Northstar Moving Corporation

Awesome job! Very professional and the best rate I found! Would definitely recommend!

Great timing, all items loaded and delivered with care
Will definitely use them again and recommend them to everyone!
Thank you guys!!!

As the client states, we went above and beyond any contractual duty we had in an effort to find a good resolution to his complaint. The client indicated that our offer would not satisfy him and that he did not accept it. At that time, we withdrew the offer and honored our contractual duty to the...

client by remitting the amount due him according to the valuation protection he chose at the time of his move. 
We remain open to a resolution that the client would agree fully satisfies him, but we cannot negotiate into a vacuum. Without willingness to compromise, our hands are tied. Should the client change his mind and would like to accept the offer we made, we would be glad to speak with him because despite the impression the client seems to have, we are a company who cares and is always dedicated to going above and beyond.

Complaint: 10862151
I am rejecting this response because:
Their contractual duty was to deliver all of our personal goods and household items, which by virtue of their trying to make an offer (which if they wanted to simply provide only a stipulated insurance amount, then there would never have been a need for an offer)--definitely implies guilt and responsbility.  If they lost just one or two items, this I could potentially understand and would have little care about unless those items were of extreme value.  In this case, they have lost, misplaced and simply not delivered 14 medium and large size boxes and one 16 foot ladder.  Our family has estimated the value of what we know to be missing contents from the move (although we hesitate as boxes are not labeled fully so a definitive itemization of the items missing is nearly impossible to determine) at almost $4000.  Their offer was $500.
Our compliant rests on a few key items that Northstar Moving must take responsibility for:
1.  They unpacked the original moving trucks loaded which we witnessed the doors being locked and closed.  This unpacking and moving to an additional truck is the only explanation for the missing items.  This is both incompetence and inexcusable--for which the Revdex.com cannot in good conscious provide a high rating to this company.  
2.  Completely losing 14 boxes at the sizes they are can be taken as potentially failing to fully complete the delivery.  These items simply do not vanish in thin air and are somewhere.  The compnay has stated they exhausted efforts to determine what happened and where they could be located--however I am not convinced.  My reasoning is the issue noted with the missing ladder.  Upon finding this was missing (and a 16 foot ladder is not a small item that could go unnoticed), I called Northstar requesting they find and deliver.  The next day they said our ladder was found and would be delivered to the house.  However, they delivered someone else's ladder (it was even labeled with another customers moving itemized sticker!), which I promptly called them to have it picked back up and returned to the rightful owner.  If this can happen, then it is clear they do not have an adequate and appropriate tracking system for those items entrusted (and contractually obligated) into their care.  
3.  Finally, by providing me an "offer", they have already indicated an acceptance of responsbility for their actions.  However, their offer needs to better meet and match the true value of our loss.  This should be the actions of a company which claims to be a "Better Business" and advertises as such.  Otherwise, I demand the return of our missing household goods and the completion of the originally intended delivery.  Surely if they truly cared about their customers, for which we are one, then their search would not end until all items were found or appropriately replaced.
I requested the help from the Revdex.com as well as their industry association and state government oversight organization so that justice can be delivered and facilitated for us.  Northstar will not put anything in writing to us (even when directly asked--as they denied for no reason), presumably so as to not self-incriminate.  We therefore, need your help to resolve this matter since they will not professionally work with us for an acceptable solution.
Regards,
D[redacted]

Our offer explicitly did not come with any acceptance of
responsibility. It was intended, as stated, to be a customer service gesture to
amicably resolve the issue of a client. We respect the opinions of our clients
and are certainly not going to haggle over $500.00 if it will resolve
something. Mr. M[redacted] rejected any attempts at reasonable resolution and has
lodged his complaint here, which is of course his right, just as it is our
right to disagree with his point of view.
The valuation protection Mr. M[redacted] chose at the time of
his move was in the amount of $0.60 per pound, per article. This includes any
damaged or missing items associated with his shipment. Mr. M[redacted] reported
some items as missing. We investigated in an attempt to locate them, but were
unable to do so. There are many reasons items may go missing, particularly in a
cross country move, including the possibility that something may have been left
behind at the place of origin. In this case, we simply have no way of *nowing,
and so without argument, we paid Mr. M[redacted] the valuation he was contractually
due.
Mr. M[redacted] was not satisfied by what he was entitled to and
so, in an attempt to satisfy a client and save both parties the time and
expense of a protracted claims process (a process that includes this bac* and
forth with the Revdex.com or any other method Mr. M[redacted] may pursue) we offered
$500.00 as a good faith attempt to buy our peace and settle the matter
amicably.
The ladder Mr. M[redacted] references was in our lost and found.
It was assumed that a labeling error had occurred and that it was Mr. M[redacted]’s
ladder as the coincidence of two ladders turning up missing at the same time
was almost astronomical. Unfortunately, it ended up being a bizarre coincidence
and we apologized to Mr. M[redacted] for any inconvenience.
When Mr. M[redacted] says “if they truly cared about their
customers, for which we are one, then their search would not end until all
items were found or appropriately replaced,” he does not seem to understand the
contract he signed. We made every attempt possible to locate the items he
claims are missing (including our attempt to deliver a ladder that ultimately
was not his) and when they could not be located, we appropriately replaced them
according to the terms of the contract signed by Mr. M[redacted] prior to his move.
Then, we went above and beyond the terms of his contract and were rejected by
Mr. M[redacted] for our efforts. And, to be clear, should at any point in the
future the items Mr. M[redacted] claims are missing reveal themselves, we will deliver
them to Mr. M[redacted] right away, at no cost to him.
We have been nothing but professional and
courteous toward Mr. M[redacted] as we attempted to address his issues, but an
amicable resolution cannot be reached when one party refuses to cooperate with
the process.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/04/22) */
Contact Name and Title: [redacted], Client Care
Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Contact Email: [redacted]@northstarmoving.com
Dear Sir or Madame,
Thank you for reaching out regarding this customer complaint.
From the moment Ms. [redacted]...

hired our company, we have abided by the terms and conditions of the contract she agreed to when she contracted our services to move her belongings from California to New Jersey. As we have agreed to perform according to this agreement, all we have asked is that Ms. [redacted] do the same.
Per the terms of this agreement, before the client's belongings are picked up, a delivery window is given to the client. It is understood that they must be ready to receive their shipment at any point within this window and that we will notify them 24 hours in advance of the actual day of delivery, once it is known. This window exists because moves out of state are done through consolidation, meaning the shipments of multiple clients are put on the same truck and transported to various points across the country. This saves everyone involved a great deal of money and makes the cross country moving process affordable.
Ms. [redacted]'s delivery window was January 27th, 2015 - February 14th, 2015.
Despite Ms. [redacted]'s claims, we did attempt to deliver to her, and were ready to deliver to her, on Thursday, February 5th, Friday, February 6th, and Saturday, February 7th. Our dispatch office made numerous phone calls that went unreturned. Our email, on Thursday, February 5th, was also unreturned. It was only when we sent the email on Saturday, February 7th, informing Ms. [redacted] that per the terms of her contract, she was liable for a re-delivery fee (this email is included as part of our response) that she responded.
On Thursday, February 5th, we notified Ms. [redacted] by email that we would be delivering on Friday (this email is included as part of our response). We had been attempting to reach her all day Thursday with no response. Then, as Ms. [redacted] admits in her complaint, even though she knew we would be attempting delivery on Friday, she chose to attend an event of her son's in the morning and ignored her phone until much later in the day. It was at Ms. [redacted]'s request that we did not deliver until Sunday.
Per the terms of Ms. [redacted]'s contract, she should have been ready to receive delivery at any point within her stated delivery window. All attempts to deliver to her were made within this window. Because she did not respond to our attempts to contact her and refused delivery on Thursday and Friday, she was subject to a $.35 cent per pound re-delivery fee. Given the total weight of her shipment, this fee she was charged totaled $1,631.00. We are still not sure where Ms. [redacted] is getting the figure of over $2,000.00.
Please keep in mind that due to the use of consolation, it is not only Ms. [redacted]'s belongings that are involved in this matter. Whenever an out of state delivery is delayed, it has a ripple effect, both financially and at a customer service level. We do not assess re-delivery fees out of a sense of malice or as a punishment, but rather in an attempt to offset whatever damage is caused by the delay. Often this damage is monetary.
Though it was contractually within our right to assess this fee, we still care about our clients and hoped to have a rational conversation with Ms. [redacted] about this fee. However, when our Client Care department attempted to contact Ms. [redacted], she screamed at us over the phone and hung up without allowing us to say a single word. Part of what she screamed was that she did not wish for us to call her. Subsequent emails we sent were ignored and we have had no response from Ms. [redacted] until this complaint.
We welcome the Revdex.com's intervention in this matter as Ms. [redacted] has made any kind of amicable resolution impossible. She has cast us as the villains in her story and there is little we can say to change her mind. We are simply looking at the facts. Though we are not unsympathetic to Ms. [redacted]'s point of view, it remains exactly that: her point of view, one that we do not share. We do understand the burden an additional fee, despite it being assessed fairly and according to our agreement, can place on a household. We would be willing to refund a portion of the fee to Ms. [redacted] purely because we are able to sympathize with her distress.
After careful review, and purely as a customer service gesture, we would be willing to offer Ms. [redacted] a $300.00 refund, despite the fact that we performed our services for Ms. [redacted] according to our agreement with her. We are truly appreciative of the Revdex.com's assistance with this process.
Very truly yours,
[redacted]
Client Care
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/04/23) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I don't accept this settlement, because they're lying about both their attempts to contact me and to deliver. As phone records verify, their "attempt" to contact me by phone on Thursday prior to delivery was successful; I spoke with a woman from their office Thursday morning. And she said nothing about delivering on Thursday. As I said in my complaint, she gave me another delivery window: between Friday and Sunday, and reiterated that the driver would call me 24 hours in advance of his arrival. As he hadn't called by noon on Thursday, I attended my son's school orientation on Friday morning. (Their email saying they'd deliver on Friday is time-stamped a few minutes past 4pm, late Thursday afternoon, so if they're calling it their 24-hour notice and pretending no phone call from the driver should have been expected, then the earliest they could fairly attempt delivery and charge me for failure would have been after 4pm on Friday). Think about it; I needed my possessions and I didn't want to incur extra charges, so if I'd known that they might deliver while I was out, I would've made arrangements to be home all morning. Instead, their promise of a 24-hour call from the driver falsely assured me that Friday morning delivery was out of the question.
At any rate, at 10:15am on Friday, while I was at my son's school, my phone rang and I couldn't answer. The number had never called me before, and the caller hung up after two rings, without leaving any message. Once home, I CALLED THE UNRECOGNIZED NUMBER BACK, and I did so before noon (not "much later", as they try to claim), and to my surprise it was indeed the driver. It was as if he had HOPED TO AVOID SPEAKING WITH ME, and it's now clear why. As I said before, this was the first time the driver had ever even tried contacting me. In other words, he neglected to give me the required 24-hour notice of delivery, and then he didn't bother leaving any message, as phone records confirm. Then when I called him back less than 2 hours after his no-message call, he didn't want to make the one-hour drive from [redacted] to my home, even though there were more than five business hours left. He said that he hadn't attempted delivery because he didn't want to incur any expenses unless he was sure I was home. When I said he should come, he said his weekend had begunbefore noon on Friday! In other words, he himself told me that no delivery had been attempted and no associated expenses incurred. Then I get charges for "Redelivery". Please note that if he had actually attempted delivery, leaving [redacted] when he placed his original no-message call, he would've arrived after I had returned home and all would have been well. The only difference would've been that NorthStar wouldn't have skinned an extra $1,631 "re"delivery charge from my hide plus 3% credit card charge. And when the driver did deliver on Sunday, he missed the promised noon to 3pm window by more than 3 hours and didn't bother calling to say anything about it. ONCE AGAIN, I CALLED HIM, at which time he gave me another window, of 3-6pm, which he also missed. And no, he didn't bother to call to say anything about it. Apparently delivery windows are just to be observed by customers, not NorthStar.
It seems North Star's expectation is that the customer must sit in an empty home for 2 weeks solid, awaiting delivery, because the promise of a driver phone call giving 24-hour notice can be broken without explanation and the customer will be charged an extra 35% for the privelege of receiving a late delivery.
North Star glosses over the other, obviously fraudulent charge, which was for the shuttle truck. That 's the $300 they're offering me, without bothering to admit that this rental was not necessitated by my home's location, which, contractually, is the only reason they were supposed to charge it. I even warned the driver on Friday when I called him that a shuttle was unnecessary, but I can see that it might be more convenient for their other deliveries to haul only my possessions to my home. In other words, they were apparently do oing what made sense for their profit margins, but they charged me for it, and they don't want to admit it, because it discredits the rest of their story in support of the other fraudulent charge.
They say they don't understand where I get my $2000 sum, which is what they have to say if they don't want to talk about the shuttle truck they rented on my back. The math is simple: they charged me $1,631 for "re"delivery + $300 for the "necessary" shuttle + 3% credit card fee ($167) that was added to the bloated total of $5,591, because I didn't have an extra couple thousand in cash laying around the house to cover the surprise expenses when the delivery arrived on Sunday (bank closed). Note that the actual total is more than $2000. It's $2,098, and I'm not going to bother them for compensation for the things they broke, and I'm not asking for interest (they've now had an extra $2,098 of mine for 2.5 months and counting), and I seek nothing for my time and vexation. To prove that I'm reasonable, I'll throw them yet another bone, of $25. I seek $1,975 and that's final. It would also be decent of them to admit they overcharged me and lied about giving 24-hour delivery notice and needing a shuttle, but I won't hold my breath on that one. At least the record will show that there was a Revdex.com complaint against them. If they pay back $1975 it will be a resolved complaint, and otherwise it will be unresolved. Either way, they're getting off lightly. What does their contract say I owe them if they don't give any 24-hour notice AND they miss multiple promised delivery windows (Friday, Sunday 12-3, Sunday 3-6)? They're making a ruckus about re-delivery because I could've demanded the whole thing be free of charge. It's possible that the main problem is their driver. Maybe he's telling them he makes the 24-hour phone call even though he doesn't, and maybe he tried telling them the shuttle truck was necessary, but they shouldn't make customers eat the expense of a bad employee, and they shouldn't lie once they discover he's a problem.
The bottom line is they admit they had a contractual obligation to give 24 hours notice of delivery and they failed to do so for Friday morning (and their response carefully dodges this point). They had sent me emails on other subjects, so if they honestly were trying to arrange a Thursday or Friday morning delivery, where is any email saying as much? If I was so hard to reach by phone, why do records show I spoke with management Thursday morning? And why do records show that I repeatedly tracked their driver down, and not vice versa?I needed my things and I need every dollar I earn; if they has notified me that they would deliver Friday morning, then I would've made sure someone was there to meet the driver (or, more likely, waste the entire morning while the driver "began his weekend" in New York, an hour's drive away.) If they had just produced proof of 24-hour notice from the driver for the Friday morning that I wasn't home, I never would've complained about the redelivery charge. They didn't produce that proof because it doesn't exist; he didn't call anytime before Friday, they failed to do as promised, and they charged me for it. If you want my phone and email records I'll gladly provide them. It seems that's all the proof that's needed.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/05/01) */
Dear Sir or Madame,
We have already stated the facts as we know them. This is devolving into a "he said, she said" situation and we do not feel the need to defend our position beyond this: it is our continued assertion that we did nothing wrong in this case. Nonetheless, we feel the need to point out that we were still willing to discuss refunding part of the redelivery fee prior to this complaint being issued. It was Ms. [redacted] who closed all lines of communication and drew a hard line in the sand.
We remain sympathetic to Ms. [redacted]'s financial situation. However, we did not cause the delay in the delivery of her belongings.
In an attempt to compromise, we will raise our offer to $400.00.
Alternatively, Ms. [redacted] is always welcome to give us a call and speak with me, as I am our Sr. Client Care Manager. It would be my pleasure to have a conversation with Ms. [redacted] and attempt to resolve this issue directly. As she ordered us not to call her the last time we attempted it, we do not feel it is our place to reach out to her.
Very truly yours,
[redacted]
Sr. Client Care Manager
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 13, 2015/05/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
There's no "he said she said" about it. I'm telling the truth and they're lying. My phone and email records corroborate my version of events in every detail. Would the Revdex.com like a copy of all these records? NorthStar makes no similar offer because, in this matter, the truth is their enemy.
As for their $400 offer, they'd still be taking me for almost $1,700 in fraudulent charges. In other words, if I accept this offer, they'll presumably continue cheating customers and unfairly out-pacing competitors, because it will be well worth it for them.
I paid all legitimate charges in full. They incurred no expenses for "re delivery" because, as they admit, they never tried delivering before the successful attempt. The shuttle truck rental was unnecessary, so its expense should rightly be their responsibility, per their contract. Since I caused no unusual expense on their part, and they failed to give the contractual 24-hour advance phone call, I owed them no extra charges and there is no cost basis for them to have charged me these fees. I already cut them a break versus the true total of extra charges, which was $2,098.
They can refund me $1,975. Without it, the matter can't be resolved. Admitting to what they did would also be good for them, but I don't require it.

Review: Northstar was contracted to move our household goods from. At delivery, I specifically stated on the inventory listing sheets that 14 boxes were missing from the delivery. After weeks and repeated attempts to have them find and locate the missing items, they told us that they were determined lost. My first request was to inquire if the items might be in their warehouse given the original loading filled two trucks, while three were arrived at delivery--and thus our goods were repacked and moved at some point. I watched the movers close and lock the original two doors, so it would seem they could easily track the movement of the items. No luck.Next, upon delivery, the movers had to unload (on the new "third" truck) another customer's items before coming to our remaining household goods. Therefore I requested contacting this other customer, as possibly our missing items were incorrectly delivered to them. Originally, the representative thought that was probably the likely answer (as she stated during my phone calls that this customer was an elderly woman who may not know exactly what was delivered nor may have fully unpacked the items), however, they came back stating they inquired, yet did not physically confirm, and they customer said there were no extra items. Further, there was a missing 16ft ladder as well, which is not a small item to overlook. They first tried to deliver another ladder to us that was not ours--and I called Northstar to have it removed since it was not my property, and returned to the rightful owners. This action did not instill any confidence in their ability to find our missing items given they tried to deliver someone else's goods to me without hesitation or remorse. Upon numerous calls with their supervisor Wendy, we submitted our claim of loss. She at first tried to settle with us for an amount of $500 (in lieu of the standard 60cents per pound), but ultimately sent us a check for $130 and an email saying the issue was complete. No empathy!Desired Settlement: Our loss claim was over five pages of detailed descriptions of the items we feel confident were in the missing boxes. The value of these items totaled $3,600 based on current replacement values. We expect resolution to be either 1) find and deliver the missing items from the original move, which are clearly marked and numbered; or 2) settle our loss by fair compensation necessary to replace those items missing due to their incompetence and insufficient tracking during the move.

Business

Response:

As the client states, we went above and beyond any contractual duty we had in an effort to find a good resolution to his complaint. The client indicated that our offer would not satisfy him and that he did not accept it. At that time, we withdrew the offer and honored our contractual duty to the client by remitting the amount due him according to the valuation protection he chose at the time of his move.