You see, Dane and I (actually it was more Dane) realized that it was cheaper to hire movers to haul his belongings accross the country than to rent a U-haul truck and do it ourselves. We couldn't believe it. It was less money to pay somebody else to carry boxes up and down the stairs in 105 degree heat? We both felt that it was just too good to be true, but numbers don't lie. Right?
The movers required a two day pick up window. We were excited at the prospect of perhaps having an extra day in Glacier National Park in addition to the one we'd already planned. The first day of potential pick up came and went. We were a little disappointed, but no matter. We got a call that they would arrive the following day at about noon. In the morning we got up early in anticipation, wrapping the bed in its protective plastic bag, double checking the tape job on all of the boxes, and pacing around the box filled house. Hours passed with no word from the movers. Then, about noon Dane got a call on his cell phone. "Victory," we declared, "they're in Hood River." No such luck.
"You see," the dispatcher explained, "the movers just had a run in with the police." Our movers had driven too many hours in one day and had gotten in trouble with the police at a weigh station. We tried to occupy ourselves the rest of the day in a white-walled box-filled house with limited success.
The movers arrived the next day and were very professional. Dane and I both agree that the movers themselves were very certious individuals.
As we were signing the paperwork we learned that our belongings would be dropped off within 14 days after we arrived at our new place. This was certainly not the impression we were under during the sales pitch. We were under the distinct impression our things would arrive 14 days after pick up. Opps! Somebody lied to us. We left on our our road trip to Indiana the next day, camping and driving for what seemed like days on end. We had to cancel the trip to Glacier National Park because of the late pick-up. So sad!
Upon arriving in Indiana and, with even closer inspection of the paper work, we discovered that the possible delay got even worse than we imagined. The movers had 14 business days to deliver our stuff. Suddenly we realized that with labor day and weekends we might be without furniture until nearly Christmas break! Actually it was more September 9th. Considering the movers arrived at Dane's house in Hood River on August 13th, there was a distinct possibility we might sleep on the floor for almost an entire month. I promptly went out and bought a blow-up queen-size mattress.
But, we had hope. Barak Obama would be so proud. We had hope that they would be a better moving company. We knew deep down that they would not wait until the very last day to deliver our belongings. And we were wrong.
As the days went by we started to question if we would ever see our things again. The whole operation started to seem shady in retrospect. We found the company on the internet. They made us pay in cash. We did not have a receipt for the half we paid up front. As we looked more closely at the contract we noticed misspellings. Hmmm.
Then, like a miracle, on the very last day of our contract we got a call. It was the movers. They would arrive at 8:30 pm on September 9th. We were hopeful, but not totally shocked when 8:30 pm turned into 10:30 pm. The giant semi-truck pulled up in front of the apartment and out came all of the boxes we said goodbye to nearly a month ago. Well, everything except the top of a desk and a bookshelf, they lost those.
All in all, Dane and I are not sure how to feel about the whole thing. After the movers left around midnight Dane and I unwrapped the mattress, threw a sheet over it, and tucked ourselves under the blanket. I turned to Dane and asked, "So, do you think it was worth it to hire movers?" After a long pause he said, "Maybe...."
Go Hoosiers!
