Lack of Integrity
D Austin
Submitted this review about
Presto Logistics
Review made Live: 8/11/2010 2:36:00 PM
I can not recommend Presto Logistics. Please learn from my mistake of not being more skeptical and scrutinizing. While they did do a competent and professional job on the actual move, the experience of doing business with them was ultimately profoundly negative for me. The most significant point being that the move ultimately cost me $900 more than the quote. What I suspect, but can not prove, is that I was intentionally quoted low in order to get my business, and they fully expected to charge me significantly more.
For your consideration:
** Unlike most people moving, I was not moving from a home or office and in any way estimating the amount of items to move. My items were in a storage unit whose exact dimensions I gave to John. John said that based on all his years in the business, he would provide me a “worst case scenario” quote. He said that that the amount of the quote would be the “most” I could expect to pay. His movers would be able to fit the items in even smaller than I could.
And yet, when the movers showed up on the day, I was told that my items were taking up more room than they were supposed to (remember I gave the exact dimensions) and that they were going to have to charge me extra for the extra space. (Mea culpa: I did not catch that the square footage in the quote was NOT what John and I discussed, so legally they are covered.) $385 charge.
**When I was discussing the quote with John and I balked at the price, he said he needed to consult his colleague. He did not successfully put me on hold and I overheard part of their conversation. Abe told John a number about $800 more than what John came back on the phone and told me. At the time, I thought, John was working hard to give me a good deal. What I think now is that they always intended to get that amount of money and intentionally told me the lower amount to get my business.
***My friend’s move turned out to be about $900 more than his quote, too.
***When they showed up to move my friend, they started shrink wrapping his furniture to protect it. That’s fine, but they never once mentioned that they were going to do that, and they charged my friend a significant amount of money for this service. Legally, there is a clause saying they will charge you for additional packing, so again, they’re covered.
However, when my friend told me about this, I called John and asked about the shrink wrapping business and if that was included in the $250 of free packing materials he had offered me to get my business. He said, not to worry and that I would only have to pay for extra packing if I was moving a flat screen TV or China cabinet or the like. I was not.
The reality: The charged me $614 for packing materials and to be nice gave me $120 credit. Again, at no point did John mention anything about the shrink wrap that they will charge you for. They only tell you that the moving blankets are included.
**Before my move, I called John to ask if they could combine my move with my friend’s move and make a deal. I called them specifically because they were moving my friend. He said that there was just no way they could do something like that.
After I called to question all these extra charges, John tried to mollify me by telling me what a great VIP move they were doing for me because they were combining my move with my friend’s (which they denied they could do) and giving me next day delivery (which I neither requested nor particularly wanted.)
**I had to call them to find out if they were going to show up for my move. They said they would have called the day before to confirm that they would be there. For a cross country move, I needed to know if they were showing up so I could make arrangements with someone else if they weren’t.
**They demand that you pay them in cash or postal money order. After they had my possessions, I got several phone calls about making sure that I knew how much money they were charging me and that I would have cash for them. Perfectly within their rights, but I tell you, it felt like a shake down. Also, I am not comfortable walking around with several thousand dollars in cash for one, and handing it over to some stranger for two. So you have to buy postal money orders to pay them. So, essentially, you have to spend even more money to pay them. And you will do it because they have your things.
They get away with this because:
--By the time they show up, you are in the desperate hassle of moving, and probably don’t want to start over.
--They have a 2 day notice clause for cancellation, so even if you were willing to start over with a different company, you will have to pay them to go away.
--The guys who do the actual moving are courteous and professional, we all like to think of ourselves as nice people and are unlikely to confront those guys.
--You will probably believe it is your fault they have to charge you so much because you have so much stuff and you don’t know how to pack.
