My experience was extremely similar to that of Margie chicago, IL. When I first chose American Pro, I thought it was safe because they quoted between all the other quotes I was getting and they were also licensed bonded and insured. I received a phone quote stating the type of furniture I had to move from my small 1 bedroom apartment on a short distance move. They estimated $345 and 3-4 hours to move with 3 men.
The men arrived a half hour early, and quoted me about 5 times more than what I received. $1000 in materials. I told them they were only moving what was in boxes and the large furniture. They said, "oh well it would be a lot cheaper then." I wouldn't sign the agreement papers until I spoke with someone in the office. The only problem was since they came early, no one was in the office, and they said there was no one that we could speak with. After about 10 minutes of talking it over with my husband, they came in and said either they move our things or they were leaving "now". We agreed with our apartment building to leave on that day, so there was no other option. The workers said they would do everything to keep the costs down.
They quoted me $345 for the move at $109/hr, plus a one time trucking fee. They also stated they include blankets for the move. What they didn't state was that the tape they used to hold the blanket together was a charged item. They also said they HAD to shrink wrap all the furniture because it was drizzling outside. I said they really didn't have to, but they insisted. Anytime I said I didn't want something wrapped, they said they needed to. Of course, I said, well, if you have to, then you do. To even keep costs down further, they said it would not take as long if they had extra help. I told them to get someone if it was going to keep costs down. I went ahead of the crew to make sure the condo we moved into was clean, and my husband stayed back with them. They ended up tracking mud in our carpet scraped our walls, and reassembled my furniture incorrectly after I corrected them and told them how it was supposed to be. They also put a nail through a mirror as they were assembling our entertainment center. They did not say anything about it as they rushed out the door. I mentioned the carpet and the walls were brought to their attention, and they said you can claim them in the insurance. I thought naively that it would cover that.
The move took 7 hours as estimated as if they moved everything which they did not, and $900 in materials in which they said they would use moving all our unpacked items, which they did not. I was verbally told that I would not be paying as much because I was moving half the items myself, and having an extra person come on board. We ended up paying $1700 to move a small 1 bedroom apartment. There is no way that someone could justify that unless they had to pack EVERYTHING. All they had to do was disassemble the furniture, wrap it, bring it down, and set it back up. They were 20 minutes driving distance.
I tried to file a complaint with the BBB, and the company's response was that I signed the paper agreeing to the estimate. I replied saying "what about the lack of service, poor workmanship, and damages." They replied saying that I signed something that said everything was in apparent good condition and the estimate given was accurate to what I had paid. They also said that I did not fill out a part that listed the damages. I was not given that option. I signed the part that said everything was in apparent good condition, because nothing was in pieces. I also filled out the insurance claim and am awaiting the results.
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