I hired them as a "shuttle service" which included a 16ft truck and 3 people to move my 3BR worth of household goods from a tractor trailer in Brampton to a townhome in Port Credit (15 km). I was paying about $120/hour.
Good
- Generally friendly
Bad
- Truck was pretty old and dirty. Corner of my leather sofa was scuffed badly when they mandhandled it into the truck
- Not well trained. 2 out of the 3 man crew were total amateurs. They did not use moving straps so could only carry a couple boxes at a time and seemed to bump into the walls a lot. I have moved several times and have seen the best trained movers use moving straps to bundle 4-5 boxes together and carry them on their backs, allowing them to walk faster and see where they are going. 3rd guy was a little more experience but basically hid in the truck loading, arranging and undloading from inside.
- Terrible work ethic. I had to participate actively (i.e. do a lot of heavy lifting myself) to "encourage" a reasonable pace of work during both load and unload.
- Took an extended lunch which cost me $180. It took the crew 90 minutes to travel the 15 km from Brampton to Port Credit. I left 10 minutes after them in Brampton, stopped at a drive thru, arrive at the home in Port Credit and still had to wait 45 minutes! When I called the office, they said the driver was not answering his cell phone and they could not locate the crew. I was pretty unhappy when they finally arrived but held back my comments since they guys were handling my fragile items.
- Office people were ineffective. Besides being completely useless tracking down the crew and totally non-chalant about their 90 minute lunch, the office was failed to communicate a huge point. I stressed to them multiple times at the time of reservation that the townhome was 4 storeys! When the crew arrived there, they were totally shocked and started moaning that this would "take all night", "maybe we can leave the stuff in the garage". As a result, their already turtle-like pace of work slowed to a ridiculous pace. One of the guys who looked like he was 100 lbs overweight was carrying one box at a time - 6 boxes an hour! After a hour, I told them to just to start leaving the boxes in the garage and carry in the furniture.
- One guy kept commenting on my furntiure and asked me what I paid for my TV, my house? Very inappropriate.
- I used some very good movers in Chicao (Metro Loading) to perform this same "shuttle service" from my old home into the tractor trailer. They did the work in under 4 hours - I tipped them $100 since I was so impressed with their efficiency and care. These clowns who left 70% of my goods in the garage took 7.5 hours = $900. They seemed a little sheepish when I did not tip them but I figured I already tipped them $120 for the extendo lunch.
I would NEVER use this company again. I have moved 7 times in 10 years and have experienced a variety of moving companies. Two Men with Big Hearts are by far the worst and most aggravating.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $900.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- Train their crew more rigourously. Set reasonable guidelines for the customer funded "lunch breaks".
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Get recommendations from friends - if possible, focus on the crew rather than company. I think that a small company with a "family crew" that does not change often will be generally better.
- Company Response
I am so sorry to hear you had a bad experience with our company Two Small Men with Big Hearts Moving. We are currently under new management, and dont know what happened years ago. Please take the time to see some of our more recent reviews on Homestars and Google.
Two Small Men with Big Hearts Moving, making friends one move at a time.