East West Moving & Storage broke contract, damaged stuff, refused to weigh, refused to reassemble, abandoned stuff on lawn ripoff San Jose California

Although I have been experiencing multiple problems with Expediant Van Lines (which I originally contracted), I am filing complaints with East-West Moving Company (which was sub-contracted by Expediant). Although they stated that they would not sub-contract, they sub-contracted with East West Moving Company (manager Donny) who cooperated with Expediant despite knowledge of Expediants ethical violations and criminal acts.
[Brief background: Expediant movers (George Tchitchueishvili, Thomas, and Dave) came to my house and extorted my fiance and I (i.e., physically threatened to destroy my property if I didnt sign the contract and pay them extra money in tips). They significantly increased the original estimate explaining that they had to charge more money, based on cubic foot.

Since I did not feel that this was legal and fair, later I called Expediant (manager of Expediants NY office, Sam) to request a reestimate who pretended to want to do it but used the delay tactic and eventually did nothing to fix the estimate. After multiple delays over many weeks, they stated that my shipment would come in on the 1st weekend of August. For the third time, I flew from New England to Oakland, CA to receive my shipment].
On Friday, East-West stated they would deliver on Saturday. I explained that they would need a smaller truck to deliver and informed them that I have already explained to Expediant that I flew from Providence and will be flying out on Monday morning so that it was crucial for me to attain my goods by this weekend. I also explained that a reestimate is in order as there were problems with the original estimate.

Saturday night, East-West stated that they would have to charge me extra for a small truck to deliver to my home if done tonight, and suggested that a smaller truck would be available at no extra charge if they come on Sunday 9am. They didnt arrive Sunday 9am. I called and they stated that they would come at 4pm.

Then on Sunday night, I called but they stated that they didnt want to come stating that their headlights were broken. (However, the headlights were working perfectly when they did arrive later.) I convinced them to come reminding them that I was flying out tomorrow morning. When they came, they refused to do weighing despite my explanation for what had happened on 7/2/07 when the Expediant movers extorted me. Because I was expecting a change in price after the reestimate, I was not able to make cashiers check. By the time they arrived at my home at 9pm on Sunday, going to the bank was not an option. They stated that they would only accept cash or cashiers check when we were only prepared with a check so they left.

Later, Charles Blanche from Expediant called and informed me that he was holding our stuff hostage and stated that he would charge us redelivery fee of $300 and daily storage fees. East West complied with Expediant and held our stuff hostage and threatened to charge $350 delivery fee.

We tried to work things out with Expediant so East West returned with our stuff on 8/7/07. East-West delayed services, threatened to charge $350 delivery fee, refused to weigh, refused to reassemble our furniture as in the original contract, and lied about the distance between house and truck saying that it was 140 feet and they had to charge us $120 because it was over 75 feet. However, when we measured it was under 75 feet. They were upset that their lie was uncovered and suggested that they would leave our stuff on the road.

Eventually they moved most of the stuff inside the house. However, they refused to reassemble some of our furniture as promised in the contract. This was witnessed by our neighbors, who felt sorry for us and helped move furniture and reassemble them because the movers refused to do their job and follow the contract.
After delivery, we inspected our stuff and found most of our stuff broken because some items were just poorly packed (e.g. one of the boxes of dishes mostly broken), some were wrapped with tape and removal of the tapes caused injury, and some were damaged due to rough transportation as seen by multiple scars, scratches, bruising, and holes (e.g., hole in my couch, bashed in dresser that wouldnt open anymore).

Some items were missing (e.g., glass top of my coffee table, parts of furniture, and suitcase). They refused to reassemble some furniture like the contract stated they would and we are experiencing difficulty putting them back together as we didnt take them apart.

They did their own checking and checked off everything as delivered in good condition. They initially refused to allow us to do an inspection ourselves. Although they stated 39 boxes including large crates (which they charged $150 per crate), there were only 20 regular boxes. However, inside they counted boxes such as board-game boxes or baskets to magically add up to a total of 39. Strangely the boxes were stained with oil and contained leaves and trash. Im not sure how that got inside the boxes, which were packed inside my home. I can only deduce that they opened up the boxes during the transport.

When my fiance refused to sign the contract that stated that everything was delivered well and on a timely manner (she refused because that was so not the case), they became upset and left. The mover also wanted us to sign a statement saying that the movers were no longer responsible to come back and reassemble furniture on paper while stating verbally that this was a formality and that they would actually come back in a few days to reassemble furniture (yea right!).

After spending only 1.5 hours, they left stating, We spent enough time here. We were left with a mess of broken, unpacked (like they stated was included), missing, and damaged belongings (not to mention a very upset and tearful fiance). Our neighbors felt sorry for us and helped us move stuff that they left behind on the lawn and assemble furniture.

We have witnesses. We have pictures. We have the document with George forging my handwriting. If you need them to believe this, I will gladly provide it. The take away message from this is do NOT go with East West Moving & Storage or Expediant Van Lines. My fiance and I have been traumatized by them. I would like to prevent similar experiences from occurring to other ppl who are moving.

Moving is stressful enough: do not contract these sketchy movers who will sound nice, offer a low price, and say everything you want to hear in the beginning and then give you tons of headaches and heartaches even though you might feel that you can protect yourself by getting everything in writing. They will still manage to finagle violations to profit themselves and screw the customers over.

I really wish I knew about websites such as this (I only knew about the BBB which stated that Expediant had 2 resolved complaints over the last 3 years they didnt inform me that they were in business less than a year). I would really ask around and take advantage of this awesome resource, which informs the public of their experiences.

In the complicated moving business, the customers are especially vulnerable so do your homework (unlike me). With that said, there are many reputable companies to call who work hard at building a good reputation and care about people. However, East West and Expediant are not one of them.

Docmiso
providence, Rhode Island
U.S.A.

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