moving scam

To whom it may concern:

This is to warn people about a very bad moving operation doing

business as Nationwide Relocation Services. They also use a partner

service called Best Price Movers. These people appear to be running a

scam in which they quote a low-ball "binding" estimate, then jack it

up later. They are also extremely unreliable about times and dates of

pick-up and delivery.

My suggestion is that you caution potential customers about these

companies. If penalties or prosecution are appropriate, I would be

happy to testify in their support. Details are below.

-- Doug Wilhide

612-926-3939

wilhide AT skypoint.com

My son, Sam, moved from Minneapolis to Seattle with his wife in

August. They stored most of their belongings at a storage facility in

downtown Minneapolis. In September they signed an agreement with

Nationwide Relocation to have their possessions moved to Seattle. My

wife and I agreed to monitor and facilitate the Minneapolis end of

things.

The moving company agreed to pick up the load on October 8, during a

window between 2PM and 4PM. We understood this to mean loading would

begin at 2PM and be completed by 4PM, so we re-scheduled our

activities to be at the storage facility at 2PM.

A sales rep named Julian Jaramillo was supposed to co-ordinate the

move, but we never were contacted by him. My son received about 6

messages from different organizations about the move, but none were

relayed to us, in spite of the fact that we had both asked that we be

kept informed via a cell phone number.

The driver of the truck apparently didn't get any of these messages.

He left a message at our home phone number saying he would be arriving

at 4PM instead of 2PM. Of course we didn't get this message. After

90 minutes of waiting we finally were able to get in touch with him.

He said he was "about 20 minutes away." After half an hour we called

him again. He said he was "about 20 miles away." After another half

hour we tried again but couldn't contact him.

He finally arrived at 5:55 PM, just before the storage facility

closed. It took four hours to load the contents of a small storage

compartment. We signed papers for the pick-up at 10PM. The driver

said the shipment would go to Chicago and be combined with others

before going out to Seattle. He estimated date of delivery as either

October 15 or 16.

We contacted our son on October 19. The shipment had not yet

arrived. He expected it later that week, but told us he had been

informed that the charges to the "binding" estimate had been increased

by $700.

Our son was contacted and told that the shipment would arrive on

October 22, so he arranged to take off from work (he's a teacher) and

get an emergency substitute. When he didn't hear from the movers by

noon on October 22, he called and was informed that the truck was

leaving on the 22nd, not arriving on that date.

He was told that the shipment would arrive in Seattle on Saturday,

October 25 (the end of the extended period for delivery noted on the

original "binding" contract). He waited all day on October 25. The

driver finally arrived late on Sunday, the 26th, said he was tired and

would wait until the next day to unload. He also said that Sam must

come up with $100 in cash before the shipment could be unloaded.

The shipment was finally unloaded on October 27, 11 days after it

originally had been estimated. Among the damaged items was a nearly

new $150 bicycle that had a bent front fork.

The original "binding" estimate included boxes for repacking,

wrapping, moving from the storage facility and into the new apartment

-- and a $420 fee for the "binding" estimate. The total was

$2625.71. With the additional extra charges (and the cash for the

unloading) the total came to about $3400.

Maybe I'm just naive, but this seems to me extraordinarily bad

service. Increasing charges by 30% on a "binding" estimate also seems

to border on the criminal (especially since part of the fee was a

"guarantee" of the "binding" estimate).

I don't know what can be done to prevent Nationwide Relocation and

Best Price from continuing these practices. But I feel I have a duty

to try to warn others to avoid doing any kind of business with these

people.