Crown Did a Terrible Job
ronnie b.
Submitted this review about
Crown Van Lines
Review made Live: 3/29/2015 10:17:00 PM
I hired Crown Van Lines for a recent corporate relocation from Florida to California, and they did a terrible job from beginning to end.
The job was to move belongings from a 2-bedroom house, a garage full of tools and a woodworking shop, some tools from an outdoor shed, and my pickup truck. I did my research by reading reviews and complaints online. Since my employer was paying for the move, I got three estimates from companies with the least number of bad reviews. None of the companies would send an estimator to the house, which was concerning but it seemed routine for them. When I called each of the companies, I described what I could remember about the items that would not go in boxes and the number of boxes I could estimate. Mostly, I just answered their questions and I told them all the same things. Not knowing how the moving business works, I relied on the representatives to ask the right questions and give me accurate estimates. They all told me they were estimating high on the item numbers and space, to allow for overage. Crown gave us the lowest bid for moving the house and car, but what made the difference were the good reviews online and the low complaints to DOT. The other estimates were close to what Crown ended up charging. My employer set their budget for my relocation based on the original Crown quote. After we gave Crown the job and the deposit, by credit card, all the problems began.
The plan was for me to send the car ahead, move myself and my dogs to California, stay in a hotel while looking for a house with my dogs in a boarding home, start the new job, and then have my belongings moved when I found a house. When it came time to transport my pickup, the driver arrived a little late but he was very professional and corporative. He loaded my pickup and it was delivered to California, on time, and in good condition. The transport company Crown used did their part of the move properly. After that everything went wrong.
I found a house in California and scheduled moving my belongings for Friday, March 6. I took time off work and flew to Florida to prepare the house for packing and moving, and to be there for the loading. I told Crown I would only be available that day. The promised pickup was 9 – 11 AM. The crew showed up at 5:00 PM, with a truck that was too small, and blamed me for underestimating the number if items. They started packing, but demanded almost twice the original cost estimate before they would load. The crew supervisor and Crown went back and forth with my employer to get more money while continuing to pack and make threats to leave and keep the deposit. They knew I was pressured to return to California the next day, to close on my house the following week, and had to have everything out of the house. My employer finally agreed to pay more, by credit card, and I agreed to pay the difference on delivery to California. Because they brought a small truck, they loaded only the house furnishings. They promised to return the next Tuesday to pack and load the remaining items from my office and the garage. The crew chief was showed exactly what should move and what should stay. His revised inventory list was not complete, but I couldn't tell that at the time. I told Crown my house closing was the following Friday at 10:00 AM and everything must be out of the house before that time. They promised to pick up Tuesday.
When I called on Monday to get the pickup schedule, I was told Crown was contacting my employer to get half the remaining money before they would even pick up the rest of my belongings. This was a deliberate stall, since they could have told me this sooner and now they tell us they won't accept credit card payments and they have to wait for a wire transfer from T., at my employer. These miscommunications went on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Crown blaming T. for not replying to them. I was there and I know T. left several messages and sent several emails to Crown, to get payment details, and Ciara at Crown did not reply. By this point several people at Crown had lied to me and to T. The money was wired to Crown on Wednesday and was in their account by late Wednesday. Crown scheduled my pickup for Thursday at 12:00 PM. I arranged for someone to let them into my Florida house, but they didn't show. They then promised to arrive at 5:00 PM on Thursday, but didn't show. My Florida helper waited all day for them.
By this time I am very frantic because the house closing was the next morning and Crown had already missed several appointments. The next scheduled pickup appointment was 9:00 AM Friday, March 13, the day of closing and one hour before I was supposed to turn over the house to the new owner. Crown had known the closing schedule for over one week. For Friday morning, I arranged for a neighbor to let Crown into the garage to finish packing and pick up everything. I called the Crown driver directly, texted him my neighbor's name and phone number. He confirmed receipt by text. They did not show. When I called the driver to find out why they missed the appointment, he said he had called someone else, not the neighbor I told him to call, and they supposedly told him it was okay to come at 5:00 PM Friday. The person the driver claimed to call, denied getting the call. Crown did not show on Friday, causing problems with the new house owner who had a garage full of my belongings, in his house. The Crown driver then promised pickup at 9:00 AM Saturday. I again described, for the driver, that there were some items, in one part of the garage separate from the other stuff, and a few specific items that should stay in Florida, but that everything else in the garage should get packed and loaded onto his truck. He said he understood. The new homeowner agreed to give them access to the garage and we again went over the items that should be packed and picked up.
On Saturday, March 14, the driver and one helper showed up at 11:00 AM. He claimed my driveway was too small for his truck, so he went into town and rented another truck that was too small for my order. There have been several occasions when I had trucks, the same size as the moving van in my driveway, so he should have been able to drive up to the house and load everything. After Crown left the Florida house, the new owner called and told me the crew was very unprofessional. They complained a lot, didn't pack any of the boxes that were left for packing, and did not load many significant items they were supposed to load. Probably because they rented a truck that was too small. They missed several large, important, items such as a table saw, hand trucks, a 6-ft stepladder, an air compressor, and numerous items that should have gone into boxes. They left loose shipping tags all over the garage. Crown took advantage of me not being there to deprive me of possessions it took me years to accumulate.
On Tuesday, March 24, the delivery truck arrived at my house in California. This was the first appointment Crown kept. They demanded the remainder of the inflated bill in cash or PO Money Order before unloading my belongings. On delivery, several items were damaged or destroyed. The crew broke my office desk during unloading. None of the boxes were labeled for room location and the driver would not wait for me to open the boxes and place them correctly. He would only put all the boxes in one room for me to figure out later. Several boxes showed signs of water damage during transport and two boxes had oil stains. My mattress was not wrapped, was filthy, and soaking wet on one end as if it was stood up in water. Many important items were immediately noticed as missing, even items on the inventory, and many more items were later noticed missing. When the driver was asked about the missing inventory items that he should have loaded in Florida, he just shrugged. Crown also delivered four boxes that belong to someone else.
The packing job was terrible. Items were just thrown into boxes and several containers were leaking inside the boxes. There were many damaged items. In one box, they packed a deep fryer full of oil, sideways at the top of the box. Oil leaked all over everything in the box and soaked out of the box. I had to throw away all my kitchen towels because the were soaked with oil.
Overall, Crown Van Lines did a terrible job, at a terrible price, and did it with total disregard for customer satisfaction. They made my difficult relocation a lot worse and it's not over yet. My employer and I are still facing a potentially long legal action to be made whole. My advice is:
1. Don't use Crown Van Lines for anything.
2. No matter what a moving company says, only deal with companies who will send an estimator to your house to give you an accurate estimate. Otherwise, you can expect to get a low price initially and then get robbed later when they have the power.
