Broker, NOT a moving company
Esther
Submitted this review about
Go Pro Vanlines
Review made Live: 6/30/2014 3:06:00 PM
I booked with them for my move from Seattle, WA to Dallas, TX. As one of the other reviewers said, they are definitely not a moving company. They are a booking agency that uses drivers from multiple agencies and contracts them out. This is directly contrary to what my representative Emma told me on the phone when I was booking with them.
What they were good at doing was ensuring that even in a really busy moving season, that I did get a driver and movers out to pick up my goods on the date I requested.
That is the only positive thing I can say about this company.
The movers that came to get my stuff had a professional foreman, but they really did not show a lot of regard for my items. They damaged my bedframe, which the movers who offloaded my gear helped me fix. On top of that, I found out from talking with them that one of them had been hired that day, and had been in his words "f*&#ing up before that". I took that to mean that he had a criminal background and this was literally his first day on the job.
I drove from Seattle to Texas, so I had a delay in my delivery date. I gave them a clear delivery date of 11 days later (6/13). This was understood by the movers that loaded my items and documented by them as well as my representative at Go Pro.
I arrived in Texas on the 13th and received no updates about the status of my items for 3 days despite my calling repeatedly. In the meantime I had to get a sofa bed from Ikea, and live on it while I spent money boarding my cats in anticipation of the arrival of my goods.
I finally got in touch with their Manager, Alex the following Tuesday (the 17th). He had informed me that my items had arrived to Texas on the 10th, but that they had "tried to reach [me] and that [I] was not available". This was incorrect (nobody had contacted me), and given that this was the third day in a row that I had contacted them with and this was the first response I was frustrated. When I tried to tell him this was not the case, he started yelling at me on the phone and saying that I was being defensive and rude. I could not believe that he was the guy in charge as he was completely unprofessional and immature. If I was not so desperate to hear what the status of my items was, I would have hung up on him.
He also told me that the other staff members were "salespeople" and that he was the "only on who knew what was going on" in regards to my items so to ask for him by name. I informed him that as a customer, I had no idea what the internal structure of his company was and there was no phone tree or options for extensions when I called in. He didn't seem to understand why this would be confusing.
Finally, the resolution was that my items would arrive in "4-5 days", and that I would get a call from a driver when they were enroute. I never got a date, a time window or anything else that would be indicative that they owned their own drivers. When I asked for more specifics, I got plenty of excuses about how "hard" it was to track drivers.
I called two days later and asked for Alex. I was told he was on the phone. I asked for an update and was told it would take "7-10 days. When I said this was unacceptable the rep went to "look for Alex". I was placed on mute and I was told by the rep that she had "heard him on the phone with a driver" and that it would now be "2-3 days". I asked for a specific window again and she was unable to tell me. I even got forwarded to "dispatch" who said my stuff was on a truck, but they were unable to give me contact information or a driver's name.
The following Monday (the 23rd). I STILL had not heard from anyone and called again, asking for Alex. I got a hold of him and he was back to excuses about how "hard it was to track drivers". I asked for a specific address for the location of my items. I also informed him that I knew all about Supply Chains and shipping from my experience as a Supply Officer for a Motor Transport Battalion in my time in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan and that I had an easier time tracking shipments than he did. I still did not get a resolution. It seemed like they had no idea who had my stuff or where it was.
I finally contacted Move Rescue (moverescue.com). Who started to work with me to build a case against them to get my belongings. They informed me that they were posing as AMSA certified when they have not been.
Miraculously, I got a call from the movers who had my items immediately following asking for a window "within the next hour" which I was able to pull off.
Stay away from this company. Stick with a company that does their own moves from start to finish and is ACTUALLY AMSA certified. These guys are a scam.
