Complaint Review: Condor Moving Systems - Arlington Texas

I dont even know where to begin in this total nightmare. We hired Condor Moving  Systems in Arlington, TX. to move us from Texas to Oregon. When my fianc  called, she talked to a guy named Mario. While discussing our options, she  specifically told Mario that we had heard that some moving companies are  actually brokers and do not own their own fleet of trucks. We did not want our  belongings to be switched from truck to truck simply because the more it is  handled, the more likely it is to get damaged. Mario told us that they were not  brokers and that the 18 wheeler that showed up at my door would be the same  truck that would carry our belongings to Oregon. We continued calling moving  companies and getting estimates but we kept Condor Moving Systems in our minds  as an option. Mario had specifically asked us if they would be able to park an  18 wheeler outside of our house. We said, "Yes." That question led us to believe  that an 18 wheeler would be showing up at our door. We were shocked when a 26  foot truck showed up at our door. This truck would go & unload our  belongings to another facility where they would be unloaded and then reloaded  onto the 18 wheeler heading out to Oregon. We were never told that this would  happen. We wouldn't have agreed to having our belongings switched from truck to  truck. The Guy that arrived with the small truck (and his crew) have so far been  the only people at Condor Moving Systems to follow through on their promises. My  fiance called Condor Moving Systems nearly every day to check on the status of  the truck because they would not call us with updates. Every day she got a  different eta on when our belongings would be put on the truck for Oregon. After  several days, we were told that Condor Moving Systems would be sending our  belongings on an 18 wheeler all to themselves. Our belongings wouldn't have to  share the 18 wheeler with anybody else's belongings.

A few days after  pickup, we received a call from Condor stating that we owed them more money  because our load weighed more than THEY had estimated. This left both of us  scratching our heads. We had already given them a complete list of what they  would be picking up. We even called them back several times to edit the list  because we sold some things before we moved. We reviewed the list and respective  weights prior to pickup and we quickly noticed that almost every item was logged  as weighing more than it actually does. We were satisfied because that meant  that we were covered because many of the items weighed nowhere near what they  had estimated. This was good. It was determined by Condor that we should have  about 80 boxes, aside from all the furniture and other items already on the  roster. When it was all said and done, we ended up with about 136 boxes. We were  told that this is where the extra weight came from and that Condors shipping  software has built in weight for items and  box size. What is an average  box? Well, lets go back to grade school for a simple refresher in mathematics.  136 boxes minus 80 boxes leaves 56 boxes. Take the amount we were overcharged  (approximately $2500.00) and divide by 56. This gives you a weight of about 46  pounds per box over. Having previously owned a swimming pool, I am all too  familiar with what 50 pounds feels like because that is exactly what a canister  of chlorine weighs. These boxes did not weigh 46 pounds each. Did we have other  items? Of course we did. In fact, we had a total of about 205 pieces total. 136  were boxes and most of the rest was what they gave us an estimate for prior.  There were other light weight items as well. Such as plastic vanity waste  baskets, 2 aluminum ladders, ice chest, etc. The majority of the weight was  pre-determined. Mario gave us a  max monetary figure that we were told  would be the absolute worse case scenario. This far exceeded that. It became  clear that Condor was out to cheat us and having read others reviews about this  company, our suspicions were validated.

It seems this bait and switch scam has  been in practice for quite some time at Condor. All the way back to 2009 to be  exact. The common denominator in almost every complaint is this scam. They are  nice and friendly up front and give you a quote based on your inventory and even  give you a maximum amount as a worst case scenario. The scam comes in to play  when they give you a lowball estimate to get you to commit and call after they  have your goods stating that you owe more money because they lowballed the  estimate to hook you. If there were just a few isolated claims, I could see  where there may have been bad communication or a misunderstanding. However,  there are a multitude (many, many) of complaints about this company all over the  web and nearly all of them involve complaints about this scam. You also find out  after the fact that your belongings are not insured if you pack them  yourself.

We were told that we could be present during the weighing of the  truck. What they do not tell you is that your belongings are on the same 53 trailer as the belongings of four other poor cheated souls in other locations.  So, it is impossible to know what your section of the load weighs unless you  unload the entire truck, leave & weigh it, and then come back and reload and  go  weigh again. The driver that delivered stated that he was not told to  weigh the truck before coming to deliver. Since they arrived after dark, there  was no place to take it to get it weighed.  He also would not take a  cashiers check. This,  after Nisrine stated very clearly that she called & told him to accept it. So, the driver refused to unload our belongings  because it would get him in trouble with his boss, neither of which are employed  by Condor.

At this point, we were at our wits end. We were so sick of having to  continually re-live this ongoing nightmare with this company. After about an  hour of trying to reach someone at Condor, we finally just left a message.  Jessie called back and asked to speak to the driver. Twenty minutes later, we  were back on track. The driver insisted that Nisrine had not called him with  instructions to take the check. Someone lied. The driver showed us his call  history and guess what? There were no calls from any Arlington based numbers.  The drivers also come unequipped. No toolsnothing. They wanted to borrow our  tools to do their job. I told them they were out of luck because my tools were  packed on the truck. After getting the truck unloaded and furniture assembled,  the driver insisted that we sign off on the paperwork even though boxes were  missing. He said if we did not, he would get in trouble with his boss. We signed  it, but we also got a signed affidavit from him stating exactly what happened.  We mentioned in conversation to the driver what Condor had done to us in regard  to the overweight boxes. He made the comment that our items were light in  weight & weighed nowhere near 46 lbs. per unit. He also stated that he &  his assistant were horrified as they witnessed the way in which Condor employees  loaded the truck. They could not believe what they were seeing. Throwing boxes & stacking light boxes under heavier boxes which led to a lot of our damage.  Aside from the boxes, we were also missing a 20 foot extension ladder and a  professional grade aluminum dolly that I used in my previous line of work. The  drivers finally left our house at 2am exhausted, as were we.

When my fianc  contacted Condor about the missing items, she talked to Nisrine. Nisrine  promised us reimbursement outside of their 3rd party claim office for the ladder & dolly because of all the grief we had been thru at this point. As of  today, all we have received is the money for the ladder. I talked to a guy at  Condor about the dolly. He was very condescending and insinuated that I had  picked out this particular dolly because it was one of the upper end dollies & was more expensive. He said it seemed odd that I picked out such an  expensive one to be reimbursed for. I could not believe the audacity in this  statement! I told him that the dolly costs less now than when I bought it years  ago. So, if my intention was to cheat him, I would have claimed what I paid for  it, not what it is selling for now. He tried to lowball me citing depreciation  issues. What does depreciation have to do with them losing my dolly? He also  stated that he might get in trouble if he paid me the full amount. He stated  that he would look into it further & call me back.

Two weeks passed and you  know what? No one ever called.as has become expected at this point. I emailed  Nisrine because no one wants to talk and asked her about the status of my dolly  because the guy never called me back. She emailed back and stated she would have  to inquire about it. After not hearing back from her, I emailed again the next  day to which she replied,After speaking with Emit you need to go ahead and send  a claim for the dolly with items that your fiance had said she was filing a  claim for. I could not believe what I was reading! We do not have a problem  filing a claim for all the items that your people damaged or even the items in  the boxes that are still missing. Our problem is that this woman promised us  reimbursement and has failed to follow through. So, yet another empty promise.  You know what? You should not have misplaced it!  While we are on the  subject, how does someone misplace a 20 foot extension ladder and a 4 foot tall  aluminum dolly? In retrospect, after reading a multitude of negative reviews, it  seems that my ladder was not the first ladder that got misplaced. Bicycles  seem to mysteriously disappear with this company as well. I strongly urge any  prospective customers to read reviews for Condor Moving Systems before  committing. It is absolutely appauling reading about the horrible things this  company has done to its customers!

I really wish we had done better research  and had seen all the horrible reviews before we committed to use this company.  We both regret using them now. There is a reason why this company does not have  a BBB (Better Business Bureau) logo on their website. They have not earned it. I  urge you to go and read the complaints there. Their stories are nearly identical  to ours.