Held my stuff hostage, delivered broke things...
I contracted with this company to move the contents of my one-bedroom apartment from Brooklyn, New York, to Chicago, Illinois. When the movers arrived in Brooklyn to pack my belongings into their truck, they insisted on a cash payment, despite previous representations by the company that a registered check would be acceptable. After packing the truck, the movers informed me that I was required to pay more than three times the estimated price because I had that much more stuff than they had expected.
Frantic negotiations (including my demand that they unload a portion of the truck) brought the price down to twice the amount of the estimate. Weary of arguing, I paid half of the total price (and a whopping tip that they required) with the understanding that I would pay the remaining half when the truck arrived in Chicago.
The Order for Service that I signed stated that delivery would occur in Chicago between 9 am Tuesday, August 27 and noon, Friday, August 30. The truck never arrived. All that week, the dispatcher promised daily that the truck was going to get to Chicago within the contracted-for time period. However, at the end of the week, he finally admitted that my belongings remained at his warehouse in New Jersey and the truck would not be leaving New Jersey that week at all.
In response to repeated calls, he said that the truck would be here the following week. Didn't happen. I received every conceivable excuse: their trucks were all broken and being fixed; their drivers were too tired and needed sleep; their trucks were all booked up; my possessions were on a truck that was somewhere in Indiana but wouldn't be able to make delivery in Chicago for another week... The excuses got more and more far fetched.
I posted a complaint on the Internet. "Aaron" at the moving company threatened me by email with a "major law suite" unless I removed my complaint within 2 hours. I replied that I did not intend to remove the site before delivery of my belongings.
Yesterday morning, September 9, a driver called to tell me that he was in Chicago with my stuff and planned to deliver that evening at 6 pm. Less than an hour after the driver's call, I received another email from Aaron concerning my site: "Take me off if not I will not deliver your stuff after 6pm."
I forwarded this email to the US Department of Transportation in New Jersey. Minutes later, the DOT copied me on an email that began, "Aaron, Per our phone conversation this date, movers are not to withhold delivery of goods on the basis of removing a consumer complaint first." The truck turned up at five minutes after 6 pm.
There were three men, the trucker and two local guys. The trucker — a New Jersey employee in a muscle shirt — showed me a bill for services that was hundreds of dollars higher than the balance due under the contract. They wouldn't unload the truck until I paid the new ransom in cash. I forked out the extra hundreds and the unloading began.
After the men had deposited my belongings in the apartment, the trucker beckoned me downstairs to sign the contract and inventory sheet. (Moments earlier, he'd been casually flicking his 5-inch blade open and closed in front of me.) Although I did not want to sign anything, he'd previously told me that he would not give me a receipt unless I did.
As he watched over my shoulder, I wrote on the signature line, "Under duress, stuff host —" He yanked the contract from me, causing a long stripe on the paper, and yelled with his face an inch from mine, "I ought to punch you in the face, you bitch!" I requested my copy of the contract. He shouted about all of the things that he would do if I were a man. "Just because you're a woman, you think you can get in my face, but don't push me!" I slipped upstairs and called the cops.
When I returned downstairs, the trucker continued to shout, but he kept his distance. He stood in the shadow of the open door of the truck, and listed all the violent things he would do if only I were male, and he never even noticed the two female cops strolling around the side of the cab.
The officers suggested that he elaborate further. Surprised, he exploded with anger, and I never had to say a word. After the cops threatened him with arrest (twice), I got to write what I wanted on the contract before ripping out my copies.
I have since discovered that my experience with Regal was relatively mild. The other complainant on this site had it even worse than I did!
Camilla
Chicago, Illinois
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