Complaint Review: Kings Vanlines - Van Nuys California

12/15/09

I requested quotes from several moving companies, to move from N. California to Houston, Tx (1900 miles). Most of the companies offered quotes within the same price range, so I chose the company based on customer reviews & BBB ratings.  Unfortunately, I chose Kings Van Lines in Van Nuys, Ca. They charge .50 cents per pound and offer 30-days of "free" storage.

Josh called me for 2 weeks straight while I shopped around for a moving company. He was so nice & polite, answered all my questions & concerns.  I submitted my list of my items, he emailed me a quote of $2465, estimated the load to weigh approx. 4600lbs. I paid him a $500 deposit to secure my appointment the day before the movers arrived 12/14/09.  Needless to say, I only heard from Josh once since I paid him the deposit & was locked into their sucker-trap.  He passed me off to the next smooth-talker like a baton in a relay race.

  They offer free disassembly/reassembly of your furniture.  My furniture was already disassembled in a 10x20 storage facility.  12/15/09When the movers arrived (the driver & one other guy), the driver tells me that my load is much larger than I originally told them ( I didnt itemize small items like the vacuum cleaner, area rugs, ironing board, etcmy furniture had been in storage for 5 months & I couldnt remember everything that was in it, but I definitely listed all the large major items). Josh told me he grossly overestimated the weights in the estimate to accommodate small items I failed to list. I gave him a list of 46 items, once they finalized their list it showed 113 items.  My 1 bed was listed as 13 separate items (4-posters,2 bedrails, 4 slats, 1 headboard,1footboard, canopy), just to give you an idea, so when they explain to you how the price doubled, they say your list doubled.   The driver told me there would be an additional $340 for special padding of fragile items & extra boxes. Free assembly/reassembly with wrapping charges in between, that cancels out the free assembly/reassembly to me, but whatever!

The driver wanted to charge me an extra $75 "long-haul fee", because the 18-wheeler wouldn't fit in the storage facility, they had to park outside the storage and walk a longer distance to loadthey were using dollies is this my problem? They knew they were coming to a storage facility. I told them I changed my mind about hiring them to do my move, but they told me I would lose my $500 deposit because they showed up.  I decided to go ahead and let them do the move.  We had to wait over an hour for local movers to show up to help with the movethey seemed like amateur guys from Craigslist, but Im not sure. I called customer service to complain several times the day of the move, thats when Josh did the ultimate disappearing act and I was introduced to Chris M. I asked what happened to Josh, the guy who would supposedly guide me through this from start to finish? I was told that Josh works 2 jobs and he wasnt availableI had Josh personal cell phone #, no answer. Is this the same guy that called me several times during the 2-week period before he took my money?

It took approximately 5hrs from the time they arrived to get the truck loaded, with 5 men. The driver told me that he "guesstimated" my furniture would weigh approx 13,000lbs, so he was estimating this move would cost me $7,000+. He suggested that I pay for this move by the cubic sq ft, instead of by the weight. Why didnt Josh tell me about the cubic sq ft option prior to moving day? He knew I had a 10x20 storage, he couldve given me a worse case scenario by cubic square ft. He said my load took up 1600 cubic sq ft in their truck, which was equivalent in price to a 10,000lb load, so he suggested I lock in the rate of $5200 (by sq ft). He said I had to make a decision whether I wanted to pay by cubic sq ft, before they drove away. He said if I paid by cubic sq ft, the load would never be weighed, so if the load did in fact weigh 13,000lbs, the price for 10,000lbs would be locked-in.  Sounds like the deal-of-the-day! He said if I paid by the weight, they would be inconvenienced.  He said the KVL truck broke down yesterday and they rented a truck & didnt get a chance to weigh the empty truck to get a before weight prior to loading the truck. So if I chose to pay by weight, they would weigh the truck with my furniture on itthen they would have to unload my furniture into their warehouse, to empty the truck in order to get the before weight.so double the work for them (load/unload/re-load to deliver)againis this my problem?...what a guilt trip!

 I decided to pay by the weight instead of cubic sq ft, with the understanding that if the actual weight exceeded the price of the cubic sq ft quote, that I would be obligated to pay the higher price.  I later found out, the driver (Izhak), is the owner of the company. Go figure!  Why did the driver/owner pretend to call customer service to see if he could get the approval to give me a discount on the long-haul fee & extra packaging chargeswhen he owns the company?  Josh had told me that I pay $500 deposit before the move & then the remaining balance on my delivery date.  That was so-not-true! The driver/owner wanted 50% of the moving cost before driving away.  My question was, how do we know what 50% of the total price is, if the load hasnt been weighed yet?  He said, I dont know what Josh told you, but there must have been some miscommunication. So I forked over $2,000 in cash, they wouldnt accept a check or a credit card.  If they accepted credit cards, people would probably dispute charges. 

Chris called me a few days later, saying my furniture weighed 10,840lbs, and that my move would cost $5,700 total.  My furniture was picked up on Wednesday in Northern Calif, the empty truck was weighed 2 days later (400 miles away) in Southern California near Van Nuys.  I had a problem with the empty truck not being weighed right before they picked up my furniture, because the empty truck would have their moving equipment (dollies), 100+ blankets, and packaging supplies.  I bet 2 days later that empty truck had nothing in it, blankets and extra packaging was wrapped on my furniturewhy should I have to pay for the weight of their equipment?  Then my 2nd issue was fuel.  What If they weighed my furniture on the truck with their gas tank full? What-If the empty truck had an empty gas tank? Diesel fuel weighs 7lbs per gallon, and some 18-wheelers can hold up to 400 gallons, thats 2,800lbs of fuel that could possibly be added to the weight of your furniture if the before weight isnt taken right before the furniture is loaded. Fuel weight isnt an issue if you weigh the truck both before & after on the same day of the move. The quote of $2465 is now at grand total of $5,700.  Chris asked me did I want my furniture delivered right away, or did I want to keep my furniture in their storage facility for the 30-days of free storage? I told him I wanted my furniture like yesterday, but I hadnt budgeted for the extra $3,200.  My opinion is the 30-days of free storage gives you time to figure out how to get the ransom money after they have taken hostage of your furniture. 

I am in Texas, in my new empty house, its 27-degrees at night.  I have 4 changes of clothes, no furniture, no refrigerator, no towels, no pots/pans/dishes, sleeping on the floor. Im dining-out 3 times a day, because KVL has my refrigerator. Lucky for me I had 3 blankets in the trunk of my car. Some nights I had to stay in a motel because sleeping on the floor was cold & uncomfortable.  They were demanding more money from me, but had my entire career wardrobe.  I guess I could have bought a few things to tie me over during this 5-week-nightmare, but what to buy first? Clothes? Towels? Dishes? Compact frig?

I requested several times a copy of my final invoice with my total cost, never received it.  I requested a copy of the weight ticket from the weigh stations, they kept promising to send them but didnt. Sometimes they answered my phone calls, other times they did not! Again I asked, where is Josh? I was told he took a vacation in Dec. to propose to his girlfriend & never returned to work.  The owner/driver also told me that he was regrets that Josh booked my job, because I was a problem.  WTF? Yes, I was a problem when I didnt allow them to scam me!

I asked, how much would my total cost be if I picked up my furniture from the KVL storage facility in Southern Calif, per Chris: the owner said, the $2,500 you already paid us, because I was a problem-customer.

  According to KVL website, it no problem to meet me at a weigh station to witness the weighing of my furniture, they agreed to that, but they wouldn't come unless I had the $3200 in-hand.  After going back & forth with them for 2 weeks, I posted customer reviews. Chris offered me give me a discount of $500 + the extra packaging cost ($300+), if I would delete my customer reviews online. Then Chris later told me that KVL was going to sue me for slander because I commented on the KVL customer reviews that were posted by a guy named Chris/Christopher, who just raved about how great Chris M. customer service was.  I was insulted when Chris emailed me calling me a scammer & a fraud. I deleted my reviews but I didnt accept the $800+ discount, because accepting the discount meant my furniture wouldnt be re-weighed and my total would be $4900, which would still be paying for a 9,800lb load blindly.  I filed a complaint with the BBB, I received a call from a 3rd party (mediator) that was supposed to resolve the complaint.  He called KVL and sent the weight tickets within 15mins, something I had been trying to accomplish for over 2 weeks.  There it was in black & white, the weight tickets saying my furniture weighed 10,840lbs.  Well guess what, I still want to witness the load being reweighed.  27 days into the 30 days of free storage, Chris emails me & tells me they arent going to hold my furniture much longer & that it would soon be auctioned-off. Day 29, the owner calls me & says he is going to start deducting $400 per month storage fees from the $2500 I had already given them.  So I borrowed the $3,200 balance from a friend & schedule a delivery date.  KVL didnt deliver my furniture, the job was subcontracted to another moving companyTo this day I wonder if KVL is a broker or not, I never saw a KVL truck, not sure. So the $3,200 is collected before the truck is unloaded, and I was told if I were due any change I would receive it at the weighing of the empty truck.  My furniture was unloaded, some things were scratched/chipped/minor tearsbut my furniture was double-handled, picked-up, put in storage, picked up from storage, then delivered, so who knew the minor damage happened. There is no way you can do a complete inventory while they are unloading the truck, because you cant open all the boxes.  Has anyone seen my dvd burner & my box of towels & sheets? Yeah, well me neither!  I know some other things are missing, my furniture was in storage 5 mths prior to them moving my things, so I cant recollect whats all missing just yet.  It doesnt make much sense to file a claim with the insurance, because you only get .60cents per pound, so if you have a $1,000 item that weighs 10lbs, youre getting $6 for it. 

So anyway, my furniture weighed 7,100lbs.  My total move ended up costing $3,866 (not $5,700).  So even with the so-called $800+ discount they were going to give me, they were still going to be cheating me out of $1,000!  The driver gave me $1834 change from the $3200 balance I paid that morning.  He was mad because I wouldnt sell him my set of tires that was on the moving truck, shocked they didnt come up missing from my inventory.  He asked me for a $$$ tip, I asked him was he going to haul away the big heap of garbage (boxes & packaging they put on my furniture)He told me that he was a moving company, not a garbage company & left the trash in my driveway.

Nobody ever called to apologize for my inconvenience after having my furniture for 5 weeks.  No explanation of the 3,740lb weight discrepancystill no word from Josh!  I emailed Chris asking for KVLs attorney contact info, he didnt give it to me, referred me to the owner.

KVL has an office is in Florida and their KVL website had a link that directs customers directly to their SE Florida BBB webpage, which shows zero complaints (A-rating). Once they had my money, I found their California BBB webpage which had a few complaints (C-rating).

Once I decided to file a complaint with BBB, I sent complaints to both Florida & California...Florida BBB replied that KVL only wants California BBB handling complaintshow convenientand I told them how the KVL website directs you to the A-rating on the Florida BBB websitelets just say they have me to thank for getting that link removed from their website!  I wonder how come KVL website says they have been in business since 1994, yet their BBB profile shows since 2005?  Makes me wonder if they changed their name in the past or what? I dont know.

Moving to Texas was supposed to be a fresh new start for me, but this company turned my new-beginning into a complete nightmare.  This ordeal has caused me a great deal of stress and aggravation.  Next time I move out-of-state, I will sell my furniture & buy new furniture in my new area.

I learned a lot from this experience.

1.  Emailed quotes dont hold water, have it faxed to you.

2.  Once the movers arrive, have them give you a 2nd quote based on visual inspection of your furniture with a not-to-exceed price.

3.  When I tried to file a complaint with AMSA, I was told they werent a member of the association (American Moving & Storage Association), I shouldve checked this out before hiring them.

4. Take the additional insurance