Sparks Moving & Storage

Spark Moving Company picked up my belongings on June 19, 2019,At which time I told them that I didn’t need the 30 day free storage because I had found a place to live and would like my things delivered as soon as possible. Fast forward it to August 20, 2019, I have spent the last two weeks calling and emailing the company only to be lied to over and over again about my delivery day. Today I also found out that I don’t really know where my stuff is being stored because first they said it was Belleville Illinois, then I was told it was Chicago Illinois and now today when I asked for the address because I feel the next step is to hire a truck to go pick up my things now they say it’s in Belleville Illinois again. I have requested the address of the storage facility that is holding my belongings and have been told that they would get back to me in a couple hours with that address. The contract states that they have 30 business days maximum to deliver my belongings… Today makes business day 39. After giving me false delivery dates and lying to me over the last few weeks now today they just frankly say we are sorry we don’t have any information for you. It’s hard to believe that I actually paid this company to pick up my belongings and now cannot get them to finish the job. And just like all the other reviews that I’ve read they told me that Upon delivery I would owe them an additional $1000 dollars because I am to believe that my belongings weighed 2000 pounds more than I estimated But they also say they have no weigh tickets to prove that. So what can I even do in this situation? Continue to wait for my daughter and I to receive my belongings, having spent an entire summer in an empty house in a new city 10 hours from the home that we moved away from? Or try to hire someone that can rent a truck and go load my things and bring them to me? Am I to believe this company will even meet this person that I hired to allow them to pick up my things? Although I’ve already paid $1500 for this move that hasn’t happened well they tried to charge me more? I mean obviously I deserve money in return at this point. The amount of times I have called this company and been told that the manager is not available to speak to me is ridiculous. Feeling pretty desperate.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1800

Every piece of furniture that arrived to my apartment was either gouged, scratched, or broken. Two boxes and a floor lamp were lost as well. The inventory list was missing items that were never documented. The movers showed no concern for the condition of the items, and even tried bringing in boxes that did not belong to me. I was never given a Bill of Lading as I was told. All I have is a picture on my iPhone of the first page of the Bill of Laden. No follow ups to phone calls even when speaking directly to staff. I would not recommend your company to anyone.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3000

I never intentionally hired this company. I hired a company called American Moving & Storage from FL and they sent these guys from IL and NM to my place to pick up my stuff.

They arrived 9 hours late and insisted I sign a blank Bill of Lading, telling me they couldn't know how much the move would cost until they finished loading the truck, but couldn't start loading the truck until I signed the blank form saying I'd pay whatever it came to.

At 1am I finally signed it after I was told I could probably get back the money I paid the broker (AMS) because they gave me wrong information. I needed to leave the next day, so really I was just accepting an excuse to sign to get my stuff moving, since it wasn't like I could get another mover before I had to vacate.
The wound up charging me almost twice as much as my original estimate, while not taking the washing machine or sectional sofa! They even charged me $100 cash to dump the sofa somewhere for me, since I couldn't leave it in the house but they said they couldn't fit it on the truck with the next pickup they had to make. (In retrospect, they probably kept it and later sold it.)

You can read my review of AMS (the broker that hired them for my move) for more of the overall move details, but to stick just to Sparks' role, they failed to deliver about 20% of my belongings and several items were broken. They also use Bills of Lading (BOL) contracts that are not valid in the state I was moving from, New Mexico, because the fine print font size is only a third of what state law requires, they don't give you a copy of the BOL at time of pickup (or later), and they don't provide the 3 day cooling off period for door to door sales. This became door to door sales as soon as they mover started negotiating price and items to bring with me.

I've shared this information with them but they ignore it. They have not compensated me for broken or missing items I itemized nor acknowledged that their "contracts" are invalid. Yet they pass these invalid contracts on to yet other movers, who deliver the items, and demand even more money from you, waiving the invalid contract as their proof you owe before they will return your belongings.

I had to call the police to get my stuff back, but then that's the next mover in the chain, the ones Sparks Moving & Storage hired.

See how this works? You pay each one and at each step they can say it wasn't them that did you wrong and they can't fix anything.

If you use this mover, and wind up being charged more than your original estimate by more than 10%, and/or wind up with broken or missing items, you can go through the motions of contacting them for redress, but just realize that in the end any remedy will come from your disputing the charges with your bank (which you can't do if you gave them a personal check) and filing a Moving Fraud Complaint with fmcsa dot gov (part of the Dept. of Transportation) and the FTC (Federal Trade Commission). Take the time and do it!

Plus leave a review here, on Yelp and on Google Reviews to try to protect others.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $2400