Coleman American Movng Services, Allied Van Lines Broke, bruised & destroyed Fairburn Georgia

We have moved all over the world and country being in the military. Our belongings have been accumulated from all over and most are irreplaceable. Throughout the years we have moved often and our furnishings have fared well. After we retired we bought some new expensive furnishings to replace some of our tired furnishings such as beds, couches and chairs. 

We were now growing restless in Atlanta and wanted to live the good life in Florida. We figured one last move and never again, it was time to stay put for a change. So being the prudent and experienced moving type of people all the years the military had trained us to be, we interviewed several companies to handle our treasures from around the world and our nice new furnishings.

We settled in on Allied (the careful movers) so they advertise. They were quite expensive but you get what you pay for right? Well they showed up in an Allied marked truck but it was actually Coleman American moving services. They were late and the moving crew were a joke, they might have even been picked up on the way at a home center somewhere because they didn't have a clue. Mind you we have been moving most of our adult lives and know how it should be done.

While disassembling our canopy bed they broke and gouged it pretty good, it was new only slept in a few times in one of our guest rooms. The beautiful bed was now reduced to firewood! In another guest room they broke the headboard where the side rails connect. I guess they couldn't figure out how it came apart so they snatched and pulled and twisted and turned until they split the wood where it connected. Then one of the guys came downstairs and said ma'am we need you to look at something. I go with him and he said I wanted you to see that this was damaged before I mess with it. I told him that it was a new bed and I had the receipt and delivery papers with the date it was delivered. His response was "well it's your word against ours"

This kind of unskilled, unprofessional work went on until they had run out of packing materials. So they waited around acting like a bunch of teenage delinquents for two hours until the materials finally arrived. Most of what they talked about was vulgar and completely inappropriate. I'm sorry to sound like a prude but; really? Your workers are a reflection of your company....right? Maybe that kind of behavior is suitable at someone else's house but not in an upscale neighborhood in a million dollar house filled with beautiful things.

As the night progressed it was almost disheartening with the lack of care demonstrated with our belongings. What could I do? There were four of them spread out in two areas in a three story house. I simply could not keep tabs on everything or everyone. I pleaded with them to please be careful with things as I witnessed the lack of care with certain items. 

The person in charge was very shifty and gave a vibe that he was up to no good. Every time I put my hands on the inventory sheet he would grab it from me as if he had something to hide. At the end he finally gave me my copy and wanted me to sign it and did not want me to take the time to read it, he wanted it signed and then leave. Now remember this was not our first rodeo and we were going to go over the inventory before anything got signed.

As suspected there was plenty wrong with the inventory. Everything according to them was scuffed, rubbed, cracked, dinged, broken or otherwise damaged before they touched it. Then most things had been marked P.B.O. Packed By Owner! Really? So who were they, the entertainment? What the guy in charge did not realize was that we know what the codes mean. So I called him out on it and his response was that the company makes him write those codes no matter the circumstances and he stated that he would be terminated if he did not. So I made notations all over every inventory sheet stating that I did not agree and contested the notating codes especially the P.B.O. Packed By Owner. The guy in charge seemed to be quite agitated with my attention to detail and refusal to just go with the flow.

Well finally we're in Florida after a long and arduous search for the right house to live in for the rest of our lives and enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labor. Our furniture was delivered and I think only two items had not been damaged. Just when you think you've seen it all, I looked in the truck and it looked as if they poured the contents of our house into the truck. There was our big screen TV wedged precariously unwrapped un boxed completely naked and exposed the screen side rubbing against the side of the truck with a heavy sofa against it. Our beautiful rosewood formal dining room table we got in Hawaii was water damaged, scuffed, scraped, dinged and one of the intricately carved rosewood chairs was crushed, I mean it looked as if they backed over it with the truck. One of my beautiful new couches had a black stain the size of a pillow and a bunch of white animal fur on the black stain, then my son noticed the paw prints that were not a cats but more like a raccoon but raccoons are not white. My son said opossums are white. Needless to say our dog has a fixation with that couch now, his hair literally stands on end as he sniffs around the couch.

The damage to our belongings are so wide spread and all-encompassing that I can't possibly describe all of it, you would almost have to see it yourself to understand the extent of it.

If you value your belongings at all find another moving company because Allied or Coleman American moving services will mark everything as damaged so they can beat the crap out of it thinking that they will not be liable. We do not plan to allow them any breathing room and will pursue this matter to the fullest extent of our resources.

I have taken the time to write this painful experience and have upset myself all over again but if it helps just one person or family to have a less traumatic moving experience then it was well worth the time and effort. I only wish that all the rest of you that have had a similar experience with Allied or Coleman American moving services had taken the time to inform your fellow consumers, I say this because we cannot be the exception to the rule. This was not an isolated incident because the driver that delivered the second load was informed by us that his company was incompetent and his response was ma'am I'm just the driver but I understand your frustration. So I apologized because he was nice and professional but his response was I'm so sorry, I hear this all the time. I wish I could do something more.