co. doesn't mean they are any good. ;-p

    ReplyDelete
  3. Considering I hadn't heard from you in 20 years, I didn't even notice. :P~

    Seattle is fun. I hope you enjoy living there. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Movers in general stink. I've heard a lot of bad stories about them. My best friend had all her china stolen during their move. Interesting that the head guy was getting married in a month and he thought his bride to be would like the china. They paid them enough to buy a plate as reimbursement.

    Glad you're settled and closer to @Christy though! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Carrie: LMAO!!! I know, I know – I've been a bit remiss of late. I've been kinda living out of a suitcase since mid-June. I'm trying to get back on track.

    Your move actually sounds like it was worse than mine. My guys were incompetent but they didn't steal too much (but they tried). I can't believe the gov't used these guys! That sucks.

    STEVENS WORLDWIDE may suck too, but they've got a nice name. *lol*

    @theminx: LOL! 2 months, 20 years, whatever. ;-p I haven't seen too much of Seattle yet, but the weather rocks. It's raining right now and I don't even mind. ;)

    @Shay: I'm starting to agree with you about movers stinking. My previous move went off without a hitch, so I wasn't expecting this one to be any different. Wrong. I think the "good" move was an anomaly. I've heard more horror stories about bad moves since I got here. Turns out my move is probably the "best" of the bunch. My mom got royally screwed. I guess I'm lucky the majority of my stuff made it here at all. Yeesh.

    But it's GREAT to be here now! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi @Steven,

    I hope things are working out for you now and hope you and @Christy are still very happy. When are you going to update your blog? I liked Christy's post tonight. It was cute.

    ReplyDelete