Complaint Review: Al Sera

I hired Ace Relocation Systems in San Jose CA (675 Quinn Ave, 408 287 7575) to move my household goods. They are affiliated with Atlas Van Lines. They subcontracted to Al Serra, supposedly from Maryland, professing that he was the professional's professional and would do the best job.

Al's cell phone number is 443866-5763. His tractor was a Freightliner registered in Indiana. It had the Atlas USDOT registration number 125550 on it. The cab number was 25953 and the plate number was Indiana 195 859.

Al and his crew mis-packed my belongings, causing damage; threw away good items (which I had to keep recovering from the garbage area) and loaded all my hazardous paints and chemicals on the moving van even though I had set all that bad stuff in an area away from the house. I did not see them doing this and only learned about the hazardous materials as they were unloaded off the truck in North Carolina.  As a result of them loading these illegal items I had to discard some useful items in CA because there wasn't enough room on the truck for everything.

Even though Al was supposed to leave immediately he went to the Ace Relocation terminal and stripped off all or some of my belongings. The extra handling no doubt contributed to the loss and damage I experienced. (And even though I saved all the damaged boxes as I was instructed to do by Atlas, their inspectors did not care about them - and Atlas themselves dismissed them saying they were not proof of any loss or damage.

However, the most serious offense was that Al did not inventory / number my belongings as he packed them on the truck, even though that was a legal requirement. When he turned in all the paperwork to Ace Relocation / Atlas Van Lines all the items had numbers listed - magically. Al had added fake numbers to the inventory reports, leaving me stuck with thousands of dollars worth of lost items for which Atlas would not reimburse me.

Everyone needs to stay away from Al Serra and even Ace Relocation and Atlas, because they mostly backed Al's poor performance and did not cover my losses to make me whole. (I had even paid an extra thousand dollars for more coverage - an even bigger scam!)

After much time and effort, arm twisting and cajoling, Ace and Atlas made partial settlements. If it was not for the sub-contracted inspector / repair service being the fairest of all the parties I had to deal with, I would not have recovered even half of what I did.

My good buddy Al, who said he would personally take care of any losses (before we moved, supposedly to keep his insurance down), claimed that even $100 was too much for him to pay - and he has been ducking all my phone calls like the low-life liar that he really is.

My losses and damages include a laptop computer, a portable air conditioner, a garden hose, two mountain bikes (one was irreparably damaged), framed artwork, an antique brass bed, garage shelving units, an architect's drafting table (missing the top!), a Xerox department level laser printer, and a pegboard from my garage (4 feet by 6 feet - missing.)

I never received proper or complete restitution for the laptop, printer, drafting table, garden hose and air conditioner.

Do not use Al Serra.