Complaint Review: Flagship Van Lines - Guilford CT

I was shopping around for a moving company to handle the moving of my storage in California to New Orleans. I settled on four companies. On July 3, 2018, I decided on Flagship and called Bernie to ask final questions and sign the contract. I needed to make the decision then because I told everyone I would. I could not get in touch with Bernie. I left messages and called him several times, with no answer. I could do no more so I went with my second choice, which was Presidential Van Lines. We completed the contract, but had not paid the down payment yet when Bernie from Flagship finally returned my call. I asked why had he not returned my calls because I wanted to go with his company, but had to settle for another. He asked who had I settle with, I told him Presidential Van Lines. Bernie began to change my mind with his knowledge of this company and told me he did not want to see me go with a company that had a bad name even if I did not go with them. He said he had a list of bad companies to watch for and Presidential was one of them. He then told me to Google and type in Presidential Van Lines Ripoff report while he was on the phone to see the complaints on this company. I did and I panicked of course and

immediately decided not to go with that company. However, I did look up Flagship also and told him I would and did not see a complaint. So I felt comfortable to settle with Flagship. We signed the contract and paid the deposit and it was set. I told him I dreaded calling the other company with the news. He told me to just tell them I decided to cancel the move. I did call the other company, but told them the truth, that I went with someone else, my original company, Flagship. Presidential guessed that Flagship told me exactly what I needed to hear to change my mind. Presidential said Flagship probably sent me to an online link to prove he was right about the company and stole his customer, that this was a tactic being used and I, the customer, fell right into it. I felt really bad about this because Presidential asked me to look up the company again and I would see there was a retraction, and surely there was, but it was too late I completed the contract and deposit with Flagship. Presidential left me with the thought that Flagship was probably bragging in the office how he stole a customer from another company. They were upset with me and let me know that when the conversation began to go sour. I decided to hang up and felt maybe I made the right decision after all. Bernie further told me because I liked his company he would make sure that everything goes according to plan. I was happy. On July 5, 2018, Flagship’s office called to inform me of the pick-up date.

They told me the pick-up date was set for Saturday July 7, 2018, between 10:00-12:00. I wrote it down and asked her to repeat the date and time so I could make sure we were on the same page. She confirmed what I wrote down and it was set. I called U-Haul in California to arrange to rent a truck to remove the items from my storage I did not want Flagship to take, and that was set. I then called my people in California confirming their ability to pick up and load the U-Haul rental and be there to let Flagship in the storage and in my unit. That was set and everything was a go. I was happy and content that everything was going to run smoothly because I arranged everything so carefully. On Friday, July 6, 2018, Flagship’s driver called me and asked for Gloria. I told him there is no Gloria here. Before I could hang up he said is there a Cynthia, I said yes I’m Cynthia Robertson. He said we are here, or we will be there at my storage. Of course I was shocked and told him he was supposed to be there for tomorrow the 7th. He said the delivery date according to the contract says Friday the 6th. He said he would have to talk with the office. I immediately called the office and learned the office also thought I was Gloria. I asked them why they

were calling me Gloria when the contract was made in my name and there is proof of that. I told them the credit card used to pay for the deposit is in Gloria Byrd’s name my aunt, but the contract had always been in my name. I called Bernie at Flagship to inform him of the error. I informed him that I received a telephone call from their office with the set date of arrival at my storage and that the drivers are there a day early, which was not the arrangement. Flagship told me no one from their office called me. I could actually hear them talking in the background saying no one called me. Bernie said no one called me. He asked who called. I did not have her name, but I told him his office called me on Thursday informing me of the pick up date for Saturday. They insisted no one called me, and the dispute went south I was angry because of the arrangements I had already set in place could not be changed. I heard Bernie in the background asking them could they do this on Saturday, and the answer was still no. I never heard from Bernie again. After a heated back and forth dispute, they offered me Sunday the 8th between 2:00-4:00. Well I could not change the arrangements because no one was available on my end and the storage closes at 5:00 pm, which would not give them enough time to pack and move my things.. This went on for hours, until I told

them to cancel all together because they could not accommodate me because of their error, their lie, and I wanted my money back. Then Flagship called me back and told me they did call me, but they said arrival was for Friday. They had to take a moment to get their lie together. They insisted and this made me furious to hear them lie saying they did not call me then change their tune and say they did call me, but arrival was for another day. I asked for my deposit to be returned and they insisted that since I cancelled they could not return my deposit. More heated arguments went on and I decided I would file a complaint. This was their error and they insisted it was mine. They cannot prove it was set for Friday, they lied and said they called me on Thursday and said it was set for tomorrow. Now they are claiming they did call me. In this lie they never told me what time frame they were working with when they supposedly called with the Friday lie. There was no time frame when they would arrive because that was given me for the 7th. How could they not give me that information? They cannot prove anything. They lied to save their own skin. Now I cannot continue with my move because they are holding a large deposit of $648.50, which was included in my budget. My Aunt attempted to talk with the company and Bernie for about two hours with no result. Bernie said he had nothing to do with this situation because he only worked in sales. So this is why my aunt Gloria Byrd is disputing the deposit in hopes that the money can be returned to her credit card so that I can continue with my move. As it was, I was trying to move out of the storage before I get a late fee added to the partial payment for the month. But now because of this unnecessary error, bad business practice and lies, I will have to pay more.