My story is almost exactly the same as Lynn from Clifton Beach Australia. Scarily similar, in fact.
We were moving from Austin to Switzerland, and hired "Andy", aka Owen Anderson, of AIT International, aka Anderson International Transport, to move our household goods and car door-to-door. He came to our house and after making a 'professional' inspection of the goods, gave us an estimate of $8700 to move everything in one 40 foot container, door to door.
We were unable to sell our house before we left, but were told by Andy that he would, upon the sale of the house, pack all of our belongings for us. After 2 months, our house sold, and it was time for Andy to come get everything. We could not be present, so we had my mother in law and a friend of ours present to watch over the progress.
From the start, it was a disaster. After telling us we needed a 40' container, he showed up with a 26' truck. Almost immediately he told us we would need to ship the car separately, and all of our goods would be shipped in the nonexistant 40' container he didn't bring with him. Over the phone, I agreed to ship separately, and consented to pay $1200 more, the estimate he told me off the cuff.
Towards the end of the day, it became obvious that our belongings would not all fit on the small truck he brought. So now we were asked to come up with a list of things we would be willing to part with, such as lawn furniture and other non-heirloom items. Alarm bells immediately started ringing in my head, but we had sold the house, and it HAD to be empty in the next week or so. It was too late to hire another company. I was stuck.
Andy finished late in the night, after my friend and mother in law had left. The next day, I got a call from my friend, telling me Andy had left alot of my belongings behind that were never agreed. Also, my electronic keyboard and several other very expensive electronic instruments and computer parts were found OUTSIDE, strewn across my backyard lawn. This, of course, is unacceptable. I called Andy, and he agreed to go back to my house and pick up what he had left behind.
When he arrived, his truck ran out of gas, and my friend had to fill the tank for him. Also, without my permission, Andy and his crew SLEPT IN MY HOUSE, because they didn't have money for a hotel, much less for gas. After he left, he, once again, had left essential items in the garage, such as baby cribs, and every bike my family owns.
So, he had to come back a THIRD TIME to pick up the remainder of my goods, a week after the house had closed, and the new owners had moved in.
Fast forward - I get the invoice, and now moving the car costs $2100, plus, he's added 2 separate "Fuel Surcharges" that I was not aware of, totaling $800 dollars. Also, he had managed to get me to agree to insurance on my goods (because by now I was getting very wary of his moving skills), so now the total cost for moving was almost $13,000 - $5000 more than the original estimate.
Andy demanded that I pay him in full BEFORE he shipped any of it. Against my better judgement, I agreed and did so. I regret doing so now, as I should have paid half up front and half later. At least then he would have been motivated to do a good job. He had me hostage - he had my car and my goods.
I paid him in full on May 8th. My goods, separate from the car, were shipped in the 40' container on June 16th - a full month later, due to arrive in Genoa on July 17th. I called him on July 7th, and that is when I found out that not only had he not paid for the shipment, but that he HAD NO PLANS YET TO GET MY GOODS TO MY HOUSE. All he did was ship it from Houston to Genoa - I live in Switzerland!
He looked on the internet, called the first person he found, and got an estimate for $8000 to move the container from Genoa to my house! A 3 hour journey! And he was expecting me to pay! It ends up that I had to line up a mover locally from Genoa to my house, and I ended up paying $1000 in storage fees at the dock (because he hadn't set up anything from there to my house, so it waited while I did so), plus $2500 to pay the company! I am still waiting for Andy to pay me back for those extra costs. He is claiming to have health issues (much like the other complaint on this site) which are preventing him from doing so.
The packing job was a complete fiasco. I've never seen or heard anything like this. He wrapped paper and cellophane around my large screen plasma tv as protection! He taped directly onto antique veneer furniture. He stacked my belongings in the container in such a way as to damage bikes irreparably. Broken marble table tops, every piece of glass broken. An antique china cabinet had a leg completely broken off! This packing job was so bad, it was malicious in my opinion. He must have wanted to hurt my wife and my family, that is my only conclusion for such a terrible job.
As far as my car - he didn't bother to even line up the shipment until I called him July 7th about my goods. He told me it was because he wanted to wait and see if he could get my car on the original 40' container! After I had already paid him to move it separately! This is nothing but thievery. He is a thief and he steals money from people. After being paid in full on May 8th, it is now late August, and my car has still not shipped.
On top of all this, HE IS NOT LICENSED TO MOVE ANYTHING ACROSS THE OCEAN!!! The Federal Maritime Commission is investigating him on many accounts, and he recently lied in federal court (called perjury), claiming that he was not doing so. I am providing the FMC all the documents I can so that this man will hopefully be jailed.
I am working closely with the Federal Maritime Commission to now get my money back. I have had to buy a car here, because I have 4 children and not having a car for 5 months has negatively affected my life. I no longer want Andy to ship my car, so I am going to have a friend sell it for me in Texas, another huge loss, since I had paid it off and won't get near the money I spent on it.
Jason
Magliaso, Texas
Switzerland
0 comments