Master Movers - Bad Move!

<p>Normally, I would let things like this go, but I was so disappointed, I felt the need to share this experience.</p> <p> </p> <p>I used Master Movers about 2 years ago to move from a Tamboerskloof flat to a Sea Point flat. Everything went as smooth as butter. There was not a hitch, they were done by 1:30pm and that included us giving them lunch. They were very professional and experienced, and although we took out transit insurance, the only broken items were one wine glass and a plastic wheel on my office chair. In the grand scheme of things, it was so minor it wasn’t worth writing about. Also the guys were very nice with great attitude.</p> <p> </p> <p>I decided to use Master Movers again for our move on Dec 21st 2016, but this was a terrible experience, unfortunately.</p> <p> </p> <p>Firstly the crew that Master Movers sent us was totally inexperienced, consisting of 1 experienced guy, the rest being high school students looking to earn some extra cash in the holidays. I don’t have a problem with that at all and I totally support that, however these guys were totally inexperienced and unprepared to move a piano, which was indicated in the first email of contents from us. There was no way they would have been able to carry a piano up 3 flights of stairs, as was clearly stated in the first communication between my wife and Master Movers.</p> <p> </p> <p>Secondly, they didn’t know where to start when they arrived and stood there dazed and confused. They were completely unaware that antiques need to be cardboard/bubble wrapped like the previous crew did. They were carrying everything to the truck without even a blanket wrap. There was an antique bar with glass doors that they just wanted to blanket wrap - I refused to allow this, and this was clearly stated in the first correspondence to Master Movers. I told them to send a proper crew the next day to move the piano and antique bar.</p> <p> </p> <p>They didn’t have the concept of "moving logic”, i.e. how to turn or twist furniture to make it down a narrow flight of stairs, even though the previous crew who delivered the couch did, so this crew had to take it out of the 2nd floor window which took forever.</p> <p> </p> <p>There were 2 items damaged while being carried from the flat to the truck, because they didn’t wrap an antique cedar wood chest, and the second damage sustained was a rip in a canvas painting while they were trying to take the sofa out of the front door.</p> <p> </p> <p>I understand that we declined to take the “in transit insurance”, and the only reason was that we expected to have the same experienced crew as before where every single item was cardboard wrapped before it left the house to the van. And from our understanding, “in transit” insurance is between points of delivery and NOT from house to van.</p> <p> </p> <p>We had taken off work that day, and I had to be there for the second day when the proper crew came to move the piano and the antique bar which was done properly with cardboard as was done before. In other words, if the proper crew had been sent the first time, I would not be writing this letter and it would have been a one day move. It was 3:30 by the time the first crew were finished, but we still made lunch for them because they really worked hard, were all nice, but totally the wrong crew to have sent for our move.</p> <p> </p> <p>I could go on and on, but will cut it short here, except to say that while we paid for a top notch crew, we got a second rate inexperienced crew who damaged items by carrying them down to the van unwrapped, and I had to ask them to wrap the furniture because they were not experienced enough to know.</p> <p> </p> <p>I will not recommend using Master Movers again because of this. Someone else might have a wonderful experience, but it seems like a gamble and not a sure thing.</p> <p> </p> <p>The customer is under the assumption that when the customer has paid for a top notch crew, the company should not send a second rate crew - this is not the way business should be done.</p> <p> </p> <p>The right thing for Master Movers to do would be to compensate us financially for damages sustained, as well as a 1 day loss of work. I doubt this will ever happen, but I need to make other people aware of the terrible experience we had.</p> <p> </p> <p>Thank you for reading!</p>