Most complaints about movers in Pakistan trace back to the same thing: the person you spoke to on the phone was not the person who turned up. Here is what to check before you book — including the questions that will tell you, in about two minutes, whether you are talking to a mover or to an agent.
Ask whose vehicle is coming
This is the whole question. A large share of the numbers you find online belong to booking agents who take your job and pass it to whoever is free that day, adding their cut. Ask directly: is the vehicle yours, and are the loaders on your payroll? An agent will start explaining their "network". A mover will just say yes.
Refuse a single round number
A quote of "thirty thousand, all included" tells you nothing and protects nobody. Ask for it split: vehicle and distance, loading and unloading, packing material, extras. When a rate is broken up, you can see what changed if the final bill differs — and the mover has to think before quoting.
Insist on a survey for anything large
For a full house, a mover who quotes without seeing it is guessing. The survey is what turns a guess into a price, and it is also your chance to watch how the person behaves — whether they open wardrobes and look behind furniture, or glance around the lounge and name a figure.
Check the address, not just the number
Ask where the office is and whether you can visit. A real operation has a place you can walk into. A mobile number and a Facebook page is not an address, and if something goes wrong there is nowhere to go.
Be suspicious of the lowest quote
On a Karachi run, one very low quote usually means one of three things: a smaller vehicle than the load needs, fewer loaders than the job needs, or a figure that will grow on the day. The cheapest quote and the final bill are rarely the same number.
Ask what they will not do
A mover who says yes to everything — sea freight, customs clearance, climate-controlled storage, any city any day — is either enormous or not being straight with you. Someone willing to tell you that a job is not theirs is usually telling you the truth about the rest.
The short version
- Is the vehicle yours, and are the loaders your own staff?
- Can I have the quote split into four lines?
- Will you survey the house before quoting?
- Where is your office and can I visit it?
- What happens if something is damaged?
- What kind of work do you not take?
Where we do this
We load in Islamabad and drive. How to Choose a Mover is available in Rawalpindi and across the twin cities, and on every intercity route we run — Lahore, Karachi, Multan, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Abbottabad and the rest. Each city page carries its own distance from Islamabad and what that journey actually involves.