Unlawful/Deceptive Practices - Stay ...
This is a complaint against Extreme Van Line Inc. of NY (DOT#3404575, MC# 1096502). The company provided me with a binding moving estimate of $2970.77, to which I agreed in advance. On the day of the move, the movers confirmed this estimate and I again signed the paperwork for $2970.77. But after that--and only after they had already inspected my items and loaded almost everything into the truck--the lead mover ("Oscar") held me up saying they would not honor the binding estimate. Instead, the moving cost would be a whopping $5850. He forced me to sign new paperwork (after hiding the original copy) and said my only recourse was to try to negotiate a lower price with the company later, after the movers left with all my possessions. I felt I had no choice but to go through with the move despite an almost $3K price hike, as the only reason I had agreed to hire this company in the first place was because they were available on the date I had to move out, and they had agreed to deliver within one week. I ultimately settled up with the company (via "Tommy") for a total of $5100, but never should have experienced any of this. It is illegal to provide a binding estimate and then to renege after loading the truck (which they know, because I later learned this and informed them by phone prior to delivery). There was no mystery around how much stuff I had before they began loading. Everything was carefully packed, documented, and numbered. Furthermore, the movers on the delivery side did not arrive when they were supposed to, which was 10/27/2022. Instead, they arrived at my house at almost 1AM on 10/28/2022. They did not finish unloading until after 4AM. Unacceptable, and as I am a petite woman who was home alone, also completely unsafe. Again, since the movers had all of my things in their possession, I felt there was nothing I could do. These practices are an abuse of consumers. The movers themselves did not do a good job either. On the pickup side, they were the slowest movers I had ever dealt with--and there were FOUR of them. On the delivery side, apart from being hours late and arriving in the middle of the night, they severely damaged a wall and did not tell me, and also left before providing all of the placement and reassembly they were supposed to. A number of items arrived damaged or broken, including large furniture items. Stay away!