Blankenship Movers, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/08/05) */
Contact Name and Title: *** *** GM
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
It is unfortunate that this customer felt the need to submit this complaint as I have already covered everything with him and his wife, and explained that it was their
choices that resulted in the billAs such, there was nothing that Blankenship needed to do in this case, and no viable reason to lower the billI will address these issues one at a time because the only truthful thing this customer has stated was that we substituted a worker, and we did that promptly and professionally with no stoppage of service
*"To few men, to few trucks"This customer was told that men would be the better option at the estimate, he declined do to costThe estimate he mentions of to hours was based on men doing the job, he chose to go with When we went to his home to do the estimate he did not show my estimator everything, and my staff indicated there was a big room full of inventory in the basement that was never presented, as well he had many, many more boxes than he indicted to usWe did not pack his boxes, he did, as such we had to rely on his count projectionsThis is why an additional truck was needed, which we promptly had out to his location long before the first truck was even half fullThese were the customers oversites, not BlankenshipsNo reason to offer a discount what so ever
* Travel time to the drop off locationThe unload was all the way in *** *** IlThe customer and my staff and trucks left at the same time, and they arrived at the unload destination BEFORE himAgain, no reason to offer a discount at all
* "All sorts of fees that weren't applicable" I have no idea what this customer is referring to? I have attached the contract that was signed off on as evidenceWe did not charge him for ANYTHING except for the hourly charge for men, and the charge for the truckIt is standard practice at every mover in the city to charge for pads, tape, shrink wrap, wardrobe box rental, and box material costsWe charged him NOTHING to try and make him happy, which we had no reason what so ever to do other then as a gesture of good faith and branding, but still they wanted more
I tried everything I possibly could to make this customer happy, which by the way I had no idea he was unhappy at all based on his signed contractHe indicated no issues at all on his contract, signed off on it as "services ordered were performed as contracted" and delivered in good condition", and even tipped my staff out generouslyI did not get nasty or rude with this customer, they got nasty and rude with me threatening to file complaints and slander our name if I did not give them a steep discountWe have done 10's of thousands of moves in our years of business, and while we value our brand highly, we will not be extorted with threats of bad reviewsI gave them way more in concessions than was justified, and I represented our brand honorablyI welcome any civil suit as it will only further exonerate our brand from any wrong doingFor what it's worth, his bank wouldn't even honor his request to cancel payment on his card as it was without merit or validityThank you
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/08/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I will address point by point to rebut the statement from the merchant
The merchant did not go over everything with us, and was rude on the phone stating he had a contract to cover his side and therefore he didn't need to talk to usThe move was completed at 12:in the morning - hours and hours after it should have been, so there is no way for us to have disputed anything as the service was completed
We opted for whatever recommendation was given to usWe were told men and trucks and that's what we expectedmen and truck showed up and then another one was sent for when they realized they made a mistakeAside from that, the one truck showed up after 9am when the reservation was for 7-8AMWe never hid any rooms or inventory from the movers, nor did we have any incentive to do sothat is pure fantasy
The trucks did not arrive before me to long groveI stayed in the house for about a half-hour after the trucks left to clean up, then made it to Long Grove in about an hour, and I was there an hour before they showed upI left the house to buy supplies locally since they weren't around and there was no reason for me to sit there and wait and do nothing
Nothing was done in good faithWe were charged for waiting for them to add a truck, swap out a worker, and take 1/hours to drive a trip that takes an hourWe also missed our opportunity to get our stuff from storage since the facility closed by the time we could get therehad they initially shown up on time with enough men and trucks that wouldn't have happened
"I tried everything I could to make this customer happy" is as far from the truth as possibleNothing was done other than rudeness on the phone and being hung up onOur initial estimate was for about $1300-$and we were charged over $at the end of the moveI have never been treated like this by a vendor and I hope this process will save others from our misery, in addition to recouping some of our lost funds
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/08/07) */
Blankenship Movers stands on our response
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2014/08/08) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
There was no resolution offered, only lies to cover their irresponsible and borderline criminal behaviorI have not seen any attempt to rectify the situation, only a concocted story meant to justify their actions

I am writing this response to let people know that what this this customer is claiming is not true. We do about 2000 moves a year and have never been  accused of this in 56 years of business. We wrap mattresses in plastic wrap that comes off a brand new roll, and our...

blankets get renewed every month do to loading tucks that go into storage or out of town, which would make it necessary for us to replace them with new ones every month like we have been  doing from the start of business. I can state many facts why this claim is not true, but one thing I will address is that this customer had a lot of furniture outside  when the movers got there. This customer said the movers were great and I would agree with them and that's why I believe what they reported to me about the job. The guys were trying to be informative to the customer by pointing out a bug at the new location, and if we were responsible for the bug, then there would have been no reason for them to point the bug out.   Thank You   Sean [redacted] Owner/Operator

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/03/07) */
[redacted],
Read article c, of section 4. The piece that has been broken off is part of the inspection. If a person insinuates that, for example, dishes or stemware were broken during the course of a moving service provided, but throws away...

the damaged items, how can we assess the claim? It would be the equivalent to putting in an insurance claim on a storm damaged roof that you already had fixed. It simply doesn't work that way, I do not understand why this is so hard to understand. This was an already wrapped piece, how are we supposed to know if it wasn't a preexisting condition if the piece is not available? You don't throw out the dented fender on a car insurance claim before an estimate of repairs is submitted to the insurer, it's only standard practice. The broken off piece is important to ascertain responsibility considering the circumstances of this damaged item.
Thank You,
[redacted]
General Manager
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/03/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I filed the complaint about the artwork being broken with photos asking for explicit instructions on how to file the complaint. I was told to send photos of the broken piece and that was all that was necessary. 19 days later I was told that I needed to have all broken parts to file the complaint, including the piece that was broken off. At that point I no longer had the broken piece in my possesion. The frame was wrapped by Blankenship movers and moved out and was in perfect condition when they wrapped it. To say they have no proof of if it was broken before is incorrect. They moved it!
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/03/10) */
Blankenship Movers has followed all contractual protocol involving this customer's move. The contract clearly states that we must be able to inspect all broken or damaged items. This must include any broken off pieces. It is no different than any other claim, and is standard procedure. The customer is erroneously stating that the piece was wrapped by Blankenship Movers, yet it was a pre-wrapped item, and she acknowledged this in her emails and correspondence to me. Blankenship Movers has no interest in denying her claim, it serves us no purpose, but we must be able to inspect the damage in it's entirety to be able to make a proper determination. We have not officially denied anything, and in fact are trying to work with her as best as our contract allows. With a pre-wrapped item there should be no issues with having the broken off piece of frame as it would be in the wrapping. In fact, the customer even acknowledge pre-existing damage to a picture frame during the move, which I asked her about in the course of trying to make a determination. Initially she denied acknowledging any damage during the move, and I had to scan her a copy of her contract that she clearly signed off on indicating the damage and initialed it. She then said that was a different piece. In addition, she signed off on the contract that everything was delivered in good condition at the end of the move, further indicating that the damaged piece in question was a pre-wrapped piece, NOT wrapped by Blankenship Movers. At this point where we are at is waiting for her to locate the missing broken piece as it's required for our inspection because it was a pre-wrapped item, not packaged by Blankenship Movers. There is no intent to deny the claim as long as all proper procedure is followed. We are in compliance with all of our contractual obligations and we would be happy to rectify this situation, but there is a predetermined process and we must abide by it, as must the customer. Our hope and intent is that this gets resolved amicably, and we are certainly trying to within the parameters of our agreement.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2014/03/13) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Blankenship wrapped and moved the art piece in a previous move and I have documentation for this. My issue is that I was not told to keep any broken off pieces when I first contacted them about it being broken. I asked for explicit instructions on how to handle the complaint and was told that the only thing I needed was to take photos of the broken art frame and email them to them. I have email documentation of all of this. It wasn't until 19 days later they claimed that I needed the broken piece as well to file the claim, I did not have at that time. I would have made sure I had the piece if I had been aware of this from the beginning. I feel that they did not provide this information up front in an effort to get out of handling the insurance claim.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/06/24) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] GM
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@blankenshipmovers.com
First of all I am more than a little surprised at the complaint being filed in the first place. I have attached the completed...

invoice and the actual customer, [redacted], signed off on the job and services provided as completed without issue or problem. [redacted] is her mother who booked the job, but [redacted] is the customer and her mother was not even there for the services being provided. With that said, I tried multiple times to contact [redacted], with messages left, to call me so I can understand what the problem was, and why she didn't indicate there was a problem once my staff was finished with the scope of work. Again, she signed off with no problems and neither my staff, nor myself had any idea there was any dissatisfaction? In addition, the couch was not going to fit into the entryways, my staff refused to "force" it through because we can not be responsible for damage to the building or the couch itself. The customer never thought to measure the entryways at her new place to even see if her couch would fit through, which it did not. There is a fee for disposal of pieces, but [redacted] indicated that we should put it in the alley which we did, and this is why there is no charge for it on the invoice. The items that were left in the closet were not left intentionally, the customer never indicated to my staff to go in there and retrieve them. My staff is as courteous and thorough as possible, but we do not open every door in a private home, they must indicate what we are moving. The one "guy not doing anything" was in actuality in the truck packing the material being brought down for transport. The mother is also trying to say that I quoted her only 45 mins to an hour, this is absolutely not true. We are no different than any other mover in the city, we all have a 2 hour minimum, and then charge in 15 minute increments thereafter, as her bill further shows. The only thing accurate in the mother's complaint is the box that dropped, which A) My staff cleaned up, and B) were told by [redacted] not to worry about it, which is also indicated by the signed off with no issue final bill. The mother was never present for any portion of this job, which we completed per our contracted service agreement. I feel she is simply trying to extort money out of us off of her bill, and unfortunately , we are legally not obligated to do anything per the signed contract. With that said however, I was making every effort to straighten this out with [redacted], but she never returned my calls. This is our position on the matter. We have the rating and reputation we have because we always attempt to keep all customers happy and reasonably answer to all issues. We were never afforded the opportunity with this customer.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2014/07/02) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
First off I think its absolutely ridiculous they think I am making this complaint so I do not have to pay for a service. That is not true at all. The staff had a lack of communication with me which I did not appreciate. I would like to be refunded for the 40 minute break they took without bothering to tell me about. I had to call them to find out where they were. They also said they would take my microwave and 4 boxes and they never did which I had to do myself. I also did inform them of the clothes in the closet. It was one of the first things I told them. Lastly, I told them not to worry about the broken materials meaning I would mop up the mess they made. I did not want to have to pay for more time of them mopping up all the oil that was spilled on my floor. As for the communication afterwards, I received one voicemail and that was just stating that they were busy and would call me back but I never received a phone call after that.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2014/07/03) */
I'm sorry, but this completely conflicts with the information my staff gave me. One of the staff on that job was our fleet manager who has been with our firm for 6 years. He emphatically denies what she is saying, and YES, trying to get out of paying the bill is exactly what she is trying to do via her mother. Her mother clearly stated she wants the entire bill refunded, and that is just not going to happen. We are completely within out legal contract parameters. We completed the service as contracted, the customer signed OFF on the contract as such, and indicated nothing of any problems on the remarks section of the contract. I did not have any idea there was an issue of any kind until receiving an email from her mother, who was never present during the move in any capacity. The customer signed off with no problems, why do that if there were unresolved issues? In addition, I only left one voice mail, but made multiple calls/attempts to reach her. We always resolve issues that are our responsibility, and always have, which is why we have the ratings we have. We have done literally 10's of thousands of moves over 53 years of business, and our track record is fantastic. I apologize for whatever it is the customer thinks we did, but it simply isn't accurate. As such, I will not offer any reimbursement because this is clearly a ruse being initiated and perpetrated by the mother after the fact in an attempt to extort money out of our firm. The customer, her daughter, had no issues with our work, staff, or end result as indicated on the final sign off on the contract. She even tipped the staff after the job. Sorry, but this is not supportive of anything the mother is contending. Our brand performed as contracted.

I called to tell the company that they broke my television and the manager said he would talk to the crew and get a back to me. 1 week later, nothing. Then I was told that they couldn't do anything because I didn't take out the extra insurance. So basically I'm out $200. Their business practice and customer service stinks!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/08/08) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted] GM
Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@blankenshipmovers.com
We are very sorry that this picture could not be located, but my staff certainly did not steal anything. There is an in-house...

protocol we use for that type of accusation as it is very serious, and I will explain that in a moment. First I want to outline the process we go through when any inventory is missing from a contracted job. If a customer calls after a move to notify us of a missing item the first step in the process is to check our "hold room" and see if it is there. Sometimes a piece can be wrapped and put in to a speed pack. In the process of unloading and unpadding pieces sometimes the pads get put into the same speed pack (a large box) and the piece gets overlooked. When we restock the trucks after each move in our lot, pieces that were overlooked get found and go into the hold room so we can sort them and return them to their owners. If they are not there, then the second step is to speak with the staff on any particular job and ask them if they remember where they put them in the customers house/apt. If that produces no results, then we ask the customer to check the initial pick-up/load location to verify it was ever put onto the truck in the first place. Often a missing piece is sitting in a corner, or closet, or some such similar location and was overlooked on the load up. 100% of the time these 3 steps produce the missing piece. In addition, many times a customer is hasty in declaring the piece missing when they have not unpacked everything from their move yet, and they then find it and the issue becomes a non-issue. I explained all of this to both the daughter as well as her mother. I never avoided any calls, I was simply letting these processes complete, and I explained that to them. In this particular instance, none of these processes produced the item in question. At that point I had to address it the only way I could contractually, which was to offer what they opted for on the contract for liabilty protection, the standard free of charge .30 per pound per article coverage. Of course, neither were acceptant of that, and that's when our phone correspondence went sour with threats and demands that were unreasonable. I did in fact state that I had no way of knowing if the piece ever even made it onto our truck, but it was a statement based on the fact that none of our processes produced the missing item, not an insinuation that she was lying. She was being very irate and said I was calling her a liar, to which I tried to assure her I was not and please do not put words in my mouth. This customer was demanding that I do something for this mystery picture as compensation outside of my contract guidelines, and I simply could not do that. We have NEVER lost a piece of inventory, and that record still stands. The complaints of a similar nature she refers to that were posted on [redacted] have since been removed because the items were found per the standard protocols outlined above, as they always are. If they had opted for the additional liability valuation coverage this would have been easier to handle promptly, they declined, and my hands were tied. If she insists on accusing any of my staff of theft, then I have an offer for her. I have full trust and faith in my employees integrity, and we have an unblemished track record in support of that. I will have each staff member that was on her job submit to a polygraph, but there will be a caveat. If my staff all pass the test, the cost of the test is to be paid by her. If one of them fails the test and is guilty of theft they will be prosecuted, the test paid for by Blankenship, the full cost of her move refunded, and the full value of the missing picture reimbursed. This is the best I can offer, and would have explained this to her before but she gave me no chance to do so before hanging up. This is the best I can offer outside of the standard contracted coverage.
Consumer Response /* (3000, 13, 2014/08/26) */
Blankenship movers contracts clearly states that they are not responsible unless "Unless in case of negligence". In their response to our claim, they totally disregarded this fact and pointedly left this out entirely. Nor did THEY provide a copy of the contract to prove they were not negligent.
I have tried to copy and paste a copy of the contract for your review but cannot seem to be able to attach it to this forum. Please advise how to do so and I forward that immediately. We ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH THEIR RESPONSE AND THEIR TOTAL LACK OF STANDING BEHIND THEIR CONTRACT.
Business Response /* (4000, 15, 2014/09/02) */
The customer is mistaken, Blankenship did provide a copy of the contract in it's entirity to the Revdex.com for review. We were not negigent in this move or scope of work. The picture in question is not on our truck, my staff has no recollection of ever loading a piece as described, and there is not much I can do outside of the standard liability protection the customer chose. I have informed my staff on that job that if needed they will be submitted to a polygraph test, to which each and everyone of them was eagerly willing to adhere to. Our offer still stands for this customer any time she wishes to take us up on it. We stand on our response.