Poor experience with Trillium.
My wife and I hired Trillium to move our belongings from a storage unit in Fredericton to our new home in Calgary. We chose them from a large pool of big and small movers that all had good and bad reviews. Overall our experience was poor, but from what I've learned since sharing experiences with many people who have hired many different movers, it was a typical moving experience. Maybe the whole industry is broken. Maybe the rates are too low to be able to provide consistently good service.
We had a few of damaged items, a lost lawnmower, and lots and lots of scuffs and nicks and scratches. The damaged items were all packed by the movers, and after watching how a move goes I'm not surprised that so many items got banged up in the process.
My estimated and actual weights were very different (actual was almost double) but since the estimate was done using industry standards for our goods I wasn't surprised that there was a difference. You pay for what the load actually weighs, so there really isn't much use in estimates, only the price/lb and the conditions of the move are important when comparing movers.
I requested a weigh scale ticket to show the tare and load weights and justify the final invoice, and what I was given was a note on Trillium letterhead stating that the load was weighed at their own scale in Toronto and stated the net weight. That wasn't going to fly with my company (who were paying for my move) so I then requested (in fact, argued for) a re-weigh at a public certified scale. It's important to note that using public certified scales is required in the Highway Traffic Act of Ontario Regulation 643/05 (Section 18.1) and the other provincial Regs I looked at as well.
Of course normally there's no way to know what's in the truck when the weights are taken, but that's another story... Anyway, I was surprised to see that there was a significant difference between Trillium's own scale and the truck stop scale. Trillium's weight was much higher (>1200 lbs).
I was provided a refund for the difference in weight as well as the re-scaling fee (the truck stop charged $200, which I payed for out of pocket) without hesitation, but also without an explanation.
Two small but not insignificant good parts of the whole experience: communication was professional and timely, and delivery was only a little late.
I also learned a funny thing: the movers (any movers) have little motivation other than online reviews to provide good service: if you're insured, then the insurance company will pay for damages; if you're not insured, then nobody pays for damages. The moving company is only responsible for $0.60/lb whether we're talking a box of old paperbacks or a big screen TV.
Next time - as much as it will be difficult - we'll get a UHaul and drive our own stuff across the country.
My wife and I hired Trillium to move our belongings from a storage unit in Fredericton to our new home in Calgary. We chose them from a large pool of big and small movers that all had good and bad reviews. Overall our experience was poor, but from what I've learned since sharing experiences with many people who have hired many different movers, it was a typical moving experience. Maybe the whole industry is broken. Maybe the rates are too low to be able to provide consistently good service.
We had a few of damaged items, a lost lawnmower, and lots and lots of scuffs and nicks and scratches. The damaged items were all packed by the movers, and after watching how a move goes I'm not surprised that so many items got banged up in the process.
My estimated and actual weights were very different (actual was almost double) but since the estimate was done using industry standards for our goods I wasn't surprised that there was a difference. You pay for...