I was looking for a moving company to help me relocate from New York City to Chicago. After I received quotes from a number of companies, I received a call from Dani who called on behalf of AllState Moving and & Storage Inc in Brooklyn. He offered me a very low quote over the phone and quickly emailed the same quote to me. Subsequently, a lady who called her name Iris called to follow up and to remind me that the day for my move was drawing closer.
On the actual day, three men arrived with a 16ft truck, even though my items were quite few. They demanded for the initial one-third payment that they said they would collect before loading the truck. Within 20 minutes they loaded up my things in the truck, spreading them all over the truck. Then the guy who said he was the supervisor called me aside and brought out a bunch of papers. He said, "we are almost done. I need you to sign here, here, and here..." - acting as if he was in a terrible hurry. I asked to read the documents first but he said they needed to leave immediately, otherwise, my items would not get to Atlanta on time. He threatened to unload my items, if I wasted any time.
At this time, I had already terminated my storage lease. The man from Allstate Express Moving also vowed to leave my things outside there and return to Brooklyn, if I refused to sign the papers right away. I felt like I was trapped. I signed the papers. Then he told me that the items were more than they had estimated. He gave me what he called a revised estimate that was five times more than the first estimate. I protested this and they started removing my things from the truck. I demanded to talk to their manager. He put me through to Dani on the phone and Dani reduced the new estimate but still insisted that I pay almost four times the initial estimate.
I had no choice but to give them the money. I felt like I was being robbed at gunpoint.
When my things got to Atlanta, I found that many of my items, antique arts that I collected from different countries, my glasses and plates and heavy furniture, were damaged. I called Allstate and reported and they asked me to take pictures of the items and attached in an email to them. Later on they sent me a money order for $29 claiming that my damaged items were only 48 pounds worth at $0.60 a pound. My computer station alone was more than 300 pounds. The total value of the things they damaged was more than $3000.00, but they sent me only $29 and said that their company is no longer in operation. Their phone numbers were promptly disconnected - meaning that I could not even call to protest the harm they caused me.
I strongly suspect that these are a bunch of crooks, who set up a fraudulent moving business, rip people off and vanish. Unless they are stopped, these crooks will continue to hurt other people. I advise people out there to watch out for these crooks, in case they resurface in another area. NEVER hire them to move your stuff. They are crooks.
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