Professional Courtesy and why it Matters to the Consumer

When people ask friends and neighbors for referrals on services, they are usually just concerned with the way the company in question treats its customers. They normally don’t question how they act towards their colleagues and competitors. The problem with this logic is that businesses these days are remarkably interdependent. When you work with a real estate agent to purchase or rent a home, he or she will likely have to work with another agent to get the deal done. Likewise, when you contract a moving company for relocation it is quite possible that that business will have to work with others in the field to get that job done. This can include the advertising firms that connect the movers with their customers (as in many of the online moving directories), the sales people/estimators, the dispatchers who are responsible for the logistical details, and even other agents as maybe required for special circumstances.

I bring this up because of a recent experience with a very angry and vulgar mover based out of Vermont. As you can see with our website, we post information about movers in different cities so as to assist our customers in finding local businesses. This way if you are in Florida you can find Florida local movers; if you are in Vermont you can find Vermont local movers, and so forth. One certain Vermont mover, however, was not happy to be listed without a direct link pointing back to his site. He called our office afterhours using the kind of profanity that would make a sailor blush to a female who answered the call. Despite his vulgar insults she explained that while it was not our policy to provide links for all the movers in our listing, she would remove that moving company’s listing if he so desired. His angry rant did not quite end there. She requested the page url, and he proceeded to threaten her and insist she should know it (very difficult when you have over 200,000 pages). She took the verbal abuse in stride and finally coaxed it out of him and removed the listing.

We were certainly not customers of this mover, but this ordeal made me wonder how a company with such a lack of professional courtesy treats its customers. I imagine that if everything goes smooth and the customer does not complain it is possible that everyone will walk away satisfied with the moving experience. However, if the customer does have an issue with something, how will this mover react? It seems as though he is short on patience and temper, and acts on impulse and aggression. While the importance of professional courtesy from the customer’s standpoint is just a theory of mine, I would not want to test it with the man who has all of my belongings in his truck.

Move easy!

P.Harris

http://www.Localmovers.com/

Reasons why you should always hire a Local Mover

The advantages of using a Local Mover are numerous. Here are just a few:

• Out-of-area moving companies cannot provide on-site (physical estimates), therefore any quote given will be a non-binding estimate. (non-binding estimate: actual cost may change. Customer is advised to be prepared with additional cash in case of overage. Payment for services due upon delivery in cash or certified funds only, which causes additional hassle for customer when actual price is unknown).
  
  • Out-of-area moving companies may not be as familiar with city ordinances requiring permits or restricting truck access or road conditions. Roadways can be very narrow, rough, steep, or be dirt roads; unfamiliar companies may have difficulty with these or may even cause damage to customers' furniture or property.
  
  
  • Out-of-area movers often subcontract their jobs to other companies when they can't service them. Customers in this case haven't gotten to check out the new carrier on BBB or FMCSA because they won't know of the change until the new guy is at their door.
  
  • Brokers only subcontract the jobs they book; they own no moving trucks or equipment. Once a job has been dispatched to a hauler (mover), the carrier adopts the moving estimate as its own, forcing the customer to deal with this new company for any customer service issues (trust us, you will hate that). When problems arise, as they often do, the broker will direct the customer to the mover and the mover will then tell them to contact the broker leaving the customer in middle with little options to resolve issues.
  
  • A job accepted by a mover from a broker is usually a low priority for that mover. If the mover comes across a better job that interferes with picking up the broker's job, he will drop the broker's job even if it is just hours before pick up leaving the customer stuck on the move date. The mover knows that the customer complaints will usually end up on the broker since the customer probably doesn't even know the moving company 's name.
  
  • Brokers and far away companies alike, tend to take large upfront deposits at the time of booking, while local moving companies charge significantly smaller deposits.
  
  • Local companies tend to try harder to please since most of their customers come from their own areas and they are concerned about a bad reputation in their hometown. A company will also act differently when it is located in a place where a customer can drop in and complain in person. Angry phone calls and emails are easy to ignore and avoid; a person walking into your place of business, not so much.
  

These are some of the reasons why using a local moving company usually results in an easier move. Even though that voice on the other end of the phone line may sound friendly, reassuring, and knowledgeable, the truth is there is no way that person can promise you everything will be fine and that your move will go exactly as planned from so far away. Only a Local Mover, with its local ties and local familiarity, can give cater to your specific moving needs.