When I decided to move from Portland, Oregon to Okemos, Michigan, I believed that hiring a moving company would save me money and hassle. I spend a week getting estimates from as many companies as I could, mostly through the internet.
I finally settled on a company called A City Wide Mover, based in California. Apparently this company acts as an agent for another company called The Right Movers, based in Studio City, California. I did not discover this until the movers arrived at my door a day late (due to a broken down truck, I didn't find out until I had to call to find out what happened to them).
So I signed a contract with The Right Movers on January 31 at pick up. The agreement that A City Wide Mover sent me stated a base charge of $700 plus a 5% "fuel tax" and a $. 50 charge for each pound over 1,000. Since I doubted I had much poundage over 1,000 if any, I didn't think this was a bad deal. Plus, they estimated a 7-10 day arrival time, 14 days maximum.
I let them load the truck and I left Oregon that day to drive to Michigan. When I arrived in MI 4 days later, I attempted to call A City Wide Mover to see where my shipment was. They said that they thought it was still in Oregon, but would get back to me. Thus began a series of phone calls to ACWM, with various employees promising to call the dispatcher and get back to me, etc. The 10 day mark came and went. So did the 14 day. I began to get more aggressive and asked ACWM what they were planning on doing about this. She replied that she would try to get a 10% discount. At this point, I still did not know how much my shipment weighed, where the truck was, and how much they were planning on charging me in the end.
My $420 down payment check had been cashed on Feb. 6, with cash only on delivery. I had heard of companies demanding outrageous sums or else driving away with your stuff and then charging for "storage", but I thought it couldn't happen to me. Today is Feb. 20, and I received a phone call this morning from a 3rd company, who said that my stuff would arrive tomorrow. He hedged about the final amount, until I basically demanded an amount. He stated that I owed them over $900. I asked why and he said that the weight had been over 1400 lbs. And that extra poundage was $1.50 per pound. Well, I said that I wasn't going to pay that, and called the first company A City Wide Mover. The man who answered said that the amount was wrong, and to call him when the truck arrived the next day. I said that I would have the driver's representative call him, directly. Since I now knew that I couldn't trust any of these people for anything, I didn't want to have a driver show up, and no one answer the phone.
The story will be continued, but there is still a lot that went wrong. So mover beware of:
How many companies will be involved Vague price estimates Price based on weight (I don't trust what they SAY my things weighed) Any verbal promise
I deeply regret that I didn't move my things by myself, and that I trusted so many people. This has been a nightmare from the beginning.
Dana
Okemos, Michigan
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