Complaint Review: Savannah Van Lines - Nationwide

LIE--"Share" a load:  I filled out an on-line moving estimator and received several phone calls from companies, one from David at Savannah Van Lines who said, "We can save you a bunch of money! We just happen to have a moving van (semi) going from Milton, Florida to Glendale, Arizona. So we can put YOUR stuff in Pensacola into this same semi, you guys can share a load, and we'll take your stuff to Phoenix." It sounded great. The price was very low.

LIE--Date: Because the family in Milton was moving on the 15th of June, David asked if I would be able to also move on the 15th of June (again to "share" the semi with this other family). I built my packing of my house, my repairs before my house sale / closing, and all my activities around the 15th of June date under this false information that I was getting half a semi to share with the non-existant family from Milton who was moving to Glendale. 

LIE--Estimate: I was encouraged to "ballpark" the number of boxes I would have and told I could up my total at any time. I was told they knew the approximate pounds my move would be based on a 4 bedroom / 3 bath house and that the truck would be weighed empty and weighed full and that would be what I would be charged. The number of boxes wasn't that important.  I gave them a list of every piece of furniture going--even send pictures by cell phone and dimensions of some items--to insure an accurate estimate.  Five days before the move date, I emailed them to let them know my final box count and gave them the cubic dimensions, asking if this would affect the amount of space I had in the truck they were sending. The email reply was that it was not a problem. They did not revise the final estimate to reflect the increase in boxes. They did not say it impacted the size of the truck (because presumably I was getting half a semi).

LIE--Arrival: I received a call on Tuesday (after not hearing from them for weeks) from a man--not my sales represenative David, and not someone who spoke very good English.  He told to expect them between 9 a.m. and noon on Wednesday, June 15. At 12:15 he called to say they would be arriving sometime between 4 and 6 p.m.  At 4:30 they called to say they were 20 minutes away. I asked the driver, (again, he did not speak very good English_ if they were just leaving Milton. He said, "I don't know where we are. We just follow the GPS."  They arrived 7 hours after the first window of 9 a.m.

LIE--"Two Men and a Truck: arrives to do my 1700 mile move to Phoenix. Literally, two men (one of them not much bigger than me, and I am 5' tall) and a 28' ENTERPRISE Rental Truck pulled up in front of my house. I was shocked. I said, "Where is the moving van? Where is your crew?" They said, we are it. This is our truck.  I walked them around and said THIS is not all going to fit into a 28' truck; they agreed. I asked to speak to someone, the driver handed me the phone and the dispatcher told me these guys would load all my stuff up and it would be fine. The drive and I explained to him the truck was not big enough; he got a little testy with me and asked when had I upped my boxes? I told him last week via email and I had gotten a confirmation--no problem. The dispatcher said my move was going to be a lot more expensive than the bid--he was angry with me. I kept asking him WHERE is the semi?  

LIE? Savannah wanted to take all my stuff to Atlanta to a warehouse first.  I guess this was "missing information" and not exactly a lie since I never asked if my household goods would be transported to another location before being loaded onto a semi. It never occurred to me that this was the case. The dispatcher explained: the stuff would be moved from Pensacola TO ATLANTA and put in a warehouse, then loaded onto a semi, then sent to Phoenix, then stored in Phoenix, then delivered to my new house. I said ABSOULTELY NOT.  The more you move boxes and handle stuff, the more likely things are to be broken or damaged. He said "We have insurance," and I said, "You can't replace my great-grandmother's china. No way."

Broker: I was aware my move would be brokered. I was not aware the truck would be a rental truck and not a professional moving van. I was not aware I would have only two movers to move a 4/3 with a 15' x 15' x 6' cube of boxes.

Moving Mania:  Savannah Van Lines representative David in an effort to assure me that they were a "real" moving company directed me to their website and said they did interstate moves. The truth is they are a small local mover in Ft Lauderdale whose former name is FORWARD MOVERS. They have ventured into the interstate brokering business only recently. They put my move up on the auction block to the lowest bidder and essentially sent me "Two Men and a Truck." when I called Savannah to complain (and they did return my call that night), the man was very nice and listened to my rant. He promised to get back with me first thing Thursday morning. So far, no call.

The dispatcher had offered to send a second 28' truck from Atlanta Thursday morning, but still insisted all my household goods were coming to their warehouse in Atlanta. thy wanted to take half my stuff and "come back tomorrow" (and it was already almost 6 p.m. and i had been up since 5 a.m. trying to get ready for them to arrive at 9 a.m.) I said absolutely not. I wanted a door to door move; that is what I contracted for and that is what I expect. I have done long distance moves before and did not want anyone touching or moving any boxes in transit. Period. They were very angry with me.  I said "If you want your guys to head to a hotel and send a semi down here tomorrow, we can talk. Otherwise, the deal is off."

TRUTH: there was no family in Milton moving to Arizona. There was no semi that I was going to be able to fill with my furniture and boxes. The semi was not going to Glendale and Phoenix.  My move was brokered to a small time mover in Atlanta (Moving Mania) who sent one 28' truck and two guys. They were woefully ill-prepared to execute this move. My belongings would have been transferred FIVE TIMES if I had agreed to this. The price would have been DOUBLE what I was told ($6000) because of my extra boxes. 

RESULT: My move to Arizona is completely derailed. I have to start over and hire another mover or find a way to load up a storage system (POD) to move my stuff myself. I have been greatly inconvenienced and my closing on my house may be impacted by the broken promises of Savannah Van Lines. 

Deposit: I put down a $1300 deposit and am working with my credit card company to reverse the charges. Savannah Van Lines broke the contract by sending inadequate labor and too small of a truck. They arrived late and used false stories of savings and sharing a semi to entice me to choose their services. They are engaging in false  promises and I would not recommend them under any circumstances to anyone.