Complaint Review: GPS Moving Company

I was warned by two people who had been ripped off by movers that I needed to protect myself against additional charges added by the moving company on the day of the move or upon delivery of my household goods. With that in mind, I researched several moving companies by checking with the Better Business Bureau, the Department of Transportation and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to see whether they were in good standing. The ONLY reason I chose GPS Movers was because of their “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau.  They had 3 complaints when I researched them six months ago, and they now have 13, yet they still have an A rating. Hmmmm.  Something doesn't add up.   

I was given an estimate over the phone by K***, a GPS Movers’ sales rep, who I provided with an inventory list of my household goods.  At the recommendation of the PUC, I asked K*** to set up a visual inspection for a more accurate quote. I asked her for a “not to exceed” price – the maximum amount I could be charged. She assured me this would be no problem and forwarded my email to their legal department on January 6, 2016. (I retained copies.)

On January 11^th, GPS sent A*** to my home to do a visual inspection. He walked through every room and my garage. I had a stack of file-sized boxes flattened out on the floor of my garage, which I planned to use in the move.  A*** asked how many there were and I estimated approx. 30-50 boxes.  This was in addition to the product boxes and plastic bins which were also going to be used in the move. After the walk through inspection, A** submitted an updated inventory list, and added an additional $450 to my original quote. 

The updated inventory list WAS EXACTLY THE SAME as the original one I had provided to K*** over the phone, so I questioned the reason for the added charges.  A*** said it was because the bookcase and queen bed were bigger than expected, and that I had more plastic bins than what I had given K*** over the phone on my original inventory.  A queen-sized bed has standard dimensions, and I had accurately represented the size of the bookcase but I conceded that I might have miscounted the number of plastic bins. I still didn’t feel that a few extra bins justified adding $450 to the quote so, after haggling with K***, she adjusted the $450 down to $222, which I agreed to pay. My contract clearly states it is a guaranteed price, which was not to be exceeded.

Despite this guarantee in writing, on the morning of the move, after the movers had already packed and wrapped almost all my furniture and taken the items downstairs preparing to load them onto the truck, I got a call from A***. He told me that there were over 100 boxes and that I had told him I only had 30 boxes, so it was going to cost me an additional $742. Since I had to vacate my apartment by the next day and the utilities were being turned off, and I had a one-way non-refundable ticket to Washington, I had no choice but to accept these charges.

They picked up the items on February 29. I was told it would take 7-10 days to deliver my furniture from California to Washington.  After 7 days I called A***and asked for an estimate of when my items would arrive. He told me that they hadn’t left the warehouse yet, that they were still in storage.  He claimed that he told me it could be up to 21 days before they were delivered.  He never at any time gave me a 21 day window and I told him so.  Because he was rude and lied (the second time), I called GPS and asked to speak to a supervisor. I talked to E*** and told her that A*** said it would take 21 days and she said, “no, that’s not true.” 

She said she would talk to him and would try to get me a discounted rate to make up for the delay and inconvenience. I also discussed the additional charges that A*** added the day of my move. Her response was, “you always have a choice.”  I said that I expected GPS to honor their original "not to exceed price.”  Her response was that she had dealt with customers in the past who had bought furniture and added items onto the inventory after their in-person inspection, the implication being that I must be guilty of the same thing. 

I told her that I resented the implication and that, in fact, I had taken several trunk loads of items to the Goodwill after the walk through. I actually had LESS stuff than when A*** had done the walk through.  She said there was nothing she could do, that she wasn’t able to get authorization to reduce my moving costs.  She refused to honor the original quote, claiming that I told A*** I only had 30 boxes total, which was untrue.  She then contradicted what she had told me a few days earlier by telling me that technically they have 21 days to deliver my items.

The movers took 12 days to deliver items two states away. When they arrived and opened the moving truck, I was shocked to see how many things they had piled on top of one another; some 10 layers deep. Despite padding the furniture, almost every item of furniture got damaged or destroyed. The leg on my bed headboard snapped in two because of the weight placed on top of it, and had to be throw out. A floor fan snapped in two and also went in the trash. My bathroom étagère was shattered in three pieces with big chunks of wood missing and had to be thrown out.  The top portion of my computer desk had broken off from the bottom, as had the top portion of a wooden curio cabinet.

A solid oak bookcase had a 6” gash in the wood in the lower right corner. The base of my entertainment center was broken off. There were gashes on the front and side of my wooden TV cabinet. A one-of-a-kind piece from a hand-painted folk art stool was broken, and had to be tossed. The socket on my floor lamp was broken which I paid a handyman to repair. The movers also lost a step ladder and a large roll of bubble wrap. A box containing my rechargeable vacuum cleaner had come apart and was missing the cord (unusable without a cord).

A metal pole from my shoe rack was missing (unusable). A caster was missing from a utility cart (and I cannot find the right size or type caster to replace all four of them). A leg from my couch was removed by the movers and lost. Many of the plastic storage bins were crushed from the weight piled on top, and several handles broke off so that they no longer close. Despite filing a claim, I only received a little over $200 for everything that was ruined or lost, a pittance of their actual value.

I cannot understand how a so-called “professional” mover with an “A” rating could behave so unethically and illegally, and have so little regard for personal items entrusted to their care. I hope this complaint will serve as a warning to others who are considering using GPS Moving. Despite taking every precaution to avoid a bad experience, it made no difference whatsoever in the end. This was my first experience using an out-of-state mover and I can say unreservedly that I will never again pay a moving company to move my items. I will use day laborers who I have used in past moves and who never damaged one item of furniture.  DO NOT LET THE 'A' RATING WITH BBB FOOL YOU. AVOID GPS MOVING AT ALL COSTS.