Best Price Moving & Storage, ripoff, dishonest, damaged items, missing item, hold your stuff hostage if you dont pay added charges Chicago Illinois

I am a recent best price moving victim. I hired best price moving after being in contact with a sales rep by the name of alex out of chicago, he convinced me that this company was a great moving company. boy was I in for a suprise.

the move was to take place on March 15 2007, the company called a few days early and said they had a spot open for the 13th and would it be ok to send the movers to load my belongings, the lady (mary from dispatch) even told us that the loaders and driver would help us finish getting everthing ready for the move at no charge since they was moving our move date up by 2 days. I thought great.

on the 13th of March, 2007 when the movers arrived I was horrified to find that they had arrived in an enterprise rent a truck that was already half full of someone else's belongings.. I did not think that my stuff would fit on this truck as it was already half full. well, it didnt..they only took boxes and a few other items and said they would have to go and unload the belongings of the people who already had stuff on the truck and that he would be back the next day.. well in the meantime, our beds were wrapped and we had no choice but to stay at a local hotel.

On the 14th best price called (Karen) with dispatch and informed me that they would not be able to pick the rest of my belongings up untill the 15th which meant another added expense of staying in a hotel in the same town for another night..

On the 15th the movers arrived once again in another enterprise rent a truck..at this point I was beginning to stress. the movers damaged an $800.00 clock that I had just purchased 2 months ago, they took my refridgerator out the front door with out wrapping it and damaged the door handles and dented and scratched the side of the brand new stainless steel side by side that was only 6 months old, they took my 65 inch TV and turned it on its side and then on the other side to wrap it, I was horrified. I witnessed so much damage that day that I as sick to my stomach.

when I mentioned that I would like to hire another mover, best price (brian) assured me that they had insurance and that if anything was damaged that it would be made right or replaced. he also informed me that it was too late to back out of the contract, so I just watched in horror as these movers loaded my belongings (in the back of my mind hoping for the best)

We arrived in South Carolina on March 17th and upon arriving here I called best price moving, they referred me to dispatch (karen) who told me that she wasnt sure on my delivery date. I told her that when I spoke with (Alex) that he assured me that I would recieve my stuff within 5-7 days, as I explained to him that I have an AUTISTIC daughter who will be confused already and I wanted to make this an easy move for her and to get things back to a more normal surrounding for her as soon as possible. I even wrote on the paperwork "Please deliver within 5 days" like Alex had said to do and that my stuff would be delivered within that time.

On March 20, I called best price again to inquire on my delivery date, Karen once again told me she was not sure and to let her check on it and she would call me back...well, she never called to give me a delivery date, but she did call to say that I would be owing $1100.00 more for my shipment.

I was starting to get angry at this point, then she told me that there is another $150.00 for packing materials... (which in the beginning remember they were sending their movers 2 days early and they would help us finish with packing and such at no charge. (they lied)

March 22, I called again to inquire about my delivery, left message on Karen's voicemail as no one was available..no call back March 23, I called again to inquire about my delivery, left message on Mary's voicemail, no call back

March 23, I called again to inquire about my delivery, spoke with Karen who told me at that time that she still wasnt sure about delivery... she would check and call me back.. well guess what, no return call.

March 24, I called again to inquire about my delivery, left message on Karen's voicemail, no return call

March 26, I called again to inquire about my delivery, spoke with Karen who told me that it would either be the 27th or 28th.

March 27, the driver of the truck called us (barely spoke english) and said that he would be delivering on the 28th.

March 28, the driver arrived but claims to be unable to get down our street. so we had 2 options, either pay $600.00 more for them to go get a uhaul and shuttle the belongings or get one ourselves and they would shuttle the belongings in the truck we rented. at this point I just wanted my belongings off that truck.

the driver arrived at 8:00 am and it took until noon for him to figure out what to do... in the meantime best price moving had hired a couple great helpers from allied van lines to help unload. but we all just stood around until noon waiting for the driver and best price moving to figure out what to do.

finally my husband and one of the allied movers went to get a uhaul and I went to pick up my daughter from school for early dismissal.

when I arrived back about an hour later the uhaul was there and everyone was still just standing around. the reason? the driver would not open the truck and let the unloading begin without being paid cash in full. I even left my husband a check to give him to hold till I got back just so they could start.

upon arriving back with cash we were finally allowed to begin unloading our belongings onto the uhaul that we had paid for, the driver was refusing to help unload into the uhaul so upon the arrival of the police I informed them that the bill had been paid in full with CASH, and it included labor of the 2 helpers and the driver, the police looked at the contract and to my rescue they informed the driver that he had an obligation to help.

I then took as many pictures of the driver helping unload the semi with all the damaged items, which I did under the advisement of the local police to insure that Best price could not say that the damage was not from them but instead from us loading it onto our own uhaul. we finally got our belongings off the truck and the driver took off, he paid the helpers for 4 hours of work (from 9-1), we had to pay the helpers for the next 4 hours of work from our own pockets.

So, not only are we out hotel costs, uhaul costs, but also labor costs, which was supposed to be included in our Bill of lading.

while we were unloading at our house, the driver came back to the house saying that he reweighed and we owe for 393 more pounds, and wanted us to sign a paper stating that we had recieved all of our belongings and pay for the extra weight. we refused to pay or sign anything stating that we recieved all our belongings because we had no way of knowing at this point if we had everything since the driver did not have a check off list and everything on the truck was either smashed or broken as far as we could tell.

Upon starting to unpack later we went through every box looking for my autistic daughter's hello kitty tv and dvd player, which were no where to be found. someone had been through all our taped totes, and boxes were smashed, lamps broken, large artificial trees broken, $800.00 grandfather clock scratched and dented, dining room table with iron legs were dented, and screws stripped. we havent even started to unpack and already have extensive damage. I am so sick about this move that I could just scream.

I called Best Price moving today March 29th, requesting insurance claim forms and was hung up on.I tried recalling and kept getting the automated answering system, and as of yet no call back.

I URGE ANYONE WHO IS MOVING ANYWHERE TO PLEASE AVOID BEST PRICE MOVING AND STORAGE, PAY THE EXTRA AMOUNT FOR A QUALITY CARRIER, BECAUSE TRUST ME, IT WILL COST YOU LESS IN THE END AND YOU WONT END UP ANOTHER BAD MOVE HORROR STORY LIKE ME

Debra
Charleston, South Carolina
U.S.A.