These are some true stories about moving
that have actually occured on our jobs
Parolee Moving Company
A couple of years ago a lady called us and said that she had selected a low rate moving company to move her because their rates were over 30 percent lower than our lowest rates. She told us that on moving day 3 thug looking guys showed up. Right after they got started, she overheard them discussing how they had spent time together in Cook County jail for various felonies and they were on a work release from jail program!
She told us that she feared that these thug movers might have set her up for some kind of crime and since she was single, she wanted to make arrangements with us to move her again as soon as possible. She said that she called to tell us about this because she remembered that we had warned her that some of the low rate moving companies were using very poor day labor kind of help. She told us that this time she was going to be sure to use Burrows Moving Company or, if we were not available, she would thoroughly check a movers references to be sure that she would now select a reputable Chicago mover.
Piano Moving Anecdotes
One day one of our moving crews was on a job moving out of a townhouse that had a mirror image identical townhouse right next-door to it. Another Chicago mover was already moving the next-door neighbor onto their truck as we began to load our customer's goods from his house onto our truck. At one point, three of their movers came out of the neighbor's townhouse moving a large heavy piano and using straps and great exertions carried the piano down the steps and out onto the street and then dollied the piano up the ramp into their truck.
Coincidentally a few minutes later two of our men came out, took the ramp from the truck and put it on the stairs of our customers identical townhouse. They then went inside of the house with a piano dolly, easily set a very similar piano onto the dolly and rolled the piano to the ramp at the stairs and then dollied it down the ramp to the sidewalk and over to the truck. Next, they shifted the ramp from the stairs back to the truck and then dollied the piano up the ramp and onto the truck.
Our customer observed all of this activity and then went up to our crew chief and asked him why the other company's crew did not move their piano the easy way on the ramp out of the house as we had done. He could only answer by mentioning that the owner of our company trains the crews to not be gorilla movers always heavy handedly carrying things. He told him that it is Burrows Moving Company's policy for the crews to always try to make the hard part of a move as easy as possible so we always look for ways to do the work the easy way, especially when moving heavy pianos. Other companies don't always train their movers very much, so they don't always think to look for best and easiest and least damage prone ways to do moving as we do. This was an example of that moving company's deficiency.
Disastrous Piano Move
Once, when moving a very large heavy piano up to a third-floor on the back stairwell, the whole stairway collapsed right under our crew as they got to the top of it. Of course the piano went down with the stairway and it was destroyed. Fortunately, our piano movers were able to quickly grab the banisters and cling to them to save themselves from any injuries.
Before they had started carrying the piano up our crew had inspected the stairway and it looked sturdy enough, especially considering that it had just been reconstructed. What they didn't know was that the builder shorted the reconstruction job by not replacing one key support board which was vital to the stairway's structural integrity. Thank God there were no injuries to our men nor any of the building's tennants so the owner of the building only had to reimburse the customer for the loss of his piano and fix the stairway nad landings.
Illinois' licensed moving companies are required by law to have current workmen's compensation insurance and property liability insurance, which we had. But in this circumstance, had there been a death or injuries, the workmen's compensation insurance company would have sought reimbursement from the property owner's liability insurance company or from the owner himself. This story illustrates how important it is for moving customers that the mover they pick has all insurances in place and that they are current.
Multiple Small Trucks vs. One Big Truck
In the past two years a couple of jobs that we were bidding on had very difficult truck entryways, so much so that normal moving vans could not fit in the entry and so had to be parked on the street and loaded out all the way out there. This involved a long walk from the customer's house to the street for each trip by the movers.
Because we have smaller 14, 15 and 16 ft. trucks in our fleet we proposed using them instead of the larger 24 or 26 ft. moving vans so that we could fit them into the entryway and get the trucks close to the house. Again the idea was to make a hard job easy which none of the other companies bidding on the job seemed to think of.
We were awarded both jobs, did both jobs with the small trucks, came in underestimate on both jobs, and thoroughly beat our competitors estimates. Both of these customers were delighted with the service rendered. By the way, one of the jobs was done on a heavy snow day and we were able to ramp from the truck right to the front door stoop. If that customer had selected a mover who had to park on the street, that mover's crew would have had to trudge through the snow a half a block on each trip taking a big risk of having furniture damages and crew injuries. They would have also tracked snow throughout the customer's house.
An Unusual Packing Story
One lady who booked her move with us told us that on her prior move she had used another mover to pack her and to move her things but she would not use them again. They had set the job up to pack her the day before they moved her. As the packing progressed it became apparent that they would not get it all done in time for the move the next day. So, she had to leave them there packing late in the afternoon while she went to work as a night shift E.R. nurse at a hospital.
When she came home she found that they had not packed any of her books but that they had packed all of her garbage! She was shocked. So she had to spend what was left of the night packing up her books. Needless to say the next day she was not too pleased with that crew. This illustrates one of the reasons that it is so important to have the mover's packers pack your goods up at least two days before move day. Then there is another day to finish any packing that might not be able to be accomplished the first day.
Pet Problems
One time on a move a customer had placed her cat in the bathroom with a note on the door that it was not to be opened because the cat was present. The note fell off the door. The door was opened by one of the movers and the cat scurried right out past him and disappeared out of one of the outer doors of the house never to be found again.
On another job the customer's cat was so agitated by the moving activity that it snuck off and hid inside an unfinished wall, not to be found for several days. These stories illustrate how important it is to try to have your pet kept off of the premises when moving is going on. Check out our section considerations for pets on moving day
For references on Burrows Moving Company's or any other moving company's overall performance feel free to contact the Professional Mover's Watchdog Agencies listed below....
