Not careful with furniture and horrific customer service
TLDR: Avoid Handy Movers at all costs. My furniture was severely damaged, I was charged poorly explained extra fees under pressure, and the company ignored my emails for months. They offered a laughable €75 in response to over €2400 in documented damages and costs. Completely unprofessional and untrustworthy.
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I had an extremely disappointing and frustrating experience with Handy Movers during my move from Utrecht to Milan. I thought I was choosing a professional company with good reviews, but the service is a nightmare.
After receiving the quote and signing to agree to it, they ghosted me. This complete lack of communication (even though I sent several emails and phoned several times) was so frustrating and made me uncertain if they would actually show up on the agreed date. Eventually a couple days before, they got back in touch, feigning that they were sorry.
The workers who showed up were very friendly, funny guys, but they did not do their best to protect my things at all. I had agreed to pack all my own boxes, but that they would disassemble and wrap the furniture in protective blankets. They didn’t. They haphazardly disassembled a few things, but made lazy choices like leaving the door handles on the closet, which then got very bent and rubbed against the sides of the closet leaving large scratches. A leg of the closet also came off and punctured through its base. In addition, the furniture was only sealed with plastic wrap to minimize movement – and this was only done for some of the furniture, the rest was completely unprotected. This means that a lot of my furniture arrived damaged (scratches, dents, deformation) including the closet, bed, chairs, kitchen island, kitchen table, and a couple of wall shelves. While the company says that some of this happened during a customs inspection, their failure to take basic precautions when packing my things makes me think that the damage could have been kept to a minimum if they had done the agreed upon task.
After my things arrived and a haphazard assembly of the furniture that left things crooked and missing screws, I received a phone call telling me that the actual cost would be 26% or €1267.48 more than the quoted amount. I never received an invoice for this and was phoned multiple times and told that I needed to pay this now – preferably in cash – or the movers wouldn’t leave. This threatening behaviour is completely unprofessional.
When I contacted them about the damages, after waiting a long time during which they were supposedly checking with insurance, they offered me a laughable €75 that I never received. I said this was ridiculous and after months of waiting and attempts at getting a response from them they asked me to propose an amount. I provided a detailed, reasonable claim of €2410.45 given the damages and the terrible service, but never heard back.
The most insulting part is the complete lack of communication. I have sent countless emails and called them countless times over almost ten months. These all go ignored or unanswered and whenever they responded it was clear that they just wanted to delay things further or schedule phone calls that they never honoured. I think it’s quite clear that they are hoping clients will just give up.
This company demonstrated:
• A shocking lack of professionalism
• Negligent handling of property
• Disregard for client communication
• Unethical billing practices
• Complete refusal to take accountability
I regret ever hiring Handy Movers. If you care about your belongings (or even just your sanity) avoid them at all costs. I’m now forced to explore legal avenues to get any kind of compensation — something no one should have to go through after a stressful international move. I hope this review helps at least one person avoid the disaster of hiring this company.
October 15, 2024
Unprompted review
