Complaint Review: Nationwide Van Lines - Plantation Florida

My family and I were moving to New Jersey for a job transfer so this relocation was a pretty big deal. I found them in the phone book and read about them on the official BBB site so I felt comfortable using them. Also, the office manager Rachael Skolnik assured me over and over that they were reputable, BBB listed, etc.

First, we told them what we had to move and we got a quote of $3459 for our 3 bedroom house. Over the phone their office manager Ms. Skolnik asked us questions about what we were moving. We had a complete master list of items. We were moving everything from the flat screen to the smallest things so we well documented everything. We also packed and I gave Ms. Skolnik the exact dimensions of the boxes we had.

We closed the deal on the phone and set up a payment. First sign of trouble. They wanted a check deposit. If we paid by credit card it was 3% more. They also did not take American Express. At the time I didn't think about it, but in retrospect if you have an issue and pay by check you are out of luck. We paid by check and were out of luck when we had a problem. We should have absolutely used a credit card!

We scheduled the movers to come to our location on a Friday at 10am. The whole family was up and ready to go. Only, no moving company. We waited an hour and called. They said the movers were coming from Virginia so we should be patient. They finally showed up at 2pm.

At the time, I could not believe that this was the same company I was promised. They arrived in a non descript beat up truck and not to get personal but they both looked homeless. No markings of Nationwide on their clothing or the truck. But they had the work order so we proceeded.

They got to work and started loading stuff in. About one hour later, the head guy comes up to me and says he's very sorry but he has another job in Tampa and that the client there was waiting 2 days for him to show up. He said he'd come back later and finish up. I asked about the stuff they loaded. He said our stuff would be separate from the other clients. I protested.  I didn't know we'd be sharing a truck with another client. The mover became irate and told me he is paid to load and move boxes. If we didn't want them to do the work, we had to unload the items ourselves.

I immediately called the office and they told me it was a normal procedure. Reluctantly I let them go and had the workers and office promise to return that night. Mammoth mistake. They failed to show up. We must have spent 5 hours on the phone that day, calling the movers, calling the office. What a disaster.

That night, we were told the guys would finish in the morning. The same two characters showed up and were very rude from the get go. They complained about us to our faces and also complained that the company gave them too many jobs and they didn't have the time or manpower to do them. Hows' that my problem? I have to move!

They were about to start when I noticed the truck was empty. I asked where the boxes were. They didn't remember at first, but then said they'd been transferred to another truck and were on the way to New Jersey. I didn't feel comfortable at all with items floating around all over. I thought we had agreed to move things together.

But as I learned the other day, it was like beating your head against the wall. They finally finished the packing and took off.

We flew into Newark and went to our new house a few days later. The movers were scheduled to get there at 1pm but I wasn't holding my breath. 1pm came, no movers, no calls. Their office not reachable.

With no furniture or clothes or anything, we decided to go to a hotel for a day. I was pretty steamed. The next morning I called up and the office told me the driver was delayed. He'd be there at 1pm today.

I had the family wait and headed over the house. They finally arrived and started unloading our things. All of the boxes were inside and I decided it was a good time to do a walk through. Out of 68 boxes, only 50 made it. I asked where the rest was. He said he only had 50 on his truck. I told him the move was done in two parts and that the guys who did the work left and came back the next day. He said he knew nothing about it.

Long story short, our other 18 boxes were missing for another week. If I had paid by credit card I would have filed a dispute but having paid by check I could do nothing but wait, totally at their mercy. The office was particularly rude to us during this period, and anything but helpful. Basically we were told that these things happen. Yes it does, to unprofessional companies.

This company lied to us, inefficiently carried out their job, and did not meet a single deadline. I would have paid more to have a proper company carry out the job right.