Empire Movers

Review: initially spoke with representative to request a price quote for a small move from an apartment to empires storage facility. I was informed the move would cost me $375. upon being satisfied with the price quote I scheduled the move.

after the move was complete they informed me the actual cost after including all extra labor, which they falsely filled out the form mentioning two different finish times on different documents and that besides the fact that the representative who quoted me assured me he the job would cost 375 and did not mentiondd that if his men work slow thy can charge 3x that) + taxes and fees (including a parking ticket they received although no where in the quote did it say I would be liable for their decisions ot illegally park a truck) would be $895 almost 3x what I was quoted on the phone. I refused to pay that amount and notified them they are authorized to charged my american express credit card for the amount of $375.

empire movers subsequently did not charge my card at all. however when I requested to move my furniture out of storage they informed me that they will not release my storage until the $995 is paid in full (or essentially hold it for random). I then spoke the representative who initially quoted me the $375 and informed hip that I would be willing ot pay that amount and he can charge my credit card for the $375 instead they subsequently charged my company credit card in the full "remaining balance" of $745 although I did not authorize or agree to such nor id I see the charge until after teh next move which I will explain below.

3 days later they moved my storage to a new apt and when I was not there when they finished the move they forged a signature as if the customer accepted the price of the second move. I never signed any document, any signature is a forge.

they then went ahead and charged my credit card the amount of $400 although I explicitly told them not to charge my company credit card.

I contacted teh company many times and was promised to me issued a refund one time and to me called back another but both promises were not kept, instead after promising to issue a refund they charged my company credit card an additional $400 although I explicitly told them not toDesired Settlement: requesting full refund ot Debits cards in the amount of and will pay correct amount via cashiers checks $375 + $375 for the first move and second move

Business

Response:

[redacted] was quoted for an hourly based move of $94/hr with a 3hrs minimum, and 1hr of travel time and a $100 a month storage facility. He states that it was a flat rate contract when in fact he received and signed an hourly based contract. He provided a credit card for a deposit. He left before the move was finished, and promised the foreman he would pay once the movers finished. After the move was finished he ignored paying the balance. For a few months he refused to pay for the remaining balance of his move, or for storage. Eventually he decided to move out of our storage. We sent him an invoice of the balance and he agreed to pay for it. The balance for his previous move and for storage was $745.00 and was charged on the card he provided.

He was then quoted for the move out of storage. He agreed to that contract also. As agreed the same card was charged. As in the previous incident, again he left before the move was done and failed to sign for the contract. He called our office many times, lied and requested a refund. He promised he would send us a check. I would return the charge to the card if he would find another form of payment to honor his contract. It has been 3 weeks and the last time we spoke he requested the refund but acknowledged he never meant or never will he pay for the move.

[redacted] desired settlement is a full refund and he will pay the correct amount by cashier's checks.

Empire Movers is only asking that he pays what he agreed. If he can prove all his claims, Empire Movers will honor his demands.

He is using all kinds of excuses to get free services. We have no interest on playing games. If he sends us a cashiers check with the full amount we will gladly reverse all the charges to his card.

If needed we can provide copies of the contracts and invoices.

Review: I initially contacted [redacted] and [redacted] (The supposed owners of the company) in early Sept. for a moving job. We discussed a flat rate of 660$ for my 1 bedroom apartment. I live alone, and have enough furniture for myself. I listed to [redacted] the most important pieces of furniture, which he wrote down, and e-mailed to me with a receipt. He told me I had to put down a deposit of at least 100 dollars for their services. I did so. After a month of back and forth about a date that they could come out and fulfill their responsibilities, they finally told me that they could come today- Tuesday, Oct [redacted]. I talked to [redacted] several times on his personal cell phone about what I wanted moved, and to where. THE NIGHT BEFORE the scheduled move, [redacted] asked me for more money than the settled upon 660$. I was very upset. He said that it was not his fault that [redacted] forgot to add some of the inventory that we first discussed, (Even though [redacted] told me it was an approximation) and that he was going to bill me 100 dollars more for the extra 2 dressers and television that was not on the initial inventory list. After much discussion, he settled for an extra 40. I thought my worries were finally over, and that I could finally move to my new home that I have been paying for but have not been able to live in since the movers would not come and move my stuff... and when the 2 movers finally got here today to move everything... they only had the "updated items" on the receipt... which means that they were going to charge me 700$ for only 2 dressers and a big screen television!!! I have 2 receipts, the 1st one that lists many items (like my bed, a sofa, a recliner, a table, some chairs, 9 boxes, 3 mirrors, nightstand, library, 9 very delicate and expensive frames, etc) and the updated one that just added the 2 dressers and the television. I tried to explain to [redacted] that it is absolutely asinine to think that I would rather pay 700 dollars for 3 pieces of furniture vs. ALL OF MY OTHER STUFF... but he called me a liar and said that he would not give me back my deposit nor fulfill our initial contract. So I'm out 100 dollars, plus I believe they charged another 150 dollars to my card AFTER THE FACT and WITHOUT MY AUTHORIZATION. I do not trust them with my card information, and they wasted a month of my time and rent money for 2 different residences, when I should only be paying for one by now. Please, ask them for the receipt they made me sign today,(and they refused to give me a copy of) you will see that they were trying to cheat me. I wrote on it that they came here with the wrong information, and that this is [redacted] and I want my deposit back and to cancel this job. I have 2 receipts in my e-mail, (the first one with all of my stuff for 660, and the 2nd receipt for only 3 pieces of furniture for 700!!!) and also some e-mail correspondence between us, with me telling him what all I had, etc, that proves my case. I want justice for this waste of time and money. They do not deserve to be called a business. Even if I had decided to let all of it slide, and allowed them to move my stuff like they initially were supposed to and what [redacted] promised me, the movers said that they were on a tight schedule and were not scheduled for the first/initial job of ALL my furniture. They said they only had time for the 3 pieces!! So all of that scheduling with [redacted] for the initial inventory was for nothing. It was 100% their lack of professionalism that lost me vital time and money. Florin told me last night I could have my deposit back, but refused to give it to me today after THEIR MISTAKES.Desired Settlement: I would like all money that they took from me REFUNDED IMMEDIATELY, and an apology for wasting my time, money, and lying to me.

Business

Response:

Dear Customer,

With regret we inform you the t the Job#[redacted], was cancelled. The reason for this was the large difference in the inventory provided 2nd time by the customer over the phone and the items in the house. Therefore a cancellation fee off $150 was charges. All this are stipulated in the contract.

Regards,

[redacted] wrote:

[redacted] wrote:

Dear Customer,

With regret we inform you the t the Job[redacted], was cancelled. The reason for this was the large difference in the inventory provided 2nd time by the customer over the phone and the items in the house. Therefore a cancelation fee off $150 was charges. All this are stipulated in the contract.

Regards,

This is FRAUD. You cannot cancel on me and then charge me.

Good afternoon [redacted].

[redacted] wrote: There is no respect here, so please do not patronize me. If you honestly think that you can sue me for defamation of character and get more money out of me, you are not only a horrible business, but you are also crazy. Can't wait to see you in court.

Consumer

Response:

At this time, I have not been contacted by Empire Movers LLC regarding complaint ID [redacted].

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

The quoted price does not include any tips or gratuities for the moving crew. Although most of the customers choose tip %15. The decision about tipping is at the discretion of the customer.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for choosing Empire Movers for your relocation service.

If you have any questions or need more information. Please feel free to contact me at [redacted].

Review: Empire Movers was hired to move our office from Midtown Manhattan to Forest Hills queens on 8/**/15.

On 8/**/2015 after the move was completed, we noticed several things that were damaged in transit due to poor packaging and lack of supervision. We immediately reached out to the Principal of the business Florin Petruta who assured us (via phone and email) that he would stop by the office that week to look at the damages and fix any issues.

8/**/15 - Full payment was deducted from our credit card for their services.

09/**/15, 09/**/2015 and 09/**/15 - Sent 3 follow up emails asking when Empire movers would come by to assess the damage and resolve the issues. No replies to emails and phone calls.Desired Settlement: Would like Empire Movers to return our call/email and stop by to fix all the damages caused by their firm.

Business

Response:

We did speak with the manger of the company and we was informed about the damage. We had some phone conversations with the gentleman . Last, I did called to follow up regarding the damages, and nobody replied. I never followed up with a call again. I'll gladly visit the office and see the situation . I can be contacted at any time for a evaluation. Regards Florin P[redacted] Empire Movers

Review: I hired Empire Movers to move my belongings from New York City to Houston. We had agreed upon a date range one week after the pickup during which I would be available in Houston to accept the shipment. From the day the movers picked up my belongings in New York two and a half weeks ago until now, I have received no reliable information from the company regarding where my belongings are or when the shipment will arrive in Houston. They have not replied to my inquiries, repeatedly telling me that I will get a return phone call that never comes. I and my family who travelled from New York to Houston to help receive and unpack my belongings have incurred a significant financial loss as a result of the negligence of Empire Movers. When I am able to speak with people from the Empire Movers office, they provide me with blatant lies telling me when my things will arrive. So far, in spite of repeated promises of delivery on specific dates, I still do not have any of the items that I shipped with Empire Movers. When I requested a discount because of the company's faliure to honor the original specified dates of delivery, I was told they would give me a discount. However, they refused to put anything in writing, explicitly stating that they did not want to be bound to a reduced price (this conversation occured over the phone when I called on July *, 2014). I have already paid over 1500 dollars up front.Desired Settlement: I hope to receive my shipment in full, and to receive an appropriate discount for the financial losses and hardship I have incurred as a result of Empire Movers failure to complete my delivery in a timely manner.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved.

After filing my complaint my belongings were delivered and the company allowed for a discount that I thought was fair.

Sincerely,

Review: We hired Empire movers to move our belongings from a 2 bedroom in the Bronx to a storage unit in [redacted] Upon inspection of our belongings in the storage unit the first time that it was opened since the move and unpacking we found damage to several belongings. Upon discovery of all damages I immediately called their office on 2/**/15 and asked to speak with [redacted] who organized our move, he was not available and the man who picked up the phone asked me to email their office and address the email to [redacted] with a description of damages and photos and that I would receive a response in 7-10 business days. This is the email I sent that night which was sent with 4 emails worth of attached photos which I can provide here if needed:

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Hi [redacted],

As you may recall we hired your moving company to move our belongings from the Bronx to Chicago in June/July of this year. We not only hired your team to move our furniture and belongings but to wrap and pack all of our fragiles. As per our discussion you wrapped our furniture in paper instead of blankets so that you could leave them wrapped when you delivered them to the storage unit. At the time you assured me that the paper provided the same level as protection as blankets but are just disposable. Your movers came and packed and moved our things and delivered them into a storage unit we had rented. As soon as they filled the unit we locked it up and did not open the unit until we just moved our belongings into the house and unpacked the fragiles. We are extremely disappointed with the state of some of those belongings upon inspection.

After your movers picked up our belongings in New York I gave you a call to report back on the status of their work. As I informed you they were professional for the most part except for when your foreman pressured me into signing a document stating that there were a variety of scratches on our furniture. A few of these scratches were pointed out to me during the pickup but at least half of them were untrue and were not mentioned until after the truck was completely loaded and my hands were tied. I was also surprised that our mattresses were not packed in mattress bags as we discussed but rather wrapped in plastic wrap that could easily be scratched open exposing them to the elements. As well, our TV was not packed in a TV box but just put in a box with the leaves of our dining table.

One of our more new/expensive suitcases had a large tear in the back fabric in it when our things were delivered, and the travel case for/containing our son’s bassinet had a large rip in the fabric.

The following are my notes related to the pictures attached in this email as well as the following 3 additional emails with further pictures:

1) Furniture.zip

You can clearly see that front top corner edge of the file cabinet is all frayed and scratched from the move. You can also see the picture from the storage unit where the paper wrapping is completely ripped off across that edge by your movers.

You can clearly see that the paper wrapping is torn on the nice dressers from the baby's room that were very expensive (more pictures of the damage to follow in the 4th email.)

The paper wrapping from the wooden bar was also torn off in the move.

You can clearly see from the images that the legs of the buffet table were not properly wrapped or supported and that one of the legs came off completely.

2) Leather Sleeper Sofa.zip

These images are of our leather sleeper sofa from [redacted]'s. The damages here are completely unacceptable.

You can see that the leather on the back of the sofa is scratched and damaged as well as some really severe scratching and ripping at the corners.

The most severe point of damage is that a wooden beam across the back of the sofa is broken in half. You can see that the back of the sofa has lost its shape and is clearly bowed and you can see the location on the wooden beam where it was snapped.

3) Empire Wrapped Fragiles.zip

These images are of the damaged fragile belongings that we hired your moving team to wrap and pack that were damaged/destroyed as a result of poor packing by your team.

You can clearly see that there is a large V-shaped crack in one of our wine glasses.

A couple images show a designer ([redacted]) glass serving tray with metal handles that is completely destroyed. The glass was shattered leaving 2 large pieces and lots of small pieces of glasses throughout the dish barrel. This piece was an expensive wedding present and it was poorly wrapped by your team. Not only was it not wrapped with enough paper padding, but the padding did not even cover the entire piece and some of the dish was found to be exposed in the box.

As for the designer (Nambe) silver plated candle sticks and trays, which were also expensive wedding presents, these were packed in a completely unacceptable manner. All of the fragile metal pieces that were packed by your team were placed into the dish barrels without being wrapped AT ALL. Most of the pieces were lucky in that either they were surrounded by glass pieces that were wrapped so they were essentially wrapped by proximity or they were solid stainless steel or silver so the scratches are not detectable. These pieces pictured, however, were not so fortunate and they clearly rubbed against each other and against other metal pieces in the dish barrels and were scratched through the silver plating to expose the metal beneath. We were shocked and appalled when we saw how they were packed so irresponsibly upon unpacking the boxes. We are extremely upset that our fragile, expensive pieces were treated so poorly and damaged irreparably and unnecessarily. This is negligent and unacceptable.

4) Baby Furniture.zip

As you saw from the images in this first email, the paper used to wrap our son’s furniture either did not sufficiently protect it or your team did not handle our furniture with the proper care. Either way they did not even bother to re-cover the exposed areas after tearing the paper coverings.

From these images you can see the consequences of the improper covering and handling of our son's bedroom furniture, which was a very expensive set. You can see the large scratches in the corners of both of the dressers.

There are also a couple of images of a large dent on the top edge of the bottom left drawer and an extremely large scratch across that same drawer.

We were looking forward to your moving service since you came highly recommended by [referrer name removed] and you yourself told us that you would take the best care of our furniture, and we were disappointed by the sloppy errors and general lack of care and negligence shown to a lot of our belongings. We look forward to your reply and taking responsibility for these errors/damages with the proper compensation. I hope that you show the belongings of your customers more respect and care in the future.

Thank you,

[our names removed]

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I received no response whatsoever so I sent this email as a follow up on 3/*/15:

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To Whom It May Concern,

I called your office on 2/** to talk to [redacted] about the damages to our belongings that your company has moved. The individual from your office that answered the phone told me to write an email with photos and descriptions of the damages which I sent out that evening. He told me that I would receive a response within 7-10 business days. That window has lapsed and I still have not received any form of communication from your organization. If I do not hear from you within the next couple of days I will be forced to involve an attorney and/or continue this discussion through the Revdex.com process.

Thank you,

[my name removed]

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Again I received no response whatsoever so I called their office again

on 3/**/15 and spoke with the dispatcher and explained the above to her and warned that I would be forced to reach out to the Revdex.com if I did not receive a response that day. She assured to me that I would hear from someone by the end of the day and she sent out the following email shortly after out conversation with subject "Damages on Move 15310":

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Hello Customer Relations,

Today I received a call from the above customer, [my name removed], regarding some damages he received during his move. He said he has sent a few emails and no one has replied to him or even reached out.

Someone Please call him today to resolve this issue. As he said he will have to take further action if he does not hear from someone by the end of today.

Thank you,

Empire Movers LLC

[redacted] / Dispatch Operations Administration

[redacted] Empire Movers LLC

Office[redacted] Fax: [redacted]

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I still have not heard anything from Empire aside from this one email from the dispatcher. It has been nearly a month and I have not received any communication regarding my belongings. This is totally unacceptable especially since I clearly demonstrated that this was a result of negligence and not some unavoidable moving issue.

Thank you,

[my name removed]Desired Settlement: We expect for the damaged belongings to be repaired, replaced, or compensated so that we may do the repairs/replacement ourselves.

Business

Response:

Hello, Thank you for your email. Is the first time I hear about this issue and also we never received any pictures , documents stating this . At the delivery time all furniture was properly placed and packed. After the delivery , we are not responsible for any claims. We never received photos stating damages made by our company. We make sure all our services are done properly and with the highest standards in the industry. Regards, [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

It is absolutely ridiculous for you to claim that you were not made aware of the damages I am claiming. I have gone above and beyond in calling your office several times and sending several emails. I not only have the evidence of the emails I have sent but even have the evidence of the email sent to me by your [redacted] urging you to respond to my complaints. This goes beyond unprofessionalism to a whole new level. It is frustrating that prior to the move you were accessible over the phone and email and now magically you are not aware of multiple calls and emails I have made. I have provided archives with over 65 megabytes of data. Unfortunately I cannot provide all of the photos on this form since I can only upload 4 here. If there is another avenue I will gladly provide all of the photos again. Please stop playing games and address my complaints like a professional.Thank you,[redacted]

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

With regret , I must repeat that the furniture was stored in the storage facility by us and if we would have made any damages, the customer could notice them when we unloaded. On some pictures that the gentlemen send, clearly we can see that the furniture was dragged and the protection ripped . Should not take much expertise to realize that furniture could be damaged. “As I mentioned previously, I was bullied into signing that document by your foreman since he only brought those supposed conditions to my attention after the truck was already loaded up and there was no way for me to actually confirm or deny them.” -our workers do not practice this type of “techniques” and I do not understand how someone could force you to write something on a paper without your will. From my understanding , at a different time , a moving company picked up the furniture from the storage to the gentlemen home. At the time of delivery customer signet the delivery paper and confirmed that no damages ware noticed. Again, we regret for your loss in property , however we will decline the claim. Regards, [redacted]

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:First of all, as I mentioned, all of our belongings were left sealed in the storage unit since your movers left them there until the point where I took those pictures. They were not dragged by us and the movers that removed them from the unit did not have the opportunity to drag them since I looked at each piece as they removed it. I do not know how your movers did the damage or why every detail was not seen on the way into the storage unit. We watched them remove the belongings from the truck. Perhaps they did the damage as they loaded them into the storage unit, perhaps they held the torn paper up so we could not see the damage. Maybe some of the damage was done in transit and they tore the paper while putting things into the units so everything looked fine going in.As far as the bullying goes, I cannot believe that you are denying it because I called you and we spoke on the phone and I told you how I was pressured. You are right he did not physically force me to sign but there was no way for me to see the issues he described because everything was already on the truck. He was rude and unprofessional. I tried calling you at the time of this and you conveniently did not answer your phone. In any event, I did not complain about those issues, I am just pointing out the poor character and dishonest unprofessionalism.You have not addressed the fragile/breakables that I paid you to move. The negligence was totally unacceptable. Our metal/silver pieces were not wrapped at all. There is no way we could have seen that damage until the boxes were unpacked. Please help me to understand how we could possibly be responsible for such gross negligence on your part.Also, what about the damage to our couch? There is no way for us to have seen the broken wooden beam as the movers brought the wrapped couch into the unit. I get your point, however, I have made it abundantly clear that your organization is in the wrong regardless of what was signed or what was seen or not on the delivery day.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above.

Sincerely,