A Crime Gang- Theft- Threats-Damage
Mr. G. Ryder
Submitted this review about
Noahs-Ark-Moving-And-Storage
Review made Live: 11/22/2014 9:16:00 AM
AVOID THIS MOVER AT ALL COSTS – OR IT WILL COST YOU GREATLY!
CAUTION
DANGER
My move resulted in $80,000 in theft & damages from this mover
ALL of the following is documented by photos and videos! None of it is embellished, exaggerated, or fabricated.
First, I gave them my credit card number to cover the agreed upon rate for moving my possessions from their storage facility in Bronx, NY to my residence in Connecticut. Within seconds of processing my credit card, I received a call from Chase Bank’s fraud unit informing me that in addition to the charges Noah’s Ark applied to my credit card, $14,000 in was applied to another merchant’s ID code; a merchant in the same business district as Noah’s Ark and one that specializes in art restoration (Noah’s Ark website claims they are experts in moving and storing fine art - - a coincidence?).
That set the stage for the horrors that came next.
When the trucks - one Noah’s Ark truck and one Budget rental truck (I didn’t know that Budget trucks were part of their fleet of trucks they advertise on their website) arrived to deliver my property, the crew foreman, or the better description of the guy – the hooligan, jumped out of the truck and approached me and asked for a tip before they would unload the trucks. Not just any tip, but he demanded $600 in cash! When I told him I didn’t have that amount of cash on me, he instructed the drivers to leave the property. He told me I would have to reschedule the move and I’d have to pay for an additional move.
As if it were a scene out of a movie-of-the-week, this thug insisted that he accompany me to any bank to get him his cash, all the while his crew sat idle waiting for us to get back. So for eighteen miles I had this thug watching over me- and I am wondering if he is going to carjack my new Audi.
Back at my residence: Now that he had his cash in hand, or should I say in his pocket, he then stuck papers in my face and told me to sign them. You know, the papers that say everything was delivered in perfect condition and nothing was missing, those papers. But, the doors on the trucks hadn’t even been opened yet, much less any of my property unloaded.
When I balked at signing the papers, he once again instructed the drivers to leave the property and they in fact started up the driveway to exit the property.
Again, desperate to get my property, I signed the papers – he refused to give me a copy for my records.
As the movers prepared to start unloading the two trucks, I explained to them that every room in the house had signs posted that identified the rooms and even each floor had a sign identifying what floor they would be on. There were even signs pointing the way and identifying the guesthouse. This was all prepared and done to make the move-in as efficient as possible and to make things easier for them and for me.
The signs were all in English, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the signs were in multiple languages like at an international airport, they simply ignored them.
Heavy items that were to be placed in rooms on the third floor of the main house ended up in the guesthouse. Apparently, some of the movers thought it was best to place every bed (mattresses, box springs, frames, headboards) all in one room.
It took a day and a half with two of my own employees and at an additional expense to move 80% of the items to their rightful rooms. I thought I was paying Noah’s Ark to move my property!
It was clear after observing the crew for five minutes that they were not true professional movers. How they handled the property, how they communicated with each other, their overall demeanor, clearly demonstrated that moving people’s property was not their day job.
My home had just been restored including every floor resurfaced and or new flooring installed. The house was immaculate in preparation for receiving the household goods being delivered by Noah’s Ark.
Another telltale sign that they weren’t professional movers was evident by the fact that there wasn’t a surface in the house they didn’t scuff, scratch, scar, or damage; floors, walls, railings, the rear deck, and even the ceiling. A total of 85 damaged spots were documented, requiring thousands of dollars in repair costs and a month’s extra work by vendors.
But at that point the horror show was only at midpoint. The full extent of the horror came after they left. Oh, yeah, as they were leaving the property one of the trucks – the Budget truck, hit the security gate making it inoperative and required repair.
Damaged goods!
A very valuable old oil painting 54" x 48" that Noah's Ark packed and stored had two boot-toe holes in it. The legs to my $6000 Baker sofa had been smashed off. The sofa has a skirt that goes to the floor so you would not notice this right away. Someone at Noah’s Ark tried to fool us by attaching pieces of 2x4's as legs!
It was also discovered that a dresser had been damaged while in the custody of Noah’s Ark and someone tried to repair the damage using globs of industrial adhesive. The photos of the repair look like a four-year old went wild with a glue gun.
A box filled with fine glassware was stained with some sort of oil that penetrated the box and soaked the glassware; requiring hours to clean it.
Oil, or other industrial fluid was discovered on the king box spring and seeped all the way through to the other side; a box spring they had wrapped and stored. The shipping blanket was soaked with the unidentified fluid – the fluid seeped through to the box spring.
A prized fainting couch and a King's ottoman have significant water stains. They are ruined. My lacquer breakfast table is chipped on every surface. The movers had dragged this piece up on my brand new red teak deck and they gouged the living heck out of the new deck meanwhile chipped the entire perimeter of the table.
Numerous other pieces of furniture were damaged as well.
The Best is Yet to Come: again, all claims are documented in photos and videos!
My valuable Iranian Bokhara rug had a stowaway inside. Apparently, a rat chewed its way into the sealed rug, made a nest, feasted on the wool, and died. Yes! The putrefied remains of a dead rat were found at one end of the rug. That end of the rug was more than gross and simply disintegrated when touched with a probe.
There were mouse droppings in many of our stored boxes. Two boxes had large stuffed animals from India- where they use buckwheat seeds as stuffing. The toys, which my children gave me as a father’s day gift when they were small, were simply chewed rags as the mice has eaten tens-of-thousand of seeds and left the seed hulks, then the mice carried away the toy fabric to make nests.
Straight from a Ronco Infomercial – But, wait there’s more!!
Our sealed mattresses and bedding were infested with Brown Stink Bugs (they are the size of a dime). Hundreds of them cascaded out of dressers and mattresses and invaded my home – all of them had been stored by Noah’s Ark. Obviously Noah’s one ‘real location’- the warehouse is infested so anybody who has furnishings there is importing these pests into their home.
I took hundreds of photos and videos of this on the day of delivery. Bug bombs had no effect -the bugs will not die, they are more difficult to kill than even bed bugs. Six weeks later and the house is a sea of the horrid bugs. If you crush them you get to experience their 'stink'. Absolutely horrible!!
After taking inventory of everything Noah’s Ark delivered that day, I discovered numerous boxes and items missing.
But all is not bad. Even though I was missing my own property, Noah’s Ark was kind enough to deliver other people’s property. I had furniture that wasn’t mine. I also discovered someone’s storage bin full of personal and private belongings. Fortunately, I was able to reunite this priceless container to its lawful owner- oddly- who happened to be a major-label fashion designer.
I can only hope and pray that whoever received my property is honest enough to notify and return them to Noah’s Ark. Naturally, a wrapped piece of furniture wouldn’t have information on it for the receiver to identify me as the owner, but the inventory tag should help Noah’s Ark identify that the piece belongs to me.
I’ve heard nothing from Noah’s Ark regarding my missing property.
Let’s see just how well Noah’s Ark Moving & Storage faired handling my move:
Fraudulent use of my credit card - kidnapping/unlawful restraint (forced into the car by the thug) -conversion and theft of my security deposit - damage to my home - damage to my possessions - loss of my possessions - damage to my security gate – extortion; my property held hostage until I paid a cash tip – unprofessional and unskilled movers.
They are nothing short of criminals.
Unless you appreciate your property (home and household goods) damaged, your property lost, your home infested with God only knows what kind of pests, your property held hostage while you come up with a cash tip, and an overall hellish experience, then don’t even think of calling Noah’s Ark Moving and Storage.
