On October 12th I contacted All Points Van Lines Inc., 10505 Glenn Oaks Blvd Pacoima Ca 91331, www.allpointsvanlines.com telephone number 1-800-449-2347 with a request for a bid for moving household goods from Elk Grove California to Northville Michigan.
On that date I spoke to Nina who said she would email me a bid. At 10:31 on the 12th I received a bid. After discussing the contents to be moved the original bid came in at $1295.
On October 24th after having done some research, I contacted Nina again and gave her a more detailed list of the household belongings. Later that day she sent a revised bid for the items in the amount of $3,296 and at that point we also scheduled a pick up date of October 27th. This bid was identified as a Long Distance Relocation Binding Estimate.
After I received this bid I realized that I had an extra couch that wasn't included in the original bid so I called Nina and she sent another bid in the amount of $3,636. I am including this detail because I want to make it clear that I tried to provide as much information as was available.
As scheduled, on October 27th, All Points arrived to pick up my belongings. When they arrived there was parking available right outside my door. I recommended that they park their van next to the front door but they refused to do so. I wondered why but didn't realize until after the goods were loaded that they did this so they could charge me an additional $225 for long carry at pickup. At the time I objected to the extra charge but was told You don't have much choice, do you? They had my goods in the truck and there didn't seem to be an alternative to paying the extra amount.
Despite my efforts to provide a detailed list of my goods, they also added an additional charge for 160 cubic feet to the tune of $640 as well as additional packing supplies at a cost of $461 dollars. This increased the price of my so called Binding Estimate to $4,962.
The Binding Estimate states and I quote Our current average delivery times range from 7 to 14 days, however, delivery is estimated to take 10 to 21 days.
Having heard absolutely nothing from them regarding my belongings, on November 14th, (18 days later), I called All Points requesting a firm delivery date. I was told someone would get back to me because dispatch had to be contacted. No one called me back. After three more phone calls, Udi (the dispatcher) told me the truck with my goods was broken down in Colorado and could not be repaired until the 17th or 18th and would continue onto my house on one of those two dates.
Having still heard nothing on November 21st, I called All Points again. This time I spoke with Noel who told me he had no idea where my household goods were. I asked for a manager and Noel replied I am the manager. I told him that if he did not know where my goods were I would assume he had stolen them and would file a police report. Noel hung up and I still had no idea where my household goods were.
I called back immediately and asked to speak to Nina who put me through to Sonia who really is the manager. I explained the situation to Sonia and she told me that she would try to locate my household goods. Sonia got back to me and told me she had located the goods and they should be arriving around November 25th. Later that day I also received a call from Joe the driver saying he should arrive Thursday or Friday (24th or 25th).
On the 24th of November I received a call from Joe the driver saying that he had been assured by All Points that there would be two to three workers available to help unload on the 25th [Thanksgiving Day] at 10:00 am.
At 2:35 on Thanksgiving Day Joe called and said he had no workers to help but he could make the delivery if I helped him unload. I told him that we had paid for loading and unloading and that I had no intention of doing the work for him. We scheduled the delivery for Friday the 26th.
On the 26th the workers arrived and a few hours later Joe arrived with the household goods. There was a problem, however, Joe wouldn't drive the truck into the apartment complex and suggested that I rent a U-Haul to carry the goods from the street into my apartment and of course I would have to carry the goods myself. Now stop a moment, I live in a complex designed for heavy and large traffic, there was no reason for him to refuse to drive into the complex.in fact, the local workers who had been hired to help humiliated him to such a degree that he drove into the complex but would not drive up to my door.
The reason for this became clear when he advised that I would have to pay an additional $150 for long carry. That sounded pretty familiar but I had to pay or he would not unload the truck.
When I added up the days, it came to a whopping 30 days from the date of pickup to delivery. On the 26th I called Sonia and requested an adjustment in the bill since they had failed to deliver as promised within the 21 day period. I requested an adjustment of at least $825 [$375 for the phony long carry charges and 50 dollars per day for the 9 days they were over the terms of the contract]. She offered a $200 discount for our troubles and said any future claims would have to wait until after delivery to sort out.
Following delivery I also discovered that several items had been broken beyond repair and others had been severely damaged.
I doubt if I will every get my money back but I hope to keep this from happening to others. If you are considering a move do not consider All Points moving unless you like being ripped off.
Sillia
Stockton, California
U.S.A.
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