This company was contracted by my 67 year old ailing father to move him and my mother to a new apartment. Before moving day, my father suffered a stroke, and my mother and I chose to go ahead with the move, so that we'd have them settled into their new home when/if he were released from the hospital. My father is a very methodical, intelligent, careful man and he was, in retrospect, ironically, impressed with the representative who came to the apartment, pre move, to write an estimate. (This unethical company is quite crafty, I figure, in sending courteous, impressive representatives PRE-move, in order to not scare potential customers off before their big rip-off.) My father also requested special packing materials for certain items, like lamps and computers, in order to ensure their safe delivery. He paid extra for these items.
I had traveled from my home in Illinois, with my 3 young children, to assist in the move. On moving day, my father was still in bad shape, in the hospital. On this moving day, many egregious acts were commited by the movers. It was quite surreal. Of course, when one is engulfed in hectic (in the case of these movers, I'd call it frantic and confused) moving day activities, it is not easy to realize all the breaks in contract and problems occuring. It is afterwards that it all sunk in for us, though I did "call them" (the movers and foreman) on several things AS they were happening. I was only further snowed by them - put off and ignored.
For starters, the movers dropped a huge, expensive living room lamp, right in front of all of us. When I asked that they document this, they said that I was the one who would need to document it later, and report it, submitting photos of the broken lamp myself. Unbelievably, then these movers told me I would have to hand carry all the rest of the lamps in the apartment, in order that they would not break more of them. We were offered none of the lamp cartons for which my father had paid extra. They also left the kitchen unpacked and unmoved, and we had to move the kitchen ourselves, my elderly mother and I, the next day. It took us 8 hours that day. (These were all items that had been contracted to be moved by the company.)
On moving day, the movers told us that in looking around, it looked as if we would need many more boxes than were in the original estimate, and that our items would weigh more than contracted for. I expressed confusion, largely because not only did my parents add no extra items since the estimate, but we had actually given away quite a few items before moving day, including large chairs and part of a big bed, and also ended up needing less than the contracted for number of wardrobe boxes because of a lot of clothing donations we did at the last minute. Still, the foreman pressed us, and said that if we were to promise to pay him and each mover $40 in tips, he'd not charge my father for any extra boxes or hours. (That is the extortion part.)
He required us to pay for the move at the START of it, which I found out later is against protocols. This foreman took such advantage of us, that afterwards we felt totally "had" and incredulous at the extent of his audacity. These movers, who followed us to the destination, even pulled their van along side us on the highway, yelling out the window for us to drive faster!
In the end, they refused to put back together furniture that they'd dismantled to fit through doors, and when I pushed for them to do this, they put that which they did reassemble, together wrongly. They refused to hook up the washer and dryer, and neglected to reattach doors that they'd taken off the hinges.
They did not cover furniture with protective cloths, as was part of the contract my father set up, and an antique table was damaged. They badly ripped and stained a very expensive mattress cover that they left on the mattress, which was not put in a mattress box, even though mattress boxes were part of the contract.
My father paid specially for protective padding for his television and computers, and the movers used NOTHING to pad these items. Virtually everything was put into the truck with no padding or boxing whatsoever.
It was raining on moving day, and I asked the movers to lay down runners to protect the carpets and floors in the destination apartment. They simply refused!
These movers were inconsiderate, and took advantage of us in a very vulnerable time of worry about our father/husband. I have never experienced such rotten human nature. I really was in disbelief and shock the whole time, and especially afterwards when I had time to reflect on the whole thing.
When it was time for them to leave at the end of the move, I noticed, when asked to sign the contract, that the foreman had falsified the number of hours they worked. They had been 4-6 hours late arriving, for starters, and then completed the move in about 4 hours less than the original estimate (it goes faster when they audaciously decide not to pad or pack anything as was listed in the contract! Yet they listed their total working hours as "10". (It was really 6 hours and 30 minutes from start to finish.) I told the foreman I did not want to sign a false document, and he told me that he was required to list the hours that it would be before he arrived at the next point, or some false reason like that.
At this point I was exhausted and worn down and wanting to be rid of these rude, unethical movers, and so I just signed the paper. On this paper, it shows that our costs included $75 an hour for each of TEN hours. I knew this was falsification, but the foreman gave me some mumbo jumbo explanation. Since the bottom line did not exceed the original cost estimate, I just signed the paper. But I was astounded at this mover's dishonesty, especially after how he'd constantly cut corners and disrespected me and my mother.
When the move was over, I phoned the company to relate my story. I spoke to a man named Ariel Lavi, and another named Alan Michaels. Both apologized for my terrible move and asked me to put it in writing. I wrote a detailed letter and mailed to their claims department.
The response I received was from a different company name, though still the same address. The man from the claims department now was named John Wagner. He sent a simple form, asking me only to detail and my claims and send proof of value of the items. There was no talk of the violations to contract (like the large amount of money we paid in extra boxes and packing, none of which were delivered) or the bad behavior of the moving crew. We were told to not contact them by phone (and in fact, their stationery contains no phone numbers).
By now I was so worn down by this whole process and the hoops I was having to jump through, that I just filled out the form and mailed it in. I received back an insulting and patronizing offer of $43.20, which is, basically, 60 cents per pound per article damaged.
As long as this narrative is, I have left out many other wrongs commited by these movers and this company during our move.
I don't understand how this company could still be in business. Maybe I am naive, but it just astounds me that this company could still be operating, being that I have never come across such dishonesty, inconsiderate behavior, thievery, and unaccountability in an operating business before. I hope that my story will prevent some families from using this company for their moves, if nothing else comes of this.
But, ultimately I hope this company finds its way into the radar of the Attorney General and is shut down as soon as possible thereafter.
Natalie
Algonquin, Illinois
U.S.A.
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