| rev:text
| - Hilldrup worked hard to win our business in down economy. Overall, Hilldrup performed well, but, not great. They lived up to their promise to not exceed their estimate, even though they underestimated our shipment by about 1500 pounds. The move coordinator was always reachable at a moment's notice. The driver was professional and exceptionally punctual. The truck crews on both ends were reasonably professional.
Some things to watch for with Hilldrup (and probably any other mover):
1) If it's important to you, write it into the tariff agreement. Our move consultant promised us particular shipping methods that the driver initially refused to comply with on the morning of the move-out. I reminded the move coordinator of our tariff clauses, and offered to let Hilldrup out of the contract and let another company move us. The coordinator and driver quickly worked something out to make it happen.
2) Hilldrup's packers have to be watched. I spent 6 hours working through the night before our move-out, because the packers were anxious to get out of dodge at 5 PM and simply left entire cabinets, our nursery, and our back patio completely unpacked. Thankfully, I still had packing supplies from my previous move handy. In the end, my wife didn't understand the importance of doing a thorough walk through before signing off on the packing.
3) Be very specific about valuable articles and double check their work. We declared four items up front as family heirlooms that were priceless to us. One item was a set of family silver. My great grandmother worked cleaning houses during the Great Depression to buy this silver as a gift for my now past grandparents. The silver was literally turned upside down and jammed into a hanging clothes box, as if they had some empty space to fill in the box. The silver was intact, but, the original silver box suffered damage. Likewise, we had a one of kind folk art piece that was our wedding gift from my parents. It is a palmetto sea grass basket from a unique artist in Charleston, and is irreplaceable. The basket was also jammed into a box that had some left over room. What we think happened is that we had set aside the four valuable items on our dining room table for special handling, and the packers forgot to pack them until the last minute. So, rather than properly packaging them with due diligence, they just rushed and threw them in boxes with open space to get out of work on time.
4) The move coordinator promised to have one of their affiliates in Cali handle our city parking permits for the truck on move-in. The move coordinate then pawned this off on my as we were driving through the middle of the country. We got in done, but, Hilldrup dropped the ball on this detail.
I would likely consider Hilldrup for a future move. I had the misperception that I could trust a full service big name moving company to handle my relocation with little involvement by me or my wife. The reality is that no one will pack your belongings as well as you will. The moving industry likes to overpromise and underdeliver. Hilldrup is probably among the best carriers out there, but, you still have to oversee every detail if you want it done right.
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