Moving services
The delivery was about two weeks late and although the salesman promised to refund the extra fees for a "quick move" the credit never materialized. Further numerous items were damaged due to the mover's packing items such as a big screen television incorrectly and although we have paid for damage goods protection the claim has yet to be honored. We completed our move the beginning of September and it is now December. We are still chasing down damage claims even though the driver also took pictures of the damaged items and noted the cause on company documents.
We have used professional movers before and I would like to emphasize the complete lack of professionalism. It is in stark contrast to the two other movers we employed and inexecusable.
Scammers and liars
This company, America Van Lines, is not to be trusted. After they had my belongings loaded on the truck I was informed that what was supposed to have cost me $2100 had now doubled to over $4000. Here is what happened.
I contracted America Van Lines on Feb. 2009 to move my belongings from a 10 x 20 storage unit in Maryland to North Carolina. I told them that the storage unit was full and tried to navigate through their online inventory list. Not an easy feat as the list is extremely confusing with many items listed multiple times in multiple ways. I was given an estimate for the move of sightly over $2100. Included in this estimate was $150 for packing, so I thought I had that covered. I checked the company out on the internet and thought they were reputable. How mistaken I was. I agreed to pay them $432 for a deposit and we were ready to go.
The crew showed up for the move on time, and I thought this is going to go great. I was mistaken. My first clue should have been when I was told that I would be renting the moving blankets from them at $4.00 each. You don't need that many blankets right? Wrong, apparently I needed 32 blankets at a cost of $128. I was trapped at that point as I needed to move and couldn't run around trying to find blankets. This was just the beginning.
After the truck was loaded the Crew foreman had me sign a revised estimate for the cost of moving. The only change it listed was a cost of $458.00 for packing/material. What happened to the $150 estimate? Apparently I was not only paying for the moving blankets but I was now paying for 30 rolls of tape @ $5.00 per roll. I was never told that I would be paying for the box of tape that they brought out. Have you ever priced a roll of tape…its a heck of a lot cheaper than $5.00 per roll. I also paid $20 for a wardrobe box and other boxes as well. To say that this is price gouging is to put it mildly. Still this is just the beginning.
After I sign the change in estimate, the foreman informs me that I have used more cu. ft. than estimated and that he would have to call the office to get a new price. He then informs me that the cost of the move is now over $4000. Apparently he is a trained professional and he has now estimated the weight of the move to be almost double the estimate. If he is such a professional why couldn't he have estimated the difference while my belongings were still in a confined storage space? It gets even better.
I inform the company that I do not have $4000 for the move and to take my belongings off the truck. They tell me that it will cost me $1600 to have them remove the items from the truck and place them in the parking lot of the storage facility. Are you kidding me? I am a single woman, how am I supposed to move everything back into the storage unit? I tried to come to some kind of agreement with America Van Lines. They very graciously offered to let me make payments on the amount over the next 30 days while they kept my belongings in storage. It took me a long time to come up with $2000, how was I expected to come up with another $2000 in 30 days? The moving company finally ended up taking the truck with my belongings on board back to their facility. Oh yes, they also took all copies of the contracts with them. So I did not have a copy of any paper work.
America Van Lines then informs me that I have 30 days to come up with the funds for the move or they will begin to auction off my belongings. I ask them to mail me a copy of all the paperwork/contracts. When I receive them I find that I had somehow agreed to the new estimate of $4086 while the contracts where in their control. It's amazing how that happened. I tried to come to some sort of agreement with them to get my items back but they were unwilling to negotiate anything. I finally ended up paying $1759 for the luxury of bringing a truck to their facility and loading it up. That's right the cost went up due to storage costs. I would also have to bring blankets so that they would have there gold plated ones back (gotten at Penske for $15 per dozen). The interesting part in this is they told me I would need a 26' truck and that I would have to be very careful in how I loaded it because they weren't sure it would all fit. I ended up with extra space. So much for their ability to estimate space and weight.
This has been the most horrendous experience of my life. The emotional blackmail that they use is tremendous. The fact that companies can get away with this type of extortion is amazing. Do not trust America Van Lines. They are running a scam and you may be the next victim.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Move pick up 6/2/11 -Delivered 6/11/11 at 5pm. I am adding my complaint to this laundry list. All of the people below have said it so I am reiterating the same: MAFIA SHAKE DOWN ON THE SPOT SO HOLD YOUR HANDS HIGH. DAMAGE YOUR FURNITURE. LOSE YOUR BELONGINGS. NOONE CHECKS YOUR LISTS TO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR TOTAL DELIVERY IS THERE.
As with everyone else the company representatives packed our furniture that was listed in the quote...and then held the last few boxes hostage to charge us over 2000.00 on the spot increase. Instead of coming out to do a survey of our belongings they quoted us over the phone and never came out. Well I paid the pick up guys a tip of 50.00 each times 3 just begging them to take care of our things thinking well surely they will take extra care right...? Wrong! When the truck pulled put the storage facility because they had another shake down ready for us because we did not know the truck could not fit into our apartment complex...that our things were damaged. I sat down and cried looking at the damaged boxes, damaged furniture. It looked like 18 gorillas went in an threw our boxes all around like the old suit case commercials of the 70s. I cried on the spot. Then we had to pay the driver in cash because that was the additional 2132 that was owed. The extra 100.00 in that shake down was because they had to use the elevator at the storage facility. I am not sure if this is customary to charge for this but they did. Now today 6/17/2011 I am still in the process of speaking with Steven the Dispatcher who never calls me back and the supervisor David whom I sent an email to advising that I needed feed back. The assumption is this...that the our wardrobe boxes were delivered to the customer drop off before ours. Ok so this is easy right. But wait..Why cant they track these people down. I am not understanding. You just call and ask them to review their delivery to see if those identifiable boxes are there right...I am still waiting. I wish the people would have enough complaints to just go out of business..But the issue here is not enough people do the research on these jokers until after the fact. We complain but what remedy is there unless there is a lawyer that will help us file a class action lawsuit against them for deceptive trade practices, and fraud. They will read my comments and everyone else's and laugh all the way to the bank saying we told them...it was in writing ...and laugh all the way to the bank. I just hope I like others can have someone read my comments and the others and make buyers be ware that this company is low down and dirty. Their are better companies so if you have to do a real cross country move, use a real company that you trust..not these low down dirty jokers...You keep laughing and I will keep posting..Maybe I can still make you lose some business.
I loved David's comments: the customer SIGNED AND AGREED.
Here how it works: they come to you. They load everything. Then they tell you how much it is. At this point you DO NOT HAVE ANY CHOICE, but to sign and agree. Coz if you do not, they will charge you a $500 cancellation fee, and unloading labor (around $500 more). So, his comments make me totally laugh.
I hope I will at least get my stuff some time within two weeks after my original delivery date. My gut feeling is that it won't happen. What's the point for them to rush? They already offered me to pay $2500 to get it delivered earlier than 21 business days after that original delivery date. Total crooks.
Addition to my prior comment: the company name is AMERICA VAN LINES based out of MD.
No mistake here. Thanks!
You if you want to move, under NO circumstances hire AMERICA VAN LINES! Everything goes well till the point they come to pick up your stuff. Get ready that your initial quote goes up AT LEAST 50% (this is when I packed EVERYTHING by myself). If you think that once you paid that additional 50% you are in a good shape -WRONG! My stuff was supposed to be delivered today. Guess what? NO ONE EVEN BOTHERED TO DELIVER IT. I never got a single call or anything. When I started inquiring about it, this is when all troubles started. It is impossible to get hold of them, they would not return your phone calls (Steve is especially good at it!), they would give you crock of [censor] answers ("my driver will give me a call in three days - I will call you back"). Then I was told that "they have 21 BUSINESS days from my delivery request day to deliver my stuff". I loved that. "We can expedite it if you need it. Do you want?" - "sure!". "it is $2500 extra". Isn't it lovely?
Bottom line:
- I have NO idea when I will get my stuff.
- I was charged 50% more that it was quoated initally.
- Their staff will demand tips.
- The only pleasant experience you will get is BEFORE their guys will show up. After that their salesperson will talk to you in a completely different tone. Transformation was amazing:)
Under NO circumstances I will ever use them again. I will also post my experience about America Van Lines on the web.
Eric Stein: Make sure you got the company name right before you are making any allegation: We are America Van Line and NOT Van Line of America. Please post your comment on the right company and come back here and put your retraction for your UN true accusation.
Eric Stein: Get the facts and the company name right first BEFORE YOU ARE MAKING ANY ALLEGATION and make sure you are posting it on the right one: We are America Van Line NOT Van lines Of America. We did not move you at all. We are located in MD.
These guys are crooks! They just ripped my friend off. Same scam. Quote of $2, 100. Then told her it's $4, 000. Then showed up a week later then they promised (no reduced fees of course). valines of america are CROOKS! Don't do it. Just google them. I hope David Avraham and his company rot in hell.
This is the web site which every customer can get on and tell his/her experience with a company without having anything to back it up. America Van Line on the other hand can back up all of what we will say here and we will address the common sense of the people.
The customer has hired us to perform a move job for her to NC on Feb 20th. We have arrived on time to complete the job. The Forman, after reviewing the storage and the amount of item that was much more than the customer has informed us initially, had to do redo the contract as required and gave her a NEW BINDING ESTIMATE and the customer HAS SIGNED AND AGREED to the new contract with the new price. When the crew finished the loading and payment time came, customer has refused to pay saying it was more than the original estimate we gave her even though a new one was provided her. She wanted us to unload it back to the storage but customer has refused to pay for the labor involved for the reason she did not have the money. We ended up taking it back to our facility.
Customer had login few complaints with the AMSA(the moving associations) which have review the case, facts and paper work and has favored America Van Line, with the Attorney General, which has review the case, facts and paper work and has dismissed the case, with the BBB, which has done the same.
All the facts in this case that we have presented here we can back up and show all relevant paper work who ever wish to and can call us directly and the # below.
The customer will say that he has sworn affidavits from people but one of those people came to our warehouse with the customer to load up her belongings and told us he is a police officer and flashed us a fake badge….
Respectfully,
David Avraham
Managing Manager
[protected]
Overview of America Van Lines complaint handling
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America Van Lines contacts
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America Van Lines phone numbers(866) 363-7247(866) 363-7247Click up if you have successfully reached America Van Lines by calling (866) 363-7247 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have successfully reached America Van Lines by calling (866) 363-7247 phone number Click up if you have UNsuccessfully reached America Van Lines by calling (866) 363-7247 phone number 0 0 users reported that they have UNsuccessfully reached America Van Lines by calling (866) 363-7247 phone number
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America Van Lines headquarters10711 Red Run Blvd Ste 108, Owings Mills, Maryland, 21117, United States
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