I moved from Massachusetts at the end of last year and contracted Freedom Moving and Storage from an internet moving referral service. I have had nothing but problems with them since the onset of the move. They picked up my belongings in February and put them in storage until I purchased my new home in FL. I won't go into the frustrating details in the initial part of the move right now for the sake of time, but it was ridiculously bad.
My family and I were in temporary living with my parents from the first of the year until we bought our new home in May. Once I had a closing date on my new home, I contacted Freedom Movers to schedule delivery. I was closing on May 1st and wanted to have everything delivered by the 5th of May. I requested this date around the 3rd week in April. I was informed by the company that they had 10 business days from the date I scheduled to deliver the goods to actually deliver. I thought this was pretty strange, but didn't seem to have any say since they had my stuff.
I asked for delivery on May 2nd hoping that I would get everything by the following weekend. I took the week of May 1st off in preparation of the move (painting, etc) so that the house would be ready by the weekend of the 5th. Each time I contacted the company to get a more firm delivery date, I was told to call back in about a week and they would let me know. I called the day after the closing (May 2nd) and was told that I should call back on Thu the 4th.
I called on the 4th and they said they would be here on Sunday the 7th. Well, this was pretty inconvenient since I had taken time off from a very hectic job so I could focus on getting the family settled. I was told the driver would call 24 hours a head of time. Sunday came and went and I called the office on Monday for an update.
I was told that I would be called in the afternoon, which I was. The driver informed me that they had truck issues (strangely enough they had truck issues before the initial pickup as well), and that they needed to unload and then pickup my things in MA. I was told they should be here on Tue.
This didn't make sense given it is a 25-30 hr drive from my home in MA, but I said okay and hung up. The next day I called the driver for an update. He had all kinds of problems. They were having problems getting fuel for the truck because the company credit was no good. Looks like it will be Wed now.
Wed came and went without any calls of information. I called on Thu and was told that the original driver had been on the road too long and had been grounded by DOT. This new driver came off of vacation and drove to the truck in VA and was going to bring things down. Finally on Friday they arrived. My wife called me at work to tell me how badly things had been damaged.
Many things that were breakable were either wrapped in paper only or not at all. My wife had a very nice Cedar Chest that was handed down to here from her recently departed mother. It was a very nice piece of furniture. When they arrived, my wife said that when they opened the back of the truck, it was setting on its end at the bottom of many other items completed uncovered no blankets at all.
Once they brought it in, it was obviously damaged. The top has deep scratches all the way through the finish that will require refinishing the entire piece and the wooden handles are cracked and chipped. We had a brand new washing machine. It was also not covered and the dryer was actually sitting on top of it in the truck. The top panel was dented badly and the timer was damaged.
I am trying to get it repaired now. I was told that we should submit a claim to the insurance company which I still need to do. One would expect some problems when moving, but many things were damaged that could have easily been preserved had they been packed properly.
That's all I am going to say about this now. My main concern and problem really is that on top of all of the issues I have had with them, they have not delivered all of my belongings. The truck they used to ship my stuff was not large enough to get everything in one load. This wasn't revealed to us of course until they had their money in hand (they would not unload anything from the truck until they had the balance of the payment). Some of the things missing from the shipment: My king bad mattress, all four bicycles, an outdoor patio glass table, just to name a few.
Fortunately I also had a queen bed which my wife and I have been sleeping on since the move. Oh, it doesn't have the frame since it wasn't delivered either. So we sleep on the mattress on the floor. The driver told us that the balance of the shipment would be brought that following week on Wed.
I can tell you that I have called and or emailed every week since the original delivery of May 12th, and nothing has shown up to date. No one from the company will return my calls. I don't ever expect to see any of these items again at this point. The frustrating part about this is that they were paid (and paid well) to move everything, and between the damaged and missing goods, I am still going to have to pay much more to replace items.
I paid $8600 to move my belongings, and now I am faced with buying a new bed, computer desk, entertainment center, bikes for the whole family, etc the list just goes on and on. I would like to get the remainder of my shipment or at least the actual replacement value on the goods that were not delivered.
As far as I am concerned, this company should not be in business. I would like to see them put out of business before they do this to someone else.
Scott
Punta Gorda, Florida
U.S.A.
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