American Van Lines Dd not deliver moving services as promised but still wants deposit Coral Springs, Florida
I contacted American Van Lines to move from St. Louis to Destin Florida. The timing of the contact was close to my move date because PODS couldn't deliver on the date I requested and we had people in both St. Louis and Destin to coordinate with. I spoke to Matthew Magro who walked me through an inventory of my belonging and gave me a quote. He emailed me a contract and a charge slip for the deposit and told me to return it immediately. He also told me they would call me 24 to 48 hours of my pickup. Their office called on May 24 and said they would be at my house to pickup and pack my belongings on May 25 between 11 am and 1 pm. They did not show up. They did not answer my calls. Their office called at approximately 1:20 pm and said they would pickup and pack my house between 2 and 4. Again they didn't show. I called their service lines and the direct lines of Matthew Magro and Alvin Garcia at least six times. I sent several emails. No response and two were returned undeliverable. On the morning of May 26, I researched the internet for them and came across consumer complaints relating horror stories of lies and frauds. They even mentioned Matthew by name in some. Since I still had to move and they left me high and dry, I arranged for a U-Haul truck. I called my credit card company and disputed the charges. Someone called me on Monday, May 28 who told me in a very thick accent that they would arrive to pack my house the next day. I told him that i had made other arrangements. On May 29, since the credit card had recovered my money, I started receiving calls from them telling me that i had breached the contract and i would lose my deposit.
Their contract did require me to cancel with 48 hours notice, but they had breached the agreement by not arriving as announced, leaving me no other choice but to make other arrangements. They represented themselves as movers in my conversations but now say they are an agent only and did what they were contracted to do.
At the very least, they misrepresented their services. They applied pressure to sign and return the documents immediately and if I did so they would deliver my belongings on they schedule I required.
They continue to pursue recovery if te deposit, even though they rendered no services.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Customer Relationship Manager
Florida,United States of America
Dear customer
#3UPDATE Employee
Tue, December 11, 2012
Our team at American Van Lines Relocation Division has located your account upon review of your posting. We do appreciate your business and we regret that we were unable to perform your relocation within your requested moving dates and to hear of your displeasure in the interaction between you and our company.
To complete relocation arrangements, all documents outlining company policies and terms of agreement are supplied for review prior to execution of any relocation to be returned in acceptance of our services. We make our customers aware in our terms of services that all suggested dates supplied within their contracts are estimates. Due to the nature of our business, we ensure our customers understand that delays may occur and with this in mind, our company provides windows for routing purposes and is also designed as such in the event of any occurrence of delays.
Your pick up was estimated to take place on 5/26/2012 5/29/2012. On 5/29/2012 you made our office aware that the movers had not arrived and that you made other arrangements for your household goods to be picked up. Representatives advised you that a truck was routed for that said day. However, you insisted on dismissing our services, informing us that you have gone ahead and made other arrangements.
Please be advised that you were provided with the terms and conditions of the shipping agreement which included our cancellation policy. You signed in agreement if in the event that you canceled your move with us less than five days prior to your load date you would not be entitled to a refund of your deposit made. Based on the cancellation policy and the date you requested to dismiss our services, you forfeited a refund of your deposit. Please be advised that our company fulfilled our contractual obligations of coordinating your relocation and securing a carrier.
It was brought to our attention on 5/31/2012 that you filed a dispute with your financial institution. From there on attempts were made to come up with a satisfactory settlement amount. A mutual agreement was made between yourself and our company to be refunded half of your deposit. The necessary documentation was sent to you for a written agreement, which was signed and resent to our office.
It is always in our intention to provide our customers with exceptional services and a smooth transition to their new location. Unfortunately, we were not able to do so for you and for that we sincerely apologize for any inconveniences and frustrations. If you have any further questions in regards to this response you may contact our office at your earliest convenience at 800-338-9361.
Thank you
Sincerely,
American Van Lines Relocation Division.
TRUTH BE TOLD!
Inverness,Florida,
USA
TYPICAL AVL TWISTING! Always an answer to make customers always "wrong."
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, August 10, 2012
"They (American Van Lines) represented themselves as movers in my conversations but now say they are an agent and only did what they were contracted to do."
To the agents I say:
Then why are ALL AVL victims surprised to learn, ONLY when an AVL truck does not show up, that AMERICAN VAN LINES IS NOT A MOVING COMPANY?
Are you contracted to mislead, misrepresent, fabricate?
Are you contracted to make people's lives miserable? to be the initiating factor of your customers' financial and material losses?
Are you upfront in telling potential customers that AMERICAN VAN LINES IS ONLY A BROKER SERVICE?
Are you forthright about telling potential customers the low BINDING cost is actually for BROKER FEES and YOUR COMMISSION?
Are you honest about telling customers that after they pay any money and sign the contract, neither the BROKERS, nor the moving co-ordinator, nor the supervisors, nor customer service, nor YOU will handle any issues that are GUARANTEED to arise?
Are you contracted to let your customers be left high and dry in the most stressful, most unimaginable horrible situations?
NO! YOU were NOT contracted by your customers to be left without a reliable AVL (phanthom) transporter, which YOU told your customers that YOU were scheduling!
NO! YOU were NOT contracted by your customers to cause havoc and misery in their lives with YOUR fabrications!
To the Victim: search for FMCSA on the net and file a complaint. AMERICAN VAN LINES WILL BE FINED FOR VIOLATIONS. You will not receive any re-imbursement, but hopefully you will have some satisfaction. Also report to BBB in AZ. Be prepared for more fabrications!