RFM Moving/Hauling Services - - San Francisco/Daly City, CA Review

My partner finally rented a small studio space, and decided to clear our apartment of all art-related items. The lot came out to about eight boxes, one large easel, a few portfolios and canvases, and one small wooden cabinet. A small move, but still a move, since the studio is on the other side of the city. We don't have a car, and the studio is one long flight of steps up, so we decided it made the most sense to hire a mover. Seeing as we weren't even moving an entire room (the items listed had been living in a corner of our bedroom for two years) and were all packed up and ready to go, right by our front door, we figured the move from our apartment into a van should take no more than 20 minutes, if that. We do, after all, live in a building with an elevator, and there's a parking space reserved for movers right out front.

After many phone calls, my partner decided to go with RFM Moving and Hauling. Like most movers, they have a minimum of two hours. Fair enough, we figured - it's hardly worth anyone's while to come out and get paid for 20 minutes. We agreed to pay the 2 hour minimum for what should take under an hour: 20 minutes to move the stuff from our place into the van, 10 minutes to drive to the studio, and 20 minutes to move the stuff into the studio. Or so we thought!

When the guy's arrived, they looked really lost. The first thing they did was just stand around and look at the items to be moved. Considering the fact that, aside from the three portfolios, the easel and the cabinet, everything was boxed and sealed, we couldn't figure out what the heck there was to think about. An easier job for movers never existed: stack three boxes on a hand truck, roll it to the elevator, move it out to the truck. Do this three times, and you're just about done. We even got the elevator key, and were able to keep the elevator at our floor- no waiting! One guy could have easily done this, while the other guy watched the truck, and then they could have doubled up to take the small cabinet out together. Better yet, they could have each used a hand truck, and done the job in about ten minutes, while I stood watch at the truck. But no. These guys decided to carry one thing at a time. When I say one thing at a time, I mean they actually picked up one portfolio and carried it out to the truck. When I saw this, my jaw just about dropped. The guys had a hand truck and a dolly, but weren't using it!

After watching this for a few minutes, I went over to one of the guys and told him he needed to work faster. He just looked at me and nodded, but I had a feeling he didn't understand me. I then asked him, in Spanish, if he understood English. He replied (in Spanish) that no, he did not know a word of English. That would have been a useful piece of information for us from the get-go - especially since we were giving them directions! I guess the game plan was to pretend to understand what we were saying in English, and just hope for the best. Once it was established that at least one of the movers only spoke Spanish, I was able to communicate, in no uncertain terms, that they were moving entirely too slowly and that, no matter how much they tried to stretch the tiny job, we had no intention of paying more than the two hour minimum. Even this bit of information failed to light a fire under the slowest guns in the west. Long story short: it took these guys an hour to get 8 boxes, an easel, three portfolios and a small cabinet into a van.

My partner went ahead to the studio in a taxi, to meet them when they arrived with her stuff. When they were finally done packing the truck on this end, I gave them a very clearly drawn map and my partner's cell phone number, so they could phone her when they arrived. As I mentioned, it's just a ten minute drive to the studio. About 30 minutes after they left our place, my home phone rang. It was the English-speaking mover, telling me that he was "downstairs and ready." I explained to him that calling me at home was pointless, because, you know, he'd JUST LEFT HERE.

My partner tells me that, once they arrived, the movers proceeded to carry items up stairs one at a time. Again, I'm talking about a moving man going up a flight of stairs carrying one portfolio, instead just using his hand truck to haul three boxes up at once. To speed things up, my partner ended up carrying boxes up, herself. She says that she was moving so much faster than the movers, she actually passed them on the stairs a few times, as she went back and forth with boxes.

Adding Insult to Injury

My partner is from another country, where tipping isn't the norm. Because of this, she's not always sure when to tip, and when not to tip. I'm a generous tipper when I receive good service. I have no trouble skipping a tip, entirely, though, if service is especially bad. In this case, I would not have tipped them, at all - especially since my partner ended up moving herself in, for the most part. My partner, though, wasn't sure, so she decided to give the movers a small tip. After she paid for the move, one of the movers actually asked, "What about a tip?" She handed over $15 to which the mover replied, "We usually get at least $30." I would have snatched the $15 back and told him where to go, but my partner is a good deal more genteel than I am. She told him that $15 seemed fair to her, and said goodbye. The mover gave her his card, in case she ever needed to move again. As if!

The verdict:

The next time I have a move to make, I think I'll go to the SF Zoo and ask if they'd be willing to hire out their three-toed sloth. I figure I could strap boxes to his back and still get a more efficient moving service than that offered by RFM Moving. These guys are lazy, slow and, ultimately, rude.