Good Website + Horrible Customer Service = Never Use Again
J. Felix
Submitted this review about
Continental Moving Company
Review made Live: 6/11/2007 11:23:00 AM
Initially, I was impressed by the Continental Moving Company. Their "relocation consultant", Celeste Ward, was very responsive and helpful with modifying their initial quote and answering my questions. Once things moved on to actually booking the move, things changed for the worse. I was put in touch with Alice, who was supposed to contact me several weeks before my move to make sure all the details were in place - after I left multiple voicemail and email messages she finally got back to me, 2 days before the move.
When the movers came to pickup my stuff at a storage facility the move started going further downhill - the driver, Lane, had just purchased a brand new truck and it would prove to be the source of much frustration. Because his truck was "brand new", Lane did not want to risk scratching it and refused to pull into the obscenely large vacant parking lot. Lane indicated that Continental Moving would have to charge me a "transfer fee" to move my stuff to the road - after a heated conversation with Alice, Continental decided not to charge me.
Well, once my stuff got to Virginia the real fun began! The driver refused to drive down my street to make deliveries to my house (even though moving semis regularly make this trip) because he was afraid he might scratch his "custom exhaust pipes" on some tree limbs (that happened to stick about 5-6 feet above the custom cab - much higher than other exhaust pipes I have seen). I asked Lane about this and he says that he runs into this problem all the time with the pipes being to high. Continental Moving Company said that I would have to pay a $450 "transfer fee" to move everything to my house via Uhaul from the truck or risk not getting it all delivered - all because this driver didn't want to risk scratching his new exhaust pipes. Alice even told me that I wouldn't have encountered this with an older truck.
Well, I spoke with Rick Haberstroh, the president of Continental Moving, about this situation, and he said all he could do is apologize and send me a $50 check for my inconvenience. He said in matters like these he has to side with the driver EVEN THOUGH he understands the stupidity of a driver having a custom truck that interferes with the driver's ability to make residential deliveries. Below is the email I received from Rick:
I'm sorry our conversation was not more to your liking. Your
goodwill check will go out today or tomorrow. We do appreciate you as a
customer and are sorry for your frustration with needing the shuttle. We
wish this situation could have been foreseen.
The American Moving and Storage Association and their arbitration
program for certified movers can be found at http://www.moving.org/
Rick
Rick Haberstroh, President
Continental Moving Company
Cross Country. Or Across Town.
Agent, northAmerican Van Lines
p-205-297-9710
f-205-324-8261
c-205-447-9710
I say shame on Rick and shame on Continental Moving Company for having corporate policies that favor the company and not the customer and for using drivers whose equipment prevents them from successfully making deliveries!
