Long-time readers of this blog will remember an article titled At Last, My Blog Lands Me in Hot Water!, in which local moving company Quick Boys attempted to threaten me into removing comments about their service. Those comments were in response to a one-line blog entry in which I asked the readers for recommendations about Toronto moving companies. The ensuing commentary across the blogosphere ended up giving the story a high Google ranking on searches for “Quick Boys”; even today, some of the posts about their thuggery are still on the first page of Google results.
(By the way, Quick Boys, I’m still waiting for my apology.)
What’s interesting is that the original blog entry, Anyone Know any Good Toronto Movers?, is still getting comments from readers relating their (mostly bad) experiences with moving companies. The last comment the article got came in yesterday, and it was about a bad experience with Yellow Moving Company. The resulting article about Quick Boys’ vaguely threatening phone call received comments as late as February of this year, the last comment being about how someone had to call the cops on Quick Boys.
It amazes me how moving companies can stay in business even though so many people have such bad experiences with them. Is it because people don’t use them very often? Is it because of the unfortunate collision of relatively unskilled labour meeting your prized possessions? Is it because it’s an attractive business for unscrupulous people? Or are they perceived as being bad simply because moving is a stressful experience for many people?
Let’s keep the conversation going, fellow Torontonians. Feel free to report any experiences and reviews of Toronto moving companies, good or bad, in the comments.
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
I think a huge part of the reason why crappy movers continue to exist (besides the ‘people don’t move that often’ thing) is that moving happens at a time when people are already stressed and stretched financially. Whether you’re trying to come up with first and last while your previous landlord still has your security deposit, or just got hit with two grand more in closing costs than you were expecting, people who are moving rarely have a lot of money going spare. So they look for the cheapest possible method of moving their things, and they end up with thugs.
If there was a legitimate market for higher end moves outside corporate relocations, there would probably be more people operating in that space. But would the prices be more or less than the amount of money the thugs try to extort out of you?
Combination of factors. People don’t move often, and there’s no repeat business (by definition, you’re moving away – you’ll never use the same movers again). Plus you get into a huge power disparity – they have everything you own, and you don’t, so if you argue, they just keep your stuff. And finally because there’s no enforcement. The cops won’t handle it. Government does a poor job of handling it. What I discovered when my moving company screwed me was that New York State, which is home to 20 million human beings, has two people charged with enforcing state laws against moving companies. TWO. One, TWO. Given that there are thousands of moves per day, enforcement of laws is basically zero.
Given that situation, running a dishonest moving company is like printing money. Hell, if I were starting a moving company, I’d do it the same way. Gouge people for a couple of years, rake in the dough, pay yourself very very well, and then shut down the company before any court judgments against you come due. You can start over with a new corporation the week after you shut down the old one.
People ARE using the net to try to fight back – see movingscam.com. But I think the dishonest companies pretty much have the upper hand here, and they will until there’s a government inspector stationed in every moving company office.
Anon explains it fairly well and when you combine loose laws, with public ignorance, it’s an open door for scammers and even organized crime. Look at the towing industry for example. How many of us have had our vechicles towed and held for ransom unless we pay $200? Turns out there’s no law that says we have to pay. I discovered that in the 90s. I simply called the cops, they showed up, and my car was let go. Sometime later the towing company called me at work and, insisted I had to still pay, and threatened to take me to court if I didn’t, emphasizing “we always win.” — “Fine,” I said. “Take me to court. Otherwise, f**k off.” I never heard from them again.
So, a few years ago, when I read about the Banditos Massacre, and that some of the gang members were tow truck drivers, I thought “Well, there’s a surprise, eh?” And how many people made the connection with Pamela Coburn? Before this happened she was shamed out of her job at City Hall because — *gasp* — she was sleeping with a co-worker. Turns out some begrudged managers, who she recently suspended, decided to get some revenge by exposing her affair, and pointing out her lover was recently promoted by her. But why were the managers suspended in the first place? Well, Pam was Executive Director of Municipal Licensing and Standards, and she was upset they did nothing to protect an enforcement officer who was threatened by a group of tow-truck drivers (and who apparently had connections to a dirty cop). THIS is juicy stuff. But the newspapers only fawned over her sexual misdeeds.
With Pam now gone, it was back to business as usual.
So the laws stay loose because the people who can change things don’t — or can’t.
My guess is there are enough cops and politicians “on the take” that we will never see a change unless the public opens their eyes and demands change.
Apparently here’s the latest update on the Pamela Coburn incident: http://www.thestar.com/article/226876
My strong advise to anybody in toronto, please dont move with this mover even if they move you for free. Their cost per hour may be less but they charge you more by being too slow and careless. The movers are slow, careless. They damaged my furniture, they took enormously long time just to move one very small bedroom. To top it all, they ran off without finishing their job by keeping my stuff outside the apartment elevator. Completely bad treatement and service, they are advertised in RENTERS NewS. The person incharge of this is named Robert. I just saw some people already have bad experience with these movers. I hope nobody again expereinces this….Hope this information spreads and helps people to select trustable movers.
To continue my previous message – The moving company name is Comfortable Movers-4163563617.
there are instances that there are crappy moving service companies that we might bumped into…
thousands of moving services have sprouted today and only a few are really reliable that’s why we also need to be wise when getting service from these…
Quick Boy Mover Beware- They load the truck with all your posessions and won’t move until you give them a large deposit (supposedly) $1500 in my case, of which once Bruce added all the hidden extras I got less than $100 back. Unethical practice. He was alos the rudest guy, condesending, pushy and a big bully. No idea what customer service is. And then he wonders why he didn’t get a tip.
I’m fuming about Toronto City Movers, who stole from me, then hung up on me (3 separate times) when I tried to get my receipt (3 weeks and counting).
They loaded my stuff on the truck, then forced me to pre-pay everything in cash, incl. brutal tip, before they’d unload. Then “escaped”, without letting me look in the truck or providing a receipt.
They banged up my house and my stuff, but I’m most angry that they stole $300-$400 of my scotch.
When I called their “head office” 416-835-3916, David Jones said they had the box that my scotch was in, but – surprise – no scotch.
What made me angry was when David rationalized somehow that it was my fault that my scotch was stolen. Then he insulted me and hung up on me 3 times, when I asked for a receipt. He said they don’t provide receipts, because “we all know it’s under the table” – ha ha. But I sure do remember that they charged me GST.
Upon checking with the Better Business Bureau, it came as no surprise to find these guys had a brutal write-up. Here it is: http://www.bbb.org/kitchener/business-reviews/movers/toronto-city-movers-in-toronto-on-1164987#complaint
I’m going to the BBB and reporting these guys to the cops … but what else can I do?
NEVER use Toronto City Movers.
My Nightmare moving ordeal with Canway Moving company—the most unprofessional and irresponsible mover in the industry.
1 4 months talk with this company with no problems resolved, now as victims, my husband and I are being totally ignored: no phone call back, no email reply…
2 Massive damages on my furniture
3 Lost coffee table and kitchen tools
4 Empty promises for repairing, left us take 4 days leave of absence from work for nothing—they simply didn’t come…
5 Received threatening call from their employee, saying” you can’t sue us..”
6 Charge rate: $95 dollars per hour in winter time (Jan.), with two green hand movers, who simply with no experience, no training, just started that new job in the same week.
7 One lie after another: 5 year experience is a MUST for Canway Moving movers, according to what they promise on their website….Movers tried to deny the damages that they had caused during horrible moving, saying that those damages were there before moving.. until I informed them that I have all my intact furniture pictures kept, then they had to admit that it was them who cause the damages….
8 Instead of apologizing and trying to solve problems they caused, this company even accusing us of having cheap furniture which were too easy to cause the damages…..
Despite all the phones calls and emails from me to try to solve the problems, we are currently being totally ignored by CanWay Moving……
Beware of Executive Movers 647-654-4284 of Victoria Park Ave. Toronto for questionable ethical and professional conduct
A guy named Moses answered the phone to book our move and said his deal was $40/hr with 2 men. We agreed . The move was for a dining room suite and a few furnitures.
After a couple of furnitures were loaded in the tuck , driver asked for $500.
Our reponse was we knew nothing about that kind of deposit. We called their head office , spoke to Moses, who agreed that we can just give the driver $120. (3 hours). We then gave the cash. After they loaded a couple more furnitures, driver said they need$300.00 or else they will not continue..we called Moses again but were given the run around. Driver and other men just laughed , stopped working and smoked and said the clock is ticking and thery will not move the stuff till we gave another $300.00.
We ended up : losing our money, carrying all the stuff back that they left in the front door and few pieces in their truck , wasted our day and are now having to hire another mover.
I just moved from Maple to Toronto, and I used AGILITY MOVING & STORAGE. These guys are bottom line the best movers I have ever used. They moved my full 3 bedroom house very fast. They took very few breaks, and didnt break anything. Theyer rates are very reasonable and they are very courtious and respectful. They used runners over my carpets so they wouldnt get dirty. They provided 5 free wardrobe boxes, and free matress bags.
I can honestly say that customer service is important to these guys. I highly recomend them. Their phone number is 416-654-5029
I had a horrible experience with a company called GTA Moving and Packing. They were rude, intentionally slow and incompetent. In the end they slapped a $100 charge for stairs plus another hundred for their trip to and from the station, even though the move was within Toronto. They said that they had to follow our car to the new address, but in the end they went their own way, and somehow ‘took the wrong turn’ to the new place.
They didn’t even have a moving cart. Had we not found one at the new place, they would have taken the entire day to move the stuff one by one – and I am talking small things like chairs, lamps, etc. They did, however, take 7 hours to move just a few basic things that normally wouldn’t have required more than 3 hours.
In the end, I ended up unloading half of the stuff plus pay them a hefty fee. Not to mention the fact that we had a few altercations in the process. It is obscene how these people are allowed to operate as a legitimate business. Do yourselves a favour, skip this company, no matter how hard pressed you are to find movers.
My name is Sebastian and I used AGILITY MOVING AND STORAGE LTD on August 18th 2009. They were awesome. I found out about them through Craigslist and did a little research on Google. I found several positive reviews and decided to use them. They showed up on right on time and the crew was very polite. They moved me without a hitch. They didn’t damage a single piece and used big bags to protect my mattress, which was cool. I would definitely recommend them. They are very reasonably priced and bring everything they need to move people properly. These guys are the best movers in Toronto! Their phone number is 416-654-5029.
I too used the services of Agility Moving & Storage.
Before I tell you how good Agility employees are, I first would like to tell you how my last experience with movers was.
In 2007 I used a well known company “with Big Hearts”. They showed up over an hour late, they were rude (swearing at myself and my wife), they broke several pieces, and even stole from us.
After the experience we had with them we were very weary of using movers again. After calling several movers, we called Agility Moving & Storage. The sales rep we spoke with was John. He was very courteous and called us 3 days before our scheduled move to confirm. The team they sent showed up early and started promptly at 9 am. They were very careful and wrapped all my furniture. They moved me within my budget and when they unloaded the items into storage they worked carefully and fit it all in.
Agility moving and storage employees changed my thoughts of movers. I have since recommended them to all of my friends and will be calling them anytime I require a mover.
Their phone number is 416-654-5029
Ambrose from Toronto.
I recently moved from Toronto to the GTA, for that move we unfortunately used a company by the name of Miracle Movers. The movers were slow, rude, and barely spoke English.And Moved as slowly as possible. They arrived at our new home 3 hours after we did, saying they got lost. After they unloaded our boxes, they held our furniture on the truck demanding another $200, before they would take it off the truck. When we spoke with the boss and told him were not paying more than he quoted us, he began cursing, and said he would tell the movers to leave everything in the truck, and keep it in storage. After 2 hours of negotiating, while we paid them, they unloaded all of our furniture into our front hallway. Terrible experience.
My second experience with a GTA moving company came today, when I had scheduled a piano delivered to my home. I google searched professional piano movers, and I started calling and getting quotes. After many quotes of around $350, I received a quote from CMS movers of $225 flat rate. This price quote included all the details of the move, stairs involved etc. Needless to say I was very pleased I had found such a great deal! Boy, was I wrong. When they finally arrived an hour and half late, and after the sellers of the piano had called me to say that ‘these guys are not professionals”, they demanded an additional $75, before they would even open the truck. I said I would not pay them more than the quoted amount. I called the Owner of CMS Movers, Alex and told him what was going on. After a few words back and forth, we agreed on $260. Well, the movers were still not satisfied with this dollar amount, and unloaded the piano into my driveway. My husband, called Alex the owner back, and Alex began yelling and swearing, and that he didn’t need our business. Another fine example of crooked moving companies Miracle Movers and CMS Movers in the GTA, are exactly that crooks!
***Just a tip to those moving, get everything in writing from the moving company***
Oh, and Miracles Movers lifted a box of DVD’s and DVD player……..geez.
I hired Inner city moving and storage for august 30th 2009. 9 am rolled around and they weren’t at my place. So I Googled for best movers in Toronto. I came across many websites including this one with very good reviews of Agility Moving & Storage. So I called them to see if they had a truck and crew available. The person I spoke with was so kind and professional throughout our conversation. He informed me that all their crews were booked, but took my number and said he’d contact each crew and would call me back and let me know if they could accommodate us. I received a call back immediately (with in 15 min.) and he told me they could have a crew at my door between 2pm and 6pm guaranteed. I liked the price and they seemed very professional so I decided to give them a try. The crew called me 30 mins. after I booked to confirm my address and to tell me they were loading the contents of their job and would be at my address around 2:45pm. The crew showed up at 2:15pm, they were very courteous and were very eager to start. They completed the job in less time that I figured it was going to take. I realised why I had found Agility Moving & Storage under the best movers in Toronto on Google. I am always going to use and recommend Agility Moving & Storage anytime I need stuff moved.
CALL THEM @ 416-654-5029!!
MIKE
Thanks for the update on the toronto movers .. I was going to use Big Hearts only because i saw their vans on the 401 but I’m set on Agility Moving & Storage…
I hired GTA movers, who subcontracted to Logan Movers. They arrived 4 hours late, after saying they were involved in an accident. They asked me to sign an outrageous contract with additional cost per piece of furniture, dispatching fee and per step. After getting upset with them they grabbed my deposit money ($200) and left, telling my I owe them for the inconvenience. Following them out, I took a picture of their license plate, and in the cab they had ski masks on. I filed a police report. They confirmed the truck had NOT been involved in an accident and suggested it was a ploy to make me more anxious about getting moved on time and willing to sign whatever they gave me.
DO NOT SUPPORT GTA OR LOGAN MOVERS
I had bad experience with “2 small men moving company”. They lost my stuff and never got them replaced. Delivering stuff in my apartment was a pain and they didn’t tell me about minimun 4hr….when they got to my apartment they said their truck cannot go in, and they went with my stuff, and i had to pay extra for the storage for overnight, time for reloading into another truck & delivering. They transported my stuff with someone else’s and gave me wrong weight..i even found stuff that’s not mine and gave them to them, but never got my missing stuff. I’ve asked & I never got the actual weight of my stuff, so i paid for transpoting other person’s belongings, because they were refusing to unload my stuff. They said it will be adjusted and i’ll be refunded…never got it. Now they say i’ll not get anything without lawyers signature….i don’t wanna pay for the lawyer for straightforward case like this. Will never use them.
Beware of rogue movers out there to steal your hard earned money
Their tactics are cheap rates, dragging their feet, asking you to sign a contract,
Extortation ( ranging $300-$1000) and pretence professionalism.
They advertise under various aliases which include but are not LIMITED to
* Executive movers
* Gtatorontomovers
* GTA movers or moving
* Miracle Movers
*AC moving and Storage
*Alpha City Moving
* No company name, just a cell # such as 416-994-4786, 647-818-7861
They will offer you 2 men and a truck of any size at a rate of $40/hr, sometimes less if it’s the end of the month and they are desperate.
These rogue movers use ficticious names like Raj, Ron, Moses, Alex , Andrew, John, they are visible minorities of South Asian , Black and Caucasian descent.
The victims list is long and endless, IF you want to bring these Rouge Movers to Justice
***Reply to this ad****
The only info you have to provide is the date of the incidence, amount they extorted out of you, and the fake company name they operated under.
Consumers Advise: When the movers arrive, ask for their business card or ID( driver’s license), copy this down with the license plate of the truck, and do not sign A contract under any circumstances.
Every day is for the THIEF, one day is for the OWNER!!!!
The perils of phone booking. Never book a mover without seeing the billing system in advance. Moving really is a dodgy horrible business with lying or misinformation the key element of the business . What else can I think when the mover for ARROW MOVERS Scarborough, whom we will never use again, said “we are all the same”. We had a small move and were verbally quoted over the phone a minimum of 3 hours plus 1 for travel at $40.00 ph. When asked for the senior discount advertised in the Scarborough Mirror we were told that was it. We paid a deposit of $200 when they arrived and when they had everything at street level the shock arrived with a bill of $332.50. (minus deposit) When my wife phoned the company for “Sam” her original misinformant funnily he was not there and she was told that it was 3 hours each way but the senior’s discount was 2hrs. Then there was a Km charge, a stairs charge for 3 steps, a misc charge for placing goods in locker. None of this we knew about in advance. There was no line for taxes on the bill just “others” and it did not add up to the correct %. Pity the tax dept does not have a look at these cash businesses. One is made to feel that one has been hijacked and held for ransom by unethical business. Interesting this was a two part move with the next part in a month. ARROW obviously does not care for the second part as hell will freeze over before I would use them again but where tell me where is here an ethical mover?
My daughter used GTA Movers and they indeed extorted extra cash from her before unloading the truck. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.