El Cheapo Movers Ltd.

I was in a bit of a mess since another company I had booked never showed up. I called these guys with a day’s notice and the guy on the phone was very helpful. The three guys that moved me were great and did a fast job. Would totally use them again.

This is my 3^rd move using El Cheapo and they did a great job as always. Jeff was quick with going through my list of items prior to the move — Toby checked in the night before to make sure nothing had changed with the move and confirming my details. Michael, Phil and James were on time on move day. They were efficient and careful with moving all my items and friendly. I have recommended El Cheapo to my friends and although I hope I don’t have to move again if I do, I would use them to help me.

I picked El CHEAPO because a few friends had recommended them, so I was hoping for an exceptional experience, but what I got was mediocre at best.
They gave me a THREE hour window, which makes it difficult to book elevators, and still showed up an HOUR later than that! I found out after that they had TWO jobs before mine, so I don’t know why my window started at 11:30 am.
I have a lot of heavy furniture (hence why I hired movers), but I could not have had the place more prepared for them had I put a bow on it. I spent the entire week prior moving manageable car loads over myself, and the job still took them FIVE hours! I’m convinced I could have done it faster with some friends.
I have nothing bad to say about the actual movers. They were nice guys. It’s a tough job and someone’s gotta do it. And even after receiving my crazy bill, I still tipped each of them.
At the end of a very long day, they put me on the phone with their boss who told me he «was» going to give me 10% off for the late arrival, but I got 3 guys for the cost of two so that should be enough compensation for the inconvenience. This was all after the fact. It’s not like prior to the job he offered me 10% off OR a third mover.
Oh well…

I recently hired El Cheapo Movers to assist with my move, and had a highly satisfactory experience from start to finish.
My booking was conducted quickly and efficiently. I consistently received prompt responses from their office (re: initial inquiry, confirmation of booking, etc). Everything aspect of the move — from time, cost, etc — was completely transparent.
As for the move itself… it was a dream. I was alerted 30 mins before their arrival, and they were on time. The movers were easy to talk to, listened to my requests, and asked questions when unsure about something (better to ask rather than act if your unsure — especially when you’re stuff is involved). Really nice guys who did their work very well. Most importantly, my stuff made it in one piece, undamaged.
Based on my experience, I would recommend these movers and use them again.
A couple quick things to note:
— A minimum of one hour’s work is all that is required. Excellent if you only have a small move. To my understanding, many other places in Toronto require a minimum of two or three hours, so this is a plus.
— They offer 5% off if you pay in cash and an additional 5% if you are a student.

I don’t typically write bad reviews but I used this company for my last move and they were pretty terrible.
They called to give me a heads up about their arrival and then didn’t show up for another 40 mins after that. They took about ten mins to park the truck and proceeded to drive it over the curb a few times while doing so.
I had a very small amount of items to move, a few of them were heavy otherwise I would’ve just moved myself. I think I could’ve done it faster. These guys were quite slow. I ended up moving a bunch of stuff closer to their truck to help speed things up.
One of them proceeded to ask me if he was supposed to calculate the 5% deduction if you pay cash using «0.05 or 0.5» (Lol).
He then asked for a bigger tip before leaving. Lol.
I don’t recommend this company at all. I will say that the little dude who showed up was really nice and at least he was aware that his partner was an idiot. If i could’ve just tipped him instead of both of them I would’ve done so.
:)

I really hate to write a bad review about these guys because they were nice, but they did SUCH a sloppy job with my move.
I’ve moved at least 10 times in my life with movers and never have I had them: a.) expect me to move things myself (that’s why I paid $ 1300)… and b.) leave so much stuff behind. It’s my fault that I didn’t supervise the end of the move, but I was unloading all of my stuff with MY car at the new place. I called them to ask if they’d gotten everything (keep in mind this is about the amount of stuff of a bachelor apartment– not a lot) and they said, yes. I find out later that they’d left my printer, my electro-​magnetic medical device (the size of 2 printers), the TV bracket which they took the TV off of, my Apple TV, all of my cables and cords, a cat scratching post, 2 bedside lamps… there’s more, I just can’t write them all. RIDICULOUS. When I called them specifically to ask about the medical equipment, they said: «We didn’t move it because we didn’t know what it was.» What?!!
It took me 2 full carloads the next day to finish the move. What’s more– my original quote was $ 650 and it ended up being $ 1200 (there were maybe 3 additional items that I’d forgotten to mention during the initial estimate call, but that shouldn’t almost double the price). And I even gave them $ 1300 not knowing everything they’d left behind. They seemed like they were in a rush to catch another job, but were actually quite slow compared to other moving companies I’ve used in the past… My moves are usually about 4 hours and this took a good 6– and I’ve significantly downsized this move.
Anyway, bottom line: El Cheapo lives up to its name in quality, but not in price. Do not use.

I hired El Cheapo for moving my stuff out of an upstairs no elevator storage unit. The guys who came, Alex and Paul were AWESOME!
They got it all done in less time than I budgeted for and were friendly and professional. They knew exactly how to get across the city without taking highway.
I hired El cheapo because two different friends had used them with great success and I am so very happy I listened to them.
I hope I’m not moving again soon, but if and when I do, I won’t hesitate to hire El Cheapo.

I am, by nature, a nervous person, so it was normal for me to be completely terrified of my move from a basement apartment, to a 40^th floor condo.
A friend of mine had suggested El Cheapo after she’d used them a few times. I have to say that I was extremely impressed. They were on time, and took great care with my belongings. I know that they will pack up /​take apart things for you, but I wrapped up/​took apart everything in advance. They moved about 20 boxes, a couch, coffee table, bed, dresser, guitar amps, etc in about an hour and a half. I couldn’t believe it. They arrived at 9AM, and by 10:39am everything was 40 stories up in the sky. I hope to not move for a while now, but I wouldn’t hesitate to book them again!

El cheapo… They live up to their name. They are extremely cheap in what they do. Paid $ 460 for less than three hours of work. Settled the price half an hour before the end, and tipped them $ 60 on top of that. We were two girls and asked them to stay for the last half hour we paid them for. This was a fair request especially since we generously tipped them. They refused to do so because «they had another appointment» and that since we already paid, they were no longer obligated to help. My friend and I were left to move everything from the sidewalk into the house ourselves. We thought they were going to continue to work for the time we paid them for, but when we came back out to the sidewalk they were gone. They didn’t even tell us they were leaving or that they were going to leave all our valuables on the sidewalk unattended. Stay away! Rent a uhual and hire some friends to help you move at a fraction of the cost. Half grand down the toilet.

Not only were they on time and efficient but their rates are much better than a bunch of other moving services. Friendly movers and honest as well. Use them, you won’t be disappointed!

I did not have a good experience with this moving company.
Firstly, they have a policy where the movers give you a two-​hour window during which they will start the move. This policy does not work with anyone moving into or out of a condo since elevators get booked in 2 hour time slots. The worst part about this is, they didn’t even tell me about this when I booked the move. They told me the movers would arrive at a precise time. The only reason I found out about this policy is because when I called a few days before to confirm, the same person who booked my move originally (I recognized his voice) told me that they would be arriving not at a precise time like he had promised before, but during a 2-​hour window, jeopardizing my elevator booking. He even had the audacity to tell me I had spoken to someone else when I knew it was him (he has a very recognizable voice).
When they finished moving, we breathed an audible sigh of relief. Before this stage of the move with El Cheapo, this move had been a disaster up until this point (we had to move everything into a storage unit, and then into our apartment because of a lack of elevator bookings), and we had been moving for 4 days already. We hired the movers for this final leg because we had already moved so much. Because we were so tired from the 4 days of moving, we didn’t help them much (which is why we paid them hundreds of dollars for the move).
When we did that audible sigh of relief, the mover sarcastically said, «oh, you’re making it seem like YOU’RE tired» (implying that they did all the moving, so why are you sighing with relief?). I’m sorry, but we paid you several hundred dollars so that you could move. You are a moving company. Why are you complaining about moving? What’s more, aren’t we entitled to be relieved that all of our stuff had been moved in? This comment of his was extremely rude.
To top it all off, when the mover was writing out the invoice, he had the gall to ask my girlfriend if we would be leaving a tip today, even before we had the chance to think about it. This made her feel very uncomfortable. Using pressure tactics to solicit a tip is not acceptable.
Although the move went fairly smoothly and nothing was broken, this move could have been a disaster if we didn’t pressure them to arrive at a precise time; we could have missed our elevator booking. Furthermore, their customer service skills leave a lot to be desired.
Our experience with this moving company was poor.

I thought these guys were legit based on other reviews I read on other sites.
They aren’t legit, same old story with other scammy movers.

Amazing movers! I had a 1+1 bedroom condo and they moved everything in less than 2 ½ hours. They were quick and efficient from the get go. All glass furniture pieces and plates arrived in tact without dents or scratches.

The guys you sent me had me out of my apartment and into the truck in under 20 minutes
I’d use them again for sure

Anytime I have used El Cheapo it has been a mistake. This company charges by the hour and the movers will do whatever they can to extend the length of your move.
The first time, the guys were really nice and I barely noticed when they pretended they needed to buy a certain type of bolt to put my bed frame together. (the trip ended up costing me like another hour worth of «service»)
The second time, the guys were less polite. They were also crafty when it came to extending the length of my move. They tried such tactics as:
Parking down the street from the storage facility when there were available spots.
Leaving one guy in the car while the other guy tried to move my stuff himself.
When I told them I paid for two guys and wanted two guys to move me, they acted like I had deeply offended them and were extremely rude until they dropped me off at the house I was moving in to.
I see some people have had good experiences with this company. I think it depends on which movers you get. Based on my own personal experiences, I advise against using El Cheapo movers.

I had a terrible experience with El Cheapo and wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.
They completely screwed up my move and refused to offer any kind of apology for it, let alone a discount. They were great in the beginning and acted like customer service was important to them, but as soon as they messed things up, they ignored me completely and made no effort to fix the situation.

I used this company for a very small move and somehow paid $ 350, which the movers demanded in cash before they would leave my property. I was going to re-​negotiate a price with head office considering their truck wouldn’t start for about 45 minutes once it was loaded and we were en route to my new place
.
I paid for them to sit in the parking lot and wait for jumper cables, which I don’t think is fair because not my problem the truck wasn’t in proper working condition.
The move from the truck to my condo took longer. Maybe the movers saw the job was going to be finished too quickly (even factoring in a 45 min break) because I had no big furniture and had packed efficiently.
All in all the guys were nice enough and only broke a box of glassware, but I did feel them slightly unprofessional (their conversation choice, manner etc) and one of them asked for my number to go out after I just forked over $ 150 more than what I had been quoted.
I’m moving again and won’t be fooled by all the 5 star reviews.

Was planning a 3 hr move with 2 movers, they came with three and finished in 1.5 hours.
Efficient, great personalities, enough said.
Would especially recommend to people who are moving FROM an area close to downtown. If your moving from condo to condo in downtown I would recommend even stronger

Judging by the number of positive reviews that have been filtered, I’d hazard a guess that some of the others that didn’t get filtered are fake too. Or maybe we were supremely unlucky.
Here is my experience with El Cheapo:
The crew, John and Willy, arrived at approximately 10:30 am on the scheduled moving date.
Soon after they began to move our belongings, we noticed that they weren’t handling items quite as gently as we would expect a trained mover to do. For example, we witnessed Willy leaning a piece of furniture against artwork on our wall. Who does that?
We had a slightly uneasy feeling because they reeked of stale booze and cigarettes and considered hovering over them from the start of the move but thought we would be respectful enough to let them do their thing as they assured us they had done many moves and we figured that based on all the positive reviews El Cheapo had online.
Soon after they started moving stuff from our condo down to the truck, we noticed that it would take them a lot longer to come back up from the truck than it took them to load the elevator to go down. There were several occasions when they took items down in the elevator and did not come back for 20 – 25 minutes.
We checked on them during one of these delays and found them sitting inside the rear of the truck smoking with our things. This was at approximately noon — within 1.5 hours of starting.
On our way to the house, they were following closely behind our vehicle (easily visible in the rear view mirror), though we had also given them specific directions to the address. They told us they had a GPS, so no problem. As we neared the house, the truck disappeared for approximately 20 minutes. We tried calling in case they had gotten lost, but they did not answer the first time we called. The second time we managed to get through but they provided no explanation or apology, nor an excuse that they were lost, for going missing for 20 minutes while on the clock.
All told, by our calculations they wasted over an hour of clock time by way of several smoke breaks and the mysterious truck disappearance on the way to the house.
When they arrived at the house is when things went from bad to worse.
At some point during the move they tore a leg off our entertainment console and did not notify us that there had been an incident. When we noticed it and asked where the leg went, John told us it was in the truck. No explanation or apology. Ironically we had offered to wrap/​secure this item prior to any move as it was one of our favourite pieces and we wanted to ensure it arrived unscathed, but John and Willy told us in a condescending tone that it wasn’t necessary as they knew better than us what they were doing.
Other items were damaged in the move with John and Willy, including the floor in our new house.
As mentioned above, any time we offered to wrap up items to protect them better or make them more secure they responded in a condescending tone that they had done this a million times and that it wasn’t necessary for us to help make their jobs easier. Ironically every piece of furniture we offered to wrap was damaged.
When they started unloading boxes at the destination they didn’t ask us where boxes should go and ignored the labelling on the boxes so boxes that should have gone to the basement or kitchen ended up upstairs.
They entered the house with one of our dressers that looked as though it had been dragged across the pavement (the edges of all the drawers were sheared off). When we asked John what had happened to the dresser he completely ignored us.
After we noticed the first piece of furniture was damaged we asked that they be careful with the next piece of furniture and John replied «depends on how much you tip». NO joke!
After seeing damage on every piece of furniture John and Willy brought into the house we could not allow them to continue moving anything else off the truck for fear of further damage.
At this point we instructed them to stop moving anything and they continued to be snarky and unapologetic. We called Toby and asked him to send another crew. The new crew arrived roughly 2 hours later and were much better. Unfortunately though, by this point a significant amount of furniture had irreparably been damaged.
We’re left feeling very unsettled by this situation as the reason we hired movers in the first place was that we thought they would be more careful with our things than our friends.
We had prepared ourselves for some minor scratches and dings but this was well beyond what one might consider normal wear and tear from a reputable moving company.
Unfortunately despite the promises at the time to compensate us in some way for destroying so many of our belongings, El Cheapo did nothing to resolve the issue and made excuses every time we called to follow up.

Friend of mine was away on a business trip and asked me to help and organise his move, because I am awesome like that.
So he sorted out El Cheapo and gave me their details and vice versa so they could contact me.
First call was a few days before the move where they called to confirm times, inventory and ‘from and to’ locations.
On the morning I had a call first thing from one of the drivers telling me how long they would be and to ensure the service elevator, access to the building was all arranged. They were half an hour later than they said they would be but it was the morning and rush hour can be a bitch.
So the the important bit, the move. These guys were quick, efficient, polite and respectable at all times and had the move done under 3 hours. They did not waste time going off for cigarettes or breaks (which I have experienced from movers before) and just concentrated on getting the job done. Three of them turned up to get the job done and they even had the courtesy of introducing themselves.
Bonus points for bringing some seran wrap with them, as my buddy did a crap job of packing some of his boxes.