Disabled Veteran held Hostage in California
Donation protected
Our family was scheduled to leave California and move to Tennessee today - BUT - we are now stranded and being held hostage by our moving company. We had researched 10 difference companies and settled on Platinum Van Lines ( now known as Blue Hawk Van Lines) . We agreed to their quote of $12,000 and signed a contract based on our inventory list.
They had great customer service leading up to the move date . . . but then the nightmare began.
My wife was on the phone on 2 separate occasions with 2 separate sales staff and walked room by room and described every stitch of furniture. Based on our “inventory” list - a Platinum Van Lines (PVL) sales manager plugged all of our inventory into some magical computer program that spits out an estimated “cube space” needed for the move. Chris from PVL stated that we would need 2500 “cubes” - to include all of our inventory plush 140 boxes - and said they would need to send a full size Semi-Truck to get all of our stuff.
So we paid the orignal $2,800 non-refundlabe deposit and set a move date for Wednesday - June 10th - which would leave us Thursday thru Monday to get the house (rented) cleaned up and ready for a walk through with the property manager on Monday and our plan was to pull out this morning (Tuesday July 16th) on our journey driving to Tennessee.
So - the movers called last Tuesday and pushed us back to Thursday to pack out - then on Thursday they called and said they would be there on Friday July 12th between 8am - 11am. They FINALLY Pulled up in front of our house at 3:45 - not in a semi truck as promised - but rather in an oversized Uhaul type truck.
We knew inmediately that this wasn’t going to work. The driver came in - looked around - and said “We’re gonna need a second truck”. Again - we already knew this once we saw the smaller truck pull up.
The driver said he needed to calculate the cost to send a second truck. After about 10 minutes - he came over with a new quote of $27,000 ! ! !
Oh my God - we had read SO many horror stories about this exact scenario - but we thought we had done our research and found the best option.
So they took aboht 60% of our heavy furniture and 4 of our 140 boxes . . . and left Friday night around 10:30pm with the “promise” that someone would call us the next day and work it out.
So over the weekend - we made dozens and dozens of calls - with not a single one retuned. We eventually spoke to “Jordan” and “Mike” who said - “it’s obvious you needed a full semi - we will work this out” - But no real resolution was offered. We finally spoke to Cesar on Monday - who kept telling us he would send the same exact Truck back on Wednesday (tomorrow) and “give” us 1/2 the truck - but if we filled it up - and we already know we will - that we would owe an additional $6,500.00.
We went round and round about how our inventory didn’t change - but yet their “estimate” has now jumped from 2,500 cubes to over 4,000 cubes !
Purposeful FRAUD or Complete incompetence !
We are findinf out that this is a common practice by many unscrupulous moving companies - and they just change names and then brag all over the phone during the sales pitch - check our company out - we have ZERO negative reviews. Remember - last week we were dealing with “Platinum Van Lines” - But as of July 15th - they will be known as Blue Hark Van Lines (out of Silmar CA).
So at this point - we are stuck in California - with a “promise” that we will have a second truck show up tomorrow - but we are now being held hostage for another $6,500
I am a Disabled Veteran - former Navy Corpsman who served 10 of my time in with the Marines. We just don’t have $6,500 in additional money to make this happen. We are hoping to get out of here by Saturday - but we have to come up with these additional funds.
This is is an emergency situation - completely out of our control and we really need your help to overcome this unforeseen situation. My wife has broken down emotionally and I’ve lost it a few times myself over the last 48 hours.
We would really be humbled if you are able to help us get out of this situation as we are at the complete mercy of this moving company - not to mention the addditional $95 per day our landlord is charging us for each day that we are stranded.
God Bless you and thank you in advance for your help.
Steve, Karen, and Little Raegan
They had great customer service leading up to the move date . . . but then the nightmare began.
My wife was on the phone on 2 separate occasions with 2 separate sales staff and walked room by room and described every stitch of furniture. Based on our “inventory” list - a Platinum Van Lines (PVL) sales manager plugged all of our inventory into some magical computer program that spits out an estimated “cube space” needed for the move. Chris from PVL stated that we would need 2500 “cubes” - to include all of our inventory plush 140 boxes - and said they would need to send a full size Semi-Truck to get all of our stuff.
So we paid the orignal $2,800 non-refundlabe deposit and set a move date for Wednesday - June 10th - which would leave us Thursday thru Monday to get the house (rented) cleaned up and ready for a walk through with the property manager on Monday and our plan was to pull out this morning (Tuesday July 16th) on our journey driving to Tennessee.
So - the movers called last Tuesday and pushed us back to Thursday to pack out - then on Thursday they called and said they would be there on Friday July 12th between 8am - 11am. They FINALLY Pulled up in front of our house at 3:45 - not in a semi truck as promised - but rather in an oversized Uhaul type truck.
We knew inmediately that this wasn’t going to work. The driver came in - looked around - and said “We’re gonna need a second truck”. Again - we already knew this once we saw the smaller truck pull up.
The driver said he needed to calculate the cost to send a second truck. After about 10 minutes - he came over with a new quote of $27,000 ! ! !
Oh my God - we had read SO many horror stories about this exact scenario - but we thought we had done our research and found the best option.
So they took aboht 60% of our heavy furniture and 4 of our 140 boxes . . . and left Friday night around 10:30pm with the “promise” that someone would call us the next day and work it out.
So over the weekend - we made dozens and dozens of calls - with not a single one retuned. We eventually spoke to “Jordan” and “Mike” who said - “it’s obvious you needed a full semi - we will work this out” - But no real resolution was offered. We finally spoke to Cesar on Monday - who kept telling us he would send the same exact Truck back on Wednesday (tomorrow) and “give” us 1/2 the truck - but if we filled it up - and we already know we will - that we would owe an additional $6,500.00.
We went round and round about how our inventory didn’t change - but yet their “estimate” has now jumped from 2,500 cubes to over 4,000 cubes !
Purposeful FRAUD or Complete incompetence !
We are findinf out that this is a common practice by many unscrupulous moving companies - and they just change names and then brag all over the phone during the sales pitch - check our company out - we have ZERO negative reviews. Remember - last week we were dealing with “Platinum Van Lines” - But as of July 15th - they will be known as Blue Hark Van Lines (out of Silmar CA).
So at this point - we are stuck in California - with a “promise” that we will have a second truck show up tomorrow - but we are now being held hostage for another $6,500
I am a Disabled Veteran - former Navy Corpsman who served 10 of my time in with the Marines. We just don’t have $6,500 in additional money to make this happen. We are hoping to get out of here by Saturday - but we have to come up with these additional funds.
This is is an emergency situation - completely out of our control and we really need your help to overcome this unforeseen situation. My wife has broken down emotionally and I’ve lost it a few times myself over the last 48 hours.
We would really be humbled if you are able to help us get out of this situation as we are at the complete mercy of this moving company - not to mention the addditional $95 per day our landlord is charging us for each day that we are stranded.
God Bless you and thank you in advance for your help.
Steve, Karen, and Little Raegan
Organizer
Steve Hasty
Organizer
Oceanside, CA