moved from White Rock, BC to Elk Point, Alberta
The company was sold to new owners not long ago. My original quote, done physically after a walk through of my home, was $7500.00. My goods were held ransom unless I paid what was requested, double the original quote, only $250 short of $15,000.00 and that had to be paid by credit card only. If I did not pay this amount, they would not deliver my property. The driver was sent to Vancouver, along with a helper, from Calgary, and I was charged the air fare, hotel and expenses. The driver barely spoke English, read even less and the helper neither spoke, nor read English. My carefully done lists and diagrams meant nothing to them. They stacked fragile china under books, turned boxes upside down and put things wherever they felt like putting them. The damages were astronomical in breakage, scratches, and dents. Mirrors were shattered, china broken, light fixtures broken because of mishandling, the box of the box spring, which is hard maple, snapped in two and everything was filthy dirty. I also had to pay for the rental and fuel of a smaller truck because the driver was not confident enough to back into my yard. Goods were then offloaded from the big truck to the small truck and then offloaded anywhere they pleased. Action Movers would not answer my phone calls or emails and finally, did not respond to my registered letter. Do not use this company under any circumstances. During the move the employees loading were harassed by text messages and phone calls. They worked in unsafe conditions, loading the truck without lights and without a break to eat food or drink for longer than 12 hours. The manager did not bother to bring lights out after they requested them so I provided flashlights, which helped, but by no means were adequate. This company should be shut down.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $15,000.00
- What could this company do to improve their services?
- This company could stick to what they say. The original quote was $7500.00 which changed to $11,000.00 which included taxes and supplies. The ransom request was for an additional sum to bring the total to just under $15,000.00 OR ELSE! This company should treat their employees respectfully and provide safe working conditions and breaks. The company will not cover any damages. The fine print says that! Yet they told me not to worry about taking additional insurance out because I was covered. Now I am out about seven thousand dollars.
- Any advice to offer fellow homeowners facing a similar project?
- Don't just check reviews. This company has a reputation that was built by a previous owner, not the current owner. Take extra insurance out. Get a firm written estimate. DO NOT HIRE ACTION MOVERS!
- Company Response
homestars.com has been a great website to our company and allowing customers to view our testimonials. The downside to this website, is allowing customers to vent about issues that have more depth and detail then just what has been written on a website. Action movers moves across canada and the united states along with moving within BC. 30% of our bookings are long distance and we work to provide a careful and care-free moving service. The access to this customer was not very good, basing her move on her word that many items would be sold prior to the move, we estimated 10,000lbs. When our movers arrived, things were very UN-ORGANIZED, and we came to an early conclusion that the customers weight was more like 22,000lbs and almost all of the customers boxes were poorly packed. the comments regarding our drivers in Alberta and there language barrier is false, and the customer did not pay any fees to transport our employees back to vancouver. the customers new location was in Elk Point, and having a 53 foot semi, there was no safe paved road to access front door unload. We discounted, and tried to work with the customer as best as possible, and explained our insurance policy.