What a nightmare
Mike
Submitted this review about
All My Sons
Review made Live: 12/6/2013 9:43:00 PM
I made arrangements to move my mother from her apartment in Ohio to my home in Georgia. I was assured that the load date would be on a certain Thursday or Friday. Because of my coming in from Georgia and the need of getting back to Georgia, it was necessary to have those dates as pickup dates. I made numerous phone calls and emails trying to find the exact day of loading. 3 different times I was told someone would call me by the end of the day...but unfortunately that never happened. All I wanted to know was the exact day of pickup so we could make proper plans. Finally on the Wednesday before the agreed upon Thursday pickup date, I still had not heard an exact date or time. Was a truck coming the next day or not? So I had to make calls trying to track down someone to answer that basic question. Finally, someone called me back and told me the pickup would be on the following Saturday instead. I’m not sure what happened to the original agreement that was made…the one I signed along with the estimate. Because of the need to return to Georgia for my job, changing the day to Saturday was already causing an inconvenience. That was the whole purpose of making the agreement in the first place so I could make proper plans.
So I had no choice but to accept that date, and was told the truck would be at the apartment between 8am and 12 noon. I thought that was a very large window to have to wait. I mean, if I wasn’t scheduled to be first to be loaded on that Saturday, then why would I have to be waiting at 8am? Anyway, I once again, had no choice but to agree to what I was being told. So, on Saturday morning, I went to the apartment and sat at the front door at 8am to wait for the truck. 4 hours later, there was still no truck. So, once again, I had to take the initiative to make contact with the company to find out where the truck was.
Can you imagine my surprise to find out that there was no truck coming? I was told the truck was there on Friday and they were unable to contact me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I told them that their dispatcher had called me on Wednesday and scheduled the pickup for Saturday. He said again that they tried to call me but couldn’t get through to me. I asked him what number he was trying to call, and of course, he didn’t know that answer. (I suspected that.) I told him that it’s strange that others have been able to call me including the dispatcher on Wednesday who called from the exact same number that I was talking to as I was talking to him. I said it would also have been possible to contact the Cincinnati office to get my number since that’s where my “agreement” and “contract” was through. But I don’t think he appreciated me pointing out an obvious customer service point to him.
But there was nothing that could be done. No truck was available any longer to be able to get my things. I asked what was the point of me making arrangements 2 weeks ago if I couldn’t be picked up when I was told. But basically he was blaming me for not being able to be reached. I told him before he blamed me any longer, perhaps he better check with the person in his office that placed the call to me on Wednesday….the one who scheduled me on Saturday, and the one who had my phone number.
So, he suggested I find someone in the area to meet the truck on Monday and that would allow me to go home to Georgia. I asked him what I was supposed to do about the deposit…was I expected to have my friend or relative ready with a bunch of cash to pay the truck driver the deposit? He said, “What deposit?” I couldn’t believe that I had to remind HIM that it was necessary for me to give a deposit to the driver before he loaded the truck. He said I could get cash or a cashier’s check. It was now Saturday afternoon, and if I was about to go back to Georgia, there would be no way I could get a cashier’s check from closed banks, or even find a way to get that much cash out of an ATM. I would have to wait until Monday morning to do that anyway. That, of course, didn’t concern him.
So, anyway, that left no choice, but for my wife and me to stay through Monday and leave Tuesday for Georgia. We both have jobs that we need to get back to, so I feel that it was totally unacceptable for us to sacrifice our job relationships because of their company not being able to keep their commitment.
So I WAS able to make arrangements for someone to be there but she had small children who would be coming home from school, so the timing had to be right. I should have known better. But we still didn’t know what time on Monday the truck would be coming. They would call me on Monday morning to let me know. Isn’t anyone in that company organized? I made sure they had my phone number again just in case I would receive blame on Monday again.
Monday came and the time was decided on…and of course, they were more than 2 hours late from when they said. So much for this lady being able to get her children from school. So she needed to make those arrangements, which inconvenienced someone else.
It turns out the driver could not find the address of where to pick up the furniture. He couldn’t find it in his GPS. Well, he had the wrong city. He was trying to find our address in another city and it wasn’t coming up. So, he was delayed because of that. He had the wrong city and zip code. Where did he get that information? I don’t know anything about that city or zip code. Isn’t anyone in that company organized?
When the truck finally arrived, we had another problem. The driver showed up with a much higher estimate than what we originally had agreed upon. How could he as a driver have a higher estimate from someone who was actually at the apartment looking at things? While that’s not really a big deal since it’s just an estimate, it DID affect the amount of the deposit that the driver needed to accept. The lady helping me had only so much cash which was based on the original estimate. So he needed to receive a higher deposit. We are now bordering on unethical practices. He called his supervisor in Florida to try to work it out. To the driver’s credit he decided to begin to load while waiting for his supervisor to call back. 2 hours later, the supervisor still had not called back. So the driver continued trying to reach his supervisor as to what to do. At around 6:00 they finished loading the truck but still had no answer. (Again, so much for this lady being able to get her kids and get dinner for her family.)
At around 6:30, I called the driver from Georgia and demanded that he resolve this and allow the lady to go home. I offered to pay by credit card over the phone or whatever he needed. I also explained to him that I had a copy of the quote that I signed that said I only owed so much and it was unethical to demand more at this point. He apologized and said he had just gotten ahold of his supervisor. He told me his supervisor had forgotten about him. Of course. Once again, the customer was not a priority. Isn’t anyone in that company organized?
But he said the supervisor told him to go ahead and accept the originally agreed upon money. Thank you, Mr. Supervisor. That could have very easily been resolved hours earlier. Can you imagine what would have happened if the driver hadn’t decided to start loading the furniture and would have waited for his supervisor to call him back? The supervisor had forgotten about him, which means the supervisor had forgotten about a paying customer. How sad.
I believe there is a definite breakdown in that company in regards to proper customer service. I worked in the customer service field for many years. One thing I learned is that you never tell a customer that you “can’t” do something. Instead you try to explain the situation and let them know what you CAN do to help the need. But I received many “can’ts” along the way. I also even received the blame in one case because I couldn’t be reached. But even now as I look back on that situation and compare it to what the driver told me about having the wrong town in the first place, it makes me wonder what they were talking about when they said they tried to pick up my stuff on Friday but couldn’t get ahold of me...how strange.
Finally 2 weeks later, the furniture arrived in Georgia. They traveled from Ohio to Florida and reloaded my things in another truck and eventually brought it back to me in Georgia. Too bad they couldn’t have dropped my stuff off when they were traveling through Georgia to get to Florida in the first place. But I guess I don’t understand “true organization.” When the driver presented me with the paperwork to sign before he unloaded the truck, he had no proof of the cost. He had no information as to what the weight of my furniture was. Since the move is based on the weight of my items, shouldn’t that be provided as a proof of cost? But he had nothing. All he had was a blank sheet, not filled in that I was to sign. I said I wasn’t signing anything because it’s blank. Any amount could be filled in after I signed, and I wanted to see proof of the weight. He didn’t have that, but he quickly filled in a couple of lines on this blank form to show what I was to pay. This nightmare had gone on long enough. I signed so we could get the truck unloaded and I could have All My Sons out of my life.
I understand that things can happen. Situations can take place that are not a part of the plans. That is actually a normal thing to expect in life. But this obviously was a pattern of things that took place from the beginning. Other potential customers need to know.
I had previously had a very positive experience with All My Sons in an earlier move. At that time, everything was handled properly – communication, commitment, helpfulness, timing…everything. So I had no doubts or concerns in using them again in this move. It’s a shame that my attitude toward All My Sons has changed.
I feel that this company has done my family wrong. The communication was very poor. The commitment to what they said they would do was even worse.
I, as a paying customer, was not treated properly. I’m afraid the money that I paid for this move was NOT a good investment. I will tell anyone who listens to avoid this company. You don’t know what you will get. In a move such as this, your only desire is to have things done in a proper and organized manner, treating you with respect concerning your time and belongings. Too bad you can’t be assured of that happening.
