| rev:text
| - AWFUL EXPERIENCE. Why?
UNQUALIFIED, UNTRAINED OFFICE STAFF
Most of the staff who answered the phones sounded like teenagers and couldn't answer my questions. Once I got a kid who mumbled and didn't know how to access my records, at which point a mature woman who could speak coherently took over. (I'm guessing he was one of the "interns" the company proudly states that it uses.)
UNQUALIFIED, UNPROFESSIONAL MOVERS. Of the four movers I hired, three were strong, tall, capable men. But the fourth was a five-foot woman who could carry only one box at a time, didn't have access to a dolly, and would have ruined my floor had I not spotted her in time and told her not to drag furniture across it.
LACK OF HONESTY AND CONSISTENCY IN PRICING. The website gave one set of rates, but a staff member I spoke to on the phone gave me a higher rate and refused to honor what was on the company's website. At the end of the move, they also didn't honor the "$100-off a $1000 move" discount coupon I printed out--again, from the company's own site.
POOR COMMUNICATION. People didn't return my calls. They failed to keep a scheduled appointment (to inspect furniture they damaged) or call to tell me that there would be a delay. (I found out only when I telephoned them.)
POORLY ORGANIZED. Almost every time I phoned, I got someone different on the line, who didn't know what someone else had told me and hadn't a clue as to what was going on with my account.
ACCOUNT OF THE MOVE. We contracted for four people. The day of the move, two tall, strong men came at 8:15 am. An hour later two more arrived: a tall man, and a woman barely five feet! She could handle only one, maybe two boxes at a time. She couldn't put boxes on the top shelf of my closet because she couldn't reach. And she had no dolly. I had to explain to her that dragging furniture across a wooden floor could scratch it; luckily I stopped her in time. She admitted she was new at the job. What the heck kind of training did she get?
The other three movers could hoist furniture and load many boxes on dollies. They were nice, worked very hard, and for the most part they did a decent job. But they didn't pad my furniture, which is why four pieces got damaged. That aside, I was being charged for four movers when I got only three.
By the end of the day, no one paid attention to the labels on boxes; they stashed everything in the garage and put furniture wherever they wanted. (Days later, I was still digging through boxes and furniture in the garage to find materials that were critical to my work.) Come time for payment, they wanted to charge us for four people starting at 8:15, even though two didn't arrive until an hour later. (This was fixed, only after we made a fuss.) They didn't honor the highest-discount coupon I presented, even though prior to the move, the office staff had promised that the high-discount coupon could be redeemed.
Things got worse when I noticed that four pieces of furniture were damaged, three with bad half-inch gouges, and multiple gouges on two items. Though there were padded blankets in the truck, the movers didn't use them. One mover took photos of the damage with his cell phone but failed to file a damage report. The next day, the office didn't know anything about the damage.
The owners were mysteriously unavailable when I called a day later to discuss the move. But 15 minutes after I threatened legal action with the receptionist, an owner phoned. I told him that a "mover" is someone who can: carry large, heavy boxes that I can't; reach places that I can't; move heavy furniture that I can't; carry something without scratching a floor or damaging the walls; use a dolly; and who is willing to take the extra care to pad furniture with blankets on the truck. I shouldn't have to pay for four movers when I received only three, I told him. I finally got him to charge me for only three movers. But he tried to make it my problem. He told me that he simply had to hire her, or else he'd get in trouble for discrimination (not so, a lawyer advised me later). And he said that he wouldn't be paying her--implying that I, and not he, was responsible for taking money out of an employee's pocket.
He had to inspect my furniture, he said. (He accused me of creating problems, perhaps even damaging my own furniture, to get money from them.) When a worker didn't come at the agreed on time to inspect, I had to telephone the office and yell before someone finally showed up. After haggling, they paid me for the damage.
I was suckered in by Express Move's published prices, discounts, and polished website. I wish I had hired the azfirefighters or a similar company. Those companies advertise retired military, police, firefighters--what you'd expect in a mover (someone strong, competent, and over five feet tall). Express Moves ended up refunding some of my money, but it wasn't worth the hassle and extreme stress. Buyer beware!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)