My boyfriend William and I hired Destination movers on may 29th to move our small one bedroom apartment from Mount Rainier Maryland to Tucson AZ. We had placed an add on U-ship.com and we had already picked another moving company to move us. The other company wanted $1200 to move us but we didn't think we would be able to have enough money for it. We got a phone call on the 28th from Erika saying that the estimate for our move is for $1000.03. Which company do you think we chose? If your answer was Destination movers you are correct. WORST MISTAKE OF OUR LIFE! And apparently worst mistake of a lot of peoples lives.
Let me just get down to the bottom of it all. They didn't show up on time for pick up forcing us to leave our belongings behind hoping and praying they would pick it up. They told us they did in fact have our stuff after scaring us half to death saying they weren't able to get in. We spent months and months and months worrying about our stuff and finally we have just enough to have it delivered. They charged us $1500.00 and they calimed the extra 500 was for storage and the late fees and not everything was delivered to us.
We are missing some pretty expensive things and Destination movers refuses to be compliant with finding our stuff or sending us a refund.
Our list includes
1. Computer (monitor, tower, keyboard and mouse along with cords.)
1.13in tv set
1. Comcast cable box (because we didn't receive this, comcast is charging us $400 to replace it.)
1 cordless telephone.
Those four items were boxed together in a huge box it was labeled and all our boxes had our delivery address written on them.
1. Single four drawer dresser it cost well over $100 and we only had it a month before we moved.
1 love seat
1 twin mattress with box spring
1 floor lamp
1 round lounge chair (Its black and has metal legs. I cant really explain it better except its round. We had two of them and the one we got was broken.)
In our big box with computer etc had sheets in them and they obviously are missing.
1. Electric can opener
1. Electric four cup coffee maker
1 foreman grill
1 kitchen trash can
1 small laundry basket
1 box full of dishes
1 box of books.
Most of our boxes we received had looked like it had been opened and re taped and one box came opened and all the boxes looked trashed, almost as if a steamroller went over it about 20 times. Well okay, maybe not that bad but pretty bad.
Some interesting things I learned about this company over the past few months and some good tips are:
1. No they have not been in business under the Destination movers name for over 10 years.
They originally were licensed under another name and then was basically run out of business in 2003.2007 they took over the Destination name from the owners who use to own Destination movers.
2. They do not move your items themselves.
They subcontract other companies to move peoples belongings for them. This is another thing they will not tell you about or they will deny any claim to this.
3. Everyone who works there thinks / claims they are the "Manager".
Those of you who have hired Destination movers know exactly what I am talking about. I have come to a conclusion that there is no manager just some guy's named max / Ruben pretending to be the manager. So if they really are the manager's they are pretty clueless ones.
4. The estimates mean nothing.
Oh yes this is their oldest trick and best one of them all. They will most likely have the lowest price and maybe the shortest delivery time/date that you are looking for but this is to only to trick you into hiring them. Later once they have your business they will either bump up your moving price for whatever reasons they may have, or they wont deliver/pickup the date and time you request and if they do don't expect them to be nice or careful.
5. Storage monthly payment / late fee's?
Okay so if you plan to use this them pay attention. I can understand that when you put your belongings in someone's storage unit you have to pay them for it. When the company doesn't tell you about paying for storage each month or there will be late fees i don't think its right to have to pay them for you not knowing about it. Hence my $1000.03 estimate bumped up to $1500.00. I still can't figure this out, 4 months in storage first month free, storage is at $100 a month so what do they charge for late fees? We should have only paid $1300.00 right? Did they over charge me $200 just in late fee's?
6. Straight answers? I think not.
DO NOT expect a straight answer from these people. Whether your asking about your estimate or where your belongings are, I can tell you what they will say." I don't know". As far as where the belongings are they will say "it's on a truck somewhere and i cant tell you where exactly". These are all lies companies always know where your stuff is. A great invention called GPS has been invented for this very reason. I loved it when I would call and Ana would tell me she didn't know where anything was and that it should be here in a week. Well if you don't know where it is, then how do you know it would be here in a week? HMMMM...
7. Bunch o Dummies
Kind of going off the straight answer thing no one knows what is going on there at all, period, the end. This is only because of the lack of communication between their staff. One person will tell you something and then another person will tell you that the other person was wrong and this is what you have to do. So then you talk to a third person about it they will tell you a completely different thing from what the other two told you. Then the so called "manager" will tell you, your not on on the delivery list at all. Then you speak to someone you have never talked to before and tell you the things you have been waiting for for over 3 weeks is in Georgia and again will not be here for another week. Finally you get so frustrated you just want to either shoot yourself, cry or both. *hangs head* very very confusing.
8. The BBB and you.
Reporting Destination movers to any companies such as the BBB is a big waist of time and effort.
They will look at your claim and send it right over to Destination movers. Destination movers will in turn take a big crap on your head and not respond to the BBB or your claim. The BBB will take your case close it and then put it on public record. Wow what a big help Thanks BBB.
9. Complaint boards do help.
Not only does it help get the word out but it helps you with your stress level. I've been posting to all kinds of websites I even made my own blog about this company and I can tell you talking about it or even writing about it just helps you emotionally. I have not only learned more about this company and what they have done to others but i have learned not to ever use moving companies again and so should you.
10. They are experts.
Yes i will agree that they are experts but not expert movers. They are highly trained in being scammers, compulsive lairs, manipulators, and down right stupid. Again they will not ever tell you what you really need to know, and do not care if you know or not. So then when the issue comes up your basically screwed.
And finally regarding lost or damaged items
You need to write them off as a loss cause. From what I have read and heard is these people do go through your items and take or sell whatever they want to. They only do this because you have no control and have no idea that they did this. To cover it up they will either "accidentally" send something to other clients claim it is theirs and then when the client try's to say it is not they insist it is and your stuck with it. This is why it is always good to include either your address or phone number either on the box or a peice of paper inside the box of where to return it.
I highly suggest you do research on the moving company you are going to use before hiring them but if your in a situation like i was where you are in a hurry to find a mover because your being evicted or starting a new job somewhere its important to try and find time to check out your movers.
I want you to know that if you yourself or someone you know have fell victim to this company and their scams, there is help out there for you and you are not alone. Your best bet is to file a lawsuit. Contact me about this and i can give you some awesome information.
Thank you so much and good luck.
Andrea Carlson.
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