STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY! United Van Lines handled our full move from Phoenix to Madison. We had to use Schroder since the move was through the University of Wisconsin. As part of the full move, our belongings are packed, trasported and unpacked by the company representatives.During the packing process, my wife was present. She watched the packers essentially throwing things into boxes. She had to tell them multiple times to be careful with our belongings. There were 2 items she asked them not to touch or move which were a suitcase and a camera in a camera bag. After helping the packers pack everything up, the taxi came to pick her up for the airport. She lifted the camera bag only to realize that the camera was missing. The worst part about it is that the camera contained our pictures from our first trip together. She immediately called the truck driver, Wayne, with our concern. He refused to turn around and told us that it had likely been packed accidentally. We had no choice but to just wait until our stuff arrived. During the transit, I kept getting calls from the driver with updates of when he would arrive and with various requests such as calling the city to block off the street for his truck when it arrived, calling the unpackers so that they were aware of revised dates and times of their arrival, and technical questions asking how best to maneuver his truck in our neighborhood. I also recieved multiple calls from the unpackers asking if we knew when the truck would be arriving and how many unpackers would be required. It seemed as though I was doing all of the coordinating of the move. Finally when our stuff arrived, of course the camera was missing as well as a expensive mountain bike. Interesting that the things that are the most easily pawned would be missing. Coincidence? When we called Schroeder's George Brown to let him know, he said that they would send a form for our reimbursement and made it seem like it was not big deal and that everything would be taken care of. Months later, an adjuster arrived to look at the damaged items. We filled out a form with the damaged and missing items. Months passed. We called Schroeder who stated that there was nothing they could do and it was being handled by the main office. Months later after multiple phone calls and emails, we finally received a check for only the damaged items. The missing items were "respectfully denied, the items were checked as being received on the inventory control form. Therefore, United has no evidence of carrier mishandling." I don't care that things were damaged. Its a big move and stuff is sure to be damaged. But if items are stolen, it is your word against theirs and trust me, they will not take responsibility. At the end of the day, you want the things you have worked so hard for and much of which is irreplaceable (pictures, movies, etc.) to be well taken care of. We are so disappointed with losing our pictures. To add insult to injury, they are not even willing to acknowledge their mistake and reimburse us for the missing items. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY,
