We contracted for our move from the San Diego, CA area to the Toronto area with Relocation Services Global (RSG). Our contact there was Jim Dixon. The RSG website includes many references to being the largest international moving service and to professionalism in international moves, including this statement -
"We offer single-source contact throughout your move, personally attending to all your needs. Your personal move coordinator will be with you at every step along the way, 24/7."
DECEPTION - RSG appears to be just a booking agent. As soon as we made our 'deposit' with RSG, we got a call from AMS Transportation, a company we had never heard of. We did not know RSG was affiliated with AMS - Jim never told us who we'd be dealing with, even though it is now clear that he knew before we paid him. When looking at the AMS website, the negative reviews concerned us and we expressed that concern to Jim at RSG. He said they did thousands of moves a year, stood behind AMS and he would personally 'keep a careful eye on them.'
As soon as the AMS truck was loaded and the bill of lading, marked COD by the driver, was signed, we were asked for an imprint of our credit card, for future reference. We complied - big mistake. We were asked to sign the credit card form, blank. We refused and the driver told his wife that most don't sign and it was no big deal. We told them our deal was with RSG and they should conduct any business through Jim Dixon.
THE BAIT AND SWITCH - The truck left and we got a call a few hours later from Tina at AMS. She told us the weight was 60% higher than the estimate and that we had to prepay the whole move up front. We were shocked at both pieces of news. We refused authorization to charge our card with the move, and told her we would need to speak to Jim Dixon ant RSG; that our move was never contracted to be aid up front. She said that in her 25 years in the industry, she had never seen it any other way. I told here that we had moved internationally several times, always COD. Since they had our goods and were not obliged to release them until paid on delivery, they were covered. Jim was of no help at all on the 'up front' billing switch.
THE FRAUD - We then got 14 calls from Tina in the next day and a half, as she sought permission to charge our card. Then, she stopped calling and we later discovered that she had processed a charge on our credit card for the full amount of the move, DESPITE A CLEAR EMAIL FROM US DENYING AUTHORITY TO DO SO.
MORE FRAUD - We were shocked at the weight overage and requested a reweigh. AMS said we would need to pay for the reweigh, which we did. The reweigh showed they had somehow manipulated the weight to overcharge us for 650 pounds. Even on the reweigh they manipulated the weight by having two people in the truck on the weigh-in, and only one on the weigh-out.
At this point, they thought it was just fine to say, oops, you caught us, we'll give you a refund. We have no idea how many customers are over-charged for weight. We do know that the GAO did a report on 'weight bumping' from movers because it was such an issue. We gave Jim Dixon a copy of the report - no response.
MORE SHENANIGANS - AMS next claimed that though they had been able to charge our credit card, they could not process a credit for cheating u on the weight, and would need to send us a check. To this date, no check. When asked to tell us where, when and how the refund would be sent, no response. Finally we needed to dispute the credit card charge with our credit card company.
RSG and AMS are clearly in this together. Jim disappeared from the scene (he was paid - he got the deposit), gave no support when the 'bait and switch' to an up front payment instead of COD occurred, said he had no authority to 'negotiate' billing, and wimped out. AMS might be good for a local move, but international moves are clearly out of their league. The desperate nature of their chasing us to get authority to charge us up front, then not refunding promptly, would make one think they are financially fragile.
CONTACT US BEFORE YOU WORK WITH RSG OR AMS. We can share the entire email history or a summary of the experience. They will tell you that they do thousands of moves a year and you should ignore the negative reviews - DON'T LISTEN. Contact the reviewers. It is hard to believe such people are still in business.
