Real Time Relocation

I was quoted $900 for the move. About 1 week before the move, Nick called and "adjusted" the estimate. It was now $1900. Instead of being charged for 2 men, I was charged for 3 for 10 hours. On moving day only 2 men showed up. When I asked, they said the 3rd man was on his way (he never showed up). I was also charged $100 to move my golf cart. They couldn't get it on their truck so they didn't move it. They said they would come back the next day to get it. THEY NEVER DID! After 2 days and no call, I called the office and got some lame excuse about not being able to move the golf cart. The woman said she would "try" to get the $100 reimbursed.TRY? She said she spoke to the owner and that my $100 would be reimbursed. It has been one month and NO REIMBURSEMENT YET! So I called the office again and the woman said she had to talk to someone in charge to authorize it and that she would call me back...I'm not gonna hold my breath. I told her that if I had to go to court for my $100 that I would also sue for being charged for a 3rd man that never showed up. She said she is not worried about being sued. I guess they are used to being sued for FRAUD! WORSE MOVING COMPANY EVER!

Outside the fact that my items were physically moved from 1 location to another the entire experience with real time relocation has been awful. The Owner John Campanella subs out every aspect of the services offered. They don't have trusted employees that they send to take care of your belongings. They take your deposit money by credit card and then when they send you the confirmation for pickup and delivery they require cash or postal money order made out to some other company that is not real time relocation. Also they won't open the truck to see if you stuff is in there until you pay them. They won't show up on the times they discuss with you.

After they showed up to the delivery site with no warning the single driver that had no help after driving from Atlanta GA to Buffalo NY unloaded all the items. He was supposed to put everything together but it was 9pm by the time things were unloaded and we had no warning so we had to ask him to leave before he could complete the job. The driver was a hardworking kind man so I signed that everything was complete so he could leave. Please know that at 5pm and at the end 9pm before the driver left I was trying to get Real TIme on the phone to discuss what was going one. I was told I would get a call back.

I never did get a call back, until I left a 2 star review on homeadvisor.com regarding the awful communication and stress caused by them showing up pretty much un announced, and it was confirmed a month later. By the time they called me back I had noticed damage on almost every piece of furniture they moved.

So now this guy calls me back a month later to tell me that I am a liar. I emailed him his quotes, invoices and photos of my items to show I wasn't. He asked me how he could rectify the situation. SO I spend a few hours trying to get estimates to fix my furniture. long story short this guy wants to pay me $200 to take my review down, I don't care about $200.00. I paid them $2,300,00. I want my stuff fixed or I want to make sure that no one else gets swindled by this joke of a moving company.

I had marks like the one pictured on every single chair front and back from the movers strapping them. I have a bedroom set with a all the corners smashed from being loaded and unloaded 3 times between all their sub contractors. I know for a fact that they have 1 guy carrying things that 2 guys should have been too.

Peapack at first was a great. I loved every customer service rep I spoke to and they were great about getting me answers. However, several things that I understood about the move were not accurate that ruined everything. First of all, I asked the customer service rep said that I would not have any issues with stair fees since the first floor was free. However, apparently a "floor" to PeaPack was 7 stairs. Fine, it costed me an extra $150 dollars for the convenience. Second, I was under the illusion that the same truck that picked up my items would be delivering them. I would not have gone without insurance if I had know they would drop my stuff in a warehouse, and then have another truck pick them up. The chances for damages and missing items increases exponentially. I never specifically asked that I can remember, but I feel like when he explained the process that should have been clearly explained. The actual problem started though when the delivery truck arrived. I was the last stop that day. The rest of the items in the truck were supposedly mine. However, several items did not belong to me. The delivery driver laughed in my face when I asked him if the first "floor" 7 steps were free. He was going to charge me extra for that. At this point I was sick of getting lied to and told them to just put it on the ground because I wasn't giving them any more of my money. The other worked apologized to me and still went out of his way to put my mattress and several items on the porch. The shrink wrap designed to protect my leather couch, the rude driver decided to use a box cutter to cut. In the process, slicing the back of my leather chair. My father and I were stunned that someone whose job is supposedly to move people, would use a box cutter on a leather couch. After all this, I was also missing some key items. My dining room table was missing its main support piece and the leaf extensions. This essentially makes my dining room table useless since it wobbles so much. I was also missing a $30 chair. Keep in mind that these are not little pieces of furniture I was missing. Lastly the boxes I had packed were taped back together and clearly had had the items thrown back in after the box had broken.
After the friendly customer service so far I was optimistic still that it would be resolved. I contacted them and they were very apologetic and understanding...However, after a couple weeks, I reached out again. They had said they were still trying to get a hold of the moving company. A couple more weeks and the customer service rep apologized but she had been in a car accident and had been out for a while. A couple more weeks of no response and I reached out to other email addresses I had for the company. I was informed that the person I had been working with was out on maternity leave and decided to take the rest of the year off since it was slow that time of year. Great company. Let's not pass *** current customers' problems to someone to take care of while you are out...Again though, the people I spoke to were very polite and apologetic. She said she would get right on it but the moving company was no longer in business and they have this happen each year. Anyway, she told me they couldn't do anything and I had to file a claim, but it might be too late. Convenient. Thankfully it wasn't. I spent some time even trying to get a hold this other group for a claim form. Finally, I was able to submit a claim and mailed it (with a receipt so I would know it arrived). Now I can't get a hold of the claim group nor PeaPack. This company is useless to solve any problems. I don't get why they advertise themselves as the people who attempt to prevent the fraud of moving companies when they literally have no power or now desire to help you if something goes wrong. Bare minimum I am out several hundred dollars not on damages, but purely on not even receiving the items at all. The fact that I lost a whole dining room table because they couldn't get all my items to my new residence, was pathetic. And the fact that this company was useless in solving the issue is even more pathetic. Terrible experience.

Let me preface this - I'm a millennial. I work retail. I don't do this whole online negative review thing. I'm not fussy. I have low expectations and when they're met I do positive reviews. For an unremarkable or slightly bad experience I would do no review at all before I do a bad one. Peapack has been the worst company I've ever dealt with in my entire life. Here's my bad review.

Originally was $1200 upfront, $600 on pickup, $600 on delivery. Total of $2400. They forgot my sofas which I really believe I mentioned originally when they were making the inventory list, but did not catch the absence of in the inventory list that they sent me to recap before I signed, so I guess you could say this was my bad in a way. When I noticed that they were missing, I called them and they said that someone would call me back to do an inventory audit before they dispatch the movers. No one ever did, so I had to call and badger them to add the missing sofas. With the 2 sofas (and a small wine cooling unit) added, my quote became around $1600 upfront, $925 on pickup, $925 on delivery, an increase of $1,050 that I was not expecting to pay and had literally only a few days notice on. A little disgruntled, I agreed.

They told me that someone would be calling me to confirm exactly when in the day that the movers would arrive... no one ever called me. I called the day they were supposed to show up, and when I finally got in touch with someone they claimed to have left multiple voicemails and yet they did not even attempt to call me or the person standing in for me - neither of us even had any missed calls let alone voicemails. Not only this, but they had to push my move date around due to scheduling conflicts after my stand-in had already taken the day off and was sitting at home all day. I was told that they would look into doing some compensation for the inconvenience as I am also literally sleeping on the floor in the meantime - they never got back to me on this despite my asking.

Movers arrived on August 26th:

...and the quote raised (again!) from $3450 to $4700, so another $1250 increase on top of the earlier $1050 increase, totaling a $2100 increase which is nearly 200% (!!!!!!!!!!!!). The system Peapack used to quote me SEVERELY underestimated the size of literally everything. Like not even close. Any additional cubic footage also was charged at regular price instead of the discount rate that peapack gave me (I think like 18% off?). I also expressly made it clear in my original inventory that I had a quote "giant lovesac beanbag" and yet I was charged a $150 "bulky item" fee for this that was not in the initial quote, plus the extra cubic feet. So I attempted to call Peapack for resolution, refusing to pay the mover the full amount required to get started because, frankly, I didn't have it.

It took a ridiculous number of calls to get someone from PeaPack - they gave me a list of emergency numbers to call if I needed them on my moving day, and not one got an answer. I emailed.. nothing. Nothing until I'm 3 or 4 calls into each number, so like 12 total calls. Once I (finally) get someone, they say they're going to look into it and call me back. Ok.

So these movers are sitting at my house. For two hours. No sign of peapack. At this point I'm like, ok... Let's just cancel this, this is ridiculous. Peapack's terms say that if I cancel, I lose everything I paid so far, but that's better than paying $4000 more. Well, the movers at this point have everything packed up and thus are refusing to leave without payment even if I cancel, because they had been sitting there for two hours twiddling their thumbs. I call Peapack's multiple numbers a few times (5 calls), and I get *** who tells me that "this has happened before" and that they will "handle the difference even if it requires them to come out of pocket", but I need to front whatever they're asking for. I say alright I'm just going to pay these movers something to get them out of my house. I don't have this full amount at this point so I'll have to barter but at least *** seems like she means it so I trust her to handle it. Oh, also, due to this huge size difference, there wasn't even enough space for everything. I had to leave an entire $500 reclining loveseat on the curb. The price did not lower, I noticed.

The mover demanded a picture of my card texted to him instead of having some way to process the card securely, which was a huge red flag but at this point I want them out of my house so my renters can get back to the usual so I just do it. We agreed that I would pay $600 upfront and I would be paying more on Friday (two days after) because I had some errors on my bank's end, and I would have the rest by the end of the following week. He also "negotiated" the price down a bit saying that he would apply the 18% discount to the additional sq ft and also waive the bulky item fee (or so he claimed, I'm doing the math and he didn't discount anything). They would not start actually moving my stuff until I pay the correct half down amount which is $1450 (again, he never reduced any costs here despite claiming to).

August 27th:

I call the mover directly (note: at this point Peapack is entirely unresponsive despite my multiple emails and calls) to process an additional payment, wanting it on another card... no response. I call again on Saturday.... no response.

August 28th:

I wake up on to a response from him saying "please call me", lo and behold he has charged my debit card (which I wasn't going to use for this payment) without my express permission and drained it at the beginning of a pay period of basically every penny he could get out of it after multiple declined transactions that would have overdrafted the account, leaving me with like $30 for a week. I tell him that this is unacceptable and he says that his offices are closed and he can't do anything until tomorrow, so he says he will call me back the next day. He doesn't. Not only this, but this is my debit card so it would take days to get this money back so I just tell him to leave it. I reach out to *** and she gasps when I tell her this and tells me that she will follow up and tell him he cannot charge that card anymore without my express permission.

September 4th:

I call him directly back on my payday to pay the remaining $450 so they can start moving my stuff. They charge my debit card $1450. Sigh.

September 5th:

When I notice this and call him, surprise, the offices are closed. The mover says "oh it's no problem we just will charge you $450 when we get there". Uh, yeah? Obviously you won't charge me more than the original quote. Same circumstance as before I'm just like whatever because it's not worth the trouble to try and reverse.

September 6th-13th:

I'm trying (and trying, and trying) to get back in touch with *** (or really anyone from PeaPack) to see what she's figured out for me - no answers.

And, to make matters worse, at this point the actual mover won't answer either. At this point I have no idea if my items are even in transit to begin with, let alone when they will actually arrive, despite having $1000 paid more than I needed, 8 days prior, in order to have them start moving my stuff by. All of my calls were during normal business hours.

September 17th:

After the weekend was over I was ***. I remained cordial through my communication, though, but it had been over a month and I had no idea where my stuff was, I had overpaid, and I'm sleeping on an inflatable mattress that I had to buy to hold me over. Knowing that my 6 prior attempts were ignored, I finally remembered I could use *67, so I called with my caller ID hidden and finally got an answer. *** answered... and said they had no updates for me. She said she wasn't even able to get the quote from the moving company and asked me to text it to her. I do, annoyed.

September 19th:
I text her - "hey, the mover stopped responding to me and is sending me to voicemail. Do you have any idea when my stuff is getting here?"

I find out that they never even started moving my stuff despite all of this misc ridiculousness going on. Lmfao. Mind you, my last required payment for them to start transiting was the one where they charged me way too much 2 weeks prior. And the moving company had not even started moving my stuff. And peapack was not following up with them on anything. And both parties were ignoring all of my calls this whole time. You're kidding.

It is now September 27th:

My stuff was picked up on August 26th - over a month ago. I have paid the movers more than I was supposed to pre-delivery by $1000, even with the higher rate, and this was September 4th. 23 days ago. This entire experience has left me in physical pain from sleeping on the floor/an air mattress I had to purchase, I've gone a month without anything I own including furniture, electronics (including my PC's desk and cords which I need to work, costing me money!)

PeaPack/Chicago Movers. Where is my stuff. Is it even coming? Where is my reimbursement for the misquote? Why was your estimate software quoting me 1/3 of the correct price in the first place? Why can I never get in touch with anyone? Why even have an email if you won't respond? Why do your employees have to give me their cell phone numbers for me to be able to reach them during business hours?

I'm exhausted by this process, it has costed me an additional $2400 that I was not planning to spend and I was bullied into paying it. And a month later I have nothing to show for it.

I could have hired a reputable moving company and got my stuff 3 weeks ago for $3000, or moving pods (similarly speedy) for $1700. And I'm out $4700. Hahahaha. Wish me luck.

I am sorry it took me so long to write this review! Its hectic after a move! PeaPack did an amazing job. They spent way more time with me than any other company did prior to me choosing them, and they were with me every step of the way. They always answered my phones calls. My movers were so sweet, that really was the best part. I had such a good group of men show up, and they treated my family with so much respect when handling our things. I have already recommended a friend who just hired peapack as well and they are saying the same thing as far as attention to detail. Its so important. If I took anything from this experience its how important the little details are. Thank you so so so much!

DO NOT BOOK PEAPACK!!!

TLDR: PeaPack *** to us about helping a veteran, ended up brokering our move to the terrible Boost Express Van Lines who arrived 2 days late for pickup and delivered over a week late, movers downed a power line, broke out our front window and tried to hide it, ended up having our friends move half of our stuff into the truck because they were so slow, forced us to accept delivery on July 4 or pay $500 to put our stuff into storage and redeliver

We were told that we were going to get a discount on our move from Ann Arbor to Denver because they had a truck going empty from Detroit to Denver where they were going to help move a veteran, so we would be helping out a veteran by lowering both of our costs (*** #1...truck that picked us up came from Indiana). PeaPack had great reviews online so I was excited, not realizing that they weren't actually going to do the move, but instead were going to broker it with Boost Express Van Lines. Boost said they'd be there on Thursday morning to pick up *** #2). They didn't show and then said it would be 11-2 on Friday *** #3). They didn't come Friday afternoon and eventually came at 6:45pm, which interfered with the cleaner who was coming and our plans to see friends on our last night. When I expressed my frustration to PeaPack, *** said, "I'm sorry you feel that way." Yes, reader, I KNOW. My disappointment did land me a $30 discount. SO GENEROUS.

When Boost finally arrived, only 1 guy showed up and his buddy didn't show up until close to 8. We watched them back into a pole and down a power line across the street. We had to call 911 to get the line off the street (the movers never mentioned the line to us). Then we hear a crash. They made a huge crack in the front window. I asked if everything was OK and they said yes *** #4) and tried to hide it. They saw me taking a picture of it and said, "Yes, the window broke." No apology from the movers who broke it. 20 min later we hear another crash. They broke out the entire window. I asked them to be careful and the guy says, "It's just a window." UGH.

The movers were excruciatingly slow. 2 ppl and I had loaded, moved, and unloaded our things in 3 hr when we moved in Ann Arbor with the same amount of stuff. It was 11:15pm (4.5 hours after they arrived) and they were only halfway loaded and they said they were going to leave and come back at 9am. We were driving out of town the next morning, so I said, "No, you are not." Our friends helped us to load the rest of the truck. What a nightmare. We loaded the second half in 10 min. You can't make this stuff up.

That was Friday. We were told to expect our stuff on Monday or Tuesday. Every time we called, Boost kept saying to call in a few days. They said that they had 30 days to deliver it!!! (Of course, this is the contract they force you to sign when they arrive and you have no choice). A WEEK passes. They say they can deliver on July 3. I say that's great, because they cannot deliver on July 4 since we will be out of state. On July 3 they tell us they can deliver on July 4th. 10 days late! They said that if we couldn't get someone there, they would charge us an extra $500 and put our stuff in storage. PeaPack was not helpful in getting our stuff in a timely manner. Luckily our friend accepted pick up. The movers unloaded everything quickly and were respectful, and we didn't have any big things broken which was the first positive thing that happened during our move. We are waiting on reimbursement for the window but not sure when that's going to happen. The owner has tried to take down my review on multiple sites after I refused to change it. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT BOOK PEAPACK!!!