All times listed here are in Pacific Standard Time.
My wife and I moved from San Diego, CA to Chicago, IL. We were looking for a moving company to assist us and through various web searches we narrowed it down to a few.
All USA has a very nice website and had an estimate that pretty much was what we were looking for. Also, they claim to be listed by the BBB which further cinched the deal (I later learned that the BBB considers them an unsatisfactory business and that they have had 80 complaints in 2 years).
Anyway, we booked them the first week of October and arranged for pick up on November 1... Almost a months notice. Karen is the woman who set it up and promised us the movers will be there between noon and 2pm.
My wife and I were planning to run a bunch of errands that afternoon (things like closing out our bank accounts) and then had dinner reservations for 17 people at 6:00 for a goodbye dinner. Living in a 1 bedroom apartment we figured if they got there at 2 or even 2:30 we'd have plenty of time.
Also, our landlord is dying to get us out so he can start a construction project on our building... He is tearing down the deck in front of our apartment. We tell him we should be out of there no later than 4:30.
2:30 rolls around and no truck showed up. I call the office and Karen picks up. She assures me the truck is on the way and that they're probably stuck in traffic.
3:30 I call again. The person on the phone says she'll call the dispatcher and have the driver call us back with an estimate of when he'll show up.
3:45 I still have heard nothing. My wife and I are on the curb in front of our apartment waiting and have been since noon. I call again to check in and the same woman picks up. "Nobody has called you yet? I'll try dispatch again and someone will call you soon.
4:30 Still no contact. I call yet AGAIN. "Sir, I just got off the phone with dispatch and someone will call you shortly." I ask for a supervisor and am told they have all gone home for the day.
I'm getting very upset as my wife and I have been sitting in front of our place for four and a half hours and the landlord has now started dismantling our deck.
4:45 The driver of the truck actually calls us. He is an hour away and stuck in traffic.
Approx 6:05 the truck pulls up. I should never have let them touch my belongings... It's a 25 foot Budget Rental truck. The movers were actually kind of nice but they complained the whole time about how awful it is to work for All USA. Hint hint.
Approx 8:45pm the movers are out. We missed our going away dinner and 15 people were inconvenienced. These are people who had to hire baby sitters or get off work. I was furious. Furthermore, our move was delayed by half a day because my wife and I had to run all the errands on Tuesday morning that we could have done on Monday.
All it would have taken was 1 phone call from these arrogant and uncaring bastards to let us know they'd be 6 hours late and then we could have cancelled dinner and gotten our errands accomplished instead of just sitting on the curb in front of our apartment.
This gets even worse.
The last thing the driver told me before they left was that he himself would be weighing the goods on Tuesday morning (11/2/04) and that we could call Karen in the office at 9:00 Am and get our estimate.
11/2/04
9:15AM I call the office to ask for our estimate. I'm willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt even though so far we have been treated like crap. I ask for Karen and am told "she's on another line, give me your name and number and she'll call you right back." I leave my info.
10:30 still no call back. I call again and get the same line. Karen is unavailable. I leave my name again and ask for a supervisor. I'm told that they're out of the office until 5:30. Funny how they had all gone home by 4:30 the day before.
2:05PM. FINALLY speak to Karen. She says she hasn't gotten the cost yet but will have it within 30 minutes. I agree to call back.
2:41 I call again. Karen says she had no idea and that I shouldn't even be talking to her. I need to talk to the dispatcher named Shawn (I don't even think this is his real name). I ask to be transferred and am told he's out of the office and will be back in 30 minutes.
3:15 I call again and speak to a nice person named Rosie. Shawn is out of the office on an emergency and will be out the rest of the day.
11/3
Keep in mind this has been 3 days and I still haven't heard a thing from this company... Not even a return call to one of my many messages.
10:00AM I call again and Karen picks up. I ask for Shawn and am put on hold. Surprisingly enough I get through after about 5 minutes. Shan is surly, rude, and sounds like he's too busy to talk to a lowly customer. I inquire how much my move will cost so I can have the money ready for him. He tells me that the paperwork is in another office and he'll call me back in an hour.
I don't hear from him again. Ever. It's been over a week and I still haven't heard from him.
11/4
10:40AM I call again and am told Shawn is out for an hour and a half. I told receptionist that I'm disappointed because he said he'd call me back in an hour and that was almost 25 hours ago. She blows me off and says she'll tell him I called.
11/6
5:45AM I figure since nobody wants to talk during business hours I'd try early on a Saturday. Supposedly there's someone manning the phones 24/7. I get a message saying all operators are busy but if I leave my name and number the next available person will call me back. I leave my info.
8:40AM... I call again. Same message. I leave my info again. I'm assuming nobody is there. So much for 24/7 coverage. They must come in late on Saturday.
10:30AM... This is interesting. I get a call from "Eddie" who claims to be the driver taking my stuff from North Hollywood to Chicago. His English is mediocre at best. He tells me he's almost to LA and wanted to call and see if I paid before he loads my stuff on the truck. I tell him I couldn't pay because I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH THIS IS GOING TO COST... IT'S BEEN 5 DAYS! He agrees to call me if he finds out how much and that my belongings will be in Chicago within 4 or 5 days.
10:40AM I get off the phone with "Eddie" and try the moving company again for kicks. Someone named Joe actually picks up and says he'll call me back with the price in 15 minutes.
11:30AM Joe surprises me by calling me back. He tells me that the move will be $1750.58. Doesn't bother to tell me how much my stuff weighed but I figure I'll see it on the certificate when I take delivery of my possessions.
Keep with me folks, this gets even worse.
11/9
Eddie calls me and tells me that he'll be here the next day. Hooray, I don't believe it. We arrange to take delivery of our belongings at 7-8am on 11/10. An hour later he calls me to move it to 3-4 because they want to go to Detroit first. I tell him fine, just as long as it gets there tomorrow.
11/10
5:30PM the moving truck pulls up. Eddie and his passenger jump out of the truck and come right up to me and ask for the money. I'm shocked. I tell him that I'm not giving him a dime until he unloads the truck and I see everything made it. He says too bad and that he can't unload until he's paid. After several minutes of back and forth he shrugs and they get in the truck like they're going to drive away with my stuff.
I should have called the cops right there... I can't believe I negotiated further with them but I was tired and sick of dealing with these people.instead I tell them I'll give them the cash if they allow me to jump in the truck and look around. They reluctantly agree. Everything seems to be there so I give them the money and they start to unload.
Approx 8:00PM... Everything is unloaded and (I'd be lying if I said I was surprised) almost all of the furniture is damaged. I'm not talking little chips and nicks, although there were plenty of those on EVERYTHING. No, I'm talking about legs broken off and sides caved in. I'm livid at this point and demand a claims form from "Eddie." He says he can't do anything and I have to work it out with the company.
8:30PM I call All USA and Karen picks up. I tell her of the damage and how disappointed I am in their lack of customer service. She brushes me off, makes NO APPOLOGIES, and tells me that they'll mail me a claims form and that I have to fill it out.
I ask to talk to someone in the Claims Dept and she tells me that they won't be in until 10:00 the next morning. I demand the name of her supervisor so I can write a formal letter of complaint to her company and she tells me (ready for this?) that SHE DOESN'T KNOW THE LAST NAME OF HER SUPERVISOR!!!
I LOSE IT AT THIS POINT. Never before have I been so mad in my life. I let Karen know how upset I am and hang up on her hoping the claims dept will be more reasonable.
11/11
10:30AM I call in and ask for the Claims Dept. I am told that May is out of the office for 2 hours or so (turns out the Claims Dept is just 1 woman who apparently doesn't work very much). The person on the line is Rosie again and I ask her for the name of the person who owns or runs the company. I'm told his name is Shawn. I ask her for his last name and she tells me "I don't know." I ask her how many people work there and she says about 50.
Folks, I have worked for many companies of various sizes, and whether it's one with 20 employees (my present company) or a couple 100,000 (the Marine Corps) I've always been able to figure out the first and last name of my immediate supervisor and the CEO/President/Commandant of the Corps. The fact that his own secretary who I'm sure gets his mail claims not to know makes me furious. She is cordial though, unlike Karen who is just plain rude, so I thank her and hang up.
12:30 I call again and Karen answers the phone. I ask for May. She tells me that May won't be in until next week sometime. I tell her that 2 hours ago someone told me she'd be back in 2 hours and she gets very annoyed and demands to know who told me. I tell her I didn't get the name. I'm put on hold and in a few seconds Rosie picks up again.
Rosie is very nice and cordial. She listens while I fill her in on my whole ordeal from start to finish. I end by telling her that if her company has any decency that they will reimburse me for my broken articles, or even just refund my money all together.
She apologizes and says that she'll call May on her cell phone and will get back to me when she hears any news. Also she tells me that my claim form will be mailed out today (granted it could take up to a month for anything to be resolved). Furthermore, I'm told that I must photograph all of the damaged items and they will determine whether or not they are repairable and that will affect my claim. They are not even planning on sending out an assessor. I may need to hire a lawyer.
11/15/04
9:40AM. I still have not received a call back from the claims dept.
I have already filed a complaint with the BBB (as I stated earlier, this company is claiming to be in good standing with them which is false... They are clearly listed as Unsatisfactory).
Depending on how my claims get resolved I will most likely be filing a complaint with The Federal Motor Carriers... The government agency that licenses these guys.
I would love it if they paid to replace all my damaged items, and I feel like they should just give me back my $1751 (that's right, they never gave me my change. They owe me $. 42) and then I'll be able to say we're even.
If you are looking for a moving company AVOID ALL USA MOVING AND STORAGE AT ALL COSTS. If you've already been screwed by them I hope you had better luck then I am right now.
Drew
San Diego, California
U.S.A.
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