SML - Simple Moving Labor

"WARNING! Do not use this company for packing and/or loading your goods for moving. They are not professionally trained for this and damaged most of our belonging that they were responsible for packing. They did not use the extra boxes, blankets, bubble wrap, straps, shrink wrap, tape, etc. that we provided for protecting the goods. Instead they just shoved goods into moving pods so it would fit with no protection. They also loaded heavy items on top of other items with no added protection thereby damaging the lower items. USE THEM AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! They might be good at loading a dumpster."

"While I really appreciated the great job the movers did - especially unloading the truck - the person that set up the work booked 5 hours each for a one bedroom apartment load and truck unload into a storage building which was WAY over what time was spent doing that. It wasn't made clear to me that they would refund only one hour of the time and while it was in the contract (which I admit I missed when reading it and take responsibility for that) no one ever told me during the booking that they would only refund 1 hour of unused time on each job. Therefore a job that only took 2 hours wound up costing me 4. I was not very happy about this and will caution anyone I recommend you to, to be very sure to book minimum hours and then pay for an overage if one happens. This is kinda shady to me. BUT that being said the movers were efficient, friendly and very professional. They did a great job packing the truck and unloading it into the storage building. I definitely will use you again, but I will NOT be sucked into overbooking hours."

"I requested a quote for moving labor. My request stated "I have a lot of boxes and some furniture to get into the house." The items were in two PODS in my driveway. SML estimated the job would take 4 hours, and I paid upfront for the 4 hours. The job only took 2 hours. SML refunded me only for 1 hour, because the paperwork I had to sign stated that a refund of up to one hour will be given if the job exceeds the 2 hour minimum but is under the estimated time. When I called the company about this, I told them that it is their job to get the estimated time very close to the actual time it takes. The response I got was that most people like to have their items brought to specific rooms in the house and arranged in specific locations, and that is why the estimated time was for 4 hours. That is not what I had the laborers do for me, nor is it what I stated I wanted help with when I put in my request for a quote. So the reason I am giving this company 1 star is because it exaggerated the time it would take the job to be completed, and because I had to pay all the money up front. I admit that I was a fool to do that, and now I am warning you to avoid SML."

"Our experience with SML led to a lot of headaches and frustration. On the loading side, the local company they selected (not SML, a separate company) was prompt and packed things carefully; however, they neglected to pack two whole closets and a kitchen drawer. (Pictures attached.) This was incredibly stressful because we then had to figure out how to store and ship numerous items. SML flew a driver from Texas and arranged for a rental truck.... in the wrong city, 2 hours away from the pickup location. The fact they use rental trucks means they are beholden to whatever shape the trucks are in. In our case, the truck was damaged, which means instead of arriving at 9-10am, the truck did not arrive until 1:30 pm. When the truck broke down en route, SML did not contact us (or the unloaders) to let us know they would be late. On the unloading side, SML failed to tell either us or the unloading company that they would not show up until 2 pm. The unloading company failed to bring all our items into the home and left things on our front stoop and failed to assemble beds (as required by the contract). To their credit, I will say that SML accepted our documentation and complaints and did issue a partial refund. But, I would save yourself a headache and go with a different company."

"If I could give Simple Moving Labor 0 stars, or negative stars, I would. The loading crew arrived with no tools and no hand truck (their excuse was that no one told them they needed to bring them, when I was told by SML several times that all crews arrive with both of these items). My mother-in-law spent a lot of time disassembling our furniture FOR them. Then, they got a piece of our sectional stuck in the doorway from our basement to the upstairs because no one bothered to ask how the sectional got down there in the first place, and they had completely not assessed that the way the staircase was set up, the piece would not go up that way, no matter what you did. They spent over an hour trying to force our sofa through the door, took the banister off the wall, removed the door and the stops in the doorframe, and THEN! They used a power saw to SAWTHE LEG OFF OF OUR SOFA! After several MORE hours of watching them do things like put a dresser mirror into the truck completely unwrapped, drop several boxes marked "Fragile" on the ground, and not packing the truck to the top, they announced they were done because the truck was "full" and the rest of our stuff wasn't going to fit. We had a 26 foot truck for our 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, home (1900 sqft). My mother-in-law had tried to offer the loading crew a step-ladder so they could pack the truck to the ceiling more effectively, but the foreman turned it down. And I'm not talking about a few boxes not fitting on this truck. There was, to name a few items, our headboard, a disassembled crib, 2 crib mattresses, 4 of our 6 dining room chairs, about 25 boxes, half of my L-shaped desk, 7 Rubbermaid totes, a toy box, the kids' table/chairs, and number bags. They essentially threw up their hands and said goodbye. After 7 hours, they did half of the job, left a giant mess, and offered no other assistance. We were already behind schedule for leaving, so we had to stay overnight and then spent 4 hours trying to find a way to get the rest of our belongings to Indiana. I attempted to call SML to reschedule our unloading crew, but after sitting on hold twice during the day for over NINETY MINUTES, after 30 minutes, I pressed for the option to have a representative call me back. No one ever did that day. Later that evening, we were looking for the rest of our furniture pads (which the movers had left somewhere and never told us), so my husband opened the truck to look. He was able to walk ALL THE WAY TO THE CAB of the truck, that was how much space was left in that truck. The following day, my husband and his mother spent 9 hours repacking that truck, which first required a significant amount of UNpacking. We also began itemizing every BROKEN item we found in the truck, including but not limited to our queen bed footboard, a dresser drawer, a dining room chair spindle, the glider, and 3 glasses. There are innumerable scratches, gouges, and dings in our furniture as well, including our dining room table, both cribs, both kids' dressers, our dresser, 2 nightstands, most of the dining room chairs, and 2 TV stands. They were successful in fitting EVERY ITEM into that truck, essentially having done the job of a 3-man crew.When I finally got someone on the phone to reschedule our unloaders from the 27th to the 28th, I was told that "since it was such short notice, a crew could not be guaranteed". I decided at that moment to cancel the crew entirely, because all trust in this company was completely destroyed. This was last week, on the 26th. I was told a manager/supervisor would be in touch with me within 48 hours. It is now NINE DAYS after the move and I still can't get anyone in a supervisor position to speak with me. I am beyond irate and will not be satisfied until I am reimbursed for the movers (whose job we effectively had to do), as well as all of our broken items. I will NEVER recommend SML to anyone, and in fact will tell everyone I know that is moving to NEVER use this company. If you value your belongings, your time, and your sanity, DO NOT HIRE SIMPLE MOVING LABOR."