What to Do When Movers Are Working Too Slowly on Purpose

In most cases, hiring professional movers to help you out with your local move will prove to be very beneficial for you as the pros will complete the move in record time and will do whatever is necessary to prevent property damage of any type.

In some cases, however, you may notice that the movers you’ve hired are definitely not trying to break any speed records and their overall efficiency is far below the moving industry standard.

In some rare cases, you may even realize that your movers are stalling – that is, working way too slowly and they do it with intent. And while you may not realize right away the real purpose of deliberate slow work, you’d definitely not be too happy to have the move extended by a few hours because of it all.

Read on to find out the major reason why your movers may be packing and moving so sluggishly and what to do when movers are working way too slowly on purpose.

Why would movers work slowly on purpose?

The very first thing you need to understand is that local movers and cross-country movers charge their customers in a completely different way.

Local moving companies charge on an hourly basis – that is, they charge by the hour. What that means basically is that the longer the house move takes, the more money you will owe to the moving company you’ve picked to help you move over a short distance. By definition, local moving is when the move stays within the state of origin and the move distance stays within a radius of 100 miles.

On the other hand, long-distance movers charge their clients a flat fee calculated on the basis of the specific move parameters. What that means is that how much the cross-country move will cost will depend on a number of variable factors such as move distance, total weight of the shipment, and any extra services performed by the cross-country mover.

Now that you are aware of the different ways in which local moving companies and long-distance moving companies charge for moving, it should become clear why some local movers would try to prolong the moving job for as long as possible. That’s right – the more hours your local movers spend on the job, the more money you will owe the moving company once the move is finally completed.

But let’s get something straight – reputable, upright, and honest moving companies will not even think about trying that pitiful tactic to get more money from their customers.

Why? It’s simple: their work schedule will be tight, so their major goal is to get a house move completed as fast as possible so that they can move on to the next one.

In that case, stalling the moving process on purpose can only hurt their moving schedule and is likely to stain their excellent reputation as well.

However, if the local movers you’ve hired happen to be far from being the best moving companies in your area and if they don’t have another job booked after your move, then they may attempt to extend their billable hours deliberately so that you pay (much) more money in the end.

Based on average local moving costs, hiring 2 movers and a truck for a local move will cost you between $90 and $120 per hour. What this may mean for you is that if you’ve failed to do your homework (thoroughly researching your movers) and have booked the services of mediocre or even bad local movers, then you may easily be paying an average of $100 for each hour your dishonest movers are wasting purposely.

And here’s the bad news when you’re dealing with bad local movers – one hour of purposeful slow work by “the pros” can easily turn into several hours, and before you know it, your final moving bill will be much higher than what you were promised by the local moving company during the price calculation stage.    

How Much Does It Cost to Hire Local Movers?

Red flags that movers are working too slowly

In the majority of cases, it won’t be easy to know for sure that your local movers are trying to rip you off by wasting too much time on the move. The problem is that it’s not an exact science and even though you may suspect your movers of dawdling and dilly-dallying, you may find it very difficult to prove.

And yet, there are a number of tell-tale signs that your local movers may be trying to waste valuable time intentionally so that you pay them more money when the move is over.

Just be on the lookout for these 10 red flags of movers working too slowly on purpose:

1. Your movers take too many breaks

Your movers are not robots so they will need to take occasional breaks – bathroom breaks, rest breaks to catch their breaths, coffee breaks, or maybe even cigarette breaks outside your house. And that’s OK, that’s normal.

However, you may notice that those break times occur too frequently and follow a suspicious pattern of repetitiveness with the purpose of increasing the downtime as far as it can go.

So, even though there’s no set limit on how many breaks your movers are OK to make, you’ll usually be able to tell pretty quickly when the pros are clearly abusing their right to take a breather.

2. Your movers are constantly on their phones

Another red flag that your local movers may be wasting time on purpose is their excessive use of phones during the move.

Now, it’s understandable for a mover to stop working for a while answering an important call. But when those super-important phone calls become too frequent, aided by a couple of emergency calls, then things suddenly become a bit fishy.

Furthermore, if you notice that your hired workers are constantly checking their smartphones every 10 minutes or so for critical (Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok) updates, then that’s all the proof you need that the local movers are not working as fast as humanly possible.

3. Your movers talk too much among themselves

There’s nothing wrong with moving and talking while working – it can actually help them increase productivity when handling a largely mundane task such as packing for a local move.

The problem comes when the work is frequently interrupted so that one entire “serious” conversation gets finished, only to be resumed within 10 minutes or so.

All talk and no action from your local movers is never a good sign.

So, when you hear that your moving team members are constantly talking to each other, see if they are also working while the conversation is going on and on.

4. Your movers waste too much time in pointless discussions

Ideally, your movers will be discussing move-related issues all the time, actively looking for good solutions at any given moment. Discussions about the safest way to pack fine china or about the best way to take a large furniture piece out of the home are perfectly normal, and oftentimes – necessary.

However, a 10-minute discussion among the packers and movers about whether they should use soft white packing paper or brown Kraft paper to pack up the drinking glasses in the kitchen should sound the alarm that maybe something weird is going on.

Be vigilant about too much precious time being wasted in senseless discussions.

5. Your movers seem too slow in completing simple tasks

You’re not a professional mover so you can’t really know how much time a move-related task should take to complete. Maybe you can try to guess but that’s not good enough for any satisfactory conclusions.

And yet, you find it really odd that it took your local movers 15 minutes to wrap up your work desk in furniture blankets. Somehow you can’t help but feel that you could have done it in 5 minutes, all by yourself.

One thing you should do is observe your movers while they work and, instead of jumping to hasty conclusions, use the obvious signs to build a case that’s worthy of a complaint. 

6. Your movers are just not enough for the job

Another sign that the local moving company could be trying to rip you off is when only 2 movers arrive on Moving day when you were assured multiple times that you’d get 3 workers for faster and more efficient completion of the moving job.

So, why have only 2 movers arrived in your home? Don’t worry, they’ll always think of a good excuse so that you can’t blame them for being understaffed right there on the spot.

The trick is that with fewer professionals taking care of the house move, it’ll take longer, sometimes much longer to get the job done. And as you already know, the longer a local move takes, the deeper you’ll have to dig into your pocket to cover the higher moving cost.

7. Your movers have arrived with insufficient moving equipment

Great local movers will want to get the job done as quickly as possible simply because they’ll have a tight schedule to keep – as long as they’re done packing and moving your stuff, they’re going to another address to do the same thing all over again.

Regrettably, local moving companies that are not that great could choose to use dishonest tactics to get more money from each customer.

Another way local movers can prolong the move hours is to come with only one moving dolly that, miraculously, will have one of its wheels come off during the actual move.

8. Your movers never have enough packing supplies

Your local movers are likely to be working way too slowly if they haven’t brought enough packing materials to complete the packing job in one go. And if that’s the case, then the inevitable multiple interruptions to go and get more boxes or packing paper will surely stretch out the billing hours more than you like.

One good way to prevent such an unpleasant scenario from unfolding before your own eyes is to pack whatever you can by yourself and to leave only specialty items to be packed by the pros.

9. Your movers don’t have the right tools for furniture disassembly

Furniture disassembly is a specialized job that you may not be able to complete on your own due to a lack of required skills.

And that’s exactly why you are advised to let professional movers tackle the task, especially when it comes to large and heavy furniture such as a king-size bed or an enormous dresser.

Still, the local movers you’ve hired may use the furniture disassembly task as the perfect opportunity to prolong the house move by at least one hour, particularly when they don’t have the right tools for the job.

How to Disassemble Furniture When Moving: Step-By-Step Guide

10. Your movers have arrived with a moving vehicle that’s too small

Though rarely used, another classic trick that some local moving companies may resort to in order to extend the move hours is to arrive on Moving day with a moving vehicle that can’t possibly fit all the household items that you’re moving.

Only, you’re about to be informed of that unfortunate fact much later, right after half of your things have already been loaded into the truck. Sure, the company will send another moving vehicle, bigger this time, but you get to wonder who’s going to pay for all the wasted time in the meantime.

Moving Fraud Prevention Guide: Protect Your Move

What you should do when your movers are working too slowly on purpose

Of course, if you do happen to have your local movers working way too slowly intentionally, then you shouldn’t just stand there and do nothing – after all, it’s your hard-earned money that’s at risk in such an unfortunate situation.

So, instead of just watching your local movers ripping you off by working too slowly on purpose, you should do something about it.

Step 1. Remain calm

This is very important. Sure, what you’re witnessing is not fair by any means, but getting angry and accusing your movers directly of trying to scam you will not usually get the issue resolved in your favor.

Remember that you’re trying to reach a peaceful resolution of the problem, so making a scene will not get you any closer to what you’re trying to accomplish.

And there’s always a chance that you may have come to a wrong conclusion drawn from your strong desire for your movers to work faster.

So, make a genuine effort to keep your cool and follow the next few steps for a greater chance of success.

Step 2. Speak with the foreman

Every moving crew has a foreman – the person who’s in charge of the team. Usually, the foreman is the truck driver but that’s not always the case.

Either way, you’ll know who the foreman is from the start, so if you suspect the movers of packing or moving your items too slowly on purpose, you should go to the said foreman and inform them of your suspicion. Do it in a calm manner, without direct personal attacks that will only make things worse, and provide specific proof to support your case.

Don’t forget to mention that if things do not improve right away, they can forget about getting any tips from you.

Ideally, the foreman will listen to what you have to say and will do whatever is necessary to speed things up.

Step 3. Call the moving company

If the foreman does nothing to change (improve) the situation, then the next step is to call the head office of the moving company and explain the problem.

Here’s the thing: when the movers in your home are doing all they can to stretch out their billable hours, then the moving company is paying them more money for less work.

Therefore, the local moving company may not be too thrilled to learn that their workers are slow-dogging it simply because the company should have the incentive, just like you do, to see the moving job finished quickly.

And if you’ve done your homework and hired a reputable mover, then you should expect the issue to be resolved in a timely manner.

Step 4. Leave a negative review

If the moving company is not willing to take the matter seriously, then you should move to the next step – leaving a bad customer review about the movers.

Writing a short narrative of what your local movers did wrong – give specific examples – is likely to give you a potent dispute-solving power and potentially prompt the moving company to honor your dispute and resolve the issue in a manner that’s favorable for you.

Click here to write a review about the moving company.

Additional pro-active steps

Of course, the best way to deal with dishonest movers is to be proactive and to be protected even before your local movers knock on your door. Here’s now:

• Get multiple in-home estimates. Ask for at least 3 in-home estimates from different local moving companies. Moving company representatives will visit your home in person, will take an inventory of your things, and will assess the layout of the home noting down any dangers and challenges on Moving day. This way, you’ll get accurate cost estimates that will have the move time estimated much more precisely to prevent any scams later on.
• Research your movers. Do your homework in advance and do thorough research on the local movers you’re considering for the job. Check their online reputation in the form of customer reviews, then check their standings with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
• Disassemble the furniture yourself. Furniture disassembly is a task that can take a lot of time to complete and that’s not something you’d like to hear when you’re being charged by the hour. First of all, think about whether you really have to move some of the furniture you own. And secondly, whenever possible, disassemble the furniture pieces by yourself to save valuable time… and money.
• Pack by yourself. Packing for a move can take forever to complete and that’s far from an ideal house-moving scenario for you. To cut drastically the hours your local movers will be working on your move, pack up whatever you can by yourself. The good news is that, as long as you have enough time, you should be able to box up almost everything you own, especially when it comes to packing non-fragile items such as clothes, shoes, and books.

It’s never fun to become a victim of fraudulent movers.

Use our Moving Cost Calculator to get in touch with pre-screened moving companies that are both reputable and honest – licensed and insured movers that will never attempt to rip you off one way or another.