We hired Morgan Van Lines to move our belongings 322 miles from Fayetteville, NC to Wattsville, VA. On 2/22/02. On 2/19/02 we get a call informing us a van had been dispatched and would arrive at 8 A.M. On 2/20/02. We called our sales rep. Sara Fauer to tell her that we were not ready and it was unsatisfactory that they come 2 days early. She told me nothing could be done.
Sara Fauer quoted us $1618.00 for our move which was based on 809 cubic feet. She told us that we would not need the "Full
Packing Service" due to the number of items we wanted them to pack. We paid her a $300.00 deposit and she instructed us to have a certified check for half of the est. Price. (less the deposit)
Since they were 2 days early the movers had to pack more of our belongings then originally planned. Originally they were supposed to pack our kitchen and any breakable items (pictures, lamps ect.). One of the movers took us aside and told us to make sure and count how many boxes they are using to pack our things. He told us that they are really bad about that. A red flag went up with us causing us to feel very uneasy.
Once all of our belongings were loaded, we were handed a invoice. The foreman of our move (Jason) let us know that we had gone over our estimate cubic feet by 191. They charged us an additional $382.00 for an extra 191 cubic feet. The charge for cardboard boxes was an additional $2402.00. The grand total they are charging is $4402.00. (almost triple the estimate cost)
Before they loaded the van I went thru and counted the boxes and I counted less then what they are charging for. There are discrepancies on the number of boxes used vs. The Household Goods Descriptive Inventory the movers filled out. The prices of the boxes are insane. Here's the breakdown: Picture carton: [email protected]=$1365.00, Book carton: [email protected]=$58.00, Wardrobe carton: [email protected]=$400.00, Medium carton: [email protected]=$552.00, Matress cover: [email protected]=$27.00. Here's an example: We don't even own 39 pictures. There are 6 picture boxes logged on the Household Goods Descriptive Inventory.
On the morning of 2/21/02 we were unable to reach Sara Fauer in the office before we had to get on the road to Virginia. On 2/22/02 we got a hold of Sara and she sounded very upset when we told her about the problems. She told us something didn't sound right. She told us someone would get back to us within the hour. 2 hours later my husband called and spoke to Ronen
Ben-Lulu owner of the company. Mr. Ben-Lulu denied that there are any discrepancies with the paperwork. He told us that his crew did an excellent job and he saw everything come off the truck himself. (We were told by Sara Fauer our goods would be placed in a storage facility in Virginia (30 days free) until we called with a delivery date.)
Mr. Ben-Lulu demanded we pay him $1242.00 before he will put the van on the road for delivery. He then told us we will have to pay the remaining $2201.00 before they will even open the van doors.
To make matters worse we had a set budget of $2000.00 for this move. My husband was medically discharged from the Army on March 6 after serving for 9 1/2 years. (We have to keep track of every dollar we have) We also had to move our Single-wide mobile home up to Virginia. Luckly the mobile home movers gave us excellent service and charged us exactly what they said they would. (It cost us $3895.00 to move our entire home) Now we have to raise the additional $2402.00 to get our belongings delivered. What really worries us is what Morgan Van Lines is going to charge us if we can't come up with the money before our 30 days free storage is up.
We have faxed our information to the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration and have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. To date we have not heard anthing back yet. We want to get the word out about Morgan Van Lines so someone else will not fall victim to these crooks. At this point we are not sure of what else we can do to help our situation. We are willing to pay for the additional cubic feet. But, we don't feel the prices for the boxes are fair. I have gotten price quotes for boxes with 4 different companies and most of these size boxes are priced between $7.64 - 2.26 per box. Morgan Van Lines has left us feeling victimized.
Shannon
Wattsville, Virginia
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