Public Moving Services

Public Storage wrote a "Binding Contract" to my girlfriend, $2700 to move her apt belongings from San Diego to North Dakota. Binding?! - Not even close! They insisted on an additional $6,000-9,000 when they arrived (in scruffy clothes, unmarked truck, two days late - not the drug tested, experienced, professionals that they promised either). The movers acted like the existing terms and paperwork didn't matter one bit (and it didn't, to them). Customer Phone Service was the worst, words cannot describe how rude and dismissive this company was to my girlfriend. Placed on hold, no consistent dialogue, no managers, just pay it or leave I, and in cash!. We left it. Rented a truck and hired temp workers. This firm talks a great game, but is disengenious from the get -go. Do not trust your stuff to them. THis is NOT a legit business. They are untouchable as it is interstate and very confusing to follow-up. When you are moving, you are their vulnerable target. 60 Minutes needs to investigate. Read the good reviews carefully, they don't addup.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2700

Here are my unreturned emails and calls that ultimately ended in me calling the police.

to Howard, Public, Public, Public, angela, reggie
#PS2777837

I have filed 3 police reports for a theft-stolen property with Charlotte, NC police department, Dublin, CA police department and Broomfield, County police department. I have talked to detectives in each location and given them all of your names, numbers, and emails.

I believe your company is registered in Florida. I will be contacting the police department in Aventura, FL 33180 and file a stolen property report.

I will also be contacting the Sacremento, CA Police department to file a police report as this is where the gentlemen who moved my goods are located.

I am also contacting the department of transportation to report this organization and stolen property to see if they can help.

to Howard, Public, Public, Public, angela

I am looking for an update. I have not received any communication back on my previous 5 emails. This will be the 6th email. I have left another 3 messages since Friday Sept 8. Your voicemail says all email and voicemails will be returned, yet I have not received a call.

I am merely looking for some very simple communication on to the whereabouts and expectations of when I can expect my goods.

Best regards,

On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 11:03 AM
Hi Ellie and/or Angela or to whom it may concern,

This is my 5th email since August 28th, 2017. I have yet to recieve a call or email back to any of those emails.

I am writing to follow up on my move. I have attached the contracts for #PS##

I have 3 questions.

My first move in date available as you can see on the contract is 7/31/17. It states in the contract 4-21 business days for delivery for distances of 1001-1500 miles. Our distance is around 1243 miles. I believe this makes today the 29th business day.

I have not received my goods. I have yet to receive communication on the status of my goods.

Can I please get an update?


You can also see that the fridge was in the original quote. I was charged an additional $300 for my fridge. Can

I would expect this to be credited back or taken off the final total.

Thanks.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000

After 30 business days of first available date, my stuff is still not delivered. According to the contract, this should have been delivered Aug 11th.

Job # PS2777891, move from Jamaica, NY to Plano, TX. This move is between 1501-2000 Miles. According to the contract, it should have been delivered between 4-24 Business Days of the First Date(FAD). My first available date was July 11th. Based on the calendar, 24 business dates from July 11th is Aug 11th but I still do not have any update whatsoever. We have three young kids and it has been extremely difficult and inconvenient to live out of a suitcase. The schools start in the next week or so and we have nothing for kids after more than a month of our first available date.

Emma from dispatch is least helpful. I get a standard response, "no updates, will call you when I have an update."

Everything the sales person, Tommy, told me turned out to be a lie. He assured me that my stuff will be delivered on July 11th, he told me that he has a good estimate of my inventory list and that the "binding estimate" will not go over $500, he said the movers will bring blankets for the furniture, he said he will be my moving coordinator and will guide me throughout the process, I could call him on his cell. Every single thing was a lie. He never answered any of my several calls or emails after the conversations we had well BEFORE the move. He just went missing after I paid the deposit.

The movers charged me an extra $600 because they claimed that I had more stuff than I disclosed. This was a lie because he already already had 300 cubic feet worth of moving stuff in his truck and I had no choice but to pay because my stuff was already in the truck and I had to move out of my apartment that day. Whatever, I paid him whatever he asked, I moved on from that but I didn't expect them to not deliver my stuff. This has been an absolute nightmare so far.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4300

I don't know how or where I should start. Alex, the sales person, is fraud, dishonest and only deliver sweet words before you pay 25% advance payment. At that time, you don't need to leave a voice message to reach him, once he recognizes that you are a potential customer, he will call you back as soon as he sees your number.
Their initial estimate is just to lure you to do business with you. The real horrible scenes start just one day before your furniture pick-up date. The new estimate was an away higher than the original one. After going through a huge altercation with that person who went over my inventory, the estimate came down to the initially quoted one. But the story doesn't end here.. The real story unfolds when they show up your place and pick up your furniture. Alex, the fraud, assured me I wouldn't pay a single penny more than what I was quoted for. Now after loading my furniture, the new charge was $1000 more than the quoted one. How? I have a total of 9 steps on my stairs, first eight is free, but for extra one $75 more. Then the truck was parked by my apartment, but the distance from my door to the truck was120 ft, again the first 75ft is free, but for the additional 45 ft, extra $75. The initial estimate was for 500 sq ft, but the driver said it too 600 sq ft, so add $375. I am not done here.. On top of all of these, there were additional $400 for the materials they used to pack my stuff. After going through huge altercation with the extremely rude, bad-behaved driver and one of the members in dispatch team, they reduce the materials charge to $200. Still much higher than the original quote. That pick-up day was the most stressful day in my entire life. They just tried to charge you as much as possible. I couldn't sleep that night after all of these that I went through.

The story was not over yet.. I paid the half by writing a check and this time, giving a check is fine with them. I moved to my new address. I call the dispatch unit. Emma from the dispatch unit said she doesn't know when it would be delivered. I would get a call when there are any updates about the delivery. Surprisingly, soon after that call, I received a call saying my furniture would be delivered tomorrow!! Okay good, but still praying to GOD so that everything goes well. The driver, another extremely rude person, told me that he was coming with a 18-wheelers and I should check if my apartment had enough space for that!! After going through several calls, the driver said there was no way he could deliver my furniture by 18-wheelers, so I have to pay $300 more for U-haul to bring my furniture and he would only take cash -No check. I was so upset and I had no money other than what I supposed to pay, but I just wanted to have my furniture back. So I I got some cash from my credit card by paying high interest and charge.
The driver came and behaved very badly. He came to my apartment and said he would not unload my furniture until I paid him full -only cash. So I did. I thought I would be done with them. No the story hasn't finished it yet. The driver started to unload our furniture and we were receiving them shattered. So many items were completely broken. My wife started crying seeing these. One of my box was missing. Another the worst day for us in our entire life. The driver now said he was a subcontractor and he didn't share any responsibility of broken pieces (because he got the cash from me already). So I should contact the main office.

Now no one received my phone -The dispatcher, The fraud Alex, The customer service. I left voice messages so many times and didn't get any reply. Once I got hold of the customer service, they sent me a form to file a claim, which would take 4 months to process. I lost my patience dealing with them and just prayed to GOD to do something on our behalf.

The last thing: all of the good, five-star reviews are written by them so that they can get new customers.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2800

Do NOT use this company. I have NEVER written a negative review, but this company is full of crooks. They have not delivered my things from over a month ago. They gave a completely false 'binding' estimate and then charged me double when they came to pick up my things. My family with three children have been sleeping on air mattresses for a month and we have literally nothing in our home. They say they are BBB approved, that is a lie! Do not use this company!!

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10400

We had a great sales (scam) person who gave a terrible estimate. Movers showed up one day late at 5:30pm to do a full pack for a family of 5, 3 bedroom house. After they started packing they said we had way more stuff and it was going to be more than double the original estimate. We told them, no and to pack as many cubic feet as we had estimated for. They were very unhelpful. Of course since it was so late, their offices were closed so we could not call. After our stuff was on the truck they had us sign a contract. It was midnight, dark, our stuff was already on the truck. We were promised 1-3 day delivery. It has been 16 days. We have not received our belongings. They will not tell us where they are or when they will be delivered. They promise to return calls and do not. They only say they are still in their legal window. According to the fine print on the contract that is 30 days. Who would pay over $7,000 to have your items delivered a month later. They are liars and scam artists. We have a disabled child and two other small children. It was been a nightmare. The local news has even done a piece on it.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7500

The worst - Their positive reviews on Yelp (one of the factors that caused me to choose them) must be fake. Every step of the process has been painful: movers showed up 9 hours late after giving me 0 notice and causing me to take off work unnecessarily. Then the movers told me that they wouldn't take my stuff unless I paid them for a fee that I specifically negotiated to be free (and said was free on the moving quote).

Now, on the other end of things, I have no idea when my shipment will be delivered. I'm a couple days before the end of my legal window, and every time I try to call customer service, it takes 40+ minutes to speak to someone, the same person tells me she'll call me back later in the day when dispatch comes in, and then she never calls me back (Sabrina). When they do email me, it's a generic message saying they have no update, keep waiting. I'm going on vacation in a little over 2 weeks and have no idea whether I'll get my stuff before I'm unavailable to receive delivery for 3 weeks.

This is literally starting to affect my work productivity because I have to call and be on hold for an hour at least a couple times a week with no progress.

Do not use this company.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $2000

I normally don't write reviews, but I felt compelled to because of the attention to detail that these guys showed me. My late father was a woodworker, so I have a few delicate, priceless custom desks, jewelry boxes, and a vanity that he made for my mom. I was very nervous about moving these items across the country, but Shawn Allan assured me that our items would be treated as a precious cargo. The first thing that was on the movers list as soon as they walked through the door were my fragile items. They specially wrapped them and placed them on aside to be placed carefully on the truck when packed. The delivery arrived a couple of hours later than I expected, but other than that they set up my new place for me and my Dad's stuff made it with no issues. I would definitely use these guys again.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4263