Abracadabra Movers

I have mixed experience with these guys.
Good: I was able to schedule very quickly and they verified the appointment the day before via text message. It was all good. They came with two movers. One of them was a nice guy. They were able to finish the job within a short period.
Bad: They were about 20 minutes late, which was fine. One of the movers was rude. He was bossing me around. I was able to tolerate it only for 30 minutes. He was constantly telling me what’s wrong and what I did wrong, instead of telling me the right way of doing things. He refused to pick up a box of chemicals… Well, the chemicals he was referring to were the laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, dish soap etc. The rude guy insisted that we pay cash despite the fact that we made arrangements to pay via credit card over the phone when we scheduled. He apologized for his behavior only after he realized that he wasn’t getting much of a tip. I felt like he was bossing the other mover around as well.
The minimum payment was or 3 hours. My move took 2 hours and I paid for 3 hours (which is fine because I knew it in advance) plus a little tip. However the rude guy showed the audacity to imply that the tip wasn’t enough.
Will I use these guys again? Well, next time if I decide to call them I will specifically request that the rude guy doesn’t come again. Because overall it was a fine experience.
Also if you use these guys please make sure you inspect the truck before they leave. I didn’t, my bad… Then it was difficult to get a hold of them to bring the stuff back. It took me 9 days to get my stuff back and they were a little flaky during this period.
It baffled me that they didn’t have GPS though. If the owner is reading this post, he should do something about it.
So… If you decide to use these guys:
1) If you make arrangements to pay via credit card, stick to it. Don’t give in to the pressure. Make it very clear at the very beginning.
2) Print out the directions of your destination. They don’t have GPS.
3) Inspect the truck after the drop off, before they leave.
4) If you end up with the rude guy, remind him that you are the customer and you are paying for the service as early as possible.
5) I didn’t know some of the rules because this was my first time, but make sure all the boxes are closes and mirrors are wrapped.
If you do these things I think you will have a decent experience with these guys.

I don’t even know where to start here. When I first called, the gentleman on the phone sounded quite accommodating and I felt good about my upcoming move. They were supposed to arrive at 10am on moving day. When they had not showed by about 10:15am I began to worry. I called the same number I had used to initially set up the move only to get no answer. I called a couple more times and finally left a message. Imagine being all packed and ready & expecting to move only to be stood up by the movers.
To make matters worse, I was selling my house and had to be out in about 48 hours (I later found out my closing had been delayed a few days which has been my only saving grace).
I called around to find if there was another company that would be able to move me but given the short notice I couldn’t find anyone. They did finally call me back and said that, lucky me, they would still be able to move me but it would be more like 3pm before they got to my house. I was stuck and they knew it. I’m sure they double scheduled themselves in order to take in more money but in the process pretty much gave me the finger. I had to totally rearrange my day as it was my daughters birthday and we were planning a big family dinner.
They finally did arrive after 3. They worked hard while they brought the stuff out of my house onto their truck. I could tell they were tired and in a hurry but so was I.
After they left and were driving to my new apartment I realized they forgot a few things, mainly my 2 big TV’s. I later realized they also did not put a few other items on the truck that I specifically said I wanted them to move. Items too big to fit in my car which later became a huge problem.
When they got to the apartment, they worked hard to offload the truck. Again, I could tell they were tired & in a hurry. I tried to make things easy for everyone by just having them put the boxes anywhere in the apartment. I brought it to their attention that they left the TV’s and their initial reaction was CRAP! They knew they should have brought them.
When we went to settle up, I did my part and paid them cash. Pierre, the guy who seemed to be in charge, gave me his word that he would make it right by bringing my TV’s later in the week. We even shook hands to seal the deal. We talked about when would be a good time, etc. He said he would call me on the following Wednesday. He called a little late in to day, too late to move anything. He said his Sunday was «wide open» and promised to call me at 10am. Great. Not optimal but I was ok with it.
Well, again, 10am came & went. No call or anything. Just me sitting, waiting, AGAIN. I called but no answer. Called again an hour later. No answer. I left 2 voicemails and nothing in return. Just me & my TV’s looking dumb.
I ended up having to get people to help me which is exactly what I wanted to avoid by hiring movers.
I’ve moved several times over the course of my life and never, ever been treated with such disregard. Hey, Pierre… Karma is a bitch.

I moved at the end of November, and I felt I needed to wait this long to provide a more balanced review of the services. Time has not healed the wounds. The service was just poor. I ordered a three-​person move, and one of the people basically ‘supervised’ the other two young, thin workhorses. They didn’t bring a large enough truck, so the move took probably three hours more than it should have because of the driving distance between the residents. There were three wardrobe units that were large, and in the estimate, I indicated that they may stay — but that they needed to figure those three units into their estimate. They obviously did not do so.
In the end, what was supposed to be a MAXIMUM 8-​hour move was 13.5 hours (at $ 125 per hour). And it took a period of about 15 hours to complete.
THE WORST ISSUE was that the movers carelessly banged up a wall of the condo that I was selling. A 2″ chunk of plaster was taken out of a wall. Because of the unit sale, I ended up paying $ 200 for the repair. I submitted this bill to the mover. Please note that there were multiple dings in the walls of my newly constructed house, as well as minor damage to a number of pieces of my furniture. I only claimed the one damage that I had to pay ‘out of pocket’ for. I was informed that because I did not take out ‘replacement’ insurance that they would only pay me for the weight of the plaster — which was, maybe 2 ounces. I stated that this wasn’t about loss of damage to the items being moved, but the ineptness of the movers in damaging the building itself. After noting this in an email exchange with the mover, I heard nothing further — so I am out ANOTHER $ 200 in addition to the $ 1,600 I spent in hiring three people (with only 2 really working), and the extra time that was wasted because they didn’t bring a big enough truck. I think that the cost of local moves is regulated — I should have just gone to a big name company — maybe got treated a little better.
The only reason I gave two stars was that the three large wardrobes ended up not fitting in the house, and they carted them away. I don’t know if it was ‘out of the goodness of their hearts’, or if they were going to use/​sell them. It doesn’t really matter to me.
I would never recommend this firm, and neither will my real estate agent recommend them. I will definitely NOT be a repeat customer.