Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/28/2024

  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.

  Moving Experience Southeast Van Lines On December 17, 2024, I hired Southeast Van Lines to move from ***************************************** to ******************************************** less than a mile apart. I was moving a one bedroom apartment with approximately 12 pieces of furniture and 40 boxes. The movers started at 9:00 am. The movers moved swiftly at the first hour and then I noticed a slowdown in moving out the items in my apartment. It took the three movers 3 hours to load the truck for the moveout. After arriving at the new apartment (both locations had an elevator) I was informed that it would take an additional 3 hours to unload, I paid a deposit of $684.00 for travel time and two hours of labor. Before unloading my belongings off the truck, I was told by the mover who I assumed was in charge because he gave instructions to the other two movers who were Hispanic and did not speak English, that it would take an additional 3 hours to unload and that I need to pay an additional $1000,00 and some dollars. I told him I did not have $1000 additional dollars to pay. This money had to be in cash, money order or a cashiers check. It is impossible to pay on the day of the move in a money order or cashiers check if you do not know the final cost. I only had $700.00 in cash and had to way of getting any more cash. The head mover called his boss, and the boss told him to bring my belongings back to the warehouse. I was already exhausted, and this made me angry about the way I was being treated was. I first told the boss to have them unload my stuff in the parking lot and that I would have someone else move it into my apartment. He refused to, so I got angry and told him that I would shoot the tire out on the truck before I would let them take my belongings away. This whole situation cost me to spend 2 weeks in jail, having to hire and attorney. The 3 movers lied on me to the police. Two of the mover spoke no English, however all 3 movers told the same lie.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/02/2024

   Good morning.

  My name is ******** *****, and I am the manager who communicated with Ms. ******** on the day of the move.

  I would like to clarify a few things as the information provided by the customer is both not accurate and missing a lot of elements who would put the situation in a very different light.

  1. This was a local move, so no weight was taken but I saw the shipment myself in the warehouse. This was not 12 pieces and 40 boxes, it was about ********* lbs.

  2. The customer moved from a 3rd floor apartment and into a 4th floor apartment. The need to use an elevator at both locations, sharing it with other tenets of the building and the distance between elevator to truck parking is one of the main reasons for the move taking a few hours, not the speed in which the crew works. I would like to point that this is one of the best moving crews in the city of *******. I can provide ample number of references, online reviews and proof of return customers who are unwilling to let anyone else touch their belongings other than ****** crew" which is the crew who performed this move. I reject the notion they worked slower than an average moving crew.

  3.The terms of the contract were in accordance with state law, moving regulations and were stated on all paperwork and signed by the customer prior to the move 3 different times. The terms clearly state that payment is required prior to unloading. It wasn't a surprise, and it was agreed in advance by the customer who signed for it in advance.

  4.The customer paid for 3 hours in advance and the move took 7.5 hours which left a balance of $936.50. A few methods of payment were available to the customer: Personal check, Zelle payment (which is very popular nowadays), cash, cashier's check, bank wire or money order. The customer claims we demanded cash or cashier's check which is not true. I personally spoke with her and advised of all the options. 

  5. There was never an issue of: "I don't have the money to pay you" as I would probably make a genuine attempt to help. The issue was total refusal to pay the balance as she simply didn't like the fact it was too much money in her opinion. Had the customer asked me to help het with the cost, we wouldn't be here.

  6. When the conversation with the customer came to an end as there was no real desire on her side to reach a settlement and pay the bill, I indicated to her that her refusal to do so will leave me no choice but to haul the shipment away she threatened to shoot the truck, and she said it to me on the phone. This is when the police were called.  It is important to note that the police got there and spent a good amount of time trying to reason with the customer, and my movers actually made an attempt to calm the situation and clarified to the police they had no desire to press charges. It was only the stubbornness and rude/arrogant conduct of the customer that led the police officers conclude this person is a danger and needs to be arrested. They spent a lot of time talking to her, but it was very clear this person believes it's "my way or the highway" and had to find out the harsh way that things don't work this way. We tried our best to prevent her arrest, after the pulled a gun on us but the police insisted on arresting her.

  7. After the customer was arrested, we had to take the shipment to the warehouse and made contact with her family. First one to speak to me was her nephew, which I would like to state, came across as a wonderful person, standup guy, very reasonable and I can only wish he was on site on the day of the move as this would probably not happen. He was advised by me of what happened, and he kept apologizing profusely. I did understand from him that this is not a surprise to nobody in the ******** family as her history shows a pattern of behavior leading to similar scenarios. I spoke with a few members of the customer's family (Nephew, Mr. ******* and ******* ********) and advised all that I am not interested in any money other than our labor the day of the move. I did not charge storage; I did not charge warehouse handling or any other fee for after hours or other fees I could apply. I only wanted the time we worked. I gave her family members the option to come to the warehouse and pick up the shipment themselves or a crew on their behalf. The family asked me for a delivery fee quote, and I gave them one. They opted to pay Southeast Van Lines the money to cover for the contract balance and the delivery fee. We only charged the time we worked on the shipment and no other element, and her family chose to pay us to do the delivery as opposed to an alternative option.

  8. A couple of last remarks: All our guys speak English. Yes, we have workers of Hispanic backgrounds, but they are Americans like all of us and they speak the language. I reject this bigotry of saying they don't speak it just because they are clearly Hispanic looking. We have a claims department and what's sad is, that if the customer was to pay and then file a claim directly with us, she could probably get a partial refund just out of good faith. This whole situation was a result of the customer operating on her opinion and demanding the world to ***** down to her will and then throwing a tantrum when realizing this is not how things work. I am saddened to read a complaint filed with non-truths and missing important information which I believe is done in order to mislead the BBB. 

  Last, this is Southeast Van Lines. We have an impeccable record to show for. We have an A+ record with the BBB for years. We have an amazing score with ******, and we are highly recommended by ********, which is a premier outlet for high quality performing vendors in the entire *************. We have an amazing circle of repeat customers which is growing by the day. We perform at a very high level, reasonably priced and very attentive to customers concerns. This was one of the rare occasions where the entire blame is unfortunately on the customer herself and because of that we refuse to compensate her for the labor we performed. 

  Thank you very much, 

  ******** *****.

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/04/2024

  Attached is my complete letter, which I was not able to post in the original complaint

  1. This man of course is going to take the side of the movers for this company.

  2. As far as the two ***************** the police told me that the reason their investigation was taking so long was because they were waiting for an officer that could interpret what the two **************** were saying.

  3. The head mover always talked to them in Spanish.

  4. This *** person never tried to wrong anything out with me, not once. His attitude was no money your belongings are being returned to the warehouse.

  5. Of course my family was a lot calmer than I, they didn't experience the treatment that I experienced. They also knew that in 15 days if no more money was given that this man told me that I had fifteen days to claim my belongs or my belongings would be auctioned off. 

  6. After my family paid $2200.00 for them to deliver my items there was no inventory of what they were delivering.

  7. I am going to obtain a copy a copy of the police report to show that these men spoke no English or very little English.

  8. Before the police arrived I was on the phone with Roanke asking if I could pay $700.00 and put the rest on my credit. I was put on hold and whiling being on hold the police got aggressive and took my phone and proceeded to hand cuff me,

  (/ Their phone records can be requested by the attorney that I have hired, and will start a case to sue the company and the individulales