I am writing to you about consumer fraud by a company called United Relocations. I have listed their contact data and their permit numbers at the bottom of this email
I contracted with them to move my goods from Phoenix, AZ to Flushing, NY.
I got a one page quote from them. It is important to note that this is the ONLY document I received from them prior to the move.
Please also note that the quote says that the person being moved can have up to thirty days of storage without cost.
And, I believe it is important to note that the quote says nothing about the additional cost of a "long haul."
When the movers showed up, two hours late on February 27, the first thing that they said to me was that I would have to pay an additional $300 dollars because my apartment was 350 feet from the parking lot. I was told that the first 50 feet were free and it was $1 per foot for each additional foot. First, I reject the notion that I should be charged anything for a "long haul" as it was not mentioned in the quote. Secondly, my apartment was not 350 feet from the parking lot, but 176 feet. I demonstrated this by measuring it for them. I also had it independently measured by a neighbor who measured it at 171 feet. The movers were not all interested in my measurement but charged me an additional $300 dollars anyway. I had no choice but to pay them as I was supposed to turn over the apartment the next morning or be charged an additional months rent. I am also 69 years old, and am in poor health, and live alone and by the time they finished it was about 10:30 P.M.
I told the driver that the earliest I would be ready to move into an apartment in Flushing, NY was the 12th of March. He noted that on the paper work and said that I should call with the exact date and address.
On March 18th I received a call from the movers in New York who wanted to deliver the goods the next day. I told them that I did not yet have a lease on an apartment and that I would like them to hold the goods until the end of the month as part of the free storage mentioned in the quote. After much argument, the dispatcher with whom I spoke said that they would store it without charge.
I finally signed the lease for an apartment and asked them to deliver the goods the first week of April
On the day they showed up they were in a rented truck from Budget. The man in charge was a Lithuanian who spoke very poor English. I did not hear the man with him speak at all. The man in charge told me that my balance was $800, payable only in cash. When I asked why, I was told that they were going to charge me another "long haul" fee of $150 plus $250 for re-delivery. The re-delivery fee was charged because I was not ready to accept the goods on the earliest date I projected and the goods had to be stored. The quote, to review, said nothing about a redelivery fee and said I was entitled to 30 days free storage.
This move cost me $1,790, or $700 more than I was quoted.
As a final insult during the delivery process, the Lithuanian was quite put out when he asked for a tip which I refused to give him.
Finally, the movers moved my goods, which consisted only of 40 boxes, so rapidly into my apartment that they did not give me a chance to check the numbers of the boxes against the inventory. They just did not care, but dropped the boxes and left.
After they left, I inventoried the boxes and discovered that three of my boxes were missing. Moreover, they delivered five boxes of goods to me that belong to someone else. I told them over two weeks ago that I have five boxes of someone else's goods. They have never gotten back to me or even commented on this.
I called E.J. Burns of United Relocations and he promised to call me right back. That was two weeks ago and I still have not heard from him even though I have sent him emails asking him to call.
Since the moving company headquarters is in California, my goods were picked up in Arizona and delivered to New York, I am sending a letter to the Consumer Protection Agencies of all three states and I am sending letters to the appropriate authorities in all all forty-seven. Moreover, I am going to check to see what federal agency might get involved. Finally, I intend to contact the IRS about the Lithuanian who delivered the goods and would accept only cash. There are at least two reasons why they would do this. One is that they have defrauded so many people that they are afraid that a check or credit card may be cancelled on them. And/or they do not intend to pay taxes on it. I am sending a simultaneous note to the IRS so they can check on the latter.
Moreover, I am posting a complaint on their website and another on the complaint on the web. I am also complaining in writing to the agency mentioned in the pamphlet on moving that they gave me only when the picked up my goods. Also, all the federal government agencies I can think of, e.G., the Department of Transportation.
In addition to my complaint there are two others with similar experiences that I have copied off the web and will mail. It appears that the company is defrauding many others.
There must be something that can be done to stop this kind of fraud.
The contact data for United Relocations is as follows:
Address: 12439 Magnolia Blvd, #134, North Hollywood, CA 91605
Phone: 1-888-886-1988
Email: [email protected]
US DOT #1582998. Icc mc #586122. PUC #190387
The job number of my contract is: 29369
0 comments