I contracted with Nationwide Van Lines (800-310-0056) of Dania, Florida to move me from Dallas, Texas to Jacksonville, Florida in Febuary 2003. I questioned their representative, Kevin Soloman, in depth in regards to how my move would be handled as I when I moved to Dallas from Jacksonville, I was very satisfied with the mover who handled it.
I asked for someone to come to my home to give me a real quote as the previous mover had done, they don't do that. I asked for a binding quote which the previous mover did and which I was assured would be in the contract, it was not. Where I really messed up was that I failed to take the extra insurance as Kevin Soloman assured me that all their employees were experienced in moving antiques and fine art and I was strapped for money at the time. Oh my oh my, what a mistake I made.
Nationwide Van Lines subcontracted my move out to Spirit Van Lines owned by Eran Adani (954-347-2566) without my knowledge. I was much later told by Orit at Nationwide that they don't have to tell people that they subcontract out to other movers. I do not know if this is the truth or not, but what I do know is that on the Bill of Lading, it is suppose to state the company's name. Mine does not. I had no reason to believe that anyone but Nationwide was performing my move.
Only when it came time for the delivery did I find out differently. I called Nationwide to set up the delivery date, as they promised a one month free storage. This was their opportunity to lose my possessions. They gave me a non toll free number to call and since I was at work and did not feel right in calling that number from my work, I asked them to call them and have them call me. They never called.instead, they showed up in Jacksonville, called me while I was at church on a Sunday and delivered my belongings to a storage center of their choice.
It took me over a month and a half to get my belongings delivered and when they did deliver them, I was devastated. Antiques were ruined, my brand new Thomasville bed was so damaged I could not believe it, boxes were missing, boxes were crushed that were clearly marked Fragile, pottery I have been collecting for years was broken into pieces. Maybe they don't know how to read English, as none of the people engaged in my delivery were very proficient in speaking English.
I did have the driver make the notation of the condition my belongings were put into the storage unit that Spirit choose. It was very small and pakced in like sardines. I filed a complaint with the Better Busines Bureau and their response was that "if the contents didn't fit in the unit they would have placed them outside the unit". Excuse me? Am I missing something here.
Well now here it is a year and 8 months later and last month (August) I contacted Orit at Nationwide and told her I would settle with them for $1,044.00. She told me to send her a letter verifying that. I sent it registered, receipt requested and received the receipt back. Then when I contacted Orit again, she told me I had to call Eran at Spirit. I have had numerous contacts with him over the past five weeks. He told me that he would be getting with his attorney yesterday to send me the settlement agreement. I called him today to follow up and now he is telling me that this issue is over two years old (I guess he doesn't know that February is not two years from this date) and that he offered me a settlement four months after the move (I'd love to see where that was done) and now he is not going to pay me anything.
Am I mad? Yes. Am I ready to give up? No. I would like to hear from anyone who has done business with either Nationwide Van Lines or Spirit Van Lines as I'm more than willing to take this as far as I have to in order to make these businesses (or persons) accountable for their action (or lack thereof).
I have contacted the United States Attorney's office, the Better Business Bureau and Bill Nelson, our representative for Florida. I won't stop. If you can provide me any help, I would welcome your response through the rebuttal key. If you have been taken by these companies the way I was, please respond. Any help by anyone at this point will be deeply appreciated.
My final advice is ask the Moving company to put it in writing that they will be providing the service, to ask if they subcontract their moves out, to look at the Bill of Lading for a name of who is moving you and finally, to always take out the extra insurance. These companies are insured, it's just that the people who work for them have no morals, no commitment of service and no integrity.
Patricia
Jacksonville, Florida
U.S.A.
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