EC Moving & Storage, Inc.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
I refuse *** ***'s attempts at justifying his absurd and discriminatory tacticsThe whole point behind phone estimates is to give a realistic estimate to the consumer before s/he decided whether to have the person come out for a home estimateI gave *** and *** a full and accurate description of my property and the amount and type of contents that would be moving*** and I verbally agreed to: A July pickup in Madison, with earliest delivery on August and the latest delivery date of August (a 2-day window) for moving rooms, lbs, kitchen, livingroom, bedroom with fvp insurance for a cost of $if I packed or $with full packing by EC movers. *** *** came to my apartment, recieved the exact same info that his employees did, and yet decided to radically inflate the price to $6,with no explanation.He states that I "did not like his written estimate." This is trueI did not "like" it because it was ridiculously overpricedI did not "like" it because he was incredibly rude to me and refused to explain why there was this inflationI did not "like" it because he assumed that I "would not notice" the several thousand dollar price increase.When I called in shock that he had tried to swindle me, *** *** offered me no other optionsHe treated me like I was too stupid to understand that he was charging a thoroughly unreasonable price and he was shock that I was confronting him on his atrocious business tacticsI did hang up on him when he refused to work with me on the price or to explain why either a) he had grossly inflated the price from his employees estimate or b) his employees were not as "competent" as he was and thus gave me an estimate several thousand dollars below what their boss would charge even though both had the same information. I am not at all satisfied with this resolution, because there was noneThankfully, I did not have *** ***'s unethical company move my belongings, as he reiterated several times, but this was still a business transaction in which EC Movers did not act appropriately. I would like for this company to be censured by the Revdex.com, since they are not conducting themselves in a fair or professional manner and they certainly are treating customers with disdain and discrimination. For reference, I got in home estimates from other moving companies who all honored their one the phone estimates and treated me fairly and without discrimination.
Regards,
*** ***

The most important thing regarding this complaint is that we did not move her. She did not like my written estimate and she refused any other options I had to offer, then she hung up on me and never called back.Like any service you are buying, a phone estimate may help in the planning...

process, but a person should never count on that phone estimate. That is why we always schedule an appointment to see in person what will be moved and the moving site. The only accurate way to give an estimate is to see the moving situation, doorways, staircases, number of items being moved, and number of boxes to be packed. The biggest contributors to the difference between her phone estimate and actual estimate was: 1) The loading address was not accessible by a our long distance moving truck. This would cause us to load her shipment on an additional small truck then unload, then reload to the long distance moving truck.2) The amount of packing that would actually have to be done (far more than was conveyed over the phone).3) The number of items to be moved (far more than what was conveyed over the phone).4) The delivery city also required transfer of the entire shipment to a small truck.Again, I want to reiterate that we did not move her belongings, she was only disatisfied with our estimate.I have been working in the moving business for over 30 years and I always do my best.I couldn't have stayed in business this long without treating all of our potential and actual customers in a very fair and professional manner.[redacted]OwnerEC Moving and Storage, Inc.Agent for Atlas Van Lines

We contacted Atlas Moving for a quote for our move from Madison, WI to Silver Spring, MD. The salesperson from the local Atlas agent, EC Moving ([redacted]), came to our house and looked at all the items that we needed moving. He gave us an estimate for $3,200 based on 5000 pounds of weight. This is the first time we have ever used a moving company so we trusted their judgement in that whatever they told us would be legitimate.
The first sign of what was to come was when the driver of the moving truck that showed up said that there was no way our items would fit into his vehicle and that the salesperson made a mistake. A much larger truck should have been sent. The driver worked for Atlas and he said that, as the local agent, EC Moving was responsible for loading the items onto the truck. The EC Moving staff were unfriendly and uncommunicative during the move, and on a few occasions gave up on moving items that they couldn't figure out how to get down stairs and out of narrow doorways. It was only after either getting direction from the truck driver or calling their boss did they do anything - instead they just sat in their truck and said nothing.
When the boss of EC Moving finally came he told my wife that we would have to pay double the estimate amount. She was in tears and she couldn't deal with them any more - it was just a stressful experience with these people.
We got half our items within three days of pickup. I made many, many calls to Atlas inquiring about the status of when the other half would be delivered - sometimes they would call back and sometimes they wouldn't. We were promised the rest of our items no later than 12 days. They actually showed up 2-1/2 weeks late. The final bill was 69% above the estimate. We paid it in full but have submitted a formal claim to Atlas for overcharging. Atlas said that our claim is currently under review.
If you're thinking of a moving company it's hard to imagine a worse experience.

Review: On May 21, I contacted EC Movers, a subsidiary of Atlas Van Lines, to arrange a move from Madison, WI to Austin, TX for later this summer. I spoke with [redacted] and [redacted] to arrange the details of the move, and spoke at length with [redacted] on the phone to get an estimate. As per my notes, [redacted] and I verbally agreed to:

A July 31 pickup in Madison, with earliest delivery on August 3 and the latest delivery date of August 24 (a 2-19 day window) for moving 3 rooms, 3000 lbs, kitchen, livingroom, bedroom with fvp insurance for a cost of

$2181.13 if I packed

or

$2630.24 with full packing by EC movers.

I verified with [redacted] and [redacted] that the estimate would not increase in price because I could not have the estimator come to my apartment until after I returned from a conference, and that they would reserve a spot for me.

On June 12, [redacted]--the owner of EC Movers--came to my apartment to conduct the estimate. He assured me that his employee's estimate was accurate, that there was nothing to worry about, and that he would email me later with the paperwork. I received an email from him later that day, except he had grossly inflated the price to $6,180.37 with no explanation.

I called [redacted], obviously upset, and it was clear that he and his company had hoped to conduct a bait and switch, and that I would not notice his highly questionable actions. He was very rude, and offered no explanation for why he had nearly tripled the price of the move, besides explaining that movers are "like buying airplane tickets."

[redacted] conducted himself in a very unethical manner. I am very dissatisfied and shocked by this. Moreover, I am now at a severe disadvantage to find movers since I trusted EC Movers and their original estimate. The sleazy actions of EC Movers had cost me a fair amount of time and possibly money.Desired Settlement: EC Movers needs to honor their original verbal estimate for this move by having arranging for another subsidiary of Atlas Van Lines to conduct the move, since I obviously cannot trust [redacted] or his employees to come into my house or ethically conduct themselves.

Additionally, I would like EC Movers to be sanctioned by Revdex.com and have a warning placed on them so that other customers are not deceived, discriminated against, and taken advantaged of like I was.

Business

Response:

The most important thing regarding this complaint is that we did not move her. She did not like my written estimate and she refused any other options I had to offer, then she hung up on me and never called back.Like any service you are buying, a phone estimate may help in the planning process, but a person should never count on that phone estimate. That is why we always schedule an appointment to see in person what will be moved and the moving site. The only accurate way to give an estimate is to see the moving situation, doorways, staircases, number of items being moved, and number of boxes to be packed. The biggest contributors to the difference between her phone estimate and actual estimate was: 1) The loading address was not accessible by a our long distance moving truck. This would cause us to load her shipment on an additional small truck then unload, then reload to the long distance moving truck.