When we moved to Illinois from Boise, Idaho at the end of May our experience using All My Sons Moving and their contractor Bekins Van Lines was an absolute nightmare! We hired All My Sons Moving, who are located in Boise, Idaho, because of the reasonable amount of their estimate. Little did we know that we would be "held up" for an additional $4000 when the truck arrived in Illinois. We have heard horror stories about that kind of thing happening, but we just never thought we had hired a company that would do such a thing. While we didn't expect the estimate to be cast in stone, we certainly didn't expect it to be $4000 off! It is our belief that All My Sons deliberately gives low estimates in order to get the business while fully intending to hold the client's belongings hostage at the final destination until several thousand more $ is paid.
We found All My Sons to be extremely unreliable, and the packers they sent to pack our belongings were totally careless and irresponsible. For example, our large stained glass window valued in between $1000 and $1500 was packed in a regular cardboard box with no padding, styrofoam, or protection of any kind. When we unpacked, we discovered it badly broken. Other glass objects were similarly packed. One of our silk lampshades was ripped to shreds and cost us $133 to replace, and all we received of our Texas Longhorn Steer skull was one horn. Okay, it was just a skull, but it was a gift from our son and a great conversation piece to have on the back porch. If you were to order one of those off the internet, you would have to pay $600 or more for a nice one. Now Bekins is refusing to compensate us for the loss because All My Sons and/or Bekins failed to put the skull on their inventory. Therefore, it does not exist! (Hey All My Sons and Bekins, we have pictures of the skull)
When the kitchen was packed, the packers did not even bother to close and seal the open bags of flour and sugar. You can only imagine the mess we encountered when we unpacked those boxes! Flour and sugar were embedded in every crack and crevice of everything in those boxes. Those heavy boxes of groceries had to be thrown out. Similarly, bottles and jars that were in the bathroom and shower were tossed into boxes without even putting the lids on or tightening the lids. This caused a huge mess that made it necessary to toss the contents of several boxes into the garbage. The list of this type of damage goes on and on.
One of our office desks was completely demolished and the truck driver tried to get us to sign a disclaimer for the damage AT THE END OF THE MOVE. All disclaimers for moving easily damaged items should be made at the time the initial estimate is given.
Many boxes were never loaded at all and were just left sitting where they were according to our real estate agent. We did not receive many items belonging to our company, namely boxes of chemicals used in the manufacture of our products. If a moving company could not move chemicals, we should have been told up front so we could move them ourselves, especially considering that All My Sons made money packing the boxes that were never even loaded onto the truck!
As agreed to with All My Sons, some boxes were packed by us and some they packed. After everything was unloaded and we received the inventory, we discovered that the boxes we packed were not included in the inventory, nor were they given numbered stickers for the move. Not one single box that we packed had a sticker on it! This could explain why many of our boxes were never received. Somebody received them, but it sure wasn't us!
When the All My Sons packing crew ran out of boxes, they left and said they would be back before moving day to finish the job. Of course, they never returned, and the truck driver was forced to spend several hours finishing the packing job. This negligence on the part of All My Sons contributed greatly to increase our expenses.
We proceeded to file a claim with Bekins Van Lines for all the damage and items never received. And we didn't even put everything on the claim. On August 24, we received a very short letter from a Bekins claims adjustor saying they were cutting us a check for $27.00 for the damage to the broken window, even though it will cost a few hundred dollars to have it repaired. The rest of the damage and lost items and chemicals were not even mentioned in their letter. When we attempted to get a telephone explanation from Bekins about the reasoning behind this small payment, we were simply told our file has been closed.
Therefore, if you are considering making a household and/or business move, please think very carefully before using either All My Sons Moving (Boise, Idaho) and/or Bekins Van Lines. The low estimate All My Sons will give you isn't real, and Bekins' failure to fairly compensate your losses will not make it worth the risk of using them to move you. On the contrary, these guys will do nothing but rip you off faster than a frog is on a fly!
Screwed
McHenry, Illinois
U.S.A.
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