If you think the IT industry is bad at estimating…

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You should try the moving industry.

I have just hung up my boots at Fidelity to move deep undercover doing some work in New York (via Washington DC, but thats a whole other story). I’m initially going to be staying in a hotel, so I decided to put my furniture in storage. I’m also moving in kind of a hurry, so I needed to have the movers pack my stuff for me. So I asked them for a quote based on a 1 bedroom apartment, a kitchen’s worth of saucepans & crockery, a PC, some furniture and a few bits and bobs.

The quote was for 3 men for 3 hours and about 3-400 dollars of packing costs. This seemed pretty reasonable (I really dont have too much stuff), so I decided to go with these guys. Anyways, I have just been charged for 3 men for 9 hours, and also been charged for 900 dollars of packing costs. I’m still so angry about this I’m not sure if its a scam, or if I didnt give them enough information, but to get an estimate out by a factor of 6 is just plain ridiculous…