Transit Systems, Inc.

Note: My family and I have moved professionally all over the country 17+ times and have worked with many moving agents and carriers.
I made arrangements through Transit Systems to ship my mother's 65-year-old cedar chest from California to Georgia. It isn't an overly valuable piece, but the sentimental value is priceless.
From every aspect of this process -
initial contact and quote, through my packing preferences in California, contact with my agent in California, delivery to Georgia and (not included) unpacking of cedar chest by the carrier - I was extremely pleased. Carrier pulled container up our steep driveway and even helped me inspect packing box for dents, rips, dings, etc. prior to leaving premises.
Terrific experience and would highly recommend.

Transit Systems, Inc. was a pleasure to deal with, start to finish. From the initial phone call, to communications regarding timing of pickup and delivery, to the delivery itself, TSI was prompt, courteous, friendly, and thorough. They kept me posted at every step of the process of getting an antique wall cabinet from Rhode Island to California, and the cabinet arrived in perfect condition. Can't recommend them highly enough.

Review: Transit Systems Inc. was hired to aid us in a cross country move. Eight boxes left. Six were delivered. The six boxes that were delivered were opened and crushed with the contents spilling out and loose in the back of the moving truck. When insuring the boxes I was told that $1800 was the maximum. After having much contact with the company and their insurance company I was told that there was not a maximum. After giving a list of things that were missing the insurance company stated that we were under insured but at the same time offered us only $35 of the $1800 purchased, which I have not accepted. However, a refund for the move was accepted.

The two boxes missing were the two that we'd discussed with the company as having valuables in them. We told them that they were filled with designer clothes and rare books when purchasing insurance. The lost items were not only valuable financially but were our live's collections of vintage and designer clothes and our live's work as cooks. Irreplaceable handwritten books were lost along with family recipes as well as very expensive reference and text books.

They were very unapologetic and had us on the phone for weeks being transferred around, on hold just to be hung up on, and not returning our calls when promised. When I looked Transit Systems Inc. up on Yelp, the only eight reviews are all one star accompanied by nightmarish stories.Desired Settlement: I would like to get my boxes back most of all. If it came down to being financially compensated, I would expect the maximum insurance offered.

Business

Response:

Let me start by addressing the Yelp comment. We have been in business for 25 years and handle approximately eight thousand (8,000) shipments per year. Less than 2% of them have an issue and we pride ourselves in doing everything humanly possible to remedy the situation when problems arise. Yelp filters their reviews and they are the only review website that does. If you click on the non-filtered reviews at the bottom of their page, you will see that there are positive ones. You can also look on any of the other mover review sites and see plenty of great reviews that our customers have written about us.

When one of our carriers fails to deliver the service that we expect, we feel as bad as the customer and act accordingly. It would be very unusual for us not to apologize and extremely unlikely that anyone would intentionally hang up on a customer. It is very rare that items end up missing and when they do, it is very frustrating for all involved. We stay in constant contact with the carrier to make sure that they do everything possible to find them. Their are extensive notes in our system that showed that we followed that procedure. There are also notes regarding updating the customer on the progress. The end result was that the 2 missing boxes were never found. We offered our sincere apology and a full refund when we discovered that the carrier had mishandled the shipment. I am not sure where the confusion came regarding coverage, our sales people read from scripts and the maximum coverage that we can offer on a customer packed box is $500 and the maximum per shipment is $2500. We also make it clear that items have to be insured for their full value and that there needs to be a way to substantiate the value. The customer chose to insure 4 of the 6 boxes; winter clothing $500, books $500, summer clothing $500, household décor $500. All of this is also sent to the customer in writing, I have copied and pasted the pertinent information regarding the insurance coverage from the terms and conditions that were sent to and digitally accepted by the customer. I have also attached a letter from the insurance company explaining how they came up with the amount that they paid.

Based on all of this information, the most that we could do was refund the full amount of the shipping and that is exactly what we did.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS REGARDING SHIPMENT COVERAGE :

Transit Systems, Inc. has arranged to have your shipment insured with Moving Insurance,LLC (A division of Relocation Insurance) to protect against disappearance and damage. All items must be insured for their full replacement value. In the event of a claim, you will be responsible for providing proof of value to the insurance company. Items that are not insured for their full value will be subject to coinsurance rules (insured value divided by actual value will provide the percentage of the claim that will be paid. That percentage will be applied to the lesser of the insured value or the repair estimate). Claim payments are subject to a $100 deductible. In order for a claim to be paid, notification must be made within 48 hours of delivery by calling Transit Systems at 800-626-1257. We will in turn notify Moving Insurance and provide them with the carrier documents that they will need to process the claim. From that point forward, Moving Insurance will contact you and you will deal directly with them to provide any additional information that they may need to complete the claim. It is extremely important that any damages are notated on the delivery receipt. If you will not be the person receiving the shipment, it is your responsibility to inform that person to notate any damages on the delivery receipt.

LIMITATIONS:

A. Claims will not be honored for the loss of any owner-packed items, cartons, or containers unless the shortage has been noted at the time of delivery and reported to the Insurance Carrier within seven days of delivery. Any DAMAGE to contents of owner packed items, cartons or containers will only be covered if EXTERNAL damage to the packed item, carton or container is noted at the time of delivery and reported to the Insurance Carrier within seven days of delivery. In the event of a Total Loss of the entire shipment, loss of any owner packed items, cartons, or containers will be covered for loss up to the face value of the certificate and the shipment's declared value

B. Maximum recovery on owner-packed items, cartons, or containers is limited to $500 per item, carton, or container with a maximum per claim payment of $2,500.

Transit Systems failed to deliver 3/4 of my furniture five months ago. I still have not received any resolution or restitution. Arguably, the worse experience ever.

We were very pleased with our experience they arrived for pickup when they said they would and the driver was helpful and courteous. On recieving end they delivered when they said they would and none of the boxes were damaged.

Transit Systems, Inc. is by far the most reasonable and most efficient grand transportation service I found. I entrusted them with a custom-built very long wood/glass and heavy display case with my parent's war medals and patches. They picked up the crated case at my cousin's residence and within less than 48 hrs, it traveled safely from CT to MO. I am throughly impressed.