USA Moving & Storage US Movers, PROmovers, Carlos, Gabby Deceiving, bait and switch, overcharging, liars, cheat, theives, hold hostage, unprofessional sales tactics, Rockville Maryland

I hired US Movers on July 23, 2013 to move an inoperable upright (junk) piano a mile and a half from my neighbors house to mine.  I spoke with Carlos and he told me that he could not give me the $99.00 per hour since it was a piano.  Normally this runs $150.00 per hour but he would give a price of $139.00 per hour plus travel time equal to the the hourly rate, presumably $139.00 total for travel.  I agreed to this.

He had me pay a $100.00 deposit which would be refunded at the end of the move.  After several phone conversations, it was agreed that it would cost approximately $280.00 to move this piano, unless the move was more than one hour.

The movers showed up on Sunday, July 28, 2013 at my neighbors house at 12:15.  They were supposed to call 1/2 hour before showing, but no big deal.  Their truck was an Enterprise rental, 16 footer, way overkill, and no DOT.  A small pickup would have sufficed.

As soon as they arrived, they put me 'on the clock,' so I had little time to sign and initial formalities.  Even with having to hit the ground running, the move took little time.  It was only a mile and a half away.

When they got to my house, that's when the shananigans took place.  I was forced to agree to many charges that I did not originally agree to before they would unload the piano.  They charged me 2 hours travel (2 X $139.00), that's $280.00 plus $66.00 for a fuel surcharge.  (Yea, like they're only going to one location here, my gas will probably suffice most of their journey that day)  They charged an additional $200.00 just because it was a piano.  They charged $46.00 for packing materials (old blanket and some tape) that I did not even get to keep.

Fortunately, they were not able to gouge me on the hourly rate of the move since it totaled 1/2 hour exactly.  All the while, the driver was telling me, well, were not charging you for this, and that.  It would have been a thousand dollars if they had.   Total for this move was $729.00.

I told the driver that I was not happy about this, but I still gave them $20.00 to split between the three for lunch.  I emailed Carlos immediately and told him that I was very dissapointed in his tactics, especially since I had to go through all of these hoops and then get ripped off by overcharges and add ons.

I emailed him again, and told him to go ahead and ignore me, but I wasn't through yet.  I called Carlos yesterday, but only got his voicemail (did not even identify himself on the greeting, just a beep).  No reply.  I called the 703-249-9181 after 8:00PM and got a hold of Gabby.

Gabby said he wasn't in the office and to call back tomorrow at 10:00AM or 11:00AM??????  I called today and it did not go very well. I told him that we needed to adjust the cost of the move, and he said how about $50.00?  I said we need to adjust more like over $400.00.  He said I would have to call Carlos on Monday.

I think that this is Standard Operating Procedure for these scam artist.  I told Gabby that this was a dishonest way of doing business and highway robbery!  I also told him that if we did not come to an adjustment today, I had no choice but to dispute through my Credit Card.  He told me that I was a thief and hung up on me.  Very professional, huh?

I guess I'll have to go the route of the Credit Card dispute.  Why can't these companies be up front?  I'm willing to pay what I agreed to even with a $50.00 to $100.00 fudge factor.   But not more than double.