Careless, Negligent, and Near Extortion
TR In CO
Submitted this review about
LV moving Co
Review made Live: 8/22/2015 4:56:00 PM
My wife and I contracted with LV Moving to deliver our goods from American Canyon, CA, to Fort Collins, CO. We had used LV Moving in the past and had a good experience. When I initially spoke with Mike at LV, I informed him that I was starting a new job on June 8 and that I would not be available to accept delivery on that date. They picked up the goods on Sunday, May 31. The delivery date kept changing from Friday morning, to Friday night, to Saturday morning, and so on.
Finally, Sergio, the driver, arrived at approximately 5:15 p.m. on Sunday, June 7. He said he was unsure if he could get his semi into the parking lot of our apartment complex. I noted that on the previous day, Saturday, June 6, a full-size crane on a 53’ trailer was in the exact same spot to service a wireless tower. If you wish to confirm this, my landlords (who authorized the tower work) and probably 100 other residents can confirm its presence. Sergio made several attempts but concluded that he couldn’t get the semi into the parking lot. I will add here that the next day (June 9), a 53’ trailer was in the exact same spot. Again, this can be confirmed.
When Sergio was unable to bring the semi into the lot, I was told that my options were to rent a U-Haul myself, or let him do it, and pay the shuttle fee. By this time of evening, U-Haul was closed. Sergio called the LV office (I’m not sure who). Whoever he spoke with said that it would have to be a long carry, and that I would have to pay an extra $250, or I wouldn't get my goods. I feel this was essentially extortion. They knew I couldn't be available the next morning, so my options were pay $250 in cash or potentially wait weeks for my possessions.
Complicating the issue of the long-carry was that Sergio said that someone must be at the truck and someone else at the apartment, since the valuables couldn’t be left unattended at the truck. The result was that I had to go back and forth with Sergio and John (his helper for the move). When Sergio first opened the truck, I was appalled to see that items labelled “fragile” and “this side up” were lying on their sides and with stacks of book boxes on top of them. This seems to me the equivalent of the grocery store placing jars and two liter bottles on top of a loaf of bread and eggs. Additionally, some items, such as a lamp, had no wrapping or protection at all. Not surprisingly, that lamp was ruined. I realize that goods can be damaged in the rigors of transportation, but the stacking and lack of protection were utter carelessness. My wife works in the oil industry and some of the boxes we used were the industrial strength kind that are triple-layered. Even some of these boxes had large gashes through them. I would accept the idea of general liability if this wasn’t such a case of gross negligence and incompetence. I shouldn’t have to tell a mover don’t put heavy things on top of fragile things and that if a box says “this side up”, that side should face upward.
Finally, several items were missing entirely from the delivery. Our vacuum, our hand truck and two boxes remain missing. We sent multiple e-mails to LV to begin the liability claim process but received no response until we filed a federal complaint and a BBB complaint. Use them at your peril.
