Be careful with valuables. Review on Shah Movers and Packers, Bangalore

We recently shifted residences within Bangalore city and employed he services of Shah Packers and Movers for the shifting. This choice was based on the recommendations of my colleagues, who had used their services. Due to this, I didn't talk to any other movers at all.

Rule#1 - Negotiate. Negotiate. Negotiate.

When I called them up initially, they quoted Rs.3, 500/- for shifting my household goods over a distance of 2 kms. It was my mistake that I didn't bargain hard and ended up settling down for Rs.3, 000/- But when the final bill came, I found that it contained additional service charges of around 12% plus the mandatory "tips".

Rule#2 - Be ever present and watchful when the movers are there.

Unfortunately due to some urgent work, I wasn't present during the initial 10 odd minutes when they started packing the goods. My wife was there but busy handling our kid. Due to this, we were not able to remove the essentials away which resulted in the keys and watches getting packing into the containers.

Rule#3 - Keep your valuables together and guard them as long as the packing session takes place.

We put in all our valuables together in a wardrobe but couldn't lock it due the keys getting packed already. We kept the cellphones as well along with the valuables, and were always present in the room except for one occasion when one of the mover boys was left alone in that room for around 2 minutes.

Rule#4 - Keep all the small valuables on your person during the move. This includes items like cellphones, watches, wallets, credit cards, etc.

During the unpacking at the new place, we found that my wife's cellphone was missing. We confronted the movers and had their pockets checked but nothing came out of it. The cellphone was in the wardrobe with the other valuables. What is gone stays gone, as they say. We reckon that it was just the 2 minutes, when no one of us were in the room, when this took place. Then we also thought that we might have packed it off in some corner of a suitcase or carton, but it's been more than a week that we've moved and unpacked everything - still the phone's no where to be found.

We also tried calling up the office of the packers and telling them to enquire about it. But they were non-responsive saying "you must have kept it somewhere" and "it has never happened in our company history".

Rule#4 - Be very explicit about what you expect them to do and what they expect you to do.

During the unpacking, we were told to immediately unpack the cartons that they had brought, since they'd would take them away and were in a hurry. Now, we were always ready to lend a helping hand but there is a way how you talk to your customers. I was really very pissed off by this attitude, because in the first place I didn't expect to be doing unpacking work and secondly, that too in a hurry.

Damages - Rs.3, 500/- in all including the service charges and "tips". Plus a stolen cellphone and some headache in the hurriedness they caused towards the end.

While they may be good in taking care of the goods(no scratches or damages), but be very careful about your valuables, especially the small ones - they might simply go missing as I experienced. And also, you might experience working with them to unpack and their hurry at the end.

Address of the movers:

#3340, 1st Main, Nagamma Layout

Kaval Byrasandra

R.T. Nagar Post, Bangalore - 32.