After I left my job at the in Hays, Kansas at the beginning of February, I spent the next three months finding a job, which put me in debt beyond belief without an income. I finally found one in beautiful Beaufort, South Carolina, packed up my house, rented it out through an agency, and moved here, budgeting what I needed for the move.
The moving company I went through was Patriot Moving, out of North Miami Beach, Florida, whose representative Matthew Sandomir (the address they give is Patriot Moving, 1660 185th St. #8, North Miami Beach, FL 33179,1-800-722-9775, extension 2063, www.patriotmoving.com) made it sound like a great deal and was willing to go out of his way to make the move what he called painless, because he had been there himself. Or at least I thought. Boy was I wrong.
It turned out that Patriot Moving was a brokerage scam and the one that showed up was Pony Xpress Vanlines out of Skokie, Illinois (3464 West Touhy Ave, Skokie, IL, 60712). They showed up in a rented Ryder truck, a couple of Mexican guys, only one of whom could speak English, and even his was a bit rough. I have nothing against that.in fact, I have always welcomed the opportunity to give work to immigrants and typically underprivileged and underrepresented minority groups. They loaded everything up, very professionally and quickly, gave me the contract and told me they would be here in South Carolina in 2 days. There were two of them, so it made sense that they would share the driving and go straight through.
So I got in my truck, my dog jumped in and we were off. I drove without stopping (1470 miles, approximately 25 hours), fearful that they would make it to SC before I did and they would have no where to leave my belongings. Of course, that was over three weeks ago and they still hadn't arrived, so I called to ask about the status and where my stuff was, only to hear they wouldn't be here until the following week and that instead of the $1,456.86 I was told would be due by Matthew Sandomir at Patriot Moving when I signed the deal, Pony Xpress told me I would be required to pay $2,300, in addition to the $500 already given as a down payment.
After complaining about it and making a stink, the girl on the phone began screaming at me and cursing and told me that I had two choices: to either receive my things and hand over $2,300 cash or to save us the trip, at which point they would put it in storage and I would be charged, in addition to the $2,300, a $350 redelivery fee plus the cost of storage. This is in addition to having to settle for a rental house I really can't afford on my own. I was getting desperate, needing a place to live, fearful that the movers would show up before I did. So I settled for this place at $840/month, which is a lot more than I want to spend.
I called Patriot Moving again after that conversation with Pony Xpress, to try and talk to Matthew Sandomir about this, and the lady at the desk asked me for my name and where I was going, I told her and she told me he didn't have access to my file anymore and refused to connect me to him, connecting me instead to the Quality Assurance Department, who took the information and said they would call Pony Xpress and resolve this immediately. No one called me back, after 10 days. $2,800 dollars to move from Kansas to South Carolina is ridiculous, even if I had moved a refrigerator, stove, washer, dryer, all that stuff, and even towed my truck. But I didn't. No, all I had was a couch, a couple bed frames, some small dressers, 2 mattresses, 2 box springs, clothes, a desk and some books, with other odds and ends; vcr, dvd, tv, computer, stereo, etc. I could have done all this myself for a lot cheaper, which Matthew Sandomir told me would have been more expensive because of the gas. Even with the gas, it would have been cheaper and my things would be here and I wouldn't be writing this.
And as it turns out, I'm not alone.in fact, doing a search on Patriot Moving on usacomplaints.com brings up 15 complaints, and they've only existed since December. But it also turns out that up until December of last year, Patriot Moving was known as National Moving Network, which is on every blacklist as a company to not do business with, everything from the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of the Inspector General and the IRS to the FBI and the aforementioned usacomplaints.com.in fact the Inspector General and the other government agencies named have a special form to fill out for complaints against this company, which has had 6 different names in the past 3 years, changing the name each time the government is on to them and the complaints start to come in, alerting the Better Business Bureau. (http://www.oig. Dot. Gov/ayvictims)
On Friday the 29th of April, Pony Xpress called me to tell me my stuff would be here on Monday, which they have told me numerous times. I was called by Caroline, who is the one who went off on me a couple of times now, screaming profanities at me. Caroline went on to tell me that my stuff would be here between 3 and 6 pm on Monday the 2nd of May and that I would be paying $2074.08, which is lower than it was, so that's at least an improvement, but I don't have my things yet and I am expecting to be faced with added expenses, but I will be paying the price given by Caroline, even though the actual price is a lot lower, but I just want my stuff. I don't have much, but what I do have holds great sentimental value. She went on to say that the payment must be in the form of cash, postal money order or a wire transfer. I told her I would be paying in the form of a bank check and she went off again, telling me that I couldn't have my things then if that was the case, because the only forms they take are cash, postal money orders or wire transfers. This is of course so there is no paper trail. She said they won't accept bank checks because someone can stop payment on them. It should tell you something about the quality of service if there have been so many cases where people have stopped payment on their checks that they made a policy against it. It really sucks, because I don't want to start thinking everyone is a loser like these guys.
The stuff did finally arrive, but in a completely different truck. It was a large Enterprise truck instead of the original Ryder truck with two different drivers. Apparently they were out of Chicago, where my stuff went first and then was moved to this truck. The guys moving it in were nice enough and this was their first time dealing with Pony Xpress, and apparently the last since between Chicago and Beaufort, they made three deliveries and each one was irate. So they arrived and told me that the Pony Xpress dispatcher told them to not move the stuff in until they were paid and I refused to pay them until my things were inside my house. So these guys called the dispatcher back and told him the dilemma, and he then called me and we got into a screaming match, shouting profanities at each other until the driver said he didn't care and that my telling him he would get the money orders was good enough for him. So they then moved the things in and I gave them three money orders totaling $2074.08. I had my stuff, they had the money, even though they acquired it through extortion. Although I haven't emptied all the boxes completely yet, I still haven't found a large plastic jug I had that was full of coins and credit cards I don't use very often. Please watch out and don't ever do business with Patriot Moving or Pony Xpress Vanlines. The list seems to be growing. Be careful. Do the research beforehand, no matter how pressed for time you are. They feed on people who are in a hurry to relocate for whatever reason.
Bill
Beaufort, South Carolina
U.S.A.
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