I walked right into NATIONWIDE'S Trap - I needed a Nationally reputable company to move my 84 yr old Mom's furniture from B'ham, Al to Gainesville, Fl 450 miles of transit. I was "suckered" in by the sweet sounding
Secretary, Racheal, who agreed to accept my personal check - only half would be due at the loading on Sat. 9/14/02. I told her that I would probably NOT be at the Delivery, so per her approval, would just pay the entire amount - NO mention of their needing a Cashier's Check, or otherwise...
The one (1) bedroom furniture was (over) estimated at 200 cu ft, and appx $ 900 in cost. A few minutes later, I called her to say there was one (1) other item, a Church organ, appx 4 ft wide by 3 ft deep, 4 ft tall to ADD to the list - NO PROBLEM, she advised if there was any extra packing or labor there would be additional charges... NO mention of how much.
The driver's promsied their arrival at 11:00 am, but showed up at 9:00 am (on Saturday -the Sabbath) before I could finish packing the "loose" items into boxes. Their packing, taping, loading, talking on cell phones, signing their ' Home Loan - Like" documents, etc, etc took them until almost 1:30 pm to finish. It was brought to my attention that the extra packing, and the large? Organ would make the cu. Ft increase to 400 cu. Ft (from 200) and the increase cost went from 900 to $ 2186.50 -Whoo.
O.K.- since it was about to rain, and all the furniture was on the truck, and I was in a hurry to get back to Florida, I AGREED to the amount - I didn't have time to see the small print, w / the extra $ 150 tacked on for length of carry 75 ft (actual appx 90ft), and the extra $ 150 for the extra flight of stairs (elevator) ABOVE the 2nd floor - It was on the 2nd floor, so this was an EXACT attempt at Ripping me off... Not to mention the very Questionable cu. Ft increase. But, the driver (Sock-off) after calling in to Dispatch, made the MISTAKE of promising that he would have the furniture there on Tuesday three (3) days later. A verbal agreement is a binding contract where I live. He explained that Monday was their Jewish Holiday, and that they don't drive or work at all on the utmost of Holy Days.
They proceeded to drive this BIG YELLOW Ryder Rental Truck to Miami, Fl right past the Retirement Home in Gainesville, Fl (w/i 400 yards to be precise) on I-75. I didn't know this at the time, but on Tues, I called the driver's cell ph 954-540-5563, and no answer, called Racheal, who said they were on their way, hours later Jay told me they probably tried to deliver, but no one was around...? Totally UNTRUE as my Cousins were there waiting along with the entire personnel of the Retirement Center. Another EXACT attempt at the RIP-OFF. On Wed, Jay explained that Nationwide was holding my furniture in Miami, until the (personal) check cleared. It cleared that day 9/18/02, but upon later talking? Yelling, with Josh (a very good name for such a business kidder...) found out that " he didn't have to deliver my furniture on Tues 9/17, and for that matter, until 60 days passed - According to the D.O.T.
Wow - Now this was getting out of hand... I called the big kidder, Josh on Thursday 9/19/02 and demanded the furniture be delivered ASAP... His people skills are severely limited, as his next comment proves... Josh stated that" he could walk into the warehouse, take a SLEDGE-HAMMER, bash my Mom's furniture to dust, and deliver it that way, and there was NOTHING i could do about - No laws would prevent him from doing it". He also instructed all his employees to avoid my phone calls. I explained to him that if he wanted to STEAL my Mom's Furniture, Damage it, and deliver it that way - I was going to the Local Sheriff's Dept, Broward & Dade County's - Be Wary where he is... And report the Missing furniture as STOLEN...
On Friday & Monday, the Authorities did contact him, and by Monday afternoon he was trying to deliver the furniture at 10pm that night. He later decided Tues 12-2 pm would be better... And, by 4:30 pm they did show up with Mostly un-damaged goods... Very much ending an Extreme case of Fast Insight...!
Lessons learned: Don't agree to 60 cents per lb, unless you ship lots of extra poundage of lead weights. Don't be in a Hurry... Don't do business with a company like this that has been in business for only five (5) years. Get as accurate an estimate as possible, and have the driver's sign the Delivery Date (Promise). Move your-self, a back-ache is alot better than the head/heart ache of dealing with this Crook...
Support your's & his local law enforcement.
Jim
Gainesville, Florida
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