Complaint Review: ALL MY SONS MOVING & STORAGE OF DALLAS NORTH LLC.

I am a senior citizen and recently found myself needing to relocate and went online to find a mover. I saw several nice ads from All My Sons Moving Co. (AMS) including one that stated AMS was the authorized mover of the Dallas Cowboys. I mistakenly thought that AMS must be pretty good to get such an endorsement, so I phoned them. While discussing my move over the phone with AMS, I asked for an estimate, but they told me they could not provide one over the phone, but that the movers would provide the estimate once they saw the items to be moved.

I previously had received estimates prior to my moves but reluctantly proceeded with AMS as I was not too concerned about the cost of the move as I had just moved two years prior into this home for $700. My new residence was only 15 miles away and I was downsizing from a 1600 sq ft home into an 1100 sq ft apartment. I did all the packing myself and only left the heavy furniture items unpacked as well as my TV’s. The day of the move, three young men arrived unmasked (this was during COVID). The driver, Chris, asked for me to show him the items that were being moved.

I replied that everything was going, but gladly walked with Cris through the 3 rooms containing furniture and boxes. While we were doing this, the other two movers started moving the boxed items into their truck. After We had walked through the 3 rooms, I asked Chris for the estimate and he replied that he would have that for me a little while later. Over the next few hours, the movers moved very slowly and one of the movers spent over an hour completely wrapping the furniture in shrink-wrap for the short 15 mile move. It had begun raining outside during packing and I enquired how they were going to protect the mattresses.

Chris indicated that they usually pack mattresses in mattress boxes but they were out of boxes currently, but would do their best to keep the mattresses from getting wet. The movers worked slowly packing their truck for approximately 3-hours and then left for my new apartment. When they finally arrived at my new place 1.5 hours later, Chris approached me with his cell phone and said “I have your estimate”. I tried to read the estimate as best as I could, but noticed a fuel surcharge of $180 (for a 15 mile move), and that I was also being charged for two mattress boxes although Chris had earlier told me that they did not have mattress boxes.

I told Chris I was not going to sign the document - then Chris told me they would not unload until I signed and that “the meter was running” and he would have to reach out to his Manager. I reluctantly signed as the amount I was disputing (at that time) could surely be lost as the movers sat around waiting for a corrected estimate to be put together. During the unload, Chris was the only mover that I saw for about 2 hours and he indicated that he did not know where the “new guy” was. The new guy and the other mover finally reappeared over an hour later - shortly before the completion of the unload.

I was charged $1,600 (twice what I paid two years prior) for this very small move. The bill included 7 hours labor although the movers worked for maybe 5 hours, an hour for travel time for a short trip, $160 for tape, shrink wrap and a few picture boxes ( including $25 for the nonexistent mattress boxes). Also included in the bill was a charge for 14% of the total bill as a "fuel surcharge" (almost $180) for the big 15-mile trip. One of AMS managers (Jensen) claims all "reputable" movers charge this. Well, they don't. In trying to determine how AMS calculated the fuel surcharge, I found an web article from AMS explaining how and when the charge is applied.

In the article AMS states that you should only be charged a fuel charge if you are moving long distance. If you are moving within city, or from a city nearby, the fuel charge should be included in the hourly fee that you pay. Apparently AMS does not follow their own documented policies. Here is the URL to the AMS article: https://www.allmysons.com/jacksonville/fuel_charges_when_hiring_mover.aspx After unpacking my goods, I found that AMS had lost a bed frame piece rendering the bed frame unusable, dropped a chest of drawers damaging two drawers, and destroying a new flat panel TV. Interestingly, AMS packed the broken flat panel in a picture box but did not protect the TV with bubble wrap or a furniture blanket. All total my repair/replacement cost for my damaged goods is $925 of which AMS has offered me $100! I would never use All My Sons again and would never recommend AMS to anyone - perhaps the Dallas Cowboys should rethink who they endorse, and certainly I should have taken more time to find an honest, reputable mover.