Century Express Van Lines rip-off Fort Lauderdale Florida

This company is doing its business by ripping off its customers. I have been a victim of this company. The chain of events is as following.

(1) I requested Gentlevan and century Express van lines for move of my household stuff from Woburn,MA to Raleigh,NC. I sent the same list of household stuff to both carriers.

(2) I got one quote from Gentle van for $1460 (Estimated 584 Cu.Ft., no weight specified) and other estimate from century van line for $1966 (715 Cu.Ft. 5005 LBS).

(3) I asked Gentle van to go forward with my moving. But suddenly, I started receiving all the follow up mail from century van lines.

(4) The carrier promised to come on 01/01/2003 but came on 01/02/2003. He had called me and told that he would come at 10 AM in the morning and arrived 5.30 PM in the evening.

(5) After my stuff was loaded in the truck , the driver gave me the final bill of $3340. I was told that the my stuff was 828 cu ft so additional 244 Cu ft will be charged at $6.55 while the estimated 584 cu. ft. will be charged at $2.50. The quote gave only one price i.e. $2.50 cu ft. ( quote pasted after this mail). I was asked to pay more because they failed to give correct estimate.

(6) They charged me for blankets and security pads while quote said it was included in price.

(7)I was asked to pay 50% on the pickup site of the actual bill otherwise my stuff will be thrown out.

(8)I negotiated with the company. After of several days of torturous and insulting talking, they agreeed to reduce it to $2600.

(9) At the time of order, the carrier had told me that they would ship my household stuff to new location within a week as soon as I will give them new address but when I actuallty did, they refused to give me any specific time frame and told me that it might take up to 1 month.

(10) On 01/24/2003, I was told that they can deliver it 5 O'clock in the morning. I said that 5 o'clock is too early and I have got two kids. They told me if I can not accept delivery at 5 o'clcok, then I should wait for one more month. This forced me to agree to accept delivery.

(11) The drive came at 6.30 AM and asked for the balance of money. I gave that to him. I live on ground floor and there is not even a single stair to reach my apartment. Then he asked me to sign the papers stating that everything was received proper. I refused to sign because the stuff was still in the truck by that time. Then he asked addition $400 to bring the stuff in the apartment. As per him,the pathway is long. I refused to pay any additional amount. Then he left all the stuff on the road and went away.

(12) I called 911 and had one Cary cop come by and see the stuff but he refused to help because this was not of criminal nature.

(13) I called the company and they told me that their driver left the stuff on road because I did not pay additional amount. I asked Jenny what the definition is of long pathway. She told me that it should be more than 50 ft. I confirmed with property manager that this pathway is 35 feet.

(14) I found half of my furniture broken and one suitcase missing. I have been cheated through out this move and other than that I have been treated very rudely by company and driver.

Sharad
Cary, North Carolina
U.S.A.