The below was written by user ‘kits’ in the Discover Vancouver Forum
This is my experience with Prince Moving. It is a nightmare that has lasted nearly nine months and is continuing still.
I was moving from Mississauga to Victoria and went about obtaining a number of quotes from various moving companies. Prince was not the cheapest, nor were they the most expensive. I chose them based on the information given to me by the salesman and the fact that I had not been able to discover anything negative about the company through the usual means. I have since learned a lot!
The salesman came to my house and gave me a quote of $ 4526.10 to move the contents of my home from Mississauga to Victoria. He estimated that I had 6000 lbs of furniture, including boxes. All of the boxes were already packed and stacked in the dining room when he came to give the estimate. He said 6000 lbs @ .50 per pound would be $3000.00. He then added a scale charge of $30.00, a pick up charge of 300.00, an admin fee of 200.00, a ferry charge of 400.00, a fuel charge of 300.00, bringing the total to 4230.00. Add GST of 296.10 and the total is now 4526.10. I gave a 500.00 deposit to guarantee pick up. My new total should now be 4026.10.
Fast forward to Feb 27/06. The movers are supposed to be at my house by 9 am. I have a flight to Victoria that night departing Toronto at 8:45 pm. They arrived at my house at NOON. They wore their muddy boots all through out my house, no booties to protect carpets or floors. In the grande scheme of things, all of that would later seem trivial compared to what happened. When they were finally finished loading the truck and shut the doors, the driver told me that the price had now suddenly gone up and my new total would be $ 6808.10. WHAT?????? I dispute this, as I have a written quote from the salesman. Who, BTW, can no longer be reached on his cell phone. The driver says there is more than 6000 lbs on the truck, yet he has NOT weighed the truck. He also takes this opportunity to inform me that if I don’t sign the contract for the new price he is going to unload all of my furniture right there. At this point, I have to be out of the house(someone else was moving in) and I have a flight that I have to be on as I had to be work in Victoria the next day. I had three hours before my flight was leaving. I didn’t know what to do…I was hysterical. So, I signed the form under duress and hoped that I could rectify this horrible “misunderstanding” upon my arrival in BC. In hindsight, I should have just told him to take everything off the truck as it was likely a bluff, but I was reeling from the shock of what he said.
Upon my arrival in BC, I telephoned the Vancouver office and was told I would have to discuss the issue with Toronto. I called the Toronto office and got absolutely no where. Basically, my furniture was being held ransom until I paid them. And now, they were going to add an additional 300.00 per month storage fee.
It took until November for me to afford to get my furniture back. It was delivered to my house on Nov 16/06. Prior to delivering it, they called and told me I had to pay them BEFORE they brought it to my house. PARDON???? Not a chance. I told them they better be in my driveway on that day with my furniture or my lawyer would be in touch. Diana, from the Montreal office returned my call and told me she had my file mixed up with someone else and there was no need to pay prior to delivery. By now the total counting storage is over 9K that they have made off of this move. I highly doubt that I am going to pay them BEFORE I have my furniture at least in a truck in my driveway. Clearly these are not scrupulous business people. While dealing with the final delivery arrangements and sharing my story with someone, I was directed to call the Canadian Movers Association. I called them and spoke with a gentleman who advised that Prince Moving has had their membership revoked from the Canadian Movers Association and gave me a phone number in ON to file a complaint with the Ministry of Government Services. This I did. He also advised that they have broken a number of laws, mainly a law called the 10% Estimate Rule, whereby a company can not increase the price of a quote by more than 10% of the original. I have since obtained legal advice and will be dealing with this in the courts. On November 16, the truck arrived with my furniture. The young men who delivered it were very nice, polite, and careful of my belongings. The driver was in BC from ON and shared his own horror stories as an employee so it seems they do not treat their employees any better than their customers. Unfortunately, this young man was not one of the fellows who loaded my furniture in ON. It would seem that the 300.00 per month storage fee gets you space in a field somewhere because my sofa’s and my love seats were torn and covered in dirt and feces. My computer desk had the wheels smashed off and the keyboard tray was bent to the point it was rendered unusable. A very expensive brass lamp was dented and bent, a television was ruined and had the casing cracked, my dresser was chipped and marked, and a standing radio had the legs broken off and chunks of wood smashed out of them. Two of my large urns were completely smashed, despite being very well packed. And there are still more boxes to unpack so God only knows what I have yet to discover.
This is my experience. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at ******@msn.com. My personal opinion is that I would definitely NOT recommend Prince Moving. My opinion is that there must be better companies out there. These guys are bottom feeding crooks…they will low ball their price and then hold your belongings ransom.
