Blood Boiling
David & Melissa
Submitted this review about
Master Movers LLC
Review made Live: 6/26/2006 10:04:00 PM
Boy am I glad that there is a place to actually review this "fly-by-night" company. On 3/4/2006 we were quoted a price of $1373 to move a small 2 bedroom apartment from Indianapolis, IN to California. We had arranged for them to pick up our belongings on 4/3/2006 between 7:00am and 8:00am. They initially seemed like a good company to us. they called frequently to confirm the times and the night before they told us they would be there around 8:30am (not the 7-8am like they said earlier). The next morning they did not arrive at 8:30. At 8:25 they did call us to let us know that they were about 1/2 hour away because they could not find a scale (the company is based in Indianapolis and they couldn't find a scale?). When we set up the move we had told Peter (the man we were originally dealing with) that it was important that they be there as soon as possible, and that we had a schedule to follow since we would be traveling most of the day. In the end nearly an hour after they said they would be there they show up at 9:25am. We told Peter on the phone that they never contacted us again to tell us when they were running later than the 1/2 they stated earlier. Needless to say because they were not finished with the packing of the truck until early afternoon Hotel reservations had to be canceled, and we encurred an extra nights stay on the way.
As they packed our stuff we were informed that we were over our estimate. At the time Master Movers website stated "guaranteed estimate". a statement that has since dissappeared. We were 10 items over and about 900 pounds over the original estimate that Peter had given us. (10 items = 900 Lbs, Okaaaay) (they had also wraped 2 tables and their legs separately so that makes 4 items instead of 2) There online estimate tool had us estimate the number and type of items in our apartment, and we were careful try and over estimate what we had. They returned our query with their estimated weight (2198 Lbs) and a price ($1373) to move us. At the time we finalized the estimate we also requested Peter use the coupon to give us a month of extra storage which he said he would do.
Master Movers also told us that wrapping of furniture (including pads) was also included with the move, however they had not told us until the day of the move that they would charge $3/roll for packing tape (and they used it very liberally) after 13 rolls and $39 more dollars we were starting to get more irritated with them.
We contacted Master Movers several times over the course of the next several weeks to address some issues concerning service problems, and because we had a change in our plans. They were slow to respond to us, we had to contact them 2 or 3 times to get a response.
In reference to the change in our plans, we changed our moving destination from Sacramento, CA to Boise, ID after some extensive discussion with family and each other. It was not anticipated and we had made our decision about that less than 1 week after we left Indiana. We called Master Movers immediately and talked to Peter and he said that it was no problem and that there would be no extra charge since the distance was shorter. We informed him of this 20 days in advance of the delivery date. and he said that since we had given him this much notice that there would be no problem. Well it was
We were also contacted about 1 week after they picked up our stuff and told that our stuff was ready for delivery. We were shocked, we had asked for 1 month storage and we called back to find out that our belongings were being loaded on the truck, fortunately we caught that in time just before the truck left, or we'd have really been up a creek. We didn't even have a place yet. They had not communicated that we had an extra months storage to their staff.
Near the end of april our account was handed by Peter over to Benjamin Moshe the Owner of the company, due to our numerous complaints. We went over the details of our complaints with him and were shocked to find out that Peter (or someone) had not informed Benjamin or anyone else, that the moving destination had changed, this now less than a week before our stuff was scheduled to be shipped. (So not only could or stuff have ended up being delivered a month too early it could have also ended up in Sacramento when we were in Boise.)
Dealing with Benjamin has been a real pain. As the owner of the company I had an expectation of him to "do the right thing" and help us out. He would not concede on any of our requests to get service credits for the movers being late, charging us for extra items, penalizing us with an extra $.20 per pound for weight over the estimate limit. (We feel that their estimate was not fair and accurate).
Also, he told us that our move was going to be MORE expensive. That we'd have to pay another $.20 per pound to move to Idaho because it was a "different route" A claim that we were not willing to accept. He tried to seem fair by waiving the overweight fee and just charging the now $.89 per pound fee (up from $.69 per pound) We told Benjamin that this was unacceptable. He then agreed to ship our stuff but only if we paid the full amount (estimate+overage) for the California Shipment. We reluctantly agreed to do that realizing that there was no negotiating with Mr. Moshe
When our stuff was delivered a week late and at 10 at night by a "Mayflower" truck we were told to sign a document stating we needed to describe loss or damage. We were informed by the driver that we could contact Master Movers directly and that we should just sign. After we asked him whether that would affect our ability to make a claim and he said it wouldn't we signed with hesitation. They didn't go over the itemized list they did not help us by reassembling furnishings, they came late and left in less than 1-1/2 hours and did nothing extra, but they tossed boxes off of the truck and our Particle board desks are now wobbly when they were sturdy. Over the next week we began slowly discovering damage and broken items and even one missing item.
Since the move calls and emails to Master Movers regarding Damages and Improper handling of our belongings at the time of delivery have been mostly unanswered.
We have filed a claim with the BBB of Indianapolis but our claim seems not to be effective at this point, especially since we signed that paper (under what I would consider to be duress)
To Summarize: I know that I have gone on in great length to describe the details of our move, but all Master Movers will talk about on their website is how GREAT of a company they are, and we want people to be able to make a more informed decision about their moving provider. I know others have had no problems with Master Movers, but we have had many.
