Elite Moving and Storage Roy - Foreman/Director of Operations Bait and Switch! Mis quoting, 0 communication, horrible customer service!! Las Vegas, Nevada

What do you get for not doing your research on a company and reading reviews (outside of their website) when you're trying to make a cross-country, affordable move at the last minute? SCREWED!!!

My dilema with this company started in Phoenix, AZ. I was offered a job in GA and given 30 days to make the move - with no relocation. Given that GA was closer to my family and I hated living in AZ, I went for it, and committed myself to making it work on a tight budget. So I visited freightload.com and submitted a quote for the move, got back several bids, but the one for Elite SEEMED like the best option, so I gave them a call.

My initial quote for a 1 bedroom apartment (queen size bed, dresser, mirror, three peice sectional, and a few boxes) was too good to be true! Looking at other moving companies, the price would have been the same as renting a Uhaul truck (less gas), so I went with Elite's more affordable option (mistake #1). Being that one of the "perks" of moving with them was that they charge by cubic feet and not by weight. They also offered a month of storage for free and up to $100 in free moving supplies for my pick up dates being flexible. Sounds like the start to a happy fairy tale, right? WRONG!

The morning the movers came to pick up my things, I had them park on the side of my complex that was closest to my door, trying to avoid extra charges. BUT their main mover insisted the distance between where they parked and my apartment was the size of a football field...I asked him if he meant a professional/college football field or an elementary school field? Because there was no way there was that much distance. He insisted in his "professional" opinion that the size was well over the free 75 feet we are allowed, so charges would still apply, but he would give me a discount...fine (mistake #2).

He then comes in to view the things I'm moving and give me my real rate, come to find out, my 3 piece sectional was HUGE (SURPRISE...IT'S A 3 PIECE SECTIONAL) and would take up more space than I was quoted resulting in my initial $1,000 quote going up to $1,500 in space alone...this is on a Saturday, I'm scheduled to drive out of town the following Monday. So when you're severly misqouted and the real price comes less than 2 days before you leave, what choice do you have than to go with it? So fine, I went with it (mistake #3). After watching the movers over wrap my furniture (no complaints there, because at least there shouldn't be any scratches or broken peices, right? Even though the over wrap ate up the $100 in free supplies plus change) and load up my boxes, here comes the final bill....da da duun...$1800...minus the $100 deposit I put down, so it ended up about $1700. What's the big deal? Hmmmmm...when I was initially quoted $700 less, my budget ended up being $700 less. Give or take about $100 I budgeted off the qoute, I went from my 1st payment being $500 +\- to $800 +\-. Hard to believe I didn't have $300 laying around for a last minute move, right? HA. The movers load up my furniture and off it went to Vegas or wherever they took it. 

While going through the paperwork, I told the head mover guy that I would not have a physical address in GA until at least 2 weeks after getting there. So I could not give them a true delivery date, he tells me that's fine and to just call them when I have it.

Fast forward forward two weeks, I call to give my new address and delivery date...at this point my balance with Elite is $1100. But when I called to give the new date for delivery, it put me outside the 30 days of free storage, so I had to add on the $75 warehousing fee (even though the initial date he wrote wasn't accurate) PLUS an additional $200 flate fee for an extra month of storage.  That $1100 jumped up to $1375 pretty quick hunh? Not only that, but my new apartment is on the 3rd floor resulting in a $75 per flight fee (a fee I expected)...so add on another $150. Now I'm back where I started with them, after already paying them $600. Mind you if I were close to the original qoute in the first place I would owe them $400 +/- and could have easily paid that to have them deliver to a Public Storage and paid $1 for a month of storage with them. But nooo...that first misqoute PLUS additional carry charge, left me owing more than I could afford to have them deliver sooner, which left me having to pay them more money to hold on to it longer so that I could have all of their money at delivery.

Calling to speak with Ron to actually verify the final charges and delivery date, I aired my frustrations with their initial misqoutes and the problems that they have caused and asked them why she qouted me so low to start with, his response was "the qoute is based off the national average for furniture, your sectional must be larger than average". Hunh? How is that? When my qoutes for the same size sectional with other companies averages out to be the same thing I'm paying you now? She did the typical bait and switch. His offer to "appease" my frustrations was to do everything in his power to make sure my furniture would be there by my 1st delivery date. Everything in his power implies EVERYTHING in his power, am I wrong? When you tell a customer you're going to do everything you can, as the Director of Operations for a company, you do everything you can. Anything less makes you a d*ckhead who will say anything just to get a frustrated customer off the phone. Ron also let me know that I normally would be required to pay (again) half of my balance before they would discharge. I asked him why didn't the rep I spoke with 2 weeks prior let me know that when she changed the date and added on the extra $200? His response, "she wouldn't have had access to that information to know at the time" Hunh? So when was I supposed to find this out? No one had called me within those two weeks of making the change. The only communication I had about that was from ME calling THEM to verify my charges...TWO WEEKS LATER. So now you're telling me that I need to come up with another $600 before you even release my furniture for delivery? I didn't have $300 dollars just laying around, why would I have $600 now? If someone had told me that two weeks ago, I would have budgeted to have that money in advance, but they didn't so I didn't. And it's unfair for you to request that from customers with no notice. He agreed to make an exception and release my furniture anyway (after speaking with his supervisor who told him that was a call he'd have to make on his own). In summary, what I took from this conversation with Ron is this "Elite is going to do everything in their power to deliver your goods as close to your 1st date available and you won't have to pay us until final delivery".

Three days prior to the 1st available delivery date, I had not heard anything from Elite. So I decided to follow up and see if they were on track with their promise to delivery. No, my items were still sitting in their warehouse. Confused as to how you're going to "get as close to that date as possible" but the items were still waiting to be picked up, I asked to speak to Ron again for clarity. The 1st time I called it was 10AM their time, he was on a call. I called back around 3PM their time, he was either still on a call or on another call, regardless, he was on a call. Called back around 5PM their time, he wasn't in the office. :-| Frustrations rising again, I ask to speak with his supervisor - turns out he DOESN'T have one...at least that what the rep told me, as the Director of Operations, he runs the show...hmmmm so he lied before when he said he had to speak with his supervisory to get approval on the exception. So we can safely say that they're liars right? I call back the next day around 12PM their time, "he isn't in the office today." Ok. Call back the next day, after being placed on hold for about 30 minutes, I finally get to speak with Ron. He apologized for MY misunderstanding, but informed me the way it works for their "as close as possible" promise is that they honeslty don't know, so he can't tell me anything. They don't know when the truck(s) will be back to do another load, they have no way of finding out. They can't say when the truck(s) do come back for the load if my items will be 1st out or last out. They can't give me a time frame because they don't know what will happen to delay it. They just flate out DON'T KNOW. And don't care from the sounds of it, you'll get it when you get it (yet, I'm expected to have their $$ upon delivery? HA) so don't call back, because we can't tell you anything. The best they can do is call me once my furniture has been loaded (whenever that is) and then either "I" can request a special circumstance (since I have just started a new job, I can't just call off work at the drop of a dime...hard to believe that...) and have the delivery driver give me more than 24 hour notice or, I'll have a 24 hour notice (actually it's a call that'll be sometime during the day before, could be 8AM could be 8PM...they (can you guess it?) don't know) before I know when I'll have my furniture...

Ron could use some serious help with his "Operations Management", they do not have a grip on the process, and can careless about the outcome for the customer. As long as they secure payment. That's their concern.

At this point...what other choice do I have? But to wait? Never mind the fact I'm paying on furniture (monthly financing) that I don't have. Never mind the fact that I'm sleeping on the floor. Never mind the fact that I'm also having to buy paper plate, paper utensils, new towels, wear the same clothes to work over and over. Never mind the fact that this entire problem started with a misqoute from their rep to get a bid, starting a dominoe effect of issues.

No customer service, a lot of lies, and frustrations.

If it's too good to be true, 9 times out of 10...it is. Go with your gut, actually, go with our reviews. Don't use this company. Save yourself the head ache. Elite is NOT the best option, regardless of how much less they qoute you. You're better off renting a Uhaul and moving yourself. Or if you just have to have movers, go with a National chain like 2 Men or someone who actually has a reputation to be concerned about and an image to uphold in the community. True this could have been avoided if I took the time to do my due diligence and research, but hindsight is 20/20. All I can do now is give a fair warning to others who are making a cross country move and are considering Elite, by advising you to look somewhere else. 

I haven't gotten my furniture yet. But whenever it arrives, I'll update on the condition. Good luck with your move!