All Cities Real Estate Services Aka U.S Van Lines Of Texas Had to pay for 11,000 lbs of household goods but only had 8,800 lbs (this was a non-binding contract) also was told I could pay the balance of the charge on my credit card upon delivery. NOT THE CASE Crandall Texas

1-17-08

Jim, appreciate your comments once again! To answer your question - No, they did not break any items. Therefore, there was no need to file a claim for damage.

Also, Jim, as I mentioned in my original complaint, whether I paid more or less than the $4,400 you quoted as being a reasonable price for such a move is irrelevant regardless of how much I paid. Its the principle of it! I was quoted a flat fee for 11,000 lbs of household goods, when the actual weight of my household goods was only 8,800 lbs. Based upon the 400n Tariff as stated by the salesperson (Tamara). I do not like being lied to. If I were told to begin with that I would not be entitled to any refund or rebate if my household goods weighed less than 11,000 lbs then I would not be filing a complaint. I was told that I would only be charged for the ACTUAL WEIGHT of my household goods and that I would be entitled to 26 cents per lb credit for every lb less than 11,000. I was lied to!

1-17-08

Jim, appreciate your comments once again! To answer your question - No, they did not break any items. Therefore, there was no need to file a claim for damage.

Also, Jim, as I mentioned in my original complaint, whether I paid more or less than the $4,400 you quoted as being a reasonable price for such a move is irrelevant regardless of how much I paid. Its the principle of it! I was quoted a flat fee for 11,000 lbs of household goods, when the actual weight of my household goods was only 8,800 lbs. Based upon the 400n Tariff as stated by the salesperson (Tamara). I do not like being lied to. If I were told to begin with that I would not be entitled to any refund or rebate if my household goods weighed less than 11,000 lbs then I would not be filing a complaint. I was told that I would only be charged for the ACTUAL WEIGHT of my household goods and that I would be entitled to 26 cents per lb credit for every lb less than 11,000. I was lied to!

1-17-08

Jim, appreciate your comments once again! To answer your question - No, they did not break any items. Therefore, there was no need to file a claim for damage.

Also, Jim, as I mentioned in my original complaint, whether I paid more or less than the $4,400 you quoted as being a reasonable price for such a move is irrelevant regardless of how much I paid. Its the principle of it! I was quoted a flat fee for 11,000 lbs of household goods, when the actual weight of my household goods was only 8,800 lbs. Based upon the 400n Tariff as stated by the salesperson (Tamara). I do not like being lied to. If I were told to begin with that I would not be entitled to any refund or rebate if my household goods weighed less than 11,000 lbs then I would not be filing a complaint. I was told that I would only be charged for the ACTUAL WEIGHT of my household goods and that I would be entitled to 26 cents per lb credit for every lb less than 11,000. I was lied to!

1-17-08

Jim, appreciate your comments once again! To answer your question - No, they did not break any items. Therefore, there was no need to file a claim for damage.

Also, Jim, as I mentioned in my original complaint, whether I paid more or less than the $4,400 you quoted as being a reasonable price for such a move is irrelevant regardless of how much I paid. Its the principle of it! I was quoted a flat fee for 11,000 lbs of household goods, when the actual weight of my household goods was only 8,800 lbs. Based upon the 400n Tariff as stated by the salesperson (Tamara). I do not like being lied to. If I were told to begin with that I would not be entitled to any refund or rebate if my household goods weighed less than 11,000 lbs then I would not be filing a complaint. I was told that I would only be charged for the ACTUAL WEIGHT of my household goods and that I would be entitled to 26 cents per lb credit for every lb less than 11,000. I was lied to!

I'm confused, and I've pretty much seen it all with movers. If they quoted you a flat fee of 11,000 lbs. - then it sounds to me that it didn't matter what the weight was, and I have heard of scam movers doing this. What they do is say, "well, give me your inflated weight and we'll bill you based on that" with the theory (from the scam mover's perspective) that customers underestimate the amount of stuff they have. And believe me, if you had the equivalent of 15,000 lbs. you would have been contacted and told you will have to pay more, whether you pay 110% of the estimate and then be billed subsequently, or do what a scam mover would do and that is to collect the entire amount at destination, which is against the law - but the law is never important to a scam mover. That's why it's always a good reason to have a mover see your items before a move - so the mover will be on the hook when they screw up, and not you.

What I will tell you is that the final pricing they gave you is far more complex than you are making it, and what they're representing to you. I am not disprespecting you in saying this - please understand. There are charges for packing labor and transportation, which are generally established by the tariff filed with the DOT, packing materials which are set by the mover, possible accessorials like shuttles based on weight and distance, fuel surcharges based on the number of transportation miles, and any other destination related charges. Since they all have different calculations - trying to assign a price per pound is not possible because weight difference would not affect the labor used, the packing materials, the accessorials, and destination services at all. Accordingly, I think her promise to you on a refund based on a price per pound was something she could never follow through on unless it was in writing.

What you haven't commented on is how the much these movers collected from you, net of the small refund. It is difficult to assess how much a refund you should be entitled to unless there is some way I can put it into context with the cost of a move of that distance with a reputable mover. If the move cost you $4400 or so, I think that's probably a reasonable cost to move halfway across the country. I do know it can cost upwards of $8800 to move from one coast to the other (regardless of direction) based on an 8,800 lb. with a reputable mover, so I will just leave it at that.

Did they break stuff and did you file a claim?

1-10-08

Jim, appreciate your interest in my report and the information you provided. However, I was not quoted a price of 26 cents per lb for my move, it was based upon a flat fee for 11,000 lbs of household goods. They did not quote me a price per pound. I really don't know how they calculated it but I paid much more that 26 cents per lb. It is probably more like 44 cents per lb. 26 cents per lb was supposed to be the amount of difference for the weight being LESS than 11,000 lbs (don't know what they arrived 26 cents as I did not question it.) That was the amound of refund was for LESS that 11,000 lbs that I was supposed to have received a credit for, according to Tamra, the salesperson.

All Cities Real Estate Services of Texas quoted me a set price for the 11,000 lbs which included the fuel surcharge, some materials, etc. They did not use more materials than estimated. They only used about 6 or 7 boxes and their pads, etc were included too. I realize that I am probably not entitled to a full refund of $572.00 but I fell I should not have to pay for the full 11,000 lbs.

In other words, Jim, if I had told them that I had 15,000 lbs of household goods when in actuality I only have 8,800 lbs, chances are, they still would have had me pay the full amount based upon the quote for 15,000 lbs. Thats where I'm coming from! I also asked them to reimburse me just $200.00 not the full $572.00. but they refused to do that too.

Eddie, you can't take the number of pounds your shipment is, divide it by the estimate you were provided, and figure you will be getting a refund of $572.00; this is a common mistake some consumers make and some many scam movers make in misleading their customers. Why is that the case? Because not every activity in a move is based upon weight; for example, the amount of materials used in a move will not be based on weight - it is based on material usage, and if they used more in boxes and materials than estimated, you will not get $572.00 back. It will be much less than that. Fuel surcharge is based on miles. No reputable mover would give you a price per pound for a move because interstate moves don't accurately work that way.

Having just said this - this company is not a reputable mover and as you said, finding them on the internet was a mistake. The mistake is (1) scam movers are all over the internet, and (2) reputable movers don't need to advertise on the internet for our business.