Moving Experience: Josh’s Move With Mayzlin Relocation

Josh, his girlfriend, and their two cats wanted to escape the heat and alligators in Tampa, Florida. So, the couple decided to move to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a bigger house and change of scenery.

Ready to begin their new adventure, Josh just had one more glaring task to take care of before getting a fresh start — figuring out how they were going to move their densely packed two-bedroom apartment into a truck and haul it more than 700 miles to their new four-bedroom home.

For a $500 moving stipend through our Better Moves Project, Josh agreed to give moveBuddha readers a play-by-play of his big move. Among other details, Josh shares how and why he chose Mayzlin Relocation, one of the best long-distance movers in the industry.

Josh also takes us on a deep dive through the interstate moving process and what surprised him. Finally, Josh shares what he would do differently the next time he has to move, which he hopes to never do again.

Move day takeaways for Mayzlin customers

• Communication: Josh was pleased with the communication with Mayzlin, which started over a week before moving day. Most of the communication leading up to the move took place via text and email. Communication throughout the move over phone calls was less satisfactory. Josh felt confused about the add-on services he thought were included.
• Pricing accuracy and transparency: Mayzlin initially quoted Josh $5,818.50, but he was able to negotiate them down to $5,500. However, when Mayzlin did a walkthrough of Josh’s apartment and got a more accurate estimate of inventory, his lowered quote went back up by $600. This is common and people often underestimate how much stuff they have. A fee for an oversized couch and other furniture brought his final bill about $900 higher than the $5,500 estimate.
• Professionalism: Despite his dissatisfaction with the quoting and pricing process, Josh was impressed with the professionalism of his movers. He praised them for taking better care of his belongings than he would have if left to his own devices.
• Timeliness: A moving crew texted Josh about 24 hours before the move saying they would be there between 8 a.m. and noon. They arrived in that time frame. Josh’s belongings arrived 10 days later, well within the 30-day guarantee.
• Loss and damage: There were a few broken plates and glasses, which Josh was fine with. He had a bigger issue with a bent part of his sofa, missing parts of his desk, and a missing lamp.
• Would Josh use Mayzlin again? Probably not. Although they delivered his belongings within the 30-day guarantee, the damage to his furniture and extra fees made him wonder if their competitors would have done a better job.

Josh needed help moving from Florida to North Carolina

After deciding that he wanted to leave Tampa, Josh and his girlfriend spent about a year researching cities in North Carolina. They zeroed in on Charlotte because they liked the people and housing options.

Josh had never used a full-service moving company before, but the couple had a short window of time to relocate before getting back to work. Due to this tight timeline, Josh thought hiring professional movers would be the most efficient moving option.

As he was researching moving companies, Josh was not sure what to look out for. His biggest concern was if they could fit all their belongings on a truck. Josh was also worried about the overall cost and prioritized pricing as a result.

Josh got quotes from three full-service moving companies

Josh and his girlfriend spent about six months researching movers. But they had trouble estimating their belongings that far in advance, so they waited on getting quotes. In terms of research, they were not entirely sure what to look into beyond that.

Josh started researching with Angi, which mostly recommended companies with negative reviews, and led to about 40 missed calls from companies harassing him to book their services. Needless to say, he was in need of some zen and was relieved when he discovered moveBuddha.

More importantly, he appreciated how moveBuddha did the research that he was already going to do for himself. Josh also referenced Craigslist, Google, and individual moving company sites to research which companies he wanted to receive quotes from.

Although they were on a tight schedule, he wishes he did a little more research on individual company’s reputations. In the future, he would also educate himself on what to look out for in his contract to avoid hidden fees.

Josh chose Mayzlin for their customer service and competitive pricing

Mayzlin wasn’t the lowest quote Josh received, but it was in the middle of the three estimates. He chose Mayzlin because after a little discussion, the company knocked about $300 off of his original quote.

When Josh signed a contract with Mayzlin, he agreed to pay a 33% deposit upfront to secure his moving date, which he paid with a debit card. Then, he was supposed to pay an additional 33% on the moving day and the remaining balance upon delivery via cashiers check. Mayzlin was accommodating enough to waive this payment policy and accepted a personal check.

Josh also paid for:

• Fees for mileage, gas, taxes, and tolls
• A detailed itemized inventory list
• Moving blankets
• Shipment tracking services
• Standard contents protection at the rate of $1.20 per pound per item

Josh did not purchase add-on services ahead of time, but it turned out that he would need to pay a long-carry fee when his oversized couch didn’t fit in the elevator. This added another $150 to his quote.

To prepare for the move, Josh and his girlfriend started packing boxes without really having a plan. We recommend planning ahead, especially if you’re like Josh and his girlfriend and have a lot of stuff to sort through. Decluttering for a move is often a good place to start, since you can often get rid of some items you don’t really need.

Moving day went smooth but had additional charges

Mayzlin’s moving coordinator was in contact with Josh a week before his moving date. During this time, the company’s quality assurance (QA) team did a final walkthrough and updated Josh’s inventory list. Josh and his girlfriend had more stuff than they thought, so this new inventory increased their initial quote by about $600.

Customer service was in contact with Josh days leading up to the move. They were helpful with questions about payment and double-checking the Certificate of Insurance (COI) required for his building.

About 24 hours before the scheduled move, the moving company’s team leader texted Josh that they would arrive the following day between 8 a.m. and noon. The moving crew showed up at 8:14 a.m. as promised.

The professional movers took about 4.5 hours to load, which was longer than expected. But again, Josh had more belongings than he expected when he first started planning his move with Mayzlin. In addition to paying a long-carry fee for his oversized couch, Josh was charged extra for furniture disassembly and reassembly.

Josh had a few issues with delivery

Josh did not realize that the two- to seven-day window he was given was just an estimate. So, he found it somewhat unnerving to learn that all of his stuff was still in Tampa seven days after the move.

It is common with moving companies to wait until trucks are fully loaded before making an interstate haul. This makes sense for maximizing fuel efficiency, but Josh did not realize this until he reread his contract.

Josh’s belongings were delivered 10 days after his scheduled moving day, well within the 30-day guarantee. He wishes that Mayzlin was more forthcoming and clear about this, as he was led to believe the process would be more streamlined. Always read your contract carefully, as 30 days is a pretty standard turnaround time within the moving industry.

Once his items arrived in Charlotte, unloading took around four hours. However, his oversized couch was damaged in such a way that it left a bent piece of metal protruding in a hazardous manner.

The movers also lost essential pieces of Josh’s desk, so they could not figure out how to put it back together. Josh couldn’t work around it either, so the desk was rendered unusable. With the exception of these errors, Josh was pleased with how careful they were with the rest of the couple’s items.

Our take on the move

Despite being relatively satisfied with the move, Josh was frustrated with Mayzlin’s communication about pricing — especially because their initially lowered quote was a big reason he chose the moving company.

To be fair, Josh was warned that these extra charges would be a possibility, both in writing and from the QA team throughout the process. So many of the issues Josh had with Mayzlin have more to do with a lack of knowledge about his contract and the moving industry as a whole.

To ensure you have a more positive outcome, we recommend reading moving experiences from our Better Moves participants to get a better sense of how the industry works.

For example, Josh thought it was OK to deduct the extra long-carry fee from the tip, and we advise against that. Long-carry fees are actually pretty common, and any “hidden” fees should be clearly spelled out to moving customers like they were in this instance. Plus, it’s not the moving crew’s fault the additional charge applied to Josh’s move, so penalizing them isn’t the way to resolve the issue.

To be fair, Josh and his girlfriend did plenty of things right. They made themselves available during the move instead of running errands. They also offered movers water throughout the process.

Looking back, he wishes he took the time to disassemble and reassemble his furniture himself. Not only would that have saved some money, but he would have been able to keep better track of the parts of his desk that got lost in transit.

Since customer service representatives were relying on Josh’s estimates for his initial quote, it was hard to get an accurate price. Ultimately, Josh didn’t think the moving company should have dropped his initial estimate down to $5,500 since they ended up not staying close to that amount. At the very least, Josh felt Mayzlin could have been more transparent about how much the quote could change after a final walk through of inventory.

Again, we stress how important it is to read the fine print and ask questions to avoid these kinds of surprises.

The verdict

Josh’s move was adequate, but like many people who hire full-service movers for the first time, he did not know what to expect. In the end, the process was not what Josh expected.

Although Mayzlin’s customer service was helpful and communicative throughout the moving process, Josh felt they were intentionally vague about pricing, timeline, and add-on services.

Once he read the fine print in his contract, Josh knew everything was above board. But he was still not happy with the $900 price difference between the quote and final bill.

If he has to hire another full-service moving company down the road, Josh will make more of an effort to understand the contract before signing on the dotted line. That way, he can have a better sense of his moving budget and potential hidden fees.

Josh recommends taking more time to donate, sell, and generally downsize on belongings before taking on a similar move. He also would suggest labeling or numbering your boxes before you start packing them.

In hindsight, Josh would not use Mayzlin again. Although the damage to his belongings was not significant and he filed a claim within his 90-day window, he felt misled about hidden fees throughout the process, even though we chalk that up to a misunderstanding caused by Josh being unfamiliar with how full-service movers operate.

Here’s how Josh rated Mayzlin’s performance on a scale of 1 to 5:

• Communication: 3
• Timeliness: 3
• Quote accuracy: 3
• Overall experience: 3

Do you have an upcoming move? Share your moving story with the Better Moves Project to earn a $500 stipend. Sign up now.