Complaint Review: Nationwide Top Movers

I was told on 5/29/12 by a lady named Sam (I did not get her last name) that she was representing a company called Best Movers Inc. She gave me a US DOT number of 1993699 and I looked her company up online. The online review and results came back good.

I decided to move myself and my family from Sacramento, California to North Las Vegas, Nevada.  I made this decision based on this information and based on the affordable price of $970 for 2,100 pounds of goods. I was explained to by Sam that anything over 2,100 pounds would be charged .50 cents per pounds. This was acceptable to me as well. I was told Best Movers would take my items to a weigh station and weigh them and give me a report of how much it weighed and whatever extra it weighed, I would need to pay the difference. I was also fine with this.

When the movers came to my house, they looked through and told me there would be an additional $400 worth of charges because my stuff was not packed properly. I was in a spot where I had to move because of work, so I reluctantly accepted. About 4 hours later after the movers were done packing my stuff and their truck was fully loaded, the movers told me they had under estimated the packing and the charge would be over $1,300 for just the packing.

I was upset and contacted Sam, the representative who gave me the quote, and asked her what is going on. She told me her manager would take care of this problem and not to worry about this. She also said whatever the cost of the move was, not the packing would be what I would be charged and this was just the movers giving me their estimates and it was not the final cost. She said to let them complete the move and she would take care of everything and she would call me the next day. (Wednesday, 6/27/12)

I met with the mover and told them what our situation was. On top of all of that, the mover told me that he thought my stuff would weigh close to 8,000 pounds. I did not see this as possible since we have a family room, a kitchen, 2 bedrooms and a BBQ.  The heaviest things we have are our couches and they are very basic couches. I was told for my entire move, it would now cost $4,800 total which is close to 5 times more than what my original quote was. The mover had me pay of the amount owed which was $2,400 and told me I would need to provide the other $2,400 in cash when they delivered my stuff.

All of my stuff was in their truck and wrapped and in boxes when I got this new, much more expensive quote. I also learned they in fact do not weigh my items as originally discussed with their sales person over the phone. They use something called cubic weight. I have learned that cubic weight basically is set up by listing the amount of items I have and using a math formula to come up with their estimate of poundage based on the amount of items. This was not discussed or told at time of contract. There is a spot on the contract where you are told to initial. I asked what this was and the response I got on this question and on all other questions I asked regarding the contract was, If you dont sign it, we dont move your stuff.  Again needing to start my job in Las Vegas, Nevada, I was completely stuck and signed the contract.

On the contract, I noticed the company name has changed to Nationwide Top Movers. It has a completely different US Dot Number of 2160376. I looked this DOT number up online and found out this company is a DBA of Best Movers Inc. It is Nationwide Top Movers that has all of the bad reviews online and has a bad history when you look up its US Dot number. The company is giving its parent corporation number to pass the background check and when it is time to do the work, they put everything under the Nationwide Top Movers DBA name.

Wednesday came and went without a call from the sales representative, Sam. I traveled to Las Vegas and arrived Thursday, 6/28/12. I called Sam and asked what the results from talking to her
manager were. Sam then passed the responsibility to her manager, a woman named Lea. Her contact information is below:

Lea
Moving Consultant
Nationwide Top Movers
(888) 909-6270
info@nationwidetopmovers.com
http://www.nationwidetopmovers.com
US DOT: 2160376  MC: MC750828

Lea repeatedly told me that I should have read my contract more carefully and that their company would not change any of the charges. They told me they would take $100 off their quote and said
they would not schedule my delivery date until I paid them another $1,063 today. I asked why I have this payment owed and she told me the deal I made with the delivery person was not what the contract states. She said I am responsible to pay 60% of the estimated weight of the delivery as well as 100% of their packing amount.

I was also told my soonest delivery date would not be until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week (July 3-4). I was told repeatedly by Sam, that our delivery date would be Friday or at the very latest, Saturday. When I expressed this to Lea, I was again told to read my contract and they had 30 days to deliver my goods if they so choose. Lea repeatedly told me to go back and read my contract during our phone conversations. I asked her why her sales staff and delivery people told me things that were not true. Her response was if I wanted to know what was true, I should have read my contract.

Based on other reviews directly naming Lea and my personal experience with her, I believe her staff is told to tell the customers anything they want to hear, and then refer to the contract when they are called out on their lies. I believe Lea is prepared to handle customer complaints and handles them all the same way. If a company representative tells you information and the customer takes it as fact, there is a responsibility to honor it. The fact that Lea has been prepared to go back to the contract that is brought to the house the day of the move and is completely different from what is discussed previously via phone looks like an obvious bait and switch approach when people are at their most vulnerable.

I called again on Friday, June 29 and asked again when my delivery date was going to be.  I was told that it would be in a week to a week and a half. (July 6-11).  We were not expecting any of this. We have had to buy an air mattress to sleep on and have had to buy new kitchen supplies so that we can cook in our new home.

I feel I have been taken advantage of by a fraudulent company. I believe this based on their blatant misquoting and misrepresentation of who they represent. By giving me a different US Dot number than the one they actually are to avoid me finding out about their previous wrong doings clearly expresses this. They have held my items hostage and increased their quotes from $970 to $4,800 and I am not sure if they are done. Please take this into account if you choose to work with this
company.