Moving Companies in Toronto

[gromitlad]

Anyone have any experience with moving companies in Toronto? I'm not really looking so much for a "deal" here, so much as avoiding getting scammed.

I'm moving within Toronto, 2 bedroom apartment, any idea how much I should expect to have to pay?

[Nightgod]

hmm good question.

You might want to check those Storage Companies, they can provide you a list of moving companies

[SoNgMaN]

friends and beer and a uhaul :).

i always see adds for the "2 small guys with big hearts" thing i think they charge $45/hour or something like that check the yellow pages for them and make sure all your stuff is ready to go so you're not wasting your money having them there helping pack

[gromitlad]

Thanks for the tip, Nightgod.

Actually any general tips from anyone on using a moving company for moves are welcome also, since this is my first time using one.

[SoNgMaN]

make sure they have insurance and find out what kind it is so if they break your TV or big stereo etc you can get it fixed

[gromitlad]

oops, missed your response, Songman!

Yeah, all my moves up until now have involved friends. Last time it didn't go so well, so this time I'm trying the moving company thing.

Those 2 men and a van ads scare the heck out of me!

[Jono]

I've used both smaller moving companies (intra city) and the big ones for both inter and intra city moves. Some tips I would offer are:


get referrals from your friends and mention that when you call the moving company (I got a 10% discount at AMJ Campbell when I mentioned that a friend of mine had used them and referred them to me)
for moves within the city you will typically pay by the hour, but they will also charge you an extra hour or so minimum for travel time
get a written estimate that confirms the moving day, and call them a day or two before to confirm again
although you will deal with a "moving company", when it comes down to it, the guys and/or gals you are actually carrying the boxes and driving the truck are the ones who count the most. Offer them refreshments, be friendly and remember that once the truck starts moving, all of your possessions are under the care of these people, so don't piss them off. It is a nice idea to tip them at the end of the day. A happy mover is a careful mover.
Get an estimate for them to pack up your belongings for you - it will save you a lot of time and may not be as expensive as you think - plus these people are professional packers and know how to pack things properly so they won't break. In three of my own moves, the only things that ever broke were things I packed myself.
You can usually get a discount if you move during the middle of the month when the moving companies aren't as busy. Make sure you book at least a month in advance to get the moving date you want.
Call at least 2 or 3 comparable companies to ensure you are getting a good price.

[jesterwilly2004]

If you are moving intercity - there are more local companies, like small movers that do local community. I actually used guys from the renters news guides. They worked out alright. I used to live in the eglington/ Marlee area.

When I moved out of town I used AMJ Campbell - bad experience! They wouldn't deliver my stuff because they were waiting for their truck to be filled b4 they moved. Big companies wait for their trucks to be filled for economical reasons if they are going to a non-major city. Had to wait over a week for my stuff to show, thank god they used a separate car hauler. I got my car within few days. Armour (Armor) seems to be really professional. They moved my sister. I would use them is you are moving out of the city.

Use a small company if you are moving locally. But be careful of expensive items, maybe you will want to move them yourself.

[gromitlad]

Wow, great posts, you guys.

Are there any specific smaller movers you can recommend?

I'd like to use a company that people have had good experiences with rather than taking my chances with one I know nothing about.

[john_rt]

I'm actually moving at the end of this month as well :S

My suggestions: I used AMJ Campbell last time I moved and they were GREAT. VERY professional. I moved from a one bedroom condo (to give you an idea of the furniture) and they finished the move in 4 hours (new condo was downtown as well). Initially, girl from AMJ came in, gave me an estimate (in line with some other companies I talked to). They had a bit higher rate but they did the move almost perfectly. Only negative was they placed one of my items on the floor hard (very heavy) and it did a bit of damage to the wall but other than that were great. A lot of my friends have used smaller companies but I like the fact that they brought over a HUGE truck (vastly over sized for what i had) but that meant no possibility of having to make two trips.
This time though, I'm moving myself. Mostly because I'm moving in and out on the same day and may need to sit around and wait for my new keys so decided not to pay to have these guys just sit around with me. Don't do U-haul. I'm using Ryder and I like them MUCh better as 1) they guarantee reservations and 2) because they also do commerical, they're very professional and their trucks are nicer. U-haul trucks are usually older and I don't like dealing with the guys who work there. BTW, U-haul guarantees you a truck but not the pick up location. Do a search on Uhaul and you get a lot of negative sites (from google). They have stories of guys in Toronto with a truck ready for them in kitchener. U-haul is a lot cheaper but think if you add up the insurance costs and the per km costs, its only a bit cheaper. Also, if you're hiring movers, they very often don't insure unless they pack so be careful about that. AMJ stated right away that unless they pack our china, they don't insure it (and often, they won't even touch it). Also, I took all my electronics myself..bit of a hassle but probably easier in long run.

[Jono]

One other suggestion I forgot to mention is that you should get a truck with 3 movers. It is preferable that one guy stay with the truck at all times (you wouldn't want to leave all of your valuables unattended while they are inside), so that leaves two others to do most of the work. If they offer you four guys, that is probalby too much since there will be a bottleneck at some point and one guy will end up doing nothing most of the time, particularly if you are using an elevator.

[superdave]

if you are going to rent a truck, go with budget or ryder. U-haul is prolly the worst company around. They never guarantee the truck and it usually takes hours to rent and return the vehicle. Also most of their trucks are in very poor condition. Budget has all nice new trucks with brakes that work :D

[gromitlad]

I've made a booking with Desi Movers (laptop-tech's tip). I'll post again with my impressions after the move...

Thanks for all the great moving tips guys, I really appreciate it!

[nitro994]

I've made a booking with Desi Movers (laptop-tech's tip). I'll post again with my impressions after the move...

Thanks for all the great moving tips guys, I really appreciate it!

Hey all....I know it's an old post, but just thaught I would take the time to resvisit this post & give my overall experience with Desi Movers....(since I was referred to these guys from this posting)

Very friendly guys, handled each item with tender care, overall a great moving experience. I used Uhaul 2 years ago (very bad experience - no truck avail at 1st and when I did finally get a truck 2hours later, it broke down twice)....With Desi, 55.00 / hour for a large truck, 2 guys and a driver(driver stays with truck at all times - while the other 2 move the items) - I paid 315.00 for a 2 bedroom to 1 bedroom move....1 trip - moving 25 minutes away( I had quite a lot of stuff)...worth every penny....

number is 416 889 8107 - ask for Jay....

tell him that Chris from redflagdeals sent you and offer the moving guys a few beers..... :cheesygri

Cheers all and good luck with yer moves.....

Btw...Bell strike sucks...I still have no phone service....

[RDog]

I used Desi Movers after reading the posts here and having trouble finding any other available movers... they were functional but not "great". I have a little tear on my sofa that wasn't there prior to the move (it's not very big but in a very visible spot); they only supplied 2 movers and no driver so I had to stay with the moving truck in case someone tried to steal anything; when they unloaded everything they simply made one giant pile of boxes on the sofas, despite the boxes being marked; fragile boxes were piled under other boxes (no damage done, thankfully).

To their credit their rate was good (I think it was $45/hr.) but I don't think they are insured or anything, they are simply guys with a truck. I may be wrong. They were reasonably friendly (they were not unfriendly), but I can't quite recommend them.

[airodus]

I just finished a move and want to report my experience. I used Logan Movers in Toronto, I found them in the Toronto Sun. In short, the company was fine, but they had this driver who was a complete ass.

He got lost, even though my place is super easy to find (right on top of Yonge/Finch subway), could not follow directions and ended up 2 hours late. He was so lazy, and spent probably a good half hour on the phone doing nothing (and I'm paying him for it). This was really bad because it was an after-hours move from condo to condo and I needed to get things done quick (being late and lazy is not quick). He also tried to charge me 6 hours for a 4 hour move, and 1.5 hours of travel even tho their policy is 1 hour. Even after I called their office ***** him out and talked to their guy to change the quote to 4+1 hours. The driver comes back to me after talking to his boss and quotes me 5+1.5 hours. So I have to call his office again and his boss is like, "That's NOT what I told him."

The other mover was nice, and also pissed off at the driver (but they are childhood friends and he didn't say much). The guys at the office were nice and accomodating. They were also very good cause I had to cancel an earlier move and change things on short notice. So hats off to the office folk, and some of the movers.

But if you get a driver named Derrick. Watch out. He will try to rip you off. Now I know how he managed to buy the $6500 TV he was bragging about.

[Steeve Urkel]

I recently used Fred Guy moving, they are one of the big National commercial companies.

They were good for moving and storing all my furniture.

Exept that they took apart every single item they said they would not touch!
So, when I got my stuff back, they could not put it back together and they had to come back and send 2 men w spare parts to assemble everything...

This also cost $1400 for a 3 bedroom place.

None of my stuff was broken in the end and overall they were good and pretty quick.

But be careful to pack stuff yourself.
Some of my family packed a few items for me as I couldn't be there and the movers ended up throwing around the boxes that had my electronics in them- thankfully my stuff survived and was insured/ :twisted:

I would recoment Fred Guy as they will even have someone come to your house and give a 30 min estimate in person for free.
And everything they do is in writing and you get that in advance.

They did not waste any time at all and it took 1 hour to empty a 5 room house with 2movers, 1 driver and the big monster truck....

I think they are about $80-90 an hour though....but they seem to be twice as fast as other people so.........could be cheaper in the long run

actually they are owned by Atlas Van Lines/Fred Guy is the ottawa part of it.
but here is their website w all their rates.

lots of good info there!

http://www.atlasvanlines.ca/

[felix]

Darn, I wish I had found this thread earlier last year when I had to move a bed. Paid $90 to some guys for moving a simple bed down the road and they did a poor job (mattress got dirty when they said it would be fine, didn't take off their shoes until I told them to, etc).

[spfdz]

Darn, I wish I had found this thread earlier last year when I had to move a bed. Paid $90 to some guys for moving a simple bed down the road and they did a poor job (mattress got dirty when they said it would be fine, didn't take off their shoes until I told them to, etc).

You can't expect them to take off their shoes because that's a big waste of time.

I just finished working for "Campbell Moving Systems" yesterday. If you want a company that's going to do the job right (Pad anything that has wood that can be gouged or damaged from sliding) I suggested picking a company that is part of "Atlas Van Lines" or "United Van Lines"

Any moving company that is part of those two van line companies are usually good. I might ad, it's not the cheapest. But since your 2 building apartment, it should be under around 1000 bucks if you get 2 men. And not moving too far.

Also you can pay by weight or hour.
If you pay by the hour, you gotta pay GST+PST then a 7% fuel surcharge on top of that.

It's a bit wierd though, last week I did a move that probably took 8 hours in total with travel time. The customer chose by weight. He ended up paying 1600 instead of around 1000 because he had 4000 pounds worth of goods and it had to be moved from Toronto to Bradford.

Also, XXXX Van Lines = just a group of moving companies who work togeather to make international moves possible. Currently right now, United Van Lines is the biggest in Uorth America. Kudos.

[vip_rus]

I used Desi Movers after reading the posts here and having trouble finding any other available movers... they were functional but not "great". I have a little tear on my sofa that wasn't there prior to the move (it's not very big but in a very visible spot); they only supplied 2 movers and no driver so I had to stay with the moving truck in case someone tried to steal anything; when they unloaded everything they simply made one giant pile of boxes on the sofas, despite the boxes being marked; fragile boxes were piled under other boxes (no damage done, thankfully).

To their credit their rate was good (I think it was $45/hr.) but I don't think they are insured or anything, they are simply guys with a truck. I may be wrong. They were reasonably friendly (they were not unfriendly), but I can't quite recommend them.
Desi Movers are HORRIBLE!!! NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL!! When they came with their 24' truck (only 2 guys, no driver...non-desi :-0) they had a couple of garbage couches and desks already in the truck (taking up like a quarter of a truck). After a huge arguement, they agreed to take out their garbage and pick it up after moving from the house. When they made us sign the sheet...they had hidden charges that they don't tell you about in advance. Initially when booking, I had talked to Jai and had told him exactly wat we'll be moving and where and ALL the details, and he had given us a final price including taxes. When they came, on the paper, they had additional costs such as extra money for appliances, extra money per flight of stairs (even if you want them to move 1 box to another floor). I tried to call Jai at that time, but he was unreachable. So again after an arguement and talking to someone else on the phone, we agreed to pay $20 more for ALL stairs.

So then they began to load the stuff, while loading the stuff, they ripped the arm cusions of my expensive 3-seater leather couch from both side. Also, they broke the glass on my center table and my side table! :mad: :mad: :mad:

So I called them again, and all they told me to take pictures on the broken/ripped items and we can claim it after. (I will be doing this this week and I will post the outcome of this when its settled. I don't think they can be trusted and I don't think they will do anything about it.)

They weren't able to load everything on the truck, so they closed up the truck and they were ready to move to the new house. When we got to the new house, they made us the bill...came out to be $100 more than was Jai had told us initially!! :mad: Again after ANOTHER arguement, we were forced to pay up otherwise they were ready to drive away with all our stuff on their truck.

No big issues while unloading, but they were both weak! They weren't able to take a desk up the stairs. So my brother grabbed the table from one end, and the 2 movers from the other end, and then they were able to get it upstairs.

After unloading, they got in the truck, and quickly took off. So we called the "company" (not a company...probably not licensed or anything either. They r just a couple guys with trucks) to tell them to remind their movers about picking up their garbage couches and tables that they left at our old house. They were unreachable for about an hour, but after numerous phone calls, we were able to reach them. Then they said "What garbage? The wasn't our garbage...that was your garbage." :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

I don't know what I can do about this know, because I don't have any real evidence that that is theirs. And I don't know how/where or if I can complain about this. Very stressful experience. Totally unprofessional, that "group" should be shut down!

[jcha23r]

Check out the following site www.movedirect.net I used this service last year to find a mover.

It works like lendingtree.com, you enter your details where your moving etc and you get 3 or 4 quotes from movers in your area.

They have a customer satisfaction rating system as well.

Good luck with the move!

[superryo]

Their ad claimed no hidden fees and over the phone they quoted a specific price and the owner "Jason" warned me of the 1 hour extra travelling time. I was fine with that.

On moving day, they came with 2 movers and the driver said that there is a charge for each floor due to "stairs".

Ofcourse it is end of the month and we had to move out that day so what choice did we have?

Within less than 30 minutes, one of the movers couldn't take it and was sent home. The driver was no where to be

found and they cannot find anyone else to help so we were forced to move everything with a single mover.

When everything was in the truck, the driver came back and said they can get another mover.

It took them around over an hour to eventually get to the new place when everyone else took around 20 minutes to get there. Of course we were charged for that extra travelling time.

Once at the new place, we were given a bill that was incorrectly calculated and many other hidden costs (unlike what the ad said). Until we paid in full, we could not unload.

Within 15 minutes... you got it. The first mover couldn't work anymore and the driver is nowhere to be found. We were again forced to help move. We refused to move the heavy furniture so eventually after an hour and a half the driver came back to "help" out.

Here's the kicker, after moving a few pieces, he helped out the guy who was moving to unload all our big furniture on to our front lawn then took off! Leaving us to move the big furniture ourselves until 2 AM!

So there you have it.
I could have rented a truck and did the work myself for 1/4 the price and a lot less stress.

These guys were fly-by-night operators. When I called "Jason", he apparently is not available but his "brother" has different stories.

These guys had many hidden charges unlike what their ads say.

We paid for 2 movers but only had 1 - although Desi movers do not think it is their responsibility to do what it takes.

They did not finish the job!

Avoid hassles and use someone reputable or you will regret it!

I just hope that by posting our experience with Desi Movers that someone else could be spared a horrible moving experience.

[carnival70]

I had the displeasure of hiring Desi Movers this past weekend.

What a disaster!

I had called a company named DYNAMIC Movers for my move this past weekend, and instead, a company called DESI movers showed up.

They were 1 hour late, and the owner had the audacity to tell me that it didn't matter that they were going to be late because it was a holiday (Easter Weekend) ... however, I had to book the elevator at both places and had a limited time frame.

After they loaded my goods and locked the truck, they then told me that I had to pay a $150 deposit that was not discussed beforehand.

They wouldn't move without the money ... I called the owner and he confirmed that I had to give this amount or else they wouldn't move.

I paid, and told them to follow me to the destination.

They said "No, we are going to get some food."

I said, "Well, my time is worth something, so you better get there soon, as I have the elevator booked only until noon."

They didn't show up until after 1 p.m. (1 hour and 45 minutes later!)

Then, they wouldn't unpack my goods until I paid $471.50 ... all this after they had only worked 1 hour and 10 minutes to load my goods into the truck!

We argued until we agreed that they could just unload my goods into the lobby ...

I was scammed BAD!

AVOID DESI or DYNAMIC MOVERS AT ALL COSTS!!

[TotallyKiller]

friends and beer and a uhaul :).

i always see adds for the "2 small guys with big hearts" thing i think they charge $45/hour or something like that check the yellow pages for them and make sure all your stuff is ready to go so you're not wasting your money having them there helping pack

I would suggest that you avoid Two Small Hearts movers at all costs. When I used them they arrived wayyyy late, with not enough people to help and broke pretty much everything that was of value. After the fact I looked them up and found that they had a ton of negative reports on them online. Live and learn.

[enricor]

Premier van lines ...100% amazing move so far ...my stuff is in storage, they estimated 6 hours and did it just under their 4 hour min charge. ...total pros, wrapped everything, and fairly priced. ...you get what you pay for with movers usually

[Gundam]

i found fly dragon moving company off the newspaper. they charged $45 per hour in the middle of the month (end of the month will be more expensive). they don't charge anything extra for big appliances and no minimal charge. i was pretty amazed when they came in a new truck with lots of carpets to protect my tv.
Jackie 647-668-0380