Agarwal Packers and Movers

Traumatizing experience with Agarwal
By: ranjit_konkar | Aug 29, 2008 09:23 PM



Pros:
None
Cons:
Mumbai staff: rude, blackmailing, incompetent. 100% upfront payment policy.





For our move from Mumbai to Ahmedabad in early June, we decided to hire Agarwal Packers and

Movers, at Rs. 16,000 the most expensive
of the 4 packers and movers we interviewed, thinking we would see what service good payment

could get us. It turned out we paid to learn which movers to avoid in future.


The whole process began on a bad note. There was a 2.5 hr delay because of our address

having been wrongly entered by their person who came to book our order [Carelessness in

basic but important record-keeping]. This delay was to prove very costly: we had
Agarwal Packers and Movers

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a 10pm train to catch and they had assured us when taking our order that packing and

loading would be over by 6pm latest. It then turned out that they were also two people

short of the 5 they had promised us would come for packing [not keeping their word]. And as

if that were not enough, half way through the packing they discovered that they had run

out of packing crates [unbelievably inadequate planning]! They phoned their office to have

more material (boxes, packing material) sent and were toldit would be 5pm to arrive. Now

panicking for the very real possibility of missing our train, my wife and I ourselves sat

down with their packing person to pack our belongings ! Not a word of apology or gratitude

to us for having to do their job for them. [No training in basic social courtesies, no

concern for customer]. We had to finally resort to calling my wife’s brother out from his

office to oversee the packing and despatch the truck in our absence.


At the point of leaving, the supervisor asked us to make payment first. We took out Rs.

8,000 (50%) as payment for which we were pointed out by him that full payment is required

before despatch [Extortionist terms]. We discovered to our disbelief that the fine print on

the contract did say so [Our fault: not reading fine print]. Our experiences with other

movers has always been that half is paid before despatch at source and half after unpacking

at destination. We wasted almost another hour of our time in protracted arguing with the

packing supervisor present and with the company officers on phone demanding to know how

such a one-sided contract was expected of us. We offered 50% as fair payment considering

the many mishaps and shoddy service of the day which was resulting in our almost missing

our train, only to have them reply shockingly rudely "Who told you to book a train for the

same night?" and "If you don’t pay, the truck won’t leave"[holding customer to ransom]. We

were reduced to shouting at them to understand that the customer can’t be left paying the

entire amount plus leaving his entire belongings in their custody. He finally deigned to

accept 75% payment and we could leave just in time to have bath, dinner, and catch our

train. The horrible experience at the hands of Agarwal had destroyed all the good mood we

wanted to be in during the move. We were traumatised at being humiliated and held to ransom

by the moving company and being treated like people off the street (my wife and I are

professors).



In that hour before leaving, we had to sign the insurance papers he made out. We were not

explained the terms of the insurance (very vital for story ending later) except to be told

that it covered damage or loss in transit, and the list of items he made out was barely

understandable, his English was so bad. From his speech and writing the supervisor might

not even be a 10th pass, and he is making out insurance papers! [inadequately qualified

personnel]



Throughout the packing there was no systematic method of packing

(ordering/sorting/grouping/...), recording what was being packed, listing value (for

insurance), etc, things that we could have very easily suggested to them how to do their

job. [No competence in their own job of packing]



Our stuff reached Ahmedabad on day 4 instead of day 2 ! When the truck arrived at our new

house there was water all over the floor of the truck (it had rained on the way) and the

plastic crates and cardboard boxes containing our stuff were all seen to be standing in

water. Once they started unloading, here were the sad procedures and outcomes of the

unpacking service we paid for:



1. Many of our belongings (mattresses, books, files) were wet with water. There are water

stains on them to this day.



2. The so-called unpacking service we had paid for consisted of two people given no tools

to do unpacking, not even a blade or knife. They were cutting open duct tape by jabbing at

it with screwdrivers or keys, and tougher cords with their teeth (see photo).



3. Liquids (like cooking oil) they packed had spilt all over the other contents of their

crate. We had packed liquids after being assured by their packing personnel that it was OK

to pack liquids and that they knew how to pack them.



4. The last straw: water came dripping out of our PC ! Out of the CPU, out of the keyboard

and out of the monitor. This after these were wrapped (obviously not perfectly) in plastic

and put in a plastic crate. The unpackers and driver who upto that time were claiming that

everything was usual and minor, were red-faced on seeing the water dripping out of the

computer and realised that they had no explanation or excuse for it. This ended up

permanently damaging the LAN card and the USB card. I had the foresight to remove the hard

disk and carrying it with me separately.



We stood vindicated for our refusal of paying 100% payment up front. If we had paid all, we

would never have seen the Agarwal people again, after all the damage they caused to us –

physical and mental. It was just because we had Rs. 4,000 yet to pay that their office even

called us. The Ahmedabad man was civil and courteous and offered to repay us the charges

for repairs on the computer. We thought that was our right since we had insurance (for

which we were congratulating ourselves), but were stunned to learn from him that our

insurance did not cover it. We were told that rain (such a common and costly spoiler) is

not covered in their transit insurance, and that an insurance 10 times more costly has to

be purchased for it. We were told that we should have booked what is called a Mobile Home

(= covered truck). We told him that at the time of booking the order, that is what we had

wanted but were assured by their own man that it was not necessary, a normal open truck

with tarpaulin was sufficient.



Agarwal fails in all respects: i) respect to customer, ii) care, training, and competence

in their job, iii) fairness of policy, iv) professional ethics. While deciding whether to

engage them, please remember that their basic service (already the most expensive) is

inadequate – to that you have to add cost of comprehensive insurance and cost of Mobile

Home if you want to avoid our experience and come out without losses. If you can still

afford them, remember that they do not know packing, especially liquids. Remember to leave

a full day between their departure and yours. Remember that they lie about when their

consignment would reach. Take it in writing from them if possible, with your own

compensatory clauses for breach of promise. After all that, you will still be left with

paying 100% upfront even before the truck leaves.


sandeepmohan said:
Aug 30, 2008 11:42 AM

Its a mixed bag you know, after i have read your experience with these guys it does not

look like i will ever go to them though i have had a good experience with them when i had

to shift, but now its time for me to shift again and i need to look at my options carefully