Moving Nightmare!
Georgia Duckworth
Submitted this review about
NOVA Movers
Review made Live: 1/8/2012 10:30:00 AM
My original move estimate was $513.97. I was moving from a two bedroom apartment to a townhouse. This included 2 movers and 1 large truck. Per the contract “This quote includes: Door to door service, Loading & unloading, labor & transportation, disassembling & reassembling, free basic insurance of $0.60 per Lbs or $50 per Items. free use of furniture pads to cover and protect your belongings.”
After receiving this estimate, I decided to add 1 more mover to lessen the overall time of the move. My “moving consultant” Jessica Ross said this would only increase the hourly fee by $10. And conceivably, lessen the estimated hours from 4 to at the most 3 hours.
Their arrival time was originally 9 am. The day before the move Jessica called and asked if they could change the time to 1 pm or change the date to Saturday. Saturday was not an option for me because I was bound by a lease agreement that dictated I had to be out of my apartment by Friday so I agreed to 1 pm... They showed up at 4 pm. There was no miscommunication - they were 3 hours late. The movers confirmed they knew they were late because they apologized profusely stating that their morning job ran longer than expected.
My move took 7 hours and 2 trips because not only did they show up dirty, smelly and exhausted, but they brought a SMALL truck, not a large one as stated in the contract.
At the end of my move, NOVA Movers re-tallied my moving cost to be $971.00! They had charged me for all of the time in between the two trips plus a gas surcharge to go back and forth twice. The hourly fee included and I paid for, a large truck, yet because they brought a SMALL truck, they had to make 2 trips.
Damages: The numerous horrific damages that occurred can be attributed 100% to the gross negligence of the movers. Per the contract, they were supposed to cover all furniture with blankets and shrink wrap. THEY DID NOT USE ANYTHING TO COVER MY FURNITURE! The moving blankets they brought with them were still in the original manufacturer bags when they threw them back on their truck at the end of the evening.
Had I known they were not going to cover my furniture with anything, and further to repeatedly ram my solid oak, corner desk into the walls surrounding the narrow winding staircase leading to the 2nd floor in an attempt to get it upstairs, despite my cries that "It's not going to fit!", I would have never contracted with them at all! Especially since the likelihood of damage would have far exceeded $50 per item if they did not protect anything at all. The fact that they did nothing to ensure the safety of my belongings negates the “insurance” they offer of “ .60 per lb up to $50 per item”. Who in their right mind would approve / accept this as compensation knowing that NOTHING was going to be protected?!?
As a matter of fact, before the move took place, I asked Jessica if I needed to purchase additional insurance. She said “No, usually people need it if they’re moving out of town in case their things get lost.”
The total damages to my furniture was in excess of $2,300 - none of which I ever recovered. To add insult to injury, I had purchased and placed mattress covers on my two beds (4 covers - 2 for the mattresses and 2 for the box springs). Out of all 4 covers, only 1 was still in tact when they carried the beds into my new house! Needless to say, they damaged both beds - there was a piece of random wood sticking out of my queen mattress when they put in my room!
I had a solid cherry wood armoire that apparently they couldnt get down the stairwell of my apartment building so they "sheered off" one of the feet to get it around the corner!
In addition to the above, they did not disassemble or reassemble or "stage" anything at all whatsoever as promised in the contract because they did not bring any tools to do so! This is a blatent attempt to fool customers in order to gain business based on false advertising!
On top of everything, two of their moving men felt inclined to parade around shirtless for the majority of the move. Not only did they treat my belongings like garbage with outright recklessness, but they subjected both me and my young child to their gross misconduct.
If I could afford a lawyer, I would have sued this company. I did, however, submit a complaint with the BBB, who were USELESS in obtaining any resolution. As a matter of fact, despite their promise to post my complant on their website under this company's history, they did not note a complaint was ever even received!
Nova Movers outright lied to me and negligently did over $2,300 worth of damage to my furniture. NOVA Movers continue to deceive the public by advertising that they are BBB accredited when in fact they are not! Check the BBB website - they are NOT accredited yet they continue to advertise that they are! DO NOT use this moving company! They are frauds!
Lastly, NOVA Movers KNEW they did wrong and even admitted it. Take a look at the email I received from them:
“Dear Georgia,
I am sorry that the move went as choppy as it did. We have terminated two of those movers, based on your complaints, they are no longer employed with Nova Movers.
I apologize again for the turnout of the move. Again we did terminate two of the movers, per your experience.
Please let me know of any questions you may have,
Thank you,
Jessica Ross
Moving Consultant
Nova Movers, Inc
info@novamovers.com
703-444-5559”
