DO NOT HIRE THIS VILE COMPANY!!!
Kristine
Submitted this review about
Speedy Movers
Review made Live: 10/9/2015 7:32:00 PM
Speedy Movers is a scam company. Unfortunately, I found out too late that they exhibit all the hallmark signs of the "bait and switch" scheme commonly used by fraudulent movers.
Speedy Movers' profitability is due entirely to the deliberate deception of customers, and in the process causing untold hardship and misery. You can read countless stories on moving review websites of the abuse people have suffered at the hands of Speedy Movers. The circumstances of each case vary, but at the core their MO is the same with all of their customers. First they quote you a low price and agree your terms. They pick up your stuff and without your knowledge pile on fraudulent charges. Then they hold your possessions hostage until you pay the ransom, and finally, they refuse to answer your calls.
Speedy Movers operates under a number of different company names, which makes it easier for them to avoid scrutiny and accountability. I've listed the names of these companies at the end of my review. They all operate in the same calculated, abusive way.
I hired Speedy Movers to transport my mother's possessions after she passed away. There were two destinations, one in Washington and the other in California. I chose this company because the quote they gave me was far lower than other companies, and because they agreed to accommodate my requirements for the move. At this point I had no reason to suspect that my long hellish nightmare with Speedy Movers was about to unfold.
The ordeal began the day before the move when I received a call from Daniel, the supervisor of the sales department. He said they would have to add a "location fee" of $1500 because my mother's home in Durango, CO was in a "remote location". When I protested, he became rude, overbearing and intimidating. I had paid a deposit and he knew I did not have time to find another mover. I had no choice but to proceed with the move. Naively, I thought this would be the only problem I would encounter.
I became concerned when the movers arrived at my mother's house in a Budget rental truck. The two men were inept and seemed shifty. They were anything but professional. At that point I should have called off the move, but I ignored my better instincts. I found out later that Speedy Movers is a broker, they do not have their own trucks.
They loaded my mother's possessions onto their truck and immediately demanded $2500 in cash before they would take the load to their warehouse. I was completely shocked, but had no choice but to pay it. When they drove away I did not know where they were going, nor if I would ever see my mother's things again.
The next day when I received an invoice for the move I saw that numerous fraudulent charges had been added to my bill. The movers had lied about the time they arrived at my mother's house. They said that no one was home when they arrived and they had to wait for two hours. I have witnesses and phone records to show that this was false. They added a two hour "waiting fee" to my bill which cost an additional $600. The ironic part is that we had to wait nearly two hours for them to show up! Their excuse was that they had been delayed by road construction.
I was charged an additional $180 for packing four pieces of furniture. I had been told by Daniel, the supervisor of sales that the packing would be included at no charge as partial compensation for the "location fee" he added. This charge turned out to be particularly outrageous because it was the mover's insufficient and inept packing that contributed to the destruction of my mother's furniture.
I was charged an additional $637 for "overload". They lied about the cubic footage of the load. The combined total of my load was 210 cubic feet (I have proof of this on videotape), but I was charged for 520 cubic feet. They were off by 310 cubic feet! I found out later that legitimate movers measure the load by weight, not cubic footage, which is easy for fraudulent movers to falsify.
A $150 fuel surcharge was added. The regulations state that this cost is to be included in the move, not added on..
These additional charges added up to $3067 more than the original quote. The regulations state that the final cost cannot be more than 10% over the binding quote.
When I received the invoice and saw that I was being unfairly charged I thought it had to have been a mistake. I placed a frantic call to customer service hoping to clear up the confusion about the inappropriate charges and the demand for $2500 in cash.
Nothing could have prepared me for the abusive treatment I received from Katya Spivak, the Customer Service supervisor. Despite the factual information I gave her, she justified the fraudulent charges. From the moment she picked up the phone she was defensive, confrontational and unbelievably rude. She talked over me and yelled into the phone, at one point even calling me a liar. I was horrified...never in my life had I been spoken to this way.
Hoping they would verify my facts, I tried to reach Daniel and Paul in the sales department, the dispatcher who scheduled the move, and Ari, the driver who picked up the load in Durango. But each time I called I was routed directly to Customer Service. I was told by Katya Spivak that after a move has taken place the customer is not allowed to speak to anyone who has been involved with the move. I doubt it would have mattered, they're all part of the conspiracy.
The reality of the situation finally became clear. It had been the company's intention all along to deceive me. The fees they piled on were based on the lies they made up!
I threatened to call the Federal authorities and seek assistance from my attorney. Katya said "go ahead, it won't do any good". My attorney said these scammers count on the fact that people in the midst of moving are not going to take action against a moving company for a few thousand dollars, particularly if they are in another state.
Three days after the pick-up in Durango the load to CA was delivered. A box containing 12 place settings of Lenox china was missing. I presume they were stolen. These dishes had been in our family for two generations. At today's prices, just one place setting is $400!
Meanwhile, the load to WA had been taken to a warehouse in Denver where it was held hostage until I paid another $1450. This represented 60% of the "adjusted" cost. The original binding quote was $2126. The bill had now ballooned to $5725. That is $3600 more than the price I was quoted! Not one of the added costs was justified, but I was afraid that if I didn't pay this new "ransom" my mother's things would be destroyed.
I called the company over and over to find out when the shipment would be delivered to my house in WA. Sometimes the phone rang and rang with no outgoing message, another indicator they were not legitimate. At those times when I was able to leave a message I never received a call back. The few times I actually spoke with someone, I was told that the move had not been scheduled. I felt rising panic that I would never get my mother's things.
By this time I had started to read customer reviews of this company on moving review websites. It was sickening to see how this same pattern of abuse is universal among the victims of Speedy Movers. All of them were required to pay fraudulent charges before they could receive their shipments, and every single review told of entire shipments lost or completely destroyed.
On the 37th day after the pick-up in Durango, I received a call from a mover who had been contracted to deliver my shipment to WA. He said he would be arriving at my house in two hours. The regulations state that the moving company is required to give 24 hours notice, but Speedy Movers had not bothered to tell me. Before the driver would unload the truck I had to pay another $840.
The despicable treatment I had received from Speedy Movers was outrageous enough, but the damage to my mother's possessions was far more devastating. As the truck was unloaded I was stunned to see the broken and battered boxes and furniture as they emerged. These were not merely household goods. They were precious family heirlooms and irreplaceable photographs...all of them damaged, destroyed, or lost entirely. These were the only things my siblings and I had left of our mother's possessions, and they had been treated with utter disregard. To say the least, I was shocked and heartbroken.
Every box was dented and crushed, and two were torn open with their contents broken or missing. They all looked as though they had been kicked and stomped on. One box of photographs arrived with the top torn open. Sadly, one third of the photos are missing.
All four pieces of furniture were badly damaged, and two are beyond repair. A table base was splintered into pieces, a 100-year-old desk was warped and had huge pieces gouged out of the top, a 60" round marble table top had a hole in the middle and a large chip out of the edge, and a cherished 150-year-old cedar chest was scratched and missing a leg. These were the four pieces of furniture we paid $180 to have them wrap!
The contract mover who delivered the load to us was equally shocked at the condition of our furniture and boxes. He told us they were in that condition when he picked them up at the warehouse in Denver. There is no doubt, this degree of damage could only have occurred intentionally.
I sent Katya Spivak an email detailing the extreme damage to my property. Her response was, "a minimal amount of damage can happen in an interstate move". She told me to make a claim for the damages and for the charges I believed were inappropriate. I have called and emailed repeatedly to request a legible copy of my Bill of Lading, which I needed to make a damage claim. They will not return my calls.
Perhaps the most shocking part of this entire ordeal is the hacking of my email. The quotes, invoices and all of my correspondence with Speedy Movers disappeared from my email account shortly after I refuted their fraudulent charges and threatened to report them. No other emails were missing.
I have worked with Comcast Security and Apple's technical consultants to recover these emails. They cannot find any evidence they existed, yet I have printed hard copies of the emails. It was the conclusion of Comcast and Apple that my email had indeed been hacked. According to them it can and does happen. Apparently, for a skilled hacker it is not that difficult.
Speedy Movers uses movingclaims.net to process their claims. They too are brokers, and their reputation is just as bad as Speedy Movers! Customers endure an endless process of paperwork and delays, only to be awarded a fraction of their claim. Speedy Movers disputes every claim and rarely ends up paying anything.
I've also discovered that Speedy Movers does business under different names. They are just one company in an extensive web of companies, all perpetuating the same pattern of fraud. These companies have a mix and match of names, DOT numbers, addresses, phone numbers, principals and managers, all interrelated in one way or another through these common threads.
Lucy Van Lines, Precision Movers Group, Frontier Van Lines, Allways Moving and Storage, Priority One Movers, Orange Van Lines, National Movers, Eco Movers (I'm sure there are more) are all part of the same group of companies out to rip off unsuspecting people. If you look them up on moving review websites they all have the same dreadful reputation. Based on the constant stream of complaints the BBB gives them all a rating of "F".
Speedy Movers is a company of thugs preying on unsuspecting people by luring them with "bait and switch" tactics. The most egregious aspect of this conduct is that it victimizes people at a time when they are in transition and most vulnerable.
If you have been victimized by any of these companies, please report your experience to the FMSCA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration), either online at fmcsa@dot.gov or by phone at 888-368-7238. This is the Federal agency responsible for regulating moving companies. They take these violations very seriously and they have the authority to fine companies and even shut them down. Your story gives them the ammunition they need. I have found them to be very helpful.
You can also report your experience to the Attorney General of Texas, the Texas DMV (oversees movers in Texas), Consumer Affairs, the Texas BBB, moverescue.com, peopleclaim.com and ripoffreport.com.
