Across U.S.A. Moving & Storage

If a used car salesman and a pick-pocket/con artist had a love child, it would be the owner of Across USA Moving, Yair “Jerry” Gamlieli.
 
If you only take away one thought from the reviews on this page, let it be this: Run. Run for your life.
 
I lived in Texas, and I was giddy for getting an awesome job offer in San Francisco. I start researching moving companies and had many calls for estimates. [EDIT] the luck, Haley with Across USA was the first caller. These sales reps are very charismatic, friendly and wow - they are like your new bestie. 
 
She said, if I had my things picked up on Monday, August 4th, that it would arrive in SF on Friday, August 8th. She told me that the move would cost $1200.  I don’t have a lot of things - so this seemed like a nice deal.  The movers came, and BOOM all of the sudden the end result is $3200.  How did that happen?
 
The moving guys come at the latest possible time on Monday and they took over 7 hours to pack up a 1-bedroom apartment. THEY TOOK OVER 7 HOURS. Then we had to make 3 different payments because my things kept going over the estimated cubic footage. I ended up having to pay over double, just at pick up. Their rule is 50% payment at pick-up and 50% payment upon delivery. 
 
So the next morning, Tuesday, I call the moving office just to be sure we are on track for delivery. Robin, the delivery-date-person, said that they were going to have a truck leave Texas to California the FOLLOWING FRIDAY, AUGUST 15TH. Come again? 
 
This is when I snapped. So, I was put in touch with Josh Berry, a customer service-ish person. I’m willing to bet that the owner “Jerry” is Josh’s biological father. Josh spent over an hour on the phone with me telling me about their foundation as a family oriented business. Who cares? BACK TO ME - let’s fix my problem. So then he offers a few solutions to expedite my order for the cost of $1500. Yep. To have my things by the time they said I’d have them, I’d have to pay $1500 more. Why? Because if you read the fine print on the contract, it says that any delivery dates agreed to by the staff are “merely estimates” and that they can take up to 14 business days to get your things there if they wanted to. And believe me, they do. They hoard your things in an effort to save gas and mileage. 
 
So here I am, not independently wealthy and thinking about how my clothes, my bed, my medications, are all on that truck. They have my life in their immoral, god forsaken truck. I even escalated and started emailing the owner and another VP. Not one member of leadership would even agree to speak with me. Now that’s great customer service. Apparently, the owner was conveniently out of pocket during the few days this was happening because of his “religious beliefs”. I’m sure his god loves it when he rips people off. 
 
So, long story short, I agreed to pay this absurd fee because at this point it’s just about necessity. I was starting a new job and needed clothes and something to sleep on. So, they took my money that same day. The next day, Josh calls me and says that Jerry decided NOT to expedite my things. He said, sorry but it’s just not going to happen per Jerry’s whimsical decision. They blatantly decided to not honor their expediting service agreement after taking payment - with no explanation. And they wouldn’t actually be getting my things out of Texas until Monday, August 18th. That is two weeks from when they picked it up (the 4th). I started my new job on August 11th. 
 
So what about all that money I just gave them? Well, they aren’t refunding it either. Because now, my docking area in my new apartment for the moving truck is about 4 feet too small. So now I owe a $450 shuttle fee so that they can rent a uHaul and unload my things into a smaller truck for delivery. Yay, so not only am I getting totally screwed out of money, but my personal items are just being thrown around everywhere. 
 
So, I sat here. I sat here defeated. And from the first week in August here we are in the last week. It turns out I still owe this ridiculous amount of money and when I asked Jerry and Josh for an itemized list of charges they failed to provide one. Until this day, this large amount of money I owe does not make sense. He sent a list to me that included several “miscellaneous” charges. The good news is that I have engaged an attorney who is currently looking over all the paperwork (looks like I have a case), I’m filing a BBB claim and I’m going to file claims on the charges with my bank. 
 
Today is August 25th. It is way passed the 14 business day guarantee, and they said they will be coming today. Robin gave me the phone number for the driver. I called him for 6 days, since he left Texas, and he would not answer or return my calls. Finally, he called yesterday and said he was coming with my things. I have broken glass, chipped wood, broken furniture, etc. I have taken pictures of the damage, so consider that another claim unrelated to the unethical practices. 
 
So, the moral of the story is that Across USA Moving is the type of company that SHOULD NOT BE IN BUSINESS just based on morals, ethics and out of basic regard for humanity. They took all of my belongings for a month. Without any consideration for what this does to the lives of their customers. They did it to prove a point because I argued - but they should think about who their audience is before they mistreat people. They should know who has powerful connections, as well. Thank goodness I have family and friends that were willing to provide me with food, air mattresses and with clothing. Seriously - think about it. They took my life from me during one of the biggest times of my life and never gave one thought to my feelings, well being, health or quality of life. 
 
 
I hate them all.

Service cost: $3200

Here are the facts:
We had a quote from North American Van Lines (NAVL) for $8,400 based on an in-home survey, guaranteed not to go up.  Across USA (AUSA from here on) told us that they knew exactly how they priced things and would guaranteed to beat the price.  AUSA knew what the quote was as far as scope (packing, loading, transport, and unloading) and how much money was involved.  The local rep quoted us $6400 based on the knowledge of the NAVL quote.  They also insisted on a 25% deposit to guarantee the service.
The day of packing arrived and the AUSA representative told my wife that the original estimate was too low and the cost was now going to be over $10,000.  When she said that wasn't the original quote, the representative in our house said, "We will work something out."  Unfortunately, she signed the revised estimate based on the verbal acknowledgement.  Also buried in the fine print was a clause that said same day cancellation is subject to a 50% penalty.  Read on for how this impacts things.
When the packing was finally done, the cost of the move had risen to $13,000 and change.  My first response was to simply unload the truck, we would go back to NAVL.  When we protested, the representative called Josh in the Dallas office and spirited conversation took place.  When asked if they were going to honor the original quote or the statement about working things out, Josh basically said the signature on the new estimate voided all previous estimates and that the original numbers were not correct, even though we had a guaranteed maximum price from NAVL, and from previous, we would still owe them $6,500 to simply unload the truck.  At the end of the discussion, Josh and the local representative agreed to a reduction in price to a little over $10,000.
So, we are off to our new home, hoping that our belongings would be there sometime, even with a promise of a delivery within 2 to 7 days of packing (which would have been 6/10 to 6/15).  On 6/15, the truck had not even left TX.  We finally had the truck pull up at our new home on 6/19.
With the unloading, it looked like a lot of our boxes had been stepped on by a large creature.  Seams were busted, tape broken, and packing blankets torn and ripped.  Several of the tags were missing and we ended up with at least 3 or 4 items that simply could not be accounted for.  We still haven't figured out what may be missing.
And, finally, lets talk about the damages to our goods.
-  Leveling foot on washer broken in half.-  50 inch TV with a shattered screen.  It was simply packed in sheet cardboard, not bubble wrap, no foam, no nothing.  You can see exactly where something hit it and broke the glass.- a Bohemian leaded crystal vase purchased in Europe in 1988 shattered. Irreplaceable.- the mirror for a 75 year old bedroom suite destroyed.  Irreplaceable.-  A broken book case.- Major scratches and chips of wood missing from out formal dining table.-  A dining room chair with all of the tenon joints for the back broken.-  Several other pieces of glassware broken/shattered.-  Damage to a brass rack due to bending of some of the trim.-  Clothes thrown into a wardrobe box without the hanger bar.-  Books thrown into medium and large size boxes by simply sweeping them off of the shelf they were on.-  Boxes that were mislabeled as to which room they came out of.-  Missing parts and pieces to put furniture back together (pegs and a screw for the master bed frame).-  And that is what we have found so far with about half of the boxes unopened (we are moving into a smaller house, so some of the boxes will not be opened for a year or so when we buy a house).
Overall, on a scale of one to 10, I would give this move a minus 5.  If you want to see what I learned after the fact, search for "How to avoid scams and fraud when moving."  This company would fit at least half of the items.  Finally, I am not going to hold my breath for a $25 refund on a fully paid for move as their email notice about providing feedback promises.  Maybe I will be surprised.
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Service cost: $10300