National Moving Network - detailed description of moving experience

# 35 for April 18, 2002

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on April 17, 2002:

From: Email User

RE: National Moving Network - detailed description of moving experience

This is a recount of the events of the past couple of weeks. Suzon and I hired a moving company through the Internet with a company called National Moving Network (NMN). Gary Greenspan was our contact through NMN; he set a price determined, in an estimate on a non-binding contract, by the information provided by my wife, Suzon. Moving on to the actual move, we were told by NMN that we will not know who will be moving us until two days before we move. They called to let us know that A.Y. Transports (ICC # MC-362631, DOT #811272, California # 221541) will be moving our property. Saturday, March 16th

When they showed up at our door they were about five hours late from when they told us they would be at our home. I told them not to pack anything and that we would buy some boxes and that’s about it. Ofel, one of the movers, asked about our TV’s, we said that we wanted them to wrap some blankets around them. They said to not worry they would take care of them. When Suzon and I were packing in our bedroom, Ofel and the other driver brought boxes off the truck, which we now had to buy, started wrapping our TV’s, we came out to check and they were breaking down the boxes and wrapping our TVs. We asked them what happened to the blankets. Ofel said that they could not take them unless they were wrapped in boxes. We told them to stop packing our things.

We bought some boxes; they started to pack them. Again we had to tell them to stop packing our things. Again they started to wrap our dressers and mirror and sofas, again we told them to stop packing our things. Every time they touched something it cost us money. I talked to them and I told them to please give us a break and not to pack our things because we did not have a lot of money, they seemed to understand, but they continued to pack our things. Another thing is they wanted to charge us Long Haul. Ofel told us that was a standard thing to do. We were never told about long haul from NMN. At this point if we would have known about all of these charges we would have done this ourselves. Ofel told us that he would not charge us the ten feet in long haul but if we did not sign the piece of paper they would not move our stuff. Well we got charged. Ofel lied to us about not charging us for the long haul. He packed our stuff without asking. In the end he asked us when we wanted our stuff, we told Ofel the 19th would be great for us.

He said OK and that was that. Ofel then put the 19th on a form for when we wanted our goods delivered (we never saw that paper again, even when we received our goods.) When they left, there truck left in a giant plume of smoke. The exhaust was horrible. Suzon and I were walking to our car when they left and this smoke just engulfed us. Ofel told us that our stuff was over limit and he needed to weight the truck with our stuff in it. He said to call us on the 17th, Sunday, to find out the weight of the truck. Sunday, March 17th

Suzon and I made it to Clayton New Mexico. Suzon called Ofel to find out the weight of the truck. He told her that he has the weight of the full truck and now he needs to weigh the empty truck. I was thinking that he should know the weight of the empty truck myself. Monday, March 18th

We made to Houston today. We called Ofel and he said that our stuff was over the weight of the estimate by 1600lbs. This is around the time we started to call A.T. Transport (ATY) in California. We were told that another truck was coming from Cali to pick up our stuff and that is might not be until Wed the 20th that our stuff will get there. So, Suzon and I had to get a hotel room for a couple of nights. AYT told us that the driver would call us until twenty-four hours before they would be here in Houston. Tuesday, March 19th

We never heard from the driver, so we called AYT in Cali to find out what is going on. Now we got hold of Tom, a manager with AYT, he tells us that the truck will be loaded on Wed and we will get our stuff on Friday. So Suzon, the cat and I had to stay in the hotel room for a few more nights. I also started work today. Suzon could not find a job until she gets her things make-up, nice clothes and stuff. Wednesday, March 20th

I called Tom to double check if our stuff had been pickup. He said Yes that it was on the way and our driver had a couple of other stops to pickup and that he would call us 24 hours before he reach our door. So we would see our stuff on Friday. Thursday, March 21st

We never heard from a driver so we called Tom again. Now he said that it might not be until Sunday or Monday till the driver gets here. Now I took Sunday and Monday off from work.

Friday, March 22nd

Suzon and I had to check out of our hotel room. We had to drop the cat off at our apartment, but then we had two choices; buy an air mattress (even though I had one packed on the movers’ truck) and sleep on the floor of the apartment with nothing in it, or sleep at a friend's house. So we chose to sleep on a friend’s sofa for two nights Saturday, March 23rd

We never heard from a driver. So we called Tom. He does not know where the driver is but our goods will be delivered on Monday. Sunday, March 24th

We never heard from a driver, so I called AYT and Tom was off so we spoke to someone else. He told me that it might not be until Wed the 27th till we hear from our driver and he did not know where our stuff is. Today we moved into our apartment with a borrowed TV, some paper plates, and went the grocery store so we would stop eating out and try to save some money. Monday, March 25th

We called Tom, he was no help. We might get our stuff on Wed and no he did not know where the driver was. It was today we decided to call NMN, we talked to Migel and he told us that our stuff was loaded and on its way. We should see our goods by Friday. We also talked to Marline our Customer Service Rep. Suzon talked to Marlene; by the way Suzon was very upset about not having our stuff, and told here that this was unacceptable.

We could not live our lives, earn money and feel like normal human beings. Suzon told Marline that AYT was a horrible company and would not recommend AYT or NMN to any of our friends. Marlene replied that if we told people that, they would sue us for slander. Now put yourself in our situation, we just want our stuff. We would like some help from somebody, anybody. Someone to be nice. Now we are being threatened to be sued by the company that found the movers who have our stuff, who cannot give us a strait answer of when we will receive our stuff. Well Suzon went off on her, then hung up and sat on the floor and cried, she did not sit in a chair because we had no chairs…. just a floor. Tuesday, March 26th

I called Tom and he said that we would probably not get a call from our driver until Thurs or Fri, and he was in the middle of the Mojave Desert and could not be reached. Later that day I called AYT and spoke to a lady and I asked her where is our stuff. She said that our stuff has been in Denver since Saturday the 16th. And that a truck was coming to pick it up on Wed the 27th and it might be here on Friday "depending on whether or not the truck broke down.” So it might be longer until we receive our stuff. Wednesday, March 27th

Suzon called Tom and called him out on what the lady had said about our stuff being in Denver this whole time. He admitted it. But a truck was being loaded and was on its way and should be there by Friday. Tom was very nice and apologetic to us, unlike most of the time he doesn’t even remember who are and very curt with us. Devoid of feeling is the term that best suits him most of the time. Thursday, March 28th

Suzon and I get a phone number of Sagi, our driver. So we call him and his still in Denver and “promised” to bring our stuff on Saturday. Sagi said that he would be in Houston on Saturday by noon. He told us that he had heard about what was going on with our goods and he was going to try to help us get through this. Then he said that Saturday was not good for him. Finally, he agreed on Saturday. Sub-Note

Long Haul. I spoke to Tom about our new apartment and that it was over 75ft from a drop off point to our door, in fact it is about 200ft from here to there. I told him that we were broke and that his drivers were going to have to drop our stuff in the parking lot and Suzon and I were going to have to carry it up ourselves. Tom was completely OK with this. In fact he even took the Stair charge off of the bill. When Suzon spoke to Sagi, he asked why were they dropping our stuff in the parking lot.

We told him we are broke and cannot afford to pay the approximate $500 extra for them to carry it up to the apartment. So he asked, “How much you got?” To me this just makes Long Haul like a scam. Well he agreed to carry our stuff up for $100. Let me make this clear. Suzon, Sagi, and myself agreed on a total of $100 flat. That's it. He said OK. Friday, March 29th

We had not heard from the driver, so we called to talk to Tom. He was not in so we talked to someone named Ami. He told us that our stuff was on the truck and Sagi was in Dallas and would not be there until Monday the 1st. Saturday, March 30th

We get a call from Sagi on our answering machine and he told us that we owe all the money or he would not unload our things, the end. That was his message. Sunday, March 31st

Suzon calls AYT to find out if we are going to receive a discount for the delay. Ami answers the phone and says yes, we would receive $100 dollars off of our move for the inconvenience. I need to talk to Tom on Monday because Ami is not a manager and cannot make any official changes. Monday, April 1st

We tried to call Sagi on his cell phone, there was no answer. So we call AYT, and a woman called Sagi’s cell phone, she got no answer. She said that she left a message and he would call her back soon. About 10 minutes later Sagi knocked on the door. We wanted the truck weighted. We found a public scale and we wanted to see the weight of the truck. Sagi told us that he would charge us more money because it was taking his time. According to our mover’s bill of rights, we have the right to see the weighing and request a weighing of the truck. Sagi said that he would not do it unless we paid more money.

We have the right to only pay the full amount of the original estimate plus ten percent. We were willing to make full payment after the weighing of the truck. We were only going to pay the estimate plus ten percent as a good faith. By this point we did not trust anybody. Well Sagi refused to accept that payment and was getting ready to drive away. Suzon and I just broke down and just paid him all the money because we just wanted our things. Sagi brought two helpers with him, who were very nice by the way, and during the time of them bringing our things into our apartment, they told us some pretty interesting things. Sagi was throwing our things around in the truck. They were picked up on the side of the street here in Houston that morning. That means that they live here in Houston and do not have a job and now know where we live and what we own. Nice. We had water damage to some boxes; Sagi told us that it was our fault. Well you know when you pack comic books; you must pack water with it just to be on the safe side, right?

I don’t think so. Remember how Sagi was in Dallas over the weekend when our stuff was sitting in the truck somewhere? Well Eastern Texas received a giant rainstorm over that Sunday. Even the power at the restaurant I work for, went out Almost every box that was marked Fragile or Glass, was broken or damaged, our bookshelves were scratched up and dented. My computer had parts flopping around inside of it; I was able to fix my computer. But unlike all of my lamps, I cannot fix them, just buy new ones. Corning ware cooking pots, all broke. Picture frames, knick-knacks, drinking glasses, and more were damaged or broken. So we called Tom to ask for a claim form to fill out for insurance. I tried to keep track of all the numbers on the boxes and wound up missing thirteen boxes. We called Tom again and told him how Sagi treated us. Tom apologized and said that a claim form was going in the mail today and he would personally talk to Sagi, I even told him that the moving guys said that they were from off the street. The moving guys said that Sagi was mean to them and that’s why they told us. Tom said that they were from another moving company in Houston. These guys were dressed like bums. Well Sagi showed up at our apartment about an hour and a half later, strangely without helpers. He said the he talked to Tom and he needed to recount the boxes. We went through and counted 3 missing on the sheet but we had two boxes without numbers, so Sagi said that we only had one missing. I scratched out most of the missing boxes on the inventory sheets and wrote, “3 boxes missing, but have 2 without numbers” on each sheet. Sagi left and that was the last time we ever heard for AYT again. Friday, April 12th

Still no claim form. I am now finishing this letter for the San Jose Better Business Burro, The Department of Transportation – Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Both have requested a detailed letter explaining the event and what it is that I want in resolution. I want my claim form. Also I do not want to see this happen to someone else. I do not know if this letter will help other people, but I can always try. Also if either Burro needs my wife and I to officially make a statement towards an investigation of either AYT or NMN, please feel free to contact me. Wednesday, April 17th

Still no Claim Form. I did get a call from AYT stating that she sent a claim form to our address and it came back. So I asked here to plese read me the address he has. Well she read my address, the address I live at. She said that she was sending the claim form out again. We will see. National Moving Network, Inc.

P.O. Box 630850

Miami, Florida 33163

1.800.722.9775

Gary Greenspan and Marline

Send all complaints to:

Email User

Email User

A.Y. Transport INC.

530 N. 8th Sreet

San Jose, CA 95112

408-975-0660

Ofel, Tom, Migel, Sagi, Ami

Mr. & Mrs. Elvis Toncrey

Houston, Texas for more iformation about these companys contact you local BBB or the DOT 1-888-368-7238