What to do When the Move Goes Wrong

It’s every mover’s worst nightmare: the big day of moving from house comes and—everything is all wrong. Why does this happen to us even despite our best intentions? Perhaps, the answer has everything to do with a lack of preparation and simply hoping for the best.

Unfortunately, the universe doesn’t care how optimistic you are. What does matter is how you plan for the big day and how you handle major problems when the move goes wrong.

8 Common Moving Problems

The best way to avoid the horror stories of ‘professional moving companies’ gone wrong is to know the worst and most common problems so you can avoid them before they even begin to become an issue in your own moving experience. Here is the list of most common problems.

1. The Movers Don’t Show up
2. The Moving Company Shows up Late
3. They are Unprofessional
4. The Movers and Packers are not Careful
5. The Company Damages Your Property
6. Your Movers Don’t Protect Your Stuff
7. The Local Movers Demand Payment Upfront
8. Your Moving Company Choice Applies Hidden Charges

You can recognize the issues simply by context clues and counteract them as they appear. After all, why would you simply rely on everything to work perfectly when you can simply be aware of how to combat unknown variables and avoid problems before they ruin your big move entirely?

1. The Movers Don’t Show up

Although this one might sound absurd, you would be surprised how many movers have faced this problem. Especially those that unfortunately paid upfront. The money was presented to the company, a deal was made, the day comes along, and poof! The company has vanished into thin air leaving the client with no money, no movers, and a seriously big predicament on their hands.

2. The Moving Company Shows up Late

 Okay, so perhaps, they show up but they’re way later than they said they would be. This puts pressure on you and your deadline to get the items out of your old home. Why deal with this stress and annoyance when you can simply find a reliable company from the start that will be punctual and respectful of your time?

3. They are Unprofessional

Even if the company shows up on time, you may find that they are rather unprofessional on the job. This could be the way they handle your items, the way they talk, how they treat you, or even how they pack your items.

All of these unprofessional tactics are things you truly wouldn’t be able to know about until movers and packers are on your door, right? Well, the answer is no. Just by reviewing their testimonials and past reviews online you can get a feel for the kind of movers you will be working with on the big day.

4. The Movers and Packers are not Careful

Just as being unprofessional in the way they handle the job can be frustrating, having movers that are not careful with your property is a pretty annoying situation to deal with. From not boxing them properly or dropping your items all the way to throwing them downstairs or into the truck, your property is important to you —and working with a company that does not recognize this is a recipe for moving disaster.

5. The Company Damages Your Property

So, these dufuses aren’t careful with your items and, well, there goes the TV or a box of picture frames. Now, you have damaged property and, likely, a business that does not have full value protection plans in place.

What are you to do about these damaged items when the company does not take the blame for their destruction at all? Instead of seeing how this situation plays out in real life, it’s best to choose a company that provides protection and is careful with your personal property from the start.

6. Your Movers Don’t Protect Your Stuff

Now, let’s say you did have movers and packers that destroyed your property during a move but the company does not protect your stuff. You are ultimately left with items that will never be reimbursed and a pretty bad experience under your belt. That’s not fun—we get it.

With this said, you should absolutely opt for a business which provides moving insurance and is not afraid to protect your items. With this, is proof that they are confident in their employees and their attention to detail on the job.

7. The Local Movers Demand Payment Upfront

We’ve discussed this topic many times before including in our article What to Expect from a Professional Moving Company in the Bay Area, but it remains so vital to a good move with no hitches or scams along the way.

There’s really only one of two reasons why a moving company would demand payment upfront: they are trying to scam you out of your hard-earned money, or they are not all that confident in their services and don’t want to be held to a higher standard because of it or lose money at the end of the job.

Either way, you should absolutely look for a company that is confident enough in their services that they are willing to be paid after the job is done. This will ensure that you are not scammed and will also ensure that you are happy with the job that is done before you pay for it.

8. Your Moving Company Choice Applies Hidden Charges

Lastly, if your moving company tries to apply hidden charges that were not previously discussed for various ‘reasons’ such as stairs, shrink-wrap, the use of dollies, blankets, or tape, you need to understand that you are trying to be conned out of more money for services any truly professional company would gladly provide free of additional charge.

Don’t fall for this. If a company tries to pull this on you, make it known that you are well aware of this common moving scam and will not play into it.

How to Handle These Major Moving Problems

Now that you know the major moving problems you may face with a less professional moving company, you may be wondering if there is a way to avoid these problems entirely from the start.

Well, guess what? There is! The answer to all of your moving problems is doing your due diligence before hiring a moving company. Instead of calling one company and hiring them in a matter of minutes, you need to come prepared and know what to look out for to avoid these issues before they even become a possibility.

Start by doing your research. A good guide for this is our article, 9 Red Flags Before Hiring Movers, that is sure to give you the answers you are looking for when determining what Bay Area moving company is right for you.

When calling around, you will want to ask as many questions as needed until you feel comfortable with the chosen moving company. This will help you to feel more at ease before the big day and more than likely avoid all of these major moving problems entirely.

In the end, stress-free moving is possible. However, it does cost money, and these too-good-to-be-true priced moving businesses are all too often the complete opposite of stress-free on the big day. That’s where choosing a reliable and trustworthy company such as Got2Move comes into play. At Got2Move, we are one of the few companies in California which will be your friend and respect you and your property whether you move locally in the Bay Area or cross-state.

With this said, all that’s left is to prepare accordingly, find the moving company that’s right for you, and reap the benefits of being prepared for your big moving experience.