We almost messed up. We almost got our stuff taken, lost, held for ransom. We almost allowed Road Runner Moving and Storage to screw us. At the last minute I slammed my hand down on the ABORT button and came up with an alternate plan.
Simple to me, confusing to others: Everything that Christine and I want to end up in California went to my Manchester apartment. Everything else went to my parents’ house, Christine’s parents house, or Christine’s apartment in Massachusetts. This was done because my lease ends this week, and we won’t be leaving for Irvine until the end of August. The original plan was to have the movers grab all of our stuff in Manchvegas and bring it to storage, then deliver it to Irvine in September. Meanwhile Christine and I would live out of suitcases and household items that need to go to back to her parents’ house in NJ. To the outsider we have been moving in and out, back and forth from two apartments. We have completely confused our neighbors as to whether we are moving IN or OUT of either apartment.
Saturday I get a call from the movers. It’s an 818 number. (what’s that? NY, PA, NJ?) They tell us that the truck is going to be there at 2 o’clock Sunday. They originally said 9:00. “Okay, whatever, more time to prep.” Sunday morning. Final preparation. 2:00 comes and goes. Then 3:00. I call the company; “What’s going on?” The driver calls me back and explains that they have been pulled over by the state police, and that they may need to do some “maintenance” on the truck. “Right. Okay. So, when will you get here?” They will call me back in an hour. 5 o’clock comes and goes. I call the driver again. “Doesn’t look like it’s going to be tonight.” Furious, I call the main number and get a recording. I leave a message to that extent and Christine and I head back to Hudson, with my apartment still full of boxes ready to go.
Monday morning. No call. I spend from eight to ten looking up information on this company and formulating a backup plan. Keep in mind I have until the end of this week to get my stuff out, and then a month to find another mover. This was good planning on my part. Who I chose for a mover was not. After I read this on the “Movers Blacklist.” Remember the 818 area code? It’s a California number. Not a MA, NJ, NY number like I was expecting.
5) They WILL show up late. By days or hours. We have learned that they like to show up as late as possible to keep you from going elsewhere. Also, they take ALL NIGHT to load. The reason is to wear you out.
6) Either during your move, after everything is loaded, or after they leave with everything you own, they hit you with the new INFLATED price. Trust us, they will at least DOUBLE your original estimate. Once your belongings are on their trucks you are completely helpless. They GOT YOU!
Doing more research I found that there are several moving companies named “Roadrunner Moving and Storage”. I cross referenced a phone number they gave us and did another bbb.org search. It turns out the moving company we hired did not have a clean Better Business Bureau record. It had a horible one. I call up my Dad to get a “sanity check.” Then I call Christine at work. Plan “B” is to move our stuff into a local storage place and then have movers pick it up there. It also seems like a good idea at this time to look into the “you pack it, we move it” type of movers. The one caveat with that is, not all storage places will let you drop off 2 giant shipping containers on their property, even for a day.
After several phone calls, I contacted State of the Art Storage in Hooksett, NH. They were very helpful and said that it wouldn’t be a problem to have a moving company drop off a container for a couple of days. This way we could move our items from their storage unit into the shipping container, or have a moving company retrieve our items right from storage. Plus the cost of the 15X5 unit was less then the other places I called. These guys are great! If you are in the Manchester or Concord, NH area, call them up!
So we rallied the troops. Christine contacted City to City movers and setup a time in August to deliver containers to State of the Art Storage, while I called, emailed, and irc’d some help. We got a moving crew together and headed back to Manchester, rented a U-Haul van, and got sweaty.
I want to give a huge “Thank You!” and shouts out to the following people: Dad – “Yes, tell them to shove it.” Brian Callahan – “I just need a ride.” James Mackey – “I’m out at 7:00.” Ian Bowers – “I’ll help as much as I can.” Sean Sosik-Hamor – “No traffic. So, I’ll be there in an hour.” Of course Christine “I may not have brought it down the stairs, but I touched every box in there.” Peggy from State of the Art Storage – “Sure, not a problem.” Dawn from City to City movers – “That’s your reward for calling in April.”
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