Deception, poor communication, substandard services, and the absolute worst customer care/ claims department of any Corporation that I have ever dealt with! It would be in your best interest to avoid any dealings with Colonial Van Lines, their Relocation Division (Relo Van Lines), or any subsidiary of this corporation! In November of 2014, I contracted with Colonial Van Lines to move items, from Tennessee to Florida; and I am still trying to recover compensation for late pick up and delivery times, damaged personal belongings, and stolen items! (Left on the truck and never returned!) I also, never received confirmation of a load weight; that was said to be in excess of the initial estimate! After negotiating their three month claims response time, a multitude of paperwork, and endless phone calls and emails; I was given an insulting, low ball offer! It was not until I provided audio proof of my conversations with the driver, and following several BBB complaints; that they would even consider some of my losses; and they have yet to include all lost/ damaged items! It appears that I will be forced to seek legal action, before I will see any conclusion to this nightmare! It is my hope that, anyone seeking a reliable moving company will look elsewhere!
This will sum up my entire story. I was trying to dispute Colonial keeping my deposit with DiscoverCard. I imagine because Colonial has dealt with so many cases like this, they have an iron clad contract that locks their unsuspecting victims into a BS contract and allows them to do ZERO actual work and still steal peoples money. This made it impossible for Discover to get my money back, so I'm moving onto all other tools at my disposal.
Colonial is a corrupt, unjust company that should not have the ablility to operate under the guise of a moving company and bait and switch their customers. And that isn't even my main complaint! Colonial didn't even get my things moved and still got to keep $1600. All because a truck came to my property, although it didn't have enough space to move my things even after talking to Colonials 'experts' on how many items i had and how much they would weigh. It is all a scam. Avoid, avoid avoid at all cost!
Please read my story to get the full details of their scamming ways:
Case Number: 694483035B
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in rebuttal to “return of funds” to Colonial Van Lines Relocation Division (CVLRD), for the initial deposit of $1,262.77 and the additional deposit of $353.21. At the outset, let me be perfectly clear that CVLRD did not provide quality consulting service for my move. By their definition, CVLRD could have sent out a pickup truck to move my apartment’s contents to California and have met their commitment.
To start, CVLRD contacted me via the phone since they obtained information from the Internet that I was moving. Jimmy Seppanen gave me a quote over the phone based on the size of my two-bedroom two-bath apartment with a garage. He asked me about furniture and other goods and stated that they quote everything overweight so as to catch any objects we may have forgotten. Since this is CVLRD’s business, I would expect them to already have a good idea of how much a typical apartment would cost/weigh.
Jimmy’s quote sounded reasonable so I decided to use their services and put a substantial deposit down of $1,262.77. The total quote was only for $3200 with Jimmy’s assurance that it could VERY WELL be less since the objects we discussed are all quoted high in the weight. HE was careful with his words, but led me to believe that $3200 was the highest cost it would be by using their services.
Then, six days before my scheduled move date, I receive a call from Christopher Burnham, CVLRD’s Quality Assurance associate. He obtained even a more detailed report over the phone, as I walked through my apartment and reviewed with him of every object in my apartment and garage. He then tells me we should adjust the Inventory Report to reflect what we just discussed, causing the ‘possible’ price to jump up to $3,800. We make the adjustment and he requires an additional down payment of $353.21. I did not like doing this, but wanted them to have the most accurate information, and Christopher also assured me they over estimate the weight of everything, and that it could very possibly be less. I took comfort in seeing my sectional couch on the estimate as 400 pounds, knowing that it was only about 100 pounds, and that the cost would probably be lower.
I read the cancellation policy, but at this point it would be too late, and too hard, to cancel. I relied on the professionalism and expertise of Jimmy and Christopher and CVLRD to have given an accurate estimate.
So, everything was on track, even though it was quoted about $600.00 higher than I had originally been told. I felt a little bit like I was being bait and switched, but I was making a big move across country and figured the help with the move may be worth it. On the day the movers showed up, things immediately started going bad.
Edgar, the subcontracted driver, hired by CVLRD, walked into the apartment and said they picked stuff up for a guy earlier and his order was double the size of what they were expecting (which also made me think he had been baited and switched as well). Because of this, they had limited space, and could not fit all of my things on the moving van. He said he told CVLRD, before he even came to my apartment, that he didn’t have enough space, but they made him come anyway. Edgar also shared that this similar experience also happened with other customers of CVLRD. My order was extremely accurate due to the conversations with Jimmy and Christopher, so they should have had plenty of room, and also had some extra for the customers that go over their estimate, like the customer before me. Why should I be punished, by having my goods split shipped and not picked up on the day agreed to, because an early customer doubled his estimate?
This is where I feel I 100% deserve my deposit back, not because CVLRD does dirty, underhanded bait and switch style business to make more money, but because on the date I requested they were unable to supply the services for which I had originally contracted. I simply wanted them to pick up my stuff and move it across the country to my new address in CA.
CVLRD response was they could move some of my things, and then in a later shipment they could get the rest. One representative told me this could be as long as four weeks, which is unacceptable. Not to mention I had to be out of my apartment that day so I had to make other, last minute arrangements. I tried to speak to many managers, and finally ended up talking to a manager in the cancellation department. I refused to cancel with her because I knew she would keep my deposit. She was unable to provide a satisfactory arrangement in where all of my things could be moved in one truck. Therefore, I should not have to pay the extremely exorbitant deposit when the only work done was to have a driver show up with a truck that CVLRD already had been told, would not hold my apartments contents. CVLRD set up an untenable situation so they could, and have said, a “truck showed up”. They knew I had to be out of my apartment that day but still would not/could not meet their commitment of moving me on the date specified. No work was performed, yet they are keeping over $1600 of mine with no product or service to show for it. This manager made feel like there was no other recourse, had no empathy, and refused to transfer me to anyone else that could help resolve the situation in a satisfactory manner. Also, a representative cancelled my contract without me telling her to do so. She said she would call back that night, but she didn’t call back until the NEXT day at 5pm. We had already had to make other arrangements because our lease was up and we had to be out of our apartment.
I want to give CVLRD the chance to do the right thing and give me back the deposit, or at least the majority of it. If this is not resolved in my favor, additional steps I plan on taking include contacting the organizations that regulate interstate houseware relocation over moving companies including the PUCO, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admin Enforcement Division, the Consumer Complaint Agency, Move Rescue, Senate Hearing Committee (since they are already under investigation by them) and FCC. I will also reach out to News Channels as I have friends in the business and will put CVLRD in the spotlight as to their way of business, not to mention all the negative reviews on Yelp, Google, BBB, and any other online reviews I can find.
In summary, CVLRD failed to provide the service for which I contracted. Although I don’t like the practice CVLRD does with their customers about not giving accurate pricing from the beginning, I would have still been tied to using them contractually, if they could have moved my goods on one truck, on the day specified. Since they could not get my items moved on the date contracted, I should be freed from the contract. This is even after having multiple conversations with their experts. No matter how this situation is examined CVLRD did not fulfill their obligation of providing the service that several of their own employees described. CVLRD should be ashamed of putting people through this stress and hardship while trying to relocate.
The attached picture is the only room they had available in the truck, which could not fit a motorcycle and our furniture.
Thank you in advance for reversing Discover’s position and not releasing the funds to CVLRD. I use your card because I know Discover supports its cardholders against unfair practices, such as, what CVLRD is trying to do to me.
It's difficult to write it all down as so much went bad. My initial call was answered by Jimmy Seppanen who assured me they were bonded & insured. I asked to have an agent come to my house & see my furniture; he assured me they always did it on phone now. We had several calls & little by little estimate went up but still acceptable. Once we decided on move & were emailed estimate etc, we put down deposit.
After that I was never able to get Jimmy to call me back. My next call was from Sean Boxer QC & he wanted to go thru furniture list to make sure all was in order. He said he could pull up pictures realtor had put online & go thru rooms with me. Now weight, estimate went up again! Sean assured me he had heavily padded it so when move was over, it would actually be lower.
Now the movers show up & several hrs later, we realized our rings (on our dressers) were missing. The 3 movers were: Tony Winbush,Robert Winbush,& Benny Winbush. We told them the rings were missing & only person in bedroom was Benny. Police were called & Benny was taken to station & questioned.
Police said he refused to take poligraph & they felt he had done it but had no proof. His brother Robert told police he was in & out of the motel all nite. Police think he sold them. Next day we found more Jewelry missing ( had cleaned out our safety deposit box for move) Its still under investigation. There's somewhere around$30,000 of jewelry missing
We saw them break several things before they put them in the truck. After movers left we found they had left several things that they assured us they had gotten( it was 11:00pm & dark), we saw stuff in AM after they left.
Almost immediately upon arriving, driver started telling us weight would be more & he would be needing more packing supplies. The estimate from Jimmy started at under $7000, went up with Sean to &10,000 & mover Tony is saying it is over 13,000.
When they finished loading truck, they had trashed the condo!! Carpet with no spots before they came was horrible. Cleaning service that came said they had never seen movers leave that kind of mess. New owners were having carpet ripped out to replace when we went back few days later!
The arrival date then changed 6 days later. When I said it was acceptable & I'd have to call company, Tony told me to go ahead that they couldn't do anything; he determined the delivery. Something didn't sound right & I'm concerned about condition of my furniture.
We have contacted lawyer & have photos. We actually feared for our safety with these 3 movers!!
None of the company reps seemed a bit concerned about our problems,from the minute they got our deposit we were unable to get anyone to call back or answer questions. I sent several emails which were not answered had to keep calling.
After police report, we got call from security at Colonial, James Elexidor. He seemed to be only person tha was concerned about our welfare.
I paid a deposit of $700 with this company in February of this year. They found me through an online quote I requested from multiple companies. I cancelled the move with the represantative but he is no longer there so the company is now telling me I never cancelled within the 5 day window and that I never sent an e-mail whenin fact I did respond back to their e-mail. The represantative took it upon himself to delay the move rather than cancel it as requested. At this time I was admitted to the Veterans Administration hospital for my illness and was not able to move anyway, since this time I have spent many months there in an inpatient therapy program. I recently called this company back and spoke to Paul Hughes and Cicely. They both are jeering at me and being sarcastic and keep haning up with me, they told me they willnot give me my refund back unless I can provide documentation that I did e-mail them, they told me they had the calls recorded, but when I ask them to replay them , they fail to do so. I have since filed a claim with the BBB, I am waiting on my banking services and also the news station were this company is located. This company is disgusting and couldn't care less about anything except stealing your money, beware please for your own good. He will not let me speak to the company owner, he keeps saying to me in a condescending tone that if I called Microsoft, they wouldn't allow me to speak to Bill Gates, and he tries to compare this to an airline ticket telling me that no airline would refund me if I cancelled the trip, which is not true. With proper documentation of hospitalization, they would indeed have refunded me, especially being a veteran and I am not askign for special treatment, just my refund on a move that never took place.
I read the reports....questioned CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT as to the bad reviews. He stated they do 15,000 moves a year and they are the best. He stated he needed a two day window for my pick up and they would call me on Monday. No call. He did not return any calls or emails.
CHRISTOPHER BURNHAM in the quality assurance department stated the same as C. WRIGHT. Both "seemed" professional until neither would return a call or an email.
I have contacted the BBB and the Attorney Generals of the states for this move.
The customer service department is not friendly and they are rude. They do not care about your move or helping you. I called and emailed my "rep" who never called me and I was only sent an auto email.
Stay away....stay away. They are not hear to help you. They are just awful people.
To begin, Colonial VAN LINES Relocation Division is NOT a mover. They are a broker. They solicit people who need their household goods moved, then parcel out the jobs to third party "movers" who do NOT work for CVLRD.
I knew I was going to bemoving this summer, so I began shopping for movers in March. I chose CVLRD because they gave me the best price. The man I spoke to on the phone, Tiago Lucena, was personable and professional. He never offered to send anyone to my house to view my goods. He took an inventory over the phone, room by room. I was very forthcoming about my items. I made certain to tell him we had LOTS of books. He gave me a quote for poundage that he assured me was an OVER-estimate, and more than likely I would be paying less. He said, "This is a binding estimate. You will only pay up to the amount quoted you. If your weight goes over, you don't have to pay.
I made sure to ask him several times to clarify that point before I gave him a deposit.
Three and half months later, I get a call to go over my list once more to see if there's anything I want to add. I do add a few things and the man who called me says I must pay more toward my deposit as the estimate just went up in pounds. I pay this amount and go on packing to move.
The day of my move, the movers showed up at 8:30 pm. They unload my storage locker first, then drove to my house. Upon going through my house, they said, "Oh, you have way more than 11,000 pounds. I'm going to have to write you a new estimate. And by the way, you do know you owe us 70% of the remaining balance today, right?" Okay, admittedly, the possibility of having to pay a portion of the remaining balance IS in the contract, but it says, "May" collect, not will. No one bothered to mention this prior to the movers' arrival. I told the movers the truth, that I can't get that kind of money on a Saturday night. They tried to give me a new estimate, which I refused to sign. They said they'll be back in the morning.
Sunday, they showed up two hours late, once again saying I need to sign this new estimate. I told them to unload my stuff from the storage unit and I would call on Monday to talk to Colonial.
I spoke with my Moving Coordinator, Kurleen, and tried to cancel the move. They say they can only refund HALF of my deposit, so instead (unwilling to throw away $2000) we worked out an agreement wherein I would pay the amount originally quoted and nothing more until AFTER the goods were delivered (per the US Transportation Safety Administration's website).
A month later, after I had already moved to Colorado, new movers showed up in an unmarked truck at 5:30 on a Friday. My realtor was there to meet them. She showed them my email detailing the stuff they were to leave behind and giving some special instructions for some items to be moved. They took two days to load with only 2 men for a 4 bedroom house.
They arrived in Colorado the next week. When they opened the back of the truck, I was appalled. Many of our items were just thrown into the truck carelessly. They demanded the TOTAL remaining balance, including extra charges, at the time of delivery. Then these guys offered to let us pay them a lesser amount in cash and they would unload, and tell their bosses we refused to pay! I refused to do this and got a cashier's check from the bank. Again, it was just two guys. It took them two days to unload our goods, and by the end, they weren't paying any attention whatsoever to where they were putting things. They just dumped everything in the garage. They never went through and counted everything, and because of the haphazard way they unloaded, there's no way we could tell if anything was missing. The truck WAS empty when they were done, but if they'd removed anything, we had no way of knowing. We did take note of everything that was damaged, and there was a LOT. They never finished putting together our furniture, as promised. We discovered, as they were preparing to go, that they'd left 2 of our area rugs behind, and some other items.
THEN, my realtor called me to say when she went back to the house to tidy up from the move, she discovered the movers had defecated EVERY TOILET IN THE HOUSE, and then not flushed.
I have been trying for three weeks now to get my moving coordinator to call me back so I can make a claim and get them to ship our remaining items. Kurleen has not called me back in that time. I have made repeated attempts to reach her, left multiple messages, and she simply hasn't called me back. I've tried to escalate the call to management, only to be put into an interminable hold queue.
Don't make my mistake. Do your research. These people are thieves and shysters.
1. There was a promised delivery window of 48 hours; not only was the company delayed by a day - they didn't even contact us regarding expected arrival until 12 hours before they showed up (the day after the initial window).
2. Two guys came (this was the 'moving crew'). The contract stated that they would disassemble furniture. However, they showed up with no tools. Since ours were packed, we had to borrow tools from the neighbor.
3. One gentleman spent over an hour on his personal cell phone, leaning against our furniture. We requested he get off the phone twice, and the other gentleman demanded it a third time. When he got off the phone, he did not listen to our instructions (we had asked they not wrap our items as this was an additional charge) and he wrapped several things, telling us we would be charged for them after he was done.
4. The same gentleman could not seem to properly operate a dolly and dropped two different loads of our things down a flight of stairs. He didn't report it, simply looked to see if we were watching, and continued like nothing had happened.
5. We were never given a copy of this second contract signed with the actual moving agent, nor were we given weight tickets to prove we were being billed properly.
6. Because of the delay in timing, Colonial was supposed to credit us $35, which they later said was not part of their services, as the 48 hour window was not 'guaranteed' (something they absolutely guaranteed while making the sale and getting the contract signed).
7. Delivery was almost two weeks after the move, barely within the allotted time frame. We received notice 24 hours in advance, but no one seemed to have the claim information for additional compensation due to all the lost wages, delays, and issues that we had filed immediately after we'd had the bad experience.
8. Aside from crediting the cost of the wrapping that should never have taken place to begin with, no other compensation has been offered, from either Colonial or the agent. We filed a claim with the BBB and are awaiting a response.
Moving furniture from one city to another, furniture was damaged, insurance did not pay, was not reimbursed for my overpayment, cannot be contacted, hangs up the phone while you are holding
Colonial Van Lines Relocation Division Reviews
Deception, poor communication, substandard services, and the absolute worst customer care/ claims department of any Corporation that I have ever dealt with! It would be in your best interest to avoid any dealings with Colonial Van Lines, their Relocation Division (Relo Van Lines), or any subsidiary of this corporation! In November of 2014, I contracted with Colonial Van Lines to move items, from Tennessee to Florida; and I am still trying to recover compensation for late pick up and delivery times, damaged personal belongings, and stolen items! (Left on the truck and never returned!) I also, never received confirmation of a load weight; that was said to be in excess of the initial estimate! After negotiating their three month claims response time, a multitude of paperwork, and endless phone calls and emails; I was given an insulting, low ball offer! It was not until I provided audio proof of my conversations with the driver, and following several BBB complaints; that they would even consider some of my losses; and they have yet to include all lost/ damaged items! It appears that I will be forced to seek legal action, before I will see any conclusion to this nightmare! It is my hope that, anyone seeking a reliable moving company will look elsewhere!
This will sum up my entire story. I was trying to dispute Colonial keeping my deposit with DiscoverCard. I imagine because Colonial has dealt with so many cases like this, they have an iron clad contract that locks their unsuspecting victims into a BS contract and allows them to do ZERO actual work and still steal peoples money. This made it impossible for Discover to get my money back, so I'm moving onto all other tools at my disposal.
Colonial is a corrupt, unjust company that should not have the ablility to operate under the guise of a moving company and bait and switch their customers. And that isn't even my main complaint! Colonial didn't even get my things moved and still got to keep $1600. All because a truck came to my property, although it didn't have enough space to move my things even after talking to Colonials 'experts' on how many items i had and how much they would weigh. It is all a scam. Avoid, avoid avoid at all cost!
Please read my story to get the full details of their scamming ways:
Case Number: 694483035B
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in rebuttal to “return of funds” to Colonial Van Lines Relocation Division (CVLRD), for the initial deposit of $1,262.77 and the additional deposit of $353.21. At the outset, let me be perfectly clear that CVLRD did not provide quality consulting service for my move. By their definition, CVLRD could have sent out a pickup truck to move my apartment’s contents to California and have met their commitment.
To start, CVLRD contacted me via the phone since they obtained information from the Internet that I was moving. Jimmy Seppanen gave me a quote over the phone based on the size of my two-bedroom two-bath apartment with a garage. He asked me about furniture and other goods and stated that they quote everything overweight so as to catch any objects we may have forgotten. Since this is CVLRD’s business, I would expect them to already have a good idea of how much a typical apartment would cost/weigh.
Jimmy’s quote sounded reasonable so I decided to use their services and put a substantial deposit down of $1,262.77. The total quote was only for $3200 with Jimmy’s assurance that it could VERY WELL be less since the objects we discussed are all quoted high in the weight. HE was careful with his words, but led me to believe that $3200 was the highest cost it would be by using their services.
Then, six days before my scheduled move date, I receive a call from Christopher Burnham, CVLRD’s Quality Assurance associate. He obtained even a more detailed report over the phone, as I walked through my apartment and reviewed with him of every object in my apartment and garage. He then tells me we should adjust the Inventory Report to reflect what we just discussed, causing the ‘possible’ price to jump up to $3,800. We make the adjustment and he requires an additional down payment of $353.21. I did not like doing this, but wanted them to have the most accurate information, and Christopher also assured me they over estimate the weight of everything, and that it could very possibly be less. I took comfort in seeing my sectional couch on the estimate as 400 pounds, knowing that it was only about 100 pounds, and that the cost would probably be lower.
I read the cancellation policy, but at this point it would be too late, and too hard, to cancel. I relied on the professionalism and expertise of Jimmy and Christopher and CVLRD to have given an accurate estimate.
So, everything was on track, even though it was quoted about $600.00 higher than I had originally been told. I felt a little bit like I was being bait and switched, but I was making a big move across country and figured the help with the move may be worth it. On the day the movers showed up, things immediately started going bad.
Edgar, the subcontracted driver, hired by CVLRD, walked into the apartment and said they picked stuff up for a guy earlier and his order was double the size of what they were expecting (which also made me think he had been baited and switched as well). Because of this, they had limited space, and could not fit all of my things on the moving van. He said he told CVLRD, before he even came to my apartment, that he didn’t have enough space, but they made him come anyway. Edgar also shared that this similar experience also happened with other customers of CVLRD. My order was extremely accurate due to the conversations with Jimmy and Christopher, so they should have had plenty of room, and also had some extra for the customers that go over their estimate, like the customer before me. Why should I be punished, by having my goods split shipped and not picked up on the day agreed to, because an early customer doubled his estimate?
This is where I feel I 100% deserve my deposit back, not because CVLRD does dirty, underhanded bait and switch style business to make more money, but because on the date I requested they were unable to supply the services for which I had originally contracted. I simply wanted them to pick up my stuff and move it across the country to my new address in CA.
CVLRD response was they could move some of my things, and then in a later shipment they could get the rest. One representative told me this could be as long as four weeks, which is unacceptable. Not to mention I had to be out of my apartment that day so I had to make other, last minute arrangements. I tried to speak to many managers, and finally ended up talking to a manager in the cancellation department. I refused to cancel with her because I knew she would keep my deposit. She was unable to provide a satisfactory arrangement in where all of my things could be moved in one truck. Therefore, I should not have to pay the extremely exorbitant deposit when the only work done was to have a driver show up with a truck that CVLRD already had been told, would not hold my apartments contents. CVLRD set up an untenable situation so they could, and have said, a “truck showed up”. They knew I had to be out of my apartment that day but still would not/could not meet their commitment of moving me on the date specified. No work was performed, yet they are keeping over $1600 of mine with no product or service to show for it. This manager made feel like there was no other recourse, had no empathy, and refused to transfer me to anyone else that could help resolve the situation in a satisfactory manner. Also, a representative cancelled my contract without me telling her to do so. She said she would call back that night, but she didn’t call back until the NEXT day at 5pm. We had already had to make other arrangements because our lease was up and we had to be out of our apartment.
I want to give CVLRD the chance to do the right thing and give me back the deposit, or at least the majority of it. If this is not resolved in my favor, additional steps I plan on taking include contacting the organizations that regulate interstate houseware relocation over moving companies including the PUCO, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admin Enforcement Division, the Consumer Complaint Agency, Move Rescue, Senate Hearing Committee (since they are already under investigation by them) and FCC. I will also reach out to News Channels as I have friends in the business and will put CVLRD in the spotlight as to their way of business, not to mention all the negative reviews on Yelp, Google, BBB, and any other online reviews I can find.
In summary, CVLRD failed to provide the service for which I contracted. Although I don’t like the practice CVLRD does with their customers about not giving accurate pricing from the beginning, I would have still been tied to using them contractually, if they could have moved my goods on one truck, on the day specified. Since they could not get my items moved on the date contracted, I should be freed from the contract. This is even after having multiple conversations with their experts. No matter how this situation is examined CVLRD did not fulfill their obligation of providing the service that several of their own employees described. CVLRD should be ashamed of putting people through this stress and hardship while trying to relocate.
The attached picture is the only room they had available in the truck, which could not fit a motorcycle and our furniture.
Thank you in advance for reversing Discover’s position and not releasing the funds to CVLRD. I use your card because I know Discover supports its cardholders against unfair practices, such as, what CVLRD is trying to do to me.
It's difficult to write it all down as so much went bad. My initial call was answered by Jimmy Seppanen who assured me they were bonded & insured. I asked to have an agent come to my house & see my furniture; he assured me they always did it on phone now. We had several calls & little by little estimate went up but still acceptable. Once we decided on move & were emailed estimate etc, we put down deposit.
After that I was never able to get Jimmy to call me back. My next call was from Sean Boxer QC & he wanted to go thru furniture list to make sure all was in order. He said he could pull up pictures realtor had put online & go thru rooms with me. Now weight, estimate went up again! Sean assured me he had heavily padded it so when move was over, it would actually be lower.
Now the movers show up & several hrs later, we realized our rings (on our dressers) were missing. The 3 movers were: Tony Winbush,Robert Winbush,& Benny Winbush. We told them the rings were missing & only person in bedroom was Benny. Police were called & Benny was taken to station & questioned.
Police said he refused to take poligraph & they felt he had done it but had no proof. His brother Robert told police he was in & out of the motel all nite. Police think he sold them. Next day we found more Jewelry missing ( had cleaned out our safety deposit box for move) Its still under investigation. There's somewhere around$30,000 of jewelry missing
We saw them break several things before they put them in the truck. After movers left we found they had left several things that they assured us they had gotten( it was 11:00pm & dark), we saw stuff in AM after they left.
Almost immediately upon arriving, driver started telling us weight would be more & he would be needing more packing supplies. The estimate from Jimmy started at under $7000, went up with Sean to &10,000 & mover Tony is saying it is over 13,000.
When they finished loading truck, they had trashed the condo!! Carpet with no spots before they came was horrible. Cleaning service that came said they had never seen movers leave that kind of mess. New owners were having carpet ripped out to replace when we went back few days later!
The arrival date then changed 6 days later. When I said it was acceptable & I'd have to call company, Tony told me to go ahead that they couldn't do anything; he determined the delivery. Something didn't sound right & I'm concerned about condition of my furniture.
We have contacted lawyer & have photos. We actually feared for our safety with these 3 movers!!
None of the company reps seemed a bit concerned about our problems,from the minute they got our deposit we were unable to get anyone to call back or answer questions. I sent several emails which were not answered had to keep calling.
After police report, we got call from security at Colonial, James Elexidor. He seemed to be only person tha was concerned about our welfare.
I paid a deposit of $700 with this company in February of this year. They found me through an online quote I requested from multiple companies. I cancelled the move with the represantative but he is no longer there so the company is now telling me I never cancelled within the 5 day window and that I never sent an e-mail whenin fact I did respond back to their e-mail. The represantative took it upon himself to delay the move rather than cancel it as requested. At this time I was admitted to the Veterans Administration hospital for my illness and was not able to move anyway, since this time I have spent many months there in an inpatient therapy program. I recently called this company back and spoke to Paul Hughes and Cicely. They both are jeering at me and being sarcastic and keep haning up with me, they told me they willnot give me my refund back unless I can provide documentation that I did e-mail them, they told me they had the calls recorded, but when I ask them to replay them , they fail to do so. I have since filed a claim with the BBB, I am waiting on my banking services and also the news station were this company is located. This company is disgusting and couldn't care less about anything except stealing your money, beware please for your own good. He will not let me speak to the company owner, he keeps saying to me in a condescending tone that if I called Microsoft, they wouldn't allow me to speak to Bill Gates, and he tries to compare this to an airline ticket telling me that no airline would refund me if I cancelled the trip, which is not true. With proper documentation of hospitalization, they would indeed have refunded me, especially being a veteran and I am not askign for special treatment, just my refund on a move that never took place.
I read the reports....questioned CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT as to the bad reviews. He stated they do 15,000 moves a year and they are the best. He stated he needed a two day window for my pick up and they would call me on Monday. No call. He did not return any calls or emails.
CHRISTOPHER BURNHAM in the quality assurance department stated the same as C. WRIGHT. Both "seemed" professional until neither would return a call or an email.
I have contacted the BBB and the Attorney Generals of the states for this move.
The customer service department is not friendly and they are rude. They do not care about your move or helping you. I called and emailed my "rep" who never called me and I was only sent an auto email.
Stay away....stay away. They are not hear to help you. They are just awful people.
To begin, Colonial VAN LINES Relocation Division is NOT a mover. They are a broker. They solicit people who need their household goods moved, then parcel out the jobs to third party "movers" who do NOT work for CVLRD.
I knew I was going to bemoving this summer, so I began shopping for movers in March. I chose CVLRD because they gave me the best price. The man I spoke to on the phone, Tiago Lucena, was personable and professional. He never offered to send anyone to my house to view my goods. He took an inventory over the phone, room by room. I was very forthcoming about my items. I made certain to tell him we had LOTS of books. He gave me a quote for poundage that he assured me was an OVER-estimate, and more than likely I would be paying less. He said, "This is a binding estimate. You will only pay up to the amount quoted you. If your weight goes over, you don't have to pay.
I made sure to ask him several times to clarify that point before I gave him a deposit.
Three and half months later, I get a call to go over my list once more to see if there's anything I want to add. I do add a few things and the man who called me says I must pay more toward my deposit as the estimate just went up in pounds. I pay this amount and go on packing to move.
The day of my move, the movers showed up at 8:30 pm. They unload my storage locker first, then drove to my house. Upon going through my house, they said, "Oh, you have way more than 11,000 pounds. I'm going to have to write you a new estimate. And by the way, you do know you owe us 70% of the remaining balance today, right?" Okay, admittedly, the possibility of having to pay a portion of the remaining balance IS in the contract, but it says, "May" collect, not will. No one bothered to mention this prior to the movers' arrival. I told the movers the truth, that I can't get that kind of money on a Saturday night. They tried to give me a new estimate, which I refused to sign. They said they'll be back in the morning.
Sunday, they showed up two hours late, once again saying I need to sign this new estimate. I told them to unload my stuff from the storage unit and I would call on Monday to talk to Colonial.
I spoke with my Moving Coordinator, Kurleen, and tried to cancel the move. They say they can only refund HALF of my deposit, so instead (unwilling to throw away $2000) we worked out an agreement wherein I would pay the amount originally quoted and nothing more until AFTER the goods were delivered (per the US Transportation Safety Administration's website).
A month later, after I had already moved to Colorado, new movers showed up in an unmarked truck at 5:30 on a Friday. My realtor was there to meet them. She showed them my email detailing the stuff they were to leave behind and giving some special instructions for some items to be moved. They took two days to load with only 2 men for a 4 bedroom house.
They arrived in Colorado the next week. When they opened the back of the truck, I was appalled. Many of our items were just thrown into the truck carelessly. They demanded the TOTAL remaining balance, including extra charges, at the time of delivery. Then these guys offered to let us pay them a lesser amount in cash and they would unload, and tell their bosses we refused to pay! I refused to do this and got a cashier's check from the bank. Again, it was just two guys. It took them two days to unload our goods, and by the end, they weren't paying any attention whatsoever to where they were putting things. They just dumped everything in the garage. They never went through and counted everything, and because of the haphazard way they unloaded, there's no way we could tell if anything was missing. The truck WAS empty when they were done, but if they'd removed anything, we had no way of knowing. We did take note of everything that was damaged, and there was a LOT. They never finished putting together our furniture, as promised. We discovered, as they were preparing to go, that they'd left 2 of our area rugs behind, and some other items.
THEN, my realtor called me to say when she went back to the house to tidy up from the move, she discovered the movers had defecated EVERY TOILET IN THE HOUSE, and then not flushed.
I have been trying for three weeks now to get my moving coordinator to call me back so I can make a claim and get them to ship our remaining items. Kurleen has not called me back in that time. I have made repeated attempts to reach her, left multiple messages, and she simply hasn't called me back. I've tried to escalate the call to management, only to be put into an interminable hold queue.
Don't make my mistake. Do your research. These people are thieves and shysters.
1. There was a promised delivery window of 48 hours; not only was the company delayed by a day - they didn't even contact us regarding expected arrival until 12 hours before they showed up (the day after the initial window).
2. Two guys came (this was the 'moving crew'). The contract stated that they would disassemble furniture. However, they showed up with no tools. Since ours were packed, we had to borrow tools from the neighbor.
3. One gentleman spent over an hour on his personal cell phone, leaning against our furniture. We requested he get off the phone twice, and the other gentleman demanded it a third time. When he got off the phone, he did not listen to our instructions (we had asked they not wrap our items as this was an additional charge) and he wrapped several things, telling us we would be charged for them after he was done.
4. The same gentleman could not seem to properly operate a dolly and dropped two different loads of our things down a flight of stairs. He didn't report it, simply looked to see if we were watching, and continued like nothing had happened.
5. We were never given a copy of this second contract signed with the actual moving agent, nor were we given weight tickets to prove we were being billed properly.
6. Because of the delay in timing, Colonial was supposed to credit us $35, which they later said was not part of their services, as the 48 hour window was not 'guaranteed' (something they absolutely guaranteed while making the sale and getting the contract signed).
7. Delivery was almost two weeks after the move, barely within the allotted time frame. We received notice 24 hours in advance, but no one seemed to have the claim information for additional compensation due to all the lost wages, delays, and issues that we had filed immediately after we'd had the bad experience.
8. Aside from crediting the cost of the wrapping that should never have taken place to begin with, no other compensation has been offered, from either Colonial or the agent. We filed a claim with the BBB and are awaiting a response.
Moving furniture from one city to another, furniture was damaged, insurance did not pay, was not reimbursed for my overpayment, cannot be contacted, hangs up the phone while you are holding