INTERSTATE MOVING & RELOCATION "BRIAN" (representative) Based on other postings on this site, I see that Brian was once identifying himself with the company name: "Federal Moving Van Lines" 20-mo-old boy and family sleeping on carpet in EMPTY APT in VA. Moving company keeping our goods hostage, company unregistered. Internet

Similar to anyone else who filed a complaint for this company, I, too went online and requested for quote to prepare for my move from NY to VA in August 2009. Brian, the Rep for Interstate Moving & Relocation assessed my small 1-bedroom full of goods and gave me a $1000 quote, which includes full packing services (material and labor - specified in the contract). I received an email with a contract that had a legal look and feel, and was instructed to click on a button at the bottom to agree into the contract.  Days after I agreed, I was charged the agreed-upon $200 on my credit card, number for which I gave to him over the phone.

I requested for a NY pickup on 8/28/09, and a 8/31/09 delivery in VA. For both NY and VA apartments have strict move-in/out policies, I had called Brian several times before the dates to make sure that the importance of the timeliness is acknowledged. Brian acknowledged, and also emailed me back saying that there would be no holding fees for the gap between 8/28 and 8/31, and the contract also states that the holding fees would be free of charge. He just said that the dispatcher/actual movers will contact me 48 hours before the actual move date.

Around 8/26/09, I still did not hear from the dispatcher, so I called Brian. Brian said not to worry; the dispatcher would show up as contracted 8/28/09 10am.

On 8/28, the day of the move-out in NY, I did not get any calls from the Dispatcher. Brian would not pick up the phone from 8am to 2pm. I must have called him every 30-minutes. Because I had already made a move to VA and was in NY only for that day, I absolutely needed these movers to move the stuff out. I finally got a call from the Dispatcher in the afternoon, and two men showed up at 9pm.

Although this was a full packing move, the two men showed up empty-handed (they are from Georgia). They kept saying that no one told them that this is a full-packing move. They told me that it was too late to go buy boxes, because it pouring rain outside, and it was also very late.

My husband and I finally asked the doorman downstairs in our apartment building to give us large garbage bags, and my husband put all our belongings in the garbage bags. Because the movers also did not have any carts or equipment with them, they moved these bags into a Budget truck that they rented. I called the dispatcher (Barry), and he continued to yell saying that the two men will box the items the next day; no problem. The guys left after midnight. Although I was to pay them $500 on the day of the pickup, I did not do so, for I wanted to talk to this Brian guy for not going by the contract.

My husband and I knew that we got ourselves into a scam by then, and knew that Monday 8/31 would not be smooth. Surely enough, on the morning of 8/31, the Dispatcher called me and said that I owe them $1500 more, making the total $1700 if we include the $200 deposit already paid. There was no way that I was going to pay all that additional money, especially given the fact that my husband had to pack everything himself at the last minute on 8/28.  So I put a restriction on the entrance of the truck into our gated facility, until the dispatcher and Brian can work something out.

Of course, Brian was not picking up his phone, and the dispatcher claimed the same. At around 3pm or so, I was getting fed up, so I called the dispatcher to negotiate the price, and the dispatcher brought the price down to $1150. I was willing to live with that, and the dispatcher instructed the truckers to my place. But since the truckers would not be able to complete the move by 5pm as the building management requires (they are not flexible), the move was not going to happen any time soon, since I was not able to reserve an elevator again until the following Thursday. 

At that point, the dispatcher recommended that