Simple Moving Labor

We hired SML (based out of Texas) 2 weeks before our move from Irvine CA to Washington.
Their slogan, «Moving made Simple» was anything but that.
–didn’t evaluate the items to load before they stated.
— Had no idea how to take beds and entertainment centers apart.
— Loaded ½ full trash cans
— Laid our nice couches on the dirty truck bed
— Placed heavy items on top of marked fragile boxes that got crushed.
— failed to wrap delicate items with blankets provided.
— lack of early evaluation and updates during the load led to important items left off the truck.
(BBQ, leather chairs, etc) But thank GOD the half empty trash made it!!!
They charged me $ 800 and only offered a $ 75 discount.
They Suck!!!
Avoid the headache and DONT hire SML.

Absolutely the worst experience I have ever had with a moving company. I took the Penske recommended moving company and they pay a portion of the movers full line and sinker. The crew that arrived were not «professional movers», they did not properly wrap and protect the furniture with the furniture pads, plastic wrap and tape that I supplied. I had to initially stop them and tell them to wrap the furniture. They loaded fast and was very difficult to keep track and oversee. They removed a handrail and doors and never reattached the handrail. Furniture was left behind and never loaded on the truck. For example, a couch cushion but the couch was loaded!!! Clearly marked FRAGILE boxes were loaded on their side. Many items left behind due to no room. I was asked to sign paperwork but wasn’t left with any. I questioned the lead guy as he was racing out of my home why my furniture doesn’t appear to be packed well and I was concerned about damage. He stated he had another job to get to and it would be fine. I HAD TO HIRE A DIFFERENT MOVING COMPANY TO UNLOAD AND RELOAD MY 26′ PENSKE TRUCK. AND THEY WERE ABLE TO LOAD EVERYTHING I HAD!!! NOTHING LEFT BEHIND. ****** DO NOT GET SUCKED IN WITH PENSKE RECOMMENDING SML. TERRIBLE AND UNPROFESSIONAL SERVICE.

This company is substandard! The initial booking was easy, then they called to reschedule. The new day they were supposed to come they cancelled two hours before the move was scheduled. Scheduled a new crew for two days later and the crew was over an hour late then did not have the equipment to load the truck. New crew scheduled for the next day at 1pm and they showed up at 4pm, took four hours to load the truck at a charge of 800 dollars. The company failed to apply my deposit to the bill until I called to argue with them. They cost me a lot of time and money.

Do not go with this company! We moved in October 2015. We hired 3 helpers. First they were 1 hour late and they showed up with only 2 movers. In only 45 minutes of work, these movers put two holes in the walls resulting in me letting them go. My wife and I had to moved ourselves since no replacements were available. 12 hours loading and 8 hours unloading the next day. When notified, they tried to provide me a $ 50 discount from their 3 hour minimum even after all the inconvenience and holes. After I provided quotes for a claim, they proceeded to write me a check minus what they claimed I still owed them (represented from that $ 50 discount). This is an underhanded and non-​professional company. You might get by if nothing goes wrong, however if anything does go wrong they will not want to help you.

I rented with Penske Trucks and they gave a discount if I used Simple Moving Labor so I signed up. I am very disappointed in the sloppy paperwork and unprofessional dealings with the main office. They have been the only stressful part of an otherwise excellent move.
For the Load, the local supervisor told me they were going to charge me a ridiculous fee (over $ 150) to transport the movers to my site. (The transport fee for the Unload crew was $ 20.) I said forget it and cancelled the order. A supervisor from the main office called me immediately, agreed that they should find someone local to do their moving, and waived the travel fee. So I agreed to do business with them.
Today I was emailed a bill for $ 140 for transporting the movers to my site. SML also attempted to take the money out of my account which caused an overdraft charge of $ 25! When I called the main office, they said they would listen to the recorded conversation to verify what I was saying. Now they say the recording is erased and the supervisor, Emerald, hung up on me! What!!! UPDATE: I just received a call from Emerald and now they will pay the $ 25 o.d. fee and charge me $ 52.60 for transporting the movers. Thanks but this has been very upsetting.
I’ll also note that their «Professional» movers showed up with no i.d. and no paperwork. They loaded the truck with no skills, and required a lot of supervision on how high to stack totes and how to pack paintings and mirrors so they would not break on my cross-​country trip. Their supervisor called me in the midst of the move and said that there was no way to email, fax or otherwise send the paperwork that they had forgotten. The next morning, with a loaded 22′ Penske truck, I left Seattle for Florida. The supervisor begged me to pull off the freeway to sign the paperwork. I waited ten minutes in a parking lot for his secretary to show up. Unbelievable. Never again.

Considering that we booked these movers the day of the move, I think they did a pretty okay job. We probably annoyed them, but we supervised them moving and packing the furniture into the truck to make sure that all of our expensive furniture was packed well.
On the unpacking end, the team that helped us was really, really good! They were pretty quick at unloading my belongings and packing them into my storage unit. They paid attention to everything that I asked them to do and treated my belongings very carefully and intelligently.
As far as I could tell, there was no damage, but we did provide lots of packing blankets and moving plastic wrap. We also took back our truck and got a larger one at the advice of the movers loading our truck.
The thing that I appreciated the most was that they found movers for us last minute and allowed us a lot of flexibility with our unloading day.

Used the non-​professional labor, and one mover did not arrive. However, the job got done!

The movers that showed up were terrible. One of the them moved few boxes, the other one was lazy and didn’t do anything. The main thing they had to do was to carry the washer and dryer upstairs, the second guy couldn’t do it so my husband had to help himself. What a waste of money, do not use them!

I hired this company at the suggestion of Penske to help load my Penske truck in Frisco, Texas. I had to sign a 1-​page contract, which stated that if I cancelled less than 3 hours before they were scheduled to show up, I would forfeit my deposit ($ 90.00). The total amount of the contract was $ 236.00. After flying back to Dallas and finding that my car would not start, I could not pick up the Penske truck and, therefore, had no truck to load. I contacted SML right away and was told that I would have to forfeit my deposit and, «possibly,» some additional fees. These people never showed up, although the person I spoke with said that she could not reach them to cancel them. Turns out that the additional fees were actually the remaining balance of the contract, which they promptly charged to my credit card that same day. I paid this company $ 236.00 to do absolutely nothing.
I have tried twice to resolve the issue and I get the same line that I signed an agreement. The 1-​page agreement does not say that they get the full value of the contract for nothing if you have to cancel.
Penske should not be associating themselves with, or referring to this rip off company. Penske actually worked with me on my delay in picking up the truck. I am a woman and I ended up loading an entire apartment’s worth of furniture myself the next day. I even had to leave the couch because I could not move it on my own.

I had heard wonderful things about SML. They were pretty easy to book and organize the packing of our truck for the move. They even called to say they were running a little late the day of.
However, the movers we hired, who were «professionals» were not very professional. One of them even asked to add me on Facebook and to have me type it in his phone, who does that? They told us to stay in our apartment and not watch them down by the truck that they were loading. They didn’t use half of the furniture pads we provided them and in the end A LOT of our furniture was damaged and scratched. We didn’t notice a lot of the damage until we were traveling because they hid it in the back. I submitted a claim once our move was complete because we had furniture that was actually broken and we had just gotten it as a wedding gift. We got a check in the mail for $ 20, but that doesn’t cover any of what those pieces actually cost us. I am very upset and disappointed! If someone sees this I would like to be refunded more, because this is unacceptable!

We used SML to load in Simi Valley, CA and unload in Hanover, MD. Wow, what a great service!
Both two-​man crews were exceptionally good: on time, professional, polite, respectful, eager to work, friendly and cheerful. All four men hustled constantly and all four men were willing to do whatever I asked in exactly the manner that I asked it to be done. I could not have asked for more.
Thank you!

The mover showed up an hour and a half late. Then one of the mover kept complaining about forgetting his gloves so I gave him a pair in hopes it would speed up the process. When I unpacked all my furniture at my final destination I realized that some of my furniture was damaged and a very expensive drill was missing.
If you don’t mind some ex-​cons steeling and damaging your furniture then I guess this company is for you. NEVER AGAIN!!! I DO NOT RECOMEND THIS COMANY!!!

Fabulous experience! Hired a crew to load up in South Texas and another to unload in North Texas. We provided blankets, dollies, tie downs, and shrink wrap. Professionals knew exactly what to do, and we received world class service with a smile from both teams. Extremely pleased. Highly recommend and will use again.

I WISH I HAD LISTENED TO ALL THE REVIEWS LISTED HERE.
AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL.
my friends and I had to load all of the boxes and most of the lighter furniture and these workers still could not load in a timely fashion. Penske is SO STUPID for having an affiliation with this company. Guy#1 is was ok but Guy#2 waited around for Guy#1 to tell him what to do. He did not even bother to go upstairs to get other things. he was like a puppy waiting for the master to tell him what to do and would leave the masters side. it was unbelievably ridiculous. I ended up paying TWICE what I was quote. please please please please please please please I beg you not to sign a contract with them. go find other movers. i have moved several times and these were theWORST WORKERS ever. The company said they have had them on payroll for 6 years and I know they were lying and told them they are lying because the stupid dude was only maybe 20years old. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER.

We used SML for a recent state-​to-​state move because they were listed on Penske’s website. They were cost-​effective, we thought, and, well… we got what we paid for.
SML offers two levels of service: the basic hired help, and professional, insured movers. We chose the latter. They arrived on time, and were personable and friendly enough. However, the problems became evident very early.
When loading our washer and dryer, we passed on the instructions from the retailer from which we had purchased them that the washer had to be taped and secured a certain way. Not to worry, I was assured, because they placed a moving blanket into the washer to prevent it from being internally jostled or damaged. That would be fine.
I should mention that we rented a truck with plenty of space, and provided the movers with moving pads/​blankets to cover and protect furniture, and ratchet straps to secure the load.
During the loading out of the apartment, they broke one of our daughter’s pieces of furniture. Unfortunate, but, I thought, accidents happen. The mover assured me that he had taken a photo, and provided paperwork to fill out so that we could be reimbursed. Fair enough.
When they finished and left, we discovered that a bag that had been set aside and which contained my wife’s wallet, driver’s license, keys, etc. had been packed somewhere in the back of the moving truck. A phone call to the company resulted in the response that the movers definitely remembered packing the bag, but couldn’t remember where. It was lost until we unloaded the truck, which was an issue as my wife was driving our car while I drove the truck… across multiple states… with a license and keys that were unable to be located.
When we began closing up the truck, we discovered at least half of the furniture pads/​blankets had not been used, leaving many pieces of furniture unprotected. Further, none… not one… of the ratchet straps that we had provided had been used to secure the load. The load hadn’t been balanced correctly, leaving lots of room for items to shift in transit. Some family members helped us secure the load as best we could later that day, but, short of completely unpacking and re-​packing the truck, we were unable to secure as it should have been. We phoned in a complaint to SML.
The result was, upon unloading the truck at the completion of our move, we had multiple pieces of furniture damaged, some completely destroyed. Oh, and the washer? No blanket was in it… it had been free to jostle about however it liked on the 20-​hour drive. We contacted SML to file a claim. They responded with paperwork and requested photos, which we provided in a timely manner. Their response was that most of our damage would not be covered because the damage occurred in transit, not during loading… even though the damage that occurred in transit was because of the faulty loading. They reimbursed us less than $ 40 for all of the damage… less than the cost of one of lost items.
SML was unprofessional, unreliable, and quite expensive when the damage resulting from their haphazard job was calculated. If you want to arrive at your destination with the same number of pieces with which you left, don’t use them.

Overall NOT a great experience! The 2 movers were just taking their sweet time, it took 12hours to move from a 5 miles distance, load and unload!!! (and they were «professionals»). Also, at the end they were rude and broke and scratched a few pieces of furniture, bookshelves were missing parts, and on and on.
Moving is never fun and there is a lot of stress, I think this could have been better if they were more motivated to do their jobs! :(

Ah, and now I see why the reviews have so few stars! Very grateful I have not booked with SML. I asked for a quote for 5.5 hours of work to help with my move, but they would only provide me with one for 3 hours. I asked them to revise the quote for what I needed and they said they couldn’t do it. I asked 10 different ways and told them that I would not sign a contract or give them my credit card details until they could produce a more accurate estimate for the work. They couldn’t or wouldn’t. It felt extremely shady.
I did not book, and I’m pretty happy about that choice!

Just call Labor Ready yourself, and save a bunch of money. All this company does is act as a middle man to lineup cheap unskilled laborers… but at a premium price because you’re willing to pay. Just get your own unskilled laborers direct from the source… ususally labor ready or some other company like that.
These guys were getting 8 – 10 an hour, while I was paying 50 – 70 an hour. One guy didn’t show up, which sucked, and none of them were great.

We used SML three times for our move — loading, transferring load, and unloading. The original loading team in Georgia was good. The crew that transferred the load from a disabled truck to the replacement in Tennessee was below average, and the unloaders were awful in Utah.
The original loaders were efficient and careful with our belongings. They used plenty of bubble wrap and plastic sheeting to protect what they could. Our truck had problems two hours after we started and everything had to be moved to a replacement truck. A man and his teenage son backed the two trucks up to each other and moved everything straight across. IT TOOK THEM 5 HOURS!!! They did such a poor job they couldn’t get everything into the replacement truck, so they opened boxes and took things out and stuffed them into gaps and spaces. Some fragile pieces that had been double packed were broken. They didn’t even have a dolly so they had to use mine, which I had strapped onto the car trailer under other items. They didn’t even bother to reload the car trailer — just left me the mess to clean up and repack.
The unloaders were two skinny guys who complained about everything. They didn’t want to put anything into the house. They thought it all should just go into the garage until we wanted it later. They stacked boxes many layers deep and high so that we couldn’t get to any of it without rearranging it ourselves. SML told us that we were contracted for a minimum of 2 hours. After three hours the truck was unloaded so my wife told them they were done (I had to go to work that day). They told her that we were going to get charged for 4 hours whether they worked it or not, so she found another 20 minutes worth of work for them to do and finally sent them away because she didn’t want them around any more. SML did only bill us for the 3 hours.
This is potentially a great service, but it is clear that SML does not screen the workers nearly closely enough. I would have loved to let them know about these problems, but it didn’t really seem like they cared enough to ask — other than wanting me to complete this user review…

Don’t do it. They were not good at all. They arrived 3 hours late. When they called us they said they were around the corner, but didn’t arrive until 2 hours after that. When asked why they were late when they arrived they said there was a lot of traffic. I had run to store and there was no traffic.
Because of the lateness the company did give us 2 hours of extended free unloading time. Which was nifty but didn’t necessarily change our mind about the company. When people say they will be there at a certain time, that’s what we expect.
We used helpers in Texas that was pretty good. But when we arrived in New Jersey the «helpers» we got were not as good as the other ones. One of the workers was very good (i’ll call him the leader), but the second one was awful. I guess he was new. But he could not handle the heavy lifting and my dad did a lot of the work with the leader. I could tell the Leader was becoming annoyed by the second guy as he kept telling him to come on and get it done. The second guy continually chain smoked. I think I even did more work than he did and that’s sad.
Save your money, time and find someone else.