With the excitement of coming back to school, seeing friends from opposite coasts and getting back into classes or coop comes the anxiety, stress and headache that is moving and relocating.
For on campus residents the struggle is prevalent with small elevators, faulty carts or the horrifying moment of a suitcase opening to reveal your underwear to a whole group of college boys. Moving off campus, however, is often a recurring nightmare for many Boston area students.
With the added difficulty of navigating busy city streets, moving more furniture further distances and a lack of university aide, upperclassmen residents have many horror stories to tell.
Some students are moving much further than others, from Symphony to Comm Ave for example, which is much too far to push a cart back and forth. Because of this distance, many choose to hire a moving company with hopes of the process being quick and efficient. This, however, is more often than not quite far from the truth.
September 1st being when most off campus leases start, the city is crawling with minivans, U Haul trucks and trailers galore the majority of the day. That being said, many moving companies are overbooked and have many jobs to complete in a short amount of time. Northeastern student Kathleen Liu used a moving company, but was among one of their last jobs of the day.
As a result, her hired help began to slack off and cost her more money as their efficiency rapidly decreased. Her advice? “If you get movers, schedule to be one of the first jobs so they won’t be tired and slack off,” said Liu.
In addition, problems can often arise before the movers even begin the process. Another Northeastern student, Dave Hoch, called on a moving company to help with his long distance, inner-city move. Hoch signed the necessary paperwork and paid the amount required. However, after they had loaded his furniture, held it overnight and subsequently brought it to his new residence, they asked for more money and his signature on a new, different invoice.
“[The moving company] told me that since the move was over two days, I would need to pay more money. This was never told to me, and I thought it was ridiculous how I needed to pay more money. I was lied to about the total cost of the move, and had I known the total cost, I would’ve used different movers,” said Hoch.
The horror stories most certainly exist, but there are ways to avoid them and have the process go much, much smoother.
Northeastern senior Alyssa flores recommends starting as early as possible, and to recognize that even if the landlord says one thing, there may be other options.
“Some landlords will tell you that they won’t give you your keys until noon, but they get the keys from the previous tenants the night before so you can even be as lucky to get the keys at 8 AM,” said flores.
So, next time you are starting to pack your things and mentally prepare to move, remember that the process may appear daunting, but with proper planning and forethought it can also be a breeze.