Complaint Review: Capital Moving Services

This is the latest letter I have sent to this company, but I do not expect to actually get anywhere....

February 22, 2009

Capital Moving Services Inc.
690 Progress Avenue, Unit #3
Scarborough, ON
M1H 3A6

To Whom It May Concern,

We first contacted Capital Movers in July 2008 for a quote for our move from Calgary to Toronto. It was a pretty easy move, as our belongings were already very well packed and in a storage container. They just had to be unloaded and re-loaded from our container to your truck. Our container was even dropped off directly at your warehouse in Calgary. I explained to Elena Balduk that the items were so well packed in there that removing them would mean that some items would have to be re-wrapped with bubble wrap or blankets, which is what I was told would happen. Elena was very accommodating and after she emailed us a quote, we decided to proceed.

Everything went according to plan, except when the movers arrived. They came in, I paid them cash, and then was told they would start bringing our belongings inside. I immediately asked them where the floor runners were. They told me that they did not have any. After regaining my breath, I told them that this was not acceptable. The carpets were just cleaned and my hardwood floor was just refinished. They then told me that there might be extra blankets on the truck they could out down. I called Elena and she told me that the floor runners were something that should have been requested. I was confused, as I've never had a moving company not routinely use floor runners. We have moved dozens of times and this was unheard of. At this point, I agreed that they could use blankets, but they proved to be useless, as they just slid around and tripped the movers on the stairs. Eventually, I removed them.

The next drama involved the movers bringing in our furniture. I've never witnessed a dolly being used the way they did, and after trying to balance my grandmother's antique dining table sideways on a dolly (with no blanket) to take down the stairs, I had to step in before it tumbled down and into the wall. The carrying in of my husband's upright dresser was a disaster. I told the movers that the drawers were full and that they should be taken out to make carrying it up the stairs easier for them. I wish I had insisted. They struggled the whole way up with it as I followed close behind, gouging huge dents into the drywall as they proceeded. They just told me to put all of the damage, including the walls, on the claim form and not to worry about it. At one point, one of the mover's started to use the top of the dresser for leverage. Of course, furniture is not meant to be carried this way and the top came off. This is an expensive solid piece of antique mahogany furniture, not a cheap piece of furniture that can easily came apart. Before I realized what they were doing, the men were down on their knees trying to pull the top back down into place, whacking it with their hands. At this point, I almost wept. Because of the top coming off, this caused other problems to the piece, such as the drawers being off balance, not being able to close all the way. Things didn't get any better, and at one point I started taking things off the truck and into the house because I just wanted the movers to leave. When it was time for my dresser to come into the house, I removed the drawers, so that there wouldn't be a repeat of the other incident. Also, to make things move along quicker and to try to minimize any more damage to our walls and furniture, I told them to put everything that was left on the truck into the living room. In retrospect, this was an error. Apparently the movers weren't aware that when you slide a heavy box on a wooden floor, it will get scratched. I was so busy emptying the truck that I wasn't aware of this going on until it was too late. Our newly refinished hardwood floor was a mess. Again, the mover told me to put it in the claim. Another point to be made is that about half of the boxes were stacked upside down. There is a reason that some boxes had to be stacked and stored a certain way.

The claim form had to be completed and submitted within 10 days of our move, a practice which is quite unfair actually, as we still hadn't really unpacked or been able to inspect most of our belongings. We submitted what was obviously damaged and/or lost, but since then have discovered much more damage on more of our furniture.
A response was received about 3 weeks after submitting it. You can imagine our surprise and annoyance when the few items we did claim were completely denied.
It seemed that even the damage to our furniture was denied as well, until I copied and pasted a line from an email dated August 29, 2008 which stated, If anything is damaged, we repair the goods. Photos were sent to Elena of the damage to the 2 pieces of furniture we claimed and she said that the furniture repair person would contact us. This was back in November. Brian from Vintage Furniture finally came by to look at our damage on January 12, 2009. Elena told us that she was also working on trying to get the deductible removed from our file, but informed me on Feb 2nd, that she was not able to do it. So, Capital Movers would proceed with paying the $275 after we paid the $300 deductible. This just does not seem fair.

Promises from your company were not met, so now we have to pay a $300 deductible on the damage to 2 pieces of furniture. Perhaps if we were able to claim all of the damage to our house, including the floor, damaged drywall, the lost items, and the rest of the damaged furniture that we discovered after the claim filing period had passed, it wouldn't seem so substantial, but on such a small claim, it seems outrageous.

Below is the service that we expected, but did not receive:

Here is what this price includes;

This price includes everything, there are no extra/hidden costs:

? Our men will wrap all your goods in Specially Padded Moving Blankets. They will wrap all your furniture as well as all fragile/breakable items. If you have any electronics or extra fragile items, we can also provide bubble wrapping and material free of charge. (The re-wrapping simply did not happen and our dining room table, in particular, really suffered from not having anything properly wrapped around it.)

? Also, our men will tag all your goods one by one before loading the truck. This is your inventory list. On the inventory list they will note the number of the item and the condition of the item at the time of the pick-up. This way when the goods arrive at the destination, we will unload and check off each item one by one, so that you can make sure that all of the items arrived and that they arrived in a good condition.

? Our price includes basic coverage. We will always take care of any damages/loses occurring during the shipment of your goods.
(Hmm, I don't agree)

? This is a full Door-to-Door service. Our men will load everything at pick-up time and we will unload everything at delivery time. We will bring everything inside and place everything where you wish it to be. You do not have to touch anything.
(Not sure what to say to this, except that it didn't quite happen this way)

Service we did receive:

? Goods transferred, but not properly re-wrapped when transferred from our container to truck in Calgary.
? Goods shipped from Calgary to Toronto
? Goods mishandled and treated carelessly during the move-in
? Denied claim for lost and damaged items

We believe that due to the extreme negligence and mishandling of our belongings, the least that Capital Mover's can do is to pay for the full repair to the damage to our 2 pieces of furniture.

Kelli
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

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