My family and I are in the process of moving from Palo Alto,
California, to Houston, Texas. On February 12, I called
State to State Van Lines at the number 1-800-994-9609 to ask them to quote the cost of moving my furniture and other stuff
from Palo Alto to Houston. Mr. Michael Parker answered my
phone and gave me a quote. I also asked him to send me an
e-mail to confirm what I had discussed with him. Here is his
E-mail:
*
Date: Mon, 12 Feb 16:37: 42 -0500
From: state to state van lines
To: MY E_MAIL
Subject: State to State Van-Lines Moving Estimate
State to State Van-Lines
Job Order:
Customers Name: Mr. MY NAME
Tel. Number: MY PHONE
Scheduled pick up date: 2/25/01
Scheduled pick up time: 12 Noon
Origin address: MY ADDRESS
confirmation #: ZA-2394
The cost for your move to TX is approximately $1,350 includes up to 350 cu. Ft., Door to Door pick up and delivery, Labor loading and unloading, And insurance for the move.
Mr. MY NAME, i would like to stress that i will be completely
involved in all aspects of your move, from the early planning
stages to the point of completion. I look forward assisting you
with your up coming move.
Sincerely,
Michael Parker
Relocation Specialist.
State to State Van Lines
1-800-994-9609
http://www.statetostatevanlines.com/
*
On February 24, just one day before the scheduled pick up
date, Michael Parker called me and told me that they could
not pick up my stuff on February 25, and asked me whether
they could pick up my stuff on February 26, at noon? I said
OK. At about 10:00 am on February 26, I called Michael
Parker and asked him whether the driver will be on time? He
answered yes. At noon, I had not seen any driver yet, so I
called Michael Parker again. He told me that the driver would
be late because of the traffic. I waited until about 4:00 PM,
two drivers appeared and they started loading my stuff. At
about 6:00 PM, they finished their work. The driver told me
that they did not have time to measure the exact total volume
of all my belongings, so they just wrote 350 cubic feet in the
contract. I asked him what is the total cargo space of the
truck. He told me it is 1800 cubic feet. All my belongings
occupied less than 1/4 of the cargo space of that truck.
After they picked up my stuff, I scheduled my flight and
prepared to fly to Houston on March 21.
Before I took off on March 21, I called Michael Parker
several times at the number 1-800-994-9609 and tried to ask
him to deliver my belongings on March 22. Everytime,
he asked me to hold. I waited for him until 11:00 AM, just
before the taxi driver came in to pick me up to San Francisco
Airport. I quickly called my wife, and asked her to continue
call Michael Parker to make sure they deliver my belongings
to my apartment at Houston on March 22. Then I left for
the airport.
When I arrived at the Hotel at about 9:00 PM Houston time, I
called my wife. She told me something wrong with the
moving company State to State Van Lines. She told me that
Michael Parker asked us to pay an additional $3000.00 by
cash before the delivery. My wife refused to pay the
additional $3000.00 because she thought it is not reasonable.
On March 22, in the morning, I called Michael Parker and
tried to solve the problem. He told me that they are not going
to deliver my belongings unless we pay them the additional
$3000.00 by cash. He also told me that they have to get the
money before they can arrange the delivery, and the reason
why they charge us the additional $3000.00 is that the total
volume of my belongings is much greater than the initial
estimation. I asked him what is the actual volume and I said
we can pay some additional amount based on the actual total
volume. He said he did not know the actual volume. I asked
him to give me a written invoice otherwise I refuse to pay any
additional amount.
On March 22, in the afternoon, I wrote an e-mail to Michael
Parker. Here is the e-mail:
*
Mr. Michael Parker
I, on behalf of my wife and myself, am writing to officially
I request your company, State to State Van-Lines, to deliver
our belongings you are holding to my address, which is:
MY ADDRESS AT HOUSTON
I request your company to deliver our belongings today
March 22), or Saturday (March 24) or Sunday
morning (March 25). If I do not get our belongings
before noon of March 25, you and your company (State
to State Van-Lines) are responsible for any physical,
psychological, financial and other charges and damages to
me and my family.
I have talked with my lawyer. Here are just some examples of
the damages for you to consider in making your decision.
(1). There are some books in my belongings that are currently
held by your company. Those books are necessary for me to
do my work. Without them, I cannot work. I am currently
working as a consultant. I charge my client at the rate of US
$250.00 per hour. If I cannot work because I do not have those
books, your company is responsible to pay me at the same rate.
(2). My bed is also being held by your company. Without the
bed, I have to sleep on the floor. As you may be aware,
Houston is pretty cold at night lately. If I get any health
problems because your company is holding my bed, your company has to take the responsibility to cover all my medical expenses and other financial consequences.
(3). Psychologically, because your company is holding our
belongings, both my wife and I are very depressed. If anything unexpected happened, your company has to take all the responsibility.
Having said that, let us discuss your request. To my understanding, you are trying to make as much money as possible. However, one good thing for people living in the
United States is that everybody has the equal rights, and a
court can justify any dispute including presidential election.
So the legal way to make more money is by hard working
rather than by over charging your customers.
As you said to my wife yesterday, and me today on the
phone, you requested us to pay an additional amount of
$3000.00. I believe your request for the additional $3000.00 is
unreasonable. If we add $3000.00 to the amount written in the
contract, the total will be US $4479.50. As clearly written in
the contract, your rate is US $4.00 per cubic foot. So how
many cubic feet is your calculation based on? About 1100.00
cubic feet?
Your driver, Niz, told me that the truck, which he used to pick
up our belongings, only has 1800 cubic feet of cargo space.
All my belongings occupied much less than one fourth of the
total cargo space of the truck, which means much less than
450 cubic feet. So you are charging us at the rate of more
than $10.00 per cubic foot. If you want more money, the total
amount has to be reasonable! Do you think your request is
reasonable?
If our belongings take more than 350 cubic feet as you argued, we still have two ways to approach your argument. The first way is that we refuse to pay any additional charge because we have the contract and I believe you have a copy too. If the actual volume of our belongings is not 350 cubic feet, why your driver wrote 350 cubic feet in the contract? As you may know, the contract was signed by both your driver and me.
The second way, which is more friendly, is that we pay some additional charge provided the additional charge is reasonable based on the actual total volume of our belongings.in this case, you need to e-mail me the actual total volume. Also, we will not pay any amount before our belongings are delivered to my apartment. This is also the rule written in the contract.
Which way we are going depends on your decision. After said so much, I hope you could understand what I mean, and I hope you could make the right decision.
Please feel free to e-mail me. You can always reach me by
e-mail. You can also call me at MY PHONE NUMBER if you
like, but I cannot guarantee that I am at this phone all the
time.
Take care and good luck with your business!
My name
*
I know they have received my message because after I sent
my message I got an automatic reply from them. Here is the
automatic reply:
*
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 16:28: 27 -0500
From: info
To: MY E_MAIL
Subject: Thank You from State to State Van Lines
Thank You from State to State Van Lines
Dear Customer:
We have received your E-mail. A relocation specialist will be
in contact with you shortly. If you have any questions or
concerns regarding your move, you may call us at:
1-800-994-9609. For special offers or moving tips visit our
website @ www.STATETOSTATEVANLINES.com
Thank You,
State to State Van Lines
[email protected]
*
Because I could not get my belongings at Houston, I could not
live there. So I flew back to California on March 25.
On March 27, I sent my complaint to the Better Business
Bureau through their on-line service. All the information
above was included in the complaint. I have not received any
reply from the Better Business Bureau yet.
On March 28, I sent my complaint to Moving.com. That
was where I found the advertisement of State to State Van
Lines. On April 4, I got a message from Ms. NAME from
Moving.com on my answering machine. She asked me to call
her back at 1-800-655-2932.
On April 5, in the morning, I called Ms. Name. She told
me that she had called Michael Parker and Michael Parker
told her that he did not ask me for the additional $3000.00.
Then she said she would ask Michael Parker to call me.
On April 6, in the morning, I called Ms. NAME again because I
had not received any phone call from Michael Parker. I told
Ms. NAME that I could not trust Michael Parker at all. I
proposed that if Michael Parker wanted to solve the problem I
would like to ask Ms. NAME to be a third party to make sure
everything is fare. I suggested to send a check to her and ask
her to hold the check before my belongings are safely
delivered to my place at Houston. She said that it is a good
suggestion and she said she would ask Michael Parker to call
me within 5 minutes. I asked her to send me her mailing
address by e-mail. I waited at the phone for about 10 minutes,
but I did not get any phone call from Michael Parker.
On April 9, early in the morning, Michael Parker called
me. He said that nobody had ever asked us to pay the
additional $3000.00. He asked me whether I still wanted my
belongings. I said yes. Then he said he would arrange my
belongings to be delivered before the 16th of April. He said
that if I wanted my belongings to be delivered, because I was
still in California, I should ask my friend to pay the drivers by cash before they could unload my stuff. I said I could not ask my friend to pay them by cash and I insisted to send a check
to Ms. NAME at Moving.com. We could not reach an agreement on the phone, and he got very angry and terminated the phone call. After the phone call, I realized that I might not get my belongings because he asked me whether I really wanted my belongings. So I wrote an e-mail to him. Here is the e-mail.
*
Mr. Michael Parker,
Thank you for calling me this morning. I realized that I have
to write this e-mail to clarify the following three issues and
tell you what I am thinking.
First, I would like to emphasize that I need my belongings.
That was why I flew to Houston on March 21. That was
why my wife called you on March 21, and I called you
on March 22. Also, that was why I e-mailed you an
request on March 22.
Second, as you said when you called me this morning, nobody asked us to pay the additional $3000.00. Well, you can deny everything you talked with my wife and me because we did not record our conversations on a tape and you refused to send us a written notice when I asked for that.
However, if you did not say that, why you did not deliver my
belongings within the three days (March, 22,24, and 25)
I proposed?
Third, you mentioned when you called me this morning that
you called my wife last week. I checked with my wife right
after you called me. My wife said that nobody from State to
State Van Lines called her last week. If you want to prove
your contact with us, please send us e-mail next time.
As I suggested to Ms. NAME at Moving.com, there are two
options you can take now. The first option is you buy me the
airtickets. So I can fly there and you can arrange the delivery
and I can pay your drivers right after the delivery. The second
option is that I ask my friend to open my apartment and you
arrange the drivers to put my belongings in my living room.
As you clearly indicated when you called me this morning,
you are not going to buy the tickets for me. So I realized that
you would like to take the second option.
For the second option, I am concerning about that you are
not going to do the job if I pay you in advance. Also, even
you do the delivery, you may refuse to work with me if
anything damaged during the moving. You may worry about
that I am not going to pay you the remaining $739.75. To
make life easier for both of us, I suggest that I mail a check
(payable to state to state van lines) with the remaining
amount indicated above plus tips for to drivers to Ms. NAME at
Moving.com. I am going to ask her to hold the check until I
am in Houston and am able to check my belongings. After I
make sure all my belongings are in good condition, I will tell
Ms. NAME to release the check to you.
Please send me an e-mail and tell me what you think and the
date and time when you can deliver my belongings at Houston. Thanks.
My name
*
On April 13, Michael Parker called me early in the morning.
He said if I wanted my belongings to be delivered, I had to
ask my friend to pay them by cash. I said I could not do that.
He said that I had complained in a few places and caused
damages to his company. I said you deserved it. He got really
angry and said shame on me and he would put my
belongings into trash and asked me to say bye-bye to my
belongings. Then he terminated the call. I got very upset after
his call. I realized that I had to write an e-mail to him. Here is the e-mail.
*
Mr. Michael Parker:
This message is to clarify why I do not trust you, why I cannot
pay your company by CASH, and request your written apology for what you said to me this morning.
First, why I do not trust you. Well, in one sentence, it is
because you always deny what you have said.
On March 21, when my wife called you, you said we
had to pay an additional $3000.00 by cash. Otherwise, you
were not going to deliver my belongings. On March 22,
when I called you, you said the same thing, plus, you said
that my belongings were in Houston, and if we paid you, you
were going to arrange the delivery. However, when Ms.
NAME from moving.com called you and asked you about that,
you denied what you said to my wife and me.
On April 9 and 10, you called me twice before 8:00 AM.
Basically, you were trying to arrange the delivery and you
said you were trying to deliver my belongings on Saturday
(April 14). I said fine, as long as you sent me an e-mail
to repeat what you said on the phone. You said you were going to send me an e-mail on Wednesday (April 11).
But until now, I have not received any written message from you yet. So basically, you always deny what you said to me and my
wife on the phone. Based on what you said and did, how can
I trust you?! If you were me, what you would do?!
Second, why I cannot pay you by cash. Well, why I should
pay you by cash? Is that written in the contract? If you do not
remember, let me remind you that I paid your driver $739.75
by check on February 26, when they finished loading
my belongings. Why I cannot use another check this time?
Third, I request you to send me a written apology for what
you said to me this morning. If you do not remember, let me
remind you. You said SHAME ON ME! I have been curious
about what made you say that. Is that part of your company's
culture or policy of treating your customers? Also, I am not
sure who should be shamed. Did I deny anything I said earlier to you or anybody else? Did I ask you to pay an additional $3000.00? Did I interrupt you when you were talking to me on the phone and not letting you to say anything? If the answers to these questions are yes, please continue say what you said to me. Otherwise, please say it to yourself!
Also, you said on the phone that you are going to put my
belongings into garbage. Well, what you are going to do
depends on yourself. However, you must be fully responsible
for what you do before you do it!
I hope you understand my points. As I suggested in an earlier
e-mail message to you with a copy to Ms. NAME from
moving.com, the best way is to send my check to her because
I do not trust you at all. If you forget the message, you can
read the copy below.
By the way, I will be at Houston on April 22. If you like
to solve the problem soon, you can ask your driver to delivery
my belongings on that day. But remember, you can only get
paid if nothing is damaged and my belongings are safely
moved into my apartment. Also, I can only pay you by check,
not by cash!
My name
*
During April 15 to 17, I had a business trip to Miami,
Florida. On April 18, I called Ms. NAME at Moving.com and
asked her about the situation. She told me that Moving.com
decided to remove the advertisement of State to State Van
Lines because there were a few complaints against State to
State Van Lines and Michael Parker refused to work with her
on those complaints. Also, she told me that she was not being
able to look into my complaint because of that.
During April 19 to 21, I drove my car from Palo Alto, California, to Houston, Texas. I decided to drive instead of
taking an airplane because I really did not want to get into
another trouble with a moving company. For the same
reason, I will fly back to California on May 26, then I will drive my second car to Houston.
On April 23, I called the Office of the District Attorney,
Consumer Protection Unit, San Jose, California, at the number 408-792-2880, and asked them the status of my complaint against State to State Van Lines. They told me that they sent a letter to State to State Van Lines and never got any response. They suggested me to call the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Office in San Francisco at the number 415-744-3088. I could not talk to anybody because the office was closed for some reason.
On April 26, I called the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration Office in San Francisco again and got a phone
number from their message, which is 708-283-3577. I called
this number and got a new number, which is 1-888-368-7238. I
called this number at about 5:30 pm. An officer took my call
and filed my complaint.
I post this complaint here for two reasons. First, I would like
people know about how State to State Van Lines has been
treating me. Second, I hope someone overthere could help
me to get my belongings or give me some advises.
I need my belongings for my family to live at Houston.
Presently, my wife, my daughter and me are living in our
apartment without any furniture. We bought two airbeds last
weekend. Otherwise, we had to sleep on the floor.
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