Monday, August 9, 2010

4 days before my stuff is to be picked up...

And so the saga continues with World Moving Services...

A quick re-cap: Benjamin started off returning my phone calls but once I signed the contract and paid my initial deposit he stopped communication with me. I got back from vacation on the 25th and knew something was up when he still hadn't contacted me back after a week!

July 26... the day things got a little more sketchy and I should have backed out. I received a phone call from Lamar; a "Quality Courtesy Check" as they called it (PUH-LEEZ!) As we are running through the final check before pick up on the 29th (still no time frame) he starts going through my furniture list with me on the contract I signed. I tell him that furniture list is incorrect, I sent mine to Benjamin who by the way isn't returning my calls anymore, and Benjamin said the list on the contract was a generic one. Lamar laughs and says ... "there is no such thing as a generic furniture list ma'am". After a ton of back and forth with me saying: "I have the list on my email with the date I can prove it to you with his response!' he says he has to give me another quote. He said he is not Benjamin and he does not know anything that Benjamin told me but my quote is going to go up. My quote went from 3,000 lbs at $1,574 to 3762 lbs at $2,280. I start yelling (at work of course) saying this is ridiculous and I do not understand how this is my fault that the furniture list is wrong when I sent him the correct one. I should have received this quote the first time but Benjamin gave me a lower quote so I would sign a contract with them! At this point it was too late for me to back out or else they would've kept my deposit and I had no time to find another moving company so I was stuck (coincidence that they waited to call me till I was stuck in the contract... absolutely not). Lamar tells me that I will not have to pay for any weight over what my truck weighs in at. He is "absolutely positive" that he over-estimated so that I will not be stuck paying the excessive rates for every pound you go over. So I say okay... send me the new contract.

July 27 - He sent it to me on the 27 and I have 48 hours to send it back or my contract is dropped. I get it on the 27 and realize that nothing on the furniture list was changed even after I told him it was wrong on the first contract (for example they said I have a queen bed when mine is a full and I had 5 paintings with glass that I did not have)!

July 28 - I call him all day on the 28 (still no time frame for my pick up on the 29) to discuss my furniture. He finally calls me back at 5:00, apologizing saying he was on a lunch break (who takes a 7 hour lunch break?). Once I begin asking for a time frame he says "hang on, I'll call you back in 10 minutes with that information". NEVER CALLED ME BACK! Now I am stuck and I HAVE to sign the incorrect contract or else my contract will be dropped and my trucks won't show up the next day! I decide to call the customer service, demanded to talk to a supervisor, was told I was not "ALLOWED" to talk to Benjamin anymore but they could not tell me why, and was told no complaint could be filed against the company until my stuff was delivered. After an hour and a half on the phone in which nothing was accomplished except for the supervisor saying he talked to Benjamin and he claims none of the stuff I was saying was true, I about blew a gasket and just gave up. At this point I also received my time frame which was between 3-5pm.

July 29 - Get a phone call at 9am from the movers saying that will be there at 11am... awesome. I head to the storage unit and of course they cannot find it so I have to drive to meet them and then drive them back to the unit. They hop out of the truck (3 guys) one in jeans and a polo, the other 2 in plaid shorts and polos and they are all 3 foreign... what have I gotten myself into? I sign the paperwork, give them my inventory list (the correct one) and watch them load the truck. We then head to the weigh station to find out how much my stuff weighs to see how much I will owe. Remember... my initial estimate was 3,000 lbs and my second estimate was 3,762 lbs. Well.... my truck weighed in at 6,900LBS!?!? Well, the tears started rushing and I couldn't believe it! How did my stuff weigh so much and how were they off by almost 3,200 lbs!?! I was devastated. On top of that the movers ask me what time I will be out there tomorrow to get my stuff? Out where... Austin? I won't be out there till August 5. They say... "well, you better talk to your moving company because we will be there tomorrow". They get in the truck with all of my belongings and leave. I call my moving company (after calling my mom hysterically crying of course) and they first tell me my account shows it had been canceled, then they found it and they said it would be out there on July 31. I told them wonderful Benjamin, who I wasn't allowed to talk to anymore, said that my stuff would be put into storage for me and then brought back out when I arrived August 5 and re-assembled. She had no idea what I was talking about and said "she'd have to call me back" and in World Moving Service Language that means: we have no idea what you are talking about and are sick of talking to you so good bye.

The rest of the day was spent reading horror stories about World Moving Company and realizing that this scam is run on everyone that goes through them it seems. They give you a low quote then 3-4 days before your pick up when you are stuck in your contract they call and up your quote. Well - they were messing with the WRONG GIRL! We just could not understand how my stuff could weigh that much and they were that far off! I was emotionally drained for that day... I did not know where my stuff was going to end up, who had my money, how much money I owed now that my weight was so far off, or what was going to happen to my stuff when it finally reached its destination, and even worse... NO ONE WOULD TALK TO ME!

Shew... what a nightmare. Tomorrow will bring only more disgust! Until then and on a brighter note... today was my new teacher orientation and although little to nothing was done at it we did receive a pretty tasty lunch and I got a TON done in my classroom!

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