UNETHICAL PRACTICES
Joseph Dovidio
Submitted this review about
American Quality Movers
Review made Live: 7/8/2013 3:54:00 PM
I received a binding estimate for a long distance move (from Norristown, PA to Baltimore, MD). This estimate included an itemized list of inventory to be moved. I was given a specific day and time for my move, with arrival/loading and arrival/off-loading times. The original estimate was $1157.
On my scheduled moving day, the movers were an hour late beyond my moving window. I proceeded to email/call everyone I could at American Quality Movers (AQM). I had to leave messages. I eventually got a return call from the driver saying the truck had broken the day PRIOR and no one called me to notify me. The earliest they could get there was 4 PM that day. The move was then pushed back until the next day, at the original agreed-upon time.
Upon arrival to my apartment, I was told I likely had more volume (cubic feet) than originally quoted. I assumed a little more may have been expected, but not a lot since I had given an itemized list and a specific amount of boxes with their dimensions. I was told it would cost $25 more for my tv due to my size, even though the size was listed on the estimate. This was removed. I was then charged a $75 "long carry" charge, they felt the distance to/from the elevator was too much, which I was not told ahead of time (and the distance was not significant).
They waited until ALL of my stuff was loaded onto the truck to tell me that they felt I had 660 cu sq ft of inventory. This was DOUBLE what they had quoted me. This made my cost JUMP to $2232! 1075 more than my original quote. Outrageous! And they did not tell me until all of my stuff was loaded on their truck. Highly suspicious and unethical. An hour later and many calls made, I managed to get the price down to 1700, which was still $543 more. AND they demanded it in CASH now! Not what they specified before!
On arrival to my apt they circled for an hour because they didnt think the truck would fit. AND they could not get my couch to my new apt. Had to carry it up 8 floors ourselves! Glasses broken, boxes "smushed to try to save you room"
How can you call something a valid estimate, if once you have all of my belongings, you say it's twice as much stuff as you thought and it's going to be over $1000 more? I gave you a list! With dimensions!
I want BBB to know about all of this and adjust their rating. I had initially chosen these movers because of their BBB rating! It is so hard to choose a mover and I can't believe this happened! I believe I should receive some sort of partial refund for all of this trouble and hassle as well as their unethical and suspicious estimation process. They were late without notice, handled my items poorly, did not reassemble everything before moving, were unable to unload all of the inventory into the apartment, and nearly refused delivery because of their inability to properly drive the truck. They demanded cash for everything after notifying me that paying partially in check and cash was their preferred method. The most outrageous matter being trying to charge me $1075 more than my quote, and not until they had all of my possessions on their truck!
