Shipping e Moving services

[Carolann R]

Hi Lokahi. We're gonna ship Friday (Tony's down this morning with what looks like the FLU for chrissakes!! This should be an interesting week. I feel so bad for him...movers coming in three days and...)

If I commented on that whole debacle with the Chicken Little person on KW, I would have to kill you all LOL!!! Glad to hear things are working out for her.

We are still goin' with West Point...Eli Cohen is the General Manager there and assures me that all is well and he will keep me informed through the process.

I think our computer will be coming down today...I won't be able to post unless I use Tony's laptop. My next posts should be after we arrive HOME in Puna. You guys have all been so great. I am privileged to be able to play with ya. Mahalo



Carrie

"To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater." Bono
http://www.hellophoenix.com/art/dreamhawaii.Cfm

[Lokahi]

Carrie and Tony
Hope Tony is no longer feeling junk and you are both ready for tomorrow! You are on your way home. How sweet for you. Best wishes and luck to you. E como mai!
Aloha,
Lokahi

[Carolann R]

Aloha Lokahi! We are sitting in the hotel looking out over the Tempe Town Lake...they took our things today. We slept about 3 hours last night and are running on adrenaline! Tomorrow back to the house to clean sweep it and then Sunday morning our flight to Hawai'i...we're coming home. thanks for your kinds words.



Carrie

"To be one, to be united is a great thing. But to respect the right to be different is maybe even greater." Bono
http://www.hellophoenix.com/art/dreamhawaii.Cfm

[Lokahi]

Carolann
I wanted to bring this forward because I wanted to check with you on how the West Coast Relocation service went. I don't recall a follow up posting and we still have them on our short list for consideration. Any information would be helpful. You are certainly welcome to email us directly if you prefer not to post. Thanks so much.

[Carolann R]

Well, it was real bad. They took 8 weeks to get our stuff to us. We had several things including our PC broken...a dining room chair was smashed, we still have things that we cannot find, which means boxes are missing. My mom's TV was broken, but we found a replacement (thanks Robin C. in Volcano). My sewing machine is broken...the box was bashed in. I love to sew and will have to wait to do any of that.

We paid a huge amount to them to have them load it and unload it at the destination. When they arrived at our home in Phoenix, the truck was an old broken down truck that said All Points Van Lines and had a broken lift on it, which I guess would've been okay except my husband's tool box is a huge MAC and side cabinets, etc. They had to actually hire a local flatbed to come in and load the tool box. The two guys were nice who loaded the truck - two guys. It took an entire day to get our stuff loaded.

When we finally got our stuff after two months, it was loaded in a way that the tool box was the first thing when you open the door and they just had the container dropped in front of our house here. They stated that we never paid to have it unloaded on this end and the paperwork never said anything about it being full service, even though I requested it and they did all the loading in Arizona. I asked them why I would have them load it on one end but not unload it here...what's the sense of that? They said they didn't understand it either. I called and complained and "Chris" said they couldn't arrange to have someone do it, but that they would give us $200 back on Tony's credit card. I made several calls to "Eli" who said he would track our things and keep in close touch with us...NEVER was able to reach him. He NEVER returned even one call or email. Always someone else who was under him.

Connie came over and helped us out - she's amazing. She suggested we back up Tony's little Toyota pickup to the container and off-loaded it there before we got the stuff into the garage. That was a great suggestion. My mom has one of those "Hoveround" chairs (weighs about 300 pounds) which Tony and I managed to manhandle off the container using a couple of straps as pulleys.

We ended up paying about 9,000 to get our stuff and our Toyota pickup shipped. They said 9 days before they came that it was too late to buy insurance so we couldn't. And as it turns out they charged us for packing materials we never even knew they were charging us for. They never told us the cost of the materials at the time, and they never did tell us how much they used. They said they pay 60 cents per pound to replace things, so we don't even know what it would be for the missing things and our computer is trashed...what's that - about $10?

And lastly, they want receipts for everything that was broken - I mean - come on...do you have receipts for everything you own? Probably Not.

I am glad it's over...glad never gonna do it again. You only learn by doing it, but I will tell you that I would never recommend this company as they treat you well before you actually ship and then you are hard pressed to hear from them again. They are not honest and I feel we were really taken for a ride. Go with a container via Pasha or Matson is my suggestion. Load it yourself - take the time and just do it. That way your stuff is not off-loaded again and again which is what happened with our stuff.

Carrie

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

http://www.hellophoenix.com/art/dreamhawaii.Cfm

[toucano]

What a horror story. Here is a link to a site with some info on who to complain about moving companies:

http://moving.about.com/od/hiringamoving...nt_FAQ.htm

Included are links to:

Several online resources are available at your fingertips:

* Better Business Bureau offers a complaint registry and provides information on what kind of complaints they'll accept.

* Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration provides an online complaint form or a toll-free number you can call.

* Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection also provides an online form that you can fill out and submit.

* The National Association of Attorneys General gives a full contact list of Attorneys General to whom you may lodge a complaint. This is highly recommended.

* Rip-off Report.com has a lot of information on submitting and getting reports on companies. It's a great place to lodge a complaint and to view other other people's experiences as well.

[Lokahi]

OMG! Carrie and Tony I am so saddened to hear such an awful outcome. I appologize for revisiting this wound. I can assure you they are off any list we have and I will be remiss not to re-tell your nightmare with others considering this company. Bet they don't care for the free advertising you do! I can't express how sorry I am to hear the debacle and tale of woe. My heart aches for your losses even though they are material ones. I think the great loss here is that of trust, respect and honor. Do you plan to persue recompense or do I sense you have chosen to add this to life's lessons learned and hele on? After all you are home now and it is really on their conscience (assuming one). Again e kala mai for bringing this up, it can't be pleasant to revisit. Thank you very much for sharing.

[Kahunascott]

I don’t believe “You only know by doing”? We read all the horror stories and decided to move ourselves. We had to combine two households on the mainland. U-Haul one apartments stuff from NJ to NY, then load the house and U-Haul into the container for shipping.
Here’s what we did.
First we shipped two cars 5 weeks ahead of us flying. (Autolog) The cars were here when we arrived.
U-Haul has businesses on their web site that will pack any truck or container you may have. (Just load the truck) So, we boxed everything in both houses.
Rented a U-Haul truck in NJ and the moving men came on time and packed everything. Drove to NY and the moving men there unpacked the U-Haul and packed the U-Haul and the house into the container in about 5 hours. We put our own lock on the container and took it off in our driveway in Hawaiian Beaches. Horizon picked up the container on time and we flew out the next morning.
The container arrived on time and we used a local trucking company to deliver the container to our new home. Got the neighbor and two sons (Paid them of course) to unload the container and furniture in 3 hours. The container was picked up the next day and we were done.
I’m sure the planning was the key to our success.
We saved a ton of money; nothing missing and only one mixing bowl broke. Of course it was my wife’s favorite bowl, go figure.
Do it your self, save money and have no one to blame when things start to go wrong and they are out of your control. If we had to do it over again I wouldn’t change a thing. Email me if you need more info on moving and I hope I can help.

[Carolann R]

I really felt like I did my research. I had reports of good and bad regarding this company. They approached me and assured me time and again they would handle everything and we don't have to worry. They lied. I got wind of a possible problem NINE days prior to our leaving. What could I do at that point? We had already paid them a large chunk and after my going round and round with the manager who said he would personally see to it that our stuff arrived ontime and in good condition, we decided to go ahead with it. Our house was on the market in AZ and our airfare was purchased and aside from Tony and myself there was the dog and my disabled mother moving at the same time...we made arrangements...I did nothing last year but remodel a house in AZ and make arrangements for the move here...it isn't as if I just closed my eyes and did eeney, meeney...etc. That is what I meant by I guess you learn from doing it...

It's nice that all went so well for you Kahunascott, but unfortunately it was a real bear for us.

Carrie

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

http://www.hellophoenix.com/art/dreamhawaii.Cfm