Why Internet Estimates and Phone Surveys are a Poor Choice

Just the other day one of our customers, a member of a large association account, complained that she was overcharged.  She was on the West Coast and her things, a little furniture and 50 boxes, were in the Midwest.  She did not want to bother anyone at origin to allow the mover's estimator a chance to see the items, so she insisted on a phone survey based on a listing of items she provided.  We complied with her request although we told her we did not recommend this process of quoting off a list or on the phone. 

Well, when the items were loaded the piece count was accurate, but the 50 boxes were much heavier than standard boxes of the size and were self packed.  They were way over packed and therefore much heavier than an estimator would expect.  Had the estimator been able to physically see the boxes they would have known about this.  We did have a reweigh completed before delivery with the same weight as the original one.  Consequently, the charges were more than the customer expected.

This pitfall is experienced everyday when unwary customers get quotes off the internet.  All too often we hear "I got the quote off the internet and it sounds good to me".  Wrong don't do it.  We insist on physical surveys unless the customer is insisting on a phone quote or one off a list.  This is the only way you can get an accurate  estimate  of cost and required services to perform the move properly.