# Can you recommend a moving company?



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I'm pricing out the cost to move some furniture across the continent. Can anyone recommend a moving company that isn't run by con artists?

The move would be from Ontario all the way to west coast USA


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

james4beach said:


> I'm pricing out the cost to move some furniture across the continent. Can anyone recommend a moving company that isn't run by con artists?
> 
> The move would be from Ontario all the way to west coast USA




Hi James...

I've moved over 10 times corporately and would definitely love to offer some advice on this... 

1.) Get as many quotes as you can..
In all my experience, i've had quotes range from 10% - 250% differentials in price! Several companies use third parties (depending on what they are hauling, time required etc) and some have much more efficient forms of moving then others (thus causing the price range) 

2.) Cross Continent - Almost indefinitely will be cheaper by rail car then any form of road transport depending on how long you are prepared to wait for the product to arrive.. i've had several moves done by 
road and by rail with the latter typically being cheaper. 

3.) Do you need the furniture picked up or are you able to drop it off at the movers? 


In my experience, this type of moved is almost always not worth the value of goods (unless you have very expensive furniture.. and i'd expect to pay between $2500-$5000 depending on distance at a minimum. So again, depending on the value it's typically cheaper to buy new and have $2500-$5000 off then to ship the older stuff that far.. 



Lastly, suggestions.. 

Williams Moving and Storage Canada - Always had a great experience with these guyes

Allied Van Lines - They use several third party operators.. which has always been a concern of mine as you can get great contractors and poor ones like any other business..


United Van Lines (Maybe a division of Allied now) Only used them twice, both times no issues.. 


Good Luck with everything..


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Thanks for the thoughts. My situation is that a company will reimburse me for up to several thousand $ relocation, so even if the move is worth more than the value of the goods it seems I should do it anyway -- otherwise I'll be paying for new furniture out of pocket myself, right?



> In my experience, this type of moved is almost always not worth the value of goods (unless you have very expensive furniture.. and i'd expect to pay between $2500-$5000 depending on distance at a minimum. So again, depending on the value it's typically cheaper to buy new and have $2500-$5000 off then to ship the older stuff that far..


Perhaps I'm not using the right logic there but it seems that the cheapest option for me is to have the company pay to ship my furniture, even if it "doesn't make sense" from a cost stand point.

This rail option sounds interesting, how is that done? Who do I go to for that?

Other factors. There are very few items to move: mattress, couch, and a couple pieces of light furniture. I don't need it to arrive quickly, in fact, it's better if it arrives late because I don't yet have an apartment on the receiving side. All of the stuff to move entirely fits within one small sized 5'x10' storage locker, and that's with lots of extra space to spare.

I definitely need the furniture picked up (or I'll have to hire extra people to move it) because I don't have the means to move any of this by myself.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

Depending on what you have, you might want to consider a self pack container service. They deliver to your home, then pick up and transfer the container. Moves are very expensive. Consider very carefully what you decide to take.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

faser, would that be like PODS? They do have locations in both cities I'm moving between.


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

We used PODS for a storage service, not for a geographic move. We sold our house. We packed everything into a PODS container. They picked it up, stored it for nine months while we travelled, and then delivered it to our new address. 

My understanding is that PODS is a franchise organization. We were extremely pleased with the Calgary office. I have no doubt that you can find reviews if you google them. I know that Costco has been advertising a similar service through their Executive program.


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

James..

Is it a Full Service, Full Pack/Unpack moved that's reimbursed? If that's the case then clearly cost is not the issue.. I'd highly recommend using a full stop (Williams) mover that use's their own trucks and does not pass you on to third party operators.. 

Paid for moves are always the best


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

They just said they would reimburse moving expenses up to a cap of a few thousand $. So I presume that any service I hire, within that budget, would be reimbursed.

I'm still interested in "moving by rail" but haven't figured out who does that. We're talking about approx 5' x 10' (50 square feet) of contents. Any ideas, who does rail?


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

Can't comment about rail but IF you pack the stuff yourself, it is my understanding you will not get your goods insured (or the insurance will be the puny default 60 cents per lb offering). So depending on how valuable your goods are, you need to take that into consideration. If the stuff is valuable, definitely get the mover to pack the goods AND buy their upgraded insurance.....the standard 60 cents/lb insurance is worth virtually nothing.

I, too, have had several corporate moves...using various van lines. I have no comment on them regarding price because I never saw the invoices (went straight to my employer) other than there was minimal damage each time. The last 2 moves were on my own ticket (retired) and I hired Williams (mentioned above). Their quotes are FIRM. There are no surprises of a company lowballing a quote and then being surprised once the load is weighed. Williams was first class in my opinion (used their container service each of the 2 times because of a very restricted receiving location limiting the ability of a conventional 18 wheeler to manoever).


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## fraser (May 15, 2010)

I had a corporate move a number of years ago. I have also approved a few moves. A 'few thousand' dollars will not go very far.


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## AltaRed (Jun 8, 2009)

fraser said:


> I had a corporate move a number of years ago. I have also approved a few moves. A 'few thousand' dollars will not go very far.


Agreed. It depends on the amount of stuff, and distance. In this case, a cross-country move will eat up a lot of the funds just because of the distance component. Hence shipping by container via train might be best. I wouldn't recommend moving high weight/low value items - likely cost more to move than replace.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

James4B, have you checked out Moving.Org yet?
This is the North American Moving and Storage Association website.

I found this ideal for moving back and forth between US & Canada.

You put your request in once on the site and all registered, licensed moving companies will contact you directly.
The process involves an in-home assessment and a firm, binding quote.

I haven't used them in nearly 10 years now, and it seems the website has been re-done, but do check them out.
They seem to have online quotes now, but back when I used them, all contact was over the phone and e-mail.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Thanks I will check these out. Yes I do expect such a long distance, cross-border move will be expensive.

I started checking out PODS and U-Pack ReloCube. The concept with these is that they provide a crate, you pack it up, and they ship it. I got a very reasonable looking quote from PODS, around $3500 (includes taxes & border fees) for the cross continent move of a few pieces of furniture. If that quote is accurate, it's certainly do-able considering the company will cover all of that.


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## m3s (Apr 3, 2010)

Make sure you inventory everything in detail with values/pictures and check with your home insurance before you cancel it. I know of 1 person who lost everything when a moving truck caught fire, and it was covered by the home insurance (so be mindful of when you cancel, start a new policy etc) Expect things to get damaged. The business plan with these companies today seems to be to pay for damage that happens, rather than take the time to prevent it (expensive wages vs chance of damage etc)


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## houska (Feb 6, 2010)

I've been moved corporately a few times. If you have unlimited budget from your employer it is wonderful. But if your cap is low it can be challenging since the moving coordinators you work with aren't used to counting the pennies (or the $x00's) and therefore it can be tricky to figure out what to do if your move exceeds your cap. In my experience the biggest driver of extra expense is any extra loading/unloading and storage - in particular, at one point my move worked out to 30% over my cap but was able to get it well under by slightly tweaking the scheduling so that the movers loaded my stuff into the big truck, which then picked up a few more peoples' stuff, and then drove to the destination and unloaded. As opposed to packing into a truck at my old pad, being transferred into storage for 2 weeks, then loaded onto transcontinental truck, then sitting somewhere, then coming to me. All that was opaque to me until I asked -- and made the difference between taking all my stuff under budget vs either paying $$$$ out of pocket or abandoning my stuff. (Plus of course air vs surface, but probably doesn't apply to you - was a big deal when I moved to and from Europe and then to and from Asia). Good luck!


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## Westerncanada (Nov 11, 2013)

Great Point.. also review your mover's insurance/content insurance as any company that's worthwhile should give you protection up to $100,000 for all contents. I have never had an issue personally, but know of people who have lost several pieces, had items damaged due to poor driving on the long haul portion etc..


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## lb71 (Apr 3, 2009)

If you contact your local BBB, they will provide a list of moving companies that you can be reasonably assured will not scam you.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

The US border crossing (unaccompanied goods) scares me a bit. I'm thinking of going with U-Pack and they also need this US customs form, Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles 

Does anyone have experience with that process, moving items into the US?

I will be moving to the US and applying for a TN visa at the border as I cross. But I haven't entered the US _yet_ and therefore don't have a TN visa. I would be shipping away my items and they would cross the border before I enter with my TN. Does anyone know if that's a problem?

I also don't have a US address yet so I wonder if that would deny my shipment since I can't fill in the "U.S. Address" field.


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## Janus (Oct 23, 2013)

I used Crown Relocation to move from Toronto to Hong Kong. I was extremely happy with the service door to door.


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