PLEASE READ - HORRIBLE - DO NOT USE BLUE LINE
DAVID HARRIS
Submitted this review about
BLUE LINE VAN LINES
Review made Live: 3/2/2015 11:43:00 AM
Blue Line Vanlines Experience
Due to the nature of my profession as an engineer, I have moved my entire household 8 times over the years and this move was by far the worst, most unprofessional experience I have ever encountered. I received several quotes from various moving companies and Blue Line’s price was mid-range. A Blue Line representative came to my house to inventory my household items as the basis of a move estimate. The Blue Line representative, and several others that provided quotes indicated that my move would likely require a dedicated truck. I then received a Binding Price Based on the Inventory from the Blue Line Sales Representative via email. I told the representative that I did not want any surprises, such as price increases, theft, damage, etc. He told me that the employees all had undergone background checks, were experienced, professional and courteous. He said that the purpose of the BINDING PRICE BASED ON THE INVENTORY was to insure the price I paid would be the same as quoted in the estimate. He further said that the price he quoted based on the inventory plus some additional room. So since it was close to a full load, he decided to base the move price on a dedicated truck/trailer, and there would be room left over in the trailer. I also told him I did not want my household goods to be warehoused or otherwise double handled. He assured me that there would be no double handling. He said that the truck for my move would be loaded at my current residence and then driven to my new residence. What actually occurred was very different.
The $2,210.83 deposit was paid prior to any service, as required by the contract I signed. I then scheduled the move dates. My experience in the past has been that a packing crew would pack my items, then a moving crew would load everything in a truck and drive to the new residence. I was told by the sales representative that packing would take no more than 2 days and the transit to my new residence would immediately follow, allowing 3 days for travel. The unloading and assembly of everything the packers disassembled and set up of my furniture would take 1 day at my new residence. On the day the movers were to arrive, I was to receive a call confirming the time the movers would be at my house to start packing. No call came, so at around 10:00 I called the Blue Line Sales representative to ask when they would arrive. He did not know, but said he would check into it.
Packing & Loading:
After several calls to the Blue Line sales office, a 3-man crew with a small box truck finally showed up, unannounced, at around 11:30 AM on 11/17/2014. The crew informed me that they pack and load into the small box trucks as they go. I called and emailed the sales representative to complain, but did not receive any response. Meanwhile, the crew started packing. At around 2:00 PM a second crew with another small box truck arrived and started packing and loading one of the trucks. I was told that this crew was the lead crew, with foreman.
I informed the foreman that I was assured by the Blue Line sales representative that the truck that would deliver my goods would be the one that was loaded at my residence. He told me that there was no tractor-trailer truck available at the time, and that the small trucks would be off-loaded directly into a tractor-trailer and not into a warehouse. Needless to say, the goods were indeed off-loaded in a warehouse and held there.
Attempted Theft/Professionalism
After watching and speaking to several of the packing crew members, it was clear that they were not experienced movers. Some became exhausted very quickly and even admitted that they had just started in the business.
Once during the packing process, I noticed an unopened bottle of expensive liquor was missing from a cabinet that had not yet been packed. I asked the crew if they knew anything about it, but they insisted that they did not. When I went into the garage, I noticed the bottle sitting just inside the truck behind some unassembled boxes leaning against the inside wall of the truck. I reached inside the truck and removed the bottle. I took the bottle in the house and again asked the crew if they knew who took the bottle, but no one admitted knowing anything. I then called the Blue Line sales office number and wrote an email to the sales representative telling them about the attempted theft. I was very concerned at that point and demanded copies of driver’s licenses and other identification for all 6 men at my home. No one ever responded at all. The foreman told me that his supervisor had been told of the incident, but offered no response. I could have told them to leave my premises and not return, but I had to get the move completed and get to work at some point.
On the second day of packing and loading, the more experienced 3-man crews left with a partially loaded truck, leaving only 3 men to finish the job. They said that they had another job they had to do.
Price Increase:
Late on the evening of the first day the BL foreman, after walking through my home, told me the price was going to be more. He said that all of my household goods would not fit in a truck for delivery to my new residence. I explained my conversations with the sales representative, but the foreman said that this sort of thing happens all the time. He said that the sales people were simply brokers. He said that regardless of what the sales people said, it was going to cost a lot more than what was quoted. The foreman presented a new contract and began to fill it out and asked me to sign the forms without showing what the revised costs would be. He insisted that I sign it before they continue. I told him that I had already signed the estimate and was not told of any other contract that I would have to sign. He said that it was just an estimate and that he had the actual contract for me to sign.
At that point I had both crews stop so that the situation could be rectified. Note that I had already paid the deposit, taken time off work at my new job in Texas and flown back to Pennsylvania to prepare for and supervise the move. I asked the foreman what would happen if I told them to stop and not move my goods. He told me that I would be charged for a local move. I was over a barrel. I now had to come up with an amount far above the Blue Line “BINDING PRICE” ($13,276.76 versus the new price of $20,015.20) before they would deliver my property. The additional charges indicated in the revised estimate were never discussed or indicated in the original estimate, such as the Overload Charge of 1110 cf. @ $3.52 per cf. ($3,907.20) based on a revised cubic foot estimate done by the packing/loading foreman; Additional Services: Bulky items ($1,500.00). The Binding Moving Estimate and inventory attached to the estimate clearly states that this only applies if an onsite visual inspection is not done. The onsite visual inspection and inventory was developed by a Blue Line representative prior to contract award.
Poor Communication:
I called the sales representative, as he was the only corporate contact I had, and told him what was happening. He assured me that my items as inventoried would easily fit in the truck with room left over and the cost would be what was quoted. Once, while trying to get someone to help rectify the situation, the “Sales” supervisor answered the phone when I called and asked me why I kept calling them. He told me that “Sales” had nothing else to do with it, and that I should call the “Operations” department. I told him I did not have a number for anyone else. The only had the phone number I had for Blue Line was the one I was calling and that only the sales representative had been in contact with me since the beginning. The angry sales supervisor gave me an 800 number and extension to file a complaint.
I asked the foreman to let me speak to his supervisor, but he would not give me his number. I tried to contact the foreman’s supervisor, but he would not come to the phone, nor would he return my calls.
The foreman went outside and called his supervisor to advise him of the situation. When he returned he said that his supervisor had said that if everything fit in the truck, that the price would be the same. I noted this conversation on the contract (one truck had been enough to bring my things to my current residence and I had since sold and given away many items, so I was confident everything would fit on the mover’s truck). At the end of loading my household goods onto three of the small box trucks. The packing was loose and two of the trucks left during the process without a full load. I was told they had to pick up another small move and deliver it, so they needed the space.
At the end of the packing and loading, the foreman asked me for a tip in the amount of 15% and 20% of the revised contract price. I found this extremely unprofessional and inappropriate, since they had tried to steal from me, changed the price to almost double what was quoted, were never on time, and were inefficient, inexperienced movers.
The crews came late (afternoon) each day and stayed until very late at night, sometimes 2:00 – 2:30 AM. Very inconvenient for me.
Delivery Schedule:
On 12/15/2014 a member of the Blue Line delivery crew finally called to tell me he would be leaving with my goods that day and would arrive at my new residence at 7:00 AM on 12/17/2014 to unload. He said it would take about 5 hours to unload and assemble everything.
The truck finally arrived at my new residence at 6:30 PM on Thursday, December 18, 2014. I quickly took photos of the tractor, trailer and as much of the load as I could before any unloading began. They unloaded and began assembling furniture until around midnight. They dismissed the local helpers and spent the night in their truck outside my house. The next morning (12/19/2014) they completed assembling most of the furniture and some other items.
Unloading / Household Goods Descriptive Inventory:
After a brief wait for local help (4 men), the lead man, his helper and the 4 local men began unloading. The driver slept the entire time the unloading was occurring. The delivery crew lead man did not provide me with Household Goods Descriptive Inventory forms to check off items as they were unloaded. Instead, he simply asked me to direct the movers where to place the household goods. He said that he was behind schedule and needed to get the truck unloaded quickly so that he could get on his way. There was no way I could not have kept up with the rate at which 6 men were unloading my goods. At this point, after a month of sleeping on the floor, I was so glad to finally get my goods delivered, that I complied. They were simply unloading the truck and putting things in the house as fast as they could, wherever there was space. I tried to keep up and direct them, but it just went too fast. There was no attempt to unwrap anything, assemble it or place it. The directive by the lead man was to get the truck unloaded as quickly as possible. Late that night around midnight, unwrapping and assembly started. Although they assembled the furniture, he informed me that they would not assemble the garage shelving, as he said “it takes too long”. I had waited 29 calendar days for my goods to be delivered, with heavy damage and missing items.
Damages:
The lead man showed me a picture of one of my dining room chairs with a leg that had been completely broken off. He said that he had taken the photo at the warehouse. He wanted me to know that “he” didn’t do it, that it was that way when he picked it up. However, there was a lot of damage that easily became apparent once the furniture was unwrapped. On top of that, one of the dining room legs was broken during assembly at my new residence. I should point out that this is heavy, very expensive furniture. See attached photos. It would take a lot of force to break off the leg of a chair or table, which gives one a perspective as to the care and professionalism provided by the Blue Line movers.
When the truck had been unloaded and it was time for the Blue Line crew to leave, the Blue Line lead man produced copies of the Household Goods Descriptive Inventory forms that had been developed at my previous residence during the packing and loading. The Blue Line lead man began to quickly check off every box on the inventory form himself without asking me to verify what was actually unloaded and the condition it was in. As he finished checking off the boxes on each sheet he told me to sign them. I was so overwhelmed and frustrated with the whole ordeal that I didn’t notice the “WARNING” requiring that I count the items and verify the loss or damage, so I simply signed the forms. The Blue Line lead man did not provide me with a copy of those same forms he was to sign as well, so the copies I have are only signed by me. I could not have verified loss, damage, delivery of all items at that point, as everything moved very quickly and my house was a jungle of boxes and other items. Also, many of the damaged items were still in boxes, and I wasn’t sure what was boxed and what was not. For instance, we discovered that many of the “legs” that were listed on the inventory form, were placed in boxes. Fragile items such as lamp stands, glass table tops and pictures were also in boxes, and later discovered to be broken or otherwise damaged. I did note that my 2-wheel dolly (hand truck) that I had at my previous residence was missing. I was afraid it would come up missing which is why I asked about it. The delivery crew told me they had not seen it. I later found out that several other things were missing. Several days later, after I had unpacked all the boxes, I discovered that my gasoline operated weed eater, chain saw, portrait of Marilyn Monroe and other items were missing.
Reconciliation:
I calculated the cubic foot capacity of a 53’ trailer (53’L x8’W x 10’H) at 4,240 cubic feet. Yet the packing / loading foreman had charged me for 4,825 cubic feet, which could not possibly fit in the truck that delivered my goods. Of course, I had no choice but to pay the new estimated price prior to unloading. In addition, I measured the empty space in the back of the trailer holding extra blankets, hand trucks, etc. This space measured 8 feet (640 cubic feet). One of the local men told me that there was another load on the truck behind mine that took up another 10 feet (800 cubic feet) of truck space. I saw the load but was not allowed to enter the truck to measure it. I’ll take the word of the local man who saw it up close while helping to unload the truck. All considered, a total of 1,440 cubic feet (18’L x 8’W x 10’H) was not used for my load. Therefore, my load would have only taken up roughly 2,800 cubic feet in the 53’ – 4,240 cubic foot trailer. However, before all the misrepresentations occurred, I agreed to the Blue Line price quoted of $13,117.29. In the end, I was actually charged $20,015.20. Therefore, I believe I am entitled to a refund of the overcharge in the amount of $6,897.91
In addition to the refund identified and justified above, I would also like to be reimbursed for damaged and missing goods, as well as a written apology for the complete disregard for my schedule, the attempted theft of my property, the items that are now missing, treating my property so poorly, the lack of professionalism, the non-existent communication / response to my calls and emails after the deposit was paid, and the related mental anguish of dealing with what should have been a professional move.
David Harris
713-234-7777
