Universal Van Lines Unprofessional, Typical Rip Off Moving Company damage, overcharge, terrible service, did not finish job Hollywood Florida

Here is a little story about hiring a moving company. The moving company: UNIVERSAL VAN LINES

On March 3rd, 2006 I signed a contract with a moving company to relocate me from Florida to Virginia. The contract was slim but covered all areas I was interested in:

*Door-to-Door Pick up & Delivery
*Fully equipped air-ride truck
*Disassembling & Reassembling of all furniture as needed
*Pad wrapping and protecting of all non-fragile items
*Loading and Unloading
*Placing of all furniture into your home at your direction
*All road expenses (Fuel, mileage, tolls, etc.)
*Extra pickup or drop off within 20 mile radius is free
*First flight of stairs is FREE
*Pickup on March 23, 2006
*Delivery on March 25, 2006

Sounds straightforward, right? Contract was for $3,710.



The jist:

Unprofessional, unshowered movers.
Did not reassemble furniture.
Put all boxes in the garage and refused to put them into rooms. They said they wanted MORE money to do this.
Actual price on arrival: $4,770. Yes, $1,000 more.
Damage to furniture: 100%. I do not have a single piece of furniture that arrived the same as it left. Either completely destroyed or badly gouged, scraped or heavy rub marks.



Why?

They did not wrap furniture
They changed trucks even though I paid for direct delivery. When I asked about this, I got two different answers: Drivers: "Normal procedure for interstate moves"
UVL's office: "Our truck broke down"
Did not tie down furniture in truck. When they opened the truck door, stuff was literally falling out.
Furniture was laid bare on it's side DIRECTLY on the floor of the truck. See what that does to your white wood headboard after 700 miles of highway.
2" thich solid wood table top broken in half. Yes, solid wood table top broken in half. I still cannot figure out how. Maybe they used it to drive their truck over?

NEVER, EVER USE UNIVERSAL VAN LINES. THEY ARE THE TYPICAL CROOKED SCAM ARTIST MOVING COMPANY.

What did customer service say when I confronted them about the damage and unprofessionalism?

"We talked to the drivers and they said you told them not to assemble furniture or move the boxes".

Okay, what about the other complaints?

MY SUGGESTION: Sounds simple, but ask for:
1) Moving company that accepts Credit Cards
2) Moving company that provides a Bill of Lading

Matt
Hardy, Virginia
U.S.A.