I contracted with North American Movers to move our belongings from Tyler, TX to Washington state in August. They were to show up between 8-10 am on 8/8/08 with 4 movers. They did not show up and when I contacted their office, they told me it would be between 3-5 since they had problems with a delivery in Houston. At 5:00 they still were not there. The excuse this time was that the truck broke down. The person in the office that I talked to, Nataly, said she was already 15 minutes late leaving on Friday due to working on my move. She also told me that their office would be closed until Monday. Numerous times I asked to speak to the owner and he was always "on the other line".
She then told me they were having to get a driver from Missouri and he could be at my house at 2:00 am Saturday. He showed up at 8:00 am Saturday and appeared to be under the influence of some substance. He just mumbled and could not complete a sentence. I thought I was dealing with North American Van Lines and when he drove up in a white truck with a white trailer, I knew something was wrong. It was not a full-sized moving van.
Upon opening the trailer, it was already half full of someone else's belongings. I told him that my things would never fit in the truck. He told me they would have to load my things and put them in storage where they would be picked up by someone else. He went back to his truck and returned with a "new" contract. My contract states that I would pay. 54/lb with an estimate of 9100 lbs., the 7% fuel surcharge was WAIVED and anything over 9100 lbs would still be. 54/lb with no charge per cubic foot. (I have every email from them that document this). HIS CONTRACT stated that I would pay a 7% fuel surcharge. 86/lb for anything over 9100 AND $6.00 per cubic foot for anything that was not on my inventory list.
When I refused to sign this "new" contract, he called the company in California. He gave me the phone and I told the man from North American Movers that I would not agree to these new terms. He very rudely told me that I was waking him at 6:00 as he was in CA. I told him that this was totatally unacceptable and I had already paid them $737 deposit. I felt I was being held hostage! He finally told me "I will give your money back!" I made sure that I had heard him correctly and he said again "I will give your money back". At that point I told the driver to leave my home!
The buyers of my house in TX were moving in that day so I had to move! I ended up having to rent the largest Budget truck I could find, hire 2 people to move me to WA. I had to pay their labor, gas, meals, hotels and airfare back to TX. I had to leave many of our belongings behind due to space.
Upon arriving in WA, I called North American Movers to inquire about my refund. The man I had talked to said I would NOT get a refund and that I misunderstood... That he never said he would refund my money. Then they refused to answer their phones when I tried calling back. I reported them to the Better Business Bureau and he responded that I was "rude, delusional and lazy". He stated in his reponse that I would NEVER get my money back and he would sue ME for trying to scam THEM. I see they now have 14 complaints with the BBB since May for the same tactics they used with me.
Hopefully, no one else will have to go through the financial and emotional nightmare that I am going through with North American Movers!
Teresa
Port Townsend, Washington
U.S.A.
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