Do not use Ben Express Movers!
Stacey
Submitted this review about
Ben Express Movers
Review made Live: 1/10/2012 2:15:00 PM
BEN EXPRESS MOVERS - Outline that was sent to my Lawyer
1.) Scheduled to pick up between 8:00am-9:00am on June 20, 2011. One guy showed up in a budget rental truck at 10:30am. When I asked where his crew was he said on their way. 30 minutes later a young kid showed up wearing a labor ready t shirt. He was hired that morning from a local temp agency. This is not a professional mover handling my personal items.
2.) The Moving company was supposed to have everything loaded and moved in one day. It took 2 days - on June 20th the mover and the temp were there until 8:30pm when the mover who works for Good Team Movers informed me he was out of packing materials and could not get them until the next day. He promised he would be there at 8am the next day, he did not show up until 9:30am and he was alone. He had to finish packing and moving the rest of the house by himself. He finished at 4:30pm on June 21, 2011.
3.) The movers truck died. So they could not load the truck the first day until my father in law jumped the truck with his suv. They could not load since the battery was dead and the lift would not run.
4.) Due to the fact that the mover ran out of materials and could not load the truck until later in the day - half our items were loaded on the truck and half were left in the house. I voiced my concerns to the driver (Ashley) who works for good team movers, I now had to leave my house empty overnight with some expensive belongings in it when the local temp knew that it was going to be an empty house with plasma tv's and furniture in it. I was concerned about this, when i voiced this concern it was made public to the hired temp and he stated - don't you have an ADT alarm system here? Which concerned me even more that he was that familiar with the type of alarm system the house had installed and I did not let him in on the fact that it was not hooked up.
5.) The first afternoon I called Crystal, my sales rep with Ben Express and told her I was very upset with the situation and this was not what i was promised. I said you told me you do not hire out and her reply was we do not when I told her about the temp and what had happened she said she would find out what was going on and call me back. She never did. I called 6 times that day and left 4 messages. I also called the following day until finally Crystal called and said well the truck is being loaded isn't it? I said I need to speak to a supervisor she said one will call me back. Michelle - who claimed to be a supervisor called me back, I started to explain the situation to her and she got quite short, she said she hired the temp because a guy got sick. I said that is not what the driver said, he said the other guy was sent on another job alone also and this happens a lot to save money. She said no that is not true. I said well I was promised professional movers and a move done in one day and she said the services were provided. I said not the services that were contratced and promised. She said lets get to the point you are not getting anything back, I was taken aback by her tone and her attitude - she should be sympathetic but she did not care to hear about the situation when i said i would contact my lawyer she said good you do that and hung up. (I did find out when Ashley and Michael delivered the furniture that Michael had been scheduled to do our move with Ashley but he said he was sent to another move. When I asked if he had been sick he laughed and said no, I was moving another house.
6.) The contract states our items were to be delivered July 1, 2011. I called July 27, 2011 to verify the delivery with good team movers (hired by Ben Express Movers) he asked me if I could take the delivery early. I said no, we have not closed on the house yet. I asked if it was going to be an issue to get our belongings delivered on the 1st as contracted and he said no worse case scenario your stuff will be there by the 2nd. I started to get a bad feeling. I tried to call back Wednesday and Thursday and no one would return my calls. We waited Friday and no one was answering the phone or returning calls. Late in the afternoon a guy named Michael called, he said our stuff was in a storage facility in Atlanta but his guys were 5 hours away. He would call me back with an update and again worse case they would deliver the 2nd. He never called back - July 2nd we called and called we got a machine we left message after message finally in the afternoon Michael returned my husbands phone call and said the guys would be delivering today he swore or it would be free. They showed up at 4pm on Saturday, July 2, 2011.
7.) When the movers arrived they would not unload until we paid them and signed the papers. They also informed us they do not take any packing materials except what their furniture blankets with them., I was told by Crystal they removed all the boxes and materials when they left. We were also charged for packing materials on the contract when we paid for full service packing and that was supposed to be included.
8.) I have many photos of broken and damaged items. Many items were dirty, broken and displaced. The mover who had to move items on his own from PA ran out of materials the 2nd day and he started throwing items all together in our luggage and plastic storage bins. My daughters photos, vases etc were thrown in a duffel bag without wrapping and were broken and smashed. Her white bedroom furniture has black marks all over it. Along with other items we own. The movers also drilled huge holes in the back of her dresser when they tried to re attach the mirror. They drilled through the back of the dresser into her drawers and broke off the screw head so they pushed it against the wall and left it. It was wobbly and not attached properly and luckily it did not fall and hurt someone.
9.) The moulding in our PA home was broken when Ashley tried moving mattresses and boxsprings on his own. The walls were banged up and had to be touched up and the moulding fixed. The mattresses were only half wrapped since he again ran out of materials.
10.) -Items broken Picture frames, pictures, plates, candle sconces, gemstones have gauges in them, computer credenza, tool chest was bent on the bottom and the drawer will not close properly,
11.) Items were boxed together - the mover threw items that were delicate in our storage bins with basement items and metal items that broke or scratched them.
This was the worst, most stressful experience and the company is just terrible. My lawyer could not even get ahold of anyone - they tried contacting them numerous times. I feel like I was totally taken advantage of and we ended up paying a ridiculous amount more to get our belongings. We had no choice and there is no way to reach an owner. Michelle the supervisor just yells at you and will hang up on you.
Crystal had told me she had a good estimate on the pricing since I had given her a total based on a professional moving company that had been to the house and estimated all of our belongings and what the cubic feet /weight would be.
Do not use this company!!! Go to a professional company that will come to your house. Do not make the same mistake we did with these people. We have not received any compensation for anything - they do not even answer the phone.
