The following letter outlines my complaint against Giant Van Lines. As a result of binding arbitration, Giant was ordered to pay me $1,800. It has been six months since the arbitration award and Giant has failed to pay the award. This clearly shows the character of the business since arbitration was required in Giant's own contract as the only way to raise a dispute.
September 5
AAA Case Management Center
Attn: Aline Jesus, Case Manager
2200 Century Parkway, Suite 300
Atlanta, GA 30345
Dear Ms. Jesus:
Consistent with the faxes I received from you dated August 23 and August 27, this letter contains the facts of case 16 E 181 00513 02 and the primary arguments for a decision in my favor.in summary, I request that Giant Van Lines be ordered to pay me a minimum of $2,969.00 to settle this dispute. The case background and rationale supporting this settlement are included below.
Background
In early January my wife Raquel called Giant Van Lines to obtain a quote to move approximately a mile from a two bedroom condo into a townhouse. After dialing 1-866-442-6863, she spoke with a Giant representative who identified himself as Chuck to obtain a quote. Chuck asked her a number of questions to determine the appropriate price and then explained the charges.
In short, he said that Giant would bill $75 an hour for all aspects of the move except packing. He said that packing would cost $300. Based on her answers to the questions he asked, he estimated our move would take approximately 7 hours of move time. Chuck told her that while he thought the total cost of the move would be about $825, the move cost would definitely not exceed $1000.
Since this estimate was lower by a few hundred dollars than other estimates my wife received, she validated with Chuck, asking him, Are you sure the total cost will be under $1000? He replied yes, that his estimate was for about $825, broken out as 7 hours at $75 per hour $300 to pack up.
When the movers arrived on February 22, I discussed pricing with the move foreman, Jacob. I asked him to validate the price of the entire job but he said that all he could do was validate the rate of $75 an hour. Since this rate was what Chuck had quoted us, I had no reason to doubt that the overall pricing for the job would be similar to Chucks estimate. I bought the insurance package (up to $15,000) for $175 and the team began to pack up.
Packing began at about 10 am but the team did not arrive at our new house until about 6 PM to begin unloading. Upon arrival, the foreman gave us a price of $2,192, about double the maximum price we were quoted and about 250% more than the $825 estimate. (Since we did not discuss the $175 in insurance with Chuck, I was expecting a maximum price from the move foreman of $1,175 the maximum of $1,000 Chuck told my wife to expect plus the $175 in insurance we elected to purchase the morning of the move.
We could not believe the price we were presented, so we asked to speak to a supervisor to dispute the charge. The move foreman put us on the phone with a dispatcher who said that the team would not unload anything unless we agreed to pay in full by giving the foreman a valid credit card and by signing the credit card slip. The dispatcher and Jacob said that we would be given the opportunity to dispute the charges with Giants customer service department on the first weekday following the move.
Unfortunately, repeated attempts to contact the Giant VanLines customer service department were unsuccessful. On March 1, I talked to Chuck by calling the toll-free number. Chuck said to call Oshri at (301) 498-5870.
I first attempted to call customer service at this number on March 1 at 1:55 PM. There was no answer and no voicemail after about 10 rings. I called back on March 6 at 9:20 AM. Again, there was no answer and no voicemail after about 15 rings.
I called Chuck back on March 6 at about 9:22 AM and explained that I could not get in touch with Oshri. I asked him to verify the phone number. He said that I had the correct number and that he had heard she was having some trouble with her voicemail. He took down my name and phone number and said he would hand-deliver the information and have her call me back the same day.
On March 8, I had not heard back from Oshri so I attempted to call her again. This time, I got a machine-generated voicemail greeting. I left a message clearly stating my phone number and the number of attempts I had made to try to contact customer service to resolve the issue. As of March 30, no calls had been returned.
On March 30, I wrote a letter to Giant Van Lines providing much of the same information provided above. Based on the rationale supplied (see Rationale section below), I requested that, within 10 days, Giant Van Lines either (a) reimburse me for costs above the maximum estimate and for minor damages to our new home or (b) send me the procedures to request an arbitration hearing.
Giant Van Lines chose neither option and did not respond for 27 days after receiving my letter. On April 29, about two months after I placed my first call to Giant (March 1), I received a reply letter basically stating that Giant would consider paying for damages to our new home, but would not reimburse me for any other costs. No information on how to proceed with arbitration was included.
Please refer to all attachments (listed at the end of this document) as additional background information.
Rationale
In considering how to settle this matter, I respectfully request that the arbitrator consider the following relevant and significant points:
1. We had a clear, verbal agreement with Chuck, a representative of Giant VanLines, that the entire cost of the move would not exceed $1,000. We relied on this estimate to our detriment. Had the quote we received been over $1,300, we would have gone with another company and/or elected to pack up ourselves to reduce the cost.
2. Chuck asked a significant number of questions to determine the estimate and to us he had an apparent authority to bind the estimate. His estimate was of a definite and substantial character and we reasonably expected action to occur as a result of our agreement.
3. Based on the information Chuck requested and we provided, it is difficult to believe that a trained, well-intentioned move estimator could give a quote that would be about 250% higher than his best-guess estimate and almost 100% higher than his maximum estimate.
It is neither reasonable nor customary to expect that an estimate will be that far off target. As a result, we can only conclude that either Chuck was not properly trained, or that it is the policy of Giant VanLines to give low, misleading estimates to entice potential customers to use their services and then to change the price when the customer is most vulnerable when they are without their goods.in either case, we believe it is the responsibility of Giant VanLines to take full responsibility for the misrepresentation.
4. We were given no information to suggest that the estimates that Chuck gave us were incorrect. Since the only pricing given by the move team ($75 an hour) was seemingly consistent with the pricing system given to us by Chuck, we could not have been aware that the final price would be materially different from what Chuck quoted. The additional information we have provided here is not in conflict with the contract, but is parole evidence that both supports and explains the contract in additional detail.
5. Once on-site at our home, we asked the move foreman to confirm the maximum price quote that Chuck gave us. Although he had opportunity and the appropriate skills, he chose not to use them to give an on-site inspection and come up with a more accurate estimate.
6. Since very important personal items (including prescription medication) were packed and we were clearly told that the move team would not release our goods until we paid the cost presented, we signed an agreement to pay for the move by credit card under duress. We made very clear that we did not want to sign the agreement.
7. Giant Van Lines has repeatedly spurned its responsibilities to attempt to address this issue. We were told that even though we had to sign the credit card slip to allow our items to be unloaded, we would be given the opportunity to raise the issues that we had to customer service so that we might be given a credit. Since repeated calls to customer service have gone unanswered, Giant has not lived up to its commitment to allow us to resolve this issue.
Through unresponsiveness to reasonable requests and the use of tactics that any reasonable person could only conclude were designed to make this process more difficult to settle (including not returning phone calls, denying the AAAs jurisdiction to settle the case even though the AAA is referenced in the contract that Giant VanLines gave me, not paying its portion of the AAA arbitration fees, not providing me with the procedures to file arbitration, etc.), Giant has not fulfilled its responsibility to act in good faith as a service provider.
8. Giant VanLines has shown a pattern of similar behaviors with other customers. According to the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Giant VanLines has a history of unresolved complaints. As a result, its membership in the BBB has been revoked. The BBB says, Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaints. They go on to say, In February this company's membership in the BBB was revoked by the Board of Directors of the Better Business Bureau due to failure to maintain the principles and standards required for membership.
Settlement Requested
We request that Giant VanLines be ordered to pay a minimum of $2,969 in cash within 10 business days to settle this dispute. This amount includes:
The difference between the maximum estimate given by Chuck ($1,000) and the amount of money we were invoiced on the day of the move ($2,194) less the insurance we elected to buy on the day of the move ($175). The total payment would be $1,019 — $2,194 minus $175 minus $1,000, or $1,019.
Cost to repair damage to our drywall. We found an inexpensive ($30 an hour), recommended vendor who has already completed the work. The cost was $200.
$1,250 in cost associated with time and expense to prepare for the arbitration. My company currently charges my time out at an average of just over $150 an hour. While I am not a lawyer, many of the analytical and research skills required in my job as a consultant are similar to skills used by lawyers. I have estimated the value of my time in preparing for the arbitration at $50 an hour and have spent more than 25 hours to try to settle this dispute.
$500 in AAA fees that the business was responsible for paying but failed to pay (we paid for these fees to allow the arbitration to move forward and were told that we would be compensated for them at time of the arbitration award).
In addition to the $2,969 described above, we also request that Giant be ordered to pay punitive damages in the amount of no less than $2,500. We feel the nature of Giants attempts to prolong this dispute and its apparent pattern of similar behaviors with other customers warrants a significant penalty to help them understand that their behavior is wrong and will not be tolerated.
As requested, we are also responding that we are available for a conference call to discuss this matter. September 16th at 5:00 PM would be fine. Any other day the week of the 16th at 5 PM should also work.
Please call me if additional information or clarification is required. We confirm that the information provided within is true to the best of our knowledge.
Sincerely,
Attachments:
1. Copy of Giant VanLines Bill of Lading (contract terms and conditions on back)
2. Copy of Giant VanLines Bill & Receipt (contract terms and conditions on back)
3. Copy of Registered Letter to Giant VanLines - March 30.
4. Copy of AAA Letter to multiple parties July 25.
5. Copy of FAX to multiple parties July 31.
6. Time Log to Prepare Case
David
Reston, Virginia
U.S.A.
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