My Statement
Sometime at the end of July I got news that my stepfather was ill and only given two months to live. As a spur of the moment desicion my fiancee and I decided to move back to PA. Where my family lived. Being short on cash we looked through the phone book for trucking companies so we could get their rates.
All the companies we spoke to gave an estimated weight of 1,500 pounds or less for the list of belongings that we gave them. We kept calling around and finally came across a company called AY TRANSPORT (AYT).
We called to get their rates and spoke with a man named Ronnie. I asked Ronnie about the wieght of our belongings and he asked for a list of what we had. After going over the list he told me that the estimate would be about 1,500 pounds.
Ronnie then asked where we were moving to and I told him we'd be moving from California to PA. Ronnie told me no problem. I then asked about the total cost for the move. Ronnie told me it would be $900.00.
I told him that it sounded like a good price, and Ronnie told me that it was because they already had someone moving out there and we'd be splitting the cost. I thanked him and let him know that we'd call them back if we decided to use their services. The next day I called back and once again spoke to Ronnie.
I told him that we'd like them to do our move but I'd like them to estimate our belongings wieght at 2,000 pounds so we could make sure we had enough money. Ronnie told me it wouldn't be a problem because they usually do that as a buffer, and that he had already told us he doubted that our stuff even weighed 1,500 pounds.
I then asked if the price would be adjusted so that we only had to pay for what our stuff actually weighed and Ronnie told me that it would be taken care of. He then asked if we needed anything packed, and I told him that we needed our T. V and computer packed. Ronnie told me that it would be an additional $60.00.
I asked him what the total cost of the move would be and Ronnie told me that with the additional weight added our total cost would be $1,060.00 for everything. Ronnie then told me tha we would need to pay a $300.00 deposit by August 2nd to hold our spot on the truck.
I then asked if we'd be able to get the weight of the truck before and after our stuff was on it. Ronnie told me that it wouldn't be a problem that they would have a scale on the truck to weigh our stuff for us.
August 2nd 2002
My fiancee, Adhym (Adam), my ten month old daughter, and I went down to go make the deposit on the truck. When we got to the address listed in the phone book there was no sign of AYT. When we were getting ready to get back into the car and call them to find out where they were, we were stopped by an elderly woman who told us that AYT had been run out of that neighborhood because they had caused alot of problems.
She then asked if we were planning on having them move our stuff and when we told her yes, she advised against it because they always had peoples stuff stacked up in the streets and would bang them around. We weren't really sure what to think of what she had said but decided that maybe she was just annoyed with all the noise from the trucks.
We finally got the correct address for AYT and got to the company to make the deposit. When we got there we asked for Ronnie and after a few minutes he came out. We told him that we were there to make the deposit and ask a few questions. Before Ronnie even said anything, he handed me a contract to sign for the deposit, pick-up and drop-off dates, and estimated wieght.
Before signing it I read it over and noticed that the pick-up date was 2 days after our last day to decide if we really wanted them to move us and still get the deposit back. I then asked Ronnie about the pick-up date, and he said that it would be August 10th and they would be there btween 9am and 11am and we would get a call the day before to confirm.
I also asked about the 7-10 day delivery, and Ronnie told me that after our beongings were picked up it would take 7-10 days for them to be deliverd. I then asked again about the price adjustment once our stuff was weighed, and Ronnie told us no problem we would only be charged for the actual weight so I had nothing to worry about.
I then asked if we could pay the balance due when the truck came to pick everything up and Ronnie said we could pay at pick-up or drop-off, it was our choice.
August 9th
Ronnie himself called me somtime in the afternoon to confirm the pick-up time for the next day. He told me that the truck would arrive between 9 and 11am as planned. I asked him if he was sure because we were hoping to leave for PA. After they were done loading. Ronnie told me not to worry.
Once again I reminded him about that we wanted to have everything weighed when they got there so we would know if we would have any extra cash for the drive out. Once again Ronnie told me not to worry that the scales would be on the truck when they got there.
August 10th day of pick-up
I was up at 8am to wait for the truck and make sure everything was in order. I waited and waited and there was no sign of the truck whatsoever. When it was 12:30 in the afternoon and there was still no sign of the truck and no call from the company I began to worry. Adhym called AYT and spoke with Ronnie and asked him what was goiong on. Ronnie told him that the driver made a mistake and went to pick up a load in San Fransisco before they came to get ours instead of getting our stuff first like they were supposed to.
Ronnie told Adhym not to worry that the truck would be there in an hour and a half. Adhym again reminded him that we were hoping to leave for PA. That day and that we still had to run a few errands. Ronnie told Ahym not to worry that the truck would wait for us if we needed to run errands. Adhym hung up with him and before we knew it, it was 4:30 in the afternoon.
I was starting to get upset and I decided to call Ronnie back. When I spoke with Ronnie I told him that the truck still hadn't shown up and they were six and a half hours late. Ronnie said no apologies but instead told me that "it's not like you missed the whole day". He then said that the truck was on it's way and would be there in a half hour.
Finally around 6pm the truck showed up and two men got out. When I asked them what the weight of the empty truck was they gave me a puzzled look. I then asked if they would weigh my belongings as they were being loaded and they told me that they had forgotten the scales. They told me that they would weigh it at AYT and I could call in the morning to get the wieght.
I didn't like this one bit but it was late and we had already lost a day ont the road and I just wanted to get this over with. I told one of the men that I was still nervous about the wight and had even decided to leave a few things behind that we didn't really need. He looked at all the stuff we had to move and kinda laughed when he said that there was no way our stuff weighed 2,000 pounds, and that he figured it weighed around 1,500 pounds or less.
I asked how we would pay them the balance due without knowing the weight and he told me that they don't take any money until everything is wieghed and unloaded at the destination. They finished up and by then it was too late to leave for PA. So we got the running done that we needed to and went to bed.
August 11th
I had gotten up early and called AYT to get the weight information on ur belongings. Ronnie was not in and the person I spoke with told me our stuff had not been weighed yet, that the scales were broken, and we should call tomorrow. So since I was leaving that day I called my stepfather and gave him the order number and asked him to call for me.
August 12th
My stepfather, Martin, called AYT and spoke to Ronnie today. When he asked about the weight of our belongings, Ronnie told him that the scales were still broken and he should call back in two days or so.
August 14th
Again my stepfather called AYT and spoke to Ronnie. This time Ronnie tole him that the weight came out to 2,000 pound exactly.
August 15th
I called my stepfather to see if he had the weight from AYT yet. When he told me that Ronnie told him the weight was exactly 2,000 pounds I thouhgt that had to be impossible. I had taken some pretty heavy items off the truck that were in the original list I had given to AYT and there was no way everything could have come out to 2,000 pounds exact.
AUGUST 20th the 10th day of the 7-10 days for delivery
The truck did not show up today nor did we receive a days prior notice that they would be here. I decided to call AYT to find out what was going on and once again spoke to Ronnie. I gave him the order number and he told me he was going to find out where the truck was. Ronnie got back on the phone and said that the truck was in Philly PA. And they would be there in 6 hours.
I asked him if he was sure and he told me that he had just gotten off the phone with them and he knew them really well. After a few minutes I realized I had forgotten to question him about how the weght of the truck seemed off and had Adhym call them back. The first person Adhym talked to was really rude when he asked about the weight and wouldn't tell him anything. Adhym asked to speak to Ronnie and was told thet he had left for the day.
So Adhym again questiond the man about the weight of everything and he was told he needed to call customer service. So he called customer service and explained to them that there was no way our stuff could have been 2,000 pounds and they got very rude and told him that it didn't matter because they wouldn't have hauled our stuff if it had been under 2,000 pounds.
When Adhym told him that we had never seen nor heard anything like that from them before the man told him that they had hauled someones stuff that was 1,700 pounds. When Adhym told him that he wanted to know the exact weight of everything he was told that he would have to meet the truck at a weigh station.
By now Adhym was getting frustrated and handed me the phone to talk to them and I told them that I wanted a scale on the truck to weigh it all. I then asked them if they could contact the driver and make sure they had one for when they showed up today and the man told me that the truck would not be there until the 26th of August. When I told him what Ronnie had told me he said that he had talk to Ronnie an hour ago and that's what he was told. The man then repeated that they would be there on the 26th or now the 27th.
I told the man on the phne that I was tired of being lied to by everyone at AYT and he got very rude and even hung up on me. I then called a breach of contact lawyer who told me that if they did not hsow up by the 27th I should file chareges.
August 27th
Still no call or truck. Adhym called AYT to find out what was going on and the woman he spoke to told him that the truck would be another 3 days and to expect them on the 30th. When Adhym told her that it was unacceptable for our stuff to take 21 days to get there she go very huffy and hung up on him.
August 28th
I called the District Magistraight office to find out what we could do about this whole mess. I was told that they could not file charges for us since the company was in San Jose California and that we had to file charges there or find a lawyer. She told me that I may be able to call the state police and file theft charges and at least see what they may be able to do. I called the PA state police and explained the story so far.
The trooper I spoke to told me that he had heard of trucking companies scaming people like this and told me that there wasn't much he could do since nobody knew where ther truck was. He did say to call if the truck arrived and there was any problems and make sure to have the contracts for the trooper to look at.
We the called the Better Business Beauru and when we told them the name of the company was AYT they said that they had many complaints about them and we should write out a statement and send it to themselves and the Consumer Protection Agency. She also told him to send copies of all the paperwork.
I then called a breach of contract lawyer to set up an appointment so they could look over everything. Not more than 2 minutes after I hung up with the lawyers office we got a call from the truck driver saying he would be there tomorrow in the morning. The driver Avi told us that we had to pay the remaining balance in cash when he arrived.
August 29th
About 9:30 in the morning we got a call from Avi saying he was down the street and would be there soon. A minute or so later we got a call from a clerk at a business asking for directions to our house so she could give them to the driver. I had to leave so everyhting from this point on to the end of the day is in Adhym's words.
The truck finally showed up about 10am and when Avi got out Adhym showed him where to unload everything. Avi then told Adhym that he had to pay the remaining balance before he would unload anything. He said nothing about weighing our stuff for us like we were told. Adhym explained to Avi that we had packed the money last minute in one of the boxes on the truck to make sure we didn't spend it on the trip out to PA and as a safety net in case AYT had arrived in PA before we did so our mother could get it out and pay them.
Of course we should have known better. Avi told Adhym that he would have to call AYT to see if it was ok to unload.By now Adhym thought this seemed suspicious and went inside to phone the police. Just after he had gone inside Avi got in the truck and began to drive off.
Adhym phoned the police and my stepfather pulled his truck in front of the moving truck to keep him from leaving and told the guy to wait for the police. When the police got there the trooper refused to look at any of the paperwork Adhym had, and told him he could not make the driver unload because he was a subcontractor and it was a civil matter. (on a side note AYT's web site gaurntees no subcontractors are used) about a half hour later, after the police and truck had left with our belongings still on it, Adhym got a call from the truckers wife.
She asked what was going on and Adhym told her the whole story. She said that she couldn't get a hold of him and she didn't know where he was at but she would try to convince him to return to our house.
That was when I finally got back home to find none of our stuff there and Adhym explained everything to me. An hour later I got a call from AYT and the woman on the phone said "It seems there was a bit of trouble when the driver came to deliver today" when I started to tell her what I knew she interupted me and got very rude and said that she had spoken to the trucker wife who claimed to be in the truck when it got to our house and that everyone there was jumping all over it and my stepfather had hit the truck (none of which happend, strange how the wife told Adhym she had no idea where her husband was and could not get a hold of him)
When I told the woman that was a lie she got even more rude and told me the movers would not return and our stuff was going to be taken to Philly and put in storage. She also told me that we had 10 days to pick it up or it would all be sold and then she hung up.
An hour or so later my stepfather called AYT and told them that if they came back and unloaded we would be willing to pay an extra $100.00, by now we just wanted our stuff, our 10 month old daughter was still without her crib and the three of us were sleeping on the floor.
The person he was speaking to refused and told him that our stuff was on its way to New York in the Bronx. He got the address and number for LEHIGH MOVING AND STORAGE and we called after he got off the phone with AYT.
I talked to a guy named Danny who told me that our stuff wasn't there yet and it would not be there for another 3 days. (even though that part of New York is only 4 hours away from us.)
August 31st 2002
I called LEHIGH today to see if our stuff had arrived. I spoke to Issac and he told me it would be there tonight. So I called the next day SEPTEMBER 1st 2002 and again spoke with Issac to find out what was going on. He told me I needed to speak to Danny. When Danny got on the phone he told me that our belongings were there and it would cost me $760.00 plus and additional $100.00 for one months storage fees. (Even though our stuff had just arrived).
I called around for lawyers to help me out. All of them told me that I had a good case but none of them were willing to take it because it would be time consuming. I finally spoke to a lawyer, James Naddeo, who told me that I would be better off just paying them to get our stuff than trying to find a lawyer who would take the time to help.
September 24th
After saving the money we lost, that was now sitting in a box in stroage, we called LEHIGH and spoke to Danny who told us that the price was now upto $960.00 (strangely thats 2 months of storage fees accumulated in 3 weeks). He also said that he would have to call AYT to confirm that price and he would call us back. He never called back so when I called tham back I was told that I would have to call AYT to get all of the information.
September 30th
I called AYT and spoke with Tom who said that the cost was $900.00 and that was for everything. I asked if he was sure because that last time I was told that, the price went up again in a matter of days. He then said yes with an attitude, and I asked him to fax me all the information so I would have it on paper.
I also asked him to sign it. He got the fax number and told me he would fax it today. The fax did come in, and the cost on the paper said $900.00 there was no signature from Tom though just his name in type. I then called LEHIGH and asked them if we'd be able to see our stuff before we payed them just to make sure we weren't going down there for nothing. Issac told me that it wouldn't be a problem.
I asked him to fax me something stating this, and he told me that their fax machine was down and he could have it for us in a few days.
October 1st 2002
Ryder called us today and let us know they would have a truck for us sometime next week. I then called LEHIGH to see about setting a date and to remind them to fax the information I asked for.
I spoke to Issac who told me the total cost was now $900.00 plus $200.00 for storage and we would have to pay everything up front in cash before anything was done. He then told me that Danny would call me back about the fax after they called AYT. I told them that couldn't be because my stuff was no there that long and I had the fax that Tom sent me. Well we waited and waited and Danny never called back (big surprise). I decided to call them and ask about their storage prices as a typical customer wanting to store some belongings.
When I called they didn't even recognize my voice from just a few minutes before. I spoke with Issac who told me that the prices were as follows
$15.00 a month for the smallest
$65.00 a month for the next size up and
$85.00 a month for the lagest size
Then Issac told me that I would have to have their men load all of our belongings into the storage becaus only employees are allowd in the warehouse, and it would cost $35.00 an hour in labor to have thm do so.
October 2nd 2002
I called the storage facitlity back and spoke with Danny and asked him about the information we asked them to fax. Danny said that he didn't know what I was talking about. I then asked him how come I'm getting charged $100.00 a month for storage when the highest they charge is $85.00?
Well, Danny called me a liar and began to get very rude. He then told me he could charge me $1,000.00 a month if he wanted to. Well I was getting very upset by now and said a few harsh things and hung up on them.
We have contacted the local news about this and as soon as we hear back from the state reps. And Consumer Protestion agency they told us to call them back.
Adhym
Houtzdale, Pennsylvania
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