The Right Movers, Interstate Moving Co. Moving Company Rip-off Scam, all lies
When I decided to move from Portland, Oregon to Okemos, Michigan, I believed that hiring a moving company would save me money and hassle. I spend a week getting estimates from as many companies as I could, mostly through the internet.
I finally settled on a company called A City Wide Mover, based in California. Apparently this company acts as an agent for another company called The Right Movers, based in Studio City, California. I did not discover this until the movers arrived at my door a day late (due to a broken down truck, I didn't find out until I had to call to find out what happened to them).
So I signed a contract with The Right Movers on January 31,2002 at pick up. The agreement that A City Wide Mover sent me stated a base charge of $700 plus a 5% "fuel tax" and a $.50 charge for each pound over 1,000. Since I doubted I had much poundage over 1,000 if any, I didn't think this was a bad deal. Plus, they estimated a 7-10 day arrival time, 14 days maximum.
I let them load the truck and I left Oregon that day to drive to Michigan. When I arrived in MI 4 days later, I attempted to call A City Wide Mover to see where my shipment was. They said that they thought it was still in Oregon, but would get back to me. Thus began a series of phone calls to ACWM, with various employees promising to call the dispatcher and get back to me, etc. The 10 day mark came and went. So did the 14 day. I began to get more aggressive and asked ACWM what they were planning on doing about this. She replied that she would try to get a 10% discount. At this point, I still did not know how much my shipment weighed, where the truck was, and how much they were planning on charging me in the end.
My $420 down payment check had been cashed on Feb. 6,2002, with cash only on delivery. I had heard of companies demanding outrageous sums or else driving away with your stuff and then charging for "storage", but I thought it couldn't happen to me. Today is Feb. 20, and I received a phone call this morning from a 3rd company, who said that my stuff would arrive tomorrow. He hedged about the final amount, until I basically demanded an amount. He stated that I owed them over $900. I asked why and he said that the weight had been over 1400 lbs. and that extra poundage was $1.50 per pound. Well, I said that I wasn't going to pay that, and called the first company A City Wide Mover. The man who answered said that the amount was wrong, and to call him when the truck arrived the next day. I said that I would have the driver's representative call him, directly. Since I now knew that I couldn't trust any of these people for anything,I didn't want to have a driver show up, and no one answer the phone.
The story will be continued, but there is still a lot that went wrong. So mover beware of:
How many companies will be involved Vague price estimates Price based on weight (I don't trust what they SAY my things weighed) Any verbal promise
I deeply regret that I didn't move my things by myself, and that I trusted so many people. This has been a nightmare from the beginning.
Dana
Okemos, Michigan
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Update
#20
Wed, February 20, 2002
Well, here's the update.
I received most of my belongings today (7 days past the promised date). What happened is that the first company (I incorrectly named them as A City Wide Mover, when in fact their name is A City Mover, Inc.) has subcontracted to a second company (The Right Movers) without notifying me of the changes in rates, etc. So I assumed that the terms were the same, because the contract that I signed had no details about per pound charge, delivery date, etc. the third company (who actually delivered) was named Golan Movers, based out of Chicago. After a number of phone calls to representatives of each of the companies, I finally reached someone from The Right Movers, who said that I still owed them $995 after the $420 down payment or they would take my things back to Chicago. I asked for proof of the 1400 lb. weight they claimed I had. He stated that he did not have the certificates. Hmmm. So I told him that my stuff wasn't even worth $1000. I think that scared him, because they wouldn't get anything for it at an auction if I abandoned my belongings. We finally agreed that I would pay $580 for a total of $1000 for a move that had been estimated at $750. I am glad that I put up a fight, because I am sure that these guys are used to showing up at people's houses and demanding all of this extra money, and people feeling like they have no choice. I still feel ripped off, but I did the best I could. There were so many people involved that I don't know who to blame. Obviously there is some scam going on with all of the sketchy subcontracting. If any of these companies want to keep their good name, they'd better be more careful about who they do business with because it reflects on them, too. I am only 23, so I will probably be moving a lot more in my lifetime, and you can bet that I won't hire anyone like this again.