Moving Company Message Board Feeds :: MovingScam.com

Open Community]]> :: Author: mhconley]]>
]]>Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 6:33 am (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 0

Duke Jones with Chipman Relocations quoted 13,390 lbs. for our move providing a �Straight Talk Price Assurance Total� quote of $9,929.06. That binding / not to exceed quote included $9,252.11 for transportation, $520.00 for $500 deductible Full Value coverage, and $156.95 for mattress packing. When we arranged the move we were given a pick-up date of June 29 and told delivery would be 10-14 days later and that the driver would give us that date when he loaded us.

The driver (Joe from Connecticut) showed up around 5:00 PM on the evening of June 28 to survey the load and was back with two local Chipman Relocations people, Adam & Scott, to load at 7:00 AM the next morning. We were completely loaded and the truck doors closed at 6:30 PM. The inventory of 341 items stretched across 12 sheets. Joe stated he normally allows 1,000 lbs. per sheet but felt we would be over the quoted 13,390 lbs. based upon the weights of our boxes. The loaders were professional and worked their butts off in 100+ degree heat. They were also great with our very curious, energetic and inquisitive 7 year-old son. We provided cold water, Subway sandwiches for lunch and tipped them $75 each. My in-laws tipped them an additional $50 each to load our refrigerator, washer and dryer onto their U-Haul truck. We tipped the driver $100. Joe estimated he would be delivering our load the morning of July 7 and would call us the evening of the July 6 to firm up time and date.

We loaded our son, dog and 2 cats into our Jeep and began our cross country trek with a visit to my sister in LA. We spent the 4th of July with my cousin in Oklahoma City. We did not hear from Joe on July 6 but felt that was a good thing since we were not going to make Cape Coral until late on July 7. We arrived in Cape Coral the next afternoon, signed our lease, picked up the keys and headed over to see the house I rented based on 18 pictures on a web site. (We got lucky, the house was perfect and exactly what we expected.) Our cats traveled surprisingly well and our trip was uneventful.

Joe called the evening of July 7 and stated he was running behind schedule due to mechanical troubles. He felt he could begin unloading the afternoon of July 9. He arrived very late on July 9 without help. He made some phone calls and arranged people to help unload the next morning, Saturday, July 10. They began unloading at 7:00 AM and were done by noon. Again they worked their butts off in 90+ degree 90%+ humidity. We provided cold water and tipped the two local workers $50. After Joe went through our inventory and all was accounted for we tipped him an additional $100.

The load came in at 14,980 lbs. and we paid not a penny over our $9,929.06 quote. The mechanical difficulty was a rear axle bearing grease fire late one night. Several motorists alerted the driver and his fast work with a fire extinguisher saved our belongings although some of the items in the rear of the trailer were a little sooty.

Overall I am very happy with the move, the people that moved us, Chipman Relocations and United Van Lines. I highly recommend them.]]>

International Moves]]> :: Author: buice]]>
]]>Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 5:43 am (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 11

Our management has asked me some questions and because we do not have any details besides your email address and your name,
they informed me that making a quotation would cost our company about EUR 700 excl VAT, which is a waste knowing that we will not win
the quotation when other parties like for example Team, Crown, Voerman would be in the bid. THeir quotations are always lower then ours, and we are not that " hungry" for jobs. To clarify why we are not so competitive as the others, is because we want to give the very best quality to every removal.

Therefore I have to cancel our appointment as our management believes that there are more suppliers and we do not want to waste our precious time

I'm curious to hear thoughts on this.]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: littlebb]]>
]]>Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 3:15 am (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 9

Open Community]]> :: Author: littlebb]]>
]]>Posted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 2:15 am (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 9

Report A Scam]]> :: Author: Rick]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 8:24 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 31

If the first driver's late arrival was so inconvenient, particularly since he showed up without labor, why'd you agree to allow him to unload. The whole job, including the extra delivery, could have been accomplished the following day since it was only 2500 lbs.

There is nothing illegal about Howard Snijders operating both the "YOURMOVINGDAY.COM' affiliate marketing website and America's Moving Services. Or operating both as a household goods carrier and broker. In fact, the practice is becoming more widespread throughout the industry worldwide as more and more budget conscious consumers start shopping for their moving services online. At least one of the companies recently endorsed by MovingScam operates both as a carrier and broker.]]>_________________
The 'Moving and Relocation' Examiner]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 7:08 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 20

One last question and then I'm done. Thanks for bearing with me. Any idea why the website's based in Israel?]]>

Report A Scam]]> :: Author: phoenix_talons]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 5:35 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 0

Complaints Board. Included in the link are pictures of the quotation.

In short, I don't recommend them. Wanted to use Moovers but they don't do local moves (within TX). They said that they have to cross a state line.]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: ProudGPSemployee]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 4:00 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 20

To be an informed consumer I think it is important to view the business from the business point of view.

Tammy]]>_________________
For more informtion on GPS Moving - Please feel free to visit our website at http://www.gpsmoving.com/]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:46 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 20

Quote:

The # of moves a year kind of vary.....I would say it can be anywhere from 300-500.

This is kindof what i was afraid you'd say.

You've got one truck. By your own admission, you ONLY do long distance moves. That means each customer has your truck for a few days. HOW do you move 300-500 people each year with one truck? Do you subcontract, and to whom? Do your customers know this in advance?]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: ProudGPSemployee]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:43 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 20

The # of moves a year kind of vary.....I would say it can be anywhere from 300-500.
Anyways....I am getting back to work have a great day. Tammy]]>_________________
For more informtion on GPS Moving - Please feel free to visit our website at http://www.gpsmoving.com/]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:27 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 20

How many moves do you do each year?

Forgive me, but we do not often get movers who are willing to talk in an open and mature way.]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: ProudGPSemployee]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 3:17 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 20

We are not licensed for local moves and specialize strictly in long distance. This is something that the owners have always specialized in, and want to continue in focusing on the service they have come to be experts in.
Regarding lbs vs. cft debate. MOST of our clients choose to go with our BINDING relocation quotes and that is always determined by cft before loading and regardless of final lbs the price remains the same. IF the client chooses NOT to go with the binding contract then we get a list of ALL the items figure out the CFT x by 7 = est. lbs and give a quote that way and let the client know this is the estimate and the final charges will be determined on the final lbs. Obviously at point of estimate we are not able to know the exact pounds�we do not cary around a scale . So to answer your question the client is well informed that if they are not choosing the binding price we can only estimate the lbs as the whole industry uses the formula of 1cft=7lbs. From my experience the clients do not prefer this option and most of the time choose the cft. Again to clarify the cft is determined before loading and not after! HxDxW of each item.
It is also ture if a moving company is unethical it WILL load first and making it look like more cft and give a new price. We have never done this and do not plane to start.

Regarding visual inspections: 90% of our clients in San Diego get an in home visit that gets a binding contract in person prior to move. And if our service is selected that is the identical contract used on the day of the move and the price is to the penny as discussed at time of visual. For clients in Los Angles... I would say maybe about 30-40% will get in home visits - we try to arrange it in a way that we are already in the area and maybe have like 2-4 in-home visuals for the same day.

I hope this clarifies a few things, Thanx Tammy C.]]>_________________
For more informtion on GPS Moving - Please feel free to visit our website at http://www.gpsmoving.com/]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:51 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

TWICE they were caught operating without the proper license during roadside inspections.

This company obviously doesn't give a crap about following rules, why should their customers' well-being be any different?]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: mwilkjob]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:50 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

_________________
Virginia to Chicago move]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:46 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

Report A Scam]]> :: Author: rebhill]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:33 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 31

I think you have bought AMS's explanation for what happened. They excused the totally bizarre late night truck-unloading by saying I called and "demanded an after-hours delivery." That is simply not true. As I said in an earlier post, I called and requested that the truck skip the delivery to my office, which we arranged for them to do the following day. The driver called us from the road at around 3pm on the day of delivery to say he was an hour away, and then didn't show up at the house until 8pm. It wasn't until after he started unloading that he offered to come back the next day, and at that point, we did just want the stuff and unloaded it ourselves. I imagine the same thing would have happened regardless of time. When the second driver came with the rest of our belongings, he also was alone and my fiancee again helped unload the truck, at his request.

The "demanding after hours delivery' thing is made up by AMS. So is the claim that I demanded an early pick-up date which created extra trouble. I hope you also realize that the pick-up date (6/25) was chosen by the moving company, and not by me, precisely because it was based on the desired delivery date (7/1) - that's why the long gap between the two, not because of some whim of mine, as the AMS posts suggest, as they try to shift all the responsibility for things that went wrong onto me. The actual delivery was then an additional 7 days later- including separate incidents where deliveries were scheduled (7/2 was moved to 7/6 late on 7/2. 7/6 was rescheduled for 7/7 late on 7/6) and canceled late in the day.

Perhaps the movers are not legally required to tell you who the carrier will be, but in an entire conversation I had (a sales conversation of course) there was no mention of the company acting as a broker. It's one thing to have the legal boiler plate printed in small-print as the wording that they were not the carriers, but the entire conversation I had with this guy did not make that clear at all.

Finally - the deceptive advertising I am talking about is the "YOURMOVINGDAY.COM' website which pretends to be a neutral site to help people make choices about movers and turns out to be owned by Howard Snijders, who owns America's Moving Services.

I can understand delays, but this seemed like total ineptitude when the deliveries would be scheduled for one day then canceled by 3pm and rescheduled and then canceled again. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect clearer communication than that and if you pay for a full-service move you should not have to unload the truck.]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: mwilkjob]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:29 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

_________________
Virginia to Chicago move]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:27 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 0

http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19587

This company is licensed only to carry automobiles, not Houshold Goods. However, they appear to be operating as a HHG mover, and in April of 2010 they were fined by the Department of Transportation for various offenses related to estimating and billing practices, as well as a whopping $25,000 fine for operating outside the scope of their authority (namely moving something other than HHG).]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:17 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

Who was the mover that did come to your house?]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:15 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

licensed as a Motor Property carrier, not Household Goods, which may have something to do with the fact that in April of this year they were fined $25,000 (plus some other smaller fines) for Unauthorized Operations.

If you feel like it, and I strongly suggest you do, please forward any contacts you've had with this company to the Department of Transportation as proof that they are still solicitign household goods shipments.]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: mwilkjob]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:15 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

I did have onsite inventory assesment performed by other move candidates and then provided that onsite assesment to any 'remote quotes' that did not perform onsite.
Bare in mind that I found moving scam AFTER I did that and obviously failed to step away from the computer ]]>_________________
Virginia to Chicago move]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 2:10 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

Open Community]]> :: Author: mwilkjob]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 1:47 pm (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 8

I am considering them for a move from VA to IL and am going through the checklist.
Anyone feedback is appreciated.
Thank you]]>_________________
Virginia to Chicago move]]>

Open Community]]> :: Author: MusicMom]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:56 am (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 20

How do you explain to a customer the difference between Cubic Foot measurements and Weight-Based measurements? I assume you must have a script in place so your custoemrs can hear the two options and make an informed decision on which option they would like to used for billing.

What percentage of your estimates are done by an employee going to the house to see everything to be moved?

You explain that you have a guranteed rate by which the weight of the shipment is multiplied. The way you describe it is a bit misleading. Sure youre RATE doesn't change, but if the weight does the bill does. Having a set rate by the pound does not prevent customers from feeling like they "they need to come up with more money that they were not expecting" after they find that instead of their $1.50 per pound being multiplied by the 2,000 pounds you estimated over the phone they're now paying for $1.50 per pound for 4,328 pounds of actual weight.]]>

Report A Scam]]> :: Author: Rick]]>
]]>Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 10:41 am (GMT -6)
Topic Replies: 31

Quote:

The big issue for me was that there was no offer of any partial refund for the failure to provide the full-service move, because we wound up unloading the truck ourselves.

and then added...
Quote:

At this point, I just want the company to change its advertising practices and inform people of who the carrier will be before people make deposits, etc.

Why would you be due a partial refund if the company you hired was prepared to tender your shipment for delivery during the agreed period of time and for the price you acknowledged on the bill of lading? According the previous exchanges, you requested the delivery after the normal business hours when most moving companies have labor available. Did the driver request the additional assistance?

Under the Consumer Protection Regulations contained in 49CFR375, a move broker is only required to list the name(s) of a participating carrier(s) if it known at the time the order for service is signed.

Just like most agents don't know the name of the driver who'll be assigned to handle a particular customer's move until after it is dispatched, most brokers don't know which carrier will provide transportation service until after the order for service is signed and the shipment is dispatched.

In that respect, it appears that America's Moving Service met the FMCSA's requirements in these two parts.
�375.207 What items must be in my advertisements?
�375.213 What information must I provide to a prospective individual shipper?

It seems your expectations may have exceeded the scope of services that you negotiated or were willing to pay for.]]>_________________
The 'Moving and Relocation' Examiner]]>