Have Van Will Travel

BEWARE! DO NOT USE THIS MOVER!
I’m gonna make this short because I want everyone to read it and not fall into the same trap we did. This guy, Ross, has ads all over Oakland. My boyfriend and I were moving on short notice and many moving companies were booked. We were excited to hire someone because it’s the first time we could afford movers. Over the phone we discussed the move: Oakland to Sacramento, one bedroom apartment, 2 man job, $ 100/​hr. He shows up with three guys and says it’s actually $ 130/​hr for three movers. At this point we were okay with that so we verbally agreed — I paid $ 500 when he packed up in Oakland and my boyfriend would pay $ 500 when he finished in Sacramento. My boyfriend drives to Sacramento to meet the movers there.
AS SOON AS my boyfriend left, Ross corners me in the kitchen and proceeds to hit on me by saying things like «I bet you’re naughty». I was so uncomfortable and disgusted and scared that I laughed it off. They leave for Sacramento. Hours go by. I call the movers. Their truck has broken down in Fairfield LITERALLY ON 80 and they need us to come pick them up to drive them BACK TO OAKLAND to pick up another truck to go BACK TO FAIRFIELD to unload everything back from the first truck to the second truck and then continue on to Sacramento. Luckily a CHP officer was at the truck and told my boyfriend it would be safe for a couple hours.
We were scared for our physical safety the entire time. We monitored them as they finished the move (14 hours later). Once our things were safely instead we quickly gave him the other $ 500. We had a neighbor come outside and watch the transaction go down. Ross did try to hassle me a bit for a tip and I was fully ready to explain that we were very disappointed in his service and wouldn’t be tipping him. He relented and scuttled off. We immediately locked our doors.
TLDR: ROSS IS UNPROFESSIONAL, CREEPY, RUDE, INAPPROPRIATE, and just an all around jerk. Don’t waste your money (and potentially your whole day) on this guy.

The only good thing I can say about this mover is he showed up on time at the house I was moving from. When he finally made it to my new house, 7 hours later, he told me I hadn’t told him how far it was (yet, we looked at the map together earlier and I told him it would take about 4 hours). He demanded that I pay more money because of his inability to read a map. His truck broke down along the way, but he couldn’t be bothered to answer my calls, text or notify me. Strange, rude, combative and argumentative — steer clear.

If i could give no stars or a half a star i would! He moved a friend who he was ‘sweet on’ so he treated her correctly. He told us a $ 100 an hours and we thought, ‘ok it shouldn’t take no more than an hour and a half tops’. He and his worker were fast (although we prepacked everything and moved most of the items outside ahead of time). He was rude. he broke my $ 300 reptile cage, which I will have to have replaced. he left with items on his truck. he double booked. After he was finished, he mentioned a three hour minimal that he never mentioned in any of the previous four communications with him. He didnt even work the minimum and demanded the $ 300 and would not return the $$ or work the third hour we paid for. He is horrible please do not use him EVER! We had to let it go because he is an older gentleman but obviously, unaware how his unprofessionalism will catch up to him online.
beware

This guy has flyers all over San Francisco including my street so when we needed some things moved we decided to give him a try. If I’d been able to figure out the company name from the flyers, I would have checked Unilocal before calling him and saved myself a lot of grief. Instead I called the number and spoke with Ross and the very first thing I said was, «I have a bedroom’s worth of stuff that needs to be moved to a new apartment.» He said that was fine and that’s what his company does. I asked him the price and he told me $ 100/​hour and that included a van and two men. He acted like he was running a 5-​star business offering top notch service. We scheduled the move for the following Sunday at 8 a.m. and he showed up 25 minutes early with two men who reeked of cigarettes.
Once they started moving things into the truck I gave him the destination address and wrote out a check for $ 100 because the job was sure to take less than an hour. I told him this and he starts pointing to a spot on a piece of paper I’ve never seen before that says, «4 hour minimum» and points to his run down truck saying he has a big truck and can’t pay his guys $ 15/​hour.
I was shocked. He’d already seen the items I wanted to move and I told him clearly on the phone it was only one bedroom and it wasn’t until the checkbook came out that he mentioned the 4 hour minimum. I reminded him that he didn’t say anything on the phone about a 4 hour minimum and he implied that I was trying to pull one over on him, when it was the other way around. He was incredibly rude and said, «I don’t have to say there’s a 4 hour minimum.» Umm, yes you do. I told him if it was really a problem then we would make other arrangements. He came down to $ 200, when we said we couldn’t pay that and could only do $ 150 he acted offended and told us we weren’t doing him a favor. We got our stuff back out of his truck, he continued to be rude and insulting to us and he left.
It was a very upsetting experience and he treated me like I was a complete idiot. He also was unnaturally friendly (before the checkbook came out, of course) and made a comment about my freckles that made me uncomfortable. After reading other people’s reviews on here I believe he did this on purpose and most of the time it probably works in his favor because people need their things moved and get desperate.
To top it all off, the business card he gave me when he showed up said «3 hour minimum» on it. What a total jerk.
UPDATE on 7÷18÷2011: I’ve recently been notified that this man, Ross Robinson, is NOT a licensed mover in the state of California.

The guy’s name is Ross.
Kinda shady on the phone. Didn’t come across being particularly energetic or professional.
Called to ask about pricing and set up tentative appointment, but didn’t end up using him.
$ 100/​hr with 4 hr min
He said he’d waive the min for me…
It was more than I wanted to spend for my small move.