July 3: Spoke to Cathy Williams a representative from Moving Cost, Inc about out upcoming move to Texas from Michigan. She had told me that Moving Cost, Inc have contracted space with United States Van Lines and they would be the company that would move us. The following weeks I was in contact with Cathy Williams about our move. She stated numerous times that this move was only going to take 3 to 5 days and that that is what we should pack for. When we signed the contract the dates were different than what she had been telling me. She stated that the reason that they push out the dates like that was for the things like road closures, tornados, hurricanes, floods, and things that just cant be help. She and I went through a detailed moving list to give me an estimate on how much the total move was going to be. We thought that the estimate was fair so therefore we gave a deposit of $1002.57 to reserve the space and time for the move. We set up the date for pick up on August 1st or 2nd.
On July 27 Shawn, Quality Control Department from Moving Cost, Inc called to make sure that we had estimated correctly for the move and then told us that we needed to reserve even more space on the truck or they would not be able to pick up all of our things. He then asked for another deposit of $1477.44 for the extra space. We found out later that that is only a scare tactic to get us to pay them more money. The carriers always have more space, if it is a reputable moving company.
Then on July 31st we spoke to Cathy Williams again and found out that the carrier was not going to be United States Van Lines, that it was in fact going to be 'Michigan Relocation Services' and stated that they would arrive on August 1st between 8 and 10 A.M. At that time we did not have time to research the company that we were going to give everything we have ever owned to. That was very alarming, but again we didnt have any time left to find another carrier or moving company as we had to catch our flight to Texas the morning of August 4th.
August 1st @ 8:30A.M. I called Michigan Relocation Services to confirm the pick up that morning. The secretary said that it was scheduled for pick up on August 2nd between 9 A.M. And 10 A.M. I questioned the delivery and the secretary stated that it would take approximately 2 weeks. I then immediately called Cathy Williams @ Moving Cost, Inc to let her know what I was told and she told me that she was going to call Michigan Relocation Services to see what was going on. Cathy Williams then called me back and said that the secretary did not know what she was talking about and that she was the only one in the office that day and that they could not give me a delivery date till they picked me up. Cathy then stated that she was going to call Dennis, one of the truck drivers to check in with him about the time. She told me that Dennis stated that he was on his way back from Colorado and that as soon as he got back to Michigan that he would be picking our load up and bringing it to Texas within the 3 to 5 days as promised. Called Moving Cost, Inc and spoke to a supervisor named Inez. She also told me that it was going to take 3 to 5 days for delivery as well and that she had spoke to Dennis the driver and that is was he told her.
August 2nd, the movers from Michigan Relocation Services showed up at 11:30 A.M. Before they started loading we questioned them. They stated that it would not be delivered for 2 weeks or longer. We then called Cathy Williams back at Moving Cost, Inc. She stated that they did not know what they were talking about and that she'd talked to Dennis and he said that he would be at our new residence in 3 to 5 days. I asked her to send me an email stating this and she said that she would. I called her back 2 hours later after looking for the email to let her know that I had not received it. She was not answering our calls and not returning them either. After that the movers had finished loading all of our belongings and pulled out at approximately 5:30 P.M. I never spoke to Cathy Williams from Moving Cost, Inc, She never returned any of my emails or phone calls.
August 4th, Flew to Texas with our family, which included 4 children all under the age of 10, a dog and cat, and 5 days worth of clothing for all. I spoke to a Customer Service Representative from Moving Cost, Inc named Dinuba. She informed me that Dave the Dispatcher at Michigan Relocation Services was on vacation until August 9th and that our things would not be sent to us until then. At that time Michigan Relocation Services had hired another truck driver to take our load on Friday and that he would be in Texas on August 13th. Please keep in mind that we had only packed for 5 days each and had nothing else but clothes to make it in our new house. We then proceeded to purchase the bear necessities which included blankets, pillows, pots and pans, cups, plates, toiletries and everything else to sustain a family of 6 for 10 more days till our belongings arrived. This expense alone what over $1500.00 and was an expense we were not prepared for.
August 9th we contacted Dave at Michigan Relocation Services to check in on the delivery of our belongings. He then told me that my things were in storage and he would need 3 business days to load the trailer. He also informed us that Dennis the original truck driver had taken vacation until Monday. He also informed us that their new truck driver did not show up for work and that they were trying to hire another person to carry our things and that this process would take until Friday August 17th but Dennis the original driver would have our belongings to us by the 15th and that our truck was next to leave the yard. At this time we contacted Mandy a Dispatcher at Moving Cost, Inc to let them know what was going on. She informed me that they were trying to get us compensation for not having our things to us within the contracted date which was to have our things delivered by August 13th and that she had spoken with Dave from Michigan Relocation Services and that he told her that our items were going to be there on the 15th of August. Which ended up to be another lie. We were supposed to pay the driver from Michigan Relocation Services $3200.00 when our things were delivered but Moving Cost Inc was working on getting up a very large compensation. When we had spoke to Dave about the Compensation he stated to us that they did not give compensation until it was over 30 days late and then and only then would it be only $25.00 a day after the 30 days
August 13th, contacted Dave from Michigan Relocation Services to get status. He informed us that Dennis had picked up another load instead of ours. So he was going to have the new driver take ours out on August 17th.
Morning of August 17th, contacted Dave from Michigan Relocation Services to get status. He stated that he was waiting on the new driver to pick up the load.
Afternoon of August 17th, contacted Dave from Michigan Relocation Services to get status. He stated that the other new driver did not show up and that he was in the process of hiring a new one and he would have him trained and background checks done by Friday August 24th we would have our things on by August 22nd because Dennis was going to come back and pick up our load on Saturday August 19th.
August 17th, We spoke to Inez a Supervisor with Moving Cost, Inc to let them know how unhappy this made us including the children. I asked them repeated times to have another company bring our belonging to us and they said that they did not do that and that we just needed to wait and they were trying to get us compensation for us since Michigan Relocation Services was past their contracted date.
Monday August 20th, called Dave at Michigan Relocation Services to check in on the delivery date. He then told us that Dennis had not return yet and he was waiting on him and he was going to take ours next. At this time Dave told us that we were the last stop on the route. Dave stated that the first stop was going to be in Tennessee, where he had to make 2 drops, the next was a stop in Louisiana where there was only one stop then there was Houston Texas where there was one drop and then 2 in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area in which ours was the last one on the truckl.
Monday evening August 20th, Contacted Robert Osborne a family friend in Michigan that was a truck driver to see if he would consider going to Livonia Michigan to pick up our things for us from Michigan Relocation Services. At this time we needed our things in order to enroll our children in school. School started August 27th and we were missing the vital enrollment dates.
Tuesday morning August 21st, Spoke to Robert Osborne with Osborne Trucking. He stated that he would go retrieve our things, but we would have to buy his services for the week and that was going to be a cost of $5600.00. We at that time hired Robert to bring our things to Texas.
Wednesday morning 8:30 A.M. Went to Michigan Relocation Services in Livonia, Michigan to demand our property and Dave from Michigan Relocation Services charge us $1100.00 for storage and we had to pay this in order to take possession. Dave stated that it was going to take 3 to 4 hours to get our things off his truck. We then stated that we would just drive up and park the trailers next to each other and load it that way.
Wednesday 11:30 A.M. Dave called and stated that he was ready for us to come and retrieve our things. Dave pointed to 2 storage units and that is where our belongings where and had never been in a trailer going to be delivered. We then called Moving Cost, Inc and spoke to Inez and let her know that since they did not do what we paid them to do that I wanted a full refund. She then told me that it had to go to the review department and that I would be receiving a call with in 24 hours.
Saturday August 25, Robert arived with our things. We received a call from Latasha, a person with the Administration department @ Moving Cost Inc. She asked me everything that happened and then she told me that she would send it to the review department and give a call back with in 48 hours.
Tuesday August 28th, received a call from Latasha in the review department. She then told me that they were only willing to give a refund of 10%. We did not except the offer. To us that was unacceptable, because we paid then to find us a reputable moving company that would deliver our things no later than August 13. They did not do as we paid them for they lied to us from the beginning up until the end. They have caused a lot of mental and emotional stress for my family and me. And in addition the financial strain of having to just get by with barely anything for over 3 weeks.
We hope that this statement gives you a good idea of everything we went through. All the lies we were told by both companies and the hurt that those lies caused.
Aimee
North Richland Hills, Texas
U.S.A.
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