Are you curious about what kind of moving service you may receive when your paying as low as $29.95, $35.00, $55.00 per hour for 2 movers with a truck and necessary equipment?
Here is where these unrealistically low prices go wrong for customers:
Even laborers with no moving experience do not work for less than $10.00 per hour. Experienced professional movers may command $15.00 + per hour.
At $29.95 per hour, even with inexperienced labor, $20.00 goes to labor leaving only $9.95 per hour to cover: truck fuel and maintenance, equipment costs, vehicle insurance, general liability insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, office employee wages and benefits, advertising expense, telephone and internet expense, office lease or mortgage expense and owner’s wages and benefits. The math just doesn’t work, does it?
So what can you really expect when you engage a moving company with unrealistically low prices:
- Inexperience movers – translates into excessive damage to your items.
- An unlicensed company. This means that you won’t be able to get any governmental help if things go wrong.
- A box truck that takes a long time to load and unload because most box truck have slow electric/pneumatic lift gates.
- No general liability insurance coverage from the company leaving YOU with personal exposure that your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance will not cover.
- No worker’s compensation insurance, again leaving YOU with personal exposure that your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance will not cover.
Additional charges that you will probably be mandated to pay:
- A standard dispatch fee – cost for the crew to get to your current and back from your new locations $65 – $165
- A fuel surcharge of 19% – 21% of your total labor and additional charges fees
- Additional charge for stairs or elevators $100.00 per flight or floor
- Additional charge for long load/unload walk distances $40 – $100
- Additional charge for stretch wrap and tape $65 – $130
- Additional charge for moving large items like refrigerators, dressers, armoires, desks, treadmills, etc. $49.95 each item.
- A mandatory tip for the moving crew 20%
So, you were under the impression that your (4) hour job will only cost $119.80. But, in reality with all of the additional charges it could possibly end up costing you $729.54! Not including the dispatch fee your hourly rate can skyrocket to $161.14!
RED FLAGS TO WATCH FOR:
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When you call the company are you speaking with some guy on a cell phone, a girl Friday or are you being asked relevant questions concerning your service and being provided with good information?
- Is the company licensed to conduct business in the State of Arizona and registered with the AZ Corporation Commission?
- Is the company licensed through US/AZ Department of Transportation? All interstate and intrastate movers are required to be licensed.
- What is the company’s Better Business Bureau rating and how long have they been a BBB member?
- What insurance does the company maintain? General liability? Worker’s Comp? Vehicle? To protect yourself all three are necessary.
- Will you receive confirmation documents prior to your move date that outline all pricing?
How can you prevent this type of bait and switch costing? Contact Allstar Metro Movers, LLC. We are a local family owned and operated company that has served all of Arizona for over 18 years. We are licensed, insured and an accredited Better Business Bureau company with an A+ rating. Our movers are all full time professional movers with years of experience who are fast and very careful with your items. Our fleet of custom dimension enclosed moving trailers can be loaded and unloaded by our movers in ½ the time that it takes to load and unload a box truck with a lift gate. When you schedule service with us we will provide you with a written confirmation outlining exactly how you will be charged. No fuel surcharge, no charges for stairs, elevators, long walks, stretch wrap, large furniture items and no mandatory tips! Our office is open (7) days a week so you can speak directly with a relocation specialist and we provide service (7) days a week. We will provide you with professional service at a fair price. Give us a call at (602) 943-3800, (623) 298-0723, (480) 505-5198 -or- go to our “Moving Quote” page.
