The nearly month long saga with Wheaton has finally come to an end today. We were scheduled to have our pick up in CA on April 26. We did a binding estimate with People Movers the contract agent for Wheaton in CA. When the driver arrived on April 25 to tag and inventory the load he mentioned his concern about being unable to fit our entire load on his truck as both his earlier pick ups exceeded their estimates by a total of 6,000 lbs. When we voiced concern to him about not getting all our stuff on the truck, he assured us it shouldn't be a problem.
The next morning they began the process of loading. Sometime around 1:30 PM the driver began to realize that our entire load was not going to fit on his truck. It wasn't until this time that he contacted the contract agent's office to inform them of the situation. Since it was already Friday afternoon, they had no truck or driver available to come and pick up the remainder of our stuff. They informed us that they would be unable to come until the following morning. This threw off our plans to begin driving across country the next morning and had to delay leaving by a full day.
The following morning a U-Haul was sent to take the remaining items back to the People Movers warehouse. Since it was Saturday the Wheaton offices were closed so we could not get any estimate as to when to expect our other items. Our contact person told us on Friday she would call us Monday morning to inform us of the remaining shipment.
We were on the road Sunday through Wednesday and never heard from Wheaton. We contacted Wheaton on Wednesday to find out what was going on with our second shipment. They could not give us any timeframe since they had no drivers available going from CA to the east coast and the items would have to remain in storage. Our main shipment arrived on May 3 with some damage to furniture and boxes as it was clear items were literally squeezed onto the truck to maximize what he was able take.
Several days later we still were unable to get any timeframe on our remaining items. Fingers were being pointed between Wheaton, the contract agent, and the original driver. Nobody took any responsibility for it.
On May 17 we finally got word that our items were picked up from the warehouse in CA and would be coming within 7 to 10 days. Wheaton agreed to deduct $40 per day off the final bill total which came to roughly $700 off. Today May 23 we finally got the remainder of our stuff. To make matters worse, it is evident that boxes were opened and appear to have been sorted through. Since they were shuttled around and warehoused, good luck trying to determine where or when this happened. On top of that, the driver who delivered the remaining items was rude, arrogant, and felt the need to stop and smoke every 30 minutes instead of unloading my items.
Nearly a month after our original pick up this saga is drawing to a close. Still waiting to hear back from Wheaton about the condition of our items in the second shipment and what they plan to do about it. Nonetheless, if you need to hire a company, DO NOT consider Wheaton!
