Moving Experience: Steve’s Move With Mayflower
With a new job can come a fresh start in a new state, but for Steve, a major concern was finding an affordable moving company to get the contents of his three-bedroom home to a storage unit in Wichita, Kansas, while he figured out a permanent housing solution in Wisconsin.
Steve ultimately selected Mayflower for his move and decided to participate in our Better Moves Project. In exchange for a $500 stipend, Steve documented his experience so others can know what to expect.
In this guide, we’ll take a look at what went well — and what didn’t — during Steve’s move.
Move day takeaways for Mayflower customers
- Communication: Mayflower was highly communicative with Steve leading up to moving day, with consistent updates on what to expect and when his truck would arrive. However, he only received a delivery update the day before and never heard from the company after the move was complete.
- Pricing accuracy and transparency: Steve’s final costs with Mayflower were in line with his initial quote – one of the most important factors to him when selecting a moving company.
- Professionalism: The crew that loaded Steve’s items was courteous and professional. However, the delivery team ignored instructions about what to not put in his storage unit, which required him to purchase items he already owned because they were inaccessible inside the unit.
- Timeliness: The moving day team arrived on schedule. However, Steve felt that the 10 days it took to transport his belongings from Wisconsin to Kansas was much longer than it should have been.
- Loss and damage: Steve had a broken dining room table and shed, as well as fragile boxes that were improperly stacked inside the storage unit.
- Would Steve use Mayflower again? While Steve had issues with Mayflower’s communication and professionalism regarding the delivery, he went into his move expecting these kinds of hiccups. Thanks to their pricing accuracy and transparency, he would be willing to use Mayflower again for a future move.
Steve needed help moving from WI to KS
Steve was ready to move from Slinger, Wisconsin, to Wichita, Kansas, for a new job.
He had been through several moves in the past and had a good general idea of what to expect (including that things often don’t go entirely smoothly).
However, for this move, he would be delivering his items to a storage unit, since he did not yet have permanent housing arrangements in Kansas.
Aside from what might happen to his belongings while they were in storage, Steve’s biggest concern was cost — so, naturally, that became an important priority during his search for a moving company.
Steve’s move at a glance
Move date | July 29, 2024 |
Moved From | Slinger, WI |
Moved To | Wichita, KS |
Distance | 760 miles |
Move Size | Three-bedroom home |
Moving Company | Mayflower |
Moving Quote | $8,425 |
Actual Cost | $8,322 |
Steve got quotes from several movers before selecting Mayflower
Steve found out he’d be moving to Wisconsin for his new job move six weeks ahead of time, which meant he needed to get a quote and book a mover quickly. He spent the next two weeks researching and reaching out to several interstate moving companies, including full-service and moving containers.
As part of his process, Steve read articles on moveBuddha and did a thorough evaluation of each company’s website to get a better idea of their pricing and services.
Steve ultimately decided to use a full-service moving company, getting an impressive six quotes before making a decision. Remember, the more apples-to-apples quotes you have, the better able you will be to get the best price. We always recommend getting quotes from at least three companies, so Steve gets an A+ for his efforts here!
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Take a look at how those six full-service movers compared:
Company | Estimated Weight | Estimated Cost |
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Mayflower | 13,000 pounds | $8,425 |
Safeway Moving | 13,000 pounds | $11,400 |
North American Van Lines | 13,000 pounds | $9,340 |
Allied Van Lines | 13,000 pounds | $9,273 |
United Van Lines | 13,000 pounds | $9,177 |
Two Men And A Truck | 13,000 pounds | $23,300 |
Steve chose Mayflower for their pricing and straightforward approach
With cost being such a high priority for Steve, offering the lowest quote was what tipped the scales on Mayflower. This wasn’t just an over-the-phone ballpark quote, either. Mayflower sent a representative to Steve’s home to conduct an in-person home walkthrough and inventory assessment — a move that went a long way in ensuring he got an accurate quote.
It’s worth noting that even Mayflower’s quote was much more than Steve expected, but since they had the best price and made the whole process easy, they naturally became his top pick.
As part of his efforts to keep costs down, Steve chose to do all of the packing himself, though he did purchase a TV box and insurance as part of his overall moving package.
Moving day went off without a hitch
Leading up to the move, Mayflower’s team was highly communicative, including by offering instructions on how to wrap his specialty items like a table saw and other shop machinery. Steve paid an initial deposit to hold his move, and then paid the remainder of his moving quote two weeks before the move date.
Steve thought the Mayflower team did a great job keeping him updated so he’d know exactly when the moving truck was arriving. Better yet, movers stuck to that schedule, arriving right at 8:30 a.m. as planned.
Movers briefed Steve on the loading process, then got to work. While they hauled everything out, Steve stationed himself on his computer in the kitchen so he wasn’t in the middle of everything but would be available if they had questions. From the kitchen, he noticed the crew was very careful with his items. For this part of the move, Mayflower nailed it on delivering the experience Steve hoped for.
Delivery didn’t go as smoothly
After moving day, however, things started to go downhill. Mayflower didn’t provide Steve any updates about his shipment status until the day before his delivery date, which made him feel forgotten as a customer. He was also somewhat surprised it took 10 days to complete his delivery. While this was well within the deadline Mayflower had set, it seemed to him to be a bit lengthy for a sub-800 mile move.
Our readers are often surprised that movers typically allot up to 30 days for delivery… and distance doesn’t necessarily determine the timeline. A number of factors — including availability, demand, and other shipment routes — can affect when your belongings will arrive at your new home or storage unit.
Steve also took minor issue with the unloading process. While the bulk of Steve’s items appeared to be in good shape, his dining room table and shed were broken in transit. Even more troubling, several boxes marked fragile were on the bottom of stacks inside the storage unit – something that obviously could result in damage that would only be discovered once Steve moved into his permanent home and unpacked.
Perhaps the biggest problem of all was the movers ignored Steve’s instructions about keeping some belongings out of storage. He had marked the things he wanted to be set aside and explained this to the moving crew, but they put them in the storage unit anyway. As a result, he had to purchase items he already owned while he stayed in his temporary housing.
Our take on Steve’s move
Steve’s move had its share of ups and downs – not that unusual for a long-distance move.
Overall, Steve was fine with how his move turned out because he got the best deal he could find. We personally think Steve’s impression of the move was due in large part to his own attitude. He went into the moving process with eyes wide open, fully aware there was bound to be at least a couple bumps in the road. We applaud Steve for his mindset and willingness to fairly assess Mayflower, despite having some frustrations with them.
Moving day went well, but obviously, there is room for improvement in how Mayflower handled delivery. Consistent communication can offer peace of mind while items are in transit, and movers should know better than to stack boxes on top of fragile items. Ignoring Steve’s instructions about what to leave out of storage was inconvenient at best, and it ended up adding to his relocation costs because he had to temporarily replace items he already owned and had meticulously taken measures to prevent that very scenario.
Although it certainly shouldn’t be the customer’s responsibility to oversee the process, we do think Steve could have been a little more proactive during the delivery process. He acknowledge that he should have been more involved while movers were loading the truck.
It’s definitely tempting to make yourself scarce while movers handle everything (after all, that’s why you hired them!). But the truth of the matter is, you need to be involved, even with full-service movers. Keeping an eye on what movers were doing could have prevented the mistake with those items he set aside and those fragile boxes landing on the bottom of the pile.
The verdict
While Mayflower’s customer service was stellar leading up to moving day, it definitely waned after they drove off in the loaded moving truck. A lack of communication leading up to his delivery day and a moving crew that didn’t follow instructions certainly affected Steve’s experience.
Despite these issues, Steve was satisfied overall with Mayflower — especially since their quote was spot-on. He still would recommend them to other prospective movers, with the advice to expect something to go wrong and take pains to “get in the way” so you can spot potential issues.
Here’s how Steve rated Mayflower on a scale of 1 to 5:
- Communication: 3
- Timeliness: 2
- Quote accuracy: 5
- Overall experience: 4
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