We've been swindled

Time to swallow our pride and set this up. Many people have reached out to Jesse and I personally and asked if we have one. So. Here we go.

Many of you have seen my annoying Instagram story about what happened. So if you have, go ahead and skip over this. If you’re new here, here’s a little look into what we’ve been dealing with.

I found a (what I thought was) reputable moving company online. I called a few of them, and this certain company was the best price for a two-bedroom. So once you show interest online sometimes, Google sends your info out to companies, right? So that’s exactly what happened. I ended up getting an email, a text and a phone call from said company that i was interested in anyway. They gave me a great quote once I spoke to someone and I thought okay great. We booked this in November. Even got an early discount since it was so far out. I only had to pay a small deposit and we were set. Being newly pregnant, I was very excited that I wouldn’t have to lift a finger besides packing up the house.

I’ve read through the contract many times and when I called the one guy i had been dealing with (that also said I could call him with any questions and he would always answer or get back to me asap) he assured me that someone was going to call me and go through my inventory with me to make sure my quote was valid and if i needed to add anything. Well I did. I forgot a few things on the docket. Like my bathroom cabinet caddy and my outdoor chairs. Nothing crazy. Went over measurements with said guy and he assured me that he was over estimating for me and that it would actually be less when the movers drop out stuff off. Because the deal is. You pay the deposit. Then you pay half when they pick up and half when they drop off. I think that’s pretty normal from what I’ve heard. Ok.

It ended up being a little bit more. We went from a 2500 quote to a 5100. That’s fine. We had the money. We were ready for that. So I paid a little more in a new deposit. So I had now put down 2100 as a deposit.

The quoted days were a February 26/27. I called customer service and asked if we e could make sure they came on the 27th because it worked with our work schedule. They said they could put it down as a preferred date but could t guarantee that they wouldn’t come a day early. I said okay and moved on. Well the 26th came and went. No call. I was also told we would get a call when they were an hour out. The 27th. Comes and goes. I get a call from a number I don’t know and they said that their name is omar and they are on the side of the road and won’t make it. It was a Sunday and wouldn’t be able to see a mechanic until Monday. Mind you they said they were in San Fransisco when they called. I started to freak out as this messed with all of our hotel plans and me going to work in Friday. I said okay can you please keep me posted. Text me. Call me. I don’t care what time it is.

did I ever get a call? Text? No. I called customer service and it is no longer the guy I’ve always talked to, some girl with attitude and they said it was unforeseen circumstances and there was nothing they could do. Also when they looked me up they acted like they had no idea this was happening. (If my story jumps… I’m sorry. I’ve had to take breaks because I’m getting angry just thinking about all of this and reliving it)

I asked the lady if she could please call me and update me. But she never did. I cancelled our hotel and got charged.

I called customer service again the following day. No update. Same girl. Told me the time difference is probably the problem. Because she was in Florida and they were in California. Whatever. Oh did I not mention I found out this companies dispatch was in Florida? (Insert the face palm emoji) don’t worry I feel dumb. Like really really dumb. Let’s not rub it in.

Three hours later I call again and she puts me on hold and then tells me it shows they’re on the road. Should be there later tonight probably after 6pm. Now I’m really freaking out. Thinking if they got there at 6pm it would take a while to get everything loaded. In the dark. Just so many complications. But okay I thought we moved the hotel stay so at least we can sleep and then drive early in the morning. Still have a day before I go to work to just chill. Nope.

I get a call FINALLY from the driver around 540pm that they have hit traffic and won’t be there until 11pm. They said they could move through the night but honestly thinking about it it didn’t make any sense. His English was very broken. Didn’t speak Spanish or I would’ve handed the phone to Jesse. So I cancelled my hotel again. And got charged. Again. He said why don’t we start in the morning. I asked how early. He said how early you want. So I said like 6am. He said okay I’ll call you.

Did he call? No. So at 6am I called. And they were outside the apartment gate. So that’s great. Cool. So he comes up to the house. Looks around and tells me already that it was a lot more than they thought. What stunk was Jesse had to handle the dogs so he was outside so they wouldn’t bite the movers. So I didn’t have like second eyes and ears to help me out.

He then draws his truck out on a piece of paper and says it’s a 2300 sq ft truck and that I have a little over a quarter reserved. I remember the guy I went over my measurements with told me 35% so it sounded about right. My stuff was very stackable so I didn’t have any doubt that it wouldn’t fit. I’d say I had about 30 boxes on top of that. He starts to move my things and so we leave the house to walk the boys and when we come back is when it starts to go downhill.

We come back and the place is a mess. They broke the lip that goes from the hardwood to carpet at the top of the stairs. All they did was tape it. Did they ever tell me they did it? No. Are you surprised yet. We come upstairs and he tells me he needs to talk to me.

He says that we’ve exceeded the Space in his truck and he did us so many favors and took more than he should’ve already. And that if he wants us to take the rest it will be twice what we agreed to. I started crying. I couldn’t take it. I know that sounds dramatic but they looked shady as soon as they walked up. I immediately thought we were being scammed.

Another side note. He told us we couldn’t pack our dressers (we did to save space) and that it was in the contract. No it wasn’t. He said I don’t work for that company I work for this company and it’s in the contract. I asked him so many times to show me the contract and he never did.

So I lost it. Jesse had to start talking to him.

Jesse had to calm me down and we said we would figure it out. at that point we started talking to a lawyer and he said they had to honor the contract no matter what. The problem was that he said he wouldn't start the truck until he received half of what he now newly quoted us... that is now three times what I agreed to. Jesse and I started to sramble.

Do we have them unload the truck and get a uhaul? - no because we wouldn't get the deposit back and a uhaul that was the size of his truck, number one wasn't available in our area and two was 4 grand.

Do we pay them what we can and take the huge loss? - yes because now we're screwed either way.

The whole point of this was to have an easy, stress-free drive with just our car, the dogs and our bags for the hotel stays. It turned into the most stressful event of my life. Jesse and I have moved from Houston to Indiana together, stress-free. Indiana to La together, stress-free. La to Vegas together, stress-free. Now I hire movers, thinking this is going to be a breeze. Boy was I wrong. I feel so naïve. I kept thinking how paying for the convenience of not having to lift a finger became the worst decision I've ever made.

We have now gone from a 2500$ quote to 11000$.

Now here's the BEST PART.

We cannot get ahold of anyone. The customer service line has gone completely quiet. If we get someone who answers, they tell me that they're so surprised the movers would tell me that they could get to indiana in two days, with which i follow with well my quoted date was BY the 6th. She told me that it typically takes 21 days to move and that they have 30 days to get me my stuff until I start getting a 30$ compensation for every day they're late. (are you laughing yet?) This is what typically happened everytime we spoke to someone. we went in a circle, no one treated us like a human. Like, what if this happened to you?? Not a lick of emotion.

We've called and we've texted the three numbers of the supposed drivers with zero responses. Tomorrow is Monday and we hope that we get some sort of answer soon but i wanted to share our story. Im sure I missed a lot and probably gave too much info where I didn't need to, but what are you gonna do. I'm an emotional wreck. If you have any questions, text me. Maybe I can clarify more and fix this long run on sentence.

Thank you to everyone that has helped us so far. We will be filing a police report I just don't know where to start.