Complaint Review: Primetime Movers LLC

Let this be a warning, this company is a complete scam, unprofessional, and dangerous. The ineptitude and disrespect I experienced was an experience that I wouldn't wish for anybody. I was so upset when this happened, and after when I looked online, I saw a similar account of Primetime Movers' extortion a month before. Read this and DON'T HIRE them, save yourself a lot of money and headache. I hired PRIMETIME MOVERS LLC 1025 E Hallandale Beach Blvd HALLANDALE BEACH FL 33009 Phone: 800-891-8678 Fax: 954 416 6173 to move my bedroom, living room, and dining room furniture. I made my reservation with Jorge Navarro 754-226-6105 Moving Coordinator who offered me a special of $795 for my move from Miami to Gainesville. I paid him a $250 credit deposit. The day of the move, 3 Russian speaking men arrived late (Jorge told me 8 am, they arrived at 9:50).

The main man spoke fluent English, but seemed a bit disoriented but I didn't think anything of it at first. When we got to the apartment he made me give him the rest of the money $545 in cash, which I handed over. Immediately after he then told me that the 250 i had paid with credit didn't go through so he needed another 250 in cash on the spot. I checked my credit card and the charge had gone through already (two months prior when I had reserved). When I told him this he said no it didn't, something about a separate credit company would be cancelling it. I called Jorge on the spot asking what was going on and he said that actually the 250 deposit was refunded the day before a move (since I was moving on Monday, it would have to be day of and give it some time to show up since nothing would go on on a Sunday). I was still naive enough to believe this and we forked over another 250 in cash.

At this point we had given him 795 total, plus a 250 charge on credit that already cleared. I wish I had seen how stupid I was to keep going along at this point. At this time the larger Russian man asked to use the bathroom while I had been checking my credit statements, and he was in there for 20 minutes at least. We were concerned he had collapsed or something had happened but when we knocked several times he stated he was fine and when he finally did come out, his words were rapid and slurred and he seemed extremely agitated. Hindsight is 20/20, he was most likely doing illicit drugs in the bathroom. Then he stated he wanted to go over the entire contract, at which time (like the prior account on this site noted) he came up with a list of an exorbitant number of expenses totaling nearly 3000 dollars. We were shocked by how much extra packing, materials, and "long distance" fees amounted to. When I asked him for an a concrete, formal receipt with all the necessary extra charges, he ripped a piece of paper off a sheet and just wrote random numbers and used his fingers to sum the hours of labor. We were all skeptical at this point.

When we refused to continue through and demanded back our 545 dollars, he refused and stated this was part of the deposit, although nowhere on the contract does it state "deposit". We still demanded our money back and he hurriedly walked to the elevator and down to receiving where the truck was. When we got to the receiving area, the truck was already halfway out of the receiving area, exiting the building. Then the bigger man he says he'll ask his manager if we can do a flat rate for the day with decreased extra fees. He gets off the phone and says total is 1600 (like he's doing us a favor), and the caveat is we have to pay IN CASH immediately once the truck is packed at the pickup location. Not even upon arrival at our new address.

At this point we had had enough, and refused and again demanded our money back. He again refused and rushed his men back into the truck. Even the maintenance men at my condo building tried to intervene and help us, to which the man in charge snarkily and unprofessionally questioned, "What are you, a lawyer?" and drove away. I called Jorge immediately afterwards, at which he asked if he could make up the experience by sending a new crew. Absolutely not I said, not after the rip-off experience we had had mere hours before. I said I would be considering formal litigation efforts and report them to the Better Business Bureau, to which he said, "Well they're under investigation anyways for taking bribes, but you have a right to do that". He completely ignored my request for refund of 545, and said he would just "look into it and get back to you" repeatedly. At this point I was at a loss for words, and was told by the police that this was a civil matter.  This was a COMPLETE and utter SCAM. Be warned. I had booked this before the other scam report had been written, and I only wish somebody had told me to beware. If it sounds like too good of a deal it probably it is. I tried calling Jorge back a few hours later with my phone and another friend's phone, and every time it didn't even ring and was forwarded to voicemail. If that doesn't scream "I'm guilty", I don't know what does. I will be reporting this to the Florida Office of Attorney General, rest assured. But save yourself the grief, money, and filing of a lawsuit- choose someone else to hire.