Unacceptable
E. Pedoto
Submitted this review about
Nationwide Van Lines
Review made Live: 10/19/2014 11:28:00 AM
This was the first time I ever moved, and it was a big one. From New Jersey to Florida. First I will say that Shantol, my consultant in the office was fine. Since the closing of my NJ home kept getting delayed, she was great to work with in rescheduling the move. Also, the pick up crew(Ozi) and delivery crew(Hector) were just great. Now for everything else... In hind site I probably should have went with a company from NJ. One that could have come to the house to see exactly what was going to be moved, so the quote would have been accurate. Instead, with this Florida based company, everything was done by phone. It's very hard to accurately describe what is going to be moved by phone. This is why the quote kept going up and ended up being $1000 more in the end, over the original cost. And this was after we did 95% of the packing, AND decided NOT to move the entire heavy big pine wood master bedroom set, which was included in the original quote. But the amount of boxes kept going up, and I was told it was all about square footage and not weight. Still don't agree with that.
So you are giving a 2 day window for pick up. Also, you are told you will get a call 24 to 48 hours in advance telling you which of the 2 days they will come, and also with the exact time window for pick up. Well forget the 48 hours. That's when I started calling and calling. I needed to know when they were coming so that everything would be ready. Keep in mind that I had never moved and this was huge for me. So I believe they did call sometime the day before, so not so bad, but that was after I kept calling. They did come within the time window, with the list of everything that was to be moved. Of course, there were things not on the list, and there was an extra charge for everything. It's not like I was trying to get over anything on them, but never having moved before, things kept changing, We gave a lot of our stuff away, but I lived in that house my entire life, over 50 years. So like I said, the cost was now about $1000 over the original quote. And I was now afraid of any added costs on the delivery end of things.
So on the delivery end, I was originally told that the window for that would be anywhere from 3 to 14 days from the time of pick up. So the day after pick up, we packed up the car and headed down to Florida. We had to take some essentials and personal stuff so that we could survive without all the stuff on the moving truck for 2 weeks or so. For the delivery, we were told again that we would get a call 24-48 hours in advance. Once in Florida I would call and email from time to time. Some were ignored and some were responded to. Let's just say it was more then 2 weeks. Finally, after living without furniture for 19 days, we received a phone call at 4:10 PM on a Friday that the truck was coming the next morning and that I would need a certified check or money order for the balance, which was half of the total cost. They accepted credit card and or personal check for the pick up and the first half of the cost, and I knew they would not accept personal check for some reason for the delivery, but I was told that credit card was an option. But that was not the case. So not only was I again not giving 48 or even 24 hours notice, but I had to run out after 4 PM on a Friday and try to get a certified check. Well all banks here, as I found out closed at 4 PM, and would open on Saturday at 9:00 AM. As far as a money order, I had no idea where to go other that a post office, but they were closed, and I couldn't get that much cash anyway. Then I received a call from Hector, the driver, stating that they would arrive between 8-9 AM, with in an 18 wheeler and to find out in the apartment community could accommodate that big of a truck. Thankfully the office people here in the complex were still in, they said it should be fine. They didn't pick us up in and 18 wheeler, so I didn't know they would deliver us in that big of a truck.
The truck got here at about 8:45 AM, and I was told they could not start unloading until I handed them a certified bank check. So off to the bank, and I back about 9:15 and handed the check to Hector, who could not have been nicer. So let the unloading begin. Hopefully there would be no extra charges. Considering there were only 2 people, and we were on the 4th floor, it went very well. We were unwrapping everything as best be could, as stuff was brought in. Taking off those heavy blankets that they wrap the furniture in. That's when we noticed that the stuff was very warm and had a kind of musty smell. As if all our stuff was sitting in a hot truck somewhere, without any air or ventilation for 20 days. By the way, we were never told where our stuff was for all that time. While unwrapping those blankets off stuff, we saw 3 bugs, 2 on the couches and 1 on another piece of furniture. When we brought it up to the delivery guy, he said this is Florida, there are bugs. But we had lived in the apartment for over 2 weeks and no bugs. This is a brand new community, very well kept, and I have seen no evidence of any bugs anywhere. Except, on the furniture. All the bugs were the same. Dark brown, maybe an inch long and very slow moving. As if the lived in a dark, musty environment. You know, just like our furniture.
So a few things did get broken in some of the boxes, but nothing out of the ordinary, considering the length of the move. But there were no extra charges on the delivery end. So that was good. We have since seen another bug or 2. The same type of course. And I know there are probably more, so it's hard to get too comfortable laying on the couches, if you know what I mean. As far as the musty smell, air fresheners, potpourri and just being out in the air seem to be helping. So we have now lived here for over a month, and the only bugs we have seen are the ones that hitched a ride with our furniture.
So, would I use this company again? Sorry, no. My experiences with Shantol, Ozi and Hector were great, and I want to make that clear. But the price going up $1000 from beginning to end, keeping our furniture for 20 days somewhere in a hot environment without ventilation, the musty smell on everything, the lack of 24-48 notice, the miscommunications on payment options and delivery time and of course the bugs, were all unacceptable.
For me, this was a once in a lifetime thing. For Nationwide, this is their business. And in my opinion, there are many things that have to be improved.
