When they finally finished unloading at 1am, the tally of missing and crushed items was rather grim. But signs of trouble with Vivo had started weeks before. We were not at all satisfied with the care or professionalism of the company at any stage after the initial sales contact. Our first sign of real worry, however, was when the loaders had no "fragile" stickers with them. But we were reassured that everything would be OK.
The unloading long haul driver announced his arrival by pulling a fast U-turn on a busy 4-lane street, and barreled down the middle of the wrong 2 lanes, flashing and honking to clear the startled drivers out of his path. The drivers were not the only ones startled, we did not expect the truck for another month. The truck arrived at our temporary location, despite our having wrote "no address yet — please call" in huge letters on the appropriate form.
The unloaders had a devil of a time getting the door of the truck open. Unsurprisingly, the goods had shifted in the direction of the U-Turn. This became a theme throughout the evening as the precariously stacked goods of other customers would fall. Once, the driver hurt his hand as a bicycle fell from the ceiling. At least two other times we turned to see one of the unloaders literally knocked over and sitting underneath an avalanche of other people's goods, all mixed with ours.
The truck was packed floor to ceiling with our stuff, with no dividers whatsoever. This meant boxes which could comfortably stack 10 high were stacked far higher. Boxes marked "fragile up" were stacked upside down under a dozen other boxes, then topped with furniture tossed artfully on top. The driver stood on our TV to reach other boxes, far above his head. Boxes that would have survived a dozen cross-country trips via UPS or Fedex were pulverized.
You know it must have been since the unloaders didn't even wait for a tip. Specifically our complaints are that Vivo Van Lines:
* In-home estimate was off by a factor of 2 on the number of boxes needed.
* Use of "cubic feet" estimate, to avoid accountability under federal law.
* Refused to honor a promised $100 off coupon.
* Completely ignored a "one month free storage" promise and coupon.
* Arrived (one month early, at wrong address) without having made a good faith effort to contact us. They claim the phone was "busy".
* Lost three boxes entirely.
* Crushed dozens of boxes. While many had no damage inside, the level of force on the boxes must have been enormous.
* Split open several bags of clothing.
* Crushed bookcases which had moved without incident before.
* Crushed the grille of an expensive speaker, which they packed.
* Failed every test of adequate communication on packing, insurance, responsibility and delivery matters. Used packing codes not listed in their index of codes.
* Failed to adequately explain insurance options. Failed to disclose costs, they seem to use insurance to pad low bids.
* Maintained a high pressure approach to forcing the customer to sign forms and accept conditions throughout.
* Falsely claimed to be a member of AMSA.
* Performed our move under a suspended Federal Motor Carrier license.
* According to Federal Motor Carrier Administration, Vivo Van Lines is operating on a suspended insurance certificate.
The first impression on talking to their dispatcher is that he's a man used to adsorbing customer complaints. Not surprising. The driver got into the act also, trying to keep us from describing the condition of the goods on the paperwork. We expect a devil of a time getting adequate compensation for what was lost.
We move from Cambridge MA to Berkeley CA in February.
0 comments