On July 19—I found out I was offered my first position as a Nurse in Texas. I was elated and excited to start the process of moving. After getting several quotes from a variety of moving companies, I spoke with agent Howard Zimmerman. He was upbeat, nice, personable and ensured me that Colonial Van Lines was my best bet for moving. With my trust firmly in his hand, I placed my 800 dollar down payment.
From then on, I had only a few minor questions (do you wrap my mattress? What materials do you provide... What materials must I provide?). Howard responded within a reasonable time, but suddenly I stopped receiving responses. Unknown to me, Howard had been fired (How could they fire the only decent employee they had?!?!?). I did not know this until Sean Boxer (Quality Assurance Representative) contacted me to confirm my move.
After this point, no agent was assigned to me, but Sean Boxer assured me that everything would be fine and that I could call customer service with any problems. I thought "Oh great, well—I don't expect any problems". Oh boy, I sure wish I would have persisted in asking for an agent to be assigned to me!
Meanwhile, Sean Boxer also told me that the driver would call me Monday (Aug 6th) about whether my items would be picked up Aug 7th or 8th. Monday rolled by with no call. That night, I tried to call Colonial Van Lines; however, they do not have a 24 hour hotline for problems. As soon as their call center opened, I called (9am). I soon found out that NO driver had been assigned to me and that she would have to call the dispatcher (Joe, AKA Joseph). She told me she would call back in 1-2 hours.
At exactly 2 hours, Gwen calls me back and tells me that she does not know when my items will be picked up. She said she would call me back in an hour or two.
After 2.5 hours, no call. I promptly call Gwen to see when I would move. This occured another 3 times that day with out any idea on when my items would be moved and no apology for the inconvience.
Finally, at 2:30pm—Joe (The dispatcher) calls. Several times—he says "wait stay on the line" then he hangs up on me. He never called back, and I would have to call him back every time. He said he did not know if he would be able to pick my things up today or tomorrow. I thought "Okay, that stinks, but whatever".
I did not start to become angry with this company until Joe yelled at me without listening to what I had to say. Sean Boxer said that I could ask the driver/dispatcher about an approximate drop of day when he called, so I asked Joe when he thought the driver would be dropping off my things. He became VERY angry over this. Several times, I attempted to explain (but he would talk over me) that the reason I wanted to know was because only ONE day (out of the whole 10 days they could drop off my things) I would be out for 3-4 hours for a pre-employer physical exam. Without this exam, I would not be able to start orientation the following week and would have to wait 2 weeks to start my job. Joe then threatened to fine me 250 dollars/day hotel accomodations for the drivers if I would not be when they showed up.
At this point, I was in tears due to stress and humiliation I was feeling from this company.
Finally, my mother had to call Gwen (because when I cry it's just not good... No one can understand what I'm saying) to see if we could switch from Joe to another driver. After we explained our reasoning for switching, Gwen did not OFFER an apology but simply threatened that she did not know when I would get my items if I didn't move with Joe.
After my mother repeatedly asked for someone new to move me, she hung up just as frustrated with the company as I was and near tears. We finally asked how much it would cost for us to drop the entire move and rent a uhaul. They said we would nto get our down payment back of 800 dollars. Being a new graduate, I could not afford to lose 800 dollars. I asked Gwen if I could have some time to think about whether I would leave or not&and rudely she responded "Well I have to let the driver know!". I told her the driver is only 20 minutes away form my house and still has 2-3 hours of work. She still said " I need to let the driver know". I said "well, does your company want my money or no? Because I really feel at this point your manager would prefer that you give me a few minutes (after you wasted my entire day) to think about this.
Finally, we decided that going with Colonial was my best bet because of other situations happening in the family. I called Gwen back and told her we would still move with the company. And the process for figuring out when the company would come began again. Every hour, I called Gwen to see if she knew when they were company. At 6:30pm, Gwen leaves the office. At 6:15pm, Gwen assured me the driver would call me very soon to let me know if they would be coming... No call has come so far. As of now, I do not know when the company is coming and no apology has been given to me for the hassle I have gone through today.instead of my last days being special and memorable as I leave my family and everything I have ever known—it has been one of the top 10 worst days of my life.
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