Readers, please do not hire this company. You will regret it. Please listen to my story as evidence...
I hired Gentle Moving Inc for a move from New York to California June 29. They seemed like a reasonable company with decent prices so I went with them without doing much background checking. Had I done my homework, I would never have hired them.
The first mistake I made was not watching them pack. They offer free packing included so I left all my fragile kitchen goods to be packed by them, but didn't monitor the packing as I was running behind. When I opened the boxes, I found to my horror they used no packing materials - glass vases, dishes, pots, pans, everything fragile just piled into a box with no padding. Lesson 1, monitor the movers and do your own packing!
Lesson 2, do not trust them, do your own measuring. Before they started loading the truck they showed me the space and told me a row on the truck was 375cf. I should have known it was a lie because according to my calculations I should have been able to fit 10 of my dressers into a 400cf space, but could only see about 4 in the space they showed me. Unfortunately, I decided to trust them not being armed with a tape measure or confident in my calculations.
Before the move I was quoted in writing a price of $4.25/cf for the actual amount moved. Once all my stuff was on the truck, they proceeded to ask me for 3 times the amount that was estimated (They wanted $3300 when they estimated $1200-$1700 for a 1 bedroom move). They claimed I had to pay by row for space on the truck because I had a few extra boxes that went into the next row, mostly because they packed it poorly. I argued that this was not the deal but the truck driver played like he knew nothing about it and that if he didn't get the money he would leave all my stuff on the street. I decided to write the check and take it up with my sales rep. That was mistake 3. I should have called the police. Do not let people you don't trust walk away with your stuff and your money.
When I tried to argue with the sales rep, I could only get through to the manager, who uses the aliases Mike or Nick, but is really named Nissim. He was nasty and threatened to not deliver my stuff. I suppose he thinks this is how business is done in America, but he is about to learn that customer service is everything and you can't get away with fraud forever. I had to agree to pay an adjusted remaining amount to get my stuff. They had the leverage by holding all my belongings, so my first priority was to get my stuff back and then worry about the money.
Finally, my stuff arrived a month later (when they had guaranteed 14 days). They claimed it was delayed due to my arguing about the payment, but really they just wanted to fill the truck.
The final horror came as the boxes were being unloaded. They were smashed in like someone had taken a baseball bat to them. I don't know what they did with them, but they looked trashed. Luckily, nothing important was destroyed, but I am posting the picture evidence to show how poorly they handled my goods.
Not to mention, when I was able to measure the goods when they arrived, I confirmed that they lied about the cubic footage on the truck and one row was not even close to 375 cf. I only had less than 300cf of goods...
Upon investigating how to get revenge with this company, I have spoken with the American Moving and Storage Association and the Dept of Transportation, who have listened to my claims, but failed to do anything as of yet. As for lesson 4, do your homework before hiring. My research has found that Gentle Moving does not have a business license in Brooklyn, has no physical address on file with any organization and will not distribute it, and has no official corporation name registered in the public domain, but only many "doing business as" names to confuse customers. They are using the Internet to continue doing business while customers are being scammed everyday.
It seems strange to me that AMSA and DOT would license a company that is obviously using different corporation names to hide behind the legal system and is clearly being illusive about its business practices by not owning up to their employees real names or a physical location for their business. It seems to me that Nissim is afraid of the action that may be taken against him, but nevertheless consumers should not trust or hire a company that is not transparent in its business practices.
In addition to speaking with AMSA and DOT, my lawyer wrote a letter to Gentle Moving 8 months ago that was never responded to. I have been out of the country for most of the year, but have just returned to settle this dispute fairly and bring justice to this company that does not deserve to be in business. Unsure of their physical location, I personally delivered the letter, photo evidence and 2 consumer complaintss to Nissim's mailbox last week requesting that he negotiate a settlement before I publicize his activities. He has failed to respond, so I am left with no other option than to publicly expose his dealings.
Here is the compensation I am due:
Refund for overcharging on initial move $1,386 ($2,661 paid - actual cost for 300cf of $1,275)
20 hours working on settlement ($25/hr) $500
Printing, faxing, phone $14
Legal fees $100
Total $2,000 owed
Once I receive payment, I will amend this report to reflect a civil settlement, but if payment is not received in 5 days I will take further action to publicize this report and ensure that Gentle Moving loses business for its failure to own up to its actions.
Here is the full information on the company:
Doing Business as: Gentle Moving, MovingAAA, Happy Homes
Confirmed Mailing address: 9221 5th Ave, PMB 120, Brooklyn, NY, 11209 (I have personally visited this private mail box location and confirmed that Nissim picks up his mail in this locksmith's shop everyday, so whatever you send here, he will receive)
Other unconfirmed address: 140 58th St, Suite 140, Brooklyn, NY
Web address: http://www.gentlemoving.net/storage.php
Other site with conflicting info: http://www.city-data.com/profiles/7265
Phone: 800 884 4784 or 718 438 6594
Fax: 718 439 6308
Email: [email protected]
License #s: mc 486899 U.S. DOT 1278663
Please help make the fight against moving companies public. Post your story about Gentle Moving or MovingAAA on consumer complaints and get revenge.
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