29 Dec 2020 · MoveAdvisor
1.0 out of 51.0
Is there such a thing as a good long haul moving company? I'm not sure. But Ward North American ain't it.
While I can say the first half of my move went smoothly--they nailed the weight estimate from our Facetime call, the load out movers in Austin were professional, organized, and meticulous. But all fell apart the second my items were moved out of storage and placed en route to my new home in Chicago.
First of all, Ward outsourced my contract to another company--Berger--without informing me of the transfer. When the day finally came to receive my items, the clearly unvetted driver was 4.5 hours late. He "couldn't find a shuttle truck." Pretty sure he didn't start LOOKING for a shuttle truck for my 1 Bedroom Apartment worth of items until the morning he was supposed to deliver.
When they finally arrived, they walked up to my door HOLDING pieces of my clothing IN THEIR ARMS. "Where was the box all of that was in?" I asked. "We had to unpack it to make it fit in the truck." Right. Off to a great start.
When I glance in the truck, I notice that every single piece of furniture, which had been beautifully wrapped in plastic and furniture pads by the movers in Austin, was crammed together, no longer wearing its protection. My hunch is that in an attempt to make his life easier this trucker (who was NOT a mover based on his lack of dolly, furniture pads, etc.) unwrapped everything and threw it away before he even got to my apartment building, cramming it in the smaller box truck to make it fit.
The first thing unloaded after aforementioned my loose coats and shoes is my bicycle. Which is crushed. I don't understand where you get the idea that smashing an $1100 bike in a truck is a good idea. The handlebars point one way, the front wheel points another. I hope it's reparable.
The top of my solid wood dining table is cracked--clearly it was dropped. An antique chair lost a leg in pieces.
Did I mention this driver's coworker was his FOURTEEN YEAR-OLD CHILD? And that they were incredibly uppity about wearing masks during a global pandemic, all the while, hacking and coughing as they carried items up the stairs. The fact that I did not contract COVID from this experience is a miracle.
And what does Ward North American do to take care of the damage? A whopping $70 credit back to me. After pushing a little harder, they agreed to give me an additional $400 dollars (after promising $600) out of their GOOD WILL.
Look, I understand things get damaged in transit. Glasses break, boxes get dented, etc. That's a risk you have to take when you can't move your own items cross country. But when you completely fail to uphold a reasonable standard of care and then pat yourselves on the back for "goodwill," well, hypocrisy doesn't begin to describe it. I am not one to take down a customer service representative who is clearly doing all they can as a cog in a machine. The Ward employees I interacted with were apologetic and kind. But as a corporate entity, Ward clearly has some work to do.
Long story short: JUST DON'T.
Read more