Duncan
Annapolis,#2Author of original report
Sat, January 27, 2007
Some people do get money returned to them from NRL via the CC after a dispute, but upon speaking to one of those persons recently I think it may depend on context. This person told me they did get a refund when the company charged more than what was preauthorized, but his father is also a lawyer and he sent letters to the company in protest which may have helped. In my case I preauthorized a much larger amount than most (I think), so I am trying to get money back that I already explicitly authorized, thus I am at the mercy of NRL to give a refund. The CC told me that since I authorized the charge and they did perform a service that I am obligated (as far as they are concerned) to pay it. I need to clarify that the federal law may not apply to services that are not rendered or an unaurthorized amount, thus there may be hope for those souls. The following is a direct quote from the letter the CC gave me. "We cannot resolve your...[because] this charge was made outside of your home state and more than 100 miles from your billing address". The BBB justifies their rating for two reasons: 1) the number of complaints is not unusual for the volume and type of services(compared to other move brokers) the company provides. An operator told me at NRL that they have over 100 employees; that takes a lot of business to support that number of people and turn a profit. 2) Most of the compliants to the BBB were eventually resolved, and those that were not were administratively closed by the BBB (essentially unresolved). I still have not received a check from Avalon after 9 business days. I hope that NRL will use some their muscle to help me out, after all that is why I paid them over $1700, isn't it? Keep in mind NRLs fee is 100% of your "deposit", a fact I recently verified with one of their employees. I am thankful atleast that my stuff showed up in a timely manner, only slightly damaged (the usual move damage), and only costing me about $1000 than it should have. After reading other stories on this website, my stuff could have arrived a month late, broken to bits or stolen, overcharged by 1000s more, and harrassed by the movers. Good luck!!
Sharon
Alexandria,#3Consumer Suggestion
Thu, January 25, 2007
Huh. I can think of several other people who had their NRS deposit charges reversed by the credit card company. Do you have any details about this federal law? And who told you this, NRS, or the CC company? I'm not a lawyer, but i don't see how you can sign away your right to sue ebfore the contract is ever fulfilled. Plus, if the paper you signed specifically says "This is not a contract", it can't hold up in court! Talk to a lawyer about this. Please ask the BBB why this company is still a mamber, and how the BBB can explain away the obvious pattern of complaints, usually an excuse for revoking a membership.
Duncan
Annapolis,#4Author of original report
Wed, January 24, 2007
Disputing through the credit card is worthless!!!!; there is a federal law that prohibits any credit card from disputing charges that are greater than 100 miles or out of your home state. Thus, once they get you to sign a preauthorization form you are at their mercy to return money to you. These guys are well protected. The CC told me the only way to get my money back is to sue, but appearently I signed that right away when we signed the contract with attached waiver. By the way does anyone know why the "contract" says at the bottom of the page that "this is not a contract"?? I am sure if things doesn't go their way they can invoke their new prices. I called NRL to ask them why I have not received my refund ($400) from the carrier yet and they said that the carrier told them that I gave it to them as a gift!?! WOW, I did not know that I was that generous. What an outlandish LIE!! Short synopsis and lesson learned: DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY SAY UNLESS IT IS IN THE "CONTRACT", THEY WILL TELL YOU ANYTHING TO GET YOU TO SIGN IT AND THEN KEEP IT. Well, that is an old lesson, but rarely have I found people whom so overtly abuse their power as NRL. It appears to me that this company promotes a culture of fraud and unscrupulous behavior by many of their representatives. **note**I checked with the BBB of Florida and NRL has 515 complaints in the 3 years, but still has a satisifactory rating, WOW. Actually they have a C rating, which does not seem too bad, expect the scale goes like this (AAA, AA, A, BBB, BB, B, CCC, CC, C, D, F), so they have the lowest rating possible and still be have satisfactory rating. They get a complaint every 3-4 days (of many that are probably not reported), and yet they still have a satsifactory rating? It seems that barring an ongoing criminal investigation they will never fall below a C rating.