Delivered Late
Mike Conca
Submitted this review about
Chipman Relocations
Review made Live: 1/22/2010 11:04:00 AM
Chipman Relocation's was great on the front end - coming out for the estimate, explaining the process, getting the truck there, packing. Our stuff was going into storage, and that seemed to go well, too.
Things went badly from that point. Our move coordinator checked in as we were leaving and told us "Just call me seven days before you want your items." Per those instructions, once we'd found our new house, I called a little over a week before I wanted our household goods and arranged delivery. The move coordinator said "No problem, the driver will call about 24 hours before his arrival."
The day before the delivery I still hadn't heard anything so I called to check on the status. "What are you talking about?" was the response I got. Uh-oh. I explained I had called the week before to arrange delivery and was expecting to hear from the driver. I was told that the move coordinator misunderstood my request and thought I wanted it *next* month, not tomorrow.
I was told it would be another week before they could get my things to me. So I was paying a mortgage on a new house I couldn't move into as well as another week of temporary living expenses.
United Van Lines, who Chipman Relocations represents, has a $125 per diem for every day that a shipment is late. I asked how I went about applying for this, but was told that the delay was not United's fault and that they wouldn't pay. This was simply a misunderstanding between myself and Chipman, I was told.
Misunderstanding or not, Chipman promised delivery on a certain date and the household goods were delivery 7 days after that date. All attempts to reason with Chipman failed and they continue to refuse to honor the $125 per diem delay reimbursement from the contract.
Despite the pleasant front end experience, it is the final delivery that counts when moving. Chipman Relocations failed completely in this regard, greatly inconveniencing my family from both a time and money point-of-view.
I cannot recommend against Chipman Relocations strongly enough. From experience I know that finding a better moving company won't be easy, but it would be difficult to find worse.
