This company, if it is a company (the pick up driver indicated that it might be a conglomerate of cockroaches) gave me a price for moving 130 small boxes of books (12x12x16) at a rate of 3.70 per cubic feet. I gave the salesman the size of the boxes and let him calculate it. He estimated 260 cubic feet and offered me a price of $850 to move the boxes from Panama City Beach, Fl, 32407, to Mobile, Al, 36602, with a month's free storage.
I told him there might be a few more boxes as I had not packed everything yet. When the driver arrived he counted 146 boxes, including 8 middle-sized boxes (18x18x16). But instead of a few dollars more, he set the total price at $1460. I had paid a down payment of $170, the driver demanded $600, and set the price for final delivery at $690, for a total of 1460, far more than the original price.
Also, every time I called the company to verify the final arrangements, I got a different story. The salesman told me I could pay by personal check. One office clerk told me $510 in cash or money order, and another 50 percent of the balance (after the down payment). Then finally another office clerk told me I would have to pay by postal money order or cash. The salesman had told me 20 percent downpayment, 60 percent on pickup, and 20 percent on final delivery. When the pick up driver told me I might have to payment an additional $75 "elevator fee" on delivery since I am moving to a high rise. Before he arrived the driver told me that I would have to give him $600 in cash (that was before he had even counted the boxes).
I was horrified to be presented with a bill for $600 more than I counted on. I am living on minimum Social Security moving to a HUD project. My total monthly income is not much more than $600. I called the local Sunshine office in Tampa and was transferred to "customer service, " a woman named Latoya. She told me that she would review the paper work from the driver and call me the next day (June 24) before 5:00 pm. She did not, and when I tried to call her after 4:00, I got a message that her voice mail box was full. I think I am getting the run around. I am terrified now that I will lose my library, which is irreplaceable, gathered in 40 years of foreign travel as a correspondent. The receipt does not even give the number of boxes taken.
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