McAvey Moving Company Inc. Cold, indifferent and incompetent, they lost half of our valuable items for over 6 weeks, broke the arms of 2 valuable chairs and warped a very valuable table in storage. Pleasantville, New York
First, if you want professional, competent, careful movers who understand the emotional aspect of moving, these are not your movers on any count.
We have moved three times in the last 8 years. These were, by far, the nastiest, coldest people we have ever come across. Their salesman comes on as very competent, but as soon as there is a problem with the move, he disappears, and says there is nothing he can do. After we signed on with them and it was too late to change, we discovered the previous report on ripoff.com. They denied his story and all they could say was that he hadn't tipped the movers as well as he said.
So, here's our story.
The crew was fine. They are mostly young high school or college kids who are ok. They helped us pack and were fine with packing our delicate items. We have not yet totally unpacked, but we've unpacked much of our small items and so far only one glass and a vase are broken. The move out of our old home seemed to go ok, although they left a couple of boxes and when we called to have them pick them up, they were quite nasty. We were surprised, as things seemed to have gone pretty well until then. Eventually, the salesman came and picked up the extra boxes.
We had a problem because of timing with the sale of our home and the purchase of the new home, we had to put our entire household into storage for a couple of weeks. That's when the nightmare began.
The move out seemed relatively ok, except, as I said, for the last couple of forgotten boxes. It was the move in that went completely awry. First of all, they were moving so fast that boxes were placed without any thought whatsoever. At the end of the day, we were left with a total mess, so much so that they had to send people over afterwards to sort it out.
Two very valuable antique chairs had arms broken and their netting underneath ripped to shreds. They told us that they were broken because they were kept in the bosses' office. Now, why would they do that? A satinwood table was completely warped. Our furniture refinisher said it was because it was kept in an inappropriate environment.
In any event, back to the move. Incoming items were supposed to be tracked as boxes were delivered, so that it could be confirmed that nothing was missing. They were moving so fast, eventually, we gave up because we couldn't keep track of what was coming in. When they were finished, they said they knew that some items were missing but they would be delivered within a day or so. There were 21 paintings, half of an antique billiard table, several other furniture items and some boxes--about 25% of our household goods--missing!!!!!
For six weeks, we were given the runaround. Of course, during that time we didn't know whether they were stolen, damaged, or what had happened. We would call, our phone calls wouldn't be returned. They would only say that someone in the warehouse had put them in a bin that was unmarked and they had to go through every single bin in the warehouse.
If we had been treated with respect and dignity, I probably wouldn't be writing this report. We have never been treated with such coldness and indifference. It was almost as if it was our fault that they had lost our stuff. Phone calls were not returned for days and we'd be told the owner was on vacation (when he had said he was working on locating the missing items). Eventually, they found the items and delivered them.
Because we are under renovations, we cannot open all our boxes. However, there may be still some missing items. We are not sure.
In the meantime, we worked on getting some recompense for the damaged items (Biedermeyer chairs and a solid satinwood dining table). Each time we called (and we made numerous calls to them) they would tell us that they had called their "adjuster" but that he was very busy and had not returned their calls. This went on for weeks. Finally, I said I'd never known an insurance company to not send their adjuster out to see damage within 48-72 hours.
At that time, they said the adjuster was the person who would do the repair work. When I mentioned this would be a conflict of interest, they pretended not to know what I was talking about.
Finally, we called and said we were willing to file a lawsuit. That's when we got a letter stating that because we had not taken their insurance (which we decided to not do after reading the previous ripoff.com report AFTER we had contracted with them), they would pay us 60 cents per pound for the damage to the antique chairs (worth $3000) and the table (worth $18000), a grand total of $186, for which they sent us a check.
As I said, beware of these people. Do not hire them. Do not deal with them. They are not to be relied upon. We can never guarantee that a move will be without problems. We are all human. The problem is that they cannot be relied upon to deal with you honestly and forthrightly, or even humanly, when there is a problem.
There are too many moving companies around for you to risk dealing with McAvey.
We usually would just mark such an experience up to lesson learned. But we feel strongly an obligation to warn anyone contemplating dealing with these people, having read the report of the previous filer and having been subjected to their incompetence.
John
Bedford Hills, New York
U.S.A.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Kelly
Kilkenny,Europe,
Ireland
The Real Story - A Continuation
#4UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, September 29, 2008
I was also a packer on this job for Mr. and Mrs. F. I was mentioned in the above rebuttal as the girl who was told to remove her shoes by these customers. I was extremely uncomfortable with this situation and felt that it was completely out of order. This a work situation where a dropped box or heavy object could have seriously damaged my own or another workers feet. Myself and the other workers, despite the customers rude behaviour towards us, complied with this unfair request just to keep relations amiable.
We then went on to pack the customers belongings carefully and efficiently. The rest of the day passed quick enough, probably because we didn't even take a break, and we were finished up at around 5 or 6pm (A 10 hour work day). When we were about to pack up and head back to the warehouse, the customer came out to demand that we move all the boxes, most of the contents of their house might I add, down to their basement to preserve the 'fung shui' of their house.
I found these two incidents to be quite radical and unfair and requested not to be put on that job again. Since my request was granted, I don't think it would be right for me to comment on the complaints made by Mr. and Mrs. F about the other days when the moving commenced. I will state, however, that in my time at Mcavey, almost every single member of staff treated me and the customers of jobs I was sent on, with the utmost respect and I find it extremely difficult to imagine them being as rude, obnoxious or unhelpful as Mr. F states them as being.
I have already outlined the nature Mr. and Mrs. F treated the employees with. I will now address the missing and damaged furniture. As the previous rebuttal states, the billiard table was already considerably damaged and the 25% figure grossly exaggerated. There were, however, some things missing. This occured because two separate loads came into the warehouse at around the same time on the same day. A few items got mixed up with another persons things and removed from the warehouse. Despite the fact that this was almost definatly what had happened, the employers spent several days, approx. two weeks in total, looking in every single crate in storage. The employers, who were working alongside the employees, tried everything in their power to find the missing items.
In conclusion, I would just like to say that the situation, overall, went very badly and I regret the distressed caused to both the Fowles as well as to Mcavey Moving and I regret that Mr. and Mrs. F did not take out insurance as was recommended to them. But, as Mr. F has previously stated, mistakes do indeed happen.
Solargate
Co.Galway,Europe,
Ireland
The real story
#4UPDATE Employee
Fri, September 26, 2008
I am writing in response to the viscious attack on McAvey Moving Company Inc. This summer I was working in New York with McAvey and I was one of those "ok" packers that Mr. F referred to. I can say right now that the situation he described is totally different to what actually happened.
Mr. F has said that our treatment towards him was bad, but infact his treatment towards us was ridiculous. As soon as we got to the house we were told that they didnt like wearing shoes in their house (which is fair enough) and the way they had said it was like they were giving us an option, so when one of the other packers said that they would prefer to leave their shoes on, they were told that they HAD to take them off. In the end we all took our shoes off just so the customer was happy, even though its a bad idea to not wear footwear when handling heavy items, and trust me, they had a LOT of heavy items. If an item had fallen on someone's foot then we would have a lawsuit against THEM. It also made packing a bit slower as we had to keep taking our shoes on and off when we needed to get a box from outside.
Mr. F also mentioned damages to a Antique Billiard table. I was personally in the basement when the table was being packed and it was plain to see that the table was already significantly damaged before we even touched it. The table was already disassembled when we got there and one of the slates was damaged. The packer informed Mr. F of this while we went back to packing other items. Another issue that I'd like to mention was that at the end of the day, when we had been packing for about 6 hours, Mr. and Mrs. Fowle said that they wanted us to move all the boxes down to the basement. Between four packers working flat-out (without any lunch. They never even offered refreshments on such a hot day) for 6 hours, you can imagine that there would be a LOT of boxes packed. I tried moving some boxes down to the basement but many were dish boxes which were extremely heavy and awkward to get down the stairs. I can understand that they would want the boxes moved if there was a lack of space in the house, but it was a big house and there was PLENTY of space.
The moving job for the F's was quite substantial. I think at some point almost every McAvey employee worked on the job. After that first day of packing I made sure I didnt have to go back. Their treatment was unacceptable and there was no way that I would be moving boxes in and out of the house while also having to put my shoes on and off.
As for the missing items, Mr. F stated, and I quote "There were 21 paintings, half of an antique billiard table, several other furniture items and some boxes--about 25% of our household goods--missing!!!!! ". This is extremely exaggerated! The only things that went missing (and yes I agree that they shouldn't have gone missing in the first place) were a few book boxes, a top piece to an armoire and a few other small items. I know this because the whole company spent weeks going through crates to try and find them.
During my time at McAvey I met many families and I can say right now that I never met anyone so rude and unhelpful as the F's. McAvey are very good at what they do but like everything else, they aren't perfect. They made a mistake and tried their hardest to remedy the situation.
Jim
Anaheim,California,
U.S.A.
You Understand That Much of This Fault Lies With You....
#4Consumer Comment
Mon, September 15, 2008
The fact a previous ROR complainer got screwed by the adjuster doesn't mean you DON'T buy Full Replacement Valuation. In the case of the other individual, the insurance adjuster denied the claim and the moving company is REQUIRED to abide by the decision of the adjuster. The customer could have gone to arbitrate the case, but for a mirror, I suspect he thought it wasn't worth it, and it wasn't since the amount of the deductible was probably more than the cost of the mirror. What the insurance adjuster decided has nothing to do with the moving company, and since the adjuster does not work for the moving company in any capacity, there is no conflict.
First you need to know that your lawsuit threat only brought harm to you. The moving company would never be found to be liable for anything more than what's in your contract because of something called the Carmack Amendment, which limits a mover's lability to what is in your contract ONLY - even in cases of negligence. Moving companies are aware of the Carmack Amendment and are not threatened by a customer deciding to sue due to a claim not being settled in your favor; it only gets them to remember what's in your contract. Next, you had the adjuster going through the process of repairing the item (which in my opinion - is something the adjuster I think did at the request of the moving company and they were doing something OVER AND ABOVE what they should do, per the contract, in order to satisfy you) when your threat to take action got the moving company to do EXACTLY what the contract states, which is to recompense you $0.60 per pound. If they were fixing your items outside the terms of the contract to satisfy you - you don't stop them by invoking the terms of your contract by suing them!
The lesson here is to ALWAYS procure Full Replacement Valuation, regardless of the situation - but ESPECIALLY with what you own. You would never leave your house uninsured? You would never drive without auto insurance? Why decide to leave everything unprotected with what you own during a move? I never will understand people who have expensive things and then do nothing to protect those items during a move (unless their furniture is IKEA). Had you procured Full Valuation and you're still not satisfied at the end of the claim process, you could have gone to arbitration against the moving company and adjuster and opened the entire claim process again outside of the Carmack requirement and probably won. By choosing $0.60 per pound, the moving company surrendered to you what they're required to under the contract and consider the matter closed because you failed to appreciate what it was they were trying to do for you.....
I don't know whether this moving company is good or bad - what I do know is that their performance seemed competent based on your report, though they should have stored some of the items better without having to go diving into bins. Had you purchased Full Valuation, you probably would have had your belongings repaired and this report probably wouldn't exist.