I filled out a form online in order to get quotes from several different moving companies to move a 1 bedroom apartment located in a high rise building to another 1 bedroom apartment in a high rise building 5 miles away in Miami, FL. Several moving companies contacted me, including Nationwide Van Lines.
I told the individual at Nationwide Van Lines who gave me the quote, nicknamed "Disco Dave", about every furniture item that I had and guessed about 30 boxes. I explicitly told him that I was moving from one high rise building to another and that I had 3 tables (one coffee and two end) with glass tops, as well as other fragile equipment such as TV's, computer, etc. He gave me a quote of $300 to move after I had told him everything, which was lower than the other movers, and said that the only thing that would increase the quote would be if I had extra cubic feet to move in addition to what I told him and any packing materials that I wanted to purchase off the truck.
When the movers arrived at my apartment on the day of the move, they arrived 45 minutes prior to the time they were supposed to and I could not use the freight elevator in my building until the time for which I had scheduled it. The supervisor of the 3 guys took an inventory of all my furniture and boxes and noted that I had a little more boxes than I originally estimated, but not much more. He said, "Well, it definitely won't be double the price."
He then proceeded to tell me that elevator fees were going to be $150 ($75 for each elevator), which I was not notified about during the quote conversation. He also said that he needed to wrap up all of the glass tops to my tables and other fragile materials in their own bubble wrap and boxes to ensure that they would not break and that I would have to pay for all of that. They charged me several hundred dollars for the few pieces of bubble wrap and a few boxes that I did not particularly want to use anyway. There was also a "labor charge" added that I do not know what it related to and other "miscellaneous" charges.
At the end of the move, the supervisor told me that the move was going to cost approximately $900, which is triple the amount I was quoted. On top of it all, they broke the glass top to my coffee table, AFTER charging me a lot of money to wrap it, and a TV (which they also supposedly wrapped).
I called the office after the move to discuss the "hidden charges" and dispute some of them. After all, it should not cost $900 to move a 1 bedroom apartment 5 miles. The man who gave me the quote kept putting me on hold and did not want to talk to me. He kept trying to get me off the phone and eventually said that he MAY reimburse me the $150 for elevator fees but that is it, and only if I send him something in writing.
I believe this company gives very low quotes so that they can get in the door and at the point when they show up and you are ready to move, they give you all of the "hidden charges", at which time it is too late to change movers. I believe this company is fraudulent and something needs to be done about them.
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