I would like to share my experiences with American Moving and Storage out of Ft. Lauderdale Florida and Glass City Movers out of Toledo Ohio.
• We were promised a pick up time of between 12 and 4pm on November 4th. They did not arrive until 6:30 pm and then said they “forgot” to weigh the truck. They had to drive back out to the freeway to weigh the truck and did not return until almost 8pm. They didn’t finish loading the truck until after 10:30pm .
• When they arrived they looked around the house and said that we had a lot more things than were on the inventory sheet. The problem was that the truck they sent was not a Semi-truck but a smaller box truck that was already 2/3 full before ever arriving. We had to pick out what was “most important” to us. We were not given the option of them sending a bigger truck or of having a second truck sent. We had to leave behind things with a used replacement value of $2500.00 such as 2 couches,1 lazyboy chair, Leather chair ,12 inch Table saw, etc. Most of these things WERE on the original inventory. I was never followed up with closer to move date to see if my inventory had changed. Several items we ended up leaving behind were on the inventory such as a table saw and antique crocks. This was also a major problem because we were renting that house and we had to leave all of those things in the home. This caused us to lose our security deposit. We asked them if they could at least carry the couches to the curb so the trash company could pick them up and they refused saying they don’t touch anything that is not being moved. My husband and I have physical ailments and we are unable to lift and carry heavy objects.
• The company that arrived was Glass City Movers out of Toledo Ohio. We hired American Moving and Storage out of Ft. Lauderdale Florida. We were told repeatedly that American moving and storage was not a broker. The agent that booked our move got on the phone with me and went over how to look up their company using their Department of transportation number to review for safety, complaints, type of license and insurance information. Never once was Glass City movers mentioned. Their DOT id was not provided for research and review. I did not become aware that they had hired another company to do the move until the day before when I had to make out the check. I feel this was misleading and did not allow me to fully research the company who was actually performing the move. They never mentioned that their company would not be the one arriving at our door.
• As far as the price goes, I was given an estimate of $1344.99 for 2325 pounds. I was told that was an average weight and it would be dependent of total weight at the end. The end price was $2016.56 almost $700.00 more. I feel like they intentionally give you a low ball estimate lower than other companies so you will book with them and then in the end, the total is always much higher. It felt like a bait and switch. If you refuse to pay the difference, they hold your stuff hostage and won’t give it to you!
• I did complain verbally and in writing to American moving and storage. We traded emails and phone calls for a few weeks and finally an offer of $100. refund was made. I told them that this was unacceptable for all that we had left behind. They came back and said at first that they would refund us $300 If we would write up our complaint and let them read it before publishing it. The man I spoke to James Scott told me that they were not asking us to lie. They said we could put on paper our experiences but that they wanted to make sure that we did reference the fact that his company did work with us to rectify our issues. I wrote the review and in it I did as he instructed and I mentioned the issues factually but also said the company did work with me. I emailed the review to James and he called me several days later after I sent two follow up emails and said that what I wrote was unflattering to his company and NOW I could only get the $300. Refund if I agreed not to publish anything at all! I would have to sign a waiver stating that I would never publish any review or complaints. I said what happened to us being able to tell our side? He said that himself “we are not asking you to lie”. The bottom line is they wanted to buy my silence for $300. Bucks!! This is immoral and probably illegal and it is definitely bad business.
• I would NEVER hire this company again. I would advise you to NOT hire this company. They lie and they cheat and they try to strong arm you into a good review. We lost a bunch of things that we really wanted but had no way to get them down here. My landlord kept my security deposit because all left all of those things in his house! In the end, I told them to stick their $300.00 because the truth was more important. What an unscrupulous bunch of thieves. I have received nothing for all of my trouble and aggravation.
