Our Moving Nightmare

Monica has been reminding me to post our eventful moving experience. Since I am pretty much over it and don't want to spend any more thought toward editing or rewriting it... I am copying and pasting from the actual letter/email that I sent to the moving company to document the whole ordeal with the end goal to either spark fear that we have good ammunition to sue or maybe even earn some sympathy that might inspire them to pay us a little back... This is very long, but if you got 10 minutes... knock yourself out. I can definitely laugh at it at this point and I hope you do also.

(From - 4/18/2008)

ENJOY!

To: Nationwide Relocation Services/Avalon/ARA
From: Russell Kay

To whom it may concern:

My purpose here is to tell my story and document all that has gone wrong in this move from Mesa, AZ to Austin, TX. In addition, how much real money I have lost, and been inconvenienced as a result of the parties involved, i.e.; Nationwide Relocation, Avalon, and ARA Moving. They all have not held to their commitments and over promised since day 1.
· We went into contract to sell our home in Mesa, AZ on March 14th, 2008. The buyer’s terms were to close on Tuesday April 1, 2008. As the house deal progressed, it was communicated that the buyer would have their belongings delivered from Ohio on Thurs. April 3rd. They were planning on having painters come to the home on the closing date when they took over ownership of property on April 1, 2008. Therefore, the date is set, based on the home sale contract, for us to be out of our home, no later than Monday March31,2008.
These details will become relevant as I continue.
· At this point, I began looking for moving options. Which were, 1) Rent a Uhaul/Penske truck and do it myself, 2) Contract with ABF – I pack, they drop off, I unload, or 3) Use a moving company to pack, deliver and unload.

· On March 18th 2008 I received a quote/call from Scott Smith from Nationwide RS. The quote seemed fair in that it was based on a price per pound, which was for $3850.06 based on an estimate of 10,920 lbs.
Please note here, that final weight was only 1400lbs more than the estimate, so there should be no excuse for bringing a small truck that did not fit all our belongings, which will be noted below.
· In further conversations with Scott Smith, he assured me that there was, “no way, your stuff would fit on a 26’ truck.” That is why I opted out of doing it myself and going with Nationwide. I was told by Scott that Nationwide, and/or affiliates have big enough trucks to handle my load on one truck, which will be noted below in an email.
· Verbally, we agreed to a pick up date in Mesa, AZ for Saturday March 29 or Sunday March 30th, 2008, and a delivery date to Austin, TX of Tuesday April 1 or Wed. April 2, 2008.
· On March 18th, I agreed to these terms verbally, and Scott said that he would send over the contract.
· As you can read, the contract reads: ETA P/U date or period: 3/29 – 3/30/2008 and ETA Delivery period: 4/1 - 4/8/2008. Scott also explained that I had 5 business days to cancel. I immediately emailed Scott and let him know that this deal would not work for me, if you or your affiliates could not deliver by Wed. April 2nd, 2008. Scott assured me that Nationwide/Affiliates would deliver by April 2nd. (There is a email trail of these conversations/emails copied with this document – I will provide email trail and commitments from Scott Smith upon request)
o Russ Kay to Scott Smith via Email:

Scott - With all due respect, this is my concern... I am somewhat flexible with the dates, but I have til Monday March 24th to cancel and get my full deposit back. And it does not make business sense for me to not have a committed date from your party until after its too late to get my deposit back. I do not foresee any issues, but after reading the contract more thoroughly, I need to make sure there is a little more commitment on your end because that is what I was sold. At the same time I need to pin down a date ASAP. Can you pull some strings and get me a committed pickup and delivery date by this Friday afternoon (March 21)? I am flexible with the dates you gave me (Pick up - March 29 or 30 / Delivery April 1 or 2) But after that will not work.

Thanks for your understanding.
Respectfully,
Russ Kay

Response from Scott Smith to Russ Kay:

Hi Russ,

We have you scheduled for 03/29-03/30 for pickup and the delivery will be direct according to dispatch due to the size of your shipment. Your first date of your delivery window is April 1st and you should be delivered the 1st or 2nd according to dispatch depending on which date your pickup is on. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

Scott Smith
Senior Moving Consultant
Nationwide Relocation
(888.219.7171 X 274

· Please note 2 points: 1.) P/U and delivery date are specified. 2.) “Delivery will be direct… due to the size of your shipment.” -this clearly means that he understood it to be a large job and also makes it clear that all my stuff will be on 1 truck, etc.
· Neither commitment was fulfilled by Nationwide/affiliates

· This is where I explain why the delivery date is so important based on our living situation/agreement in Austin:
o We signed a month-to-month contract with a home staging company. (Austin Home Staging –Contract and fees available upon request) The home we were to be living in is an empty home that is for sale. The home owners believe that if the home is lived in, with Furniture, then it looks more appealing and is more likely to sell than an empty cold home. Our obligation is to stage the home with our furniture and belongings, etc. The lease started April 1, 2008, and we are obligated to have the home staged with our belonging upon move in. We signed the agreement and put down a $1000 deposit along with 1st month rent for $875, totaling $2000 w/ fees.

Please note these details as they become important when we are kicked out of the house and lost the above mentioned $2000 after April 15th because we did not fulfil our end of the home staging agreement.

· Back to the Pick up delay:
After many emails and verbal conversations with Scott Smith, I signed the contract on 3/19/2008 in good faith that Nationwide would fulfill their commitments, written, expressed and implied.
3/26/08 I was told that we the Driver would arrive on Sunday 3/30/2008 to pick up our belongings and we would receive a confirmation phone call on Friday or Sat. 3/29.
After many left messages, we still had not heard from anybody until Sat. night at 9pm. (3/29)
Finally, Julia, a representative from Avalon Moving called and told us that their truck is broken down in New Mexico and they would not have it fixed and in AZ until Tuesday night 4/2. Since we had to be out by Monday 3/31 based on the close/sale of our home, I explained that her proposal was not acceptable as it could potentially loose the sale the sale of our home. She said that she would try to make something happen. We did hear back from Julia on Sunday afternoon (3/30) that she was able to get another truck to pick up on Monday morning (3/31) and that we would be moved out by Monday night.
The driver finally showed up around 6:30 pm on 3/31 and began packing by 7pm. By this time, I had contacted the Realtors and explained that we might need a little more time to be out. Based on their assessment, the drivers told me that they would work all night and be out by 10am the next morning 4/1. Again, the close date on the home was 4/1 and the new owners were planning on painting the home on 4/1 – 4/2. Since they only had 2 workers to do the job, and time was short, I stayed until 1am helping them pack and load. I left the home at that time based on the fact that they said they would be done by 10am. Therefore, I needed to get some sleep, because I would be driving to Austin the next morning when they completed the job.
I showed up back at the house on Tues. 4/1 at 9am to find that the packing and loading was nowhere near completion and the movers were gone. I called them and they told me that they went to find a day laborer. They finally returned around noon with 1 guy to help them.
Finally around 5pm it was clear that my stuff would not fit in their 26’ truck. (the same size of truck that your rep. Scott Smith assured me that would not fit all our stuff) That, by the way is the only promise that Nationwide and affiliates have fulfilled.
So I started giving stuff away to friends and family. (Patio furniture /table and chairs, 2 grills, stereo speakers, etc. approx $1000 value)
The movers also said that they needed to go drop some of the stuff off in storage because it all would not fit in the truck… I was firm that we absolutely had to be completely out that night and would not have time to drop off a load and then come back. So I called a friend in the neighborhood to ask if I could dump a load in his garage for the day until they could come back and pick it up. We did so, and I am the idiot for inconveniencing my friend.
We finally finished moving all the stuff out and off the property by 9:30 pm 4/1 Tues night. And it was confirmed that they picked up the rest at my friends house Wed afternoon 4/2.
By this time Tues. 4/1, my wife and 11month old baby had flown from Phoenix out to Austin from a prebooked flight that was booked based on the commitments from Nationwides’ delivery date.

· Therefore you can see that the pickup was now 3 days late and contract was breached.
At this point, I knew that this had turned for the worse. Not to mention I had now missed 2 extra days of work that I had to take to babysit and help do the job I paid someone else to do.

· When the drivers were taking off, I asked when I could expect delivery and was told that they would be getting a larger truck to get all my belongings on 1 truck and I should expect delivery on 4/4 or Sat. 4/5.


· Finally, after many phone calls, ARA delivered a partial delivery on Sat 4/5. When I say partial, I mean, if they handpicked everything we did not need, then that is what was delivered. And it was only about 10% of our stuff. Still no bed, no cooking and eating utensils, no clothes, no TV, etc. They did however, deliver 2 of 6 sofas, 2 dressers, a few boxes, and a wheelbarrow.
· Was it all on 1 truck as promised? NO.
· At this point we were told that the rest of our belongings would come on Tues. 4/8 then it changed to Thursday 4/10, then to Sunday 4/13… blah, blah, blah…
I will not carry on with all the “promised “ delivery dates that were not fulfilled as stated by Leon at Nationwide, the drivers with ARA, the owner - Hakim with ARA, and the people at Avalon, but needless to say, our things were not delivered on any of these dates.
· I left several messages for all parties involved on Sat. and Sunday 4/13 and never heard back until I had reason to believe that my positions were lost or stolen. ARA, who has ownership of this job should have been responsive - and I never once heard back. Finally, I did hear back from Nationwide and Avalon on Monday 4/14. Both companies/representatives were shocked that I had not yet received delivery.

· At this point, I do more research and find out how often my very similar story happens to people from your company, Nationwide RS.

(For sake of argument – I know not to believe everything that is on the Internet, but you will find it very convincing when a Google search is done on “Nationwide Relocation/Moving Scams”… I will forward the links if interested.) There are far too many complaints out there to suggest that these victims are all lying.

· Based on my research and personal experience, Monday 4/14 turns into a missed days work because I spent the day in panic mode believing that my stuff was stolen, therefore talking to Law Enforcement and attorneys.

· Tuesday 4/15 I get a call from the representative from Austin Home Staging informing me that we were in breach of contract because the home was not staged (as previously explained) and that the homeowner was kicking us out. We had 24 hours to be out of the home. (Their name and number is available upon request)


· Now I have the added burden to: 1) Get a storage unit to put my stuff in. 2) Rent a truck to transport the 10% of our stuff that was delivered 3) Inconvenience friends to help me load our belongings. 4) Find a place to live for myself wife and baby…
· Because we have already accrued so much debt to accommodate ourselves for the last 3 weeks (no cooking supplies, no clothes, no bed, etc.) I cannot afford another place or hotel costs.

(Remember, I have a wife and an 11 month old baby who have been sleeping on an air mattress with me for the last 2 weeks, now don’t have a place to go. So I put my family on a plane to stay with my wife’s parents until this is resolved. In the mean time, I have to take Tues. 4/15 and Wed. 4/16 off work to deal with this. (renting a moving truck and moving everything again)
Where do I sleep? Where am I staying at this point? Answer: In my office, where I work with 3 other people. Sleeping on an air mattress.

And if you are still trying to figure out who is to fault for this at this point? I would say that if Nationwide is the moving consultants and broker, then they should have the power to both provide a more thorough inventory so that the sub who takes on the job are not in over their head and show up with a small truck that does not accommodate our needs. Secondly, the broker should have the power to pull a job or make accommodations to find another company

· Friday 4/18 4:00pm CST . We finally got our things moved out of the house on Wed. 4/16 and into storage. My family is split up and I am still waiting for a call to meet the driver to be put or things into storage, which is not the same as delivering, unpacking, reassembling, etc. as stated in the contract. So if and when we do find a place to move, who will do the loading, unloading and reassembling? And how much more will I have to spend when we go to move again and eventually get unpacked and settled?

· Needless to say, this has been an absolute nightmare, but aside from all the emotional stress, worry, sleeping on an air mattress, fighting with my wife, and every representative from all parties involved, gaining a general lack of trust against society, inconveniences, etc. (Believe me the list could go on and on…) but my point is to itemize what real financial loss have I experienced from this.

Below listed and itemized is a summary of real debt and additional cost we have accrued on your behalf, based on unfulfilled commitments, over-sold promises and breach of contract- not including what we have already paid Nationwide and ARA.

o Missed days work = 6
- 3/31, 4/1, 4/2 spent helping the 2 movers pack and load in AZ,
-4/14 spent in panic after no returned calls and a no-show on one of many promised delivery dates, trying to locate my belongings, speaking with law enforcement, attorneys, etc.
-4/15, 4/16 spent arranging a flight for my wife and baby, moving my stuff mostly by myself to the rental truck/storage.
-6 days of missed work.
Total - Approx $1200
o Rent for 15 days of occupancy - $875
o Deposit/fees for rental - $1300
o Misc. living items that we had to purchase to get by - $300
o Flight on short notice – up to $1000 (although, I used a free flight I have been saving for a vacation)
o Utilities - monthly and start up fees - $300
o Storage Unit - $180
o Rental Truck - $50
o What we had to give away - $1000
o Manual Labor helping the 2 movers move at minimum wage - $200
o Cell Phone minutes dealing with all parties involved - ????

· Total - $4305

· This does not include the flight, value of things given away, my manual labor, nor cell phone minutes and overages.
· Neither have we come up with some inflated amount for punitive damages.

· These are real, hard costs that I have had to eat based on your unfulfilled promises and breached contract.


Please consider this when coming to a dollar amount that you think is fair when compensating me for the trouble that was caused. I know that ownership, accountability is hard to swallow in the day and age we live in, but tell me where any of this is my fault?
We all have to cut our losses at some point and I feel that I have cut far beyond what I should deserve.
I strongly feel that my entire deposit of $1250 should be refunded in full. Please explain where and why you should make anything on this deal when I have lost so much at your expense.

I expect this to be resolved by end of business day 4/23/2008.


Russell Kay


Well - I hope that you are laughing at this point, I promise that there were pages of details that I did not list here (My detective work in finding out where our stuff was for 3 weeks, having Mike Van, and Porter go to the storage unit with video cameras while the movers were loading up to get them nervous that I had found out where they were keeping our stuff, loosing my voice over hours on the phone of non-sensical threats to the moving company, sleeping, working, eating and living from my office for 3 weeks til we closed on our new house -- I think if I read this about someone else, I would think that they were the biggest idiot for getting taken like this or they were lying to me... either way, it's a pretty good story!