Complaint Review: City 2 City Van Lines - Bronx New York

I am writing to express my extreme displeasure and aggravation with the way City 2 City Van Lines (City) treated me, and my belongings, during my business experience with them. City is a professional, business-to-consumer, moving (furniture/personal belongings) company located on 1 Riverdale Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463, 718-884-7777. They were dishonest and took advantage of me, a single woman whose five months pregnant; they intentionally destroyed and damaged my belongings and the apartment from which I was vacating; they were very aggressive and intimidating; they were sexists; they were exceedingly unprofessional; and worst of all, they made me fear for me and my baby's safety.

On August 26, 2008, I called City's main office and made reservations for them to have their movers arrive at my apartment on Saturday, August 30, 2008 at 12 p.m. I told them that it was imperative that I vacate my apartment before the end of the month. I gave them all the information they needed, i.e., what type of items were to be moved, where to pick up those items, and where to drop off such items. They assured me that everything will go smoothly and the movers will arrive at my apartment on time and ready to work. The estimate for the job was $400. For that amount, I was told, I would get 3 professional movers with professional equipments to move my belongings and use of a 24ft truck for the duration of the move.

On August 27, 2008, City called and informed me that they were not going to be able to make the appointment on Saturday the 30th because it was Labor Day weekend and being that I was going to be the second scheduled job that day, they couldn't guarantee that they would be able to do the move on time, however, they will be available on Friday the 29th. I told them that being alone, I needed the extra day to pack my belongings, and that I couldn't take an extra day (Friday) off of work to make the appointment. I begged them to please reconsider and keep my original appointment on the 30th. But they insisted that they would come on Friday the 29th, or not at all. It was too late for me to book another mover, so I had to accept their new terms. In retrospect, I should have taken their insensitivity and greediness as am indication of the negative things to come and cancelled the appointment. But I reluctantly asked my boss for the day off, did my best to pack my things into boxes, and patiently waited for them on Friday morning.

Friday afternoon arrived and City's movers were no where to be seen. I had told them specifically that they needed to be on time since I had to get to the storage warehouse in Long Island before 5 p.m. (the apartment I was vacating is located in Brooklyn, a 2-hour drive away from the storage warehouse with the Labor Day traffic). Finally, at 1 p.m., Dave, [the supervisor], called and said he and his team would be another hour because his first job that morning ran a little late.

At around 2 p.m., City's movers finally arrived at mjy apartment. Only, the truck I've rented for the day was already half-filled with furniture and boxes that weren't mine. Dave came up to my apartment to see the items to be moved and, very rudely, said to me that there wouldn't be enough room in the truck, the same truck that were supposedly rented out to me for the day. I argued with him that I paid for the use of the truck and that the reason I requested a 24-footer in the first place was because I knew that I would need that much space in order to fit all of my things. Through questionings and casual conversations, I was able to learn that they, City's movers, did have a job earlier that morning but that job did NOT run late. Instead, they've made a pit stop at their friend's place and the furniture and boxes, which took up half the space of the truck that I've rented, belonged to a friend of theirs .

Dave was a very intimidating man. He didn't speak English very well and had a very difficult time communicating with me. He got angrier by the minute and seemed to not be able to control his anger. But I insisted that he make room in the truck for my belongings. After a very tiring screaming match, he told one of the movers to make room in the truck by stacking up the items already inside.

He, Dave, then produced many documents for me to sign and demanded payment for his work up front. I told him that I didn't want to sign anything and that my father will pay him when the job is done (well). He then started with his attitude again, and I really have no idea what he was trying to say because what came out of his mouth was not English. I got pressured and I signed certain (but not all) papers like he asked, but said that I didn't have the money to give him, that my father would be the one responsible for paying that bill and that he, my father, would ok the bill later on that evening when we arrived in Long Island at the storage facility.

Dave finally ok'ed the move and the 3 workers began the make room in the truck. During this time, however, Dave intentionally made me feel very uncomfortable by talking about me on his cell phone and pointing at me and making offensive comments with regards to my unwillingness to pay them up front. A few moments later, Karen, City's secretary, called me on my cell phone and started howling me for the money. I felt like I was being attacked from all around by those whom services I was paying good money for. I stood my grounds and refused to sign the debt obligation. That decision of mine made Dave even madder.

The movers took their time rearranging the truck to make room for my things and did not actually start to move any of my furniture and boxes until around 2:30 p.m. Plus, I am being charged for 3 movers, but Dave being the Supervisor, wasn't doing anything except sitting in the truck and talking into his cell phone and was not overlooking the task at hand to make sure things were going smoothly. I did not want to aggravate Dave any further, so I kept my mouth shut and watch them proceed to move my belongings.

The 3 movers who were doing the work were not very experienced. In fact, they, quite frankly, are incompetent. They did not bring anything to facilitate the move, i.e., a dolly or a hand-truck, and they were not wrapping up my furniture with furniture-wrap. I had to tell them how to wrap the furniture and how to angle the furniture when lifting them up so to not damage anything. But even then, they made scuff marks all over the walls of the apartment. Dave would later say that he isn't responsible for the marks, but at the time, he mentioned that he would go to a nearby hardware store to buy paint to cover up the scuff marks on the walls. I said to him that I will not pay for his mistakes and that he should be the one liable for the damages to the walls. But then he started screaming and waving his arms in the air, and clearly becoming increasingly angry with each second. At one point, I thought he was going to hit me because he came at me so then I held onto my baby and stopped arguing with him because it wasn't going to solve anything and I didn't want to stress out my unborn child .

I called the main office to speak to Jordan, another supervisor than Dave who completed the sale with my father over the phone, but he would not take my calls. His secretary, Karen, told me that Jordan was not in the office, but I knew that he was there because I can hear him talking to Dave from time to time. I felt so hurt by City because not only were the workers incompetent, but the management was also equally abusive and not willing to side with their customer.

As the move progressed, I noticed that although City did not bring moving equipments with them, they brought boxes, furniture wraps, and tapes. I had my own furniture wrap and only needed the use of their tapes. As petty as I may sound, but I noticed that the movers were intentionally trying to use up all of my wraps so that they could begin using their wraps in order to charge me for it. They were clearly using much more than enough wraps and tapes on each section of my couch. When I pointed that out, they got annoyed, but they stopped overusing the materials.

And that was when their retaliations began.

Intentionally or unintentionally, the movers dropped my armoire on the street causing many scuff marks to it. I was outside with my puppy when I saw the movers begin to bring out my armoire when I saw then drop it on the street. Dave, who has been sitting in the truck talking on his cell phone the whole time, came out of the truck, saw the armoire on the street, said to the workers to hurry up, looked at me and made no efforts to comfort me nor did he offer apologies for the damage his crew had caused to my armoire. Then I took a look in the truck, and to my disbelief, I noticed that my furniture was not all wrapped and what was wrapped, was done poorly! This action was clearly intentional. Apparently, since I've made the fuss about them using too much wrap and tape, they have now decided not to use them at all! I looked in disgust but couldn't say anything because I feared Dave's anger.

At this point, my stomach began to hurt from the stress caused by City's movers and I went into the apartment to take a breath. The last piece of furniture to leave my apartment was the sofa. I told them that they MUST lift the sofa because the bottom of the sofa will scratch the wooden floor if it is dragged. I then walked back into the bedroom and immediately heard them dragging the sofa.

I prayed for the day to end, and with just a few more fragile items, the move was almost over.

On the phone, while making the reservation with City, I had told Jordan that I will be moving, amongst other things, glass-goods like 2 end tables that were marble based, coffee table, glasses, and TV stands. Jordan said that it was not a problem.

To add insult to injury, Dave now has a problem with moving glass-goods. He said no glass-goods would go into the truck. I told the workers to put the boxes with glass-goods into the truck anyway, and to keep them safely on top of the heavy stuff. When Dave noticed that glass-goods were being loaded onto the truck, he screamed at the workers and demanded that no glass-goods are to be carried into the truck. I looked at him and told him that the glass-goods will be moved today. He screamed at me some more, and then uttered something that sounded like, fine, if she wants it to break, then it will break.

Before the movers' arrival, the apartment's floor was flawless, the walls were flawless, and nothing in my possession was damaged. City movers marked up the apartment's walls, they intentionally were careless with my belongings in retaliation against my unwillingness to be pushed around, and they intentionally put multiple, deep scratch marks on the apartment floor.

After everything was carried into the truck, I asked them not to leave and to wait for me while I go into the apartment to gather the last of my belongings. At that point, I truly believed that these movers were thieves and that they would definitely take my belongings if I didn't follow them with my car. Of course, the minute I stepped into the building, the truck took off.

I walked into my apartment, saw the damages that Dave and his crew left, reflected back on the miserable day and began to cry out of frustration. I couldn't believe the extent to which City have disrespected me, its paying customer. I was, and am, truly hurt, and while I stood there crying, I felt like I was raped.

I called my father and he called Dave on the cell to make sure of the truck's destination. Apparently, to a man, Dave wasn't as big a jerk as he was to me.

Dave and his crew arrived at the Storage facility at around 7:30 p.m. The facility is now closed and the equipments such as a dolly or a hand-truck are no longer available for use. All we can do is move the stuff into the storage unit by hand.

Before the truck is parked, Dave jumped out and presented my father with the bill. As mentioned earlier, the estimate for the move was $400. The actual bill was for $985, and an extra $150 (expected) tip for the 3 movers (I didn't mind paying the tip so much because even though they were incompetent, they worked really hard). Dave charged us for the half hour that his crew spent rearranging their friend's furniture (from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.), he also charged us for a mattress box that was not used on my mattress, furniture wraps that were not used as evident by my furniture being most bared , and 10 rolls of tapes (I at most used 5 or 6 rolls). City translates a mattress box, some furniture wrap, and 10 rolls of tapes. My father had no choice but the sign the debt obligation since Dave would not release my furniture otherwise.

They began to move my things into the storage space and Dave cannot help himself and started once again to complain and insisted that we used his furniture wrap. In front of my presence, he and his crew dropped my sofa a few times and broke my marble end table by placing it too harshly onto the ground. My father and I no longer wanted to deal with the these movers that we actually helped move the furniture and boxes in order to get the move over with as soon as possible.

City's actions were not only unprofessional, but uncivil. City should be investigated, fine, and even shut down for their act of dishonesty and cruelty to me and/or to their other customers. They charged me $585 over their estimate of $400, more than doubled; they both unintentionally and intentionally damaged the apartment and my belongings and will not assume responsibility for the damages; they, mostly Dave, almost assaulted me, and at the very least, intentionally inflicted upon me much emotional distress; they don't have to be courteous to their customers, but they were down right nasty and malicious to me, and they discriminated against my sex and age since they treated my father much better than they treated me.

Cheetagrl5000

Ronkonkoma, New York

U.S.A.

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