How do I find a reliable mover in Vancouver?
February 5, 2011 8:30 PM   Subscribe

I need recommendations for reliable movers in Vancouver, BC (or recommendations about how to find reliable movers).

How do I find a reliable mover?

I am moving from a large downtown apartment (1600 square feet) to a larger, three-floor house within about a 10-minute drive.

I used a premium mover (Tippet Richardson) last time, and they did an excellent job, but I paid through the nose - around $2000 after tax, if memory serves. There must be smaller outfits than can do the same job at a fraction of the cost.
posted by registered to Home & Garden (5 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I highly, highly recommend visiting MovingScam.com. Note, though, that there isn't a simple list of good companies or anything like that - in fact, the site steadfastly refuses to provide any such thing. Rather, you have to go on to their forums, do a lot of research, and then maybe once you have things narrowed down, post a question or two there. It's an extremely helpful resource, but you need to work at it to make it work.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 8:51 PM on February 5, 2011


Response by poster: Thanks for the tip. I am familiar with movingscam.com but there is virtually no information about Canadian movers except with respect to cross-border moves, which this is not.
posted by registered at 11:07 PM on February 5, 2011


Do *not* use Great Canadian Van Lines of Delta. I used them for my move from Vancouver to Toronto and they scammed me out of hundreds of dollars, broke some of my stuff, and refused to pay for it. Working through my bank, I was eventually able to get the money back, but it was a good three months of paperwork and fighting.

(The best: the delivery truck driver showed up and demanded $200 in cash for a "delivery fee". I got my contract out and pointed to a line item showing delivery was paid. He said that, well, he had my stuff, and I could give him $200 or he'd leave without delivering, and the next day demand $400. I eventually convinced him to take a credit card so it would be traceable, and, through my bank, got it refunded later. Obviously, I do not recommend.)
posted by criacow at 5:43 AM on February 6, 2011


Best answer: I can recommend Tranquility Movers. I've used them as have my friends. A small operation but totally professional - they took the job seriously, unlike 2 Small Men, who I've also used. Plus in Vancouver they don't charge a bulls**t travel charge - the clock starts when they knock on your door.
posted by doublesix at 9:26 AM on February 6, 2011


I don't know if they exist in Van, but I can't recommend TSM (used to be "two small men with big hearts"). They're a franchise so I'm assuming they're all over Canada. This is the problem: Tippet-Richardson charges you a flat fee which seems exorbitantly expensive compared to what TSM offers. For a move of mere blocks from a 2-bdrm condo to a detached house here in Calgary, I was told the cost would be on the order of $300/hr or something like that. T-R was asking for a couple grand. GREAT, methinks, I'll save huge money with TSM! But here's the rub: T-R, when I used them (on my employer's dime, mind you) to move from Toronto to Calgary, had something like 4 guys at both origin and destination, packing and loading. TSM sent me TWO guys- both pretty scrawny- and it took for-fucking-ever. They also managed to get lost in the five (yes, five) blocks between condo and house. So the bill ended up on the order of $2600 because as I say it took forever.

With T-R you're getting pros and a decent sized crew of them.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 12:40 PM on February 6, 2011


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