FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
Grizzly Movers is determined to charge fair, easy to understand, and very competitive rates. We have heard enough horror stories about hidden fees popping up out of control in other moving companies: fuel charge, charge per mile, fee for stairs, fee for long carry, fee for items being too heavy, fee for items being too fragile, fee for AIR you are breathing... ugh! Why would a moving company charge an extra fee for lifting heavy items? Lifting extra-heavy furniture over stairs, safely moving fragile items over long walking distances, overcoming any unusual or extraordinary moving challenges IS WHAT WE ARE BEST AT and there is nothing EXTRAordinary about it. We will not charge you extra for completing any of the activities we are already getting paid for! Bottom line, we charge an hourly rate for moves under 100 miles in distance and a flat rate for moves over 100 miles in distance. There are absolutely no hidden or extra fees! Not only we will inform you ahead of time about our straight-forward pricing without any surprises in the future, but also you are welcome to take advantage of the following discounts, if eligible: - Cash discount (everyone is eligible) - Military discount (must present a valid military ID) - Senior citizen discount (anyone over 60 is eligible) - Student discount (must present a valid student ID) - Look for deals on Yelp, Groupon, Passport Corporate, and other sources - Other discounts are available depending on the time of the year, just ask!
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
We walk you through step-by-step through the entire relocation process, from your initial contact with us to the point when all items have been unpacked and there are no issues that we have not addressed! Generally speaking, your moving project would typically have the following 5 major phases: 1. COLLECTING INFORMATION AND LEARNING At this stage customers would reach out to numerous moving companies with the simple goal to find out how the relocation process works. At this stage you will already feel whether a certain company is in the business of helping people move and delivering value or in the business of confusing customers in order to be able to charge more than what their service is worth. Regardless of whether companies consciously choosing to have it or not, every company has a mission. Good companies think through very carefully what their mission is and how to achieve it, bad companies go with what their essential needs dictate and end up pursuing a mission of "making more money". What the bad companies do not realize is that the purpose of "making more money" is in direct conflict with one of the customers' main objective of "saving more money while receiving quality service". Let's think about it: how would a company that has a goal of delivering value behave versus a company that has making money as their priority? Well, to start with, a good company would make sure everyone knows what their mission is, so here it is: OUR MISSION is "To Effectively Extract Stress and Hassle out of Relocation Process". This means that we work hard on improving every step of the moving process. The biggest part of it is planing and setting expectations, therefore it is imperative to deliver as much relevant educational information about moving to our customers as possible. We want customers to know ahead of time what exactly we will do in order to make their specific move successful and what exactly will be included in their rate. We are confident that the value we deliver is worth paying the rates we are charging and we are not hesitant to thoroughly explain what it is exactly. On the other hand, a bad moving company would be vague about their rates. They would try to avoid explaining details and instead they would add some very crucial details in a very tiny fine-print. It is ok to ask questions even if the questions seem too straight-forward or even confrontational. It is very helpful to request a moving company to email a 'recap' of your phone conversation in writing. For any project over $1,000 it is absolutely reasonable to request a formal proposal with a guaranteed rate on company's letterhead (this usually requires completing a FREE on-site estimate). Do not agree to book with companies that are expecting you to spend this kind of money without a written binding quote! 2. COMPARING COMPANIES AND MAKING AN INFORMATIVE CHOICE Once you have acquired enough details about your upcoming move, there is not a question you do not already have an answer for, and you have narrowed the list of candidates down to 3 or 4, it is time to make a logical choice that should be based on facts which you could organize into 'pros and cons' table. As much as you would love to put the price on top of the list of criteria, it should be in fact the absolute last item to consider. Surely, you could do this in the reverse order and look at the price first, but think what companies will end up in the top of the list if price comes before anything else? Think of what is the ONLY way bad companies could get customers book with them? The answer is: there is nothing else they could offer other than an attractive rate. Here is the list of things to consider and why: +++ does a company have a valid CPUC license which any moving company in California must have? This licensed is governed by California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and licensed moving companies are strictly regulated by this state entity. Companies that do not have a license are as good as 2 guys renting a truck from U-Haul and offering their labor services at an unusually low rate. In fact, since offering this service by itself without having to comply with numerous government agencies is not rocket science, absolutely anyone could easily engage in it! It is very common that two or three former employees of an actual moving company come up with a fake unregistered company name, create multiple online profiles with fake photos, rent a truck, and start soliciting their services at an unbeatable rate. Well, if you are lucky and these movers actually have gotten training from a company like Grizzly, they may be good for a small local moving project that does not involve much planning or knowledge to put together. But what if your project involves moving a 5-bedroom residence filled with high-value antique furniture and priceless artifacts? Who is going take care of planning, logistics, specialized equipment, and most importantly customer service? You can verify whether any company actually has a license here: apps.cpuc.ca.gov/apex/f?p=203:35:0::NO:RP,35:P35_CARRIER_TYPE:MTR by typing in the company's name. If nothing comes up under their name, stay away! +++ does a company have an active interstate operating authority? Even if a company is licensed with the sate, does not always mean that the company is allowed to perform services outside of California. To operate in other states company's must follow much stricter federal regulations which are governed by Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the US Department of Transportation. It is much harder to obtain an FMCSA/DOT operating authority than the CPUC license and a lot of companies do not take their efforts that far. As a result, more than 75% of companies around San Diego do not have their interstate authority active and instead use rental trucks to complete interstate moves. The way it works is: when the crew approaches the state line on a truck, they would take their company uniform off and pose as a group of friends moving themselves in a rental truck! Yeah, why not! But traveling across states requires certain level of expertise. Drivers must be qualified, drug tested, and must have a medical card in order to be capable of safely driving large trucks over long distances. Trucks must be regularly inspected and B.I.T. inspection metal badge must be attached on the truck by a certified mechanic. Apart from B.I.T. inspections, trucks must pass a CHP inspection regularly and have CHP a sticker under their windshield at all times. These inspections are crucial and ensure that trucks being operated are safe and capable of staying on the road for long periods of time without breaking down or getting into an accident. Finally, proper insurances must be furnished by moving companies, to protect your belongings on long journeys. You should not hire a company for a long distance move if their interstate operating authority is not active. Not to mention that companies that use rental trucks for interstate moving must integrate the cost of the rental truck into their rate, which is usually about $300 - $400 extra! You could look up any company's authority along with their insurance policies and coverages on the official DOT/FMCSA website here: li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_carrquery.prc_carrlist +++ does a company have positive reputation? Yes, everyone goes to online ranking websites nowadays to make sure a business has a good reputation. Online reviews speak for themselves and although some companies upload fake reviews, it is impossible to have hundreds of fake reviews. A good company would not have much negative feedback across the web. So go ahead and check ratings on yelp, google, angie's list, BBB, facebook, etc. Also, it is absolutely normal, to request references from this company's previous customers. If someone ever had a bad experience with a company, it has to be out there somewhere. +++ consider a company's responsiveness to ema
- What questions should customers think through before talking to professionals about their project?
Our primary goal is to make sure our clients will use our services again and will recommend us to their friends and family. To accomplish this, we follow the following scenario: 1. First we educate our clients about moving in general and how Grizzly Movers specifically completes moving projects. 2. Once a client is aware of what needs to be done we set the correct expectations as far as timing and budgets. 3. If a client finds our projected figures reasonable, the next step is to proceed with implementation. The most crucial part of this process is clear communication. It is very typical that this one element alone, if done wrong, may turn any move into a nightmare. Unfortunately, since proper communication with us is in complete control of a client, we can only do as much as asking the right questions and going with the answers we are provided. Although many of these questions may feel irrelevant to our clients, each one of them, if answered inaccurately, could potentially make a difference in whether a project is fulfilled in accordance with the pre-set expectations: 1. What is the distance (in miles) between the origin and the destination? 2. Will there be any additional stops on the way? 3. Provide the following details for each address involved in this project: - what type of location is it (apartment, townhome, house, office, storage unit, warehouse, etc.) - elaborate on the size of the location (square footage, number of bedrooms, number of work stations, dimensions of unit, etc.) - are there any stairs or elevators? Describe stairs (interior or exterior, narrow or wide, one straight flight between each floor or two flights with a 180/90-degree turn at landing, etc.) - what is the parking situation (dedicated truck parking, dock with a truck bay, street parking in loading area, street parallel parking first come first serve, etc.) - elaborate on access conditions to your residence/office/unit. What is the walking distance in feet from truck parking area to the staircase/elevator and what is the distance in feet from the staircase to the front door of your unit. 4. Once each location's details are collected (type, size, stairs/elevator, parking, and access conditions), we would need to know at which address we are picking things up or dropping things off or both and what is the size of the load. You could describe the size of the load by noting a portion in percent of the total size of your residence/office/unit. For example: moving a 100% full 10'x10' storage unit; OR moving approximately 75% of a 3-bedroom, 1,550-square-foot, two-story house; etc. The more accurate information you provide, the higher is the chance of your actual move going along with the expectations we have set with you. The more little but vital details you withhold from us, the more likely is the possibility of your move taking longer time and costing you more money. Remember, in accordance with the regulations of California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), NO COMPANY IS ALLOWED to provide a "flat rate" or not-to-exceed total or any other form of binding quote over the phone. If a company quotes you a flat rate over the phone, they are most likely not licensed and do not follow the regulations of the CPUC. The only way to get a guaranteed total price is to have a company's professional estimator come out and complete a thorough on-site survey of your residence/office/unit.