I contacted several movers for my relocation to the Nashville area. My intention was to screen several companies, and choose the best from the lot. I contacted United Relocation, Trans US Moving, and Gold Star Van Lines, American alliance of Ethical Movers, North American Van Lines, and All Over the States. Of these companies only North American Van Lines did NOT respond to my request for an estimate. (They did initially contact me, but when I called to set up an appointment I never received a call back) I received the following quotes from the remainder of the companies:
United relocation - $4,708
Trans US Moving - $3,500
Gold Star Van Lines - $4,870
American Alliance of Ethical Movers - $8,609.11
All Over the States - $3,676.18
North American van lines No Estimate
These quotes were based on several different methods. American Alliance sent an individual to my home to look at the goods. Trans US, Gold Star, And all Over the States had me fill out an inventory list. United Relocation had a representative named Monika call me and ask me about my inventory.in the instance with Monika, I was able to tell her that I did NOT know how to estimate the weight because I was not a mover. Monika asked me questions about the size of my home and access ability. I told her that my home was 2,800 sq. Ft. And 2 levels. Based on this MONIKA estimated my weight to be 8,400 lbs. As a side note American Alliance of Ethical movers, who actually had a rep come to my home, estimated the weight at 8,590 lbs as well. This led me to believe that her weight was accurate. As I went through my decision process, I looked at several factors-
1. Responsiveness to my inquiries
2. Professionalism of the representative who contacted me
3. Amount of the estimate (In relation to all the estimates received)
4. Went to a website called movingscams.org and researched the different companies
Based on the above factors, I contacted United Relocation for my final evaluation. I asked Monika several questions about the estimate. My first question was what happens if my goods weighed more than the 8,400 she estimated. Monika indicated to me that once the truck was loaded, the movers would take the truck to the scales and weigh it. If the amount was more than she estimated, United Relocation would charge the difference in weight. This made sense to me.
So I made the decision to contract them. Monika asked me for my credit card to charge a $150 deposit, and we scheduled a pickup date of Dec 18th at 9AM. The other questions that I asked Monika were logistic questions about the lead time required to schedule the move and their calling before arriving at the home. I also asked her to include a vehicle transport to the original estimate so that I could use one company for the whole move. She added the vehicle and it added $975 to the estimate. (This was inline with the quotes I had received from everyone else) I thought all was good until the day of the move arrived.
On the morning of the scheduled move, I received a call from the United Relocation driver saying that he was at another customers home and he would be a little late. I said I understood and what time could we expect him. The driver stated that he would be at the home around 11AM. 11AM came and went and the driver still had not showed up. It was not until 1PM that the driver called again and stated he would be to the house at 3PM. Due to the fact that all the companies stated they needed a 2 week advance notice, and we were at the date of move, I had no other options but wait for United Relocation to show up.
They finally arrived at our home at 7:30PM. I was not very happy, but I told them that we were supposed to get on the road to drive to our new home, and they were causing a huge problem with their lateness. The driver apologized and proceeded to tell me that we had way more cubes than were estimated. I asked him why the cubes mattered when the move was based on weight. He indicated that the move was NOT based on weight but in the cubic feet of the material. After much discussion, and my showing him the estimate that had 8,400 pounds on it, he called his boss (Ziggy) who ended up also being the owner of the company. Ziggy argued with me for a long time, but he finally agreed to charge me by the pound as agreed.
The problem is that he was going to charge me. 55 per pound when the estimate clearly worked out to be. 51 per pound. I felt I had no choice but to agree to pay the. 55 per pound. That was ALL that was stated was that he would charge. 55 per pound! The driver finished up day one at about 10:30PM and said he would be back the next day FIRST Thing at 6:00AM. He knew we were way behind on our move, and promised he would be there at 6:00AM. True to their company motto, he was 2 and half hours late! They did not show up the next day until 8:30AM. I was livid. But again, there was not much that could be done.
When they finally loaded up all of our belongings, the driver completed a Binding Estimate and estimated the weight at 15,000 pounds. I found this strange because we had eliminated a lot of items that were on the original inventory (furniture, big screen TV, pool table). The United Relocation driver than called the office and I heard him ask what does he charge for the overage? I asked him what he meant overage. He said that every pound over the 8,400 would be charged at. 78 per pound.
I couldnt believe this. I told him that Ziggy had agreed to. 55 per pound for the move just the day before. I called Ziggy back and he basically told me that there was nothing I could do. The overage would stay at. 78 per pound. How can you charge me for an overage when they were the people that completed the initial weight estimate? Ziggy was rude and defiant that I could do nothing. I had to pay the amount he required. I was powerless, and they had my belongings on their truck. My $4,700 move was now going to be in excess of $11,000. When they put the final paperwork together the coupe de grace was about to be put into place.
They demanded a down payment from my credit card $4,000 (which I paid) and then said the remainder was to be paid in cash on the receiving end. Since this was a company reimbursed move, I did not have $7,000 in cash. I told them that I had to pay by credit card. The driver called Ziggy, and Ziggy agreed to accept credit card payment on the receiving end.
I thought my hell would be over, but this company had way more pain to give. They also agreed to deliver our goods on Saturday December 22nd so we would have our belongings for Christmas. I had the driver put on the paperwork that credit card payment was acceptable and sign the sheet. I thought this would protect me, but I underestimated the power this company had since they had my possessions.
On Saturday the driver of the truck with our goods called me and said he was still a day out. I should not have been surprised that, once again, they were missing a promised delivery date, but alas I was surprised. To add to our misery, the driver stated that we had to have cash or money order only before he would unload our goods. I explained to him that Ziggy had agreed to credit card payment. The driver called Ziggy, and Ziggy called me and said that he knew he had agreed, but he had changed his mind. I had to have cash or I would not get my goods. He then hung up on me stating that either cash or my goods go into storage and I would have to pay the difference.
I was completely distraught because I did not have that much cash available to me. We were in a new state, and I had no access to our banks to draw out the cash. I finally had to go to 5 different banks taking cash advances (at considerable expense to myself) so that I would have the required cash. I want to tell you that I finally received my goods on Christmas at 7Pm and the movers were at our home until 2:30AM unloading. We have several items missing and many items broken.
I do not hold out much hope that we will ever be reimbursed for these items, and I cannot tell you the emotional pain and suffering we went through on this move. Moving is an already stressful situation, and especially during the holiday season. This company did everything in its power to misrepresent and con and scam us out of every penny. I dont know what legal recourse we have as the government seems to be unwilling to regulate this industry. The only thing they tell us is that we can lodge a complaint and they can do nothing to the company. Do they think this company cares about a complaint being lodged? I only hope that our horror story can help others avoid this company like the plague.
There are many more things I could have put into this letter, but it would have been a novel at some point. Anyone that wants the full story can contact me.
St
murfreesboro, Tennessee
U.S.A.
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