First Choice Moving and Storage DO NOT BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF BY THIS COMPANY!!! Internet

This organization is dishonest, unprofessional and has horrendous customer service. I first employed this company in August of 2010 to facilitate my move from Scottsdale, AZ to Seattle, WA. From the start, the service was terrible. The representative I spoke with, Jerome, made a list of the items I wanted to move, instructed me to pack everything myself (to avoid extra fees) and grazed over the insurance policy, saying we would get to that later. The list of items he created for me was wrong, resulting in an angry driver on the day of my pickup. The driver refused to bring along my kitchen table, despite me outlining this for Jerome on the phone. In it's place, Jerome indicated that I had "2 end tables", which I did not own. I tried to convince the driver that - as he could see, I do not have end tables - and to take the kitchen table instead. He refused. He said the only way he would do it was for an extra $800. [continued below]....

..... At this time I was already in Seattle and was unable to rationalize with this man. He said he would cancel the job entirely if I didn't either pay him more, or let him leave the table behind. So that is what he did. He left my belongings, despite me paying a fee that should have included that item in the inventory. 

From there my items were put into storage in Phoenix. I asked them to keep my items there for 8 months. Every few weeks someone from First choice would call me and ask if I was ready to receive them. I repeatedly told them I would not need the items until March. At this time I was also making arrangements for a friend in Arizona to purchase a couch that I had put into storage. We were all set with the arrangements when I received a call from First Choice Moving - from a driver - who was outside of my residence in Washington, ready to deliver my stuff. This was in DECEMBER! 

I was out of town at the time so I quickly called him back and told him that I never authorized this. That the items were meant to stay in AZ specifically, that I had an items I needed to sell down there. He said this wasn't his problem, but what he could do was send it to the local storage unit in Washington. That did me absolutely NO help, and caused unnecessary damage to my items by moving it an extra two times. 

For THREE WEEKS I continually called First Choice to get some clarification as to a) why this happened b) where my items were now being housed and c) what they were going to do to fix this. 

I never received a return phone call until the end of January, despite calling Guy - a supposed manager of this company - repeatedly over that 3 week time period. 

When I called to arrange my move they said they could not do it for a week. So it was set for a Sunday (March 6th - due to work constraints) the driver, Nick, waited 4:50pm on the Friday before to notify me that he could be unable to make it on Monday, and then did not return a single phone call all weekend. 

I had to postpone the move to the following Sunday (all while paying rent for a place that had no furniture in it) and when my items were delivered it was horrendous! The driver himself admitted that he had never seen anything so bad in all his experience with First Choice Moving. My mattress was delivered BLACK from filth, my boxes were literally split in half with items (broken items) falling out of them, my couch had multiple nail holes in it, my bookshelves were literally SMASHED into MULTIPLE pieces. My headboard was smashed on one end into splintered wood. The legs of my entertainment system were snapped completely OFF. Every SINGLE piece of glass/ceramic that I had packed had been cracked and/or completely broken, despite being bubble wrapped and packed with peanuts. They had dropped every single box - as they were all either dented, cracked, or completely broken. As you can imagine, so were the contents inside. And the worst part is that there were two boxes filled with family items that were never even delivered. 

As each destroyed item was unloaded from the truck I became more and more distraught and I told Nick that I didn't feel comfortable letting him leave with the remainder of the cash I had just paid him. He said that all I had to do was make a note of all the damages on my form and that I should have no trouble getting reimbursed a sum for the THOUSANDS of dollars worth of damages that I had incurred. Of course, I did not feel comfortable with this and we went back and forth for some time before he ultimately left and wished me good luck.

SINCE THAT DAY I have contacted First Choice Moving to get this issue resolved. I have been extremely patient, waiting while they reviewed my case. Waiting MONTHS for them to return phone calls and emails. I literally spent 9 consecutive days leaving their Manager, GUY a voicemail and each one of them was ignored. He never returned a single phone call. This is in addition to constant phone calls and emails to their "customer service representative" Maria, who rarely picks up and never responds to my correspondence. 

The service of this company is atrocious. The lack of concern they have; from their quoting process, to their drivers, to their communication with clients, to the condition of the items they deliver to your door, is TERRIBLE. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. PLEASE STOP OTHER CONSUMERS FROM FALLING VICTIM TO THIS COMPANY!!!!

I had to learn a very expensive lesson, which ultimately ended with Guy screaming at me on the phone and saying he was going to deny any monetary correction of my claim because I was being so difficult. But the fact is this: what they do to hardworking people, who take pride in their belongings - is absolutely horrible. Their lack of ownership in this very disjointed, unprofessional process is appalling. And the fact that they are not motivated to do the RIGHT thing is beyond comprehension. Please, do NOT use this company!