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Lawrence Companies, Inc.

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Reviews Lawrence Companies, Inc.

Lawrence Companies, Inc. Reviews (10)

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me and the matter has been resolved
Sincerely,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
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.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

I FIRST WANT TO SAY THAT I FOUND THIS COMPLAINT IN MY SPAM FILE. I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE RESPONSE. I HAVE READ MR [redacted] COMPLAINT. FIRST I MOVED THE PAYMENTS DATES TO THE 7TH OF EACH MONTH AS MR [redacted] REQUESTED. I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION THAT NORTHWEST CANNOT USUALLY GIVE A CLIENT MORE THAN 30...

DAYS TO MAKE THEIR FIRST PAYMENT FROM THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THE POLICY. BUT, I WAS ABLE TO MAKE THIS ACCOMADATION DUE TO MR [redacted] COMPLAINT. I ALSO REDUCED MR [redacted] PAYMENTS TO $149..96 AS A FAVOR TO MR [redacted] WHO IS A OLD CLIENT OF NORTHWEST'S. I DID HAVE SOME TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING  MR [redacted] COMPLAINT BUT, I FEEL I HAVE TAKEN CARE OF ALL HIS ISSUES. I HOPE THIS TAKES CARE OF MR [redacted] COMLAINTS.THANKS[redacted]

Revdex.com:At this time, I have not been contacted by M.Z. Berger & Co., Inc. regarding complaint ID [redacted].Sincerely,[redacted]

A note on the cost ($7,600).... I only moved a half hour down the road!

First, it took them a week to send out a salesperson to do the "survey". Then another 3 days to give me an estimate. Kind of odd since the salesperson had a tablet with all the software on it and movers I used in the past were able to give me an estimate on site. But the salesperson seemed bright, and while the initial estimate was a little higher than I would have liked, it didn't seem totally unreasonable.

But that is where the romance ends. The salesperson was off on their weight estimate by almost 6,000 lbs! I think it was a "bait and switch" situation....they low ball the original weight to get you to sign and then "get you" with the actual weight. That little error increased the cost by almost $3000.00! Yes, actual weight will not always be the estimated weight, but to be off by that much is incompetent at best. (BTW, nothing was "hidden" up in an attic or shed, etc.)

The next issue I had was that I contracted with them to do "some packing". I only asked them to pack the kitchen and master bedroom. That's 2 rooms out of a 7 room house and two car garage. The sales person said he'd put it at 40% of the total weight for now, and if it was less it could be scaled back later. Well guess what didn't get scaled back??? The actual shipping weight came out to 20,840 lbs. All they packed was 7 wardrobes, 5 dish packs and about 10 misc sized boxes and they didn't even complete the assigned rooms. I had to finish them! There is NO way what they packed constitutes 40% of a 20,000 lb load (If that is even legitimate). Even after I disputed the charges, they still sent me a bill for the full 40%. Guess what is NOT getting paid?

Should I write about the damage? Might as well since you've stayed with me this long. An oak bookcase was literally destroyed. The back panel was split open and the bottom knocked out of the drawer...and I can't find the shelves! Another bookcase has the trim hanging off the front and those shelves are MIA too, (Why did they remove the shelves, and what did they do with them???) A wood cabinet has a chunk out of the top and they snapped a door pull off an antique Victrola. Some drinking glasses were broken because they packed them stacked inside each other without paper in-between them. There are a lot more little things like dings and scratches on the furniture. I can't tell you if they'll honor my claim as I haven't filed it yet, but given how they do business I don't think it will go well.

Review: On our move, the company damaged a rug, and numerous items were damaged when a crate broke in the warehouse. We were told this when the movers arrive at our house. We submitted a claim (that the company employees help us fill out) in early November. They also over charged us, and while they adjusted the invoice, they never provided a refund. I am unable to get a response or any type from the company. I have sent and recent claim forms and claim letters by mail, email and phone. I have been told numerous time that "someone would contact you" as soon as possible, but no response is ever sent. The Sales person has a new number, and the move coordinator appears to have left as her email is no longer active. This is absolutely the worst mover we have ever worked with. It has been impossible to even get them to show up for appointments.

Below is a copy of a complaint letter.

[redacted]

[redacted] Sept 16, 2015

Lawrence Storage

Dear Sirs and Madams:

The move of our furnishings from [redacted] to [redacted], was by far the worse of the six moves that we have had. It started with the estimate, where we could not get anyone to meet us when we were there, even though you had about 2 weeks’ notice for the estimate. Then the estimated weight included items (a bed) that we had already sold, and ended up being far higher than when we moved in. We finally got a weight after 6 or 7 requests and after an invoice for a higher amount had already been paid.

However, this letter is mostly about the poor packing and damage that was totally unnecessary. Someone on the packing crew needs to get some training, although other packing was quite good. In every case (except breaking the dresser) damage was caused by little or no packing materials. This contrasts sharply where items were well packed, and there was no damage. Unfortunately, there were far more packers than we could keep track of.

No attempt was made to label what was in the boxes,Desired Settlement: I just want to get a response from someone who can give me the status of the claim for which we paid an insurance fee, and someone who can address the billing error and a refund. It seems like people have been moved around and the people who we worked with have disappeared.

Business

Response:

Please find below our response to the complaint received through the Revdex.com website. Should you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach back out to us. The customer has claimed that a rug and numerous items were

damaged on his move in August/September 2015. I have thoroughly researched

these claims and have found that everything was addressed in a timely manner

and per company policy. Per the customer’s statement that a crate broke in the

warehouse and damaged many items, we do not have any records of this happening,

should a crate have broken in our climate control warehouse, we would have an

incident report on file. The customer did file a damage claim form, but only 2

items were listed. (Copy of claim form is attached) There was damage to a

dresser, but we not only had it repaired by a furniture professional, we

provided complementary pickup and delivery service for the dresser. The

customer is claiming that during the move, one of his rugs was laid under a

tree and became infested with carpet beetles. Rugs are the last item removed

from an origin home and the first item placed into the destination home, so

there is no reason that a rug would have been anywhere other than on the truck

or in the home. I have confirmed with the driver that the rugs were loaded and

unloaded directly from the truck to the house and vice versa. All claims were

settled by December 11, 2015 and a letter was sent to the customer stating

such. Due to the customer being displeased with the service we had provided, we

offered not only to do 2 complementary debris pickups from the shipper (value

of $175.00 each) as well as discounting their storage rates by 40%. Additionally,

I did check and the amount we show charged to the customer matches the amount

invoiced upon completion of the job.

The salesperson that the customer had been working with,

[redacted], is no longer with our company, however, his voicemail has been

continuously monitored by another sales professional. Additionally, the move

coordinator, [redacted], is still on our team and her contact information has not

changed. Neither of these individuals has received any correspondence from the

customer. If they had, it would have been responded to in a timely manner. The

VP of Household Goods Operations is attempting to contact the customer directly

to address any additional concerns.

Business

Response:

I forgot to attach the customers damage claim form to the preiovus e-mail. I can also supply reciepts where the items were inspected and the dresser was repaired if needed.

Consumer

Response:

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

I think that the problem here is just that the communication processes have not worked, both internally and externally. The financial issues involved here are very small, certainly relative to the $22,000 they were paid for moving services. They also do not appear to understand that these claims are in the Probate or Virginia Circuit Court system because my wife died in the move process before the claims had been settled. Any claims and settlement will become public records, and will need to be signed off on by either the Circuit Court judge, or at least the elected Clerk of Court in [redacted] County. They are subject to state probate taxes. I am pursuing settlement to make things easier on both parties. If the Court does not like the settlement they will require it to be litigated.I will attempt here to explain the communication problems in detail below. My wife was also our move coordinator, as she spent around 15 years working for moving companies, and also had many contacts with with Lawrence. I am glad to hear that [redacted] is still there. I left a lot of phone messages with [redacted], and [redacted] that were never returned. I also followed this up with email. When I got an email (above) to [redacted] that was undeliverable and no returned calls, I assumed that she had left before the moving processes had been completed. This may just have been a bad transition process of responsibilities. There are two separate claims, and 3 separate causes of damage as well as a billing error involved here. The first claim (I refer to it as the Lawrence claim) consists of 2 items that Lawrence employees identified as being damaged in shipment when they delivered the items on 9/23/2015. The delivery driver helped us fill out the claim form before he left. I later, researched the value of the items and added this information before submitting it to Lawrence.Claim Form 1, Item 1. A solid wood dresser (perhaps 300 lbs) had the back right section broken off. This was solid wood, and it would have taken substantial force to rip off a large piece of solid would. Simply dropping one end of the dresser would not have caused this. Four members of the moving crew independently apologized and explained what had happened. Lawrence employees indicated that in moving the crate that the dresser was in, that the clips holding the crate had broken and that the dresser and a number of items had fallen to the ground in the warehouse off of a flatbed truck. Based on my observations, this fall could have been 10-15 feet in height (in physics that would be 3,000 foot pounds of force applied to a corner of the dresser), and explained the catastrophic damage that had occurred. Based on the fact that the delivery people arrived 45 minutes late (the warehouse is 5 minutes away), I believe that this probably happened on the morning of the delivery. It is odd that they say that this incident was never documented, because based on the drivers report of the warehouse accident, Lawrence hired a company called [redacted] to look at the damages. The driver called the office and got this process going before he left, and I believe that 2 people came out to look at the dresser the same day. I contacted [redacted] (the move coordinator) the next day about the accident and she sent me an apology and notified the claims department of this on the same day. See the attachment in the claims packet email. I later received another separate apology from the claims department. My only complaint was that we had set up a delivery date for the dresser a week in advance, and since my wife was bedridden, I hired someone for $100 to travel 3 hours by car to meet them. They announced the day before that that delivery would be delayed another day. The reason for the delay was that it would be cheaper for Lawrence to deliver it the next day, and it would be difficult for them to arrange delivery on the agreed date. (Remember that it is a five minute trip from their warehouse to the delivery address). I had to take off work the next day to meet them because the person I hired had to be at work that day. Since Lawrence saved a lot of money by changing the date (their claim), I believe that they should reimburse my extra $100 cost.Claim Form 1. Item 2. Damage to my wife’s favorite oriental rug. The process with the rug was that the rug was vacuumed. The movers arrived at 8:00 am. in the morning, plastic wrapped the furniture in the formal living room and then rolled up the rug. After loading the remaining furniture in the house, the rug was brought out onto the driveway about 10:30 a.m. I was there helping them finish some items in the garage. I watched the rug sit there for some time from my office above the garage. As it was supposed to rain, I looked for the driver to find out if this should be loaded. I could not locate him, and later learned that he was packing up some books in a back room. The driver confirmed that this was one of the last items loaded (around noon). The truck left at 1:00 p.m. just as it started to rain. This whole story issue comes about because when Lawrence delivered the rug and unrolled it. Large amounts of carpet fiber came out on the floor. The Lawrence delivery people claimed that this had been damaged in transit. The entire outside edge of the carpet looked like the fibers had been cut off with something sharp. It was very clean. We formed a theory that the rug had been abraded or cut in shipping, but no one know that caused the damage. It is simply a fact that there could not have been any carpet fibers when it was rolled up (it was just vacuumed) and there where large amounts of fibers when it was delivered. Lawrence hired [redacted] to look at the rug. They came out and took lots of pictures. The called another company that specializes in carpets. This company can up with the theory that one or more carpet beetles had gotten into the rug while it was sitting outside under a tree (the beetle live in trees). I never claimed as indicated ”The customer is claiming that during the move, one of his rugs was laid under a tree and became infested with carpet beetles.” I had never heard of carpet beetles. This was a theory proposed by a consultant that Lawrence had hired to review the damage that Lawrence employees had claimed took place during the move. This is another apparent example of Lawrence staff not communicating with one another. They are attributing a claim to me can came from someone they hired, and was a claim that I was trying to refute.As a result of this claim by Lawrence, I got a magnifying glass and went over every each fiber of the carpet. I found no evidence of beetles, remains of beetles, larvae, or any other artifact left behind by beetles. Contrary to random eating by beetle, the damage to the carpet was in a perfectly linear fashion on the very edge of the carpet. I reported this to the claims department, and I told Lawrence that it would be extremely remote that a beetle could have caused the carpet slicing as their consultant had claimed. Yet the carpet was not damaged when it was rolled up, and was damaged when it was unrolled and the damage was contained within the carpet roll. The partial debris pickup mentioned below took place on day the delivery of the dresser and it was at the request of Lawrence transportation. It took about 10 minutes by 1 employee while the other delivery person was attaching the mirror. It cost Lawrence $0 in marginal expense to do this, and that is the reason that Lawrence requested it. Pickup of the debris was part of the original moving contract, although it is possible that my employer was never billed for it. I brought that to [redacted]’s attention, and in any case, I need to know if this is an amount that they are claiming is still due.. There was a lot of confusion in their original invoice because they had over-reported the content weight of 1 trailer by a factor of 3.The 40 % discount mentioned is a red herring, and has never been brought up before. This was a corporate move and the 40 % discount was negotiated with the company before move took place. It is a standard discount from the maximum tariffs, and resulted in the company ([redacted]) making [redacted] and Lawrence their preferred movers. We could have down the same thing with [redacted] or any other mover. If they check the original estimate, they will see that the rates in the original estimate were the same rates that were billed.Claim Forms 2 &3: This is from a claim package received from [redacted] around 9/29. It was sent to Lawrence by mail and twice to the claim manager via email. I never got a response to any of the submissions. No one wanted to acknowledge this. The claims were submitted along with pictures. There were many other items broken besides those in the claim forms, but they were of small value. The last one was sent on October 25. We still have many broken items in the house, I never got a response to my question on if I could throw these items away, or if Lawrence wanted them. No one ever came to look at them. We would like to get these items out of our way so that we can finish unpacking. If we could just get them to acknowledge the claim, then we could move on. Many of these items were probably caused by the crate failure in the warehouse, as there were a number of badly dented boxes and boxes with whole in them (The claim form show a list of the box that the broken items were in.)> However, other items were damaged when they were not actually packed in accordance with the contract. One of more members of the moving crew were just stacking items in large boxes without packing materials (or sometimes using expense suits for packing), or simply throwing items into boxes haphazardly. I tried to point these out in my letter and claim form. Billing Error on storage. Lawrence overbilled on storage because they miscounted the storage days by 1. [redacted] had the invoice corrected, but I had already paid the billed amount. She indicated that they would provide a refund. The amount is only about $36. Perhaps someone was offsetting this with the debris removal??This is about all I have to say. I hope that it removes some of the misconceptions on the part of Lawrence due to no one person being involved with the move from end to end. If we can get them to simply acknowledge the claim issues and have a discussion on these items, then we can move forward.Thanks for your help.[redacted]

Business

Response:

After reviewing Mr. [redacted]’s response to our explanation of issues regarding his move, I have the following information to share. First of all, in his initial complaint he requested refund of a supposed overpayment. We did extensive research and do not show any records of an overpayment. Since the disputed amount was only $32.60, I was able to override our system and refund this amount as a good faith refund to the customer. However, we need to speak with Mr. [redacted] to confirm how he would like to receive this refund. Due to the nature of the situation, our Vice President of Household Goods Operations has been trying to get in touch with the customer, but has received no response. He has called Mr. [redacted] several times and left numerous voicemails, but all correspondence has gone un-answered. We are unable to send a refund check or discuss any further issues if Mr. [redacted] continues to refuse our calls and messages. Should he happen to have lost all of our messages and correspondence, he can reach out to [redacted], VP of Household Goods Operations at ###-###-#### or [redacted]. Mr. [redacted] has pointed out in both of his complaints that any settlements will have to go through the Probate or Court system, while we are unfamiliar with the legalities of this particular personal situation, the move was solely in the name of [redacted], and be assured that Lawrence Companies has followed and adhered to all federal and local laws during this move and with regard to its billing. Additionally, shippers are legally only allowed to submit one set of claims (the number of claims is unlimited, but they must all be submitted together), Mr. [redacted] submitted claims on 3 different forms at 3 different times (9/23/15, 10/22/15, 11/15/15) and took it upon himself to mark out the legal notation that claims may only be submitted once. In response to the additional claim issues, our records show that all claims issues have been settled as of 12/15/2015. [redacted] has kindly offered to re-evaluate the issues and backdate all of the claim forms to one date, but once again, he has been unable to get in touch with Mr. [redacted]. As for the complimentary debris pickups, these were provided at the request of, but at NO COST to the customer, however, that does not mean that they were free, we had to absorb the costs for both of these pickups internally, which we did, in order to provide the best service we possibly could to the customer. In summary, we have tried multiple ways to contact Mr. [redacted], to which, as of 3pm today (4/27/16) he has not responded. While we hope that all customers are provided top notch service, on rare occasions, things happen beyond the circumstances that we can control. We hope that it is evident that we have made every attempt to contact the customer and settle these issues.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.I was in and out of the office over the past week, and our phone system was down for 3 weeks. I have left a message with [redacted], and will try to reach him again on succeeding days. My complaint is not so much about any claim issues, but rather the inability to reach any of the people that I was working with on the move.The first claim was for those items identified by the Lawrence moving crew as damaged in transit when they were delivered. I followed the directions of the Lawrence Driver in filling out the form in his presence, including the snapping of a solid wood dresser into 2 pieces. I did not consider this to be my claim, but just documentation for items that Lawrence had already admitted that they had damaged. These had also been reported to the Lawrence office before all of the items were removed from the truck. In fact, someone can over to view these items the same day.On the other items, some of these were probably related to damage from items falling out of the crate. However, some were just due to the fact that items were not packed in accordance with the shipping contract. They were just stacked in boxes. I was told by several Lawrence people that I had up to 6 months to submit MY CLAIMS, on anything that was found damaged in the boxes. My crossing out of the claim form documentation was based on discussions with [redacted]. No one ever came to look at these items, nor could I get anyone to come look at them, or to tell me if I could throw them away. I had been told to keep these items for examination. They still reside in various locations in my house. I really want to get them thrown away and move on to the repair and replacement process.

Regards,

Review: Our interstate move resulted in a number of damaged items. While agent and movers were courteous at both ends, I was not told that our pickup would be by a shuttle truck. Thus, our stuff was again unloaded and reloaded before arrival at the destination. When I discovered the damaged items, I filled out a claims form as soon as possible. I understood that an agent would come out to inspect the items from my claim. This did not occur, but instead the company sent me a check to cover my estimated amounts on the claim. I assumed this meant that they tacitly acknowledged wrongdoing. When I discovered several other functional problems with our damaged bureau, I wrote to our claims representative. He acted as though I might have been making up the entire scenario of damage, and said that since I had cashed the check, that removed the company from all further involvement. At that point, I went on and enlisted Maine Furniture Repair Services to view and give an estimate for repairs on the busted dovetail joint on my drawer (functional damage), loosened left leg, and the gouge to the same (left) side of the bureau. The estimate was for $185. I sent the estimate to the claims rep at Lawrence and stated that I would like to receive the $85 dollars to cover this repair. Lawrence had allowed $100 for surface damage, but this was not evaluated in person, and did not cover the repairs to restore functionality to the furniture piece. $85 would make this even. I have not heard back from the representative. The furniture repairmen believed the piece had taken a very hard hit on that front left side to cause such damage. If items were not actually dropped by movers, they were inadequately packed on the trucks during shipment. Many things must have shifted. In addition to furniture damage, I had closed-top file boxes that had been tipped over and dumped out. Items were incorrectly stashed back in the boxes along with leaves and other debris. While less costly to repair, it was annoying and certainly suggested some mishandling of items.Desired Settlement: I would like a check for the $85 to cover the actual cost of repair. I already had the $100 toward the total of $185.

Business

Response:

This matter was turned over to our Claims department for investigation on 1/9/14. [redacted] has informed me that he would have an answer to send to the Revdex.com by today or tomorrow. Thank you, [redacted] Lawrence Transportation Systems Inc.

Business

Response:

Response to complaint: Ms. [redacted] filed a household goods damage claim with Lawrence Transportation on October 8,2013 In the amount of $95,00 for damaged Items, On October 9, 2013 Lawrence acknowledged receipt of Ms. [redacted]'s claim and advised her we would review her claim and resolve It as soon as possible. Upon reviewing Ms. [redacted]'s claim, we found It fell Into the "no-fault" category of claim, meaning an inspection from a third party furniture repair appraiser did not need to occur; Lawrence Transportation could cash out the claim based upon It's experience and pay the claim as submitted ($95.00). Lawrence Transportation, in an attempt to be as fair as possible to Ms. [redacted]'s claim, concluded the submitted claim of $95.00 was too low. Lawrence Transportation decided to pay an additional $100.00 towards Ms. [redacted]'s claim of $95.00 and sent Ms. [redacted] a check for $195.00 to conclude her claim. Ms. [redacted] was sent a concluding letter along with the settlement check of $195,00, Ms. [redacted]'s settlement letter stated her claim had been finalized, In addition, each claim settlement check Is stamped with a release indicating "endorsement of this check constitutes a full release of any and all claims against United Van Lines, Inc. and its agents…" Our research indicates Ms. [redacted] endorsed and cashed her settlement check from Lawrence Transportation. Ms. [redacted] continued to contact Lawrence Transportation after cashing her settlement check with threatening and profanity-laced email attempting to collect for damages in excess of what was originally claimed. As a goodwill gesture, Lawrence Transportation will send a check for an additional $85.00 to Ms. [redacted]. Regards, [redacted] Lawrence Transportation

Consumer

Response:

The only profanity I used in my original email to the company was to ask them, "what the hell did you all do to my stuff!?!" My "threats" were to report the situation to the Revdex.com or the state Attorney General's office. The payment of the $85.00 was what I had requested of the company in my last email. Thus, their response to complaint ID [redacted] would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.Regards,[redacted]

Review: This company was contracted to move us from ** to **. We hired Laurence Transportation to move our house hold goods because it was company used by our employers. It took them about a week to get the survey done. We had some items in our garage which were included in the survey.

The driver refused to to drive the truck and pick up what was in the garage. Some of the items that were packed never made it. They sent out a claim form and refused to pay it.

They delivered the goods COD we had a money order for the pick up they claim it never made it to the office. They are now taking to to collections.

My question is how does a driver drop goods off and not collect payment. Also send a claim form and not pay on it.Desired Settlement: They failed to pick up everything and deliver all items packed

Business

Response:

In May 2015 Lawrence

Transportation Systems was hired by Mrs. [redacted] to relocate her

household goods from [redacted] to [redacted] as Lawrence is the preferred mover

for [redacted] (Mrs. [redacted]’s new

employer). The [redacted]’s household goods were picked up by a qualified

Lawrence Transportation Systems van operator on May 13, 2015. All items from

the apartment were loaded at that time and the driver confirmed that all items

had been loaded when having the shipper sign the origin paperwork. This

paperwork includes a bill of lading for the shipment, an inventory of all items

loaded, a high value inventory (if applicable) and a “Most Important” document,

copies of all of these documents have been provided. The “Most Important”

document states that the movers are not responsible for any items left at the

residence after loading and that the shipper (person being moved) is

responsible for checking to make sure no items are left behind. The driver was

not informed at any time that he needed to load items from another location.

The [redacted]’s household goods were then transported to [redacted] and

placed into storage in our [redacted] warehouse.

On 5/15/15, [redacted] from our [redacted] office called Mrs.

[redacted] to see how the move went, she stated that everything went well and she

would notify us once they found a residence and we could deliver their items

out of storage. Mr. [redacted] confirmed that they would like to take delivery of

their household goods on 6/15 and they were delivered on that date. At delivery

the shipper checked off the “Bingo Sheet” showing that all items had been

delivered into their home and signed all delivery paperwork. The [redacted]’s

were supposed to pay for the remaining balance on their shipment ([redacted] paid for $2500.00 of the relocation cost, leaving Mrs.

[redacted] with a balance of $881.44 that she was responsible for at delivery).

No check was presented to the Lawrence staff that was present at delivery. When

the move paperwork was processed in our office, the move coordinator realized

that the customer still owed a balance and called the shipper to see how they

would be paying the balance, the shipper stated that they had a money order at

the time of delivery, but it had disappeared. They also stated that they could

not cancel the money order until it had been outstanding for 90 days. Our

office agreed to check in with them at the conclusion of 90 days to rectify

their account at that time.

On June 30th, our office received a damage claim

form from Mrs. [redacted] claiming 10 items that had been “lost” during her move.

This claim was denied as none of the items on the claim form were listed on the

move inventory. Once the 90 days had elapsed, we have tried to contact the

[redacted]’s multiple times to collect their remaining balance but have been

unable to contact them beyond leaving messages on their voicemail. At this

time, Lawrence Transportation Systems is owed $881.44 from Mrs. [redacted].

Consumer

Response:

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

First of all Laurence transport was made aware that the driver refused to pick up goods stored in the garage conversation went back and forth finally Laurence agreed to send out a claim form for goods not picked up. Laurence Transport would not have have items listed. We had the apartment surveyed which included what was in the garage we also told Laurence Transport we would pack as much as we could. The driver was under the impression that it was a pick up only. There were 3 people originally doing the load one person left leaving two to load.Originally we were told that 427.01 was due at pickup yet on based on the survey yet on 5/25 only 149.36 was collected which indicated that not all the goods surveyed was picked up. Also The following email was was sent

Hi Mr. & Mrs. [redacted],

After

speaking to you this morning I wanted to let you know that we have

worked on your storage charges and my Manager has agreed to reduce your

storage to $881.44 which is about

a 50% savings.

I’m

sorry for any confusion or problems you may have incurred. As far as

your survey being performed 5 days after you made contact with us is

actually very fast. I know you were

very anxious to get the process started but this is considered quick

from the start date of contact with you. I’ve requested a claim form be

sent to you and you can call me if you need assistance. You could list

what’s on your inventory list that the surveyor

saw in your garage at origin. You can only file one claim in 9 months

from the day of delivery. After it’s sent to claims it’s in their hands

to handle for you.

Please contact me if you have any further questions or concerns and I’ll be glad to assist you.

[redacted] will work with you on getting your items delivered out of storage.

Best Regards,

National Account Manager

Regarding the boxes checked off of delivered goods there where four boxes without numbers and four boxes not checked off. The delivery guy said they must be four missing boxes. It was not until the goods were unpacked that it was noticed that kitchen items that where packed by Laurence did not arrive.Regarding the money order Laurence was informed and shown that a Money Order was purchased. The driver left after dropping of goods, and I received a call a couple of days later. saying payment was not received. Laurence Transport was told that a money order was purchased and was on the counter top where the driver paper work was and assumed he picked it up. As the money order had the receipt part attached to it one is unable to obtain a refund.Over the years we have moved I never had a mover refuse to pick up part of the goods surveyed, nor for one of the packers walk off half way through packing. Any time there was a balance due it was collected by the driver.Laurence claim that The driver was

not informed at any time that he needed to load items from another location. is false my husband asked the the driver to drive to the garage unit prior to packaging the apartment. The driver point blank refused using the excuse that his truck would not fit around to the pick up location. Also the goods where included in the survey.Laurence claims I owe them $881.44 I have shown them that a money order was purchased Their drivers failure to turn in payment is not my concern or my responsibility. Laurence Transport is the preferred movers for my employer. They knew that I was under a time constraint and if they could not met the dead line and move everything they should have declined. Regards,

Review: My wife and I were in correspondence with Lawrence Transportation over a period of a month (April through May 2014) negotiating shipment arrangements of our belongings from Charlotte, NC to our new home in Costa Rica. [redacted] (our sales agent) gave me a quote for $7,013.50 for door to door delivery. She quoted the estimate for charges from Lawrence Transportation for their services as well as an affiliate company ([redacted]) to pick up or belongings and deliver to Costa Rica. Once Our belongings were picked up in Charlotte, NC, we were given the final charge quote of $7,013.50. Once our belongings were received in Costa Rica, we received an e-mail from one of Lawrence Transportation's Costa Rican affiliate companies claiming we owed them another $3,150.00. I forwarded the e-mail we received stating we owed another $3,150.00 to [redacted] with Lawrence Transportation and explained we believed the Costa Rican contact was confused and must have sent the bill for their charges to us instead of Lawrence Transportation as we had already paid Lawrence Transportation in full for the "final charges" invoice. [redacted] replied to my e-mail and agreed there must have been some confusion as she did give us a "final charges" invoice which did not include the additional $3,150.00 charge. We later received an e-mail from [redacted] and also e-mails from her husband, [redacted] (who claims to be a manager with the company) stating their estimate was accurate and they are not responisble for the additional charges.

I explained to [redacted] and [redacted] (via e-mail as they would not call me) that they picked up our belongings from Charlotte (some irreplaceable) under a false quote of said charges and then sent them to Costa Rica where they were held at randsom/hostage for almost 2 weeks. Our belongings sat in a warehouse in a FOREIGN COUNTRY with no [redacted] for us to regain possession unless we paid the $3,150.00 being asked by Lawrence Transportation's affiliate company until we were able to come up with enough money. The actual additional charges were $3,250.00 as we had to pay additional days of storage while we desperately attempted to come up with the money. All of our belongings were literally being held hostage and the only [redacted] we could get them back was to pay the $3,250.00. I explained to [redacted] and [redacted] that we used credit cardes to pay for the original "final charge" estimate and believed in [redacted] when she assured us her quote was accurate. When we begged for their help, [redacted] and [redacted] would not even talk to us over the phone. [redacted] turned everything over to [redacted] and he would only communicate through e-mail and he was very slow to reply which cost us even more money that we did not have. [redacted] claimed our shipment was "pulled and inspected" in one of his e-mail responses and insinuated that was the reason for the additional charges. We sent an e-mail to Lawrence Transportation's affiliate in Costa Rica ([redacted] with [redacted]) and asked her if our shipment was "pulled and inspected"? We have an e-mail from [redacted] stating NO that our shipment went through "standard procedure". So, if our shipment went through standard procedure and was not "pulled and inspected" as [redacted] with Lawrence Transportation insuated, why was there an additional $3,150 charge that appeared that was NOT stated in our "final charge" estimate from [redacted] with Lawrence Transportation? Our ONLY contact on this entire transaction for total charge quoting was [redacted] was our one and only contact. She obtained estimates from ALL of their affiliates including their Costa Rican affiliate. On the day our belongings were picked up, we requested a "final charge quote" as we added another 500lbs. of cargo? [redacted] explained she sent a quote request to her Costa Rican affiliate and could not give me a final charge quote until she heard back from them. She called me that same day and said she received the quote from her Costa Rican affiliate and gave us the "final charge" quote of $7,013.50 which included the Costa Rica charges . Why did she not include the $3,150.00 additional charges in her "final charge quote" as she received a "final quote" charge from her Costa Rican affiliate? We would have denied their services had we known the HIDDEN charges. I explained to [redacted] prior to them picking up our belongings that we could only afford the amount she quoted. I asked her specifically if there would be any additional charges as we would not be able to afford any additional charges as we had to place our order on 4 seperate credit cards and we were at our limit. She assured me there would be no additional charges and her quote was accurate. I believed her and moved foreward with the transaction. I wish I could have foressen the future.

I am filing a complaint with the BetterBusinessBureau.com against [redacted] and Lawrence Transportation for false advertisement, false quoting and holding thousands of dollars of belongings in a foreign country for hostage/randsom until HIDDEN charges were paid. I am also charging [redacted] with Lawrence Transportation and his legal department with misleading information ("shipment pulled and inspected") in order to mislead and misrepresent the truth.Desired Settlement: We feel a full refund is warranted as well as a personal apology via e-mail from [redacted] and [redacted] for all of the mental stress and severe pain and suffering they caused us by putting us in this financial crisis due to their dishonesty and negligence.

Business

Response:

Reference: Revdex.com customer complaint filed by [redacted] ID [redacted]

From: [redacted] Vice President of Sales and Marketing Lawrence Transportation Systems Roanoke VA

Customers [redacted] and [redacted] utilized the services of [redacted] and Lawrence Transportation for an international move to Costa Rica May of 2014. Customer complaint states that they were charged $3,150 more than the original estimate and that these were “hidden charges.” The shipment of household goods was shipped to Costa Rica where it was placed in a bonded warehouse. The government of Costa Rica imposed duties and taxes of $3,150 on this shipment. Please see attached documentation. The International Order of Service from [redacted] was signed by Mrs. [redacted] on 5-6-14. Above her signature, paragraph 4, clearly states that “The estimate is not a warranty or representation that the actual charges will not exceed the amount of the estimate.” “Unless otherwise specified herein the estimated charges exclude duties, taxes, demurrage, storage, warehouse handling, customs fees, or any related services…” [redacted], Registered International Move Manager with [redacted], sent Mrs. [redacted] an email on 4-18-14 (attached) with information on how to reference “customs regulations” for their shipment. [redacted] with Lawrence Transportation in Greensboro dealt with the [redacted]’s on a customer service basis only and all the international shipping documentation and information was sent from [redacted] and the Greensboro office of Lawrence handled the loading of their shipment in Charlotte. Both [redacted] and [redacted] verbally told the [redacted]’s that additional taxes and duties were a possibility. On the same email dated 4-18 from [redacted] to Mrs. [redacted] it asks her a series of questions and states that “[redacted] Relocation will need for you to complete and provide documentation for export of your shipment.” There were 6 attachments. All these attachments contained important information and links to Costa Rican import/export websites that clearly stated that additional duties and taxes were a possibility.

Quite simply, the customer was given specific information up front to research importing household goods to Costa Rica. They were verbally told this was a possibility. They signed a contract that clearly stated the same. These charges were added not by Lawrence or [redacted] Worldwide, but by the Costa Rican government and we cannot control that cost.

Consumer

Response:

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

Regards,

Lawrence Trasportation is not being truthful. We dealt with [redacted] solely and she verbally assured me there would be no additional charges. We choose to proceed with complaint and dispute the hidden charges under unfair and dishonest business practices and would like the opportunity to present our case and the truth.

Review: We moved from CA to TX this year, and had a number of issues. Only one of them we weren't able to resolve on our own, and I have been extremely dissatisfied with the quality of the resolution provided by the carrier.

First, let me begin by telling you that when the movers show up to your house make sure you are both present and watching them as they pack your stuff. Half of our kitchen wasn't packed, as they placed boxes in front of the cupboards before they bothered emptying them. They forgot, altogether, to pack our coat closet (that they'd walked past hundreds of times in the two days they were packing our house), and they threw our 3 computers in the most random of places. I, contrary to the advice I offer, was watching our three children and two dogs while our packers managed to box up the contents of our house in the most unorthodox of fashion.

Upon letting Lawrence transportation know of the poor job their contract packers did, I did not receive the slightest inclination that anything was being done, or even that they cared, about the issue. I advised them that I was reticent about anything that may end up being broken in transport, and was advised (erroneously) that I didn't have to worry about any such occurrence.

Upon arriving in TX, 2 of our 3 computers had hard drive failures (all three of them were placed, unmarked, in boxes containing other miscellaneous items). One complete, and one partial. Given that both of these computers were used for work, I contacted Lawrence Transportation regarding the issue and let them know, and was quite explicit that the computer with the hard drive failure would be a bit pricey to restore, as it had the complete [redacted], and [redacted] Professional installed (about $2,000 worth of software).

After filling out the claim form, I was informed two weeks later that "I haven’t received anything back from [redacted] on it yet. I sent a request in to the supervisor just now to take a look. She will be back in the office tomorrow from vacation. I will let you know as soon as I can." A few days later I was told that, "I will need an inspection report from them indicating the computers are not functioning due to damage caused directly by the move. The report will need to contain photos of the computers, age of the computers, approximate replacement cost and depreciation value due to age. Also, we do not have an account with [redacted] Would you be comfortable with having this inspection done and having us send you a check reimbursing you for that expense?"

In other words, [redacted] was asking from me something very specific. While I don't know anyone who can look at a defective hard drive and say where the damage came from, I do know quite a number of people that will tell you that repeatedly jostling a hard drive (for say 2k miles) will cause it to fail.

Long story short, [redacted] found a place to "assess" my computers (and in the process completely destroyed the hard drive on my second computer), and in the end I was told "With this information, it appears it would cost approximately $385.00 to have both computers repaired by [redacted]. Mechanical malfunction or failure that occurs when items are shipped is not necessarily the fault of the carrier. In most instances, claims for such damage generally would be denied in the absence of special circumstances. Mechanical malfunction may be denied even if the claimed damage occurred while the goods were in the care, custody, and control of the carrier. If something vibrates loose or damage occurs during normal handling because of the nature of the item (inherent vice), the carrier may not be responsible for such damage.

For example, in the case of some home appliances or electronic equipment, particularly TVs, stereos, and computers, the vibration during transit could be such that an article that was working perfectly before the move no longer functions properly. Such jostling due to the usual transit vibration or other causes is beyond the carrier’s control, making a complete denial of liability proper.

However, in light of the above claims language from [redacted], I am prepared to offer you a $250.00 settlement towards those repairs. Please advise me of your acceptance and I will issue a check to you in the next few days and you can proceed with the repairs accordingly."

So, in addition to losing two thousand dollars worth of software, I was being told that "yeah, we'll pay $250 of the $385 it will take to get your computers running again."

In the end they bumped it up to $300 dollars, which still left me out in the cold for the $85 to get both computers up and running and upwards of $2000 for the software I no longer have.Desired Settlement: I'd like them to cough up the extra $85 it took to repair my computers, and either provide me with the [redacted] professional or give me the money to buy it.

Business

Response:

This communication is to address Mr. [redacted] complaint to the Revdex.com.

Although Lawrence Transportation appreciates Mr. [redacted] comments, we must take this opportunity to correct some inaccuracies in the complaint. Mr. [redacted] employer contracted with [redacted] Van Lines/[redacted] to perform a household goods move from California to Texas. The move originated on August 7, 2014 in California and delivered to Mr. [redacted]’s Texas residence on August 13, 2014. [redacted] Van Lines/[redacted] is a major national corporation with many independently owned agents throughout the Unitel States.

Lawrence Transportation is an independent [redacted] Van Lines agent and is located in [redacted], with satellite locations in [redacted] and [redacted] Mr. [redacted] move was assigned to an independent [redacted] Van Lines/[redacted] agency in [redacted] where the move originated. Lawrence Transportation served only as the booking agency and did not pack, load, haul, deliver, or unload any of Mr. [redacted] belongings. However, as the booking agent, the damage claim was filed with our agency.

It is worth noting at this point that during the move process, Mr. [redacted] was contacted by telephone by Lawrence Transportation’s Quality Control Department to inquire as to how the California agency movers were doing during the packing, loading, and again during the delivery in Texas. On August 7, 2014 (during the loading process in CA), Mr. [redacted] documented via telephone that “the moving crew was doing a great job and he had no complaints.” Given these comments during the packing process, it is odd Mr. [redacted] is now complaining that the packers did a poor job and “threw our 3 computers in the most random of places.”

On August 13, 2014 (during the delivery process in TX), Mr. [redacted] was again telephoned to inquire about the delivery process. Mr. [redacted] could not be reached by telephone and a message was left for him on his voicemail. In addition, Mr. [redacted] was also sent an email on that same day. Mr. [redacted] neither returned the QC phone call nor did he respond to the QC email regarding delivery. On August 18th, 2014, Mr. [redacted] was again telephoned by Move Coordinator Supervisor Tenika Hawley and again was left a message via voicemail. It was not until August 21, 2014 (2 weeks after loading and over 1 week after delivery) that Mr. [redacted] returned the call to Supervisor Hawley. Supervisor Hawley noted that “it’s odd that he waited that long to report the computer damages especially since he advised he used them for work.”

Mr. [redacted]’s official claim for loss or damage was received at Lawrence Transportation’s Virginia office on August 25, 2014. The claim included 2 computers and totaled $1000.00. Mr. [redacted]’s claim went under review and the Transportation Services Agreement (Contract) with Mr. [redacted]’s employer was reviewed. The contract was found not to contain provisions for items that incur mechanical failure. It is worth noting at this point that Mr. [redacted]’s computers were loaded as “mechanical condition unknown” in California. Simply put, it is unknown to [redacted] Van Lines if the computers were in working order when loaded. Lawrence Transportation continued its review of the claim and contacted [redacted] Van Lines corporate headquarters on August 25, 2014 and again on September 9, 2014 regarding their position on this claim. A Cargo Claims Manager from [redacted] responded on September 9, 2014 and indicated a 3rd party inspection of the computers would need to be done before a position could be established. Arrangements were made to have both computers inspected by [redacted] in [redacted] and the results of the inspections were returned to Lawrence Transportation on September 15, 2014.

On computer 1 (Dell Laptop) the inspecting technician indicated the hard drive was bad and was missing “quite a few Windows updates”. The technician was telephoned on September 15, 2014 by [redacted] and the technician indicated there was “absolutely no physical damage” to the laptop and the hard drive failure could have been caused by any number of reasons, including transit vibration. On computer 2 (All in One computer), the inspecting technician indicated the memory was fine but the hard drive was bad and the back panel of the computer “looks almost melted by the exhaust ports.” The technician was telephoned and indicated the melting damage was pre-existing damage caused by years of use. The technician also indicated there were no signs of physical damage to the computer and the hard drive failure could have been caused by any number of reasons. The technician provided an estimate to replace the hard drives on both computers, hardware installs, operating system installs, etc. would be a total of approximately $385

Lawrence Transportation then began adjudicating the claim. Although this claim warranted a complete denial due to the lack of mechanical failure provisions in the contract and also the lack of evidence of carrier mishandling, as a gesture of customer satisfaction, we offered Mr. [redacted] a settlement of $250 on his claim, to which he refused. A final settlement offer of $300 was offered on September 18, 2014 and was accepted via email that same day by Mr. [redacted]. A check was then cut and mailed to Mr. [redacted] on September 23, 2014.

In closing, we feel this Revdex.com complaint against Lawrence Transportation is without merit as Mr. [redacted]’s claim was adjudicated in a more than fair fashion given the facts and the lack of any evidence indicating carrier mishandling on the part of the [redacted] Van Lines agencies in California.

Respectfully submitted,

Lawrence Transportation, Inc.

Consumer

Response:

I would like to take a moment and thank Lawrence transportation for pointing out the crux of my complaint, mainly that they seem to be hiding behind an attitude of "we're just the agent."

I particularly like the fact that they note that my computers 1 - took a week to locate (while intentionally ignoring the fact that I'd said that they were put in the "most random of places." My desktop, and laptop, were not only not listed as having been packed, but were loaded with art supplies in stead of the other electronics they were adjacent to prior to packing). 2 - that it would take me a week to find a work computer (anyone with rudimentary knowledge of licensing protocol would know that if I had used this computer for a current job I'd merely be able to transfer rights onto a new computer. This was a computer that I'd used for side jobs, and a previous employer had given me the software. Ergo my problem to begin with). Another favorite of mine was the "missing substantial updates" when, again, anyone with rudimentary knowledge of computers knows, when you have a bad hard drive and you reset your computer to a previous backup you happen to be missing a good number of updates (and updating your computer can, and did, brick your hard drive).

I also like the part where they point out there was no physical damage, as it points out that they don't seem to have bothered reading my first complaint. I don't know a single computer repair person that can tell you why a hard drive goes bad. I know many that will tell you jostling a computer for two thousand miles will cause a hard drive to go bad though.

My favorite part, however, is that Lawrence claims that this issue has been adjudicated. I've never heard of "yeah, your stuff is broken, we may have done it but don't know, here's a percentage of what it costs to 'fix' your computer. if you don't take it that's fine with us too." as being a form of adjudication.

I took what was given, as I need a computer.

This doesn't negate the following issues

1 - Lawrence transportation was MY agent. In charge of getting MY goods from point A to point B. NOWHERE in this response do we find any sort of remorse for such blatant mis-steps in protocol (the placement, treatment, and lack of cataloging, of my computers). If a travel agent knows that a cruise ship isn't going to provide a good service, they don't offer the services of that cruise ship. Yet I'm sure that Lawrence continues to use whomever gives them the cheapest price regardless of the actual outcome of the service.

2 - Lawrence transportation, as MY agent, did a piss poor job of "adjudicating" anything. I was given an offer, of which I'd voiced concerns over, and was told "take it or leave it."

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

Regards,

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Description: MOVERS, TRUCKING, TRACTOR DEALERS, CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT SALES / SERVICES, TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, TRUCK REPAIR & SERVICE

Address: 872 Lee Highway, Roanoke, Virginia, United States, 24019

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