Complaint Review: United Van Lines Amra Pasagic - Fenton Missouri

United Van Lines and UniGroup has refused repeatedly to correctly process and appropriately compensate my 83-year-old mother for a legitimate claim for loss under a Full ReplacementValue Coverage we purchased from United Van Lines when moving her from Texas to Colorado in March of last year.   

We have addressed this issue with over a dozen employees of United Van Lines, from the salesman ( Leo Klisch)  who originally sold us the coverage and initiated the move, to the President of the subcontractor, Mark Campbell of Suddath Relocation Services, to multiple company claims adjusters ( Amra Pasagic, Robert Byington, Mark Bonsiero)  all over the U.S.  We have sent letters to the President ( Rich McClure ) and Chairman of the Board ( Daniel McCollister ) of UniGroup.  

The company initially rejected the claim, then offered $250, then upped it a few times, finally resting at $1200, and called it a good will gesture. They are completely refusing to acknowledge that our goods were lost, and insisting that they did not sell us "insurance".   We are completely blown away that this supposedly legitimate company would take such tactics, when faced with simply processing a claim for coverage under a moving contract.  Our claim is for $2411 on a $40,000 move covered for full replacement value.

We have explored all legitimate avenues, but have come to the conclusion that United Van Lines is intentionally selling Full Replacement Value Coverage to its customers with the intention of forcing clients to sue them or go to arbitration or court in order to settle the claim.  We have contacted the Dept of Transportation, FMCSA, the Attorney General in three states, (Texas, Colorado and Missouri), BBB , Insurance Commissions and our state representatives, but all of these entities claim to have no jurisdiction over this problem.  We have spent a year and hundreds of hours trying to get resolution. In the meantime, my Mom is distraught that her goods, most of which cannot be replaced, have been lost forever. 

We hate to think that a companylike this would resort to these kinds of unethical tactics.  Initially, we believed that it was entirely possible that this was a policy within a single department, but after talking to dozens of people at the company, it has become more and more clear that this is a not very subtle attempt to wear down customers and make their legitimate claims and complaints go away.   

More background:  We moved my mother from Texas to Colorado in March 2012.  In the midst of a family crisis, we had to move a lifetime of memories from her three bedroom home in Texas to a small apartment in Colorado. We gave away most of her things, and only kept important papers, necessities, clothing, family heirlooms and things my mother loved.  These we entrusted to Suddath Relocation Systems of Grand Prairie Texas who performed the move, taking over 2 weeks to move the goods.  

In the process, several boxes mysteriously disappeared and a few were damaged.  As we inspected and accepted the boxes, we found that several boxes were double tagged.  We brought this to the attention of the moving supervisor, and his response was we must have been in a hurry and discounted our concerns.  Then he told us to take our time unpacking the goods and file a claim when we figured out what, if anything, was missing. The moving supervisor assured us that we had to sign the forms so he could leave, and that the form only indicated that our delivery was received -- it did not prevent us from filing a claim for missing items after we unpacked.After completing the unpacking tasks, we did discover that at least two boxes of goods were missing, and we identified to the best of our ability the items missing and filed a claim with the company.  We were shocked to find out several weeks later, that the claim for missing items was completely denied.  We were not given a reason, only that we hadsigned off on the moving paperwork and that it was policy.    

We were instructed to file a complaint with AMSA and told that we would have to go to arbitration to settle the claim. We attempted to reason with the several folks there at United Van Lines, as well as Suddath Relocation Systems, but we were stonewalled from all sides for many months.  Later, when we said we might  file for arbitration, the claims adjuster offered us $250 on the $2411 claim.  We were not given a reason for the unacceptable settlement offer, even when we provided proof that we had declared a value and purchased a Full Replacement Value addendum to the contract.  We provided documentation of the missing goods, and documentation of the replacement value of the lost items. The company refuses to address the issue of the claim, but the offer has changed several times, now standing at $1200.  This is just $100 short of what it costs to go to Arbitration, so the tactic is not too subtle.   We are at our wits end with these people.  We just want her claim processed appropriately, her money refunded to replace goods as best she can, and we never want to deal with United Van Lines again.