r/NYCapartments•July 2026Rise-Again-2388
Piece of Cake - Never again
July 2026: I have always used Big John’s Movers and been very happy with them. They have moved quite expensive art and furniture for me across multiple locations. Nothing was ever damaged.
I had a small move, a 1 bedroom apartment and I was moving one block. Big John’s came to my apartment, surveyed what had to be done, and quoted me $2,400. Piece of Cake quoted me $1,400 over the phone - they don’t do onsite estimates. I thought why not try them.
On moving day, the movers arrived and started moving. Then they said they had an additional charge for a small marble table because it was heavier than expected. They upcharged me $800. Then they said we had more things than expected and upcharged me again.
I called my saleperson. She said they can make only rough estimates on the phone. I said that I told her about each of the pieces. She said there is always an additional charge for marble tables. She also said estimates are only estimates. If there is more to move, they have to charge whatever time it takes. It ended up costing $2,800, more than Big John’s.
The next challenge is that I don’t think the movers had ever been in an apartment with anything nicer than IKEA (I have IKEA and like it, but also have more expensive items). They didn’t even want to box large scale glasses photos. They were going to wrap them in a blanket and just lean them up against the side in the truck.
The worst was in the kitchen. The kitchen had stained wood European cabinets. One of the worker was opening the cabinets to check things. When he came to the stove vent, which had a wood panel that matched the cabinets, he grabbed it, and tore off the entire panel. He said he thought it was a cabinet, and it was just hard to open.
Then they pleaded with me to not mention it to the company. They said if I filled out the review and complained, the company wouldn’t assign them to jobs for a week. They said take it out of their tips instead. Sorry, repairing the cabinet is more than your tip.