As Paul Harvey would say: "And now, the rest of the story."
On July 12th I made arrangements with Regal Van Lines to pick up furniture and other property from my Mother's house in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania and transport the items to Colorado. Their salesman, Mike Kessler informed me that I would be charged $1,250 for any load up to 1,700 pounds. After that, the charge would be $0.60 for every pound over. I paid a deposit using my credit card and they charged 20% of the bill ($250.00) to my card. They were to pick up the items on the 26th of July.
They did not show up; the pickup was finally made on July 28th when I was back in Colorado. I received a call in Colorado that the van was on its way to pickup in PA. They also told me that they needed $400.00 cash or Money Order to pick up the furniture. I explained that it was Sunday and that I was in Colorado. After several frantic phone calls, my friend P& P&went out to my Mother's house with $100.00 in a Money Order.
Over the next few days I made arrangements with my church to donate all the furniture that I currently had that would be replaced, to area missionaries.By the end of the week all of my living room, bedroom, and some kitchen furniture was removed from my house in expectations of the van coming with replacement furniture.
When the van had not arrived and I had not heard anything from the company in ten days, I began calling them on a daily basis. The first time I called, I was told that everything would be here in a week to nine days.
In the meantime I received a packet of paperwork from my friend P& P - . It shows items they claimed where boxed or crated, and that my friend claims were just wrapped in a blanket. (I'm not to be charged for bubble wrap, white paper, tape, blankets, etc.)
I called Regal Van Lines to complain about this and to find out my final charge. They told me that the final weight was 2860 lbs. And that after the $250.00 down payment and the $100.00 Money Order, I owed them $1797.55 for a total of $2,147.55. I was also told at this time that I needed to have the balance in cash or a Money Order. They would not take a credit card or bank certified check.
As the weeks went by I began filing complaints with the New York, BBB and pulling off forms from the New York Attorney General and other agencies, on the Internet.
After a month of waiting I contacted KKTV/11 News (Call For Action). The volunteer at the TV station tried for four weeks to get the company to deliver my property. (She was lied to as well.)
After being lied to repeatedly by various employees of Regal Van Lines from the dispatcher named Avi to the owner Aaron Ben-Shoshan, the semi-tractor trailer pulled up at my house in Colorado on Wednesday October 2. This was sixty-four days from pick-up to delivery.
Trouble started when the owner-operator Avigor Shallit insisted on the balance in cash before they unloaded my property. When I insisted that my property be unloaded so I could inspect it and make sure everything was there. Avi said Goodbye Barbara. He started to return to the truck. I asked that the company confirm that this was proper way for a moving company to do business. Avi told me to call the company and if they said he could unload before payment, he would.
Before calling the company I called 911 and asked for police assistance. I also called KK/TV 11 News (Call For Action) and they said they were sending a film crew. Of course, the company said I needed to pay the balance in-full before delivery.
When the police arrived, Avi Shallit was the spokesman for the three men on the truck. A heated confrontation in sued with the police threatening to impound the truck. Avi insisted they couldn't do that. The police proceeded to call in a member of the commercial vehicle safety inspection team. (It sounded like the officer found some safety violations.)
An hour later with a film crew documenting everything, Avi agreed to weigh his truck and unload after I had paid in cash and then reweigh the truck. Avi also insisted that he would be charging me $75.00 for every hour he was at my house, the time both ways to the weighing station, etc.
Avi agreed in front of the police that he would refund money for any overcharge of weight when we arrived at the weigh station a second time.
When we arrived at a weighing station, I paid the $8.00 fee. After weighing the truck everyone arrived back at my house, I paid Avi in-full, and the men started to unload the van. KK/TV 11 News began to film again, all three men became enraged. They demanded that the filming stop or they would not unload the van. Avi started to push the camera-person around and she yelled for me to call 911. This time five cruisers pull up and the officers informed Avi that he had to stay away from the camera-person and that she had a right to film from public property. The reporter for KK/TV 11 News asked Avi numerous questions about the move, the delay, and the question of weight of my property; all he would reply to each and every question was, I don't know.
The three man moving crew did not follow the guidelines the company gave me for their unloading. They did not reassemble items that were disassembled for the move. They did not remove boxing material that was placed on some of my items at pickup. They did not give me the castors that were missing from chairs and bed frame, that Avi said were still on the truck.
Everyone when back to the weigh station when the unloading was complete. It was proven that the company had over charged me for 720 lbs. At first Avi refused to give me a refund. Next the best he could do was $300. I had an employee at the weigh station call the police again. At the end Avi returned $444 of the $544 because the company did not record the $100 Money Order they received at pick-up on his paper work. My friend in PA has the receipt for the Money Order and right then, I couldn't prove it had been paid. (When I wanted to make a notation at the bottom of the receipt that the company still owed me $100, Avi told me he would not give me back my money unless I signed my name and did not add anything else to the receipt!)
I went with the film crew and filmed an interview that was used with the footage taken during the day. First coverage of the incident was on the ten o'clock news.
Upon arriving home I re-checked all my paperwork and I did find a notation for the $100.00 cash the company received at pickup. Signed by their driver named Moses. I went over the math again. The weigh of the truck with 2,120 pounds should cost me $1,502. Only a mirror was boxed that adds a charge total of $30.15. Thus the total cost should have been $1,532.15. I paid a total of $2,150.00 and then received $444.00 back, making a total of $1,706.00 paid. The company still owes me $173.85.
Upon inspecting the my property, I found that the container holding two pendulum wall clocks had been opened. The door portion on one clock was broken in three pieces and the entire bottom of the second clock was crushed and the pendulum was missing from the second clock. The clocks weighed 18 and 20 pounds. Since I was not given the opportunity to purchase any extra insurance on this shipment. The company owes me an additional $16.80 for damages.
Total due from the company is $190.65. I am giving the company two weeks to correct the situation and send my refund. Otherwise, I will be filing complaints with every state and federal agency that deals with moving and storage companies.
Barb
Colorado Spring, Colorado
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