Complaintsfor1st Class Moving Storage, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  03/29/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This company advertises "...your belongings are treated with care from the moment our team arrives to the moment we complete your move." I relied on their reputation and BBB rating and elected the minimum insurance. They packed and moved my belongings from Ocean View DE on 8/2/21. They stored my belongings until they were delivered to my new condo on 11/17/21. My beautiful dresser (part of a set) was not given even minimal care. The pulls on its center drawers are bent almost perpendicular. It appears something heavy was shoved up against it in storage. In addition, the protective cardboard wrapped around the dresser was taped directly to the dresser top. When the tape was removed, the finish was pulled off with it along the front and both sides. The company refuses to pay for repairs (estimate is $1,150.00), insisting they only owe the amount covered by the insurance I elected. This damage is due to their gross negligence in handling my furniture. Vice President Hassan Boussi contacted me to resolve my claim. He requested pictures, which I sent on 2/24/22. I have had no further contact from him, despite a follow-up email on 3/21/22.

  Business response

  04/21/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2022/04/06) */ This claim has been finalized on our end as of 2/16/22. We sent the documents explaining the coverage and a form that needed to be signed and sent back to us on 2/26/22 and until today we have not received this form. We need this form in order to process the payment. The claim was processed according to the coverage that the customer chose. We agreed to pay accordingly without questioning that all items were received in good conditions at time of delivery as checked by the owner and by our movers at time of delivery. The customer is claiming that a dresser would cost $1,150 to repair when on the claim she stated that she purchased a set of 3 pieces (including this dresser) for a total of $650. No insurance company would agree to pay repairs for an item 4 times more than it is worth. This is what she is asking us to do. Please see the attached email that she sent us after the move was completed explaining how happy she was with the services she received. Therefore, her accusation of lack of care is baseless and it came about only when she realized that we will pay $1,150 to repair a dresser that is worth between $200-$300. Again, this claim is waiting the signed form from the owner. As soon as we receive it, payment will be processed right away. Thank you. Consumer Response /* (3000, 10, 2022/04/12) */ I am not satisfied with the business response to my claim. It is true that I gave the company a positive review following the delivery of my belongings to my home following months of storage. I was impressed with the ease of setting up the move, and with the courtesy and industriousness of the crews at both ends of the transaction. However, their own claims process allows weeks following the delivery to file a claim, longer after periods of storage and for interstate moves, both of which conditions apply to me. I can only assume this is to allow time for problems to be identified during the process of unpacking and getting settled. In fact, I have continued to notice multiple items missing during the weeks after I filed my claim. They cannot rely on my earlier positive response to negate my complaint. The merchant is correct that repairs to the dresser damaged by their careless handling cost more than the original purchase price. However, it is not solely the dresser that is damaged. It is part of a vintage, ornate, well constructed, solid wood SET of bedroom furniture and is thus irreplaceable. Reimbursing me for the cost of the dresser does not solve the problem. I cannot simply replace it, without creating a mismatched set. I was fortunate to purchase the set years ago in a consignment shop at a cost much less than its value. Buying a SET of similar quality, necessary to restore my position to what it was before the move, will be a great deal more expensive than simply repairing the damaged piece, IF I am even able to find one. I have invited the merchant to come and inspect the dresser to see the nature and extent of the damage, and to see the condition of the matching pieces. I have also asked for any suggestions they may have to make the repairs less expensively. So far, the merchant has done neither. The fact remains that my bedroom SET was damage extensively by their mishandling of the large dresser, and they are responsible for either its restoration OR replacement of the entire SET with one of comparable age, quality and condition at time of purchase. Business Response /* (4000, 14, 2022/04/19) */ Good morning, We have reviewed the client's response; however, the facts remain: 1. We provided her with 4 coverage options and she chose the cheapest option that is provided for free. Therefore, the coverage she is receiving is based on this coverage. This is the same as choosing a high deductible for your car insurance and complain when there is accident about having to pay it. 2. From the documents that we provided copies of, the dresser in question had pre-existing scratches on it and the pictures provided by the customer do not show any new scratches beyond what is noted on the inventory. The only thing shown is a bent handle which can be easily bent back or have all of the handles replaced for around $20-$30. 3. This claim has been finalized on our end and we are waiting for the signed form from the customer in order to close it and send her the payment. As of today's date, this form has not been received. As a final attempt, we can increase the amount from $175 to $300. Unfortunately, this will be our best offer as we feel that what was actually damaged is worth far less than this. We believe that this offer is more than fair and we hope that the customer accepts it so we can close this claim. Thank you. Consumer Response /* (4200, 16, 2022/04/20) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) The merchant keeps referring to "scratches" on my dresser as being the cause of my complaint. I am not concerned with new scratches. Perhaps the pictures I submitted earlier are not sufficient to illustrate the nature of the damage, so I am submitting some close-up photos. What looks like dust or thread on the surface is the residue left by the removal of packing tape applied directly to the surface of my dresser by the moving crew. The areas I photographed are rough to the touch; you can feel AND see where the finish has actually been removed when the tape was pulled off. This is the damage I am requesting be repaired, which will require having the piece refinished. If the merchant has a less expensive method of restoring the finish on my dresser, I would be interested in exploring that option. The fragile pulls on the dresser will likely break when the restorer tries to bend them back into position. The estimate I submitted includes the cost of replacing all three of the pulls (the top one is undamaged but I want them to match). I cannot accept any offer that does not restore my dresser to its original condition.

• Initial Complaint

  01/09/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We hired 1st Classe Moving to move from Maryland to Florida in November of 2020 and thought since they had offices in Maryland and Florida this would be a good company to work with. My wife and I paid over $750 for insurance on our move and when we sent a claim within the 9 month time allowed, we were send a response that our claim was denied. Not just some of it but all. The insurance appears to be a scam. We had several items damaged and provided pictures, details requested and even a report and pictures from the piano company that we hired to repair our piano. We paid extra for them to move our piano. The delivery team even dropped a table off the truck right in front of us which broke into many parts. We paid for $0 deductible coverage and got a "claim denied" response to our attempt to recover some of our costs to repair/replace our items. We spent several weeks trying to decide how to proceed and then with some medical issues, unfortunately it has taken us over a year to file this complaint. Some of our documentation is attached but we have many additional pictures, etc. Our response to denial: We believe your information is inaccurate. 1. Noted on the delivery ticket by your driver(or person in charge) a table was broken by them. It was dropped off the truck and broke into many pieces (table and granite top). 2. Our piano which we paid extra to be moved was reassembled by your team incorrectly as explained by the piano technician we hired to fix it. He included a description and pictures. 3. Several other items were damaged and acknowledged by your people on delivery. As for the clock, your team packed without our knowledge and when questioned we were told they do this. Since we did not request your grandfather clock service and your people packed it anyway we did not expect to pay any additional for this. You had to send someone back to put it together correctly since it was not on delivery. We are hopeful you will reconsider ..

  Business response

  02/10/2022

  Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2022/01/19) */ Unfortunately, we are the ones that have suffered the most during this move. We visited Mr **********'s house to provide a quote in August 2020 for a move to take place in November 2020. What needed to be moved and what was not to be moved was clearly discussed between the client and our estimator. Also was discussed who was to disassemble and reassemble the grandfather's clock as it is a specialty item that require trained personnel to do. The items that were pointed out to be moved by the client came out to 16,716 lbs. Based on this weight, we reserved about two of a tractor trailer which should be plenty of space for what they had. On move date, we were shocked with the amount of furniture and boxes that the client asked us to move. We were asked to move what added up to be 27,090 lbs., instead of 16,716 as agreed. In addition, the grandfather's clock that was supposed to be prepared for shipping and serviced by the client was not. Our movers had no choice but to do their best and disassemble it, even though they are not the proper personnel to do that. The client who agreed to do it in order to save a $160 fee, failed to do it and left us no choice. And the amount of furniture and boxes we were asked to move caused us a nightmare because the space reserved on the truck was not nearly enough. In order to accommodate this last minute change, we had to send multiple trucks to drive 1,000 miles back and forth and the additional fee that he paid did not even cover a portion of the extra expenses. At time of delivery, the client demanded that his grandfather's clock be reassembled by our personnel, who again are not the right personnel to do that. Our personnel again, and as a good customer service gesture, went ahead and did their best reassembling the clock. Of course later on the client complained that the clock was not working properly. Again, as a good customer service gesture, we sent a driver that was 400 miles away to his house to look at the clock and reassemble it. All this is because the client refused the clock service fee of $160 initially and informed us that he would do it himself. Had this service been on the order from the beginning, the right technicians would have been at the right places at the right time. 9 months after the move (exactly 270 days), the client filed a claim for over $31,000 alleging damages that we had never heard of. The shipment was checked with the client and our driver and it was agreed that everything was in good order, and bill of lading was signed accordingly (attached). In summary, we bent over backwards to accommodate the clients requests and repeated changes and did the things that they agreed to do themselves in order to save money, and did not charge for them. We experienced great losses as a result of the way this move was conducted on the client's side. Again, if the correct information was communicated to us from day one, this move would have gone a lot smoother and everyone would have walked away happy and satisfied. Consumer Response /* (3000, 9, 2022/01/24) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) We were told by the estimator at the very 1st meeting that our move would take at least 2 days (which it did end up taking 2 days). We were also told that our move would require an entire tractor trailer, and since we lived off of a very steep shared driveway, they told us they would have to park the tractor trailer down at the main road and use a smaller truck to move our belongings from the house down to the main road where they would then be loaded onto the tractor trailer. This concerned us because the more times it's handled, the more chance of damage, but we were assured that they were professionals and everything would be fine. Nothing changed as far as adding anything to what was to be moved EXCEPT that we did end up selling 4 bedroom sets, 2 living room sets and a full room of L-Shaped office furniture that filled 2 walls- thus REDUCING the amount of furniture (my parents, who had recently passed away, lived with us in the attached in-law apartment). However, we did call the moving company a few weeks ahead of the move and asked if they would be able to do all the packing. We explained that due to an emergency surgery, I was no longer able to do the packing myself. They told us, "No problem. We can handle it." We thought that they would need at least an additional day to do all the packing (which was fine), but they told us they would still get it all done in 2 days. We had already sold the property, and were renting back, so there was no real urgency to move out on the original scheduled date. We sent them an email on 11/9 reminding them so that they would be sure to bring ample boxes, etc. As for the amount of pounds, we have no way of knowing what the actual pounds were because at the time of the estimate, nothing had been weighed, and there is no way for us to prove what the true weight ended up being - BUT with 7 less rooms of furniture, you would certainly think we would be below the original pounds estimate - so you can imagine our surprise at them telling us we were 10,374 pounds over. With that being said, we were aware that we would have to pay extra for them to do the packing. They charged us for that, and they charged us for the extra pounds, and we paid them for both. As for multiple trucks driving back and forth adding 1,000 miles, how is that possible? They were to do the packing on day 1, then on day 2 they were to park the tractor trailer at the bottom of the main road and load it using the smaller truck while the other men finished the packing. We couldn't see the main road from our house, and because of my surgery I couldn't drive down there, but we assumed that they were loading the tractor trailer there at the main road as promised. Did they not have the tractor trailer parked at the main road as promised? If they were using multiple trucks back and forth for the whole distance to their establishment, and not to take our belongings down to the tractor trailer at the bottom of the shared driveway, maybe that explains all the missing items? Adding 1,000 miles is insane - especially considering they are located only 45 miles from our house. Regarding the clock: We had already arranged to have it packed up by the company that services it. They were supposed to come out and do it the morning of day 2. However, on day 1, while we were out of the room, one of the movers had it already disassembled & was packing it up when we walked back into the room. We told him we were to do it, and he told us no they do it. It was already apart and partially packed - so we let him finish it. We trusted him. WE DID NOT ASK him to pack that clock. It had nothing to do with saving $160 and everything to do with trying to trust the man they sent to the house who had already disassembled it. It was handmade by my deceased father and very dear to me. That's why I had scheduled the company that services it to come out and do it properly the next morning. Naturally, since he told us that "this is what we do", we trusted him, and we did expect it to be reassembled upon delivery - especially since it was discovered that initially all of the pieces were not with the clock when they got ready to put it back together. As for the man driving 400 miles away from his house to come reassemble the clock, when he called to make the appointment, he told us he was going to be in the area and scheduled the appointment for that day. The contract stated that we had 9 months to notify them of damages and we did so within the allotted time frame. We paid them over $1,000 for "Zero Deductible" insurance coverage. We only wanted our things to be delivered in the same condition as when they were packed. As for their frustration at the amount of furniture and boxes, they knew what it was before they got there because they had already been out to the house and saw everything. I think the true frustration may have been their men "doing the packing". If it was too much for them, why didn't they just tell us. We thought they would have to come out at least an extra day since we added the packing, but they told us no, no we can still do it all in 2 days. We had time - we could have gone elsewhere instead of having them "get even" with us by ruining so many of our things. They conveniently didn't even mention the "electric player" Grand Piano, which we paid an EXTRA PREMIUM to them for handling. When their movers put it together, it would not work. We provided them with detailed documentation from the piano technician (description plus photos) proving the piano was improperly reassembled by their men which ended up costing us an additional $1,400. It stated that "whomever was connecting the cord to the piano tightened the screw-on collar with a tool that bent the collar and twisted the cord enough to snap all of the connecting wires....caused a short in the system resulting in the disabling of the power supply requiring the power supply be repaired and requiring all the wires be resoldered to connect properly" (See Attached FitzGerald Piano Damage Report). The technician told us that for starters, they used the wrong tool. Why didn't they send somebody who knew how to reconnect an electric piano properly? We had already paid them EXTRA for that service, and it ended up costing us $1,400 more. They also didn't mention the table with the granite top which was simply wrapped in a blanket that literally fell off the "top" of the truck and broke into pieces while all of us, including the movers, were standing right there. They all laughed, bent over, picked it up and was going to put it back on the truck, and I stopped them. They seemed surprised and asked, "Do you still want this?" I said, "Yes, to prove it was dropped off the truck and broken." Clearly now, thinking back, they did not want me to have that proof. We hired them to provide a service, and then after they damaged and lost so much of our belongings, they cry that they were the ones that suffered most from this move??? How can that be? They charged us EXTRA for the additional pounds, and they charged us EXTRA for the additional packing, and they charged us EXTRA for the zero deductible insurance. WE PAID THEM WHAT THEY CHARGED US, for all three. Plus, we tipped the workers!!! We started out with a quote of $11,793. We ended up paying them $19,777. They've been paid and now we expect them to honor the insurance coverage that we paid them for. How can they say they are suffering? They said they could do the work - they charged us for the work - we paid them for the work - and they're not the ones with the damaged goods. We expect them to honor the insurance coverage that we paid them for. It's not our fault that their workers provided such unprofessional workmanship. In fact, their delivery people saw the scratched dining room table, the broken granite top table (including the legs) that fell off the truck, the missing dining room light globe, the missing glass table top, the missing 2 lamp shades, the huge chunk gouged out of the marble-top glass console and they even noted it on the Delivery Inventory Sheet - And, those were just the items we noticed while in their presence while they were unloading the tractor trailer and before we were finished opening all the boxes (See Attached Notated Delivery Inventory Report) . How many of our missing items "fell off the truck" when we weren't there to see? We have attached photos of only "some" examples of the damages. 1st Class was provided with all of the before moving and after moving photos of the damages and photos of missing items. We are elderly, in our mid 70s, have medical issues, and needed help. We truly feel that this company has taken advantage of us due to our age. They need to honor this insurance coverage that we paid for in good faith. Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2022/02/03) */ Hello. Sorry for the delayed response. Our position from the facts that we had stated originally has not changed. However, for the sake or trying to bring this case to a closure, we contacted Mr ********** by email and made him a settlement offer. We will wait for his response and update accordingly. Thank you. Consumer Response /* (4200, 15, 2022/02/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) We are working with 1st Class Moving to resolve our claim. They made an offer which we responded to and are waiting their response. Business Response /* (4000, 17, 2022/02/10) */ We have made the client a very generous offer considering the circumstance which they refused. Unfortunately, there is nothing else we can do.

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