Josh, from Moving Direct, phoned me around late October 2010 after I had placed my contact information with a company online that connected individuals with moving companies. When I spoke with Josh, I told him that I was hoping to move from my one bedroom at North Babylon, NY apartment to Michigan around December 15th 2010 and he asked me how much weight I thought I had. I told him that I wasn't sure how much my stuff weighed and he asked me to walk through my one bedroom apartment and tell him the things I had that I knew I would be moving. Based on our conversation, he quoted me approximately 2,300 lbs, which equaled about $1,000 for the move.
At this time, Josh also told me that I would receive the best deal from Moving Direct, since they charge the lowest price per pound. During this initial conversation, he also told me how Moving Direct would be flexible with my move date, which was important to me, and that I would only pay per pound for my items; so if my weight was more or less than the estimate given, I would only pay for the actual weight.
After my phone conversation and several email exchanges with Josh from Moving Direct, I discovered that I had more things that I wanted to bring to my relocation to Michigan. I phoned Josh before November 26th 2010 to explain that I had more weight. During this time, I also received other estimates from moving companies, who either visited my home, or took an inventory list of my stuff and determined that I had about 3,800 lbs of items. Instead of giving Josh another list of items, I phoned Josh back and had him quote me at a price of $1,300 for 3,800 lbs which is the amount of weight I was estimated to have. After orally accepting this quote, I gave Josh a MasterCard credit card number and was told that I would be placing a deposit of $235.00 and would receive an e-mail contract confirming the move that I would need to sign.
That evening, I received the contract, which not only had several errors, but included in part a clause that reads, if the customers weight is less than the estimate, they will get a credit for the difference. It also included an Articles List which showed that I had 34 items or approximately 76 pieces. Immediately, I noticed that many of the items I needed were not on the list and that the moving date was incorrect. I emailed and phoned Josh to tell him that I wouldn't electronically sign this contract since many of my items were not on it and that there were problems with the date of the move. I couldn't get in touch with Josh, so I was referred to Mike.
During this discussion, I told Mike about the error on the date and told him that I would only agree to a contract if it accurately reflected the exact items I was to bring. He told me to email him a list of my items and he would add it to the contract that Josh had sent me. I sent both Josh and Mike an e-mail of my items and asked them to add to the contract. Josh phoned me immediately after my conversation with Mike and told me that based on the new list of items I presented to them, their computer estimated the weight to be 5,500 lbs and not 3,800 lbs. I insisted that I did not want to pay for more than my actual weight, and I was told by Josh that it was an over-estimate not to exceed 5,500 lbs price, and that as the contract said, "If the customer's weight is less than the estimate, they will get a credit for the difference."
Since I was very concerned that Moving Direct was going to charge me for weight that didn't exist, I told Josh to delete my credit card information and send me whatever offer he was willing to make for my items and I would let him know if I was interested after meeting with other companies. I later found out that Josh charged my credit card $235.00 even without authorization. Josh e-mailed me this new contract, which stated that for 5,500 lbs, I would be charged $1,895.02. This contract also read, "This is a binding not to exceed price based on weight. If the customer's weight is more than the estimate, then they will pay the same rate at the time of booking. If the customer's weight is less, then they will get a credit for the difference."
After a few days of reviewing bids, I decided that I would phone Josh one more time and make sure that I would only be charged for the weight being moved and not for the 5,500 lbs. Again, Josh told me that the 5500 lbs estimate was an over-estimate used by computers so that I wouldn't come to find out I had to pay more than the 5,500 lbs quote, and that I would only pay for the weight being carried. Since I was confident that my stuff was less than 5,500 lbs, and Moving Direct was the cheapest mover per pound, I accepted the offer of 5,500 lbs.
A week or so before my move, I e-mailed Josh and Mike expressing my concern that I would be over-charged and required to pay for carrying 5,500 lbs of items, when I was confident I had less weight. Neither responded to my e-mail, so I phoned the main number and spoke with Tina. I explained my concern to Tina, who told me that as the contract stated, I would only be charged for the amount of weight I had, and not a penny more. She told me that the movers would bring me a weight slip before they began wrapping and loading my items and that I would be able to follow them to the weighing station after the truck was loaded with my items to verify the truck's weight, and that I would only pay for my weight in items. She also told me that the driver had a list of prices with him, so if the weight was less than 5,500 lbs, he would know exactly how much to reduce with the initial price, so that I would only pay for the weight of my items. I asked Tina to put this in writing and send it to me. She promised to, but I never received it, so I phoned her again and told her that I never received what she had said in writing. Again she promised to send it, but I never received it.
On the day of my move, my movers were twenty minutes late. When all three of them arrived, a man named Simon entered and told me that the 5,500 lbs was a minimum charge and that I would be responsible for well-over an additional $200 in packing materials. He said that there was nothing I could do about it, and they would not honor the contract; instead I would be charged for 5,500 lbs regardless of how much weight I had in the truck. He also wanted to charge me a fee for an additional stop and asked for 75% of the moving costs in cash, up front.
The contract said that I would only be responsible for paying for the weight of my items, that 50% would be asked, and that it could be made via credit card, cash or postal money order. I explained to him that I knew I did not have 5,500 lbs of items, and was told by the contract I signed and several Moving Direct employees that I would only be liable for the price of the weight of my items. I also told him the additional stop fee had been waived and that I was only supposed to pay 50% of the fee. As we were discussing this, the other two movers had begun to load some of my items into the truck. Simon then walked away with his cell phone.
One of the movers came upstairs and said to me "Too bad your stuff's gone. We're not moving you." Before I knew it, the truck which I believe still had items of mine in it, was driving away. I ran down after them and told them I was going to call Mike and straighten this out. I phoned Mike approximately six times but he told me that he would not follow the contract and didn't care what it said. They would charge me for 5,500 lbs and no less regardless of how much weight I had. Having no other option, because I needed to be out of my apartment that day, I told them to come and load the truck and that we'd figure it out.
All along, I kept phoning, crying and telling Mike and Moving Direct that they needed to follow our agreement. Even though I specifically said I didn't want any additional box, Mike told me that I had to pay for the additional moving costs like boxes, etc. I even volunteered to sign a waiver of damage for the things I didn't want boxed because their value was much less than the cost to box them, but they refused to let me sign the waiver. I continued to allow them to load the truck because I was told by Tina that I would be able to follow them after the items were in the truck so that I could figure out the actual weight.
Once Simon had packed up all of my items and loaded them into the truck, he forced me to sign a waiver of all rights against the company, including one stating that I waived all rights against the estimate. I signed this waiver out of duress and out of the belief that they would again leave my apartment with all my items and I would never see the things again. I had my dad sign it, and beside it wrote "IPO" for "In Protest Of." I did not receive a copy of this waiver. I also asked Simon several times if I would be able to follow him to a weighing station to verify the weight of my items. He told me that although he believed he was only hauling 2,300 to 3,500 lbs, I would not be able to follow him, and if I wanted my stuff moved safely, I had to do what he said and sign the papers.
The contract I agreed to with Moving Direct clearly states that I would only be obligated to pay for the actual amount of weight I had carried to Michigan. Several Moving Direct employees clearly told me that I would only be responsible for the amount of pounds carried, and Tina, the Moving Direct employee, told me that I could follow the truck to get a weight receipt once my items had been loaded.
When the moving day arrived, I was charged for well over 5,500 lbs and not the actual weight I had which, according to the mover Simon, myself, and many other moving companies, was no more that 3800 lbs. Further, I was forced to sign a waiver of all of my rights contesting the estimate which I had my dad signed. Although I believe I have, and have been told by several people, including Simon from Moving Direct, that I have no more that 3,800 lbs in items, I have been forced to pay the price of 5,500 lbs; plus packing supplies that I didn't want totaling more than $700.
My Moving Direct Contract clearly states that this is a binding not to exceed price based on weight and if the customer's weight is less, then they will get a credit for the difference. I was not permitted to follow the Moving Direct truck to contest the weight, and I have been forced to pay for something I am not moving.
