Another displeased Prince Moving customer writes:

“I used Prince Moving Company, from Toronto to Vancouver and storage in Vancouver,  I wouldn’t advise anyone to use them, they went threw my stuff, stole alot of personal and valuable things from me.  This moving company is very dishonest, “NOT RECOMMENDED”.”

posted on the Discover Vancouver Forum.

These stories keep popping up.  Here is yet another unhappy Prince Moving customer:

“We used Prince movers on a move from Toronto to Los Angeles and it was a terrible experience. Our move cost $3000 more than the quoted us, and much of our furniture was damaged. I would NOT use them or recommend them to anyone.”

Also via the Discover Vancouver forum.

Another upset Prince Moving customer writes:

“Don’t go with these guys. I dealt with them, ignorantly, twice. First time they sucked. Second time they were excruciatingly horrible. Got ripped off, damaged goods, no repayment. They were late—-brutally, we’re talking 8 and a half hours the first time and 3 days the second time—ouch. When they didn’t deliver some of our stuff the second time cause they forgot to unload it they told us we had to come and pick it up cause the driver didn’t want to come back. He wanted to get on the road. It was “their” fault, they know, but they can’t drop it off…..??? Interesting. They said that they won’t do it cause we signed the contract. Even though 1) we refused to sign it because we weren’t sure everything was there—the delivery guy “cleared it” with his boss on the phone in front of us that it was just a formality to sign it..”It won’t mean anything”…2) They know that it was “their” fault…..kinda odd don’t you think.”
“In the end, it turns out that they lost a couple of boxes. These boxes contained about $400 in books, expensive books that were dear to my wife and I. They refuse, again, to do anything because we “signed the contract that they assured us didn’t mean anything and was just a formality”—remember this was done in front of us. We were dumb, I know. Live and learn.”

“Anyway, in the end, horrible timing, and lost boxes. In addition, the seriously scratched and chipped two bookcases, and turns out the wrecked the whole back of another one.”

“Anyway, stay away from Prince Moving.”

“take care”

Via the Discover Vancouver Forum

http://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=55318

Yet another person has written in to explain their terrible experience with Prince Moving:

“I just read about your horror moving experience.  We had a very similar experience with Prince movers on a move from Toronto to Los Angeles almost 1 1/2 years ago.  I am still fuming about it.  Our move cost us $3000 more than we were quoted and lots of valuable things were damaged in the move.  When  our stuff arrived in LA they wanted more money from us before they would bring our furniture up, we flat out refused.   It was hell, pure hell.  I never did anything about it as we just put it down to a bad experience, and made sure that we recommended others NOT to use them.”

“Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau…The Bureau processed a total of 17 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period. Of the total of 17 complaints closed in 36 months, 6 were closed in the last year.”

source:

http://www.bbbvan.org/commonreport.html?bid=132719&code=

Looks like someone doesn’t like what I’m posting here.  Hmmm, I wonder if this is an employee of Prince?  I got this email today:

From: “Captain McAlister” <yaarrrrr@gmail.com>
To: princemoving@gmail.com
bite the big one buddy. you are one dumb motherfucker.

Sandy writes:

I wish I had done some research before using Prince Moving. They were horrible!

I was moving from Toronto to San Fran, and the quote came as 1350 lbs for $2000 (Canadian) including packing, 1-month storage and door-to-door delivery.

My contract specified that the moving date was Dec 22, but then THEY changed the date to Dec 23. I said okay, and got charged $200 for overtime b/c it was a Saturday. NO ONE told me that there was this surcharge, otherwise I’d definitely not say yes!!!!

On Dec 23, they were late by 2 hours (didn’t call to say they were late and no apology at all), and they didn’t bring the tools to dissemble my dinning table. I had to knock on the doors of my neighbors but no one had it. They also broken one leg of my TV stand so I threw it away (I am not a handy woman). The two guys refused to take my mirror (about 1 meter long), saying they can’t guarantee if the mirror would be unbroken upon arrival in San Fran.

And without scaling, they told me I should expect to pay $2500! That was ridiculous. I didn’t buy anything since the estimate in Nov, and in fact, I gave away a lot of things to friends before moving.

After I found an apt in San Fran, I phoned their Toronto office to give my new address. They told me to call back a week later about schedule of delivery. I called, and was told that my address was not in their system. They treated me like an idiot, saying it seemed like I never called. They also said someone called me days ago (no no no) to say my stuff would arrive ONE MONTH later, when I have already started paying rent!!!

I was so pissed off. The salesman told me the company has trucks to California all the time, and it takes 7 – 10 days to deliver. Now they are saying 7 – 10 days is the time on the road, but my things have to sit in the warehouse unless they have other clients to California. I am paying double rent now, for my empty apartment, and my homestay family. Prince moving really screwed me up.

I will never recommend Prince Moving to my friends, and please stay away from this company if you can.

VIA:

http://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=55318

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.

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…