How to Choose a Moving Company

Everyone can agree that moving is stressful. You must prepare for weeks!

Before the moving day you need to ensure you notify the landlord, inform your loved ones, and change your mailing addresses, among other things. And this is just the easy part.

Next, you have to spend more weeks sorting your belongings, packing, and, most importantly, choosing a reputable moving company to move your belongings to our new locations. Finding a company that can help make the process seamless requires a lot of research and patience.

The first thing to look for when choosing a moving company is transparency. A transparent company will be open about everything, especially its prices. They should offer you a free quote and shouldn’t introduce other hidden fees after you pay a deposit or sign an agreement.

But that isn’t the only thing to look out for; this article discusses all the steps you should take when choosing a moving company.

Read the Text on the Company's Website Carefully

If the whole text of the company consists of template calls to hire the number one moving company, best movers, etc., it is considered empty and useless text and solid promises.

The value of a professional company text from a random one is distinguished by the quality and usefulness of the information that this site offers. The whole moving process should be described in detail, with the packing terms of the contract and really useful moving tips. That is, after reading the text, you already want to move with them yourself.

Check the Company's Licence and Insurance

All professional movers are adequately licensed, and they will publicly display their credentials on their websites. They will also not hesitate to produce those documents when you ask them to be verified.

There are several ways to confirm the legitimacy of licenses a moving company shows you. The easiest method is searching for the company’s name or business number on the Federal Corporation database. It lists all federally incorporated and licensed companies that do business nationwide.

All the top moving companies will provide real liability insurance for your cargo when moving.

• Discuss the insurance terms and the deadline for claiming after the insurance with the moving companies.
• Create a list of all your possessions and their value, present it to the movers and have them double-check everything before signing a contract. 
• Most movers will provide special packaging for your expensive possessions when you choose to have them insured. To cut down on the risk of damage, they will pack it.
• The moving company can also offers you Replacement Value Protection.

Read the Reviews Correctly

In the moving industry, the trusted company that regularly provides services should have reviews of its operations and service quality on its website or special resources like Mymovingreviews, Google, and Trust Pilot. Carefully read both positive and negative reviews, especially how the company interacts with its customers by responding to reviews.

• If you see the standard empty template answers, it is a sign of poor service because even their customers can not answer individually or do not want to.
• If the company, even with negative feedback, politely and professionally responds to a dissatisfied customer and explains its position, it is a good sign. In this response, you will learn a lot about the company.

Understanding Negatives Reviews

There are also reviews with a pronounced negative assessment of the client. People tend to emotionally colour their own experience and, in some places, specifically emphasize those variants of words that describe personal experience as succinctly as possible. Such reviews are often real but do not always carry useful information.

• If there are a lot of reviews mentioning bad packing or battered items, it most likely means that movers are not qualified as workers.
• If there are a lot of mentions that the company has charged more than the agreed amount, then there may be either a misunderstanding between the customers and the office or the company is operating dishonestly. It is worth asking for clarification on the phone about bad reviews and evaluating the response of the company representative.
• If a person uses words such as scam company, horrible expiration, you shouldn't be in business, etc. It is worth paying attention to the essence of the whole review, not expressive expressions.
• If a person writes that the delivery of furniture promised for 5 days and delivered in 8 days and he almost died, and the company is very bad, then in fact, it is likely that the person overdid it with promises to the client, or the client simply does not read the contract and has ideas or promises to this effect. In fact, there is nothing wrong with this.

But if the client writes that his things are half a year or a year in stock and did not answer the phone, then such a company should be avoided.

According to statistics, 90% of all customers do not leave positive feedback because everything went well or, in general, the quality of service is satisfactory. And almost 98% of all dissatisfied customers leave a rating of 1 star.

Conclusion: for every bad review left by a customer, there are, on average, 30-40 5 stars 🌟 reviews that customers did not leave.

Ensure the Moving Company Have a Local Physical Address

To remove any doubt, you should narrow your search to a local moving company with an address you can visit. Always ask yourself, “Are there moving companies near me?”

Working with local firms will help you in many ways, including;

• The company sends representatives to do onsite inspections and provide a more accurate cost estimate.
• The company easily walks you through all the requirements.
• The company provides you with physical contracts you can sign.
• You can confirm if the storage facilities they provide meet your standards.

Visit the company's office and warehouse. See how it's presented. Sometimes, companies may resort to renting public storage to be sure it is temperature-controlled.

Interstate moving companies will have offices and storage facilities in every state they operate in. This guarantees smooth delivery of service. When making a decision, it is also vital that you go with a company that has multiple locations across different cities and countries.

Choose Realistic Prices

Using the example of local moving with two professional movers, this service cannot cost less than $125 on average. So if you are promised a lower price, it's a red flag for quality, or rather lack thereof. The moving industry uses both hourly and piece rate systems. Or a combination.

How does that count?

• The truck fee includes rent, fuel, depreciation of the truck, + the time the company pays for the time of the movers. The truck fee depends on size, availability, and date of month. Normally prices are higher at the beginning/the end of the month and in summertime.
• The hourly rate includes the amount of payment for movers, advertising, maintenance of the company and a surcharge on profit.

Therefore, companies offering rates below $125/hour for two movers or $62.5/hour per 1 mover use the tactic of getting clients at the expense of low prices and then add the cost of the arrival of movers (illegal).

But, seasonal discounts are also possible when there are few movers.

Look at the Moving Company's Track Record/Experience

The competition in the moving industry is tough. New companies are always coming up every day. Companies with bad ratings always rebrand to escape their bad rep, but they rarely step up their game. 

To save yourself from potential losses, always assess the track record of the moving coming you choose by looking at their experience. Here are some characteristics of an experienced moving company.

• Own services, not subcontracting. They have permanent employees, a fleet of vehicles, and storage facilities.
• Long history. The best way to measure the experience of a company is to look at how long it has existed. Established companies will have 10+ years of experience in the moving industry.
• Wide range of associated services. Experienced companies will offer many different services associated with moving, such as packing, vehicle shipping and moving storage.
• Industry honours and prizes. A moving company with a good track record will be recognized by industry leaders and be awarded trophies and awards over its long history.

An example of a reliable company that has established itself in the market for 10 years is High Stream Moving.

Conclusions 

The process of choosing the best movers can be tedious and time-consuming. But how you choose a moving company will decide the kind of service you receive. Always ensure you pick the movers with the best experience and have their fleet of vehicles, permanent employees, and moving companies near you.

Call High Stream Moving on (800) 430-1537 to experience quality service from the best moving company around.