Complaint Review: Great American Van Lines Inc. - Davie Florida

I was given a "binding" estimate of $1894.96, final price paid was $3143.43!  The representative also told me that this was an actual moving company, not a broker, which is FALSE. 

When the different company came to pick up my stuff first thing he said was "you have a lot more stuff than we thought so you're going to be paying quite a bit extra"  I asked how much extra and he said probably around $600-$700 and that in itself made me angry, little did I know what I was in for. 

I asked him why his shirt said "Cross Sate Moving LLC" when I signed up with Great American Van Lines, Inc. and they were not a broking company.  He said, "Well technically they are allowed to say that they're not brokers because we're contracted to work for them, but they aren't the actual moving company."  He went on to say that they were a great company but that he felt really bad for me.  He told me I should start thinking of getting rid of as much stuff as possible because the more they put on the truck the more money I was going to pay. 

I thought it was ridiculous that I had given Great American Van Lines, Inc a list of all my stuff and now "they" were telling me to get rid of my valued belongings.  I ended up getting rid of the couch I still wanted, a computer desk, and other various items and still ended up having to pay an insane amount extra.

When the representative asked me how many boxes I was going to have I had no idea because it was months before I started packing...how was I supposed to know exactly how many of each sized box that I was going to use before I even started packing??  I had called a few days before the move and specifically asked her if there were going to be any additional charges that I wasn't aware of, anything that may go over the binding quote that she gave me and she said "No, what you received is a guaranteed price, you may end up paying a few extra dollars here and there, but nothing major."

Along with the major additional cost for having more things than they anticipated, they also told me they were going to wrap my mattress and box spring, my bookcases, my tv stands, my mirrors, and an array of other things.  I told them to do what they needed to do and he said "well, it's additional cost to wrap the mattresses."  I asked him how much and he said "about $30" and I really didn't care that much because as far as I knew that was all that they were wrapping.  Before I knew it everything was being wrapped, tied in bubble wrap, placed in additional boxes, etc. and it was too late for  me to tell them not to.  I ended up paying $210 just for all the wrapping and packaging (they gave me a discount of $60 because the guy felt so bad for my situation,)

This is all not to mention the fact that they had called me the day before my pick up date and said they were coming that day.  I had to argue with the man that the day of the move had to be on the very day that was on the contract and after 10 minutes of me demanding that it couldn't be any other day and telling him I didn't want him to come pack my things for me because it would cost more (he swore it would all be free but I knew that wasn't true) he finally "settled" for coming on the day I needed and had signed up for (the 20th of November.)

When all was said and done I asked the man when they would arrive with my things and he asked me "When do you want us to be there?" and I told him "well, before Thanksgiving would be best" and he said "well, we'll be there before Thanksgiving."  That was completely untrue, and it even said on the contract delivery that he signed delivery was 7-21 business days after date of pickup.  He had purposefully looked into my eyes so I wouldn't see that part of the contract as he filled it out.  They ended up arriving December 7th, and it was yet another company that was unloading my things.