Gentle Movers

On August 20th, 2012 my colleague and I started the process of making a reservation for this moving company to complete a move on September 1st, 2012. We explained every aspect of the move to the the company "Gentle Movers" in regards to the logistics of the move. I agreed to a contract and was given a high and a low estimate for the moving services from an apartment in the North End of Boston, to another apartment 2 blocks away in the the same neighborhood. I gave a deposit of 1 hour of service required on my debit card, which was standard practice by their company. Fast forward to the day after the move, and I see a charge for triple the cost of the high estimate added to the debit card they had on file, with no invoice or notification. The company had estimated 3 Hours of work at $234 an hour and Charged me for 11 hours.

After contacting the office to see if it was a clerical error, the General Manager said it looked incorrect and said he would look into it. After no communication for a few days, I decided to further investigation to the reasoning of the cost. I found out that they had in fact been there for 11 hours, but was due to their truck breaking down, a member of their staff quitting 1 hour into the job, and unable to find a parking spot for 3.5 hours. Immediately after finding this information I called the company, and was put through the normal routine of "Tom will call you back, he is not in at the moment", or "Can I put you through to his voicemail", or some other BS excuse. Only would I or my associate get through to Tom after disguising our name, or purpose for calling.

After pleading our case Tom came to a proposal of refunding back $1000.00, which seemed totally outrageous considering the initial estimate, the errors on their part during the move (broken truck, agent quitting during the move) the deceptive business practices, and the total lack of professionalism and communication during the move. However my colleague and I decided to accept his proposal for time sake, and to be done with this ordeal. Fast forward a few more days, and we haven't seen a credit back from the company; after more unanswered phone calls and a day of no communication, we finally are able to get in touch with Tom to find out that he has changed his mind on the refund, and has decided no refund is in order.

In summary:

-We were quotted on the high end 3Hours at $234/hr for 3 Guys and a Truck to move 2 blocks.

-We were charged 11Hours at $234/hr for 2 Guys and Broken down Truck.

My suggestions:

1. Don't use this company.

2. Don't give them your credit card to allow for them to charge you whatever they want.

3. Don't depend on them.

4. Also, be ready to help the entire time, like you are also getting paid to move.