AMJ Campbell Movers, Moving and Storage

Do not hire AMJ Campbell to pack or move your belongings unless you would like items broken and damaged without them telling you, them to leave your home unlocked with all boxes inside without telling you, reps to never call you back, them to overcharge your credit card for an amount over what was signed for, and like having to constantly call to get a refund--which gets you nowhere until you email the President and CEO. Though the actual moving team was great, everything else was terrible. The experience has been scarring.

It was awful. 9 hours to move a one bedroom apt. 6 km away. The truck they sent was way too small. Only 2 movers showed up instead of the 3 on the contract. Movers refused to move some items. Not everything fit on the truck. One of the movers was swearing and complaining the whole time the whole time because it was taking too long. Awful.

Terrible. Rude people. Didn't know location of truck. Driver was bully. Hidden costs never discussed (>$300). Insufficient movers, consequently, charged for extra move day. Late. Customer service mostly useless. Most reps didn't return phone calls.

AMJ picked up my things a few weeks ago and I was very disappointed. The salesperson was wonderful but the movers were unprofessional and made me feel badly for having so much stuff - why else would I be hiring you?...
They complained bitterly about the 2 flights of stairs and kept making snide remarks which I did not appreciate.

I was also promised that my items would be wrapped up and completely taken care of. Instead, they were put into the truck without any care at all.

The were unprepared for my inventory check and didn't even know where to have me sign on the contract.

They will be storing my items for a few weeks and I am very nervous about the condition they will be in. Very disappointed with this 'reputable company' and would not recommend them to anyone.

Moving and Storage : I hired AMJ Campbell(Kevan G Brown
Senior Vice President AMJ/Allports International) to store our belongings and to relocate to Germany. In the process, AMJ Campbell caused in excess of $ 4,500 of damage to the delivery of the shipment of my personal belonging on the 9th June 2010 and till Dec 24, 2010 nothing has been improved for any replacement, repair or compensation. I complained to BBB, and it is just closed by them as unresolved as the company is permitted not to respond. Even though we purchased full replacement-value insurance, they are refusing to acknowledge much of the damage and have arbitrarily disallowed some items with explanation. AMJ Campbell has been repeatedly unresponsive, refusing to return call or respond directly to our requests for further information, clarification or negotiation. Furthermore,AMJCAMPBELL enforced their choice of insurer when invoicing,but refused to deal with any complains about the claims but instead traded with unscrupulous insurer to enforce some conditions which AMJCAMPBELL never provided before hand. Somebody called Gilbert A. Carlsom claimed to be president of that insurance called UNIRISC without providing any contact number and no logo from the company wrote back only to intimidate me. My personal goods were in storage for a numbers of years and I have paid every 3 months the storage fee including insurance to AMJCAMPBELL.
UNIRISC denied any responsibility for the period of storage as they claimed not being the insurer, but AMJCAMPBELL never informed the customer of their change of insurers, always cashed the storage fee and insurance premium and fiddling with insurance and insurers.

The list of hassles and damages are as follows :

1. Loss of Draft Bank Payment issued, resulted by AMJCAMPBELL to reject my claim

2. Ms Masters Vice President of AMJCAMPBELL promised to follow up the claim after cashing the cheque, but no response either by mail nor by phone. The bank confirmed the cheque was cashed by Ms Masters-accountant

3. AMJCAMPBELL lost all the screws, bolts ,springs for mounting the Beds. Europe does not carry N. American hardware standard of screws, bolts,tools. No repair and reply so far from AMJCAMPBELL.
4. AMJCAMPBELL lost all the screws for mounting floor lamps, table lamps.
5. My shipping payment included mounting the beds, furniture, lamps. These tasks could not be fulfilled by ITO Moebel transport GmbH, counterpart of AMJCAMPBELL. AMJCAMPBELL completely ignored such claim in my email to Ms Masters & K. Brown ( Vice president)

7. The employee Mrs Adele Louise consulted the packers for regular inspection during storage. Final inspection of the state of the goods before leaving the AMJ storage was restated as satisfactory before leaving for shipment. The damages are concluded to be on transit.

8. ITO company - the counter agent from AMJ for the delivery of our shipment has confirmed the damages, and missing items to mount the Beds ,the lamps, the state of mattresses, and the bike accordingly as reported by the ITO employees on delivery.
9.. Several of our belonging packed by ourselves like sewing our inventory are missing. The box for vacuum cleaner named Dirty devil was delivered with cushion inside the box and ITO did witness this fact.

We have been waiting since 9 June 2010 and till today the 24 Dec November 2010.

That was the response from the vice-president>:: Case Closed UNRESOLVED (More)
Activity
Date

Activity

Description
12/24/2010
I am very disappointed that all the energy and time consumed in producing this complaint had led that AMJCAMPBELL can get away in their manipulation and the customer' rights are not respected.
Does this mean being a member of BBB, companies are protected and effectively advertised any supposed quality services but end up baffling their customers. This is very unfair
12/23/2010 Case Closed UNRESOLVED
12/23/2010 Inform Business - Case Closed UNRESOLVED
12/23/2010 Inform Consumer - Case Closed UNRESOLVED
12/23/2010 Bureau Judged Complaint to be Closed UNRESOLVED
12/22/2010 No Response from Business re: Consumer Rebuttal
12/06/2010 NM - Forward Consumer Rebuttal to Business BLTlocal.cf.rtf
12/05/2010 Received Consumer Rebuttal (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

Here is the instruction from UNIRISC
Step 5: How to file a Claim (if necessary):
1. Open the attached Claim Form. (See page 10)
2. Fill in the certificate # in the top right hand corner, plus the information requested in blocks 1-8.
3. If your inventory is available, locate the damaged or missing item on the mover's inventory and list
the number assigned to it.
4. In the Description of Article column: please identify the item and include the brand name if
applicable (i.e. Zenith color TV).
5. In the Nature and Extent of Damage column: Describe the damage in detail (i.e., right leg broken,
top chipped).
6. In the Date of Purchase and Replacement Cost columns: List the date of purchase of the item and
the cost to replace the item now. If the item was given to you, list the date of the gift and its
estimated value.
7. In the Amount Claimed, enter the amount you wish to be reimbursed for the lost or damaged item,
or if you wish to have the item repaired, leave the space blank. UNIRISC will send representatives
to repair and/or estimate the damage. You will not be reimbursed for estimate fees unless they are
requested by UNIRISC. Remember, do not discard any damaged item without the first getting
approval from UNIRISC. Should you have an emergency-type claim for items needed to set up
basic housekeeping such as bedding or clothing, please contact UNIRISC as soon as possible.
8. Send your completed claim form and all supporting documentation via mail, fax or email to:
UNIRISC
c/o Michael Dye
9040 Leslie Street, Suite 215
Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3M4
Email: mdye@unirisc.com or canadaclaims@unirisc.com
Telephone: 1-800 461-5048
Facsimilie: 1-905 764-7273
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11/30/2010 Forward Business response to Consumer CLTlocal.cf.rtf

Hi Scott, first things first, AMJ/Allports International have been a member of the BBB for over 25 years, our sister company AMJ Campbell Van Lines is also as long time member of the BBB.
Upon receipt of the notice of claim, the issue was turned over to the Insurance Company of note (Unirisc) for them to process the claim. This takes the moving company out of the picture and lets the insurer handle matters without interference from the mover.
As it turns out the shipment was grossly under insured and this effected a co-insurance situation with the client only entitled to a 10% payout of the claim. The insurer in fact offered a very generous 50% payout which the client has still (unreasonably in my opinion) rejected.
AMJ/Allports International were not party to any of these decisions.
Yours Truly
Kevan G Brown
Senior Vice President
AMJ/Allports International

Here follows BBB reply: I have received your most recent correspondence in the above mentioned complaint.

You have indicated that you are unsatisfied with the business' response in the matter. Our attempts to resolve this matter have been unsuccessful.

A mutually satisfactory resolution has not been reached through our process of conciliation. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) acts as a neutral third party and as such does not obligate a business to award compensation to a consumer.

BBB replied as follows on 24 Dec 2010 :
Your complaint is now closed as Unresolved and reflected in the company's report. If you and the business resolve your dispute, please notify us in writing. The BBB develops and maintains Reliability Reports on companies across Canada and the United States. This information is available to the public and is frequently used by potential customers. The company's level of cooperation in resolving this complaint becomes a part of their file with the BBB.

This company is unprofessional, and being a member of BBB, takes advantage of their customers. Please do stay away from this moving company.

We hired AMJ Campbell(Marcel Niles) to store our belongings for 3 months and move us from Whitby to Mississauga. In the process, AMJ Campbell caused in excess of $5,000 of damage to our wood furniture, a metal lamp, a table saw, and a power washer. Even though we purchased full replacement-value insurance, they are refusing to acknowledge much of the damage and have arbitrarily disallowed some items with explanation. We have written several letters, taken photos, complained to the BBB and the Canadian Association of Movers. AMJ Campbell has been repeatedly unresponsive, refusing to return call or respond directly to our requests for further information, clarification or negotiation. We have gotten a quotation from a furniture repair company specializing in move damage who concur that the damage we are claiming is move related and quite extensive. We are in the process of launching a small claims court action. Furthermore, at the time AMJ Campbell took inventory of our belongings, they recorded the condition of each of item on an inventory form in two-letter codes. According to AMJ Campbell's own standard operating procedure, they were to have reviewed this condition report with us at the time. In the end, they marked everything as scratched and gouged to avoid paying out on a insurance claim. This company is unprofessional and unscrupulous with little or no regard for their customers. The President, Bruce Bowser, is particularly disconnected from his business and customers, and seems unwilling to hold his management team accountable for the organization's practices and actions. Stay away from this moving company. Finally, our Ministry of Consumer Services was of no help in resolving this issue. Yet again, another example of a government agency that purports to assist the public, but in the end, looked for every reason not to help.

We were looking for a reputable moving company and while I knew this comapny has been around for a long time I noticed they gave CAA members a discount too but don't be fooled by supposed discounts. They give you a quote and then when you present your membership they tell you they already applied the discount.

The salesperson who came to our home was too "schmoozy" for my liking but I had already decided that if their quote was right I would go with them so we signed the deal. He took great satisfaction from my being "sold" on his pitch so I didn't bother to explain this point to him.

Not being experienced in the moving process (we moved ourselves the last time 18 years prior) I would caution you to watch the movers very carefully as to where they deliver your boxes. Having spent many hours carefully numbering each box and marking the room they were to be delivered to with a cross reference of contents on a master list, they basically put them down in the basement and garage anyway while I was busy attending to other matters. It's hard to watch what 4 different people are doing all at the same time. Next time I would literally stand at the front door and direct traffic. All my hours of hard work went right down the drain and I was extremely frustrated over the next months after renovation were completed trying to locate boxes. Don't be fooled into thinking you will save money on the cost services by letting them deliver your boxes to one or two rooms in your house; you waste far more time trying to sort it out later and moving boxes from the basement to two floors up to bedrooms.

While the actual moving crew were very efficient and fast, we have not been able to locate two glass table tops which I enquired about several months later when renovations were complete. I was told that they could not find them but I was too late to make an insurance claim so I estimate this cost me approximately $100.00 to replace them. I also noticed that several of the boxes marked "fragile" weren't treated as such although somehow nothing was broken; likely due to my packing. We were also disappointed that they gave up very quickly on trying to get a 3 seater couch to the basement because they said it would not fit; something my husband and brother-in-law managed to tackle in less than 5 minutes. Surprising for professional movers!

The other promo they had was that you get a free years membership to CAA, however, they forgot to send the info on this to CAA so when I went to renew, I had to pay and will have the free membership for next year instead.

They did come in slightly under the quote which is good but if I am honest, that is likely due to the shortcuts they took. If I need to use movers in the future, I may go with another well known company or at least get more quotes.

We used their eastern Toronto office to move from Pickering to Whitby. The movers were great, they showed up on time, worked hard, zero damage to walls or furniture, what else can I say?

Great company.

After walking through our home Alda Giardino from AMJ CAMPBELL VAN LINES provided an estimate for our move totalling $1,126 which included 3 movers and a truck for 8 hours.

The moving crew arrived on the promised day and time with 4 movers. The crew was excellant. No damage to the furniture and the vacating premises. The destination premises proved to be a lot harder to moving into especially the basement. The crew attempted to move furniture into the basement as requested but some of the furniture was just to large. As a result we had the crew put these pieces in other rooms (this was actually was a better fit ultimately).

The day was extremely hot but the movers worked diligently with minimum down time. Steve Chase was the crew's head man and the three movers on his team were very amicable and worked in unison resulting in the move taking only 7 hours.

There was no damage to any of our furniture (all the pieces were wraped in quilts or srink wrapped) and only little damage when the deep freezer was moved into the basement (considering the angle of the basement move the damage was acceptable). No damage anywhere else to the new or old homes.

I highly recommend AMJ Campbell's 6140 Vipond location to anyone. Their cost estimate was accurate, they were punctual, the time to move was accurate, and the estimated cost versus the actual cost was within $25. If moving a fully furnished 3 bedroom home I would also recommend asking for a crew of 4. And if given the option ask for Steve Chase's crew.

Job well done AMJ Campbell.

the movers were polite, friendly and hardworking. the came in around estimate. there was minor damage to walls - minor scratches and a broken dish or two. we didn't feel there was damage out of the ordinary for a move. our move was difficult - steep stairs. poor guys!