Argh, moving company suggestions?

[locitamd]

Alas, it is that time of year again. Just curious if anyone has experience with movers on the East Coast (Philadelphia to New York). I have less than a week to pack up, move out, fill in all the holes in the walls and repaint my apartment.

Any suggestions/recommendations are appreciated, and good luck to all those going through this same hellish process.

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[brickmanli]

I've used United Van Lines twice. Find an agent on the company site. I found that unless you have a lot of furniture, it's better and cheaper to move on your own.

<a href="http://www.unitedvanlines.com" target="_blank">Link</a>

 

[locitamd]

brickmanli,

Thanks for the recommendation, I'm checking out their site now. Under normal circumstances I would do it on my own, but I've just had surgery and although the sutures will be out by next week, I've been warned about heavy lifting. The surgeon said that the changes in blood pressure in my head could either cause the wound site to reopen or lead to the formation of another cyst in my jaw (the cause of the surgery in the first place). Therefore, I'm not taking any chances and have to suck it up and hire someone.

Thanks though!

 

[CamelJockey]

Good luck on your move. I grew up and Army brat and did the Army thing myself for a while, so I know a bit about moving every 2-3 yrs. My only recommendation is you double check any seals/stickers. On one shipment going overseas I had to call the managers at the company before the movers amazingly "found" the seals that would go on the crate (which you get to sign) to verify nothing was opened.

 

[shorrin]

try budget. They have a system where you can have movers load your stuff, then you drive it and then new movers at your new location unload the stuff.

 

[dwstranger]

I'm returning to the States to do my 4th year at NYMC, and have to deal with an international move (sux!). So in my research, I found that the best option for me is ABF U-Pack. That's the commercial freight company with green trailers and yellow writing (I always think it says ARF ARF when I drive behind them -- perils of dog ownership, I guess). This program has 2 options: they can drop off a trailer at your house/apt, etc. (watch out, though, it's a 28 ft trailer), and you pack your stuff in it. The other option is taking your stuff to one of their terminals and packing your stuff in the trailer. Either way, you take up a certain amount of space in the trailer and then put a "bulkhead" in place when you're done packing. They fill the rest of the trailer with a commercial shipment and drive it to your destination city. Then you have 2 days to unload your stuff once they deliver the trailer or arrive at the terminal. The T2T (terminal-to-terminal) option is much cheaper. I'll be moving from Laredo to Brooklyn and am getting 11 linear feet of space in the trailer for about $1500. With the trailer drop-off-at-your-house option, I'd get only about 7 linear feet for the same price. If you go over your estimated area, they charge you $125ish per linear foot for T2T and about $160/linear ft with the other. If you don't use all the space, they subtract from the estimate. Plus they pay all the stuff you'd have to pay if you rented a truck: gas, insurance, tolls, etc. The website is: <a href="http://www.upack.com/default.asp?refnum=abfltl" target="_blank">http://www.upack.com/default.asp?refnum=abfltl</a>

 

[EMTgirl]

does anyone have any experience with door-to-door or city-to-city movers? i have seen their trucks on the freeway quite a bit and i contacted them for an estimate. they quoted me $775 to move my stuff from california to chicago. that is considerably cheaper than renting a uhual myself and driving it across the country. does anyone know if these places are reputable? i also saw a link for a place called helpumove.com which is a similar system. has anyone used this place or known anyone who has? i just don't know which of these online places are "reputable" and which ones are shady.