I called Your Hometown Mover (YHM) to schedule a move. Service was prompt and friendly, and I was told that there was a four hour minimum (charged at an hourly rate). Importantly, I was told this as a matter of fact, not as something that would change later based on my particular move. So once my inventory was submitted, I naively signed the contract not expecting them to have raised the minimum by 38% to 5.5 hours. This was nearly a $300 difference. Not nothing!
I called my contact at YHM, one of the co-founders. I didn’t yell or curse. I acknowledged that I had signed a contract but that this felt like a bait and switch. So I made what I thought was a reasonable request: could they meet me in the middle and split the difference. I was told that it would be brought to the owner of the company (her brother) and that I’d hear back in a day or two.
Here’s where the story takes a turn.
I never heard back. Over the next month I left several voicemails and none were returned. I called close to twenty times and not even the new customer line would pick up my calls. It always went to voicemail no matter the time or day.
As you might imagine, this left me with the impression that my calls were being screened and ignored. So I tested this theory and tried calling using a friend’s phone (with a different phone number). And do you know what happened? My call was answered the first time…
There was no mention of or apology for the unreturned voicemails, and the co-founder again committed to bring my case to the owner. For two months I sent weekly check-ins and for two months there were no updates, only more attempts at dodging. Finally I was told that the owner had been out of the office for the past two months, a fact that had inexplicably never been mentioned before.
At last, three months after the move, I was put into direct contact with the owner. He never answered for the month of unanswered calls. He claimed that providing a refund was, laughably, beyond his control. In effect, “How can we refund you? We already paid the movers.” And finally he explained how everything was my fault. That people “outside of the industry” don’t understand how moving estimates work. That it was my fault for not calling their Claims department when his sister, a company co-founder, had personally offered to handle my case the day of the move. He said it was my fault for not having read the contract more carefully. This point I gladly acknowledged would have been a fine answer the day of the move, but not now, after three months of dodging and promises to have my case heard—which again, was the very reasonable request to split the difference.
The moving crew themselves did an A+ job. So if they’re all that’s available, rest assured that your belongings will be moved professionally. But if a single thing goes wrong, good luck holding anyone at YMH accountable, let alone doing it in any sort of timely manner.
These are not people you want...
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