Complaint Review:
Globe Moving and Storage
Globe Moving and Storage Midwest Van Lines, Zero communication, Broken stuff, Lies about service, Lies about fees GARDEN CITY , Kansas
The story started by their call to my phone after I put in a request for movers at 123movers.com. I had never done an interstate move before, so I turned to the internet for information.
Chris, the sales representative, called my cellphone and offered an estimate that was about 300 dollars less than what most of the other companies offered me. What seemed strange to me was that Chris was so confident that his estimate would be right on without ever seeing how much stuff I had. But he sounded like a nice guy and had answers to all my questions, so I told him I was interested.
I should have seen the first red flag when he quoted the too-good-to-be-true "binding-not-to-exceed" estimate, since it's weird for a small company to be able to offer lower prices than larger, better-established companies.
My gut told me to check the company out on the Better Business Bureau site, and at the time they had an A rating. The funny thing was that Globe Moving and Storage showed as being in business for the last couple of years only, while many other moving companies had a long history of being in business.
My credit card deposit was in by this point, since I thought that an A rating on the BBB and a history of no complaints would ensure that I wasn't dealing with shady people here. I was still a little unsettled, so I checked their Dept. of Transportation numbers on the DOT website. They showed as being insured, which eased my fears for the moment.
The day of the move arrived and there was no contact from them. According to Chris, they movers would show up on a Sunday but possibly on a Monday. I expected to hear from them on Saturday to confirm the Sunday move, but nothing. I just assumed they would come Monday. So Sunday came, but still no call. Monday morning, nothing. So I started calling and they referred me to dispatch, where I spoke to a person who put me on hold for a long time only to tell me that the driver wasn't there and that he would call me.
I waited patiently until he called at 9 PM saying he would be late. I had to be out of the place by Tuesday first thing in the morning, so I was nervous they wouldn't make it. The driver took his sweet time and finally arrived at my place close to midnight. The truck had Washington plates on it and it was unmarked. I asked the three guys on board if they were from Globe, but they said they worked for a number of companies. Immediately I felt something funny was going on since according to the Globe website:
"We are not a broker, but an actual carrier with a DOT number and a fleet of trucks. Most moving companies are brokers, bidding out your moving to the lowest paid carriers that may not have your best interest at heart. We will be here with you from beginning to end."
At no point during my move did I see Globe Moving and Storage's name anywhere but on the one copy of the paperwork which was just a print out of the email they sent me, as well as their bill.
Fast forward to the delivery of my goods in the state of New York: My contract called for a month of free storage and a flat fee for a shuttle, but once in New York, I called to get the details of my delivery. Turns out Globe threw my stuff at a local company warehouse whose agent called me demanding payment for loading and unloading fees for a truck plus a daily storage fee.
I was outraged that I was being held up this way, so I called Globe again to clear the thing up, but there were no signs of Chris Michalski anywhere; they said he left on vacation, and later, that he was sick. Every time I called Globe I got a customer rep that didn't know anything about my case and just looked up the notes on my move but wasn't able to do anything about it.
Eventually, I spoke to some guy named Roy that told me he would look into the fees thing and that he would solve it all and call me back right away. Three days went by and he never called back. By this time I was just angry, I didn't know what to do since it was so hard to get a hold of the people that could actually do something for me and coordinate my move correctly or give me any details on where my stuff actually was.
I finally was able to get Roy on the phone and just vented out my frustration and how I felt cheated because I thought that Globe just shuffled me from company to company and didn't give a hoot about their customer. They caused me and my wife incredible stress and anxiety by not communicating promptly or thoroughly and by pressuring me to pay about 500 dollars more in fees than they had originally quoted. Their incredible untimeliness cost me over a thousand dollars more in setup costs because my stuff did not make it on time.
After I vented all my anger and expressed how upset I was to have picked a "sh*tty" company, Roy got upset and tried to lecture me about how he'd been in business for so many years and I had no idea what a "sh*tty" company was like. He said he'd help me out and just shaved like 100 bucks off the extra charges and told me to take it or leave it. What else could I do at this point? They HAD my stuff... I agreed.
Finally, to top it all off, the day they finally delivered my stuff (and they just gave me like a four-hour notice, not 24hrs like they said) most of my boxes where really badly smashed and a couple of items were missing, (as in, someone opened the box and took them).
By this point I didn't give a hoot and did NOT want to deal with these people. So after calling in to report my damaged goods and being rudely told to file a claim, I just gave up.
So my advice to you: Avoid Globe Moving and Storage LIKE THE PLAGUE.
These guys had their BBB license revoked and will probably not stay in business much longer because of the way they handle their customers; they used to be called Midwest Van Lines, and their reviews are HORRIBLE. So they changed their name to Globe and are now going around promising customers the world and hanging them up to dry while sticking them with large bills.
I would not recommend Globe to ANYONE I know; I will most certainly pay more money in the future and go with a well-recognized company whose name doesn't stand for mediocrity and AWFUL customer service.
Globe people: Shame on you. You not only lost a potential repeat customer in me; I have made it my mission to tell EVERYONE I know to not give you business and avoid you at all costs. You straight up LIE on your website promising so many things that you DO NOT do. Hope you guys go out of business soon and stop scamming people, especially those new to the moving business or who are more vulnerable (like elderly people).
Globe Moving and Storage: I feel sorry for you.