When they arrived Steve MacGuire asked how I would pay for the move. I said in cash. The movers loaded my belongings onto the truck. Before driving the truck to my new residence, Steve MacGuire said that he would need me to pay in full in the amount of $550-$600. I said that I would pay him upon completion of the work.


At this point Steve MacGuire became very aggressive with me, claiming that this is a standard practice in the industry (to be paid in full halfway through the work), and that he had to assume that I would not pay him, and that he would not be responsible for any damage that occurred to my belongings. I found the comment about damage particularly odd since at that point no one had mentioned anything about damage.


Steve MacGuire said that Mr. Fanazzi should have explained this to me earlier. I told him that I was prepared to pay in full for all the services rendered once the work was completed. I also said that he could get Mr. Fanazzi on the phone and I would deal with him. He said “Adrian has nothing to do with this”. Steve MacGuire would not listen to me, but instead would talk over me and at one point walked away, saying “You explain it to her Mark”. His body language and attitude were VERY AGGRESSIVE.


Mark began saying that “the office should explain this to people” and that this is their policy. I told him that it is not acceptable to change the terms of the contract once the work is under way. Mark continued with the demand for payment in full (he was not rude or aggressive). I said to him “No. Stop talking, and get on with moving my stuff.”


A little while later I offered to pay Steve MacGuire $300 now and the remainder upon the completion of the work, but that I wanted a receipt for the $300. He was very irritable about this and said he could only give me a receipt at the end of the job. Then he scribbled some words on a piece of paper (a copy is attached) and signed it. As his name was illegible, I asked for his surname. He gave it and then said “You can’t sue me anyway, you can only sue my company.” This was also a very odd remark because until that moment no one had said anything about lawsuits.


Eventually my belongings were moved into my new residence. I paid in full in cash, exactly as I had promised to do (a copy of the receipt is attached).


In my view, there were two major problems with this entire transaction:


1. Steve MacGuire’s irritability and aggression. It was completely unnecessary to conduct himself in this way. I had given him no reason to suspect that I would not pay in full. I never brought up the subject of damage or lawsuits. However, his behaviour and mention of damage and lawsuits made me VERY suspicious of his motives, and made me far LESS inclined to negotiate a compromise with him.


2. The practice of demanding full payment before the work is completed. This is a VERY QUESTIONABLE practice. I suspect that Steve MacGuire waited until after my belongings had been loaded onto the truck to demand full payment as a manipulation tactic. This is also highly suspicious.


A more professional way to handle the situation would have been this: Once I told Steve MacGuire that I wanted to pay in cash, he could have said (calmly) that before starting any work, they would need a cash deposit of XX%, for which I would get a formal receipt. Once the work was completed, the final bill would be settled and I would get a receipt for the final amount less the deposit. It also would be more professional to have ALL policies available on the company’s website, rather than having them be brought up in the middle of the work.


There were a few other problems:


1. The other Steve moaned and complained incessantly about the elevators in both my new and old residences. Granted, there were problems with the elevators that day, but it was unnecessary to complain about them constantly during the five-hour move. He also complained about the building maintenance staff being slow and incompetent.


2. I personally observed Steve MacGuire being rude to the elevator technicians, saying “It’s their fault” right to their faces.


3. The movers piled up my belongings in the front lobby of my new building. While Steve MacGuire mentioned that this was not a good idea because they might get “fined”, they did it anyway. It was bothersome for the other tenants in the building, and stressful for me because it is not a secure place to leave one’s personal effects.

In all, my experience with Adrian The Mover was very negative and unnecessarily stressful. Had the movers conducted themselves more professionally, I would have tipped them as I usually do, and as I would definitely do considering that they had to deal with poor elevator service during the move. Be sure to let them know that they BLEW THEIR TIPS by their conduct.


Of course, the Better Business Bureau is nothing but a go-between for customers and businesses. They will ALWAYS give the benefit of the doubt to the businesses, because that's where they get their membership fees from. The BBB's write-up of my complaint on their website isn't even accurate - it claims that I declined some kind of offer from the company - but I was never offered anything! And the Adrian the Mover website still doesn't post its payment policies.