Men On The Move

The worst experience ever! I moved about one mile, from one house to another. About thirty boxes went missing. Men on the Move cannot locate them. At the end of the movers asked me to sign a form stating that I had checked the truck, and that I saw it was empty, but I had not. I asked to check the truck to make sure all of our things were off it, and they told me the truck was already gone! This is after the move took four hours longer than the eight hour estimate from the company. The crew foreman was not present for our move. Floors and walls were scratched, they left a desk and a bin of family photos on the side of outside our house, and a big oil stain in the driveway from their truck. I called Men on the Move every day for the last four days in a row and they still have not done anything at all about the driveway stain. They say they have no idea where the boxes are. Worst of all, each and every box containing my daughter's clothes are missing! She no longer has jeans, shorts, socks, pajamas, or anything that was in all of her dresser drawers. I would never use this company again, even if they offered to move us at no charge. It has been a nightmare.

I recently used Men on the Move to move out for the first time. I was very stressed and a little anxious about other people handling all of my belongings but Men on the Move made it super easy and stress free! They arrived on time and called to let me know they were on their way. The crew worked efficiently, came prepared to wrap necessary furniture, and were ready to go before I knew it! I dont remember theirs names, but the crew was very friendly and personable, they were a pleasure to work with! Thanks Men on the Move for quality service and good value!

I could not recommend this company with the experience I had with them.
The estimate was for 4 men and 8 hours from their Woodbury NY location. That included drive time from house to house which was less than a 1 mile drive. I can walk it in about 15 minutes.
The movers complained that we ordered too small a truck and that there should have been at least 2 more people to help. We explained the truck size and manpower was determined by the Men On The Move salesperson who came to our home to price the job. They said the weight was estimated at 8k lbs and their truck that was meant to hold14K pounds was full and a cargo van was called in up pick up the overflow. ( they wanted to charge $175 for the van)
The movers started getting frustrated and irritable as hour 9 came and went with still a lot of moving to go. I used to work for a moving company and I get it. My back paid the price from my moving days but I began lifting up the stairs to help. Things still continued going downhill. The guys tried to remain polite but it was tough for them to maintain. They were getting near exhausted as time pressed on. A bit of in fighting ensued about the productivity of one of the workers. Some frustration then turned towards us as some furniture needed to be re positioned. At hour 14 this awful experience was "done" The supervisor started writing up the invoice.
We were charged for wardrobes we didn't receive (He counted our U haul wardrobes in the total) and excessive # of rolls of packing tape. I felt like this was his frustration payback directed against us. Additionally we are missing about 30 boxes and they left a desk in our driveway. I believe it was too exhausting, they were just done and would rather leave with our stuff and dump it rather than move it to the second floor. I HOPE I'm mistaken but since the supervisor insisted we sign that we checked the truck even though it had already left and then tried to explain that the signature was for something different than checking the truck makes me believe something terrible happened. We have called MOTM for three days now and they say they will be sending someone or they will email a claim form which they still have not done. If the company makes good on our losses I will update these comments with the resolution. For now I recommend stay away from Men on the Move. Moving companies are very busy now due to the pandemic and that may tend to erode MOTM's professionalism and commitment to each and every customer. Moving is stressful to start. This experience multiplied that stress by 10.

Dont understand why YOOX has a phone number on their website. If you want help in placing an order on the phone you get automatically put on hold and get connected to their music, and before you know it they disconnect you. I guess I will substitute my purchases from other companies. This happened to me many times. No time for shenanigans.

Men on the Move Formal Complaint to the Better Business Bureau (BBB.org)
SEEKING JUSTICE FOR UNETHICAL VIOLATIONS AND DISRESPECT:
STOLEN BELONGINGS FROM STORAGE BOXES PLUS SUITCASE BY STAFF
Moving and Storage Facility
50 Carnation Avenue
Floral Park, NY *******
DOT: *******
*******424

BE WARNED AND ADVISED THAT I CANNOT RECOMMEND MEN ON THE MOVE FOR STORAGE, BUT CAN ONLY AS MOVERS, ALTHOUGH THEY DO UNDERESTIMATE. MY INITIAL ESTIMATE FOR ALL LABOR AND INCIDENTALS WAS $1,400, AND THE FINAL BILL TURNED OUT TO BE WAY OVER ESTIMATE AT $2,000. NOTHING YOU CAN DO ONCE ALL YOUR THINGS ARE PACKED UP, THEN THEY GIVE YOU THE BILL AT THAT TIME. I AM SURE THEY ARE COUNTING ON THIS FACT, AS THEY ARE VERY GREEDY. YOU MUST PAY OR HAVE YOUR POSSESSIONS HELD HOSTAGE. BELOW IS MY FORMAL COMPLAINT TO THE BBB.ORG FOR THE UNETHICAL PRACTICES OF MEN ON THE MOVE. USE THEM AT YOUR OWN RISK; YOU MAY BE VIOLATED AND DISRESPECTED.

Ever since March 2003, I have used Men on the Move as my movers and storage facility. At first, I moved into a small room, which is not an apartment, and as I am still here to this day by no choice of my own, I needed this facility to store my accumulated possessions of the past 40 years.

As far as being movers, I consider Men on the Move very professional, and fast, but very expensive. The initial estimate was for $1,400, and turned out to be for $2,000, much higher than expected, but they should have made sure they stuck closer to the original estimate if they want any future business from clients. I can recommend Men on the Move as movers only, NOT for storage, for the reasons indicated below.

About my storage fiasco: Initially, I had 3 units in storage for which I paid about $90/each. After the first year, I added my Car to a self-storage unit, making a total of 4 units, until about 2011 when I went to them to get rid of the Car in self-storage. I then decided to get rid of all old furniture and other belongings once and for all, which I knew then I no longer wanted, so I then had a total of only 2 units. I was paying all along for all of my possessions. So why pay for those I did not want any more for many reasons. I visited MEN in person to supervise disposing of my belongings I no longer wanted or needed, and this saved money as it costs less for only 2 storage units.

Recently, I came upon hard times, and lost all income, not being able to pay them anymore. This storage was a payment that never ended as long as I was and am still not in my own apartment. In the end, I am glad all these almost 12 years of paying approximately $40,000 in total (adding it all up, to date) are over once and for all. My belongings are not even worth that much (in financial value, but are in sentimental value)!

The (former) bookkeeper (Cathy Q., my usual contact person, who had been there for me from the beginning, and who is suddenly no longer there as of approximately October 2014, being the only one who was nice to me; all the others I spoke to have an attitude problem; we last spoke via phone on 9/23/14, after which she was suddenly MIA, with no responses to my emails or voice messages, which is unlike her; all I got was the run-around when asking for her, with constant excuses like she is away from her desk or she is on vacation which I know to both be lies, but I cannot worry about her now) then sent me a final bill stating they would soon be sending my possessions to auction where (I assume) people come to bid on boxes, not knowing what lies within said boxes. My heart sank when I heard this news, but then realized it is better to get it over with, I no longer needed most of these things, and that I would no longer have the payments held over my head. I could easily live without most of those things in storage, about 95%, being able to replace them at a later date for newer, better items. But I did need the few things of a personal nature which could not be replaced and were of sentimental value to me alone.

I did tell management and Cathy that I had to make an appointment to come to the facility to gather my few things that I did need, things that no one would be interested in, personal things that I need, like my college degrees, yearbooks, photo albums, etc., things that only mean something to me and no one else. This appointment usually costs something, but they were now doing me a favor in letting me come to them for free. I had a few dollars for the guys who would help me for their tips, and that is all I had. This appointment date took me at least 7 hours to go through over 100 boxes in 2 units, an extremely difficult task for me as I was also in a great deal of pain (I am not the same as I was when I moved into this tiny room). Although it was backbreaking, I sifted through and picked out what I need to keep out of all those things that I hardly even remembered I even had since I had not seen them for about 12 years, but now I do remember all of them. They are not worth much, but are valuable to me only. Some things I never found again within all those boxes, and some things I knew I no longer wanted, so I just let them go.

But I do know and remember exactly what I put into the set aside and saved items in 3 boxes and into the unlocked suitcase (which I did not lock up for some reason; this is not typical of me, but for some reason at this time, I chose to entrust my final things to this facility, but never again!), plus I also remember the few other things that were to be delivered to me, even though over five months had gone by. I took a lot of time to sift through and retain these remaining items, only to lose some of them to theft, plus some things were not delivered as per my arrangement with my contact. I left a listing several times with my contact, via email messages, which she acknowledged and which I hoped to received, but some were never delivered as I should have expected, so I guess I get to live without them.

They also agreed to deliver these few remaining items for free as a final favor, just the 3 boxes and a suitcase, plus a small wheeled backpack (which was locked by me, so no stolen items there), a shopping cart, among other small items. This appointment for me to sift through my belongings happened July 15,2014. They finally delivered my things on December 17,2014, a total of 5 months later. This late delivery was due to my not having any money to continue to pay them, but if I did pay for the delivery, I am sure I would have had the items within a week of the appointment.

I feel they did these final favors for me begrudgingly (the free appointment to view my things, then the free delivery), since I was no longer paying for their services. But, I felt I was doing them a favor by paying them as their long-time customer/client for 12 years, and paid over $40,000 in total, which they would never have had if not for my being their customer all this time, as I could easily have chosen anyone else as my storage facility, but I chose them after looking up their rating on BBB.org.

All of these years in storage were never supposed to happen. I was always searching for jobs, but had some only a short time while still in my former apartment, and could not get a new apartment. The idea is to get a job, having money enough for an apartment, contact the movers, then have all my things delivered to my new apartment, and that would be the end of the storage fiasco. Then I would have been able to go through all my things at my leisure, and keep what I wanted, discarding the rest due to age and no longer needing those things. But since moving into this small room in 2003, any jobs I had only lasted a short time, not enough to save up for an apartment. This is why I am still in a small room in NYC and not in an apartment, but I am still working on it, never giving up.

Instead, I had to go through over one hundred boxes all at once within a few hours, a backbreaking effort, missing some things, never finding some things (some sentimental to me), deciding to leave some things I did find behind, having to choose only the most important things to have delivered to me. Unfortunately, when I finally get an apartment, it will not be in time to have saved most of my possessions. I could only save a few things at this time.

Once my final items were delivered on December 17,2014 and I picked them up the next day [delivered at a time of day when I was not there to receive them (the plan was that they would call me ahead of time, allowing time as notice to me, to make an appointment as to a time and date, so I could be ready and available to receive my delivery, but no such call ever came; instead, I came back and found a note on my door stating a delivery took place without my consent or confirmation and all I got were a couple of voicemail messages to say they were delivering that same day, but I got them the next day; too bad it ended in such a bad way, but this is now their typical greedy attitude; now our ties are severed and I no longer need to be beholden to them which feels good in the end].

I then took a day to finally go through all of the boxes and suitcase, not an easy chore within my tiny space, even for these few things that were put into my room. I looked into each bag, each box over and over again, looking for certain things, then realizing that some of these things had been STOLEN BY EMPLOYEES WHO ARE NOW THIEVES, who definitely have rifled through and helped themselves to my stuff as petty thieves. These few remaining things were mine, and now they were lost forever! Why did I trust them, even for a minute, with my possessions? I take some responsibility for not locking up my suitcase, and maybe I was figuring I could trust them, but this does not give anyone license to rifle through my belongings and help themselves by stealing from my final few possessions, which are mine and which I am entitled to. Maybe the thieves were thinking I would not notice, remember, or report this company to the authorities (online or otherwise), but they do not know who they are dealing with. But the boxes cannot be locked, no matter what. I never dreamed or thought that I had to lock up my items as they had been safe in the past, until now, when they were no longer safe. Shame on them all! They could have gone through all the other boxes I left behind for their auction (for which they are still making money off me), and probably did. But I no longer wanted the items in those boxes, and consented to having those boxes auctioned off. I only wanted what I had set aside, things that were mine. Now some of those things are gone to thieves. But at least some of the few remaining important items are safe now in my possession, as no one who works here (staff where I live, who have respect) will take them. They are now locked up for safekeeping in my care, the only safe place for them.

This is my formal Complaint of Men on the Move to the Better Business Bureau having been violated and disrespected by MEN with their unethical practices that they should be responding to as a part of this BBB process: You have employees who steal from your customers, who actually entrusted you to look after their prized possessions in your storage facility, only to have them stolen for no reason at all, all the while paying you to keep their things safe. This cannot be an isolated incident, or the first time this thievery has happened while in the facility of Men on the Move to those customers who chose to trust you to safeguard their possessions, but it might be the first time someone has bothered to complain about your services online to the BBB (your past reviews which I will soon find out about online), among others. I hope this gives you a bad rating online and that anyone looking you up, as I did before using your services, will think twice about using your services to begin with. All this is due to one or a few employees (a few or one bad apple?) for stealing petty, small inconsequential things, just really trinkets to them, that they could have easily bought themselves; so was it worth it? It will serve you right to lose your good BBB standing, which I know you value. I would have called you regarding this theft, but all I ever got when calling is attitude and the run-around. I cannot recommend MEN as a storage facility at this time.

Here is a listing of some of my stolen, missing items (that maybe they thought I would not notice were missing or remember packing) in the suitcase (I remember packing all of these distinctly): a metal shoehorn that they dont make anymore (can you believe it?), a Dream-Catcher (can you believe it again?). 3 non-stick kitchen utensils (really?), a Stanley tape-measure, wooden napkin holder, 2 business card holders, a rolled up pink jewelry bag (I had links for a watch I needed in that one, but the employees may have thought that the 2 costume bangle bracelets enclosed within were real gold which they were not), 2 Cubic Zirconium (CZ) tennis bracelets (they must have thought these were real diamonds, but the jokes on them: I would never keep real diamonds in a storage facility! They are maybe worth about $30 each) they did, however, pass by some real gold necklaces that I forgot I had among the other costume jewelry, plus coins that may be worth something, and these necklaces are worth a lot also, but I still have them, so the jokes on them again! As you can see, they picked through my things carefully, and were very selective about what they stole!

Some missing items from the larger box which cannot be locked up: were some artists supplies that I remember distinctly speaking about while packing them up, called Bob Ross Joy of Painting (4 books, many expensive artists brushes and knives, plus a plastic paint palette), that I paid a lot for 12+ years ago, and am not sure if I can ever find them again. Of sentimental value only to me is a missing/stolen 8x10 photo of my Class Reunion Photo in a green frame which cannot be replaced, plus 2 graduation cap tassels from my colleges. Who would actually steal these things that have nothing to do with them? Seriously? There are more items, and I will add to this list as I think of more things stolen. If they only stole 2 or 3 items, it would still be wrong, but not too bad; but since the stolen list is over 12 items, it is outrageous. I want these things back! I feel violated and disrespected!

Maybe they thought I would not notice or remember the things I took hours to pack up for myself to have delivered. They thought wrong! Now they are giving their employer/CEO a bad name, all for petty larceny and greed. If you cannot trust your employees, you have nothing. If the boss (and supervisor) was unaware of this type of theft going on, he will be made aware now. If I was the boss, I would fire all workers, including anyone who had access to my remaining belongings, plus those who finally delivered my final possessions, except for the fork lift operator and dispatcher, who are very good and who probably had nothing to do with my actual boxes and suitcase. There must be cameras that record all movements within the storage section of the facility, so perhaps the boss can actually see what was going on with my final possessions in their care. This employer/owner/CEO must be held accountable, responsible and liable, and will take the blame for all his employees without passing the buck. The owners job is not merely running this company and collecting payments; his job is also making sure the clients receive the utmost best services possible, no matter how long those services are in place. Clients must trust this company with their prized possessions, and if you dont have trust, as in this instance, you have nothing.

This Review is also going on YELP.com, SiteJabber.com, Angies List, other review sites I will come across, the media, and to the Attorney General of New York State, among others. If there is no reply or response via BBB.org, which the employer/boss should reply to within 14 days of the Complaint, this speaks for itself. I will also expect, and probably not receive, a written, documented letter of apology from the CEO of Men. I will update this information at a later date for progress on this Complaint.

UPDATE: BELOW IS WHAT I EMAILED TO *******@NEWYORK.BBB.ORG ON 1/13/15:

On January 12,2015, the NY BBB contacted me via email that I had a PDF letter from Mens CEO, John Beyer (this is the first time I heard his name, had no idea who the President/CEO was until today), who is actually in DENIAL about the entire fiasco. Below is what he wrote (cannot even spell my name correctly):

This claim is categorically untrue. We have Ms. D___s (sic) items in our storage warehouse and can easily prove this. Ms. D___ (sic) has failed to pay her storage bill and is upset as her items are now being auctioned in full accordance with our contracts and the law [this was not why I was/am upset, nor is it the issue, emphasis added]. While we know Ms. D___(sic) is frustrated as the checks have stopped coming and she is unable to pay us her storage bill, we do not feel bad about the instability here [meaningless; emphasis added], but we are obligated to move forward in this manner (sic). The above claim is categorically untrue and we just won Best of Long Island and the Angies List Super Service Award for the fourth year in a row. If there are any other questions, you can reach me at *******@menonthemove.com, President.

According to his letter, this President somehow does not get it. My Complaint must have gone way over his head. I was not complaining about all my boxes that I left behind on purpose for MEN to auction off with my consent. I no longer cared about them, whether or not they have been auctioned off to date.

I was and am still complaining about the few final items (about 5% of my possessions that I still wanted, in storage all these years, which I am entitled to after paying for storage all these years) that took me an entire painful business day to sift through, and that were to be delivered safely to me, just the 3 boxes (which were obviously opened and taped up again in order to be stolen from, and at least one box that was stolen from since items are missing) and an unlocked green suitcase which was rifled through while they helped themselves that were stuffed with my most important belongings, such as college degrees, costume jewelry (some of which were stolen, so staff must have thought those were real, but jokes on them!), among other personal things (which was too easy to steal from; but I should not have to worry about having things stolen while in Mens care), plus a small locked up black backpack (which no one could possibly steal from since it was locked).

TO THE CEO OF MEN: ONCE AGAIN, I AM NOT TALKING OR COMPLAINING ABOUT THE BOXES I LEFT BEHIND ON PURPOSE AS STATED IN YOUR LETTER DATED 1/12/15 TO THE BBB (I NO LONGER CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU DO WITH THOSE, AND ACCEPTED THAT THEY WERE TO BE AUCTIONED OFF). THERE IS NOTHING TO PROVE AS TO WHETHER OR NOT YOU STILL POSSESS MY BOXES THAT I PURPOSELY LEFT BEHIND. THE COMPLAINT IS ABOUT ONLY THE 3 BOXES PLUS A SUITCASE THAT WERE SET ASIDE FOR ME AND THAT WERE TO BE DELIVERED SAFELY TO ME, INTACT AS PACKED BY ME, FROM WHICH MORE THAN 20 ITEMS WERE STOLEN FROM. DO YOU GET IT NOW? THIS STEALING FROM THESE FEW SET ASIDE ITEMS IS UNETHICAL AND DISRESPECTFUL OF YOUR STAFFERS, WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE AWARE OF WHAT YOUR EMPLOYEES DO BEHIND YOUR BACK, ESPECIALLY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS OF PAYING YOU ABOUT $40,000. [THIS CANNOT BE AN ISOLATED INCIDENT, BUT I AM ONLY CONCERNED WITH MY CASE.] THAT IS WHAT THE BBB COMPLAINT WAS ABOUT, IF YOU EVEN ATTEMPTED TO READ IT IN ITS ENTIRETY. I CAN SEE THAT ALL MY MONEY PAID TO MEN IN THE PAST WAS NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU, AND COUNTS FOR NOTHING. YOU CAN BE IN DENIAL ALL YOU WANT. DENY, DENY, DENY BUT YOU ARE TOO GREEDY FOR WORDS.

My Complaint still stands as is. I will not retract this Complaint or any other reviews or statements online against your company. If this stealing incident never happened, and all my items were delivered to me safely and intact as I had packed them up, I would have gone on thinking you were a good company to deal with all this time, would have recommended your services, and would never have complained to the BBB. Too bad it had to end this way, money or not, payments or not. Are you only about the money, and the awards you seem to win? It seems like this is your typical attitude, money and greed first, service last. How very sad.

Keep in mind that I did you a favor for about 12 years by using your company for the storage of my belongings, paying (add it up) about $40,000 over the years, when I could have chosen anyone else for storage. I once had 3 units, plus a self-service unit for my car, then donated the car and got rid of old furniture, among other items I no longer needed, so I was down to just 2 small units. You owed me the safe delivery of my few, most important last items, to which I was entitled, and which really did not happen.

I should have gotten a documented letter of apology from the CEO, but I can see this will not be the case. You can stand by your statement all you want, via your letter to the BBB, which is not even about the incident or Complaint. My reviews about you are continuing to be posted online for all to see, and I will not take them back. I already posted some on Yelp, SiteJabber, among others. Thanks for the idea about Angies List. My review is also going on that site. You can continue to sit in your Ivory Tower, not knowing what is really going on in your company, but I know better, and now, everyone else will also know the real, cold, hard, honest truth about the Men.