Absolute Worst Experience
Charlie
Submitted this review about
Merit Van Lines
Review made Live: 7/19/2011 5:08:00 PM
Dealing with Merit Van Lines has been an unbelievably horrible experience. I was quoted that my stuff would cost $1600 to move from NYC to Michigan. Once the movers showed up and put all my stuff into the truck, I was told that it would actually cost more than $4500 and forced me to sign a different contract than the one I was originally given with my quote. The new contract was completely different and outlined that it assessed charges based on the square footage of my stuff, NOT per item as the original contract said. This made a huge difference in price because Merit underestimates how much space an item takes up.
Outraged, I called Merit and complained that they were completely misleading me and price gouging. They explained that my only recourse would be to tell the movers to put all my stuff back into my apartment, which would cost well over a thousand dollars because I'd have to pay for $150 an hour for the movers time. At this point it was too late for me to do this because my apartment lease was up and I had a plane to catch to Michigan. So, after expressing my outrage with Merit, they decided to knock $300 dollars off the overall price -hardly a drop in the bucket.
The story only gets worse.
I was asked my first available move-in date to receive my stuff. I said within 2 days of the pickup and we left it at that. After a week of not hearing anything, I called to find out what was going on and was told 'once we get the truck drivers schedule we'll let you know first thing'. Two weeks go by and again I hear the same story. Three weeks go by and still my stuff hasn't left Jersey. After three and a half weeks I finally hear that my stuff is en route to Michigan. They give me the truck drivers name and tell me not to call them anymore and only call the driver. The driver doesn't pick up or return my calls for 5 days and I have no idea where my stuff is or when it's going to arrive. Working full-time makes this extremely stressful because I obviously can't up and leave to meet the phantom truck driver whenever he arrives. Finally, on a Friday night I get a call that he will be at my house in 2 hours, which happens to be at 11:30 at night! I tell him that is absolutely not going to happen and the man berates me. Finally, he settles on Monday morning at 7am...
7am rolls around and no one shows up. At 8:30, the long lost truck arrives and I get to actually see my stuff. The first chair that comes off the truck has a leg that was snapped off and someone tried to crudely glue it back on. This is a turn of the century french antique chair -a family heirloom piece- and I am now hysterical. More and more items of furniture are unpacked and completed ruined. An entire chair-back is fractured and loosely hanging, two table legs are snapped in half, a wicker chair is punctured and destroyed, a coffee table's legs are broken, and countless boxes are punctured as if with a bayonet. I take lots of pictures of the damage and send it to Merit and call them up to speak with their owner, "Mo."
Mo then deflects all blame and directs it to sub-contractors and never utters a solitary apology to me. I am livid with him and ask how he plans on fixing this and he tries to direct me to the claims department. There, I learn that I can only collect 60 cents for every pound of furniture damaged, clearly far below the actual worth of each item... This is his best offer.
I've since spoken with a contract lawyer who has reviewed all the contracts and thinks I have an extraordinary case against Merit. I will be filing papers later this week.
I like to think of myself as a reasonable person who only wants to be treated fairly. These people have pushed me to the very edge of sanity and I am going to do all that I can to prevent them from doing business with anyone. If you want to see pictures of the damage or have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me through this website. Please, please, for your own sake, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
