On phone, I contracted for a full-service move w / Expediant Van Lines under the sales rep Anthony, manager Sam, dispatcher Idan, and Vice President of Government Affairs and Regulations Charles Blanche (w / packing & unpacking in addition to regular service) for 5000 lbs w / 40 boxes to Oakland w / itemized furniture & other goods (estimate: $4100). My belongings were picked up on 7/2/07. It was decided that I could receive shipment on 7/16 w / the worst case scenario being 7/24 (The policy states 21 days from the set drop-off day. This was set as 7/3 the day after my pick-up b/c the sales rep understood that the time factor was of utmost importance as I would have to fly just to receive shipment as I would still be working in RI).
On 7/2 George Tchitchueishvili (ringleader), David, & Thomas arrived to pack & load. They were unprofessional & disorganized/careless in their packing (e.G., they packaged breakable things in between my clothing versus packing it individually; they randomly put kitchen stuff w / bedroom stuff & desk stuff w / kitchen stuff making it difficult to unpack; they somehow packed roommates belongings which was in another room; if they forgot to pack something they hid it under roommates bed b/c they were too lazy to reopen boxes to pack the forgotten items).
Most of our belongings were packed when they reworked the estimate. Greed came over them & they asked for more money in tips: a total of $300. If we did not comply w / their demand, they said that they would play "football" w / our belongings & not pack the stuff well so that it would break (then we would not be reimbursed for the full value of the broken items). One of the guys pretended to kick my cherished 36" Sony TV commenting, "This is what we do to people who don't pay us." Of course we were intimidated & scared that our belongings would be destroyed. Additionally, we were intimidated by the show of force such that we were afraid of what the workers would do to us if we did not comply. George took me outside & showed us that he would "save us money" if we gave them tip.
He then increased the estimate to $5300. He showed his calculations of the estimate using cubic foot & showing us the capacity of the van, which they claimed was half full. However, the van was loosely packed & they placed their packing materials to try to make the half of the van filled w/out success as it was easy to see 1/3 of the top of the van was empty & it was filled w / their packing material on top. I voiced this point & they eventually agreed that it was less space than half the van but they still kept their estimate stating that this could not be changed. I also voiced that the original estimate was in weight, but George stated that it was company policy & that the managers would not budge. Also, they stated 39 boxes were used (it did not appear that many were used) & showed us the fabricated form detailing the costs which included expensive large crates - which were definitely not used. He denied us the right to weigh the truck. Finally, George threatened that I should not inform his managers of this b/c then the price of the move would become even higher. Out of physical & financial intimidation, we gave him a check for $300 and signed the contract (out of fear that they would destroy our goods as they had most of our belongings in their truck) and half the remaining fee.
Expediant failed to keep their advertised offer of 1 month free storage in close proximity in San Jose (their storage was in Chatsworth) & 10 free boxes (not given & our boxes were not used). They denied use of sub-contractors for moves yet they sub-contracted East-West Moving Company to deliver goods in Oakland. East-West delayed services, threatened to charge $350 delivery fee, refused to weigh, refused to reassemble our furniture as in the original contract, and lied about the distance between house and truck saying that it was 140 feet and they had to charge us $120 because it was over 75 feet. However, when we measured it was under 75 feet. They were upset that their lie was uncovered and suggested that they would leave our stuff on the road which would have forced us to move it inside the house. Eventually they moved most of the stuff inside the house. However, they refused to reassemble some of our furniture as promised in the contract. They broke the contract agreement in so many ways.
This could be resolved with a complete refund to cover multiple flights to receive shipment ($1078.40,593.60,610.90) that did not arrive three times, other travel expenses (over $210), and salary loss due to work days missed. Compensation should also include payment for extortion and their horrible service as well as deceiving us with false promises which were not kept including the broken contract to assemble furniture.
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