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Review 6/14/2008
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In Mid April, we received a sales contract on our house in AZ which stipulated that we needed to be completely moved out by April 24th. My wife immediately began contacting moving companies in fear of not being able to meet this deadline. Of the 3 that she contacted, 2 of them could do the job on time. One of the companies came to the house and did a thorough walk-through, noting the items that needed to be crated (granite, glass table tops, mirrors, etc), disassembled/reassembled (beds, stereo, trampoline) and those needing extreme care (ie.antiques). We received a guaranteed price before the person left. When I contacted TransAmerica, I spoke with Shoorin Kamali. She informed me that TransAmerica did not have a local rep that could do a walk-through but if I were to fax in the guaranteed bid from the other company, I would be guaranteed a 5% lower price than they offered. Follow up discussions were with Shoorin who was both knowledgeable, courteous and prompt in responding back to any questions that I had. Below are the facts that Shoorin provided to me over the phone and via email prior to me accepting the quote from TransAmerica.
• Shoorin noted that TransAmerica would match and provide a 5% discount if we chose them
o When asked if the same packing procedures would be in place (i.e. Crate, disassemble/reassemble, etc), she stated that they would follow the same methods of extreme care as the bid stated and would charge no more than $8600.00 for the entire move to Austin.
? Quote included break down and reassembly of all furnishings including the stereo systems, beds, crib, AND the trampoline in the rear of the house
• guaranteed one month free storage
• No notation of transfer charges. In fact, when asked if this price included any charges for them to pick up our furniture from Fort Worth, Shoorin reiterated to me that this price of $8,600 included ALL costs from AZ to final destination of Austin, Texas.
? Regarding pick up from the storage facility, Shoorin informed us that numerous trucks go in and out of Fort Worth every week so all she needed was a 3 day window before we needed to have the load delivered to the Austin residence.
o Shoorin took a deposit of $250 over the phone with a credit card and stated that $4,175 in a cashier’s check would be due when the drivers came to load up the truck. Then, once the weight was determined, Shoorin would be contacting me with the final balance, not to exceed $4175 and potentially lower if the weight was less. We never found out what the weight was.
• Trans America showed up on April 24th as anticipated but later than expected due to the truck breaking down on the way from CA.
o Tony was the driver, and brought with him a packing crew of 4 family members
o Tony informed Jim Freid that he would need a cashier’s check for $4300 (not what Shoorin had told us). He would not begin until he received this money.
o Jim Freid was present for some but not all of the packing and loading and he had to assist Tony’s crew in breaking down the trampoline. The crew seemed inexperienced in moving as they were “brutal” with our belongings and hit walls at various times. Jim told Tony of his dissatisfaction with the handling of our furniture and stated that the crew should take more caution in the future. Lesha Freid called Shoorin to relay this information to her. Shoorin thanked me for the feedback and stated that she would take this to the top and make certain that the unloading in Austin would be handled more smoothly.
• Both Jim and Lesha Freid spoke with Shoorin six (6) days before our desired delivery on May 16, 2008 which was a Thursday (our closing date on the house).
• Jim and Lesha Freid left numerous messages with Shoorin to verify the delivery date and all she could tell us was that she was trying her best to make things happen (not what was promised prior to me accepting the bid). Shoorin called May 15 and stated that she couldn’t meet the Friday deadline but that the crew would be there on Saturday morning, May 17th.
• That Saturday, we waited and no one showed up. By noon, we put in a call to Shoorin, only to find out that she had gone on vacation and wouldn’t be returning until Friday, May 23rd. We finally reached Joy (Dispatch Manager) who told us that there was no paperwork for a scheduled delivery on Saturday. In fact, they couldn’t find any paperwork on our move.
• After several discussions with Joy, who was trying to find a driver, we were informed that this driver was over his hours and would need a 36 hour “cool down” period. She stated that she might be able to get a delivery scheduled Monday, possible Tuesday which would make our promised delivery date some 4 days late. This delay caused unnecessary costs on our end with hotels, food and arrangements for our boys to be taken care of.
• Monday (May 19th) around 1:00pm Jim Freid received a call from Trans America that the delivery would be coming that afternoon.
• The TransAmerica driver showed up at 7:00pm that evening and notified Jim:
o That he had to get to Los Angeles the next day and was NOT leaving until he unloaded everything off of his truck.
o That there was an additional $1000 charge for the transfer to his truck in addition to final payment (which was still being disputed because of initial payment being more than was told by Shoorin). Even though we could show him our quote from Shoorin, he would not accept it and refused to continue without paying the transfer charge. After numerous calls to TransAmerica and not getting anyone on the line, Jim agreed to TEMPORARILY allow the charge until ALL charges could be resolved when Shoreen got back from vacation. The driver and his crew of three (3) began to unload the trucks.
o Items were carelessly deposited all around the house and in the garage absolutely no regard to the placement locations noted on the boxes.
o No items were crated as promised and no antiques were packaged with extreme care. Careless packaging and handling on the part of the crews caused the breaking of office granite top in half and other antiques into pieces. (more info on broken items noted below)
o At 1:00am the driver dropped off two (2) of the workers and went back to pick up the remainder of the inventory.
o The driver did not come prepared with any tools, and had to utilize a single wrench that I had in my vehicle
? Beds were assembled but none of the screws were tightened. Jim Freid had to go back and secure all of the beds.
? Driver could not re-assemble the crib since he had no access to alen wrenches
? Driver refused to re-assemble the trampoline
o Driver and remaining crew member departed at 5:30am in the morning very disgruntled and angry that he even had to do this “unscheduled” move.
In closing, we have moved and used other moving companies 3 other times in our lives. I must say that we’ve never had a worse experience with response to phone calls, the carelessness in packaging or the unprofessionalism on the part of the moving crews in handling our belongings. We need resolution to this issue and will not make final payment until the above items are resolved to our satisfaction.
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