I had to move.
This was a moment I had been dreading. With seventeen years living in the same house, I had accumulated a lot of stuff.
“You’re a hoarder!”
Whoa! Let’s not go putting labels on people here.
“You have game programs from Penn State games in the 80’s.”
I’m a collector.
“You have twenty coffee cans of rusty nails, nuts, bolts, and some things that cannot be identified.”
OK. I’m a hoarder.
But I still had to move, and with me, all my stuff. Well, most of my stuff. Some of my stuff?
I called a moving company and the guy went through my house. I detailed which furniture was to go, what I was planning on packing, and what I expected the movers to pack and move.
He gave me an estimate. $950.00. Basically, they charged $150/hr with a $450 minimum. If you do the math, this estimate works out to be a little over 6 hours.
Now, quite frankly, I thought this was a little low for a five bedroom house with seventeen years of stuff. But, I was only moving 5 miles away. It’s not like I was going to another continent. OK–it was a different zip code.
I has pressed for time as closing on the house was imminent. I was hindered by the fact that my ex still resided there, and made it difficult to get access to my stuff. With time running out, I accepted his estimate in good faith.
The morning came. It rained off and on the entire day.
Two trucks showed up at 9 am. Five men started carting out my hopes and dreams into these large trucks. By early afternoon, one truck was full and the other was half-way filled.
I got a call from the moving company.
“Um, my guys tell me it is taking longer. We’re going to run over the estimate.”
He paused. I wait apprehensively. $200? $500? They were just about 4 hours from the starting point, so 10 hrs times 150/hr is $1500?
I barely had the math done in my head (actually, I just did the math but guestimated it at the time) when he added, “Way over the estimate.”
I took a deep breath and asked the question I did not want to hear the answer to. “How much?”
“I think we’re looking at over $2000. Maybe as high as $2400.”
W. T. F.
That was more than TWICE the estimate! How long has this guy been in this business? How in the wide, wide, bloody world of sports can you be that far off???!!! I’m scrambling to do the math in my head. $2400 divided by 150, carry the one, add a zero, curse this long division, it must be a shit ton of hours. (16 to be exact.)
So this is going to take until one am to unload?
I questioned this. I even reminded him that he quoted me a cost of 150/hr.
“Well, I had to send more guys. That’s extra. It’s more like $192/hr.”
Beep. Beep. Beep. Back this truck up.
Both of these trucks showed up with 5 guys (not the burger joint, in case you are as confused as I am) at nine o’clock this morning. The estimator KNEW he had to send more guys before the job even started. He didn’t send a second truck later on when they “realized” they had underestimated the job.
But at this point, what are my options?
If I say no. Do they just take my stuff? Do they unload it back into my old house? Do I still have to pay for their time today if they don’t actually move it away?
I am screwed.
The maddening thing is, I would have gotten more estimates if he had truthfully told me it would cost $2400 to begin with.
By lowballing his estimate, he locked me in and then took advantage of the situation.
Worse yet, I paid a trash hauler an additional $750 to take what was left in the house–they didn’t even move everything! (My ex moved out the weekend before and left me to clean out the house.)
If I ever have to move again, I am selling my stuff with the house. I will move on without it.
theeyelife 