Call the Department of Weights & Measures befor moving! - Moving Review

This is the short story of our NIGHTMARE! We hired USVL and were impressed with salesman Alvin Garcia. He was going to be my life-line from the time our belongings were picked up in CO on 5/5/11 to the time they were delivered and re-assembled in AZ by 5/14/11. That was the first lie! Our belongings were picked up in a white truck by Robbi and 2 other guys. They were late and didn't call. I called Alvin and finally the driver called and said it would be the following day between 12 & 3pm. They finally arrived at 6:30 after I called USVL twice. At this point I still didn't realize that we had been farmed-out to Moving Connection, Inc. out of Thornton, CO. I questioned Robbi about my belongings being safe and on-time because we had to be back in CO soon after the load was to arrive in AZ. Robbi said If we weren't happy with the move to call him direct when we were ready for our final load to go to AZ and he would move us himself. He gave us his cell phone number. I did call him at one point after the belongings were a few days late. He said he would check to see where the truck was and we never heard from him again. We were charged $424. for boxes when we were told there would be no additional charges by Alvin. He said the estimate included EVERYTHING and the amount would not change. Alvin and I agreed there would be no surprises at the end and he said he estimated high on the weight so there would be no additional charges. Lie #2. The original estimate was $1,995.92. When it was loaded Robbi said our total was $2,843.92. I didn't even send 2 floor lamps and the chiminea. $424 was for packing material! The truck pulled out and we left the next day for AZ to meet the truck between the 7th and 14th. I called on the 7th to get an ETA so we could make plans with friends. Alvin had no ETA and no info on where truck might be. I asked for a tracking number and there is none. When noone could give us an ETA by the 14th I realized USVL had no control and had farmed us out to Moving Connection, Inc. I went on-line and looked up MCI. When we read the reviews we were horrified! It was like reading our own nightmare! I had been talking to different people at USVL every day and noone could or would help us find our belongings! Our belongings were supposedly on a truck but noone could get in touch with the driver! I called MCI after getting the phone number on-line. They were RUDE and would not give us any information. They could not get in touch with their own driver! Right! In one of many phone calls to MCI the
so-called Supervisor asked me "Did you call just to argue with me?" I was furious!! They have lost MY belongings and she is talking to me this way??? My husband called at this point and they were just as rude and evasive with him. Since we hired USVL, we felt they were responsible, so we called them numerous times each day trying to get them to find our belongings and spoke to Alvin (salesman), Donnell (customer service), Sonia (supervisor), Sicilly (supervisor). All worthless! Lie after lie after lie! I got a call from USVL one day and they said they would like to refund $100. of my deposit as their way of appologizing. They e-mailed me a 2 page form to sign saying I would not report USVL, RELO or any other company associated with them and if I had already reported them I would do a retraction!! I won't put in writing what they can do with their $100. It will take a lot more than $100 to keep me from telling the entire World about this scam!! Thanks to a neighbor who works at the Crime Lab we found out there is help! He gave us the number for the AZ DEPARTMENT OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. Most victims don't realize there is help. We got the Feds involved but didn't tell USVL or MCI. MCI said they would deduct $30 a day for every day the truck was late, but they don't count weekends! Isn't it still late those days? Duhh! There were many more calls to USVL, MCI and eventually with the driver. Finally the truck arrived on Sunday the 22nd (after we had to extend our vacation). The Dept of Weights and Measures pulled in front and behind the truck and the police pulled in at the same time. The driver was being a jerk to the Feds so they threatened to take the truck and weigh it, then bring it back and unload, then weigh it again. He certainly did not want that! The driver got around $3000 in fines and had to be back in AZ for Federal court for infractions. He said he had only picked the load up the day before in CO and the company had made him lie. His truck said Weststar but they are all under the name RELO. Do not use any of these companies! I still have 2 large pieces of art missing and a lot of scratches, dents, chips, broken glass and missing feet to one of the bed frames. I think the only reason we got our belongings was because I kept calling and would not give up. After reading the reviews, some families aren't as lucky. Call the DEPARTMENT OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES BEFORE YOU MOVE AND GET THE NAME OF A REPUTABLE COMPANY. If you have already been robbed by these scammers report them to this Dept also. They were wonderful and kept us from being scammed further.

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