Sunday, March 20, 2016

How finding a great mover took me 3 years:

The semi arrives (yes, a semi!)

Moving sucks

Some research says moving counts as one of the top 5 most stressful things you can do.  I believe it.
I’d like tell you a story – a story of how I spent 3 years finding a great mover.
First, some background.  I moved more than 15 times in my life.  Early on, I would move myself.   As I acquired more stuff and got a bit older, I hired movers.    Every single time I tried to find a mover online, I thought to myself, “wow, moving is the industry the internet forgot about.”   Why could I not search movers?  Why could I not read verified reviews? Why could I not see photos of movers, or get any info on them at all?
When you search for other things online, reviews, prices, photos, and other great information guides you to an informed decision.   I wanted an Amazon, or Orbitz, or Tripadvisor, or Cars.com, or HomeFinder for moving.   Heck, I would have settled for a list of licensed movers in my area.    Instead, I constantly ran into a blind lead form – one that asked for all of my personal information, without showing me any of the movers that would contact me. You know what happened when I submitted that lead form?   I got called by not one, not two, but by SIX movers.  Argh!

Making it better

3 years ago, Shannon Cullins, then HomeFinder’s VP of Product, and I decided to change things.  We learned everything we could about moving, and decided to build an incredibly trustworthy, consumer friendly service to help consumers find great movers and experience happy moves.  We called it MovingCompanyReviews.com (MCR for short).  Shannon took over as General Manager, and we launched the site in February of 2013.   We launched with a few key features to guarantee we focus on helping people find the best movers:
  • We verify every review with either a moving receipt (called a Bill of Lading), or a move confirmed by a quality moving company
  • We prominently display each mover’s review rating
  • We prominently show every mover’s state and federal licensing information, links to their federal complaint history, and any other pertinent government information
  • We put caution badges on movers with suspect quality, or fraud complaints

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