Bekins Van Lines Reviews

I put the claim in to the claim department and received a letter from a Latisha dated March 18, 2002 stating they would only pay $200.00 for the glass table top and no money on the item I packed myself. I tried several times to call Latisha and had to leave several messages because she was never available. After waiting 2 weeks for her call back and never receiving a call I called again and asked to speak with a supervisor and the person who answered the phone told me she was not in and I should send her a letter stating my problem. I did that on April 12, 2002. It is now May 14, 2002 and I have yet to get a response to my messages or my letter.

I was told by the salesperson that Bekins would send someone over to examine the damages and pay for full replacement. How can i resovle this problem if no one person in the company will call back or respond to my letter.

From the day the Bekins movers arrived, this has been a nightmare. The movers were verbally abusive (to their helpers too), screaming at me not to document the fact that they ruined my daughter's crib at origin. Instead, they wanted to fix it on the side of the road. When I said that we should contact the sales agent and see what she had to say, the driver gave in and allowed me to document the damages. Upon delivery, the driver screamed at me not to watch them unload my property from their truck.
I believe his orders were to go back inside my house! When I said no, he shut the doors of the truck and refused to unload my property. When we threatened to call the police and I contacted my sales agent in Philadelphia (who by the way instructed me to document any damages to my property and stand by the side of the truck), the driver agreed to unload the truck as long as I stayed a "safe" distance from the truck.

The movers complained the entire time, making comments about how they got drunk the night before. All this, and I paid them over $5000 in cash. I also purchased full-value insurance for my property with 0 deductible for an added fee. In summary, Bekins movers were verbally abusive and careless, damaging my property. The Bekins claims department has failed to make good on its written agreement to pay my claim of over $1100.

First, it took us several months to obtain payment for our expenses incurred as a result of the late delivery, with our having to make numerous telephone calls, virtually all of which never reached a person but only the person's voice mail. Most of these calls were never returned. And, when we finally did receive payment for the expenses, we did not receive the full payment for related expenses--expenses which we had incurred with their knowledge and permission and were told would be reimbursed. This discrepancy amounted to approximately $150.00.

More distressingly, over a period of more than six months, we have attempted to get Bekins to finally settle the balance of our claim, a mere $55.00 item for a broken antique table leg, which we had repaired, and which we had documented with photographs and a repair estimate from a reputable company. To this day, despite repeated phone calls and letters to Bekins, they have refused to respond and to pay the $55.00 item. One can only imagine what might be the case if the claim were substantial in nature if the company is unwilling to make payments which are clearly due in these small amounts. We have never in our lives experienced with any company of any kind the consistent and callous disregard of customers as we did with Bekins.

On the 9th of November I called to check on the time and was told that the furniture was still in Reno and had not been loaded as of yet. In speaking with O'Briens we were told that our contract for this was with Bekins LLC, and we should contact them with any questions. I did this and expressed my disappointment that I was not even called and told that there was a problem. I was treated to a representative that could care less about my problem. She was rude, condescending and ill informed as to the status of my load, and argued that it was not her job to notify me of anything. I asked for her supervisor, she was not available. I asked for her supervisor's supervisor, out on vacation. I asked for anyone in charge, no one could help.
Today, 11-13 I received a call to tell me that my overflow goods would be coming at a later date. What overflow goods? Oh there was other furniture on the truck prior to yours, so they couldn't fit it all on. The fact that we would not be here for that load meant nothing to her. The fact that we haven't received our first load meant nothing. The fact that all of our stored belongings and clothes were not here meant nothing. The fact that if it arrives after the 17th, which I was told is a real possibility, that I would be gone for 2 weeks meant nothing to her. Perhaps I could speak to a supervisor, I asked. Not available. The supervisor's supervisor? Still on vacation.

I asked about compensation for the delay. "Well if you need toilet paper or something, make sure you save the receipt". What about the $125 a day that we were told about. "That doesn't apply to you". Well, as I sit here in my empty house (except for my air mattress and laptop, I can assure you that I am disgusted with Bekins. I have been in business for years and am appalled at this company's lack of concern for their customers as well as their poorly trained representatives.

First I got the royal runaround from the dispatchers about when it would arrive. They had a 1-1/2 week delivery window and still missed it by a week! The dispatchers were very uncooperative and even rude, saying things like "Don't call us, we'll call you." I was contacted by Bekins' driver Ricky G on Saturday, 8/7, and was told that he would deliver on Sunday, 8/8. I thought this a very unusual time, but I waited in my empty house all afternoon on Sunday.
At 7 pm, the driver called back to say that he was only at the NY/CT border and wouldn't arrive until Monday, 8/9. It was obvious when the driver finally arrived that he was overbooked, behind schedule, and had more frustrated people to deal with besides me (he told me that he had been unloading a delivery in VA Beach until 3 am the previous night).
As he and his assistant began unloading, it became immediately apparent that a great deal of damage had occurred. There were nicks and chips in almost every piece of furniture, boxes were crushed, metal items were dented, the mirror from my bureau was loosened and practically coming out of the frame, and two items, including my king-size mattress (which was in a box) had sustained water damage. How this happened, I can only guess.
The crew that picked up my belongings in Phoenix handled everything with the utmost care, as did Ricky and his assistant on this end. I can only surmise that the damage occurred either in the Phoenix warehouse or perhaps on the truck, where the load sat for a period of approximately 2 weeks. I have used professional movers before and have never seen such devastation.
I was disappointed, however, I knew that I had purchased the top of the line insurance coverage and was confident that I could replace or repair items as necessary. Ricky was very sympathetic and even ehlped by pointing out damage as items were unloaded.
Things were in a shambles. The nuts and bolts for my headboard were missing (they later turned up in my husband's golf bag--after I bought new ones!), as was the support leg for my bureau, and Ricky couldn't reassemble my bedroom furniture. I was keeping track of everything on a legal pad as the items were brought in. Simultaneously I was crossing off the item numbers on a matrix they gave me. The driver had the bill of lading, or whatever you call it, in his possession as the stuff was being brought in. After unloading, Ricky was in a tremendous hurry to leave, so much so that he left his wallet with driver's license and credit cards at my home. (Fortunately, I was able to have one of the dispatchers page him, and he came back to retrieve it.)
When it came time to complete the paperwork, there was a significant amount of damage to record (not including, of course, items that were later found broken in boxes or the missing box of bakeware), and it became obvious that Ricky did not want to wait around for me to record everything as per the process that Bekins later used to stab me in the back.
The driver was fully aware of the extent of the damage; as I mentioned earlier, he was pointing things out to me as they came off the truck. Ricky instructed me to acknowledge that there was damage, but not the details as per procedure. He dictated the verbiage "Subject to further inspection, will submit damage of items" to my husband which we dutifully recorded on the Customer Service Report. We followed the driver's instructions to the lette with regard to documenting the damage.
The result? Bekins DENIED MY CLAIM IN FULL!!! As far as I'm concerned, this is just a cheap ploy on their part to evade responsibility in compensating me for my losses. I paid roughly $5,000 for this move. The damage/loss on my claim totalled $1,600, not including the furniture repairs. (I assumed that they would be sending an adjuster, so I didn't get estimates.) I was also charged a fee for disconnection/reconnection of my major appliances. At the delivery site, I was informed by their driver that reconnecting appliances is "against company policy". I have since sent a protest letter to Bekins demanding that they reopen the claim. As of today, 1/10, I am told it will be another 30 to 45 days before they render a decision. At this rate, I'll be back in Phoenix (using another mover, naturally), and will have no evidence with which to substantiate my claims.

Bekins should not be allowed to get away with not compensating me for my losses, particularly since I paid for the premium insurance. My family is planning on moving again in less than 6 months, and if this matter isn't resolved by then, I will never recover my losses from Bekins.