Complaint Review: Quality Relocation Services - Commerce City Colorado

Disclaimer: I am exercising my First Amendment Rights and explaining, to the best of my knowledge, what happened to my family when we hired AMG (American Moving Group) and QRS (Quality Relocation Services). You should do your own research and make your own decisions, not just based on this single review.

In the beginning of May 2014, we hired AMG (located in Boca Raton, FL) for an upcoming move across the country. We have a family of 5 and wanted someone to do the packing and moving for us. I spoke with Adam, and he assured me we would receive the “white glove” treatment. He said “you’ll have nothing to do, but open the door and let the movers in”. He wrapped up the conversation by saying “I’ll be with you every step of the way and I’ll be your single point of contact.” I was very busy with my job traveling, and Adam was very convincing. AMG wasn’t the cheapest but they weren’t the most expensive either. After my initial conversation with Adam, he never spoke to me again. In my opinion, they are a scam, and here’s why:

1)   AMG is a broker, not a moving company. As such, they will hire another moving company to actually move you. AMG sales representatives (at least Adam) will speak to you as if they are doing the move. AMG never referenced a third party during our phone conversation, nor did they mention that they were a moving broker. It is however, in the fine print of their contract. I would recommend you hire a lawyer to review the contract, prior to signing it.

2)   Basically, you pay AMG for something you could do yourself, with a simple Google search, for free.

3)   In our case, they hired a cheap sub-par moving company. You have no choice as to who they hire to move you. They also don’t tell you who they hire, until right before they show up. In my case, they hired QRS.

1. FACT: QRS (Quality Relocation Services, based in Commerce City, CO.) has an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, and other complaints http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/QRS-Moving-Storage/Commerce-City-Colorado-80022/QRS-Moving-Storage-Quality-Relocation-Services-Horrible-service-from-the-moment-they-cam-981434
2. and http://www.bbb.org/denver/business-reviews/moving-services-labor-and-materials/quality-relocation-services-in-commerce-city-co-90146215
3. AMG has a D+ rating:
4. http://www.bbb.org/south-east-florida/business-reviews/moving-brokers/american-moving-group-in-boca-raton-fl-90102219

4)   When we ran into problems with the moving company AMG hired (i.e. QRS), AMG washed their hands and told us they are just the broker, work it out with the movers. At that point, we were left with very little choice. We could cancel the movers, not get a refund of money already paid, and  loose the contract on our house, or we could continue the sub-par move. We felt we had to continue the move.

5)   Some advice to consider: When you hire AMG, they will send you to a website with an inventory sheet to fill in with all the stuff in your house and explain to you about “binding estimates”. They will make you think, the movers are the ones bound to the estimate. That is only true if you are completely accurate with your estimate. You had better be nearly perfect when you fill that out! If you’re mistaken, the moving company (i.e. QRS) will charge you quite a bit more for anything extra. In our case, we were off by 50 boxes. The price for the extra 50 boxes was nearly double what was quoted in the binding estimate!

To provide context, our home was about 1500 Square feet. We also hired AMG to move some already boxed items in a 20x20 storage shed that they never got to. More on that later. Here is the detailed account of what happened when QRS (Quality Relocation Services) showed up at my home:

On May 29, 2014, the movers arrived around 3 pm CST. So, the movers showed up late to pack and move a house. Our closing was the next day! The 3 men walked into the house and said this isn’t’ packed. I told them they were paid to pack. The men spoke back and forth among themselves. The movers said they were told by AMG and QRS that this was not a full pack. I told them yes that is what we contracted for. I showed the movers around the house, told them what was going, only 4 things were not going: A yellow patio table with 4 chairs, the swing set, and 2 ladders. We called AMG and the AMG representative told them yes, it was a full pack and move. The movers continued to complain about how much stuff there was, and they were not prepared to move that much stuff. When we signed the contract with AMG, they explained to us several times that 3 movers were more than enough to move a 1500 Sq/ft house and storage shed. Since the movers were unprepared, we had to drive one of them to the storage shed for him to look at it. The mover in charge said there was more cubic feet then estimated. We returned to the home, and he sat down with me and said the estimate was way off, and there is more cubic feet than they were prepared for. He said he had to charge me per cubic feet, rather than pieces because that was cheaper. Recall, the ONLY incorrect estimate was the number of boxes. Not the big furniture items, and not the storage shed. The driver also said it would be $$ per cubic feet. When we were on the phone with the broker company, she gave a different price, which was lower than his price, so he gave that price to us. He also changed a fuel charge. The QRS representative on the phone said that based on the contract and the number of items, that it was at the driver’s decision if he would move us and what we would be charged. The movers made many phone calls back and forth, which they said was their boss. They continue to talk to each other as well.

It is now about 5:30pm when they began to pack. Some of the packing, which was breakable items, (glasses, glass knickknacks) they put into a laundry basket and put tape on top of the laundry basket, without any bubble wrap. I took the laundry basket off them, and wrapped it in their bubble wrap and took the breakables with me. One of the movers, complained I took his bubble wrap. Around 6:30pm, another man showed up and said he answered an ad on Craig’s list to help move. At approximately 7:00pm I had to drive one of the movers, to Lowe’s to pick up more boxes. I told them don’t forget our trampoline, they said it wasn’t on the list. I said yes it is, and showed them the list. The mover continued to ask me what was and was not going. As nicely as I could, I would tell them again all was going. Including the attic storage over the garage. Things appeared to be going very slowly. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVE, THEY MADE US SIGN A NEW CONTRACT OR THEY WOULD NOT MOVE US. We had to sign the new contract or we would be sued, or loose the contract from the buyers of our new house. Around 2am they were still packing, but said they would continue the next morning. I explained that we were schedule to do the final walk-thru of the house and close the next morning at 11am. They said they would sleep out in their moving truck and be up by 6am to start packing again. The movers also claimed they would easily meet the 11am time line. We had our doubts. We had to stay the night in a hotel.

The next morning we returned to the house at 7:30am. The movers were still asleep in their truck. I banged on the door to wake them up and tell them to get moving. Again they would ask us what was and wasn’t going. Finally I became very angry and said everything is going. We also, hand to break down the trampoline and pack it, which they continued to say wasn’t on the list. At 12pm, the QRS movers will still packing. The buyers of our house, were very angry and threatened to back out of the contract, since it wasn’t ready. Our real-estate agent had to calm them down. This continued as the new buyers were moving in, while the QRS movers were continuing to move us out!

The movers wanted to stop around 3pm to move us out of the shed. We told them no. Get us moved out of the house. We would hire other movers for the storage shed; which they agreed to. So, not only did we have the initial cost of the move (which nearly doubled), we also had to pay another moving company to move the shed. The movers, finally finished packing our stuff at 6:30 on May 30^th! After the initial move, I reviewed the list and I noticed some items that the movers took, but were not documented on the packing list. Who knows if we will ever see those items again.

We have retained an attorney and will most likely have to file a lawsuit to get our property back. QRS is holding our property and will not deliver, until we agree to pay the remaining balance in cash or money order. I feel as if I’m being extorted: pay us double what was quoted, or else you don’t get your goods. How/why is this legal?  Because it was in the contract. Caveat Emptor!

In addition to being an Army brat and moving quite a bit in my childhood, we also moved 7 times previously, as an adult family. Thus, we were quite familiar with the moving process; or so we thought. We have never in our lives experienced such frustration, apathy, and unprofessionalism as we did with AMG and QRS. 

Joe, Orlando, FL