If you have used National Moving Network or Classic International please report them to the Dept of Transportation, Office of the Inspector General and the FBI. Report NMN to the FLorida FBI Agent CLemens 305-787-6401 and to the California DOT 415-744-2511. Report Classic to NY FBI SQD C4 Brenda fax 212-384-2999 and to the DOT at this webiste http://www.1-888-dot-saft.com/HotlineIntro.Asp
Help build a critical mass of complaints against these companies. NMN is being investigated by the DOT and the FBI.
After searching the internet and asking for quotes I finally settled on National Moving Network as an agent to move my goods from Texas to France. They were informed that I could only accept delivery during the month of July because my house in France is a vacation home and not my permanent home. I was moving belongings that I had inherited from my father who had died in April.
In the contract I signed I was promised that the fees I had paid included transportation, fuel charges, loading and unloading. I would only have to pay for packing of articles that I did not pack myself. Quilting of the furniture was not included because the movers cannot reclaim their quilts. When I questioned how the furniture would be protected, I was told that corrugated cardboard would be used to wrap the furniture and that I would not be charged for this.
I decided to pack the few items I had originally intended for the movers to pack. I gave the agent a list of my furniture and the number of boxes I had originally packed. Exact measurements of the furniture were taken and provided to NMN. They estimated the total weight to be 2600 pounds. I was told that the load would be weighted and I would receive the weight tickets and I was to pay the difference between the estimate and the actual weight of the shipment upon delivery of the furniture. I was given a 300 lb. Buffer and the number of items that I added to the list after I gave them the estimate list of items I was sure did not exceed 300 lbs. As I could lift easily all the items.
This increased the number of boxes that I had given the agent from 4 to 16, but I am sure that none of these extra boxes exceeded more than 5 lbs each in weight. Even if they did weight 10 lbs each that would have added no more that 60 lbs to my original weight estimate.
When the moving company Classic International arrived at my house on May 18 the head mover informed me that I had 6000 lbs of furniture. I was also told that I have to pay the weight difference now. I strongly argued with the head mover that my weight could not exceed the estimated weight by that much and together we went over the list I had supplied the agent and then took an estimate of the extra items. He refused to lower the weight estimate below 4000 lbs. He demanded payment of this extra weight charge before the load was weighed and also demanded that I pay the insurance for the load. I had already paid the insurance to the agent and I wasn't going to pay for it again. I had to give him a check for $2208 without any documentation of the actual weight of the load. I asked for the weight tickets to be sent to me but I have never received them, despite asking the moving company for them several times. The weight tickets have never been found.
I was charged for documentation of the load and fuel charges for coming to my house. The former I was never informed from the agent that I would have to pay it (more hidden charges) and the later was stated specifically in my contract that it was included in the original fees I had to pay to secure the move.
I was also charged $450 for packing as each item of my furniture was wrapped in bubble wrap. Although I do not disagree that my furniture should have been protected. I was told that corrugated cardboard that I would not have to pay for would be used to wrap the furniture. I consider this hidden charges in the moving expense. These extra charges had I known about them would probably influenced me to take another company who specifically stated in their contract that all packing charges were included in the moving estimate. THe buble wrap melted onto the surface of my tables and each one had to be resurfaced.
I tried to call NMN to complain about the way the move was handled. I was not longer allowed to speak with the agent who had booked my move to question that he had told me vs. What the moving company made me pay.instead I was referred to a claim agent, Marlene who was most unhelpful and defended all the actions of Classic and most of the time was extremely difficult to reach by telephone and she never returned my calls
In the middle of June I received and email from the head of the claim department of NMN stating that I owed a further $548. This amount covered an additional weight charge and insurance costs. I had already paid the insurance costs with the agent and the mover had incorrectly credited my payments for the additional weight charge. NMN did admit that they owed me a refund for the fuel charges but I have never received such a refund. After calling Classic, the accounting department admitted that they had credited the account incorrectly. Asaf Nass who was handling my move sent me an email dated June 12 saying that they had decided to give me a discount when in fact there was no reason to give me a discount because I did not owe them any more money,
In the same email he told me, that my furniture would be arriving in 2-3 weeks, I emailed him to remind him that I would not be in France until July 1. After 2 weeks had passed I email him to ask when my furniture would be delivered. NO response. After 3 weeks I emailed him again to ask where my furniture was. NO response.
I arrived In France July 1 and began to call the US at my expense from a telephone booth to find out about my furniture. Finally I reached someone on July 4 who told me that Asaf Nass had left the firm and that I would have to call back July 8 to find out who had taken over my account. I did so and found out that my furniture had only been shipped form the US on July 5 and should arrive July 17. I asked them why it had been left so late and were they sure that they could clear customs and be delivered before the end of July. They told me that it would more take more than 5 days to clear customs and then I should have my furniture soon after that. That would make delivery at my house about July 25 or 26. They gave me a contact firm and name in France who would be handling the customs clearance.
When I called the firm in France I received an entirely different story. They could only guarantee delivery Aug 5. I began to panic and frantically called back to the US to find out how to solve this problem. The only solution seemed to be if the movers would pay for a single household delivery of my furniture rather than to have it delivered as part of a group delivery. I was never able to ascertain if the movers would agree to this and it seemed to be contingent on the costs for a single delivery.
New Problem The ship did not arrive on July 17 but was delayed for 1 week and arrived July 26. The delay was never made clear to me but it seemed to have something to do with problems with the ship and the ship had to be changed. Classic knew nothing of this problem. This late arrival meant for sure that the furniture could not be delivered in July. I called Classic to make sure that they would pay for me to return to France to accept this delivery. I was told that I would just have to make a claim and see what happens. Of course this was not reimbursed.
Next Problem Dockers strike and the ship cannot be unloaded so the delivery is delayed again. I explain to the French agent that there are only two weekends that I can return to France because I have other commitments. After these two weekends, I cannot return to France until the middle of September. After further delays, the weekend of the 10-11 August was decided upon. I had to make numerous calls to the French moving company to ascertain the exact date for deliver so that I could book my return ticket.
All of the telephone calls to the agent, the movers, the French customs agents and the French moving company have been at my expense because US toll free numbers are not free in Europe and the French agents have no toll free numbers that I can use in Germany
When the furniture did finally arrive. Everything possible happened that could have happened to it. Furniture was lost or severely damaged. I even received furniture that didnt belong to me. I had to make two trips back to France to collect all the furniture. All in all I had over $10000 damage, loss, and expenses concerning this move. HOw do you loose a mattress and box springs. I can only think that someone liked it and took it. THere were 5 families in the container that shipped our goods to France. Not one of them received all the goods. Classic refused to pay for the damages. As it turned out they had never filled out an insurance option for my furniture and I had to take them to court and settled for $5000 which does not even cover the damage to the furniture.
Linda
sellstedt
Germany
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