Lion Transportation Inc. = Awful
Abby
Submitted this review about
Lion Transportation
Review made Live: 9/6/2010 10:59:00 PM
I've experiences some awful service in my 30 years, but Lion Transportation truly takes the cake. Let me tell you a bit about Lion Transportation, Inc. to save YOU the hardship my husband and I are currently enduring.
We planned a cross country move for the end of August, and did some research on CA based moving companies. Of all the reasonably priced options, we went with Lion Transportation, Inc. because their customer service was so great. We never had a problem reaching "Jesse" and she was always helpful in trying to answer our questions about the move. The estimate wasn't the best one we received, but we went with them because we trusted them. What a mistake!
Lion was supposed to contact us 24 hours before our move date, and never did. We called them multiple times during business hours that day and received no answer. Suddenly "Jesse" who had been so helpful, was incommunicado. Hmm... Lion was supposed to show up between 2-4 pm Saturday August 28th, and when we hadn't heard from them we started thinking about alternate plans. So you can imagine our relief when, at 3:55pm, the driver Avi finally called us. Yay! We were so relieved! He let us know they'd be late and they showed up at about 6 pm. Of course, the estimate was WAY off, and we ended up paying almost twice as much for our move.
However, that's actually not the biggest problem. It's not uncommon for moving companies to give low estimates to get an individual's business, and research has even shown that people are poor at estimating things like how much stuff they have, so I'm sure we were equally to blame for thinking we only had 35 boxes of stuff (we had more then that). Sure it sucks to pay TWICE what you thought you were going to (and you'd better actually have that money on hand, because they don't take credit cards) but for a solid moving company that will treat your belongings with respect and deliver them to you across the country, it's not the worst thing to pay TWICE as much as you expected.
The real problem is that Lion has had our stuff for a week and a half, and we haven't heard anything from them despite the fact that they're legally obligated to keep an open line of communication with their customers. We've tried calling their main office, no one picks up. We've tried calling their national line, no one picks up. We've tried calling our foreman, and he ignores our calls until we mask the number, then picks up only to give us the runaround about how he doesn't know where our stuff is, he's injured, he will get in touch with them etc. Unfortunately, he never makes good on his promise to give us information, and now refuses to pick up his phone, too. In fact, the only "communication" we've had with this company is via our bank statement, which showed us that they cashed our 65% payment check. Right on, Lion! This behavior is illegal according to the Movers' Rights pamphlet Lion gave us, so it's really odd and unsettling.
It's quite disconcerting to not be able to get in touch with the people who have all your earthly belongings. If I could go back in time, I'd smack myself and my husband for going with Lion for our move and say "No, fools! Don't do it! This could be one of the biggest mistakes of your life" But until they build a time traveling machine, I will settle for warning anyone who will listen NOT to go with this company. They've been awful since they came and took our stuff. It's been a nightmare. If you want to avoid this anxiety, please, do NOT use Lion Transportation.
