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Report: #21160

Complaint Review: LD United Movers/Smiling Movers Inc. - North Miami Beach Florida

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  • Reported By: Plano TX
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  • LD United Movers/Smiling Movers Inc. 2450 Miamir Gardens Drive North Miami Beach North Miami Beach, Florida U.S.A.

LD United Movers & Smiling Movers Inc, rip-off companies that scammed me. North Miami Beach, Florida

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This is an account of the transaction between myself and Smiling Movers Inc. (AKA LD United Movers Inc.) hereinafter, the Carrier after I contracted with them to transport my household goods from Fairfax, Virginia to Dallas, Texas. Attached is a copy of all the documentation pertinent to this contract.

On April 10, 2002, my husband Michael Tabash was contacted by the Carrier in response to a request for quote he made on Moving.Com for relocation from Fairfax, VA to Dallas, Texas. The Carrier sent a quote via email based on an online price estimate form my husband completed (describing the house size, furniture etc.). The Carrier provided an initial non-binding estimate of $1,652via email (email attached).

In order to hold the price quoted, the Carrier requested a deposit of $330.38 (20% of the amount quoted) which was debited on April 17 from our Visa credit card (statement attached). My husband had given the Carrier the Visa number, but an agreement was made that no charge will take effect without a written signed authorization which was to be faxed by my husband. However the Carrier proceeded to debit my account without such authorization. At that time no formal order for service had been provided.

I had been out of town when my husband did this but upon my learning of the quote, I felt very uneasy about the low price. Other companies were quoting me anywhere between $2,200 to $3,500 to relocate us.

On April 19, I contacted the Carrier to cancel and get our deposit back. A sales person by the name of George refused to give my deposit back unless I provided him with a valid reason of my cancellation. I felt very uncomfortable and I confronted him as to why he refused to return the money. After all, they had made it very clear to my husband that the deposit was simply to hold the price and that it was completely refundable.

I was honest with him and told him that it was too cheap and that I was afraid he would charge me more once everything was packed. After much haggling, he agreed to review the price based on a detailed list of items in my house. We went over the list over the phone. I got my husband on the line and we agreed on a new price of $1,767.00 including delivery and packing services (materials would be additional according to what I would use the day of the move. Nevertheless George estimated about $200 worth of packing materials.

He also agreed to ship our car for an additional $695.00. He said everything would go together in one truck and the car would go on an attached trailer on the back. We set a pick up date of May 2nd, 2002 for delivery to occur within 3-5 days (he said that he would do that for us because he wanted to take good care of us-normally delivery would have been in 5-7 days). Therefore, the delivery would be no later than May 7, 2002. We agreed the price would include packing, which was to be done by four movers.

George proceeded to send me an email to confirm the order. The email did a poor job of summarizing the phone conversation so I wrote back clarifying the terms and conditions that we had discussed and including the list of the household items to be transported. I also asked him to confirm that the carrier's trucks were full air-ride suspension and to write back agreeing to my email terms. George sent one final email assuring me that all the trucks are fully air-ride suspended and delivery would go very smoothly.

On May 2nd, 2002, only two packers showed up with a 1200-ft Ryder truck. The movers seemed unaware that there was a vehicle to be shipped as well, and they informed us that the move would have to be done in two trucks because they did not anticipate the amount of furniture. At that moment, I felt uneasy once again and attempted to cancel once again. I called and spoke with a person by the name of Ed Pryor who claimed to be a Manager and appeared to have authority to make certain concessions on behalf of the Carrier.

He convinced us once again to stay with the company and offered us and additional 50% discount on the materials. He took personal responsibility for the move and gave us his direct number should anything go wrong. My husband agreed because we were not sure if we could get another company so quickly and we were scheduled to leave VA on May 4, 2002. There simply wasn't enough time. Ed also said that the car would be shipped by a subcontractor and that it would be picked up on May 3rd.

When we were about to cancel, and my husband was on the phone with Ed, the other packer by the name of Orlando advised me NOT to contract with the Carrier. He said, you didn't hear it from me but I wouldn't do it if I were you.

At that time, a mover by the name of David (the foreman) asked us to sign the Bill of Lading (attached) but the part of the charges (on the right) was left blank. He claimed that he could not start packing unless we signed the document. I felt confident that it was okay because I was assured many times by George that the price variance, if any between the estimate and the actual cost would be very small. After all, I had been extremely honest about the amount of furniture and the size of the house.

The movers started claiming that the other 2 should show up momentarily but they never came. They packed our stuff until the truck was full and then drove it to another location where there was an 18-wheeler, which would transport the first half of the house and would make delivery concurrently with the Ryder truck. They returned and loaded the rest of the household items in the Ryder finishing almost 14 hours later at 1:45 am.

Once the truck was packed the movers handed us a bill for $7, 632.50. They claimed that we should have a cashiers check for them upon delivery of the items. We were very upset but were exhausted to argue the amount at that time. Plus, half of our stuff was already gone in the alleged first truck, supposedly on the way to Texas already. This price included $1200 worth of supplies, which were given to us a 50% thus $600. The rest was for the move itself. This, of course in addition to the $695 that we would pay the car shipper the next day.

Once we got to Texas, we called the Carrier to find out the status of the shipment. We spoke with a dispatcher by the name of Stephanie, who after putting us on hold many times claimed that the Carrier would not deliver our stuff unless we had a cashier's check for the full amount before the drivers unload the truck. She wanted a copy of the check faxed to the Carrier's office. She also said that our stuff would not be delivered on time.

At that point, both Ed Pryor and George were unavailable to talk. We then spoke with yet another dispatcher/manager by the name of Eli. He had several conversations with us in the course of two days claiming that we would never see our stuff unless we paid, that the price was even too low, etc etc.

Finally, we decided to file complaints with the DOT, the FBI, the Miami Police Department and the FTC. In that process I discovered that the Carrier does NOT have a license or MC number and is not legally able to operate as a shipping business. They only have a USDOT number, which is 996194.

I also researched the DOT's law regarding moving companies (The Rights and Responsibilities when You Move to be found on the DOT website). According to that law, everything they did was illegal. I finally called the FBI to file a report and see how I can get some help recovering my stuff. They are now under full investigation by the DOT and the FBI.

After I spoke with the FBI in Miami, the owner of the company Mr. Danny Levi called me to try to negotiate with us. He realized I was going to cause legal problems for him and he quickly changed his tone of voice. However, we were unable to come to an agreement on the price and he refuses to deliver our stuff. Moreover, I said I would pay him half of the amount, or $3,500 and he said that he would deliver only one truck if we did that. He wanted half of the money wired and the other half upon arrival of the truck (prior to unloading).

Last Friday May 10, the FBI informed me that my things are being stored in a storage facility around the corner from my house. It is the Shurgard storage on 11334 Lee Highway. We called and spoke with the manager of Shurgard and he said we needed a court order to get the things out. The 3 storage rooms are in the name of Orlando (the packer who warned us against the Carrier) and the Carrier had full access to them.

The FBI can't help us get our stuff because the investigation is not over and we are not supposed to discuss it with anybody (except our attorney). They suggested we get a Writ of Replevin to get our things back and get another shipper to deliver them to Texas.

We contacted a lawyer who said we'd have to get a suit filed at the Circuit court level in order to go that route. We decided to get the Department of Transportation to help us on the matter and we found a Mr James Dubos at the Federal Motor Hwya Admin. He was an angel and after 2 weeks of hagaling with the movers, he is getting our stuff back to us. He was on top of it from the beginning and was very good about representing us and putting pressure on the Carrier. They have now resubmitted an application to get a license which sits on Mr. Dubos desk for approval or denial so they ahd no choice but to give us our stuff.

We are already in Dallas, TX and things have been very difficult because we have an eight-month old baby. In addition, my husband is diabetic and uses an insulin pump. We have only with us supplies for about 3 more days. The rest of the supplies are packed with the boxes and the medical insurance does not authorize more supplies until the ones he has have run out.

The stress this has caused has been huge. We had to pay many unexpected out of pocket expenses. We also have hired another moving co. to ship our things from the warehouse to Dallas. We hope it can be done without much further problem.

I hope this report gets filed so nobody EVER hires these people.

Lissette
Plano, Texas

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This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/19/2002 09:13 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ld-united-moverssmiling-movers-inc/north-miami-beach-florida/ld-united-movers-smiling-movers-inc-rip-off-companies-that-scammed-me-north-miami-beac-21160. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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