CountryWide Van Lines

[fdny2pa]

I guess I'll start at the beginning, most reviews (especially by me) are simple - 'loved it', 'hated it' blah, blah, blah. However, to appreciate this review, there's a story that needs to be told.
So planned move NY --> Fl, movers set, packing up and the phone rings. It's "Roy" from Countrywide movers. Not our movers. Roy, unsolicited, tells us that he sees we have booked XY and Z movers and that we shouldn't have done this. Roy tells us that this isn't a moving company but rather a broker who is going to auction off (remember this term) our reasonably priced moved to another company that will ultimately wind up charging us a lot more money in the end. Roy walks us through the computer to look up XY and Z movers and shows us that this company owns no trucks and that Countrywide owns 42 trucks. Now Roy proceeds to tell us that Countrywide can move us, it'll cost a bit more but it'll save us aggravation in the long run. Despite misgivings as to why St Roy of the Movers is cold calling us to swoop in to avert a crisis we changed our minds and went with Countrywide. So we methodically add up the costs of basically a studio apartment worth of furniture (1 bed, 1 nightstand, 2 dressers, 1 couch, 1 coffee table, 2 TV and 1 TV stand + plus clothes (minus Winter stuff) and other stuff) that needs to go from here to there. Informed Roy that we are moving into a development on the 2nd floor and agree to the according increases.
Moving day arrives. Countrywide shows up, packs and oh no, we've gone over our alloted space? So now Countrywide has our stuff on the truck and apparently it's sales meeting #2. Upcharged before the truck is out of park. Annoyed we attempt to contact Roy - no go. So they tell us that we can pay it when it's delivered with the final payment on September 1 in Florida.
August 31 a call from Countrywide and told the movers will be there between 7 and 8pm the next day. September first at 8pm arrives and movers don't. So September 2nd and we start calling Countrywide to find out where our stuff is. After several hours of calling and no answer from Countrywide and no return of messages - enter "John". John listens and is quite upset that my wife is upset and decided that the best course is to hang up on her. So after another few hours of calls before I get John on the phone and I attempt to remain calm and work through this to get our stuff. John, still upset that we are upset, states that he didn't know who told us that our stuff would be delivered on the 1st and that September 1st is the "first available delivery date" and that he has no idea where our stuff was and when it was going to arrive. So at this point - calm not an option. So I informed John of this entire process and how none of it is what we agreed upon. To which John yells that he is now going to make sure that it takes the longest possible time for our stuff to arrive and hangs up.
This was the last time we heard from Countrywide, multiple calls/messages a day no return calls. Finally I get a call on September 9 from the movers who at this point are a "3rd party contractor" (you remember them, the evil that St Roy was saving us from?) And that he'll be in the area the next day but that he won't be able to get the 18 wheeler that our studio apartment move is in into our development and we are going to have to pay to have our stuff "repacked" into a more suitable truck. To be fair the guys who arrived had no clue what had gone on and walked into a hostile environment. They did whatever they could to get things set up.
After all of this it seems trivial that when we opened the boxes all our stuff was dumped in there and things were broken. My only advice to anyone considering using Countrywide Van lines is to save yourself the trouble, break all of your own stuff up front, take the money they quote you and buy new things.