Complaint Review: Swift Movers Van Lines

Swift Movers Van Lines of 56 48^th St, Brooklyn, NY

886-8502006  DOT 1255655

Swift movers Van Lines is every mover’s worst nightmare; theves, vandals, blackmailers, and liars. I had never heard of Swift before they called 2 days before my move from Jersey to Florida on May 23, 2014. I had contracted with Colonial Van Lines of Florida the month before and paid Colonial $937 as a deposit. The “binding” contract said that I owed Colonial $988 upon delivery.  Colonial promised to take special care of my valuable antiques and family heirlooms. (Avoid this company also: they are responsible for dumping me onto Swift without warning and too late to refuse the change I was never advised of .

Swift had terrible review on the internet. I could only pray the move would be successful. No such luck! Swift showed up – not with a moving van , but with the equivalent of a garbage truck covered in graffiti. Everything was packed and ready; my invesntory was exactly what I had told Colonial it would be.

I guess I was a sitting duck. I am a senior widow and was alone with my dog when they arrived. The two movers were intimidating. The one who spoke English bullied me into signing about 10 papers with no time to read them. He mentioned they had to do another job. He showed me a weigh station document for the “empty” truck. They never weighed the truck right after loading my things. (Weigh station receipts do not show a time).  The delivering truck handed me a weigh station document with no time on i.

 Four hours after they left that Friday of Memorial Day Weekend (at 4:30PM), I received a threatening call from the owner of Swift. With no introduction he demanded that I better have a bank certified check for over $3,000 when the delivery was made or they would keep my things in storage and charge me even more. When he claimed my load was overweight, I demanded he email me a copy of the weigh station receipt. He did not have it; he said the overestimate was “visual.”  When I insisted I would pay with a credit card – to be sure I got my precious load of antiques -   he emailed me an “authorization” to put the amount on my Am Ex credit card, forcing me to give him my card number.. Meanwhile, the “coordinator” from Colonial was on the line, but did nothing and was never again available. Colonial has refused to talk to me or make restitution of any kind.

Colonial is in breach of contract and is a dishonest company.I’m sure Colonial never conveyed to Swift the importance  of my antiques being handled carefully and their promise that they would not disturb them once they were picked up.

 Instead, Swift switched my load from the first truck to at least one other and delivered to Florida on Memorial Day. They had lost or stolen my antiques, vandalized my one piece of furniture and busted my file cabinet, which is missing crucial documents, as I discovered when I opened the “fragile” boxes,

Swift told AM EX I was satisfied and that the weigh station receipt (with no time proved their case. (They had said they were picking up another load in addition to mine).I disputed with AM Ex but they accepted the merhant’s charge. (I had been an AMEx customer since 1977).  In subsequent complaints to DOT and Swift, I demanded at least partial repayment of the $1300 overcharge. Neither company paid me anything. Swift promised they would send a release and $600.. They still have not.  Colonial did not return calls.  Avoid Swift Movers Van Lines of Brooklyn and Colonial Van Lines Relo of Margate, Florida. The DOT, by the way, does not take any action against licenses no matter how many complaints they receive..