The reason Im writing this letter is because I have beenthe victim of the major scam relocating service called: All Week Relocation / MTF Relocation (known also as: Best Local Relocation / Best Week Relocation / Advanced Relocation / 123movers) located in Bay Area, California. My personal belongings have beenhijacked and the movers demanded a ransom of $ 950 for unloading the truck whenI realized whats happening and decided to break the contract. Here is what happened in details: On November 9 I signed a contract over the email withAll Week Relocation, a moving company from Bay Area. The address that appearson the contract is the following: 39899
Balentine Drive, Newark, CA 94560 (phone: 408-856-6303, fax: 408-451-9301, Registration # 0190354). I received the moving quote, which was $795.00 for shippingmy belongings from Sunnyvale, CAto Buffalo, NY. The weight was not to exceed 1500 lbs, and all packing materials were supposed to be included in the price, as well asfull service door-to-door, labor of loading and unloading, all tolls and taxes, and one month of free storage. If the weight of my belongings exceeded 1500lbs, I was told over the phone that I will pay $ 0.60 per pound. The representatives name that appears on the invoice is: Sarah, and the email from which the quote/contract was sent: [email protected]. When I spoke on the phone with the Relocation Specialist ofthe company - Brian Feldmier (Tel. 408-565-8133), he confirmed that theshipment will take five days: from Saturday, November 21 to Thursday, November 26, and that cardboard boxes that I have my things packed in aresufficient and no extra packing materials will be necessary.
He requested that I provided them with my credit card numberto pay $100 deposit fee, and we made appointment for the movers to come to Sunnyvale storage onNovember 21 at 12:00 pm. That day they called me at 9:00 am telling methat they are on the way and will be there in fifteen minutes. I said thatnobody will be there to open the storage for them yet, because we made previousarrangements for 12:00 pm. He replied that he will be coming at 1:00 pm. Theyshowed up at 3 pm, three hours later than our arranged time, and only threehours before the storage was closing (I warned them earlier what time thestorage will be closing, so they have enough time to load the truck). Thedrivers phone number was: 813-403-8142.
Moreover, they were using a rental truck!
I was not present at the Sunnyvalestorage that day because I am currently in Toronto, but I had my parents come to openthe storage. My parents have been waiting for the movers for three hours on thespot. When the movers arrived, they started putting everything in their ownboxes, informing that they cannot ship all the things any other way, eventhough two days earlier I was told otherwise. They immediately requestedadditional fee of $400 in cash for the moving boxes, even though packingmaterials were supposed to be free of charge. They did not allow my belongings (already packed in boxes) to go without their own, ridiculously expensiveboxes.
Later, when I came to Sunnyvale Storage and looked at myboxes, I noticed, that they all had auction lot number stickers on them! Icould only imagine what their intentions were! The inventory list that they have been filling out has adifferent company name than the one I have signed a contract with. It showed asMTF Relocation Inc., Tel. (408) 942-4800, Fax (408) 748-1377, which I found outfew days later, when my parents sent me the original documents. The contractitself, that the movers had my parents sign before they started loading thetruck, has a hand-written header with name of the company (All Week Relocation) with two mistakes in it! I have been coordinating everything over the phone. When Iasked the driver to give my parents a document stating what is the weight ofthe truck (as they promised earlier that day), he said that he does not ownsuch document! How would I know what was the weight of my belongings if Ididnt know what was the weight of the truck before loading? I immediately gotthe red flag and decided to break the contract, as it was too risky to allowthem ship my things with the unclear weight of the loaded truck and the bigsurprise fraudulent final bill that I was expecting to receive after the move. The movers did not allow my parents to weight my boxes withtheir own scale. They also said that they will not be going to scale the trucknow, as it is Saturday, and the scale is closed now. So, we had to wait untilMonday!!! I told them to stop loading immediately, and that I ambreaking the contract in this very moment. The driver/company representativedid not allow me to do so and told me to call the office. When I dialed the number, I found out that the phone numbers are no longer in service!!! Both, the onestated in the contract, and the one Brian Feldmier gave me, have beendisconnected. I called the driver back and asked for a valid phone number. Hegave me another one (408-942-4800) which happened to be a scam like the othertwo. I spent another half an hour trying to make the driveracknowledge the fact that I am breaking the contract. Not even mentioning thefact that I lost additional money on international calls! He did not want tounload and he was very rude and aggressive. He got in the truck and was readyto leave with my belongings in it!!! I became very terrified of my things beinghijacked, so I asked my parents to not let the movers go. My mother had toliterally stand in front of the truck to stop them from leaving!!! This was anightmare, and my elderly parents are still suffering from that trauma. When that was happening, I immediately called Sunnyvale police, andasked them to stop the thieves. It was in the last moment when the policearrived. They were not able to help me much, since that was a civil matter, but at least stopped the bandits from leaving. I noticed a different voice tonewhen the driver talked to me in front of the policeman, and suddenly therehappened to be a manager of the All Week Relocation, there on the spot! I askedfor his name, which supposedly was: Oren. With the police controllingeverything, he agreed to let me break the contract demanding $950 in cash rightaway! $200 per hour for loading/unloading my belongings (they counted threefull hours that they spent there, even though the loading and unloading took alot less time), which makes $600 additional $350 for their boxes (!) which Ididnt want, but they left me no choice. Nowhere in the contract there isinformation about the repercussions of breaking the contract and the chargedfees in that case. When I asked him to provide my parents and the policeofficers with a paper where it clearly states what the consequences are ofbreaking the contract, he said that such document could be found is in theoffice. However, the office numbers have been disconnected that exact day, as Itried to call them earlier, so there was no way to find the written agreements. I assumed that they gave me a made-up fee, which was basically a ransom torelease my belongings. They didnt start unloading the truck until they had thecash of $950 in their hands. The Sunnyvalepolice report number is: 09-325-0213. Police officers name: OConnell. This was one of the worst and nerve-wracking experiences inmy life. And so it was for my elderly parents who are still suffering from thishorror trauma.
Considering that had I trusted someone with my personalbelongings that I have collected throughout my life and that besides thematerial value they also have an irreplaceable sentimental value; I cannotimagine losing them and on top of that paying unspecified and unpredictedmoving fee. For the last few weeks I found many similar and even more dreadfulstories of people who have been dealing with this fraudulent company existingunder different names. I cannot imagine that All Week Relocation / MTFRelocation have been ripping people off for the last two years, and they arestill in business instead of serving their time in a jail! Given, that it ispossible even for an ordinary person like me, to find out that the company is afraud, that the same people (Oren Avitan, Brian Feldmier) work under fivedifferent company names (MTF Relocation / All Week Relocation / Best LocalRelocation / Best Week Relocation / Advanced Relocation), and that they areconstantly changing their Bay Area address and telephone numbers, I am appalledthat no law action has been taken against them! So many people have beenvictimized already! How many more would have to suffer and loose theirlife-savings and entire-life belongings until the scammers pay for their theftand piracy? How long is it going to last?
0 comments