TEMS

I originally had my move scheduled with another company but they called me 5 days before the move saying they had to cancel due to injuries. I obviously freaked out and called every friend I had for recommendations of someone else. Of all the recommendations I got, TEMS was the only company that answered on my first phone call. Aswad was very polite and quickly went over all the details with me and promptly emailed me the contract I needed to sign. On the day of the move, the movers showed up about an hour late, which was actually ok b/​c we still had some last minute packing to do. We had 3 guys, one of which was clearly an industry veteran (I think his name was Joe?). He was in charge of the team, and was the most expert packer I’ve ever seen. The way he fit all my stuff into the truck was like watching a professional Tetris player! The 2 other guys with him definitely didn’t have the same level of experience but they certainly had the brawn. One guy wrapped everything in plastic while the others carried everything out. It took a little while to get into everything in the truck, due to stairs/​elevator/​arranging the truck but once we left and arrived at my new home it took them only 30 minutes to unload. Overall it was a pretty stress-​free day. My only complaint is that we had to pay for an extra hour of travel time, which I was not informed of in advance. I would definitely use them again though in my next move.

This review is long overdue, but still relevant. I am currently looking for movers for a move from CT to DC, and I came across Experienced Movers’ website. I considered them for a few minutes before I realized that my husband and I used them for a move a few years ago and had a HORRIBLE experience.
They did not tell us ahead of time (when we booked them) that they refuse to move musical instruments. In fact, they helped my husband move our things into a storage unit in May of 2009, and moved ALL of our things (which included a piano) with no problems. However, when we hired them again in August of 2009 to move our things out of our storage unit and into our apartment, the two movers who showed up informed us that they would not move our piano NO MATTER WHAT because they were Muslim and don’t believe in musical instruments, which left us in a huge bind. How were we supposed to move a piano by ourselves in our car? On top of that, we were charged by the hour for the time they spent arguing with us about the piano and resting (I know they need breaks, but I have used other movers, and this was EXCESSIVE for a tiny one-​bedroom apartment move), so the hourly rate came out to be about twice the amount they estimated, and they did not give change, so make sure you have exact cash. Do not trust the estimate at all. They also were not very careful with how they handled our things, but thankfully nothing was badly damaged.
So, imagine my surprise when I ran across their website recently and the home page shows two guys moving A PIANO. I know it is standard practice to use stock photos on websites, but this is majorly misleading, especially if they still fail to tell customers ahead of time that they will not move their belongings.

I do not recommend this company. For the price, you can get a more reliable and responsive company to do your move. While the two guys that moved my 1 bedroom apartment were very nice, they showed up an hour late. One guy was great in terms of moving things out of the apartment, but the other one was moving quite slow, so it took well over six hours to move my very small one bedroom apt. and I only have five pieces of furniture and had moved all of the dishes myself days earlier. They only accept cash, which seems ridiculous in this day and age.
My biggest complaint is that after trying to jam my sofa through the doorway (eventually had to use an alternative route), my sofa was left torn and the door unable to close. When I called and emailed about this it took several days to get a response. I was surprised by the lack of accountability and failure to recognize the urgency of not being able to lock one’s front door. The two movers eventually came back and poked around the door making comments that there is no way they could have damaged the door or the frame, even though it closed and locked properly before the move. They were unable to fix it and mentioned having a relative come to see it. I didn’t hear back from them for another three days until someone called late a night saying that he would call again to set up a time to fix the door — I never heard from him again. I had to find an independent fix-​it person to come in and fix the lock.
Go with another company.

I used these movers for a last minute move from New Haven to Boston, and I would DEFINITELY use them again. They had the best quote by far and were professional. All of my furniture was wrapped professionally. The 4 instead of 5 stars is because it was only two guys so it took a lot longer than it would have with 3. Either way, like I said, I would definitely use them again!

TEMS were extremely professional, efficient and completed my move on time and on budget. I HIGHLY recommend using them for any move, large or small, if you want trustworthy movers that will take care of your belongings and stick to your moving schedule!

My fiancé’ and I used The Experienced Movers for our move from Hartford, CT to Omaha, NE. We were always nervous about using movers based on all the horror stories we heard and we consider ourselves lucky to find these guys. Unlike most movers who consolidate your move in a warehouse and give you pickup and dropoff windows, which could be as long as a couple of weeks, these guys simply load your stuff and get going. The owner, Aswad, was great at communicating and was always straight forward with what they could and couldn’t do. His team, led by Rob on the day of the move, was very conscientious and careful with our stuff and did a great job packing. They were on time on the day of the move and on the drop off. In fact, they actually accommodated us as we needed an early load on Sunday and an afternoon drop off later that week. What mover can you find that will do that??? Not to mention that on the day of the move, our service elevator broke down and they simply got things done. Overall, a fantastic experience and I highly recommend their services. If possible, try to get Rob to handle the move as I had nothing but a good experience with him and his crew.

Careful, communicative, on-​time and the price is right. One of our best moving experiences ever.
I called them the second time I moved out of New Haven (don’t ask) and from the estimate every step of the way they were much better to work with than the folks I worked with (and the folks I decided not to work with) last time around.
They packed for us, they dealt with awkward spaces, valuable items, breakable items, half-​packed disaster areas, bad weather, family dynamics and all the things that make a move truly special. They ARE experienced, and it shows. I definitely recommend that you give them a call.

At the recommendation of some friends, I hired Experienced Movers to move me from New Haven to Washington, DC. Overall, I’d strongly recommend them, but only if time is not an issue for you. If it is, DO NOT go with them. Because it was, for me, I had to lower the number of stars I gave them.
pros: Aswad (the owner of EM) will come with his team to move you himself. He’s a very friendly guy who’s genuinely a pleasure to talk with. He also returns both calls and emails very promptly, and that’s a huge relief when you’re stressed out about moving. Moreover, he and his guys are flexible and reasonable when things don’t go exactly as planned. I had significantly more boxes (all those books…) than I had anticipated. Aswad charged me a reasonable amount more for the books and didn’t complain – he just dealt with the situation and moved on. I very much appreciated this. He also kept in touch by cell phone on the drive down to DC; again, I appreciated this. In a world of deeply unreliable and untrustworthy movers, Experienced Movers and, in particular, its owner, are reliable and trustworthy.
cons: I needed to done with my move to DC by 6 pm due to the rules of the building I was moving into. I had written about this to Aswad and told him, more than once, over the phone about it. Perhaps I was overly trusting, but I trusted Aswad to be able to judge withsome accuracy how longthe move would take. This was a mistake. Originally, EM was going to pick up my things at 6 am so that we could make it down to DC in time. The night before we moved the time to7. That was fine, I thought – we’d still make it to DC in time even if the actual moving took 2 hours on both ends. Then, that morning, Aswad called me and moved the time back to 7:45. I got my first inklings that Experienced Movers is not-​so-​experienced (or good at planning) when he told me, then, that he was printing out Mapquest directions to DC. At 8:15, I called him and he said he was «close” – 10 minutes away, apparently there had been traffic. I was obviously not pleased; there is ALWAYS traffic at that time of the morning. Any «experienced mover» would TAKE THAT INTO ACCOUNT. In any event, it was not true, and Aswad et al didn’t arrive until 8:45 – one hour and 45 minutes late, that is. EM then didn’t leave New Haven until 10:30 or so.
Now, I have driven between DC and New Haven many times. At 2 in the morning, it can take 5 hours or so, but, during the day, I’ve found that it typically takes around 7 hours (sometimes a bit more or less). So a 10:30 departure would get us in at 5:30, on average. I reminded Aswad about the 6 pm deadline and also that there would be traffic on the road to DC (as there was to New Haven). Aswad tried to reassure me by telling me that it was an easy drive, there’s wouldn’t be traffic, etc. ha! It took ME a little under 7 hours to get to DC (and I was the second fastest car on my stretch of the interstate for almost the entire way). It took Aswad 8 hours to get to DC. Not that there were any particular problems, just what you would expect, if you thought to plan in advance. E.g., his truck couldn’t consistently go over 70 mph, and he hadn’t known that trucks couldn’t go on 295, what he had planned to take to get into town. I understand that these things happen, but it is the job of the mover to plan in advance so they DON’T make a difference. They are not an excuse.
Ultimately, I abased myself before the building attendant, apologizing profusely and more or less begging, and they let us move in. Now, though, I’ve gotten off on a poor start with the building association, and it really is Aswad’s fault. What kind of a business person in the US shows up ONE HOUR AND FORTY-​FIVE MINUTES LATE to an appointment?!
I should note that, in part because of Aswad’s obvious lack of experience in moving people to DC, I was pretty impressed by how well things actually did go. DC has complicated streets (especially if you don’t even know about the existence of the grid system, which Aswad did not), but EM made it to my place in spite of their problems. Indeed, I would say Aswad’s generally laid-​back attitude was probably a big help – he didn’t really plan much in advance, but because he was competent, he could manage anyway.
Ultimately, I would recommend EM for a short move or for a longer move with no time constraints. They really were very reliable and easy to work with. If I hadn’thad the 6 pm deadline, I would have had no complaints.
UPDATE: After talking with friends and family, I raised my review of EM to 4 stars rather than 3. Although I generally don’t think one should be rewarded for fulfilling basic standards of decency (i.e., EVERYONE should do that), apparently industry custom is to refuse to deliver on a particular date at a particular time, no matter what. Although EM ran late they did deliver on the date I specified, only running a couple hours late, and that is apparently something incredible, for the (terrible) moving industry.