Jim
Anaheim,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, September 05, 2007
Your OP and response are typical of most contractors working for a moving company. The type that sign their contractor agreements with the date of February 30th, the type that claim they know what they're doing and know how to calculate revenue (not one I knew could get it right - even when I showed them how to do it multiple times), and the soap opera like stories that have so little truth in them, you couldn't trust any of it. A lot of contractors (I count you among them) are unable to keep a business going because they take on small COD pack jobs with small margins, try to keep all their crews busy, and then they wonder why they made no money? Part of that is the agent's fault since you really had no choice to refuse, but if you're a good contractor the agent makes up for it with a good O&I or a larger pack job for a corporate sponsored customer for you to do. If you didn't get such jobs, my guess is you weren't the best one out there, or even close to the best one.... Oh, yes.... the subs that were the most incompetent were the ones who thought they crossed every t and dotted every i..... until I had to step in and show them they didn't. In the end, one contractor we had thought we owed him $15,000 did end up receiving $550. He sued us and lost. As I said, it's time for you to move on....... no use being disgruntled.....
Roger
Wylie,#3Author of original report
Wed, September 05, 2007
Unfortunately, Mr. Ex "in the industry", I don't think you know what you are talking about. I have seen firsthand, like I stated, teh theft, destruction of property, and drug use by employees of Mohawk and American Transfer. I am a very professional contractor in the business foir a long time. My t's are dotted and i's are alwys crossed. My bookeeping skills are remarkable. So , yes, they do still owe me quite a bit of money; and yes, even after the expenses, etc, etc. There are professioanl Van lInes agents in the business and then there are "shady" ones. It is like this in every type of business. This just hits closer to home because of all the stories associated with rip off moving companies. I still maintain Mohawk is a very "shady" operation. They employ very "shady" people as well. One should seriously think twice before doing business with them. Check references , always. Thanks for the response. I needed to clear the air.
Jim
Anaheim,#4Consumer Comment
Wed, September 05, 2007
Having dealt with moving contractors at one point in my life (not for any Unigroup company), I never met a contractor that didn't think he was being ripped off - not a one. Every contractor thinks they don't damage a thing during a move, nor do they think they should incur the types of charges allowed under the subcontract agreement you signed with them. All I heard from contractors is a whole lot of whining, but when it came to getting work - they they gave you a lot of work and you made a lot of money. I mean you can ask for a breakdown of how they got from $10,000 to $800 - but I would suggest that the revenue you earned probably wasn't as substantive as you thought, or the expenses you incurred are higher than you thought, and the charges or revenue were all audited by someone. Bottom line: There's probably no additional money for you. In the end, every contractor who left a moving company to either (1) jump to another contractor, or (2) decided to get out of the business - never leave on good terms. They always think they're being ripped off. Let's also understand you are not an employee of Mohawk, as you claim, nor were you ever. As a contractor, you own your business and are responsible for the costs that are associated with the running of your business, including your own insurance (which the company probably helps secure for you), the supplies (which you buy from the company and upsell to the customer), and the labor (which you are responsible for hiring, not Mohawk). Let's also understand that one hears more tales from contractors on what they thought went on regarding a job, only to find from the customer that what was said didn't really happen. My staff used to call these sorts of stories "fairy tales" because that's what many of them turned out to be. I don't know why you left - it certainly wasn't because of the reason you cited. It probably had to do with the fact that you couldn't make enough money.... and get large enough jobs to make up for the small thin margin ones dispatch handed you. Some people in the industry respect the agency you decided to slam here; it's pretty big and you don't get to be a large agency in the moving industry by ripping customers off. They certainly aren't anything like the scam movers like many of the moving companies found on the internet that customers complain about. My advice is to move on......