Sullivan Moving & Storage

[Sullivan Moving & Storage Company / Mayflower Transit]

For those of you who do not want to take a long time to read my review, I will put the most important information upfront.
Problem 1: WRONG DELIVERY (A container for Sydney was delivered to HK; the other container for HK is still on the way to Sydney. Sullivan mixed them up in US)
Problem 2: BAD ATTITUDE EVEN AFTER MAKING THIS TERRIBLE FAULT (Sullivan is not responsive / not updating us even after its fault. My impression is that Sullivan does not care about its customers even this situation!!)
-> DO NOT BE FOOLED INTO THINKING SULLIVAN WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU OR YOUR BELONGINGS WELL AFTER YOU HAVE AN INSPECTION - IT WILL HAVE TWO FACES ONCE YOU SIGNED THE CONTRACT.
Problem 3: HIDDEN COSTS / OWN INTERPRETATION REGARDLESS OF THE CONTRACT

Here are the details.

Problem 1: [WRONG DELIVERY] Our family have two containers: one for Hong Kong, and the other for Sydney, Australia. The company mixed up our two containers in US. In HK, we received the container supposed to be delivered to Sydney (What a surprise!), and the other one supposed to be delivered to HK is still on the way to Sydney. You can imagine how your life will be without your belongings. Of course, the expected delivery date is not guaranteed one, so you might expect a certain level of inconvenience when you move to other places. However, this is different story. Can you do this for two months due to the moving company’s fault? We are having very difficult times living without our personal effects. We had to buy redundant items that we should have received already in HK, and had to go out for lunch or dinner more frequently than we usually do. We are going to file an inconvenience claim. In sum, your containers could be found in other places. Be careful.

Problem 2: [BAD ATTITUDE] We were completely shocked in HK due to the wrong delivery. We asked this company about its detailed plan of actions to deal with its fault. However, we didn’t get any detailed plans (we got just general short email, that is it). So, we itemized each question to help address this issue, but AFTER TWO WEEKS we DIDN’T GET ANY SINGLE RESPONSE. We are the one who called the local moving company to find out what is going on, and Sullivan didn’t respond it. This is what you are going to get from Sullivan if you sign the contract. Be careful. Sullivan does not respect its customers. Isn’t it this company’s responsibility to update relevant information to customers to fix this problem? This is obviously Sullivan’s mistakes, but we felt that this company is acting as if there isn’t anything happened. When the company inspect your house, you might think that this company will take care of you and your belongings very well. This was same for us. But, DO NOT BE FOOLED. Once you sign the contract, they won’t. Besides this absurd situation, the company has not been responsive / not kept its promise: Sullivan told us that we would get a regular (say weekly) updates about our shipment, but it never happened. This is what this company is. Please be careful in choosing your moving company. You will spend a lot of time and efforts if you work with this company.

Problem 3: [HIDDEN COSTS / OWN INTERPRETATION REGARDLESS OF THE CONTRACT]
I was informed that I need to pay extra delivery charges because my apartment is on 4th floor. I didn’t quite understand why this is the case. See the below my contract with the company.
"Rate Includes: Dedicated move manager from door to door, .. , normal access loading at residence, .. , complete delivery to residence with normal access, .." Also, "Rate excludes: .. charges relating to limited access delivery (.., 3rd floor or higher with NO elevator use, ..)”
My apartment has an elevator, and the local moving company can use this elevator. Even though the contract says “3rd floor or higher with NO elevator use” will be charged for extra costs, Sullivan replied to me saying that “that is not how it is interpreted”. I was shocked again. Why do we need a contract? This is something useless? How can anyone interpret this contract in this way? How do you interpret “with NO elevator use” term in the contract?
The funny thing is that our family has the same, but separate contract for HK moving. Terms in the contract regarding rates are exactly the same with the contract for Sydney. But, when this company wrongly delivered Sydney stuffs to HK, they didn’t charge any extra costs for delivery even though our apartment in HK is located in 15th floor.
In sum, Sullivan interpret the contract with its customers in its own convenient way. They ignore what the contract says. My impression is that they first charge (or ask) you any extra costs, and if you simply accept this extra charge without any suspicion, then they feel lucky to have extra money even though it is not appropriate. Why the same contracts have different interpretation? I still do not know.

PLEASE BE CAREFUL WHEN MAKING A CONTRACT WITH SULLIVAN.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7191