Bluemound Express

Bluemound Express in Waukesha, WI has to be the worst moving company out there. When I originally called I was told it would take half the time it did. They brought 4 guys to my house. During the move, the guys carried out 2 pillows at a time. This move took them a total of 6 hours. I did the same move with Two Men and a truck and they were able to do it in 3 hours with 2 guys, with the same amount of furniture and crates. When I called to complain I was told to play nice or the guys will not be nice to work with. Part of the move was to take down and put back up. When it came down to put the items back together, they did not do a good job. Things were not completely screwed in and pieces were missing. Additionally, two of the guys came hungover. I knew that because one of the other guys from their team commented on it.
Please note, 9 months before I had 2 Men and a Truck do the same move, entire move with 2 guys, 800 dollars. Bluemound Express, 2400 plus a disaster.

make sure you get a detailed quote most likely they will not want to give it but insist
as far as the crews they were professional untill the last hour of packing ,loading ,unloading thats when things started flying they couldnt wait to leave at any expence
make sure you inspect everything before you sign or pay anything look closely at the insurance and demand a copy of the policy as they will tell you it is covered for replacement but the insurance co says a different story and you will get pennys on the dollar very upsetting

Review: I hired Bluemound Express to move my 3-bedroom home on 1/19/2015. They estimated 8-1/2 hours for the job. They refused to do a visual estimate of the cargo as they had in 2011, but the 2015 estimate matched the 2011 estimate when this company moved the same cargo for me in 2011 in 9-1/2 hours. On 1/19/2015, the crew arrived with smaller truck than they used in 2011. They charged me for 15 hours moving time, and didn't finish the job. They could not fit everything onto the truck and left some items behind at the old house. On 1/20/15, a manager from BE visited my new home to explain why this job took 15 hours. He offered to reduce the invoice by 2 hours. I asked for 5 hours off the invoice and that they finish the job - return to the old house and retrieve items they left in that house. We settled on 3 hours off the invoice and a 2nd crew to finish the move. I also noted a broken dresser drawer. The manager acknowledged the damage but claimed he couldn't see why that drawer didn't stay on it's rollers now...and shrugged it off. On 1/23/2015, a 2nd crew retrieved items from my old house. After they delivered these to my new home, I sat down on the couch and noticed major damage to my baby grand piano. I immediately called the manager at BE and asked him to return to my home to record the damage claim. He refused to make an appointment, stated he had to talk to his crew first, promised to call me back, hung up on me, and never returned the call or made the appointment. I immediately put the moving charge into dispute with my credit card company. During the dispute, BE claimed my piano was damaged before they moved it. By whom? By them the last time it was moved in 2011? If the piano had been damaged prior to moving, the moving crew would have been required to note that damage to me in writing before moving the piano on 1/19/2015. There was no piano damage prior to 1/19/2015. I had the piano repaired on 3/21/2015 for a cost of $580. In my garage I have a whole box full of broken glass. At least 10-12 of my packed boxes contained broken glass. On 4/30/2015, Discover card ruled in the merchant's favor. During the dispute investigation, Bluemound Express changed their radio ad campaign to claim how careful they are "not like other movers who jam your precious items into their trucks" and "we pack our trucks tightly to protect customers' items from damage." Then why do I have so much breakage? And why did my move take 15 hours rather than 9? Packing tightly takes twice as long and costs twice as much as sending a truck of the correct size. The business practices of Bluemound Express have deteriorated considerably since 2011 when I had a very satisfactory experience which led me to hire them again in 2015.Desired Settlement: The mover should pay for the repair to my piano they damaged, and my moving charges should reflect 9-10 hours of moving service as charges would have been (proven in 2011) if the truck had been of sufficient size.

Business

Response:

May 14, 2015Revdex.com of WisconsinRe: File #[redacted],We have had many discussions with this client in attempting to satisfy her issues. All clients are informed that we are an hourly service and that all charges are based on actual working time to the nearest quarter hour plus a standard one hour round trip travel charge anywhere in Milwaukee or Waukesha County.When the driver presented the bill to the client upon completion of her move on January 19, 2015 she disputed the time that it took the crew to travel from the pickup location to the delivery location. The driver took $90 off of her bill to settle the dispute.The client then called our office on January 20th to dispute the time it took to complete the move and to complain that our crew left some items behind at her old house and that they stacked most of her boxes in the garage at the new home. She also complained that we sent a smaller truck than we used for her last move four years earlier. At this time there was no mention of damages.The truck we sent was a 28’ straight truck, the largest allowed on Wisconsin highways, and the same size used on her last move. The crew stacked the boxes in her garage at the new home per her instruction as she was watching the clock worried that the move was taking too long.On January 21st we sent a manger and one helper to her home to move the boxes from her garage into her basement and to discuss the move and to address her concerns. As a result of his visit with the client Bluemound Express reduced the client’s charges by three hours at $148 per hour plus the original $90 discount for a total of $534.00. There was no mention of damages at this time.On January 23rd we sent a two man crew to pick up the remaining items from her old home and delivered them to her new home. At this time she had these two men rearrange more items within her new home. She had this crew (two men @ $112 per hour) for four hours at no charge. There was no mention of damage at this time.Up to this point we feel that we have been fair and forthright in trying to accommodate this individuals concerns. She claims that she has been hung up on and treated rudely by our staff and that is not true.On January 23rd late afternoon the client calls again to complain that she has just noticed a chip in the lacquer paint on one leg or her grand piano. We asked the crew leader that had been on her job about that and he said that he noticed the damage and pointed it out to the customer before we disassembled and padded it for moving. Again there was no mention of other damage at this time.Subsequently this client has complained to Contact Six, she has disputed the charges on her credit card and has added a complaint that there were several boxes with broken glass in them. Our contract specifically excludes coverage of items in boxes packed by the shipper.We believe that we have extended every courtesy to this client in dealing with her complaints.We deny that she was ever hung up on or handled rudely by anyone in our office. We also feel that when the customer agreed to pay the $1675.00 balance due after negotiating a $535.00 reduction in charges and receiving an additional $448.00 in labor at no charge that the matter is closed. Sincerely, Rick V[redacted]

Business

Response:

We would like to refer this matter to the Revdex.com arbitration department.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

Everyone knows it's foolish for me to spend $200, or more, to receive compensation for $580 personal property damage.

Review: Upon having Bluemound Express contract with us to move our household belongings on (August 20th 2012) less than 1 mile, they packed the truck we rented with all of the boxes WE packed. They then held the truck overnight in a "secure lot" as packing and then unloading the truck all in one day was not achievable according to [redacted] (when we signed the contract). Upon unloading the truck we signed off that the truck they held overnight was empty. After about 2-4 weeks of unpacking we could not find the box containing my wife's jewerly. We called Bluemound Express to see if they had a missing box, they informed us that these missing boxes usually show up in the house. After extensive searching our missing box was still not found. The listing of the box held jewelry (grandfther's gold pocket watch, pearl necklace etc), my wife's turtle necks and 2 door hooks for the bathroom. The box was never located in our house. We contacted an attorney and sent a letter to Bluemound Express with no response regarding our missing items totally a retail amount in excess of $10,000. Filing an insurance claim would only pay $3,000 and would put us at risk of being dropped if we filed another claim so we decided not to follow that path.Desired Settlement: I would like Bluemound Express to contact us to offer some sort of settlement, we did not lose the box and we are very confident that the box went "missing" while the held it in their secure lot or moved it.

Business

Response:

This customers move took place on August 20th and 21st, 2012. The customer packed his own boxes in preparation for the move. We loaded his belongings onto our truck and held them on the truck overnight for delivery to his new home on August 21, 2012. Subsequently the customer states that one of the boxes he packed had approximately $10,000 worth of fine jewelry inside and that particular box could not be found when he unpacked his belongings.

When he notified Bluemound Express that this particular box was missing our response was two fold. First we assured him that since only his belongings were on the truck and that the truck was empty when we left his new residence we were quite sure that as he continued to unpack he would find his box. Second we informed him that our contract specifically excludes any insurance coverage for:

"any irreplaceable items, or items of extraordinary value such as cutglass, crystal, paintings, antiques, cash, important documents, JEWELRY, etc. will be moved at shippers own risk."

On behalf of our customer we did file a claim with our insurance carrier at that time. [redacted].

That claim was denied based on the no jewelry coverage statement in the contract that our customer signed.

Bluemound Express is the best moving company you could hire. I had the best experience with their two employees on a project that was very difficult.They were courteous, friendly and
never gave up. I will hire them again for my next move/project. Thank you guys!