Berger Transfer & Storage, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2014/07/15) */
I have been in constant contact with the customer once the shipment arrived in Oregon and have tried to help with whatever we could in the processI have been turned down by the customer with each offeringThere has been four issues
that concerned the customer, the final weight was more than the estimated weight, the items that did not fit in the body of the truck, which were wrapped and "tail gated", the way the shipment was stacked in the mini storage,and the damaged items
The estimate was based on actual weight of the shipment obtained when the truck was weighted the day of loadingThe customer was aware it was only an educated guess and was aware of the legal contract and signed for itThe estimated weight was 7,lbs and the final weight, once actually weighed was 8,lbsThis resulted in the final charges to be $higher than the estimateAs a sign of good faith, I offered to pay some of the cost to move the customer's belongings from the mini storage to their new homeThey declined my offer of approximately $
Concerning the tail gating, stacking in the mini storage and resulting damages, Berger Transfer did not haul the shipmentA moving company out of Washington state hauled the shipmentThat portion was out of our control, however, because the customer booked with us, I offered to help cover the damagesThat offer was refused
There is not much more we can doWe had a contract and followed it, we were not the hauler, but offered help as a goodwill offeringThe damaged items in question were not even packed by us
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2014/07/16) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The representative at Berger has been in contact with me throughout the process albeit sometimes taking over days for a responseI would not deem this as constant
I have turned down two offers that Berger has offeredThe first having a team rearrange the storage facility that they packed not according to what was sold in the original agreementThis was denied because it did not serve a purpose at the time and may have only caused more mishandling and damage to our goodsThe second was an offering to cover 16% off an hourly charge of $131/hour to move our goods from the storage facility into our new residenceAt an estimate of hours, that calculates to a $discount, not $as was stated in the previous responseThis was turned down due to the fact that with these additional moving costs along with our previous moving costs it would give us a discount of $on a total moving bill of $6843.03, less than a 2.5% discountThis did not seem justifiable
The original weight estimate of the move was off by a significant amount from the final weight, even when we removed ~lbs of goods that was originally estimatedThis is after a representative went through our home and we identified everything that was going to be shippedHis original estimate, had we shipped everything that was identified, was off by over 28%The legal contract also stated that they would only bill for 110% of the estimate and the remaining would be due days after deliveryThey collected all money from the credit card ($over their contract obligations) after delivery
I have never refused Berger to help cover damagesIn our email correspondence, I stated that I had filed a complaint with the Revdex.com and "Dependent on the outcome of the complaint, I will decide whether to fill out the claim damage form on your website."
I also find it very difficult to understand how Berger is passing blame to a third-party moving companyThis is a contractor of Berger and Berger must take full responsibility of that contractor's actionsWe were not even aware that a third-party was involved until this point
Due to the discrepancies noted above in response to the Berger representative's comments, I am now questioning the integrity and honesty of Berger as a company

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/03/16) */
Berger Transfer does acknowldge the issues with ***' shipment and has done it's best to rectify the problemWe saw the issue with the weighing process and we autthorized a rewieghI instructed to use the smallest weigth to rate
the shipmentThe original estimate for the shipment was based on an educated guess of the total weightThe shipment was stored in a warehouse and the salesman was not able to fully access everythingIn addition to that issue, internally we had a new employee that became confused over the agreement I had with ***I have since appologized and I do believe we are working on a better relationship

Horrible experience One of the transporters had never done a move, driver unprofessional, damaged every piece of furniture, nothing wrapped, damaged the ceiling and walls to my new condo After 20+ moves, worst customer experience ever, and offered a fraction of the damage costs by Allied Did not explain that I would have no insurance, even if it's 100% negligence by their movers, so am basically sol Company has the worst Customer Service Department I've ever dealt with, so Revdex.com should really change their ratings, esp if you read the other reviews

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/17) */
Allied's intention is always to keep the transportation of their international shipments as simple and care free as possibleWe are however subject to the laws and regulations of the country the shipment is coming or going intoWe do
inform the customers about the requirements, restrictions, and limitations of the country they are being transfered toFor whatever reason, this particular shipment was put into quarentineAt that point it is out of Allied's handsAustrailian officials do not follow the agreements we had with our customers concerning delivering everything contained in the lift vanIf anything were to be missing or broken, the customer should file a claim, which they are intitled toIn this particular shipment, we were actualy under the estimated charges, even after the addional coverage was added to the costsWe feel we did our bestThe only issue was caused by the controling governmentAt that point we made a good will offer to help reduce the stress caused by the shipment going into quarentine
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Allied was never "under the estimated charges" so I don't know why they are stating that in their reply now or to what they are referring
We purchased a service based on the assurance, as stated in an email from them, that our "liftvan will stay intact and will only be opened and unpacked at time of delivery"They are now not addressing the fact that they outright liedThe fact that we were never informed that control of our shipment was "out of their hands" once it left the country and they told us exactly the opposite is and misleading business practiceWe were advised that our shipment could be inspected by customs and quarantine but were never informed that that would mean our liftvan would be unpacked completely before it reached the final destinationIf Allied could not deliver their services as promised due to "government actions out of their control" we should have been informed of that before we purchased their services so we could take that into considerationAllied need to be accountable for what they tell customers and not be able to promise anything just to get their business with no consequences
We watched the Allied movers pack our boxes into the liftvan and they placed heavy boxes on the bottom and lighter fragile boxes on topWhen the boxes arrived at the final destination loose in the delivery truck, the boxes were stacked several high with the lighter fragile boxes on the bottom and the heavy boxes on topMany were crushed with the seams and corners busted open and we have photos documenting the damage, how it was packed in the liftvan and in the delivery truckEven the local delivery men were surprised at the condition of the boxes and said they had been packed poorly at the originWe paid Allied for a full pack with door to door service so it it is their responsibility to ensure our shipment was delivered correctly all the way to the final destination
After several emails back and forth with Allied trying to get an explanation and resolution and then requesting a partial refund, they finally offered $dollars and then increased the amount to $for our inconvenience and stress and stated our cased was closedThis small offer in no way compensates us for the fact that they did not deliver the service as described and paid for nor the hassle of having to chase answers and a resolution for months after our shipment was delivered
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/09/15) */
The desire to keep everything contained in lift vans was a disire of Berger Allied and Lisa Atkins, however only verbal desire and not on a written contractThe fact that the lift vans were subject to customs inspections from the country they were entering was documentedYour frustration should be directed to the Australian governmentOnce they removed the items from the lift vans, they were note handled as we wouldYou have however purchased the Gold Plan Protection and are entitled to file a claim on any damagesAgain, we are only at the hands of a countries laws once it crosses our borders

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/09/16) */
*** *** contracted with Allied Vanlines to perform their move from College Station TX, to Great Bend, INThey were packed on 6/10/14, loaded on 6/and delivered on 6/Mr*** contacted *** the CSR on 6/to report his
claim and how to begin the claims processThe Allied claims department received the completed claim formAllied claims went through their due Diligence during the claims settlement processThey either replaced or repaired most of the items listedThere was a chair, shelf and bookcase that were denied because the damage was noted on the inventory prior to loadingThey also could not substantiate or support the amount claimed on books that were "crushed"$was allowed for the booksMr.*** was issued a check from Allied for $2555, had items repaired and received a free debris pick up as wellMr*** also wanted to be compensated for (1) the time spent during the claim process for him and his wife's PHD rate of $each at hours = $(2) $emotional distress caused from the claim (3)full refund of packing services $Allied denied all threeWe truly regret that a claim occurredWe strive everyday to be the very best we can beIn this case, Allied Vanlines settled the claim fairly and ethically
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/09/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The response simply explains what happenedIt does not address my complaintAllied has repeatedly claimed that they have done their "due diligence" and acted "fairly and ethically"I have no doubt that they feel they have acted that way, but as the consumer, I wholeheartedly disagreeThis company acted with serious negligence and carelessness for our belongingsWhen asked to make it right, they offered us a mediocre settlement and took little to no responsibility for the actions of their employeesUnacceptable

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2014/10/14) */
We have spoken to Mr. [redacted] and are in the process of offering him a goodwill gesture to take care of the broken outdoor lights. Any damage to furniture will be taken care of through our normal claims process.
[redacted]

Called this company after over 10 years of dealing with a pest problem and they were out within 2 days. The employee found the problem as soon as he did a walk around the outside of the house and problem solved! I chose this company because of their Revdex.com rating and would highly recommend them.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/08/07) */
We did a trace on this name and can't find them to be one of our customer's.
Could you please check and see if they have a Registration number for us?
Or if they potentially had their move go under a diffent name?
Please...

advise. Laura [redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/07/30) */
Berger did have the shuttle charge of $497.20 on the paperwork so the crew that loaded the mini storage at origin did take a smaller truck to load and our biller billed for the shuttle. upon receiving our customers complaint and...

researching the accessibility of the storage unit, it does look like the shuttle was not needed. Berger agreed to a full shuttle refund of $497.20 and the refund has already been returned to our customer. We received an email from Ms. [redacted] that she received the full refund. We would like to extend our appologies to Ms. [redacted] for any inconveniences caused by Berger Transfer & Storage.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/24) */
[redacted]This shouldv'e gone through the Chicago Revdex.com, as both customer and this Berger location are in the Chicagoland area [redacted]
Customer was refunded $261 since we came in under the estimated time, that is not mentioned in the complaint. We...

loaded and delivered the day requested by the customer. Also the customer stated they could not receive the delivery before noon.
Since we loaded and delivered on the dates agreed to by the customer and we did the move quicker than planned we have already refunded $261. The $150 figure is an arbitrary number the customer has requested and is no way a figure that was agreed to pre or post move. This has been explained to the customer several times by at least 2 separate people.
As far as the coordination of the move. The move was completed and in fact our feedback from the crews were that the customer was happy with the move itself.
To resolve this if the customer can provide any documents where he is out of pocket $150 then we would be happy to resolve this. Again it seems to be an "inconvenience" fee not an actual out of pocket expense.
We look forward to a resolution to this matter.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 15, 2015/09/29) */
The move was 4 hours late. There is no disputing that. Berger committed to a noon move in their contract and they showed up at 4pm after numerous calls by me to their office. I do not need to provide receipts of my other expenses. What I needed was an on-time move. What I needed was the promised move coordinator being available to do work related to my move. Unfortunately those things were contract commitments that Berger did not meet. The hours true-up of $261 provided due to hours under estimate is due to our family preparation pre-move, which significantly benefited move hours incurred. Berger owes me a credit in my opinion, I propose $150, I am open to a Berger proposal but it appears they do not wish to respond to their contract misses. As noted by Berger, actual movers were good, especially in light of their poor leadership team in the office, but of course, all work performed was 4 hours later than stated in contract.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/11/13) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Dir of Cla
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@bergerallied.com
Thank you for the oppotunity to respond to this complaint. I have reviewed the documentation and my findings are as...

follows....
With regard to the delivery date of Ms. [redacted]'s shipment. Her shipment loaded on 9/15/14 The delivery spread that was agreed upon prior to her move was 9/18-23. I am not certain who promised her shipment would be delivered in 3 days or if this was a misunderstanding. The paperwork is signed by Ms. [redacted] as receiving her goods on 9/23/14. We apologize if there was any miscommunication.
Regarding Ms. [redacted]'s claim for loss and damage. I found that her claim was handled by [redacted] Claim Department. [redacted] conducted a trace in an attempt to locate the claimed missing tote containing toiletry items. Unfortunately the trace was negative. No items were documented as missing on the paperwork at the time of delivery. Valuation for a move does not cover nondocumented missing items. No one is saying that Ms. [redacted] is lying about her missing items, they are simply not covered with valuation. Additionally, the broken items claimed were in a packed by owner tote. Packed by owner items are also not covered by valuation, as the items were not packed by the carrier. I contacted the [redacted] Adjustor's supervisor about the Adjuster not following up with Ms. [redacted] regarding another box and sewing machine about which she emailed the adjustor. The supervisor reviewed the situation and advised the Adjustor to send a follow up letter regarding the additional missing items claimed. The disposition is the same as for the missing tote originally claimed.
We are very sorry Ms. [redacted] is missing items. Regretfully there is not coverage for items not noted as missing at delivery. The inventories have the following instructions at the bottom of the page: IMPORTANT NOTICE: Before signing - check shipment, count items, and describe loss or damage in space on the right above. If for any reason you were not given the opportunity to inspect this shipment, you should call this toll free number, XXX-XXX-XXXX.
I have checked all the items listed and numbered on this page inclusive, and acknowledge that this is a true and complete list of the goods tendered, and of the state of the goods received.
This concludes my review and response in this matter.
Best regards,
[redacted]
Director of Claims
Berger Transfer and Storage
Phone)XXX-XXX-XXXX
[redacted]@bergerallied.com
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/11/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I paid them over $8,000.00 to move my household. It took them over a week when their driver told me it would be three days. On top of that now I am out the money I paid them and the money I paid for the missing and broken items. I don't feel it is fair.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/11/24) */
The charges for the move were for services that were provided to you Ms. [redacted]. Your shipment was delivered within the contractual number of days that were agreed upon prior to your move.
Unfortunately, [redacted] Van Lines [redacted] not be issuing a settlement for your missing items. I contacted a supervisor at [redacted] Claim Department and she confirmed their position remains. Without documentation on the paperwork that items were not received, the Van Line has no way to verify that items were lost in transit. It is the customer's responsibility to check off their shipment at delivery. This is the consumer's mechanism to notify the van line that items were not delivered. We must have this documentation in order for the loss to be covered by valuation. Without a requirement such as this, a van line would have no way of knowing what a customer did or did not receive. We are not saying that you are not missing the items, but that you did not document missing items as required. [redacted] Van Lines does honor claims for missing items when the missing item(s) is documented on the paperwork. We wish our response could be more favorable.
[redacted]
Director of Claims
Berger Transfer and Storage

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2014/09/30) */
Hello,
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Ms. [redacted]'s complaint.
Ms. [redacted] is correct that she notified our office immediately that items were missing from their shipment.
We immediately notified the company who...

stored their shipment in New York. Unfortunately, they did not initially find any of the missing items.
We received a claim form from Mr.and Mrs. [redacted] on 9/1/14
The claim was submitted to our insurer for handling.
Berger Transfer did not have any involvement in contacting the police to search through the [redacted]'s house.
On 9/11/14 we received word that the warehouse in New York located a vault containing cartons that belonged to the [redacted]'s. The vault was incorrectly scanned under another customer's name ([redacted]).
We notified Mr. [redacted]'s that a vault was located and delivery of the vault occurred on Monday, September 15th. An adjuster was assigned by our insurer to be present during the delivery of this vault to identify items that were claimed as missing which were found in the vault. The process went on into Tuesday, September 16th.
Since this time, Mr.and Mrs. [redacted] have emailed replacement quotes from the internet for their damaged items.
The adjuster assigned by our insurer has gathered all of the information and is compiling a report to submit to our insurer so they may begin to compensate Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] for the damaged items. The adjuster is trying to get this report completed and to our insurer by Tuesday, September 30th.
Additionally, our insurer called Mr. [redacted] this morning to let him know that they are open to advancing them some compensation for their damages, however, they cannot do so based on the emails they have received. They need a report from the adjuster who was at the [redacted]'s residence.
This has been a very unfortunate situation. We sincerely apologize to Mr.and Mrs. [redacted] for the inconvenience and trauma this has caused. Their claim will be addressed by our insurer. They will let Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] know what if any additional information they will require in order to issue compensation for the items claimed.
The contact information for our insurer is as follows:
[redacted]
Marine Claims Adjuster
[redacted]
[redacted]
Chicago, Illinois 60606
USA
Office: +[redacted]
Fax: +[redacted]
E-mail: [redacted]@agcs.allianz.com
Thank you.
[redacted]
Director of Claims
Berger Transfer and Storage
Phone) [redacted]
[redacted]@bergerallied.com

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/08) */
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to Ms. [redacted]'s complaint. Her claim was handled by Allied Claim Services. I have been in contact with Allied Claim Services and they have agreed to accept liability for the damage to Ms....

[redacted]'s sofa. They will work with her regarding this item. Allied Claim Services is also looking further into the missing table leaves. There are no table leaves on the inventories and the driver indicates that all items he loaded were delivered. Allied Claim Services will communicate their position regarding the claimed missing leaves once they have reviewed further.
Thank you.
Diane [redacted]
Director of Claims
Berger Transfer and Storage
Phone) [redacted]
[redacted]@bergerallied.com

By recommendation I hired Berger for a move from Minnesota to California. I had sought out other companies and estimates, I unfortunately chose Berger based on the person who completed the estimate. I made the mistake of not checking social media sites like [redacted] and the Revdex.com. I had a similar experience to that of other people who provided a review on [redacted] and those who filed a complaint with the Revdex.com. I agree with another person who stated that Berger uses financially deceptive methods as common business practice.
I'd like to begin by suggesting that anyone who is considering using Berger, first educate themselves on their rights as a client with any moving company. There is a booklet available and published, it can be downloaded at: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/protect-your-move/consumer-rights. Ask detailed questions, do not sign any documents from Berger until you understand everything you are being given.
My experience started with an employee, Dave, visiting my house and completing an estimate. He was at first kind and offered support, selling himself and the company as more of a family business. I knew I would need assistance packing some of my items, it was recommended I try do do as much packing, myself, as possible to keep the costs down. I received an estimate, it was high level, I made my first mistake not asking for detail behind the labor and materials estimate. Also, the estimator, who claimed he had years of experience, does just that, he ESTIMATES your weight and number of boxes. In my case he grossly underestimated the weight; I had rented a large dumpster and filled it prior to moving, even still the weight was under by 200+ lbs.
I ended up packing up 75% of my home, the employees who packed the remainder of my home did a fantastic job, this is the only positive I can say about Berger. However, with that said, my count of the number of boxes versus their count was different. I was charged per their count, despite my pleas with Berger to consider my own inventory.
The person, Mark, who picked up and packed the boxes and my household items was incredibly unprofessional, touting himself as extremely organized, and proud of his work ethic. He seemed more focused on this than the job itself. In the end, he forgot some of my items he had packed in his cab, I had to drive from my home to his cab parked miles away on the side of the highway to retrieve my items. The inventory process he used, blue numbered stickers on all boxes, was horribly disorganized. This driver asked me on delivery, in CA, to simply to sign the "bingo check off sheet" as it is referred to, rather than going through the process of inventorying every box received. He explained he was a reliable man, that he has never not delivered anything (despite that he had left my items, and forgotten about them, in his cab). He explained that he had to drop off quickly so he would not be charged an additional amount for a rental truck and hired help to unload my items. My recommendation here is to hold the driver and unpackers to their job, inventory everything that comes into your home.
I was shocked when told how much I would have to pay. When I questioned Dave, who gave me the estimate, he immediately became defensive and replied, "Well, don't expect what you paid to go down to $0.00." Who, in this day and age, speaks to a customer this way? The discussion went from bad to worse at that point and I immediately requested to speak to someone else, Kevin, in the company. Unfortunately, I received the same type of responses from Kevin, he was unwilling to consider the data I had collected.
Ultimately I was overcharged just dollars below the 110% they can can charge any and all customers. They explained that this was due to both an increase in weight and their inventory of the number of boxes packed and used. They were unwilling to consider my inventory counts, stating they trusted their inventory process and their packers.
Additionally, Berger did not provide me with weight receipts, which by law they are required to do, until I requested them. I also recommend Berger be held accountable for all documents they are required to provide to their clients. I waited over two weeks for these receipts and ANY explanation about the difference in cost. I was told over and over they were waiting on the driver to submit his paperwork.
Somewhere along the line Berger became or has never been customer focused. They do not listen to their customers, or give their customers the benefit of the doubt. You will not get any answers after you have paid them for the move which is done immediately after the weighing without anything other than a high level verbal explanation with no paperwork to back it up.
I highly recommend against working with Berger. Spare yourself what myself and others have gone through, find an honest mover who is willing to work with you.

After speaking with friends that considered expressed they were looking into using Berger Allied for moving services, we quickly informed them of the unforgettably poor experience we had with them, as we would never, EVER, want someone else to be faced with the financial deceptions this company uses as common business practice.

We had hired Berger Allied for a move from Minneapolis to Chicago based on the knowledgeable service the gentleman provided when touring our home to provide an estimate, and because of the pricing which was a happy medium between more/less expensive companies.

Berger Allied priced two options for us:
1. An estimate for them to do a full pack and move for us
2. An estimate for us to pack and Berger Allied only to move
We were told option 1 was the most expensive and that price would not exceed that estimate, regardless of weight. What we chose to do was do a hybrid of the two options and ended up packing 90% of our home, leaving only artwork and some misc items for their team to pack. We fully anticipated that our final costs would land somewhere between the 2 estimates. We were quite surprised when it exceeded the first estimate.

When addressed with the company, we were given a breakdown of the materials used to pack our 10% of items, and the total weight (which was drastically underestimated by their “professional with countless years experience in estimates”). After countless back and forth discussions with the company, they could not provide any valid reason as to how they could give an initial estimate for them to do a full pack and move, and then end up charging us far more for a very limited pack and move. If option 1 was going to be in our best interest, we clearly would have selected that option – it would have saved us time, money, and effort on having Berger Allied do all the packing for us. It became clear that this type of bait and switch tactic was how they operate business.

Anyone considering to use Berger Allied should be aware that this is what they deem as “years of knowledge”

Pitiful.