To begin, they will tell you any negative reviews of their company is published on "public sites" and was put there by a competitor. LISTEN to ME! We have been scammed from the get-go. Howard saw me coming from a mile away, he made me feel comfortable, chit chatted, made me laugh, assured me of a million things. First, of course he said he was giving us such a "great deal" b/c he was trying to reach his sales bonus for the week. Then he explains they can do it cheaper than any other carrier b/c they own their own trucks and do not sub-contract, fewer people in the ladder, lesser the cost. So we estimate all of our belongings as I walk through room by room of our house. My husband is an auto mechanic and I told Howard he had one LARGE mechanic's tool chest (around 4 feet high or so) and then another one about half that size. When we received our weight estimate, he had accounted 120 pounds for the large tool box and 80 pounds for the other. When I tried to email him, he would only respond with "call me" and as he explained to me, he just HATED email and wanted to talk to me. Now I realize it was all to avoid a paper trail. Our total weight estimate was a little over 2000 pounds, which the lowest weight they charge for is 3000 pounds, so he assured me he over-estimated the weight of all our belongings and we had 1000 pounds to spare. I asked him about the random knick knacks and things that were not accounted for in the "overview" of our estimate, he assured me again we had PLENTY of room to spare weight-wise. So a week before our move, I called him again and told him we had decided to bring a bookcase and our full-sized mattress and box spring that was not on the original estimate, again he SWORE we had PLENTY of weight to use up, if I was really worried, we could be cleared for up to 3500 pounds for only an extra $200-300, I said okay. So as my husband and I are driving across the country, we get a phone call from United States Van Lines customer service with the dollar total we had to have a certified check for the driver upon delivery. Now we had made a deposit of $753.75 with a "remaining balance" of $1514.64. This customer service rep now informs me, after they have all our belongings, we now owe them $4003.07 because apparently we had 7200 POUNDS of stuff! HOW DO YOU UNDERESTIMATE BY 5000 POUNDS?!?!?! Our move had now DOUBLED in cost, leaving us with no choice but to pay. To top it off, we had THE MOST HORRIBLE experience with the driver. This following bit is my mother's statement as she was the one who had to deal with this AWFUL EXCUSE OF A HUMAN BEING when our things were delivered (WITHOUT a weight ticket, by the way, to prove we really had over 7000 pounds of stuff). After 2 weeks of constantly calling and never having anyone care more than to say "oh, I'm so sorry" we are filing suit. WE WERE LIED TO ABOUT OUR ESTIMATED WEIGHT, THEY DID SUB-CONTRACT US OUT TO ANOTHER COMPANY (SAFEWAY LOGISTICS - STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!!), and as we later found out, according to the DOT, moving companies are not allowed to request more than 10% above original estimation upon delivery, as I was informed after hassling the company, we apparently signed a "binding contract" and what the DOT is referring to is only for "NON-binding contracts." Now who else understands the difference between these two? THIS IS ALL A SCAM AND WE WERE SCREWED BY UNITED STATES VAN LINES AND SAFEWAY LOGISTICS!
Now, for my mother's description of the day our household items were delivered:
"United States Van Lines with driver “Sam”/Sergei and his assistant were scheduled to arrive Sunday with the household goods from North Carolina. In preparation for their arrival I had researched a number of storage facilities in the area looking for one that could accommodate a full sized moving van and had a storage unit within 75 feet of where the van would park as required by the van line. I chose Public Storage on Stanley Drive in Pleasanton after they were highly recommended by several facilities. I went there, saw the facility and rented a 10 foot by 30 foot just 10 feet from where the van could park. Ideal! Now I had to rent the unit two weeks early to be sure to have it for the Sam’s arrival, but it was worth it since this was a facility that routinely had moving vans deliver household goods for storage and it was within the 75 feet as required by United States Van Lines; and the unit was large enough for my daughter and her husband to sort through their belongings to find what they needed while living at our home until they found a place of their own to live in. Perfect!
At 10 am Sunday, “Sam” called and said he would be at Pleasanton by 12 noon and would call me 30 minutes prior to his arrival since I live 20 minutes away from there. At 10:56 Sam called and said he was 30 minutes away. I grabbed my granddaughter just before she started eating her lunch and headed down to Pleasanton. We arrived at the same time as the moving van and I took Sam down to see our unit. When we return to the office at the entrance, Sam informed me that he could not get his van up the drive. Stanley Drive is a major street and has the normal rain drainage gutters running along the outer edge so there is a slight rise to drive into the facility. Sam had added a “belly box” to the undercarriage of his van and this reduced his clearance. He had never mentioned his reduced clearance to me or my daughter . The manager at Public Storage told Sam how other moving vans that showed up with belly boxes had been able to drive in. It required turning the van around which Sam refused to do. He did try to back into the drive but stopped when he felt he did not have sufficient clearance. Once again the manager told him how other vans had handled it and once again Sam refused to try turning his van around which would have brought the van in at a different angle. The managers at the Public Storage facility on Stanley Boulevard are willing to provide their testimony on this matter.
Sam told me I was wasting his time and either I found another storage facility or he would leave and go on to his next delivery. With Public Storage’s manager’s help, we found a 10 by 20 foot storage unit at another nearby Public Storage facility. We did check another storage place but the largest they had available at such short notice was 10 by 15 feet which was too small for our purposes. We all drove to the other place. The manager there showed Sam where the unit was and after I gave him the certified check made out to ”Safeway Logistics” per Sam’s instructions, he drove on in while I paid for yet another storage unit. When I arrived at the unit, which was the tenth door down from the drive, Sam and his assistant were unloading my daughter’s worldly goods part way down the drive. The new unit was more than 75 feet from the door of his trailer cab, and unless I paid him some additional money..in cash...he refused to take the items 7 steps further into the new unit. How do you define “shake down” or “scam’?
I pointed out to Sam that:
(1) I had already accommodated him at personal expense.
(2) He had never informed me, my daughter or son-in-law that he was adding a belly box to the undercarriage of his van which would significantly reduce his clearance.
(3) He refused to follow the instructions at the other Public Storage facility and enter the way that other vans who had shown up with a belly box had done successfully.
Not only did Sam interrupt me repeatedly but he informed me that I had already wasted 3 hours of his time. The first time was at 1:14pm,( I was just about to make a call on my i-phone which showed the time) to which I replied that 3 hours earlier, he and his van were still on the road driving to Pleasanton. But, hey, what do facts, logic, truth, integrity, even basic customer service have to do with a shake down? At Sam’s suggestion, we called his boss, Orrin Truss (sp?) at 954-608-9118 to see if he would ‘permit” Sam and his assistant to deliver the goods 7 steps more into the storage unit at no extra charge. Orrin ask me if I expected to have the household goods driven clear across the country for free to which I pointed out not only had I given Sam a check for over $4,000 but had accommodated him at my own expense when he refused to even try to enter the original storage facility as recommended by the experienced managers there who had successfully assisted other moving vans with belly boxes to make their deliveries. Orrin likes to interrupt too.
At 2pm I left to take my very hungry and thirsty 6 year old granddaughter to get something to eat at a fast food place. When we returned, Sam and the truck were gone and my husband was moving the household goods into the storage unit by himself. My granddaughter and I assisted him in moving all the items the remaining 7 steps into the new storage unit.
We will follow up this letter with a formal complaint to the Department of Transportation against:
Smart Moving, Inc
P.O. Box 841311
Pembroke Pines, FL 33084
954-962-2706
US DOT 1686004
ICCMC 619379
VIN 6N413305
license plate(front) Z10-OCT-95G
license plate(back) 658 7CB
My advice to other consumers is this: stay away from United States Van Lines, Safeway Logistics and Smart Moving, Inc.... and Sam/Sergie.
Moving the goods caused my back to go out on Tuesday necessitating that my husband stay home from work to watch our granddaughter. "
