Re-posting a review (#287) of a very unfortunate move with BE. I am not categorizing it right now, waiting for the poster to complete his/her assessment. The topic title is "Broadway Express Move Gone Way Bad" and the author is "seattle_bound."
Recommended: 
(see the poster's comments at the end)
Date: 4/08
Move: Minneapolis to the Seattle area
Cost: About $6000 for the entire 53-foot trailer
Driver:
Name withheld
Shipped a car: ?auto parts
4/12/08 - I just received a call from my Broadway Express driver bound from Minneapolis to the Seattle area. It's currently day 7 since the full 53 foot truck was loaded and he's just pass about the 600 mile mark. Let me bring you up to speed...
I found Broadway Express through this forum and went with them after initially contacting Movex and learning that they would be acting as a broker. I worked with Adam at Broadway Express and received a price about 10-15% higher than Movex quoted, but that's ok, because I wanted to make sure I got the company I wanted. I reserved an entire 53' trailer for loading on 5-April with delivery quoted between 9-April and 12-April -- I was scheduled to be in California the following week, so the dates were important and Broadway worked to make sure I was comfortable with the delivery date.
I was expecting a call from Adam to get my driver information about a week before the move, but when the Monday before arrived, I still had not heard from Broadway and instead called them. I learned that Adam was no longer with the company and I would be working with Margaret. Margaret told me the name of my driver and said I got a good one.
I heard from my driver as the date got closer and had a crew of 4 lined up to help load. I flew from Seattle to Minneapolis to meet the driver at my house and storage facility. Everything went smoothly with loading and the driver headed to the scales Saturday night as he started west. I was back on a return flight late Sunday evening from Minneapolis to Seattle.
Late Monday morning I received a call from the driver. He told me that there had been an "incident" on I-94 at Minnesota mile 32, and that the truck and trailer had left the road early Sunday morning and the trailer had broken open and dumped everything into the ditch. He said he hit ice and lost traction during a white-out at the start of an extended snow storm. The snow continued for the next 24-36 hours and put a wet blanket on all of the belongings.
The tow company and their crew started collecting the belongings on Monday afternoon and worked late into the night, transferring everything they could find into two other trailers on the side of the interstate. I have relatives who live within an hour of the site and asked them for an update. They talked to the tow crew and were told it looked like a total loss.
Shortly after receiving the call, I started conversations with Mark at Broadway. Mark has been as good as of someone to work with as I could hope for, given the circumstances. I immediately the airlines and was on a flight later Monday back to Minneapolis (24 hours after leaving). Tuesday morning I drove up to Fargo where the remains of all of my belongings and the trailers had been taken.
As the pictures show (
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/) the trailer's roof popped off and the sides collapsed. The front of the trailer ripped off and stayed with the tractor! There was still a bit of stuff inside the original trailer when I arrived on Tuesday at Anderson Towing in Fargo. Anderson was also very helpful and got me into the trailers so I could start to see what, if anything, was salvageable. I wasn't able to see much in the first "recovery" trailer as it was pretty full, but I was able to get into the second trailer and get an update. Most of the furniture was destroyed and some of the boxes were pretty wet and crushed. The second trailer had the stuff that was at the bottom of the pile and was picked up last, so it tended to be better protected from the snow, but not from the weight of everything above. Diana from Broadway contacted the insurance company and I heard from them late Tuesday. They located an appraiser in the Fargo area and he would be looking at the stuff on Thursday morning. Mark and the original driver told me that there was a replacement tractor and trailer on the way from headquarters and that as soon as insurance was able to look things over, the process would start of transferring from the three trailers (original plus two from Anderson) to the new trailer. Zeke would be my new driver to Seattle.
I just returned back to Minneapolis after spending Thursday and Friday at Anderson meeting with the appraiser and sorting through what's left. Jessica at the insurance company initially proposed trying to inventory everything lost and multiplying that by the 60 cent per pound insurance coverage. That wasn't going to work well given that the appraiser told me and Jessica that his impression was that it was close to or at 100% loss. Jessica and I agreed that we should try to fix a percentage and use the weight from the scale reading after loading to determine the loss. Her initial offer was 75%; I'd like to see at least 90%. Total weight is probably over 30,000 pounds (there were a *lot* of books, lots of tools, and lots of auto parts from some MGs that I'm restoring).
Zeke finished loading this afternoon (2-1/2 full days to unload and repack, with only some of the really wet boxes of critical things re-boxed). He's expecting to arrive in the Seattle area on Monday and I now had a new crew ready for Tuesday. I had to cancel a trip to a trade show where I was supposed to be exhibiting with my new employer (I was there for only 5 days before this happened, and will miss the subsequent 8-9 days dealing with this mess).
I'll post more updates. I still believe Broadway is a good company, and sometimes bad things just happen. But Broadway really has a chance to show this community how good they are by how they handle it from here. . . .
Mark at Broadway said this is only the second time he has had to deal with a loss like this, and the first time was when a driver without insurance crossed the median and crashed into the BE truck.
I don't feel ill will towards the driver and left his name out because I don't think it needs to be here. He does seem like a very good driver (15+ years accident free) and good person.
Luckily I had packed all of my photos into a carry-on suitcase and didn't put them on the truck. Thank goodness for that!
I'll definitely keep everyone posted. It isn't my intention to smear BE, but everyone deserves to see how it goes when things don't go so well. Hopefully it will enhance their reputation here...
BTW, I did hear from the insurance company that they would not cover my costs (gas, lodging, meals) while I was working on offloading and triaging the load. I don't have airfare expenses since it was done with frequent flyer miles. The insurance company said I'd have to file a small claims court action for my expenses. <sigh>
5/12/08 - It appears as though Broadway's $250k catastrophic coverage will apply to my "incident." There initially was some confusion by the insurance carrier and I was told that I would only be covered at $0.60 per pound. I went back to the agreement I had signed where it described a catastrophic incidents like "a wreck". The carrier initially thought that that was to cover the van and not the contents, and that I would have needed to buy some type of supplemental insurance. But they did check with Broadway and were told that based on the wording, I would have "full coverage." The carrier also wasn't sure how long I would have to file a claim, and I was told it could be anywhere from within 10 days to 90 days. 10 days would have been completely unreasonable! Broadway told the carrier I have 9 months. (Thanks, Mark)
I have received claim forms and am in the process of itemizing everything damaged and/or destroyed, and it is going to be a long process. I'm still not sure if I'll get pushback when the claim goes in; is it replacement coverage or depreciated coverage? I'm assuming replacement, since that is what would be typically purchased and would seem to be the second tier of insurance that should be offered. If I'm wrong, the same insurance forms go to my homeowners' insurance, as they have said they will cover the claim.
I'll provide an update as the claim form goes in. Initially there was lots of confusion by all sides about how this works, but that is somewhat understandable as it is new to everyone.
http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15934
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Editor's note by Diane: As promised, "seattle_bound" posted an update several months later under the revised heading "Broadway Express Move Gone Way Bad (but with good outcome)." Here it is:
2/27/09 - Update (finally)...
The delay in posting an update is not the fault of Broadway or their insurance carrier. I simply didn't have a chance to sort through everything until fall. The job was bigger than I imagined it would be.
One important thing to note is that it definitely *does* matter how well you pack. I was quite surprised to find that lots of my china and crystal actually survived without damage. Ceramic items didn't do so well, nor did the large number of pressed-board bookcases (which became kindling wood in Fargo).
It actually reassured me a bit that it wasn't completely clear to the insurance company or Broadway what the process for handling this claim and what the insurance coverage was. That may seem odd, but if they had been able to immediately tell me all of the details, it would have lowered my opinion of Broadway since I would suspect that they have been through this a lot and that's why they were so crisp on the info.
It did turn out that the catastrophic coverage that Broadway adds (which I don't believe is included when booked indirectly through a broker) kicked in and covered my stuff. It was full replacement coverage, and not the 60 cents per pound coverage that applies to most cases.
The insurance company was helpful and reminded me a month before my claim was due that the deadline was approaching. Apparently a 9 month deadline is mandated by the ICC(?) [or some government agency covering this] for all claims to be submitted. My State Farm homeowners insurance was a backup and had a 24 month deadline.
I submitted a detailed claim to Broadway's insurance carrier with pictures, best estimated values, comparables, and information about what I purchased to replace destroyed and damaged items. I also submitted a claim for travel expenses from Minneapolis to Fargo for the triage and repacking that I helped with (mileage, hotel, meals). I had used frequent flyer awards to get back to Minneapolis, so the costs were minimal.
Broadway's insurance carrier replied quickly once they had the claim and told me that they normally don't cover the travel. I hoped that I didn't have to press on this, since it seemed more than fair to me. After a quick review, they decided they didn't need to send out an adjuster to look over everything in person (since they had already sent someone to be at the scene in Fargo, documenting and estimating).
They sent a claim release for the entire amount I submitted (just shy of $28k) which included the travel! I think we were both surprised that the amount was not much higher (and it could have been if the packing had been a bit less thorough).
The release had to be witnessed and sent back. I hoped that my bank would help me with this, but they refused to witness a claim form for their customer. Boo, Wells Fargo! They are far less customer friendly than Broadway or its insurance carrier. A local State Farm office had no problem signing this for me. I had a check shortly after!
Overall, my review on this move needs to be a neutral. The move did go way bad, but I think it was handled as well as possible by Broadway and its insurance.
And on the assumption that lightning rarely strikes twice, I'm actually using Broadway again in 2 weeks to move. They definitely remember me and are doing everything they can to get me Zeke for my driver, who drove the second half of the trip and helped restore my confidence.
I hope I will be able to post a new report about "Broadway Express move gone way good" after this next move.
Please take my neutral rating with a caveat, since I am using them again and am happy with everything except the actual "incident"
http://www.movingscam.com/forum/viewtop ... 221#122221
