MOVING NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!
David Friedman
Submitted this review about
StarCity Moving
Review made Live: 8/13/2013 4:41:00 AM
Star City Movers were to drop off 20 closed waterproof bins full of valuable books after completing a move for my dad. They ended up dropping them off 5 months after they were supposed to, and when I opened them, half the bins were filled with standing water, indicating that they had to have been opened and left out in the rain. The damage exceeded $50,000 not including irreplaceable collector’s items, and Dean Laster never even had the courtesy to call us back when we called to ask what had happened.
We were moving my dad from his home in Westfield, N.J. to assisted living in Stamford, CT, and we also had 20 closed, waterproof plastic bins filled with my books and mementos in his storage bin, which we were moving to a second stop at a storage facility 20 miles from Stamford. We started off uneventfully enough. Dean Laster came to the house, looked at everything, gave us a reasonable estimate and said since it was a big move with two stops we would need 5 movers and should start at 8AM. I took a 6AM train out to Westfield from my home in Connecticut. The movers arrived an hour late and only 4 men were there, not 5. OK, these things happen. As it turned out, though, instead of finishing the move to my dad’s by 7PM as estimated, the movers finished moving my dad’s stuff in at 3AM the next morning. OK, so these things happen too. It was obviously too late to go to the storage space, and the guys said they were going to be passing by there the following Sunday, so we gave them the combination to the gate and a key to the storage space. They told us they would keep our bins on the truck and deliver them Sunday. Here’s where the “fun” started. When I didn’t hear from them after Sunday, I called to find out they had not delivered the boxes. They told me they would call me when they were passing by. After over a month of not hearing from them, I called them. In discussing setting a new date it came out that they had lost the key to the storage bin and lost the combination. I told them to call me with a couple of days notice and I would meet them up there. One night, after finishing teaching in New York City at 9:30, I checked my phone and I had a bout 5 text messages saying to call them immediately. I called and they said they were up at the storage space and I had to get up there or they were going to just leave the stuff there. I said that was impossible, as it was 9:45, the place closes at 10 and I was 75 miles away. They told me they would drop it at my father’s assisted living place and I told them that was unacceptable. They said they would have to take it back to New Jersey and I would have to pick it up. Also unacceptable. I hired a mover so I wouldn’t have to lift and move 20 heavy boxes, and we had a contract for them to deliver them. I finally talked them down after a number of back and forth calls and said we needed to arrange, as I had said before, for them to meet me up there with a couple of days notice. When I didn’t hear from them, I called again and after two more missed appointments on their part, we finally set a date, I left the keys at the office of the storage facility with a stamped, self-addressed envelope, and personally instructed Dean Laster to tell his men to close the storage space and drop it in the mail. I also told him to tell his men to please stack the boxes on the right side of the storage space. When the day passed and I hadn’t heard from them, I called and Dean said they had been delivered but his men had not mailed the key but had LEFT IT IN FRONT OF THE STORAGE BIN. So anybody could enter and take anything. He also mentioned, in passing, that the guys had not properly stacked some of the boxes when they had stored them, so a couple of them might be cracked. I called the office of the storage facility and told them to pick up the key, took the next day off from work and went up there. When I opened the storage unit, I was dismayed to see that the boxes had just been thrown in there. But when I opened them, I discovered that HALF THE BOXES HAD OBVIOUSLY BEEN OPENED AND LEFT OUT IN THE RAIN, BECAUSE THEY WERE HALF FULL OF WATER! Over $50,000 worth of books, music, master tapes to CD’s I had produced, and irreplaceable collectors’ items, original scores by famous composers, etc. were drenched and moldy, which tells me this must have happened some time before. When we called the office, we were told that Dean Laster was away for the week, but to call back on Tuesday and speak to someone who could help us. We called repeatedly and this person never returned our calls, and numerous calls and emails to Dean Laster simply went unanswered.
Negligence and irresponsibility combined with extremely poor customer service caused us great harm and frustration.
I notice that Star City seems to refute all claims. When I put this review on another website, they refuted it with blatant untruths. Everything I’m saying in this review happened exactly as I have told it. In their rebuttal they said that they were surprised that I thought it was a nightmare when I had praised the movers after the move. I did praise the movers for staying until 3AM (which they wouldn’t have had to do if there were enough of them) but that certainly doesn’t excuse their destroying $50,000 of my property 5 months later (it was part of the agreement that they deliver it, so their assertion that the move ended when they made the first delivery is also patently untrue.) And to say that I didn’t respond to them when they called, or that I was unavailable is ridiculously false. I was desperate to get the stuff delivered and chased them at every turn.I tried calling the Better Business Bureau but Star City seems to not be registered with them. Customer service is more than just featuring good reviews. It’s taking responsibility when you’ve been negligent and rectifying it.
