11/16/09

AVOID AVOID AVOID

by marteeny86

Flat Rate seemed appealing to us because they guaranteed a flat rate with no additional fees. We came to an agreement with Flat Rate for a fee and a pick up and delivery on a Thursday. After they got our credit card information, they called and asked if it could instead be picked up Thursday and delivered Friday. We agreed. Then they asked if they could pick up Fri and deliver Sat. We agreed again. Then they changed the Saturday time - two more times, we agreed to both. They asked AGAIN to change it to the morning, and our building was unable to accommodate that ONE time. Then they asked if they could pick up Saturday and deliver Sunday night. After we told them this is not possible, they told us if we wanted any of the original dates we agreed on we would have to pay extra. They avoided our phone calls, said they would return our calls and never did, and took days to get back to us between each new move in time. They pulled a typical bait and switch. They jerked us around for a week straight, until finally we went with another moving company. Save yourself the headache -- moving is stressful enough, if you are going to pay you might as well go with someone who won't put you through hell.

• Pros: Good Rate
• Cons: Jerk you around, unreliable

10/01/09

FLAT RATE - WORST MOVING SERVICE

by ka10016

FlatRate is the worst company you could hire, bottom line. Below is the email that I wrote them after my move-in process went completely awry. It has gone absolutely unanswered. Yet, another reason why EVERYONE should steer clear of this company.

"Dear FlatRate,

Unfortunately, I'm writing to you to express my sincere dissatisfaction with the FlatRate moving company. Never in my life have I been more compelled to send a letter of complaint. I scheduled your service for a move on ___ and was assured that the service would arrive within hours between 8am and 10am. At 9am, when a truck and movers had not arrived at my apartment and, more importantly, I had not been communicated with, I called your offices and was told to wait until 10am and surely a truck and the movers would arrive by then. At 10am, the truck and movers did not arrive and I had heard NOTHING. I understand that problems occur and in Manhattan drivers are sometimes faced with traffic or issues that are beyond their control. HOWEVER, at the very least, there should be communication of anything that comes up to customer so they are not left wondering and waiting aimlessly. It was not until I called back SEVERAL times (literally 4 or 5 times) that I was able to speak with someone that could tell me what the problem was, though at that point there was NO solution. I did not receive a WORKABLE solution until 11:15am, when I was told that another team would have to cover my job because the truck that had been allocated to my job had mechanical difficulties. The service was to arrive between 12:30 and 1pm. The service arrived at about 1:10pm. After the movers arrived, they were able to complete my move, BUT not without hurdles. As I had been promised that my move would occur between 8am-10am, both buildings (the one I moved out of and the one I moved into) were unprepared for the move and had to recover the elevators and one of them had even scheduled moves during the afternoon because my move was SUPPOSED to be completed by that time. So, my FlatRate moving service had to share elevators with other services and this caused a significant delays. Overall, my job took 2 hours. Probably 30 minutes of which was wasted as a DIRECT result of the service being LATE. 3-5 HOURS LATE!!!!! With little communication and a complete lack of customer consideration.

I also did not mention that I was supposed to work in the afternoon. Had my move occurred within the allotted time, 8am-10am, the move would have been well over by noon. I was supposed to work at 1pm and had to call out of work as a DIRECT result of this problem. That is an opportunity cost of hundreds of dollars, not to mention my lack of professionalism as I had to explain to my superiors that the service I chose was not adequate.

Your lack of consideration for my move affected me negatively in SEVERAL ways. As I mentioned in the opening of this letter, NEVER have I been more compelled to send a letter of complaint.

For the mistake that the company made, I was offered a mere 10% reduction on my move. That's a mere ~$50 compensation for an entire day of agony. I have never been more dissatisfied with a company or service.

I am well aware that things happen that are beyond a company's control. However, the manner in which this situation was handled was neither professional nor accommodating. As long as I can ever remember, the customer should always come first. In this situation, on more than one occasion, I felt as if my needs came last."

Do yourself a favor and hire another company. FlatRate is the WORST!

• Pros: None
• Cons: Late, Lack of Communication, Expensive

09/29/09

good experience

by serins

I was extremely satisfied with my move using Flat Rate. The crew was on time, worked quickly and was extremely helpful. My relocation consultant, Robin was on top of things and made sure that everything was in order. She was also very patient with whatever changes there may have been. I will definitely think about using Flat Rate again in the future if the need arises...

Serina

• Pros: Efficient, Courteous and on Time
• Cons: a bit pricey