Nationwide Relocation Services
Contracted them to make a move for me and as I learned not to trust them I cancelled before being taken Fort Lauderdale

NATIONWIDE RELOCATION SERVICES: Be very aware of their tactics.

In the fall of we were going to need a mover take our furniture to Maryland for a new job. We would not be moving everything since we would only be furnishing an apartment and keeping our home in Ohio.in trying to find a mover, I was directed to a site on the Internet and filled out the form not knowing what would happen with it all. It was a site that would send out my request to many moving companies. The first company to call me was Nationwide Relocation Services and that call came through in less than an hour after I sent the information out on the Internet. A woman named Stephanie called to offer the services that her company, Nationwide Relocation Services, could do for us. She assured me that they could take care of everything and I would not have to worry about the move. She talked as if it was a done deal at that moment and I followed her lead. The time frame I needed was to have the belongings delivered as close to the 15th of November as possible. She said they could have our belongings picked up on the 16th and delivered on the 17th. This would be perfect for our needs. She quoted me a price and it was a very reasonable price. It would include the boxes and more than we thought we would actually need. Stephanie told me that the idea is to over estimate the weight and boxes so that when it was under that amount, we would be refunded the difference. It all sounded good, so I agreed. I really thought they would be doing the move, I didnt realize that they would be contracted to someone else to take care of the actual move. But things were set in motion. Later that day, I received a phone call from another mover and when I informed him that we had already booked with Nationwide, he said he would like to give me some advice and get out from under as soon as possible. He also told me to check them on the BBB and I would see hundreds of complaints filed. So, the next day, I did check online with the BBB and found they had over 500 complaints. That concerned me so I called Stephanie. She stated that they move over 500 families a week and that the BBB covers a three-year period. So to have that many complaints compared to the volume of moving they do was a small amount. After we talked, I did feel better, but still apprehensive. I should have listened to my instincts.

On November 12, I received a phone call from another representative from Nationwide to follow up on the upcoming move. He said that it might be better to add more weight to the move just to be sure we would be fully covered. And reminded me that if the weight was not met, then we would be refunded the difference. He called just as I was walking out the door for an appointment and said he would have to transfer me to another person to finalize the changes. That is when I found out that finalizing the changes meant another deposit amount of $425.64. When I questioned it, she said that since the cost of the move went up, so would the amount they needed for a deposit.in a hurry, wrongfully trusting them at this point, I agreed to it. And off I went, but could not stop thinking about it.

The next day, the moving company that had been contracted to do the move called me. It was a lady from ATOPPS and she wanted to talk to me about the date to pick up our belongings. She began by telling me that they would not be able to pick up on the 16th but could do it on the 17th. I said that we needed it there on the 17th so there would be beds for sleeping. She replied that they could not do it until Saturday and asked if I would prefer the driver do the move on no sleep. So, I calmed down a bit to avoid getting really angry with her. She then told me that they could deliver the furniture on Sunday, but probably Monday. When I said that this would not work, she said that they actually didn't have to deliver until the 28th of November according to the window allowed.in all the time I talked to Stephanie, she kept assuring me that pick up on the 16th and delivery on the 17th would work just fine. And I foolishly listened to her and didn't read the papers, I trusted her to be telling me all I needed to know and to be honest with me. That was really my very first mistake. Anyway, I was angry and told them I would need to find some other way to handle this. I called Stephanie and was not able to talk to her, so I left a message.

While waiting for her to return my call, my parents told me about a friend of theirs that has a moving company. So, out of curiosity, I called him. The first thing he told me was to cancel my contract with Nationwide as quickly as I could. So, I called them to cancel and they then informed me that I would lose my deposit, both of them. Angry I told the people I was connected to that I was not going to pay them and they would have to refund my money. They told me that they would not be refunding, they never do. I asked to speak to someone in management and the girl told me that she was the only one that would be talking to me. At one point I even asked for the owner of the company, but she assured me that the owner would not be refunding my money or even taking the time to talk to me. That was her job and she would be the only person I would talk to.

I called the credit card company to dispute the deposits. They could only put one in dispute since the second one had not been posted; it was temporary at this point. The next day, my husband called Nationwide and discussed the problem with Stephanie. She did pass the situation on to her supervisor and he eventually agreed that the second deposit should never have happened. He agreed to refund it, but after a response from them to the credit card, they had refused to refund it at that point. Now, 5 months later, they called to say that the error was theirs and the second deposit would be refunded. So, even though they could not pick up and deliver in the time frame they agreed to verbally, we were the ones penalized for breaking the contract.

The paperwork that also included the rights and responsibilities booklet that is by law to be given to the customer arrived at the new location in Maryland a couple of days AFTER the move took place. This is something that is suppose to be made available BEFORE the move or they are in violation of laws governing moving companies. They also gave us a inding estimate which I learned is actually a set amount once you sign. They do refer to it as only an estimate in their other paperwork. I learned to carefully read everything and probably a good idea to check with an attorney. All the very small print and legal reading is a bit overwhelming. That is why I trusted and didn't read it all, my fault on that part.

When the paperwork arrived from the credit card company that had been sent to them in response to our dispute I found that they only made reference to the first deposit. The second deposit was never mentioned by Nationwide. Maybe someone felt that it had been refunded already, but it hadn't. However, the credit card company also got another paper that I had not seen before. It was the contract that was sent to ATOPPS moving company, which stated that $1,035.00 would be paid to them upon delivery of our belongings. It showed this amount was not due to them from Nationwide. So, we would have joined the ranks of our furniture being held hostage as I have read so many others have experienced.

For this experience with Nationwide, I do feel very lucky that I got out when I did. It really could have been so much worse. They did refund the second deposit and I still have all of my belongings in good shape. The move was made with a local moving company and when we moved things back three months later, they also did the move for us. They were professional and super to work with. I would never recommend doing business with this company and be sure you really know whom you are doing business with.

I also will no longer rely on the BBB for guidance, how can you give a company an A - rating with so many complaints. Boggles the mind. I do think of other little things that went wrong with doing business with this company, but at some point, I need to focus on the fact that they did one right thing, refunded and agreed to not do our move for us.

Elaine2007
Canfield, Ohio
U.S.A.

Company: Nationwide Relocation Services
Country: USA
State: Florida
City: Ft Lauderdale
Address: 6245 Powerline Road, Suite 202
Phone: 9547721610

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