Empire Moving Services was called along with several other companies to quote a move for my mother-in-law. The quotes were all similar and they answered all of my questions right and were very professional and confident in their customer service. They told us that there would be 4 packers to pack her house (there were 2). They told us there would be one month free storage - then they contracted to a company that didn't honor that (Continental Express, Inc out of San Jose, CA).
The movers they contracted to showed up at 8:30pm after telling us they'd be there at 11:00am and amending that everytime we called to ask where the heck they were..in one hour increments. (i. E we'll be there in about an hour...) They were there until 3:00am. The person who finally showed up was supposedly the owner of Continental Express. He was angry that my mother-in-law had not packed. (She paid for full packing service - she's 74). He packed all right... No wrapping, no cushioning, no care. As I write this, she's opening box after box of literal shards. At this point, she's got at least 65% of her belongings that are broken to some degree and her glassware, china and dishes were literally dumped into boxes w/o protection of anysort - they are at 80% loss rate. She was charged $400 for "dishpacks" that were not used. Total packing charges. Over $1200. She's been crying for two days.
When I called Empire multiple times over the delay of arrival to pack and the delay of arrival to dropoff at the endpoint (18 days after they said they'd show up) and then they held the load hostage because they showed up at 9:30pm and wanted another $1300 cash only. She'd been told $800 and not given a written document. Because there was not cash - they refused to unload (the owner had taken a check at the other end and she assumed they would on the end as well. She was not trying to get by w/anything, she was willing to pay the inflated charges and the storage fees just to get her stuff back.) They (Continental) said if they did not have cash in hand by 8:00am the next morning (no bank until 9:00am) they would charge $300/hr for overtime until they were done. I called Empire and they said there was nothing they could do - their responsibility was ended when they contracted the load. They also take no responsibility for any broken/missing items. Continental says insurance doesn't cover glass or cosmetic damage although I was told multiple times that anything the packers packed was 100% covered.
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