Beware when dealing with Phillips. If ever a problem or issue should arise during the move, Phillips will not be receptive in any way to the issues you are facing, let alone assist you in any way to find an appropriate or fair resolution. Instead, you will be held hostage - faced with the option of paying more or watching the movers drive away without completing the job. That’s what we were faced with on moving day. We were quoted for something that we were not provided, provided with something we did not need and required to pay for it, and then required to pay more money for the movers to complete the job.
We moved on Thursday May 26, 2011. Daniel, the sales rep for Phillips, came to our office on Tuesday May 24, 2011, to see what was being moved and to provide an accurate estimate. Daniel had as much time as he needed to look around. Our building consisted of 6 offices, and a large warehouse that stored the majority of the items. Only minor disassembling was required for a few desks. No disassembling, packing or wrapping was required for the majority of the items. In addition, there were two heavier items in the warehouse: a pop machine and a pizza oven.
The quote that Daniel provided to us was based on two large trucks (approximately 54 foot), 10 men and 9 hours of work/travel. Since the move was local (approximately 10 minutes from the loading place to the unloading destination), we were informed that while one truck was loading, another truck could be at the other site unloading, and there would be 5 men to each truck. This would have made the move smooth and efficient.
Instead, we faced the following issues:
1. We Overpaid.
Daniel informed us that the industry standard for a move is $30/hour for each man and each truck. We paid the full amount of the quote, as instructed by the driver, before one box was loaded onto the truck. The driver would not start the move until he had the full amount in his hand. Even though we paid based on two trucks (each truck costing $30/hr * 9 hours as per the quote), the second truck never came. Based on the second truck alone, we overpaid $270.00. We discussed this with Daniel early on in the day and were advised, although this obviously never happened, that the driver would settle at the end of the day, whatever we had overpaid. We were also informed that because they only sent one truck, they had provided us with an extra man. As discussed below, sending an extra man to make up for the truck was completely nonsensical.
2. We were provided with too many men that we did not need and required to pay for it.
It is of note that it is standard industry practice to provide approximately 6-7 men per truck for large moves. We received a number of quotes from other companies. Each company quoted us for approximately 5-7 men per truck. This is not only an industry standard, but is true of Phillips. We were initially provided with two estimates for two different scenarios from Phillips. The estimate, which we did not go with, covered a scenario whereby we would load and then store our items for a short period with Phillips, and unload on a different day. If we had chosen to simply load and store, Phillips was going to provide us with one truck and 6-7 men. Eleven men, to together load one truck, were clearly unnecessary by Phillips standards. Clearly, providing 10 men was based on providing two trucks. When only one truck was sent, the entire strategy for the move was altered, and Phillips should have made the necessary adjustments to account for these changes. Phillips should have cut down our team of movers to 6 or 7 instead of adding another body. With 6-7 men, if the move went over the 9-hour estimate, we would have been happy to pay the difference. Ultimately we paid $30/hr * 9hrs for each man that we did not need (at least 4 by Phillips standards). Despite our valid and logical concerns, neither Daniel, nor the head office was receptive to understanding our point and simply insisted that we had to pay more when the move went overtime or they would not finish the move.
To add to the fact that we had too many men doing too little, at the unloading site we had an additional 3 individuals (unaffiliated with Phillips) waiting to help unload, one of who was operating a tow-motor. There was no loading dock at the unloading destination, so it was an added bonus for the moving team. Moreover, the men unaffiliated with Phillips ended up doing the majority of the unloading, specifically the man who was operating the two motor.
3. We were required to pay more.
In total, our move consisted of 5 full truckloads. The movers arrived around 9am. While the first two truckloads were loaded and unloaded by 1pm, it took 11 men 2 hours to load the 3rd load onto the truck. While loading the third truckload, we received a call from Daniel informing us that the estimate of 9 hours only covered until 4 or 5pm and that we would have to pay more for the move if it went overtime. At this point, we again raised our concern that: (1) we had paid extra for a truck that we did not have; (2) the move was far more time-consuming because we only had the one truck; and (3) we felt we overpaid for men that we did not need since we were only provided with one truck. After a heated conversation, Daniel said he would call us back.
Mistakes happen all the time. However, we would expect from a professional company that they would be prepared to deal with these errors and work to rectify the situation in a professional manner. What we received was quite the opposite. Instead of Phillips saying, for example, that they would send home a few of the men and require us to pay only for the appropriate number of men (including any overtime), we were blamed for the move taking longer and told that the movers had gotten our move done so we had to pay. Telling us that we have to pay because 11 men got the job done is ridiculous and in no way resolves the issue since 7 men could have, and should have, gotten the job done in the same amount of time. Accountability for the truck and the number of men sent, given the last minute changes, falls directly on Phillips, and not on the customer.
Ultimately we were held hostage by both the moving crew and Phillips. Around 6pm, while we were unloading the second last load, the driver told us that we needed to pay more or he would not pick-up and deliver the final load. Obviously, this was a huge issue. Basically, we were being held hostage, and more to the point, for a mistake made at head office. Phillips provided us with one less truck, did not inform us, and ridiculously believed that we should still pay for ten men per hour (“because they did the move”). The whole issue was exacerbated because at the unloading site, again, we had a tow-motor and three extra men that were instrumental in unloading. Since we were being held hostage, our only option was to pay the money to ensure our move would be completed. We decided to pay, and deal with head office after. We had to pay an additional 10% of the total cost of the move. Once we paid this 10% and the second last load had been unloaded, all but three men from Phillips remained to do the final load and unload. The extra money that we paid, plus the money we should have been reimbursed for the first truck, more than covered the extra hours for these 3 men plus the truck. Moreover, we should not have had to pay for ten men, when 7 would have been more than enough for the one truck. This was a massive oversight by Phillips Moving, a so-called professional and knowledgeable moving company.
4. There was an issue with two heavier items.
Another issue was the pizza oven and pop machine, two heavier items that had to be moved. When Daniel arrived at our building to provide a move estimate, he took as much time as he needed to walk around the warehouse and take pictures of everything. We had been very clear that we were moving everything. When the movers saw the pizza oven, they informed us that there was no way they could move it. It was far too heavy. Understandably, this pizza oven was extraordinarily heavy. We (the two who had hired Phillips and who were managing the move) took it upon ourselves to figure out how to move this item. We went to a neighbouring building and borrowed their tow-motor, which they operated for us. They easily moved the pizza oven onto the truck for us. At the unloading site, again we had a tow-motor available, which was able to unload the pizza oven seamlessly. The movers did not have to touch it either to load or unload it. However, Daniel made it seem like this was a huge issue for the movers. He asked numerous times, “What’s with the pizza oven?” implying that he had no idea it existed, and insinuating that somehow the pizza oven had stalled the move. We explained that the pizza oven was not an issue, that we had dealt with it and that his men had not had to lift a finger. This did not stop Daniel from asking about the pizza oven throughout the move day and the following week when we called Phillips to discuss our complaints regarding the move. A similar issue arose with the pop machine, which again the movers did not have to touch. Rather two girls and a guy (unaffiliated with Philips) were able to put the pop machine onto a pump truck, which was then dragged onto the truck and subsequently unloaded by a tow motor.
5. There were several customer service issues.
Throughout the day and in the aftermath of the move, the individuals from head office that we dealt with, specifically Daniel, were rude, unprofessional and plainly wrong. We also called Don, the owner, three times and left messages. To date, he has not returned our calls, but instead, had Daniel call us back who only advised us that while we did overpay for the truck, an amount which we never received back, we owed Phillips approximately $1400.00, a number which makes absolutely no sense to us, specifically because only 3 men worked the vast majority of the overtime. Daniel made it seem as though we didn’t appreciate or want to pay for the service we received. This is certainly not the case.
Daniel and Phillips provided a terrible service and did not work on our behalf to make the necessary adjustments to accommodate our move. They did not even inform us of the changes. When the issues started to arise, Daniel did a very poor job in providing appropriate customer service. We raised issues and he responded by telling us we owed more money. It’s interesting that an unhappy customer mentions Daniel’s name in another review.
While the moving crew was nice and helpful (although they demanded more money at the end to complete our move), the experience provided as a whole by Phillips was a a complete disaster. In an industry that has a terrible reputation to begin with, a large company that prides itself on “quality moving….[and] experienced and knowledgeable office staff”, should be wary of its so-called “experienced and knowledgeable office staff”. This move was a terrible experience because of: (1) the operations manager at Phillips who sent one truck and an extra man in lieu of the truck; (2) Daniel who failed to provide any customer service and who failed to communicate with his own company to ensure we received the necessary moving service to accommodate our move in an efficient and seamless manner; and (3) Don, the owner of Philips Moving, who seems to care less if the customer is happy as long as the customer’s money is in his pocket.
Beware; this is a company that prides itself of its professionalism!
