I recently shifted to Chenni from Bangalore. I did some search on internet and found all movers and packers had very negativie reviews. But someone suggested Agarwal PAckers and movers. I was told that they are bit costly but they do all the work very professionally. Well it seemed so initially.
Their manager "Manmohan" offered to send the truck which will actually travel to Chennai and not some temporary one as I wanted all the loading to happen in front of my eyes. So I was charged for an independent truck load and not for a shared one. They had to pick up some furniture from my friend’s place also and hence charge went even higher.
Packers came on time(10AM) as expected. I supervised them for some time but as I had to go out to settle some other stuff I asked them to pack everything properly and went out for 2 hours.
They finished packing by 3PM and started waiting for lorry to arrive. When I asked they told its on the way. Around 5PM they told me that I should talk to their manager and find out why lorry has not come. At that time I came to know that it has to reach from some other place. I kept on calling after every half an hour and every time this "Manmohan" kept telling that it will reach in half an hour.
Finally at 10PM one open tempo came. I could not trust that this can take all my household stuff to Chennai. When I called up again they told me that this will go to warehouse and from there they will load it onto another closed one.
Well this was exactly opposite to what I paid for. I fought for a while with Mr. Manmohan, he accpted his mistake but he told there is no other lorry available right now. I have train to catch at 5AM and I have to vacate the house before that. So I had to say OK.
Then it started raining. All my furniture was in an open lorry. they opened a cover but that was also torn. I was looking helplessly getting all stuff drenched:(
It seemed like god was also on their side that day but thankfully it stopped in 10 mins.
Despite all this the packer guys had courage to ask for tip. Total shameless people
I was totally furious but helpless. Next morning I left for Chennai thinking that at least they have done good packing and I would get my stuff next day as promised by them. As I was directly going to any new flat and my stuff would reach same day, I didnt book any hotel. But I guess it was just the beginning.
I started calling them in Chennai in after noon. They told it will reach by 6PM. but nothing.
After several calls, around 9PM they told that the lorry in which they loaded from Bangalore did not have headlights so it could leave only in morning and has not reached yet. As it can not travel in night it will come next day. I had to stay at my friends place at that night.
Next day when it arrived, several of the items were damaged including
2 flower vases, many crockery items and lamp stand were crushed
my 8 inch think mattresses which I insured for 20k were dripping with water.
fridge had a big dent
dining table leg and 2 chairs had big cracks
my trolley bag stand was half missing
and several more items
None of these things could be repaired and are like this now also.
And I paid them double for this kind of service.
And yes they had taken full money in advance for their esteemed service.
My learning from this incidence is twofold
1) Never go for AGARWAL Packers and Movers
2) Go for a small packer n mover and expect them to do mistakes, monitor them carefully to aviod such mistakes
3) plan a buffer for 1-2 day each both sides so that when they screw up you dont have to agree to whatever they say