We met with Cyndie Rising, with Coleman American on May 31 and explained to her we were moving to Nebraska and wanted to take delivery on July 1st. She walked through the house and wrote up the preliminary inventory. We told her at that time that everything in the garage and in the shed outside were tools that my husband used for his business. He is a contractor and works for himself doing basement, bath, and kitchen remodeling. He already had two contracts for work once we got to Nebraska. She said the time frame we wanted would not be a problem and she would have the contract ready as soon as possible.
On June 3rd she came by and we signed the contract with the dates of pickup of June 24th or 25th and delivery between June 30th to July 1st. The next day she called and said the home office would charge us more money if we kept those dates, but if we had our things picked up on June 27th, we would still get delivered on July 1st or 2nd. We agreed to the change at that time, because we did not want to pay more since we are paying for the move ourselves. We still don't understand why they could charge more after we signed the contract.
We then signed the new contract on June 6th for pickup on June 27th and the new delivery dates of July 1st-8. We asked her about the week spread of delivery dates, and she said not to worry, it is only a three to four day drive, so we should be fine to get delivered on July 1st or 2nd at the latest. I called her about a week out to see if we had a truck assigned, and after several days of me calling but not getting an answer, she said that someone would be calling us 72 hours before to let us know when the truck and driver would be there. On June 24th at 3pm I still had not heard from anyone, so I called the main number in VA 703-490-4910 and was told that someone would call by 5pm that night, or by noon the next day. So of course, no one called us, we called on June 25th around 11am and my husband talked to Steve who said the driver was scheduled to be there on Monday June 27th between 9am -10:30am.
On Monday June 27th at 11:30am the truck shows up, but it is a flat bed with large wooden crates on it. I asked the driver, James Brown, who also wrote up the inventory, and he said we did not yet have a driver assigned, and they would be taking it to the warehouse in Woodbridge, VA. We were not happy about this, but had no choice but to go ahead because our Landlord there in VA was moving back in the next day. We called Cyndie, and she said she would look into it and call us back. After several calls back and forth, we were told that a driver would be assigned as soon as possible.
While writing up the inventory, Mr. Brown ran out of sheets, so we went and bought a notepad and he finished the last two pages on this. I should have gone somewhere at that time to make copies, but we were all exhausted, and he assured me they would make copies and mail them to me. It took me several calls to VA office, where I believe her name is Jessica (?) assured me that they had been mailed out to us on July 1st. I told her we had not received them and could she scan them and send them to my email address, but that was never done.
I called everyday to the VA office to see if we had a truck, and was told 'we're working on it'. You can imagine our stress levels are off the chart at this point. I talked to Jessica (?) on July 6th and she said we should get delivery on that day, and she would have the driver call us to let us know what time. I kept asking her how that was possible when the day before it was still in the warehouse, but she insisted it was on its way. I finally got in touch with Taylor, with Coleman American by calling the 1-800-239-4099 number and he let me rant and rave at him about everything but told me that we did not have a driver yet, but could I send in both copies of the contracts. I found a FedEx store and faxed them in to him that night. He also got the copies of the two sheets of inventory that were hand written and sent them to my email. He has been very considerate and calls me with updates daily, which I appreciate.
On July 8th he got me in touch with Chelsie in the claims dept., because we still did not even have a driver assigned to us. She has authorized some rental furniture and some kitchen items so we could at least live in our own house. I asked Chelsie about the fact that this is not just an inconvenience, but that my husband is not able to work without his tools. She basically said, too bad, this is just a personal move, so we can not reimburse you for any tool rentals. I then talked to Robin, Coleman American 1-800-239-4099 ext 99360, and she sent a check for $400.00 so my husband could rent a few tools to start working.
On July 18th Taylor let us know that we finally had a driver, and we would get delivery on July 21 23rd. On Wed. July 20th, he called to say it would be the 23rd. I arraigned to have the rental furniture picked up on July 23rd in preparation of our delivery. On Friday July 22nd I kept waiting to get a call from the driver to tell me what time to expect him, and I waited all day. I called Taylor and Robin just after lunch time and asked for someone to call me with an update. At 3:30pm I called the customer service number listed and talked to someone else, who told me she would have Robin call me back. At 4:30pm Robin called and said that she had talked to the dispatcher for the company that had my things on the truck, Maher Brothers, and he said the driver would not be delivering on Sat. The 23rd because his son was getting married that day. She gave me his phone number and I called and finally talked to Mike, the dispatcher at 4:45pm. He had no valid excuse on why he would assign a driver he knew full well could not make a delivery on July 23rd, but let us assume it was going to happen. He kept telling me I need to call Allied Customer Service.
In summary, we are not just being inconvenienced any longer, we are losing wages. The move has been one of the worst experiences we have had to endure, and it's still not resolved. The claims department will not even consider giving any sort of discount on the move, which we feel is appropriate given this whole fiasco. And as of 11am on July 25th, NO ONE HAS CALLED ME TO TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON!!!
Coleman American, Allied and Maher Brothers needs to make this right.
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