Quick Change Artists
Kenneth Hicks
Submitted this review about
Merit Van Lines
Review made Live: 9/21/2011 1:08:00 PM
Merit Van Lines is a moving company that starts out as very nice, helpful, out to make the move experience as easy as possible. But once they get your property inside their truck, the facade drops and you're face-to-face with some very, very nasty people. This is long because Merit is very good. In a nutshell, do not deal with them.
I was making a move from Staten Island, NY to Fayetteville, NC for financial reasons and every penny was important. Most companies gave estimates between $1400-$1750, saying I was a small move with little from profit. Merit submitted an estimate of $1,059 which included gas, tolls, packing materials XXXthe whole works XXXbased on my preliminary inventory. Merit estimated it would take up 353 cubic feet and weigh 2,149 pounds. I must say I had never done anything like this before. Any move I had to make before was a relatively short distance and done by friends and family. In fact, no one in my circle of friends had ever used a moving company before. They never sent anyone to make a visual examination of the property to be moved before moving day as required by law. Unfortunately, I did not know that.
As the move date came closer, I sent a couple of emails saying that I needed to adjust the inventory, that there were more boxes and bins. I asked if it would make a big difference in the price. A phone call with "Meme," and I was led to believe that if there was any problem with going over the 353 cf or 2,149 lbs, I would be alerted and could make adjustments at that time.
Moving day and running behind a week after Hurricane Irene dumped rain on the northeast. I called to request a delay from the 11 am appointment time to 1 pm if possible. At first, Meme said the crew would be there at 11. No problem, they could start on the items already done while I and my brother finished. However, 11 am came and went without a word.
I called and left messages at Merit's 888 and 973 numbers at 12:30, 1:30 and 2:00 PM. I still had other tasks to complete, chief among them was cashier checks for the rent and security. I made sure Merit knew that with the last message. When I received a call back from Meme, she expressed surprise that no one had contacted me; that the job before mine had taken longer than expected; that their phones were out because of Irene; that she would try to get them to contact me.
At 3:40 pm the crew called to say they would be there between 4-4:30 PM. They were there at 4:30 and I showed them what needed to be moved. As I looked at the space alloted to me with the foreman I said "That's not a lot." He said that I had a lot of boxes and bins, which could be "Stacked all the way to the top. It looks good." With that said, I took that opportunity to get to the bank, leaving my brother to oversee if there were any problems with a scheduled stop by my brother-in-law.
When I returned, the truck was loaded. The foreman came to me and said "We are charging by the piece." If I weren't in so much pain I would have gone through the roof. He said the original inventory was for 46 pieces, I had 78, it would be $2,500! The 70% deposit required would be $1,750 instead of the $700 I was expecting.
I couldn't believe it! "Take stuff off the truck." I demanded. "We don't do that." he said. "I don't have that kind of money." "What about $1,500?" I kept saying "No," and telling him to take the stuff off the truck as he bargained down to $1,200 and then $1,000. "I have to call the office." Like it was some kind of doom. I finally agreed to $900 and $2,250 for the move, but Merit would not deliver my property until they received the rest of the money. the foreman said to take my property off the truck would have cost $150/hr, starting from when they arrived. It was 7:30, so I would be starting at -$450. He assured me it would be $900 anyway.
The foreman tossed a series of papers for me to sign while my mind raced at what I was going to do. I didn't have that kind of money and the property included 3 generations of family photographs and my medical records. Yes, in those papers was something that stated I had been told about the higher price BEFORE they loaded the truck, which of course makes no sense. If I couldn't pay, why in the world would I give them my property? Anyway, regardless of my physical and psychological condition, I should have read every document.
Armed with that, Merit adopted a very aggressive and nasty posture. As it turned out, my new apartment had very poor cell phone reception. I moved over the Labor Day weekend so no one could contact the other. I used the complex computer to lodge my protest: that it wasn't right to load my property then more than double the price. Meme responded with a threat to sell my property if I didn't pay them.
I simply said that given that response I had no choice but to go to the relevant regulatory and law enforcement agencies. Meme responded with a hysterical tirade that restructured history. She said every conversation had been recorded (though no such warning is made prior to phone conversations) and all emails saved. That was when I learned about the paper I had signed and she renewed her threat to sell my meager belongings.
While I did not want such people to win by giving in to their extortion, there were other matters to consider: chief among them those family photos. In the end, Merit agreed to $2,000 and friends and family came up with the additional amount. They also caught the worst of Meme and Merit as she repeatedly twisted THEIR words. She did not even notify when the property was coming. My sister asked, through an email, when I would go on the schedule, and she said the truck was on its way. That was a Thursday afternoon and the truck would arrive Saturday morning. There was a balance due of $300 - cash or U.S. Postal money order only. Had the truck arrived and I did not have the balance, another $400 would have been added to the price.
Merit is a fast working company. The complaints against them are all the same: once they have the property in the truck, they more than double the estimate. You either pay or they will sell your goods. You don't even have a chance to lodge a complaint. That is why they have a B rating from Better Business Bureau. The deed has already been done. There's nothing BBB can do.
Stay away from Merit Van Lines. They play the nice nice game, but they are low-life scum.
