On July I contracted with Trans Vanlines to move my furniture from CA to TX. I went with Trans Vanlines because they promised a delivery date of 8/15. Julie Edmonds of Trans Vanlines was my POC. I had several emails from her (all which I have saved) making statements like, “if we pickup between August 4-6 we will be able to have it there by 8/15.” I checked out Trans Vanlines through the BBB and other websites. There was no derogatory information. I went ahead and made arrangements for Trans Vanlines to pick up my furniture on 8/5, which they did.
On 8/14, I arrived in Lubbock and contacted Trans Vanlines to find out when my furniture would arrive. I spoke with Carri Marciano, manager of the Los Angeles branch of Trans Vanlines. When I told Ms. Marciano that my furniture was scheduled to arrive on the following day she immediately told me that they never made promises like that. I told her that Julie had told me that it would be there by 8/15 and I had her emails with that commitment. Ms. Marciano told me that my furniture was on a truck in Kansas and I was the next stop. Ms. Marciano asked me for the email communication I had with Julie Edmonds. I forwarded them to her
On 8/15 I again spoke with Ms. Marciano. I told her about my tight schedule in Lubbock and requested a more definite arrival date. I told her that I had a flight back to Los Angeles scheduled for Sunday and I needed to know if I needed to make a change to stay longer. She told me that my furniture would arrive either late Thursday or Friday. This was the last conversation I had with Ms. Marciano.
On 8/16, I tried to contact Ms. Marciano. She did not return my call but I received a call from the dispatcher who told me that my furniture was in Texas. The dispatcher gave me the cell number to the driver, Victor. I immediately called the driver only to learn that he was “nowhere near Texas” and would not be there until Sunday or Monday. The driver told me to call him the following day (8/17) to see where he was. At this point I was getting extremely agitated.
By Friday (8/17) my stress level was through the roof. I called Ms. Marciano and left a message that I wanted to speak with the owner of the company. Later in the day I received a call from Aviad Lankri, owner of Trans Vanlines. I immediately advised him how poorly I had been treated by his company and that I had no idea when my furniture was going to arrive after I was previously told it would be there on 8/15. He told me that they never make promises as to an exact delivery date. I told him that Julie had promised me an 8/15 delivery date and I had emails from her saying that. I further told him that was the only reason I chose Trans Vanlines. Mr. Lankri then told me that one of their trucks had broken down on Thursday and he made the decision to re-route the truck that had my furniture in it. I told him that I would have appreciated it if someone would have called me to let me know. I told Mr. Lankri how frustrating this was becoming for me and that this move was costing much more than if I had leased a truck and done it myself. Mr. Lankri told me that Julie had just been fired for promising three other people an exact arrival date. I told him that was fine but that did me no good as I still sat waiting in Lubbock for furniture that was promised to me on 8/15. Mr. Lankri told me that he would speak with the driver and have my furniture there by noon on 8/19 (four days after I was told it would be there). He further told me to call him when I arrived back home and we would discuss compensation for my inconvenience (I spent $368 to change my flight and $160 for two extra nights in a hotel). The furniture was delivered on 8/19.
I called Mr. Lankri on 8/21 after returning home. I could tell by our conversation that he was starting to “backpedal”. He told me that 8/15 was the “first available delivery date” and they have two weeks to deliver the furniture. I told him no, I was promised that it would be delivered on 8/15 and I had emails from Julie saying that, otherwise I would have rented a U-haul and done it myself. He asked me to send him the emails and he would call me back in a day or two. I sent him the emails that day. I have not heard from him since nor has he returned my calls or emails.
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