Unprofessional, left our important information
Sam C
Submitted this review about
Victory Van Lines
Review made Live: 10/8/2012 3:59:00 PM
I have never written a review before but I feel strongly about my experience with Victory Van Lines. They handled our belongings well - packing and moving was very good and I would recommend them in this regard. However, we were given an estimate that was a "guaranteed maximum" [dollar amount]. What was not explained is that it is only a guaranteed maximum amount IF YOU DO NOT EXCEED THE WEIGHT LIMIT they estimate. (As if my wife has any idea how much our household belongings actually weigh! In fact, I don't care how much it weighs, I only care how much it costs to move it. The movers are the ones who need to care. This notion completely befuddles the folks at Victory.) We were guranteed that the bill would not be higher than the estimate, with the added assurance that our estimator "has been doing this for 12 years" and he was "a professional". The movers showed up with a truck that I immediately guessed was too small; turned out that I was right, and at the end of the day, about a pickup truck worth of belongings (~700 lbs) would not fit in, despite the best efforts of the great movers. Here's the rub: they refused to return to pack and move the remaining items unless I paid them an additional $1900. (This number was provided after much discussion, emails, and time on the phone. The initial cost was $2600!) This was an increase in cost of over 30%! The rationale they rested on was that the figure they gave me was "an estimate" (even though they guaranteed they would not exceed it) and that they already were moving more weight than they estimated and were not going to charge me for that. My argument was simply that the person who performed the on-site estimate, professionally and ethically, should be bound by the cost etimate they provided, especially after assuring us several times that they are "professionals" and have "12 years experience" doing this AND WOULD NOT EXCEED IT (?!!).
In summary, I would not necessarily warn against using Victory Van Lines; I would, however, caution very strongly to get the cost in writing. Be very careful when signing a contract. It says something close to this: " The above estimate is a guaranteed maximum of $6127.00 and will not exceed this amount. (10450 lbs)." Notice that the weight limit is after the period yet still in the first line. I would use Victory again ONLY IF THEY REMOVED THIS WEIGHT LIMIT FROM THEIR CONTRACT and actually gave a guaranteed upper price limit [that I was comfortable with]. They will argue that federal law requires movers to charge according to weight - again, I don't care how much my stuff weighs. They ar the professional movers and they are the ones who need to care about this. I only care what it costs.
Incidentally, I called another mover and they moved our belongings for $1000, nearly HALF the cost Victory gave as "their absolute lowest cost" to finish the job.
