arghhhhhhhhh

I had a moving date for 9/18/08 and had sent in my check for $160 for the deposit which was cashed about a week before hand and had not received a phone call confirming my moving date. On the Monday before my move, I tried calling the company and was transferred to a call center, I believe in a different country, and the gentleman told me a dispatcher would call me back in 5 minutes. I didn't hear back from anyone so i called again, this time the same gentleman told me that the company had gone out of business, that I needed to find another company to move my stuff, and to have a nice day!!! This 2 days before I was scheduled to move. Of course, I haven't seen my $160 again... If anyone knows anyway I might be able to get my $$$ back, please let me know!!!!!

gross company

An initial estimate of $6153 was made over the phone by Discover Moving. It was based on $.54 per pound, estimated weight of 8702 lbs, and included $1200 for packing. We signed the Moving Quote a few weeks before the move would take place. However, when the movers arrived on Wednesday, May 14 at 1:30pm, they indicated that it would cost somewhat more, but said they couldnt provide a final estimate until they started loading the truck. After loading the truck late that evening, the foreman, Roni, quoted me a revised price of $15,000 and indicated that if they itemized everything the following morning it would be much more (the foreman indicated that $15,000 was a . He also requested a $600 tip for him and his crew, stating that if I help him out, he would help me out. I refused to accept the new price of $15,000 and instead called the police. The officer arrived and said that there were two options: (1) unload the truck and pay the movers for packing materials and labor or (2) agree on a new price. The officer then left. At 11:00pm my husband and I, now exhausted and worried about our baby, agreed to pay $9000. I signed the Bill of Lading, gave the foreman a personal check for $4500, verified that this was a flat fee and that there would be no more charges added on later based on weight or other obscure details, and the truck drove away. The next afternoon at 3:00pm, the owner of the moving company, Lior Dangoor, called from Charlotte and said they would not do the move for less than $11,000. He said that the truck weighed 278 lbs more than our original (phone) estimate of 8702 lbs. I was then given two options: (1) come to Charlotte and gather our possessions for an undisclosed sum or (2) agree to a new price of $11,567.85. The owner indicated that the foreman who negotiated the $9000 price was not authorized to do so and that the contract that I had signed the night before was invalid. At this point, fearing extortion, we stopped payment on our check for $4500. Anthem Claim Management was apparently hired by Discover Moving & Storage, Inc. and on Friday, May 16, Joshua, who works for (or possibly owns) Anthem Claim Management faxed me the paperwork that Discover Moving & Storage, Inc. had but did not leave with me on May 14. It seems that I did in fact sign some documents for Packing Materials Charges and a Revised Written Estimate. However, these documents were blank when I was instructed to sign them within 30 minutes of the crew arriving at my house, and I never saw them again until they were faxed to me on Friday, May 16. Therefore I never knew how they were calculating their charges. On Monday, May 19 we were contacted by Mr. Dangoor again and he requested the $11,567.85 for our possessions. My husband negotiated with him, and they agreed on a total remaining balance of $8,750. I asked him to fax me something in writing. He sent me a handwritten document with his signature cut off of the bottom. I typed up a document similar to his but with more details so that he could not charge us for anything extra. I sent the document to Mr. Dangoor via e-mail on Wednesday, May 21. On Thursday, May 22 I had not heard back from him and called Discover Moving & Storage, Inc. No one answered the phone and I left a voicemail message. Finally at 4:59pm Mr. Dangoor called me back and said that he had been speaking with someone at the DOT and that legally he could not give me a discount and that the final amount due would have to be the $9,000 that we agreed to on May 14. He said that he did not send the packing materials list to the person at DOT because if he did he would have to charge us $11,500, so I should not be confused when I see that the packing is only $3,000 on the contract. Mr. Dangoor also told me that he was advised by the person at the DOT to ship our possessions to Arizona and put them in storage near our new house; when we finally pay him our outstanding balance we would be sent the key for the storage facility and we could unload our possessions ourselves. However, Mr. Dangoor said that he would not do that because itnot very nice.In spite of our conversation and the amount discussed, the fax we received is asking for the inflated price of $15,732 for our things an amount that was calculated after the truck left my house on May 14. Furthermore, the revised written estimate sent to me by Anthem Claim Management has been altered since it was faxed to us on May 16; reasons for the rescission of the original estimate have been added to my signed copy without my authorization. These include marking the revised estimate as binding; indicating packing was the reason for rescission; indicating weight was a reason for rescission; and filling in the original dollar estimate in the box for the original weight estimate and forging my initials next to the number. Mr. Dangoor also states in his cover letter of the fax that if we do not pay the full amount (whatever that is) he will be putting our things in storage in Arizona, as stated above, exactly as he told me he would not do. I was contacted again by Mr. Dangoor at 12am Sunday, May 25. He left a voicemail message stating that he is still planning on having our things in Arizona on Tuesday, May 27, but that he needs the $4500 initial payment and that we will pay the other $4500 upon delivery, before the truck is ever opened. He goes on to say that if we do not pay in full he will put our things in storage near our house in Arizona as stated above and in his fax from May 22. Because of the 110% rule, my husband and I believe that we should not have been legally charged more than $6768.30 in order to get our things packed, loaded, shipped to us, unloaded and put together as stated in our original Moving Quote. Discover Moving & Storage, Inc. had a reasonable estimate of our household weight (they were only off by about 3%) and they had an exhaustive inventory list that we spent hours compiling. We have now received our things and paid $8,750 in addition to the $495.28 deposit that we paid on March 28. Several items have been damaged, and we still feel that we more than overpaid and were definitely taken advantage of. Legally we should be compensated $2,476.98 plus the cost of all damages.

Do not use this company!!!!

If you think that the reviews are too good to be true they are. This company is working a scam on the American people. Lior Dangoor is the owner and is from Israel. There is a cultural gap here - either he does not understand the laws or does not care about them. If you look at the positive reviews on this site and others, either the names of the reviewers seem foreign, or they use poor English grammar/spelling. That because Liors employees are online all day long writing the reviews themselves! If they see one negative review, they post five false positive ones within a few days of each other. I am sure that they also use their very young staff (most of the young women I spoke with were 20-22 years old) to write false reviews online because they are innocent and naive. My experience was horrible and I would not wish it on anyone. We were quoted a price of $6,000 including packing. The movers showed up in the middle of the afternoon instead of the early morning, and by 10pm they were telling us that we owed $15,000. I had to call the police and have the officer explain to Lior over the phone that he could not legally take our things and hold it hostage for the huge amount of money that he was demanding. [Legally, moving companies have to deliver your goods and then have 30 days afterward to get additional payment from you. Also, they cannot legally charge you more than 10% of the original non-binding estimate (over the phone is usually non-binding) which means that if they quoted you $5,000 they cannot legally charge you more than $5,500. This is called the 110% Rule.] Anyway, that is exactly what Discover Moving Storage did: we ended up agreeing to pay $9,000 and the next day Lior called and demanded another $2,000 and said that if we didn't pay it he would put our things in storage and we could come and get it ourselves. This is illegal. After a week of negotiations and major emotional strain on my entire family, who were all helping in some way, we got our things delivered. Several things were damaged, as I had feared. The main thing that I want is for people to understand that this is a SCAM - this company has been in business for less than a year, and last year they were in business under another name: Highway Moving (look up their reviews!) They were only in business for 14 months when they closed up shop because of the high numbers of complaints. Please please PLEASE research your companies thoroughly and do your research on these websites: http://www.safersys.org/, and http://www.protectyourmove.gov/. And if you look up a company on the BBB website and there is a number to call if you have any questions - call it and inquire about the company! In no time at all they will be closing up shop and starting an identical business under a new name. They probably already have it registered.

The worst

I would highly discourage people from using this company! I have never felt so mistreated. The only good part was the storage...the movers were a living nightmare. Here is some of what happened:

1)I called to ask about how to pack and what to pack in boxes. No answer. I called again (both times left messages) no response. I emailed, and again no response.

2)Movers arrive and say that everything even large items need to be in boxes. Okay, that's understandable. They say no problem they will use their boxes (this is after I offer to drive 2min and grab some boxes)...they insist..

3)They pack boxes half full.

4)We sit down to go over charges (after the truck is fully loaded) and he goes ...ohhh wow they were way off on their price quote. His number was MORE THAN DOUBLE!!

5)I look and he is charging over $600 in BOXES! Some were $30+ for a SINGLE BOX that I could get any number of places for $5 each or less.

6)I look outside and they are charging me for 2 trucks because they didn't want to have to bother stacking things to send to storage.

7)Storage was great. I liked the people I worked with there.

8)Trucker calls the day before arriving (they had given no set date before then) I couldn't get to the phone and he leaves a nasty message about how he won't come if I don't answer. I call back about 5min later and he is even worse, threatening to turn the truck around and send my things to storage if I miss the call again!

9)Trucker arrives, takes one glance and says he's not bringing the truck in!

10)2 guys get out of the truck and help me look for a way to carry furniture to the apartment. I talk to them and they were PICKED UP OFF THE STREET! Unprofessional, untrained, uninsured BUMS are in charge of my personal belongings?!?!?!?!

11)The truck driver HITS ON ME saying how can he read the apartment map with me standing there looking good! WHAT?

12)The truck driver asks me to show him the apartment. He takes me inside and closes the door. Between me and the door he says I need to sign the papers before he'll unload the truck! I just wanted him out of there so I did!

13)He then informs me it will be another $900 to carry the furniture inside from the truck!!!! This was all included in my original payment! They are supposed to carry in AND assemble my furniture!

14)Driver states that the charge is for long-carry because he won't drive the truck closer. I agree to do a long carry only if he takes the truck and puts it a little closer in a near straight shot drive-in but he refuses.

15)I refuse to pay so he DUMPS ALL MY BELONGINGS ON THE CURB and drives off saying he has another appointment to keep. The whole time his BUMS were unloading he didn't even come out of the cab of the truck!

16)After moving it all and unpacking it myself I find the boxes that they packed to be half full.

17)75% of the boxes are smashed in half including their oh so expensive $30 boxes!

18)Every fragile thing I own was in ruins! They smashed all my lampshades. Broke nearly every piece of glass. Mementos were in tatters...

19)Our flat screen TV won't even turn on after the move! It wasn't even a year old!

They were the most unprofessional company that will charge you double what they quoted after they have your stuff packed on a truck! Their employees won't call you back unless it's to get your appointment, and their drivers can basically do whatever they want when they are thousands of miles away from headquarters. For your sake do not use this company!