Another moving horror story

[Heel n Toe]

https://www.facebook.com/MORTEN.E.SOLBERG.ARTIST/posts/438344643025461

Morten E Solberg Sr
LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKE!
Yesterday my family and I woke up excited to be moving from Spring Hill FL to Hilton Head Sc. My wife and I had chosen what we thought was a reputable moving company (North American Van Lines) it turns out not so much. The company was in fact North America Van Lines, small spelling change, huge difference. Their truck even said North American. They requested we pay by postal money orders (don't ever do this it is impossible to stop payment) a deposit of $2,900 with another $3,000 upon arrival. We paid, signed the contract, and they started loading up. Half our house was now on their truck when we were informed that we had used our allotted square footage (about a 1/4 of the space in the truck). They said in order to move the rest (our bed, the studio and the rest of the house) it would be another $10,000. That was not going to happen. We had to call the police, a family lawyer friend, and ask for are money and belongings back. We were told no. They would keep the $2,900 and it would be $100 an hour to empty the truck onto the lawn. Not going to happen. In the end one very kind laborer moved it into the garage. So my family and I are stranded in Florida in an empty house until we find another mover and are potentially out $2,900. Please learn from our mistake. Be careful and never give money upfront. Happy Holidays to you all, and a special thanks you to the man who saved our belongings from being left out on the lawn for the rain to catch. Merry Christmas from Florida!

Robert Vail My parents had a framed print stolen by a moving company several years ago. It was a Black Leopard by Peter Skirka who was one of my instructors in art school. One of the movers commented on the print and it never got to the destination. Guess you never know. Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Morten E Solberg Sr Sorry to hear that. A few years ago during a move we had a box of jewelry gold go missing. It is so disappointing what people will do to you when you are so vulnerable.

Marti Millington There have been several segments on Dateline and other shows about these unscrupulous companies holding people's belongings hostage. You can file a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Here's a link - you have all the info on the company in the one photo.

https://nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov/nccdb/home.aspx

Sarah Scott We are in the process of moving from California to Ohio. We found upack.com. Plus laborers at uhaul.com. A 28' trailer cost about $4200 for them to deliver, us (the laborers we hired) to pack, them to pick up and transport across the country, then to be delivered at our new house. It is working well so far. . .The trailer is pretty large--about the size of a uhaul 28' truck plus another 10' truck. The uhaul laborers have been great. You input the date you want, and how many laborers, and it quotes the price for whatever local movers are available. you select one and pay for the service, and then after they have performed the work, give them a payment code so they get paid. Uhaul has uboxes but they are MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE than the upack trailer.

Debbie Thacker Tantalo When moving from Colorado to Oregon, the moving company apparently sold my original contract to some crooked sub-contractor who stole 95% of my belongings (family heirlooms, priceless historical items, other items of serious value).Those things that did arrive were either badly damaged, destroyed or somehow altered. I was only able to recover a few thousand dollars by filing a grievance with the bank. The thieves were Tunisian and the company is out of L.A.

Marti Millington I did a little "research" - the company has only been in business 3 years; has 2 trucks and 2 drivers and is run by a Russian with a residence and office in a pretty pricey area of NY. Definitely a "scam operator.

[HardDrive]

I guess we have lucked out in this department. I had a 911 shipped using DAS. The car arrived on time and intact. We moved from Seattle to Ohio using a North American van lines mover. They were great. Everything on time, all belongings intact, and that included 2 motorcycles and some guns.

[ckelly78z]

I think I would probably rent a uhaul truck and have a moving party for my friends if I were going to move. This would be a whole lot more energy and time consuming, but way cheaper, and far more trustworthy.

I understand why people use these companies for time constraints and lack of helpers, but I don't see myself being in that much of a hurry.

[mreid]

The question is, how much are your belongings worth to you?

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

I think I would probably rent a uhaul truck and have a moving party for my friends if I were going to move. This would be a whole lot more energy and time consuming, but way cheaper, and far more trustworthy.

I agree, and I would be ruthless when it came to getting rid of stuff.

I bet I could get rid of 3/4 of the stuff that I have around here if I were doing a cross-country move. Maybe more. Yard sale. Free pile. Everything must go.

I can't even imagine letting a bunch of strangers move the crap I value across the country. This post is a cautionary tale, for sure.

Thread hijack alert!
(If you do a moving party that involves friends, please, please have your stuff boxed, bagged, tagged, bundled and stacked before they show up. Nothing sucks more than helping a friend move more than showing up and realizing that you have to help pack, too.)

[vonsmog]

I plan on moving in the near future out of state. I plan on just buying a large box truck with a lift gate and doing it myself. When I'm done, sell the truck for what I paid for it or +/-. Will be way cheaper, and if something gets damaged, I have no one to blame but myself. We have a lot of antiques, and I know no one will take the care needed to move them like I will. I'll just make as many trips as it takes and just look for back hauls for others on the return trips to pay for fuel. I'm in no hurry and don't have to be done at a set time.

[tevake]

The moving pod concept makes sense to me. Have the container delivered to your place. Pack and load it at your own pace. Then have it delivered to the new digs to unpack it your self.
Haven't checked the cost of doing this, but like the method.

Would have to watch the loading and unloading of the pod to know how to pack it.

May not work for apartment places.

Cheers Richard

[Laneco]

North America Van Lines does not even have operating authority to move house hold goods and only $5000 worth of cargo insurance to begin with...

http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/query.asp?searchtype=ANY&query_type=queryCarrierSnapshot&query_param=USDOT&original_query_param=NAME&query_string=2587262&original_query_string=NORTH AMERICA VAN LINES INC

They insurance they do have went into effect October 2015 and their authority to operate interstate (to cross state lines) became active December 8th, 2015.

It would be my personal pleasure to provide information to the Feds in that area. It may not impact your situation in a timely enough fashion to help you. But I can assure you that I know people who will make their business a living hell in the long run. Mess with my friends, you're messing with me! Please PM me your email and lets chat. I would like to move on this Monday because operating in violation of the authority (particularly with house hold goods or passengers aka bus) is a real hot button for the feds.

angela

[Noah930]

You rock, Angela!

[dad911]

Next move, what I can't fit in the trailer and the kids don't want gets sold/donated. I'm going to downsize anyway..

[asphaltgambler]

Didn't someone here have a similar tale where the semi-truck showed up at the destination but demanded an additional (huge) sum to unload because the cargo or weight exceeded the contract agreement?

[Scuba Steve]

I'm not a big fan of movers. With the last one they "lost" the headboard to our new king size bed. I'm sure someone screwed it up at some point and didn't want to get caught, it seems difficult to lose a box or crate that's maybe 6' long and 3' high.

They also broke the steering joint on our F-100 and drained the battery. Instead of turning it 'OFF' they left the key in the on position the whole time. I found both things out after it was unloaded and the truck wouldn't start and could only be steered after the wheel hit the emergency pegs on the steering column.

[wdfifteen]

You rock Angela. But that wasn't that from a facebook post? Won't you have to contact the victims through facebook rather than via a PM from here?

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by tevake

The moving pod concept makes sense to me. Have the container delivered to your place. Pack and load it at your own pace. Then have it delivered to the new digs to unpack it your self.
Haven't checked the cost of doing this, but like the method.

I've moved from FL to CA with the Uhaul pods 1.5y ago... Forgot what they are called, U box ? It cost about 1/8th of the full truck mover quotes and was way more flexible regarding pace, grouping things together, and timing of loading and unloading... Picking up and dropping off new pods as I needed them was a phone call away and next day service, and they stored them for me for peanuts (again, vs. a full cost mover) until I was all packed up and ready to ship all the pods together. All in all very good service and super price (I think one quote from a mover was as high as 40K!!!) This worked out around 8K (big house, should have sold more stuff)

2 caveats : I moved that house pretty much by myself, I'm 1/2" shorter now and my shoulder took 18 months to heal ;-) In all seriousness the Uhaul folks also can supply people to grab those boxes and unload them for you, well worth it - I wisened up and had them unload for me for like $500...

Also, my conclusion about this is: have a giant garage sale. No seriously! I've been unboxing stuff and thinking "I paid to move that crap?" a lot... Save your art or porsche posters, save your kitchenware, some kid toys, books, tools, cull your clothes... everything else should go, esp furniture... Factoring in the cost of buying new furniture vs $$$$ to move your old crap that may not fit in your new house, or not look good there, pah..... I'd almost say it's cheaper to rebuy new stuff, might not be 100% true but damn close, and it's new stuff !

[sammyg2]

When dealing with a contractor, or when buying anything on-line, or when putting down a deposit of any kind, ALWAYS USE A CREDIT CARD!


if things go wrong just smile and say OK, then later go call the credit card company and dispute the charges.
No out of pocket cost at all unless the low-lifes want to try to sue you, and usually their reputation makes them want to stay far away from the courhouse.

[A930Rocket]

I had a homeowner who used a pod. It must have been stored outside or in a damp place, because when she had it dropped and opened it, it looked like high school mold experiment. Everything went right into dumpster.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Looked at pods a while ago. Great concept but horrible reviews. I won't be using them.

[Deschodt]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

Looked at pods a while ago. Great concept but horrible reviews. I won't be using them.

As I said, try UBOX. Essentially 1/2 pods from Uhaul. Very good experience, and I am hard to please ;-) Heard horror storis on PODS as well, and they were way more expensive !

[afterburn 549]

Get a DOT attorney .

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

You rock Angela. But that wasn't that from a facebook post? Won't you have to contact the victims through facebook rather than via a PM from here?

Well no wonder the Pelican poster didn't contact me - LOL! Didn't realize it was a facebook copy/paste. DOH!

angela