Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/10/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  October 5, 2022 Balance: $892.73 I hired Bird’s to move my belongings within my local region. The crew arrived in the morning and began packing items away into the truck. While disassembling my couch, one of the movers stood it up on its side (which was not a smart idea given being an unevenly weighted object). The couch fell over and smashed into our bar cabinet, shattering $600 worth of stemware from my wife and I’s wedding. The glass that shattered all poured out of the cabinet onto my child’s $50 play mat (which is now garbage as well). My poor wife is now devastated and crying. The driver of the crew of 3 (***) did apologize and offer to waive the $89 packing fee (which I will acknowledge was kind of him, but most certainly not a reasonable outcome given the situation). I emailed John (the sales consultant who originally quoted my job), and while apologetic at first, I was offered a $150 “courtesy credit” and given the run-around because I did not elect to take their additional insurance (the cost of which is $100 and has a $1,000 deductible so it is completely irrelevant in this scenario). Not only this, but the $89 fee for packing the China (which was now 50% shattered and destroyed) was still on my invoice—I effectively was offered $60 for nearly $700 in damages. When I pointed this out to John, he seemed outright dismissive and only was concerned with settling this and parting ways/moving on and now offered $300 (now this is effectively $210 after accounting for the $89 packing fee—again, to pack the remnants of our stemware collection). I am seeking the only fair and reasonable outcome—to be fully compensated the $650 in damages (which is more than fair given this still overlooks the damage to the damage to the doorframe in my former home that I now must repair before handing keys over—no wall/corner protection pads were used). Photos added: - damage to doorframe - broken glass and play mat to replace

  Business Response

  Date: 12/10/2022

  Hello BBB,
  
  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I have attached the email trail between ourselves and Mr. *********** for your reference. Please see below for the facts of the situation;
  
  - Our crew member indeed bumped into the cabinet, which resulted in glassware being broken.

  - We were also informed about the minor damage to the doorframe.

  - We were not informed about a "childs mat".

  - Our Van Foreman on site indeed offered to remove the packing charge ($89). While Van Foreman's do not have the power to follow through on something like this, i believe this was our Van Foreman's attempt to diffuse the situation so we could calm the situation, and complete the move in a safe and timely manner still.

  - This was brought to our attention after the move had been completed, prior to any charges put through.

  - The shipper took the released valuation option, which is the no-coverage option and they do not pay a premium.

  - The option to opt in for full coverage was given to the shipper at the time of the estimate, but was not taken by the shipper. 

  - Even though the shipper had the released option, we opted to help them by skipping any type of formal claims procedure to expedite the shippers experience with us, and also offer a $150.00 credit to his bill for this issue.

  - Upon running the shippers credit card after the above had been adjusted, it declined.

  - The shipper responded saying his credit card is locked, and will remain so until we give him whatever he was asking for. 

  - We then attempted to offer a $300.00 reimbursement, of which the shipper declined and continued to hold us ******* for payment.

  - The shipper still had an issue with the $89 charge for the packing, of which we made a final offer of removing the packing charge, and keeping the $300.00 reimbursement, effectively giving the shipper back $389.00+tax, which is how the bill currently stands.

  - While the shipper was still not enthused by this result, they did agree and asked us to amend the bill and resend it to him, of which he would pay the bill. We completed this for them before the Thanksgiving weekend.

  - In follow up after the weekend, our administrator emailed the shipper asking if it was ok to the the final payment through, of which as of the date and time of this response, we have not heard back. 

  - We then received an email from the Better Business Bureau regarding this complaint.
  
  We have tried to make amends with the customer, but it would seem all of our efforts have been moot. They are effectively ignoring all of our documentation, including all of the information on what is covered for each option, and the process to submit a claim if necessary. We are now in a situation of being unpaid, effectively being held ******* for payment until the shippers demands have been met. This attempt ($389.00+tax) was our final offer to amicably come to terms on the shippers move, of which there was zero compromise on the shippers end, as we were the only ones attempting to remedy the situation and conclude our dealings. 
  
  We also encourage the BBB to take the "fluff" parts of the shippers complaint with a grain of salt. The shipper hired our professional movers for a reason, and is not an expert themselves of our industry. See below;

  - Sofas regularly go on their ends to prep/move them.

  - We understand the shipper is upset, hence our attempts to remedy the situation. involving their wife's feeling in their complaint here is strictly to add a "wow" factor to their request.

  - Valuation coverage is indeed relevant, as all situations like this are accidental, and cannot be broken down into further categories such as "neglect", like the shipper claims.

  - There are no such items as "wall/corner protectors" while moving. Not sure where the this came from.
  
  This situation is indeed unfortunate. We have done everything in our power to attempt to fix this issue for the customer, of which we have compromised at every turn for them with no success. It would seem for the shipper; Unless we give into their explicit demands, they will continue to bully our company and hold us ******* by not paying. We have all of our legal verbiage in writing, which is given to the shipper during the estimating process. We went outside of those normal parameters, effectively voiding the claims process (which would just delay their denied claim anyways on a formal level) and offered fair reimbursement for their issues.

  We are not willing to give into their full request for payment. We feel we have already compromised far past what what is expected (one-way street, it seems), and are effectively being ignored by the customer because it is not what they expected/wanted. We will wait on the response to our above outline from both the BBB & the shipper before taking any further action.
  
  Thanks for everyone's time and talk soon. 
  
  Cordially,
  
  John