I was making a local move approximately 55 minutes from one another.in my area during the late Spring to early summer months, it is very difficult to get a moving company because of the vast number of military being moved. I checked the web and found a company that was recommended. There was no bad information on the company AAA Van Lines, 12408 W. 120th St., Suite 617 Overland Park, KS, DOT # 1229569, Business ID (KS) 3519048 (they are not an active entity meaning they forfeited their membership' and are not recognized as an entity' in KS however can still conduct business). (only now I now they are listed at AAA Vanlines and have multiple unresolved complaints)
I have documented emails from the woman (American) I was working with and in addition spoke to on the phone. The appointment was made weeks in advance to pick up my household goods at 1 P.M. On the day the company was supposed to arrive, 1 P.M. Came and went. At 3:30 that afternoon the crew chief called to say he was going to be late. (a no brainer there). He asked if he needed two trucks.?! I didn't know the size of the trucks (made a bad assumption it was a REAL van line company) but if they were small, two. They show up at 7:00 P.M.
The first thing he does is yell at me because he says I lied about the size of my house. Even though I have a 5 bedroom house, I only have one bedroom suit, a den, boxes and of course the regular rooms associated with the normal' house. He said that I told him I had a 3 bedroom house. He literally meant 3 bedrooms! And nothing else. He told me that he would have to come back another day (at his convenience) and load the rest of the furniture (for another fee! It was not my fault that he brought a truck that was too small)
Then he changed the hourly amount stating he did it because he brought a 4th person and the hourly amount was divided four ways. (I do not know if that is true). Then he told me to sign the bill. I stated there were no totals on it and he told me that he would take care of me later (little did I know) He said that if I did not he would leave.
Unfortunately because I knew that I could not get another van line company until the end of July I was pretty much over a barrel. I signed the bill with the phrase, signed without any totals on the bill'. He also had a list of charges for blankets, straps, tape and the like. (now I know there are no charges on local moves) When he saw it, he asked why I did and went ballistic. He started yelling at me and I looked him square in the face and told him if he was trying to intimidate me and bully me it wasn't going to work. I need to add this man was from a mid-eastern country and his idea on women is quite different.
When we went through the house, I showed him the computer table that I had not taken down. I told him that the lady I spoke with said they would disassemble it. He looked at me and said we don't disassemble anything. We went downstairs and the workers started loading boxes on the truck. I know that I had 4 dish packs, 4 lamp boxes, and approximately 100 3.0 boxes. There were also some boxes that ranged in size from shoe box and 5 boxes that were larger than the dish pack.
He loaded most of the boxes on the truck.in the meantime he went into my bedroom and asked me if he was supposed to take the bedroom furniture. I looked at him and said, who the freak leaves their furniture when moving to another house? He didn't want to take anything that was too heavy.
The guys moving the boxes were trying to be nice to me because this man was so crude, and verbally abusive. They also loaded 6 brand new wrought iron chairs and 4 wrapped bar stools that were in the garage. (I had just purchased them and left them in the garage for the movers). I want to add that I had done all the packing myself. I had prepositioned the boxes so the movers could waste little time.
Once the truck was loaded, the crew chief' came into the house and said, give me my money now or else you will not get your goods. I told him that I wasn't going to pay until delivery. He said, then you won't get your goods. Then he left. The time was a little after 9:00 pm. I composed a fairly unemotional scathing email to the van lines explaining in detail what had happened.
The next day when I arrived at my new house, the truck (you can't call it a van), showed up. The crew chief' arrived in his personal vehicle (as he did when the came to load). He asked me if I had his money. I told him to wait and went inside to make some calls to the consumer protection board, etc. Etc. All they did was give me the round robin and refused to answer any questions saying they were legal issues. (e.G., do people generally pay before delivery?)
While I was on the phone the plumber, who was at the house came in and told me the truck had left. Shortly after that, I received a call from the owner/mgr telling me I had to pay or else I would not get my goods. He then demanded a certified check, cashier's check or cash (yeah right). I said this was not told to me. He told me that if I had read the fine print in the contract, I would have seen it. I told him that I was going to file a complaint with the consumer protection board.
Upon saying that he said, well last night one of my workers told me that you know of someone who can take care of me. (meaning kill him). He continued on saying that he was going to have me arrested and that this person would testify and I would go to jail. Basically he was threatening me if I filed a complaint.
At one point we became disconnected. I was beside myself and didn't know what to do. Then I thought, just get it over with. I called him back and told him I would get the $600.00. I said it is $600, isn't it? I went to a bank and begged them to let me pay for a certified check as I didn't have a bank in that area. After going through that I went back to the house and they were waiting for me. We went into the house and he shoved the bill at me and said. It is now $645. I showed him that I only had a certified check for $600 would he take a personal check, he did.
Then he had to audacity to tell me to call him next week and he would move the rest of my furniture. Once he left, I said in a strong way to the workers, which one of you told him this last night. Then I went on to tell them about what he said about having me arrested. They all started laughing. Evidently he cheats the people he moves.
There were 5 workers to unload the truck. I told them to put the six chairs in the house and the rest of the stuff (all boxes except for the 4 bar stools) in the garage. Normally they would have placed the boxes in the rooms, but I just wanted them out of there. The workers were still nice to me and one said, we knew that you were just going to want us to put the stuff in the garage and we know you aren't going to call him for the rest of your stuff.
Needless to say I paid $650 to move 10 chairs and a lot of boxes. My furniture and household appliances are still at my other house. The cost to move everything should have been between $650-750. Now I have to contact another agency to move my furniture.
This company has an American secretary as a front. The crew chief and owner are brothers-in-law from a mid-eastern country. I have found upon doing a lot of research on moving scams, that the preponderance of owners of these moving companies are from the mid-east (and I don't mean Kansas). Is there a pattern here?
I have filed a complaint with the BBB, and have contacted a local television station. This company needs to be stopped. I do realize because of their culture in that they have no respect for mankind or womankind, that my health and welfare may be in jeopardy. However, sometimes you have to do what is right. Holding your goods hostage is against the law and so is requiring payment before delivery of your goods. Unfortunately they have probably bullied and threatened so many people they are afraid to stand up.
Susan
Lenexa, Kansas
U.S.A.
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