When you get to the moving process, you will most likely want to find a really good moving company. One of the ways to know which companies are good is referrals. You can get referrals in multiple ways, the most common one being through word of mouth or online. If you are relocating to Manhattan you will check out some of Manhattan moving forums and you will talk to people who have relocated there, or from there, already. However, should you accept moving company referrals just like that? Can you trust everything you hear or read? Let’s find out!
Moving company referrals – Should you accept them or not?
What you need to ask yourself is the following. What’s in there for me? This is the first question that needs to come to mind. You need to have your own answer to that, but let us provide you with some of the other answers. There are a lot of moving companies around, the market is huge and these companies compete for every client. Naturally, when there is competition, some of these companies may use methods that are a bit underhanded. What do we mean by this?
For example, let’s take office movers Manhattan and how they do business. There are well-established practices in the moving industry that every well-respected moving company will stick to. Referrals will reflect these practices. If you choose to accept those referrals, you will be minimizing the risk of doing business with an unreliable moving company.
What to pay attention to when looking at moving company referrals?
You can get a referral from many places and the fact that you got one does not really mean much. You do not know everything that went on in the process that you heard about. Or maybe it was a referral from another referral, without any kind of interaction on his part. Whatever might be the case, there are some details that you need to pay attention to:
- Make sure the services are the ones that you want
- Get some estimates
- Pick an offer that suits you
- Make sure to check out the reviews
And that is about it. Of course, there are many more things that you might want to check out but these will usually suffice. Let’s get a bit more into detail, shall we?
Make sure the services are the ones that you want
With moving company referrals, you might get a company that has a wide range of moving services. You need to make up your mind on which services you are after. Whether it is a complete moving solution, packing or unpacking, transportation or any other service, you need to make sure that your moving company is providing them. Also, verify that you can get all those services separately, that nothing gets “wrapped in”.
Take extra care when judging your own capabilities. The moving process is a hard and stressful process and you will be taxed just by going through it. If you need to load and unload the moving truck, pack and unpack everything and so on, make sure you are actually up for it. Then get the moving company to offer you services that you actually need.
Get some estimates
Once you’ve figured out what services you need, now is the time to get some estimates (which are free). You do this by calling moving companies and simply asking for them. They are the industry standard and every moving company will happily provide you with one. If they do not, just delete that number and move on with your life. Get familiar with those estimates, get them in writing and compare them.
Pick an offer that suits you
After comparing all those estimates, you will have a solid base of knowledge for your move. You will know what is the median price and what are the services you can get for that price. Make sure to look extra careful for everything that escapes the mold. If something is too cheap, there has to be a reason for it. If you get into a dispute with a moving company, it is almost always wasted effort. It is usually good to just disregard anything that is too good to be true. If you do this, you will have a perfect offer to compare with moving company referrals that you do have. But we are not done yet!
Make sure to check out the reviews
Even if you have already accepted any of the moving company referrals, you would do good to get a second opinion. Actually, get as many as you can! You can get all these reviews of moving companies online, easily! So arm yourself with knowledge about moving companies and learn from other people’s experiences and mistakes.
So, take these offers that you prepared earlier, note the names of moving companies and get to reading! While you may not find every single moving company everywhere, you will definitely find the bad ones, as they stink the most. Familiarize yourself with various moving scams, just so you know what to expect. You want to get the companies with the highest rating. If a company is not represented on every single review site, that is not a reason to consider them as bad. Just make sure that the reviews that are out there are good.
This process is perhaps the most important one, as you will find so much information about the companies themselves that it may be difficult to sift all of it through.
Accepting moving company referrals – The Conclusion
As you can see, getting a moving company referral is not as simple as it sounds. It can go both great and bad for you. You want to maximize on the great and minimize on the bad. That is why you need to go through all of the steps above. However, once you do and you find yourself a great moving company, your moving process is going to be infinitely more enjoyable. All in all, you should accept moving company referrals, they are usually rock solid. Just…make sure that they are!
