When I decided that I didn’t want to break my back moving my heavier furniture down one flight and up at least one more, I also decided that I wanted someone else to do that for me. I could have done more research when choosing a moving company, as I was hoping for a recommendation from a friend or co-worker. No one was able to quickly provide any information, so I did what most people do, I checked the Yellow Pages.
I felt I’d be more comfortable going with a national company with name recognition, and my eyes focused on the listing for Two Men and a Truck. I had seen their trucks around before, white with black lettering, and the simplicity of their concept and the student-on-the-cheap attitude invited me to do more research.
Thanks to Epinions, I was able to find out more about the company from past customers’ perspectives. There were, as I would have guessed, many favorable and many unfavorable reviews, with the positive outnumbering the negative. One thing I had to keep in mind is that each office of Two Men and a Truck is independently operated and therefore wildly different experiences would be expected from location to location. There were no reviews for my local office specifically.
I filled out a form online and quickly received a quote. The move would be $120 per hour, plus one hour drive time. They don’t charge by the pound, so there’s no risk of weight fraud. The hourly rate was a little high, but it’s comparable for the area. A move on a Saturday carried a minimum of 4 hours while a Sunday move required 6 hours. To schedule the move on a weekday, the minimum charge would be “only” for two hours. I decided that it would be worth it to work from home a half day and schedule the move on a weekday afternoon.
When I called for more details about the quote, their office manager exteaplained that their crewss were fully booked for the day I scheduled, but they would be able to pull a crew from the North Arlington office—farther away—without any additional travel charge.
On the day of the move—yesterday—I received a call about 30 minutes before their scheduled arrival time. The directions they received from the office were not very good and they were getting lost. I directed them properly and they arrived 15 minutes early. After explaining what I wanted to have moved and filling out the paperwork (liability waiver, etc.), the crew, two men named N. and K., went to work.
They did a decent job protecting my furniture, not that what I have is worth much. I was concerned that they didn’t wrap my mattress in plastic, but once it was lifted onto the truck, they did a good job of protecting it. To my surprise, rather than carrying the lighter items down the stairs outside my old apartment, one man passed items over the balcony to the other.
After the truck was fully loaded, I gave each guy a bottle of water and they followed me to the new apartment. When they arrived, they drove around to reposition the truck and began unloading. During the whole process, the crew was friendly and conversational. They saw my bicycle on the balcony and we talked a little about riding.
As they were finishing up I offered a couple of cans of soda. K. reassembled my dining room table, adding in the leaf, and I did the closing paperwork with N.
The entire process took a little less than the two hour minimum charge, so I’m very pleased with my decision to schedule the move on a weekday, “saving” at least $240. After they were finished, I offered them soda, provided them directions back to the Turnpike, and sent them on their way. The only problem I had was with my entertainment center. I noticed it was scratched up badly after they left. I could just repaint the black shelves, but I probably won’t. The center was passed down to me from a friend, and I’ll likely get rid of it when it’s time to buy a new television.
Here’s the full breakdown of the cost:
| 2 hours moving time at $120 per hour: | $240 |
| 1 hour driving time: | $120 |
| Tip for two movers: | $50 |
| Total: | $410 |
| ($360 on cash back credit card, $50 in cash) | |
All in all, it was a good move, and I would recommend them to anyone else in the area who needs to move, keeping in mind that any branch of the office—or any crew—might provide an experience that is not quite as good.
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It’s good to hear you had such a positive experience. When I read that you were having movers come move the big stuff, my mind instantly went back to my neighbors move. They hired a moving company to move some big stuff and then proceeded to get more and more frustrated as they watched these guys (aka the Turtles) walk around and slowly wrap their items. I remember thinking, “I’m glad I’m not them”.
Sounds like doing your research paid off. Congrats on the new place!
Hazzard
You’ll have the name of the company because of this blog, but you’ll want it next time you move. Finding a good mover is a lucky experience. I loved my movers that moved me from my apartment to my condo. I had everything (and I mean everything) boxed and ready to go. They didn’t have to do anything other than move the boxes and the heavy furniture. Like you, I spent about $300 and it was worth every penny to not have to move the heavy stuff around.
Hey, glad to hear you found a decent company especially since I couldn’t remember that “Irish” company I dealt with before that I was going to recommend. I almost recommended Two Men and a Truck but, like you, aside from their good advertising I didn’t actually know anyone who used them.
I used two men and a truck with no complaints. They were also happy to take some stuff off my hands that I still had in my apartment that I really didn’t want to move to the house. An extra ‘tip’ for them and saved me the hassle of throwing some things away.
I worked for a similar company in college, but the client rents the truck. We were pretty good at our job, but everyone has a ding percentage, especially when moving thousands of items. We always recomended that the individual buys as much padding/old blankets as they can for protection in the moving truck. Your tip was nice. Some never tipped even though we were working on an hourly basis and sometimes doing the impossible.
We used Two Men and a Truck recently to move our daughter into her apartment. They were courteous, on time, and hard-working in over 100-degree heat. They were careful to point out any scratches, etc. before things were loaded. Their price was the best of the three companies I called. I would definitely use them again. (This is in the Phoenix west valley.)
What a joke…the “two dorks (whiny little girls) and a truck” who moved us tried to blackmail my wife after THEY damaged the furniture. Made it seem like it was her fault. Total bunch of losers. Why didn’t I tip them, because they sucked! Four months later I am still waiting for them to fix the furniture they damaged.
I recently used 2 Men and a Truck. The showed up an hour past the 4 hour window. Damaged Walls. Destroyed the headboard to my bedroom set and claimed no fault. These 2 guys combined maybe weighed 300lbs. Their excuse? The items were too heavy. I would not use their services again ever.
Got dooped by the Canadian version. Buy beware … they say they’re insured yadda, yadda, yadda but anything you pack yourself and they break isn’t covered. Was told to “read the back of the contract”. Make sure you carry anything that has any value in your own car, by yourself … still feeling very bitter.
My experience with the Toledo, Ohio franchise of Two Men and a truck was terrible. One of the movers showed up hung over and caused a considerable amount of damage and wasted time sitting by the truck gulping down water.
I reported the damage immediately and followed the steps spelled out in the signed contract. The manager in the Toledo office didn’t follow through on repairs until I called the head office in Lansing, MI. As it is, the repairs that were made are sub-par and some of the damage couldn’t be fixed. The subcontractors were unreliable; once I waited six hours for a painter who never showed. When I called Two Men and a Truck to find out what happened, they never called me back. When I asked about a refund for a portion of the hourly fee the phone operator actually said to me, “I just work here.” They refused to refund any money and wouldn’t cooperate even after I reported them to the Better Business Bureau.
The head office in Lansing basically washed their hands of the problem saying that Toledo is independently owned and operated under a franchise agreement so they can’t force them to make good on the problems.
The manager at the Toledo office is the rudest customer service person that I have ever encountered.
I highly recommend that you stay away from Two Men and a Truck/Toledo, Ohio.