Ridiculously Expensive for Poor Service
Russell Meers
Submitted this review about
B52 VAN LINES
Review made Live: 7/9/2015 10:14:00 AM
One huge stressful nightmare. The only good thing the company did was carefully wrap the furniture; however I had no idea what this was going to cost me. Other than that it was just one huge cluster f. I did my own packing to hold down the cost. The quote was $3.50 per square foot. I still do not know how they reached their conclusion to charge me. After a very long and stressful day of loading the furniture the foreman of the job an Israeli named Ron came into the kitchen and dropped the atomic bomb on me. Ron did during the day indicate to me that the load capacity was going to be more than what I believed. I agreed as the day progressed that it would probably cost me more than the $7000 over the phone quote. However I nearly dropped dead when he showed me final cost. $15,800! In addition to the insult Ron told me as I was about to have a stoke that of the $15,800 a total of $3200 was for tape and cardboard. That is right. Ron had the nerve to actually look me in the face and tell me that the wrapping of my goods used $3200 worth of cardboard and tape. It certainly could not have been for the moving blankets as the movers upon delivery took the moving blankets with them. However I at this point did not care as I never want to see them or the moving blankets again. The blankets would just remind me of how much I got ripped off. So I looked him in the face and told him that I would not pay a penny more than $14,000. Ron pulled out a form that I had signed that indicated if packaging material were to be used then I would have to pay extra. $3200 f ing more! I would say that I did indeed get charged more. However that was just the nightmare at the pickup location.
Upon receiving a call that indicated the moving truck would be arriving in the morning no one called nor showed up. Then the next day when they did call the driver told me at 5;30 pm that he was 11 miles away and planned on delivering my furnishings. He then asked me if I knew of any local Mexican laborers. When I told the driver that I did not know any Mexican laborers ( even if I did that is not what my $14,000 paid for ) he then asked me if there was a Home Depot nearby. That is right you heard me. He asked me if there was a Home Depot nearby! You can imagine how my blood pressure shot up to the moon. The thought that B 52 Van Lines had charged me $14,000 and now intended to use day laborers to unload my possessions was so insulting that I called Amanda. She told me that I must be mistaken as if I had made up the story about the driver requesting Mexican laborers. She said that they do not do business that way. I asked if the workers that were about to unload my goods were bonded, insured, experienced and trained. Amanda said that all the workers were bonded, insured, trained and experienced. BS!
The driver did in fact arrive at my home at 6 pm. Great time for a big rig to appear in a neighborhood and unload three bedrooms worth of furnishings. The driver told me that he would now consult Craig's List to find helpers to finish the unloading on the next day. At this point they have my money and I need my furnishings so what the F can one do. So they unloaded what they could and then came back the next day with two local laborers that the driver found on Craigslist. I never did hear from Amanda as she now had a big chunk of my money and could care less what happened next.
So here i sit without the legs on my couch and cannot find the legs for the Tempur Pedic. I watched them remove the legs of the frame and then God knows where they are now. Something as important as the legs to a bed one would think that the movers would label a bag or a box in a special way as remember they are the ones that were supposed to put the legs back on the bed. They DID NOT. I was simply lucky to find the legs to my couch. However screwing the legs back into the couch is no easy matter as the screws are three inches long and after taking them out they seem to be stripped making it all but impossible to screw them back in. Now the contract reads that they would disassemble and reassemble all furniture. Another pile of BS. They are long gone and I have no idea where the legs are to the bed. The couch and the bed are sitting on the floor. They also broke the lower wooden frame to a wing back chair. Several other items were broken. The list of items in inventory simply lists items as a box. Anyway I know moving is stressful, but these people take the cake and as much money from you that they can. My advise is to have someone come to your home and give you a written estimate that includes each and every item and refuse to pay a cent more regardless of what they try to pull on you. They will bump up the cost of moving anyway that they can.
All I can say is that I wish anyone that has to move good luck and in my opinion would stay the F away from B-52 Van Lines unless you want to pay a small fortune to a company that breaks furniture, does not stay around to reassemble what they took apart, misplaces important items that may or may not ever be found, and uses laborers that they find on Craigslist or from the local Home Depot parking lot.
The nightmare is far from over. The floor lamp that the packers took apart is also broken. No way can I put it back together again. Just another example of how the movers that Amanda sent to do the job were pretty good at taking things apart, but did not care or take the time putting the furnishings back together. My advice is to STAY FAR AWAY from B-52 Van Lines.
