Return-Path: Received: from orcrist.gandalf.cs.cmu.edu by K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU id aa23855; 7 May 92 14:39:56 EDT Date: Thu, 7 May 1992 13:58-EDT From: Charles.Krueger@ORCRIST.GANDALF.CS.CMU.EDU Reply-To: Charlie Krueger To: bovik@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Moving Companies Message-Id: <705261483/cwk@ORCRIST.GANDALF.CS.CMU.EDU> We just evaluated long-distance moving van lines and had estimates done for moving from Pittsburgh to Austin. We looked at previous entries in the Bovik database and at Consumer Reports. Here are a few things we found. Consumer Reports, August 1990, had a decent article on evaluating and dealing with moving companies. It includes a chart for 11 major moving companies, including overall satisfaction index, levels of satisfaction (completely satisfied, satisfied, dissatisfied), and % of inaccurate estimates. Here is the list, with overall satisfaction index and % inaccurate estimates: Paul Arpin 77 4% Wheaton 74 3% United 74 38% Atlas 74 3% Graebel 74 32% Allied 72 22% Bekins 71 11% Mayflower 71 40% North American 70 46% Global 70 6% American Red Ball 69 10% Based on these results we concentrated on the top 2 movers, Paul Arpin and Wheaton. Both have offices in Pittsburgh. Stinelli Bros. Moving and Storage, agent for Paul Arpin 864-4353 Tri-State Transfer and Storage, agent for Wheaton 322-6131 The agent from Stinelli (Paul Greiff) was very professional, personable, polite, and efficient. He took approximately 30 minutes to go through the house. Since we weren't in a big hurry, he called with the estimate 2 days later. The agent from Tri-State was a wheeler-dealer. He took almost 2 hours to complete the estimate, though this included the time for immediately calculating the estimated price. He tried to get me to sign some papers after giving me the estimate, even after I explained that I was only asking for an estimate. One paper was titled "Order for Service", though he said my signature was only to acknowledge that he had explained everything to me. I, of course, refused to sign. Both companies gave binding estimates, which means that the move cannot cost more than the estimate, though you may end up paying less. For identical service, the Paul Arpin bid was 15% less than Wheaton.