My wife and I have relocated from Pennsylvania to California. I hesitate to use the word "moved" because our stuff still hasn't arrived. The movers arrived promptly on 6/22. They were even a few minutes early. We were satisfied with the movers' work ethic and how diligently they packed our items. Then we got the bill. After being quoted at approximately $1,700 to ship our belongings to California and store it for 2 weeks, the mover increases our price to over $5,500."Extra" charges consisted of A) "long carry charge" ($100 for every 75 feet of carrying), B) $14 for every box of theirs that they had to use (the movers put our smaller boxed items into bigger boxes and charged us for over 20 boxes at $14 a piece. You do the math) and C) claiming that we are over our inventory (I understand additional charges, but an additional $3800?).
After a week of arguing, the company agreed to slash the price to $3900 for us. This was a small moral victory. My wife and I stopped in the Midwest for 2 weeks to spend time with our families before making the move to California. Our stuff was scheduled to be delivered on 8/9. We get a call on 8/8 (while in transit, via car, from Iowa to California) saying that our stuff has gotten held up and will be delivered on Friday 8/12. This meant we would have to pay for 3 additional nights of hotels, waiting for our stuff to arrive. As you can imagine, we were incredibly frustrated, but we did not know that this was only the beginning of our troubles.
On 8/12 (our new scheduled move in day), I kept calling in the morning to confirm the delivery of our stuff. No one at the company would answer their phones. I was repeatedly put on hold by the automated system, but then transferred to a voicemail.By the afternoon we were very upset. We called approximately 100 times and were able to talk to a human only twice. One time was a dispatch coordinator in Chicago, that said he could not assist us. The other time was a man in sales that said he could not assist us either. We gave him our order number, but he could not tell us where our stuff was at. He said we had to wait until Sunday to talk to Roni, who could take care of our situation. We were outraged because this meant it would be at least 2 more days before we had answers and this meant we had to pay for 3 more nights of hotels. We kept trying and left numerous voicemails and sent an email to Roni (none of which have been responded to.)
Sunday morning, Roni appeared to be attempting to be proactive about our situation. We got in touch and she said that she will return our call as soon she tracks down our belongings and that she is "very hopeful" for our stuff.By Sunday afternoon, we hadn't heard back from her. We called multiple times, only to be transferred to voicemail. She had left for the day without even calling us back.
As of today, Monday, 8/15, we still do not have our stuff. It has been 25 days, since the movers picked up our belongings in Pennsylvania. Roni called this morning with a cell phone number for the apparent driver of our moving truck, telling us to set up a time in the next couple of days that is convenient for both us and the driver to set up the move. Annoyed, but thankful, I call the driver to set up a time. I asked him where he was and when he could be at our apartment. He responds by saying he is in Arkansas (over 1000 miles away from California). He apologized and said he was held up between Baltimore and Washington DC. I asked him when he would be out here with our belongings and he said he was not sure and that he would call me when his is closer to the area.
As you can imagine, we are not very happy this morning. We have been calling all morning and finally talked to a receptionist. We shared our story and asked if we could speak to a manager, a supervisor, or even the owner of the company. She said that Roni is above her and that she could not disclose the owner of the company. We told her that we have already dealt with Roni and would like to talk to someone above her. She says Roni is at the top, even though she is not the owner. We asked her why no one at the company answers their phones or returns our calls and she tells us that this is the busy season for moving. As our frustration mounted on the phone, she resorted to putting us on hold. After being on hold for 10 minutes, we hung up and called repeatedly, but they will not answer our calls anymore.
The website states that their headquarters are located in Dallas, TX. Upon further digging, we came into contact with the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. This company is not licensed to operate in the state of Texas, nor do they have insurance through the Texas DMV. We called the company after finding this out, told the receptionist that we know, and the receptionist said she was going to put us on hold. We demanded not to be placed on hold, but she did it anyway. Shortly, it went to a voicemail, and we were forced to leave yet another message. Still no response.
Every day, it is growing more apparent that this company is not operating a clean business. Based on other negative online reviews, it seems that several other people are in similar situations. We are now sleeping on an air mattress. We have only the clothes that the two of us could squeeze into one carry-on sized suitcase. Reluctant to buy new pots, pans, and silverware, we have been attempting to eat cheap (mainly fast food) meals. That is even getting expensive. We have been scammed.
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