Tony's Sons Moving & Storage, Inc.

Review: ABSOLUTE disrespect/unprofessionalism resulting in broken items during move. Moneys taken for changed estimate of additional $1300 after I said not to

[redacted] came out to my house and gave us an estimate of $7721.26 to move our 1600sq ft. house from Roseville, Ca. to Sparks, Nv. First day of move was fine. Meals were supplied to the entire moving crew. Day 2 was the same. At the end of day 2, I requested that all boxes packed be staged in the garage so that I could clean inside the house for move-out inspection. Boxes were left in the MIDDLE of every room. I had to stage all boxes myself before I could begin cleaning. When the crew returned for day 3 of the move, hospitality was not as forthcoming as the previous 2 days, but nothing outside of still being polite; just not buying meals and providing extra "benefits" to the moving crew because of the seemingly growing lack of respect for me, my personal belongings, and everything about this move generally. The disrespect reached a breaking point when I was "Told to have done something two days ago" by the crew leader, to which I responded "I WOULD HAVE done that if you hadn't packed my TOOLS for that on the first day, like I asked you not to." I was then met with the MOST DISREPSECTFUL, UNPROFESSIONAL, most CHILDISH attitude I have EVER received as a PAYING CUSTOMER. The crew leader rolled his eyes as he looked at me, said "OH, HERE we GO again!", turned his back, and walked through my garage and out to the moving van. I followed him out saying, "Really? REALLY??" When he reached the moving van, he stuck his head back out and yelled to me up the driveway, "Yeah! REALLY!!"

I IMMEDIATELY called [redacted], as he is the crew leader's immediate supervisor, and told him EXACTLY what had just happened. I told [redacted] that I wanted this guy OFF my move IMMEDIATELY and that I wanted another driver. [redacted] told me that there WAS no one else. He told me that that particular crew leader was the ONLY driver they had, and then proceeded to tell me how this particular guy has NEVER had a complaint, and how GREAT he is with the customers....blah, blah, blah.... I told [redacted], "Well [redacted], unfortunately, I am problem number one, and you need to deal with this. I want this guy off my move immediately." No such luck. The guy stays, they finish packing, and head North.

I meet them the next morning in Nv. with breakfast and coffee and they begin unloading the truck. I notice during the unloading that some of my personal things have been broken during the move. I stayed quiet until they were finished. After they unload, the crew leader hands me the final bill that has the original estimate on it crossed out, and HAND-WRITTEN OVER it, it has a NEW cost of $9036.80. I looked at the guy and told him STRAIGHT UP that I was NOT going to pay an invoice that has the estimate crossed out and a new price HAND-WRITTEN in. I then called [redacted] and told him QUOTE "You are NOT AUTHORIZED to take that money out of my bank account until I have had a chance to FULLY inspect ALL of my personal belongings, and I WILL be in touch with you as we deal with this issue."

I DID NOT sign ANYTHING to authorize the removal of those funds from my bank account and the movers left. As I have been unpacking, I have been coming across more and more of my things that are broken or missing parts/hardware. We are 7 weeks into the new house and my wife and I are STILL sleeping on the floor because our bed was never put together. My son's AirHockey table is in the garage, disassembled with no hardware. I just paid to replace my $1200 washing machine because the movers BROKE OURS and I am TIRED of having my wife go to the laundramat. The list goes on and on and on and on and...... It is obscene, actually. I have taken more than 200 photos of the way this move was conducted and the personal property damaged/broken.

I have been in contact with [redacted] throughout the ENTIRE unpacking process, reassuring him that I am making progress towards a resolution - only to find out that my account has ALREADY been charged for the FULL, HAND-WRITTEN, $9036.80. This is unprofessional and in my opinion, theftDesired Settlement: After totaling up only a PORTION the monetary value of the items either broken or damaged to the point of being useless, I have ALREADY come close to the total cost of the move. I have ALREADY begun to replace some of the damaged items that were immediately necessary, such as the washing machine. These are immediate damages that I am paying for above and beyond the cost of moving. The settlement that I am seeking for is a complete, total refund of the money that was taken out of my account WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. This has been the MOST UNPROFESSIONAL move I have EVER even HEARD of - from the attitude to the generalized lack of respect, to the broken items..... Come on, guys. Really? I want every other person who might consider using these guys to move to be aware of exactly what it is that they are getting into. I am part owner of 2 businesses. It is companies like this one that give the good, legitimate, upstanding companies who try their HARDEST to do a good job a bad name and make it more difficult for the average customer to trust in ANY industry or business. Why? So they can get cheated and robbed blind?? So they can have their personal belongings missing or broken??

I am seeking a monetary settlement in the amount of $9036.80, and some sort of mark or flag or "head's-up" attached to their profile so that they cannot do this to anyone else.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

Mr. [redacted] contracted our company to move him Interstate to Sparks, NV from Roseville,

CA. See attached signed estimate and Interstate Bill of Lading.

In response to his complaint I will address each issue and provide supporting documentation of all services which were provided to Mr. [redacted].

1.Mr. [redacted] was given a flat price for the moving. Packing was to be done by actual time and materials used. He was given Valuation options at an additional cost which he chose to add on to the price of his move. Per the contract there was

absolutely no unauthorized change in price. He added Valuation and required

additional packing. There was no flat rate for packing and materials as noted on

his original estimate. At file time of my estimate both Mr. and Mrs. [redacted] were present. Mr. [redacted] told me that he will be packing some of the items in the garage himself and organizing the items so it can be packed. Mrs. [redacted] was

going to try to do some organizing and packing herself inside the home. After day

one of packing all inside items were packed. Mr. [redacted] then asked our crew to do

additional work of moving boxes into file garage to make room for a birthday

party they were having that evening and do some work on broken cabinets. This

was not a problem for us since we were working per the agreement of time and

materials on pack days. Our crew moved the boxes to the customers satisfaction

When our crew finished on the first day of packing 9.75 hrs all inside household

items were packed. Mr. [redacted] asked our crew to leave him several boxes so that

he could pack up some of the garage. When. we returned the next day the boxes

were still empty and Mr. [redacted] had not done any packing of the garage. Day 2

was spent packing all of the stuff that Mr. [redacted] had said he would originally pack. 6.5 hrs. All of this is irrelevant due to the contract stating charge actual time and materials used for packing. The customer had the opportunity to do more

packing himself especially due to the fact that his home did not close for another

week and he was delayed moving.

2.In regards to his claim of damage. Please see attached signed inventories clearly

showing all items were received at destination without any notes of damages. Mr.

[redacted] never mentioned anything to the crew about damaged items nor did he

note any such damages. It would be impossible not to notice that severe amount of damage he is now claiming several weeks after his move.His only voiced concern was not wanting to pay for his move until he plugged in all of his

electrical tools which are noted on the inventories as mechanical condition

unknown (mcu).

3.He also waived the inventories for all items in file garage (see attached inventories). All moving is done COD.( see attached bill of lading).We obtain a credit card authorization prior to any job.

He was fully aware that all charges were due at the end of his move.In summary

Mr~ [redacted] has never provided us to date with a list of his claimed damages. The

hockey table he mentioned was not able to be assembled and he told the crew to

put it in the garage. As far as electrical machines there were no external damages

noted on the inventory. Carriers are not responsible for internal damages unless

the item was notable mishandled. Again no noted obvious external damages atdelivery.

4.We must address his untrue claim about the professionalism of our crew. First

our crew were very upset with his abusive and edgy behavior to both our workers

and his wife. He was very abrupt and continuously told our crew that HE is in

charge and he will tell us when and what to load in the truck. Mr. [redacted] refused

to unload his refrigerator of food when the time came to load the refrigerator. He

also was asked by our driver on the original walk through (day 1) to knock off the

excessive cement on the fencing for his dog kennel. He said he would do it.. Not

only did he NOT do it he later blamed our workers for packing his sledge hammer! Mr. [redacted] was increasingly agitated on loading day. Our workers

observed him go into his backyard with a friend and smoke pot. This was very

disrespectful to our workers. We have strong DOT regulations and this was very

inappropriate to do in front of our crew. The only good thing our crew had to say

was that Mr. [redacted] did seem to calm down after his backyard break. So his claims of our guys being rude are so untrue and malicious.

5.We want to emphasize that Mrs. [redacted] was very cooperative and nice to our crew during the entire pack and move process. She agreed with the charges at destination and Mr. [redacted] signed all paperwork ie inventories and bill of lading.

6.Our company and crew are extremely shocked with Mr. Meek's malicious attacks on our workers and our company.

If you need any further information please let me know

Final Consumer Response

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

I don't care how Tony's Sons chooses to continue to obscure the truth. I have stated what happened in a TRUE FACTUAL MANNER and the response by Tony's Sons continues to show the depths to which they will stoop and the extent to which they will lie to save face. The "inventory sheets" referred to are BOGUS. I was told that "In order to finish the move in the time quoted, the inventory would have to "not be done correctly". I was TOLD that they were not going to inventory every item and that in order for me to have my move completed, I would have to sign off on the UNCOMPLETED inventory list. It is absolutely DISGUSTING how this company treats people who have PAID THEM to do a job. I am SO APPALED at the way this company does business that regardless of actions taken (or not) by the Revdex.com, this issue WILL continue. If the Revdex.com does not want to step in and do THEIR JOB in REGULATING such BLATANT THEFT andUNPROFESSIONALISM, perhaps the Superior Courts of California will. I have the EXACT SAME DOCUMENTATION as Tony's Sons, however, MY documentation states a VERY DIFFERENT STORY. How can someone claim that the price of something was never changed when the PAPERWORK ITSELF has the ORIGINAL QUOTE PRINTED and then crossed out by the supervisor of the MOVING CREW, (who, let's not FORGET, WAS and IS the MAIN DRIVING FORCE behind the INSANE amount of back-talking and attitude I had received during the four days of the move), and then a HAND-WRITTEN price for more than an ADDITIONAL $1300 put in its place?? That seems rather ODD to me, but then again, isn't this EXACTLY the type of dirty, immoral, UNETHICAL business practices that the Revdex.com is SUPPOSED TO BE regulating and enforcing?

Final Business Response

In response to Mr. [redacted] Rebuttal, again all of the information, facts and copies of the contact between Mr. [redacted] and our company for his relocation to Sparks, NV has been previously stated in our response to his initial complaint.

the $1300.00 he is claiming we overcharged him was due to his choice to add additional Valuation to his move at a cost of $595.00. He is very much aware that he chose to purchase the added Valuation for an additional cost. Either he does not understand or is choosing to ignore the fact that $595.00 was added per the customer for additional Valuation.

Now that only leaves $705.00 in which he is claiming he doesn't understand. Again per his estimate it is clearly stated that the transportation is a flat charge based on weight. We cannot give an exact price for packing and materials when the customer is telling us they will be doing some packing on their own. In the 50+years of experience... we hear this alot from people. Moving is a lot of work and it is very common for a customer to underestimate the amount of work they will be able to do to prepare for their move.

Again we want to call attention to the fact that Mrs. [redacted] was very cooperative and had no problem at the end of the move. It was Mr. [redacted] who for whatever reason has decided that he should not have to pay for the extra Valuation he added nor the packing and materials our workers DID DO to prepare for their move.

As far as his claim that inventories were not done properly. First of all none of his tools and small electric had tools were properly placed in containers for moving. He had just left all tools loose in cupboards and drawers. No Moving Company would be able to verify if all the parts are present. Per the Moving Booklet that he received prior to his move it clearly states how to properly pack items. Mr. [redacted] understood that these loose items cannot be moved unless placed in a container. He told our workers to pack them as is and he signed a waiver on the inventory.

Lastly, in regards to his repeated claim that we were somehow forgoing paperwork. His Bill of Lading was preprinted at the office as is done this way for all moves. He added the Valuation which has been explained numerous items and his packing time and materials was added at the end of the move to total his bill. There was absolutely no unauthorized charges to his move. Mrs. [redacted] had no problem with the bill. She understood that when you add services you need to pay for them. She was also very appreciative to the fact paperwork states that we have the right to charge a 3 hr. minimum for all last minute cancellations. Not only did we NOT charge for the last minute cancelations we continued to tie up our schedule during our busy time of year to accommodate them.

In our many years of business we understand that there are just some customers you cannot do enough for. Our workers sincerely did their best to complete this job and bite their tongues in response to Mr. Meek's continual interference and agitation. They honestly were shocked at his first letter. And it is not common for a customer to not notify a company if they really had the amount of damage he is now claiming. In fact we did not hear from Mr. [redacted] until he got his credit card statement and realized that he had indeed paid for his move. He was under the impression that he could decide when and if he would come into town and discuss the bill. All Moving services are COD. It should not have been such a surprise to him that he paid for his move at the completion of his relocation to Sparks, NV. In fact Van Lines reserve the right to have the customer present a cashier's check to the driver prior to unloading at destination.

In closing it is not our desire to have an unhappy customer. Our record of the number of satisfied companies and customers who have continued to use our service throughout the years speaks for itself. We are sincerely sorry that Mr. [redacted] is not one of those.

I hope this answers any lingering questions in regards to this case. If you need any further information or copies of documents please let me know. I will forward any requested information promptly.