The short version of the story: I hire a moving company, they manage to destroy everything valuable I own and then they refuse to pay the insurance!
I’ve written this to let people know what happened and explain how I didn’t put up with it.
When I used Prince Moving for a move across Canada they actually managed to do way more damage to my property than the entire cost of the move itself! Think about that for a moment. I’d have been better off if all the items we’re stolen!
When the movers came to get the stuff they we’re give explicit instructions on how to handle the special items (namely some electronics) with care due to their high value. We marked these items with at least one huge red fragile sticker on every single side of the boxes.
The sales manage Brian Pleet made me feel better about the whole process because he told me they’d be ‘insured‘.
Skip ahead to the arrival in Vancouver.
I notice when they’re moving the stuff into my new apartment that the most valuable and most fragile of all the items just happens to be underneath some of the heaviest of all the items!!!
My Apple Powermac G5 computer was being crushed underneath rubbermaid bin full of books and a giant hockey bag full of every piece of clothing I owned. We’re talking a goalie hockey bag full to the brim. There must’ve been at least 200 pounds of stuff on this box clearly marked FRAGILE. This lead me to wonder what had been crushing this box marked FRAGILE in the truck let alone on the dolly!
I pay by visa and then they refuse to give me a copy of the contract saying they’d fax it to me later. Red flags start going off in my head but I figure they’re just in a rush or something.
The first thing I do is unpack my sound system/tuner to get some music going while I unpack the rest. I take it out and it doesn’t work. The buttons on the unit have been impacted and broken. At first I’m not too mad because it was a long distance move and I expected that maybe an item or two would be damaged. Then I unpack my nice little sony ghetto blaster. It turns on but none of the buttons on the unit work either. Its now permanently stuck on a radio station that is just static here.
I start to get pissed.
I immediately go and check my Apple Powermac G5 computer. What do you know, it WONT EVEN TURN ON. It makes a horrible clicking sound when I try to turn it on. This isn’t just any computer either. This is a seriously powerful media workstation that just happens to be loaded with all of my photos and videos. In fact it was the nicest/most useful piece of equipment I’ve ever owned.
Now I’m absolutely furious.
In the end they managed to destroy a dvd player, a sony ghetto blaster, a sony tuner/stero system, a 20 inch cinema display, and my Apple Powermac G5.
Somehow this company has managed to destroy every valuable item that I own and these items we’re all packed properly and marked FRAGILE!!!!
Of course I made sure we were “insured” when we decided to go with this company. However, in the stress of moving we forgot to read the fine print on the actual document when I signed it. Turns out Prince Moving’s idea of “insurance” is to pay something like .30 cents per pound for items they destroy. How ridiculous is that!!!??? PER POUND! Most of my valuable items I own are NOT heavy.
So now I try to get ahold of these people to figure out what is going on. I call the ’sales manager’ whose name is Brian Pleet and he suggests I contact the “claims department”. The “claims department” is one woman whose name is France Martel. ( france-martel@hotmail.com ) She just happens to be out of the office and won’t be returning until late next week. How convenient for them!
At this point I realize that these people are going to screw me over even more than they already have. They say call this person, talk to that person, email us, fax this etc etc. This company is obviously giving me the run around.
They eventually send me a letter denying my claim outright. The nerve of these people! They don’t even want to pay their ridiculous .30 cents per pound insurance!!!
Upon looking more closely at the contract I see that they also never weighed my stuff. It’s standard practice that moving companies give you an estimate and then they actually weigh your stuff to see how much they should charge. In this case Brian Pleet picked a number out of thin air after seeing my apartment for 30 seconds and then they actually used that weight as the final charge when they arrived in Vancouver. So they never actually weighed my stuff and charged what they felt like charging.
I’m now talking to a lawyer about taking them to small claims court. I’m also filing complaints with the Better Business Bureau, and posting about my experience with them around the web.
Why am I doing all this? Because I’m tired of companies screwing people over and not treating their customers properly.
Also I wanted to let people know how this company treats their customers so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not to use them for their move.
Moving lessons learned.
- I would not use Prince Moving and Storage ever again. Duh!
- When a sales guy tells you it’s ‘insured’ he’s probably lying through his teeth. This should be painfully obvious but I can be an idiot sometimes.
- Read the fine print before you sign anything even if you’re really stressed out and people are rushing you.
- If the sales guy doesn’t want to give you an official written estimate (and only jots down some numbers on his business card) this should raise some red flags.
- Make sure the company actually weighs your stuff and ask for a Weigh Ticket as proof.
- If you can afford the better service go for it. You get what you pay for…
