Pauly’s Movers

One of the Worst Moving Experiences I’ve Ever Had I hired Pauly’s Movers for a move on February 28, and it was easily one of the worst service experiences I’ve ever had. I am sharing this in detail so others understand exactly what they may be signing up for. For context, I have moved eight times in the past 11 years, including three cross-country moves, all with roughly the same amount of belongings. Those moves consistently take about four hours total (roughly two hours to load and two hours to unload), plus drive time. I am very aware what a professional move should be like. My experience initially started very positively. During my phone conversation with Terri, she was professional, reassuring, and thorough. I specifically expressed concern about protecting my home because it is a brand-new build that was in perfect condition prior to the move. I mentioned concerns about wall scuffs, dents, and floor damage. Terri reassured me about the movers’ experience, background checks, and even provided a .gov website to verify vendors. We agreed on a team of four movers, and she repeatedly emphasized the efficiency of “two packing and two loading.” My move window was 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM. At 1:00 PM, I received a call saying the movers were on their way and would arrive within the hour. They did not arrive until around 4:00 PM, and only three movers showed up. For context, I was moving from a one-bedroom apartment with a den. Nearly everything was already packed except half of my kitchen, one small bathroom cabinet, and a small closet of clothes and purses. When the movers arrived, I walked them through what needed packing, what boxes were ready to load, and what furniture needed disassembly. It was obvious they had just finished another move and were tired. I understand that happens, but I was still paying the same hourly rate and reasonably expected professional productivity. The furniture included a king bed, dresser, desk, couch, and an 85-inch television. About 45 minutes into the move, I noticed nothing was happening. When I looked outside, I found the movers sitting on the truck talking. I took a photo and contacted the manager asking whether the fourth mover was still coming. I was told no, and that I had only been quoted three movers. That is not what Terri told me, as she repeatedly said two packing and two loading. Throughout the day, the movers themselves even commented that they needed more help. After giving them time to regroup, I eventually had to ask them to go back inside and work, and they were visibly annoyed when I did. It quickly became obvious that only one mover was consistently working and behaving professionally. He was moving the entire time and did an excellent job. The other two movers spent large portions of the move standing around watching him work, watching me pack boxes, and watching me carry items. My mother and I were packing and loading items ourselves while two paid movers were idle. I repeatedly had to ask them to help instead of standing around. They were also very careless with my belongings, frequently bumping them along the stairs or dropping items. At one point, all three movers struggled to put my 85-inch TV into its box and dropped it on the stairs. It was then dropped a second time during unloading at my new house. Around 7:00 PM, a fourth mover finally arrived and helped finish loading the remaining items, but he did not assist with unloading at the new house. By that point the move had already taken more than double the time it should have, and because it was getting late the crew decided they wanted to move on rather than finish the work they were hired to do. As a result, none of the packing they were contracted to complete was actually done. I ended up packing my entire closet and bathroom myself — again while two of the movers mostly stood around watching instead of helping. I ultimately had to leave the rest of my kitchen for another day, meaning I had to take another day off of work return to my old apartment and finish packing and moving items myself or pay another team to do the work that was originally part of the scope of this move. The two inexperienced movers also repeatedly assembled furniture incorrectly. The lead mover ultimately had to fully disassemble the furniture they had assembled incorrectly and then reassemble it properly himself, which added significant unnecessary time to the move. Even when the lead mover gave them instructions or more efficient methods, such as using a dolly or carrying multiple boxes at once, they ignored him and continued working inefficiently. They also complained that they were too tired or couldn’t lift the weight. Multiple times I literally took boxes out of their hands, stacked them, and carried multiple boxes upstairs myself, while they were choosing to carry one item at a time. It was consistently faster for me to do the work myself. It took four hours just to partially move items out of my apartment, and the job still wasn’t finished. This should have taken about two hours. When we arrived at my new house, the movers said they needed to call their manager before they could start unloading, so we sat there while they stood around again. Eventually the manager called me and told me they would not unload my belongings unless I paid the full bill first. At that point, the move had already taken several hours longer than it should have and the cost had already ballooned to double the original $867 quote, I paid $1756.11 in total. This was based on the hours that were already put in and an estimation of the hours. It was going to take to unload my belongings. I told the manager I was uncomfortable paying the full amount before the move was complete because my TV had already been dropped and I had not yet been able to assess whether it was damaged, I was paying for a significant amount of time where movers were simply standing around, and I had no way to assess or predict the damage to my new home, which based on how careless the move had been up to that point I fully expected — and unfortunately, I ended up being correct. He told me they would send me information to submit a claim, but the movers would not unload anything until I paid the entire bill. I felt like I had no choice and was forced to pay more than double the expected costs just to get my belongings off the truck. Unloading took another 4+ hours, and the same pattern continued, with one mover working efficiently while the other two moved slowly, stood around, or required constant supervision. Again, I personally unloaded a significant portion of the truck myself because it was faster than waiting for them. I later learned it was the second day for the two problematic movers. While I understand the need for training, customers should not be charged full price — and certainly not more than double the expected cost — while employees learn on the job. I should not be financially penalized for that. The movers lost the hardware for both my TV and my desk, meaning they were unable to set them up as agreed. I have confirmed the hardware is not in my old apartment or my new home, despite being told otherwise. Now I must purchase replacement hardware myself. Because the move was not completed, I now also have to take another day off of work, return to my old apartment and finish packing and moving items myself or hire another team to complete the work. Even worse, there is visible damage throughout my brand-new home, including scratches, dents, and wall scuffs. This was new construction and had absolutely no damage before the move. I had also just paid nearly $2,000 to have my living room painted the week prior, and there are now chips and scuffs in the fresh paint job from the movers bumping into the walls and dropping items. In total, I paid over $1756.11 for this move. At that price point, I should not have had to pack, lift, carry, unload, or micromanage movers, I certainly should not have been doing a significant portion of the work myself, and my home should have remained in perfect condition. While I have nothing but positive things to say about the one primary mover who worked hard, the overall experience was completely unacceptable. As a direct result of the lost hardware and incomplete scope of work, I am also experiencing immediate disruption to my ability to work. I work from home and currently do not have a functional desk, which prevented me from working today. To replace the missing hardware, I must contact the manufacturer to identify the correct parts, but they do not reopen until Monday, meaning the delay will impact my ability to work into the upcoming week. The same issue applies to my television, since I now must contact the manufacturer or purchase replacement TV legs in order to safely set it up. Additionally, because the move was not completed as contracted, I will now need to take at least one additional day off work to finish packing, moving, and completing tasks that the movers were responsible for. These are lost time, productivity, and costs that I should not be incurring as a result of this move. I attempted to resolve this directly with the company the following week. I contacted them multiple times by email, phone, and text, but received no response. Instead of addressing my concerns, they did not reply AT ALL but had their claims department contact me regarding the TV, ignoring my attempts to discuss the entire situation directly. The claims process requires part numbers, item weights, and detailed product information, which I do not have — especially since the issues involve missing hardware and damage to my home, not just damaged furniture. I tried to address this with the claims management company, with no response. I also still need to speak with someone about the excessive number of hours I was billed, since the movers spent a large amount of time standing around and the move took more than double the time it should have. This move was on February 28, after months of no progress and no response from the moving company or the claim handler, the Claim Management company sent me a message on May 13 said they were terminating their service contract with Pauly’s Mover’s (shocking) and would not be doing anything else with my claim. This move should have been straightforward. Instead it became an exhausting, expensive, and incredibly frustrating ordeal where I ended up doing a significant portion of the work myself while paying professional movers. Between the late arrival, understaffed crew, untrained movers, hours of standing around, dropped items, lost hardware, damage to my home, and being forced to pay before my belongings would even be unloaded, this experience fell far below even basic professional standards. I strongly encourage anyone considering this company to think carefully before booking.

READ THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU REVIEWS BECAUSE THEY WILL NOT EVEN RESPOND TO YOU WHEN THEY RUIN YOUR THINGS. I used this company 7/1/23. The movers showed up late smelling strongly of marijuana. Though I'd sent the requested PDF of how to disassemble a bed almost a month prior, not only had they not seen it, they didn't even have the right tools and had to call someone to bring them tools, around personal calls they took "on the clock." I hired movers because there were 2 items I was worried about: my daughter's bed and a desk and they broke both before leaving the house. Despite the drive being 5mi exactly and all back road, every large item they moved was damaged in some way. My walls and ceiling are dinged in both houses, and a railing is ripped away from the wall. Heirloom china is broken. I had to push them repeatedly to put her bed back together (I see now they were concealing the fact it was destroyed), then they put it in the wrong place twice and didn't assemble correctly despite having the instructions - this includes leaving out structural pieces that could've resulted in injury. Their attempt to "fix" the desk damage resulted in two screws being driven through the surface of it and cutting me when I was surprised by them later. They claimed bolts were at the old house, but I found them wrapped up in a piece of moving tape on top of the trash can in my garage. Despite color-coding boxes by floor and labeled in 2 places, no items were taken to correct rooms, so I keep finding damage as I dig out of the mess they left. When we arrived at the house, my invoice had grown from around $800 to almost $2,000 and I was told they're not unloading until I paid. I called the office and spoke with someone who tried to explain that the fuel charge alone going up almost $200 was part of the contract (it reads 18%) when all that extended was the time it took 3 incompetent men to do this move while complaining they had another after, not the 5mi distance. I e-mailed the office 7/1/23, 7/6/23, 7/7/23, and again 7/12/23 and have received no response. As I investigated further to determine why they won't hold their end of the "quality guarantee" they most recently advertised on their Facebook page on 6/20/23, I notice falsified Google Reviews (such as the one from Jefferson Barioto, who provided my estimate, pretending to be a consumer), non-compliance with required insurance by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, an alert they are not even authorized to be transporting Household Goods by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and not in good standing with Maryland's Department of Assessments & Taxation, AND that it is illegal to hold consumer's goods for a move that took place entirely in Maryland! The following was distributed in a Consumer's Edge article entitled "Hiring a Mover? Protect Yourself!" by the Maryland Attorney General: "Movers CANNOT Take Away Your Goods: Once a mover has possession of your goods, they have to deliver them to you. NO EXCEPTIONS. That is true whether you pay on delivery or not. If a mover threatens not to deliver your goods, call the police." In regard to their excessive fake Google reviews: note many 5-star reviews are left 1 or 2 days after a negative, with a brand new account using cookie-cutter wording. Some accounts use the same e-mail and others use e-mails with employee names but the account is magically under a different name. Many trace back to the same IP address (public e-mails and usernames can be searched and compared to other instances where they were used. Cross-reference to pin down where they're from.). Find employee names in reviews on BBB/FB/etc: easy example is Jefferson Barioto, but there are more if you dig that can and should be reported. This business is so shady.