Complaint Review: USA Van Lines - Linden New Jersey

Our quote was for $2400 to move 575 cubic feet of our belongings from Boston, MA to Albuquerque, NM.

Move was scheduled for Monday, September 29^th. Dispatch called us midday on Sunday, September 28^th and asked if we could take delivery that day. We said no, that we were not ready and that they needed to come on Monday as scheduled. A few minutes later the truck driver, George, called and begged us to take delivery that day. We said no, but he continued to beg us until we finally said yes. He showed up at our home with two other guys at 4pm and started loading the truck around 6pm. He said initially that it looked like we would have more than 575 cubic feet, but that he could not tell how much until the truck was loaded.

They finished loading the truck at 1am. At this point George told us that we had used 1250 cubic feet in the truck. We had no way of knowing if this was true or not. We had seen the empty part of the truck before they began loading our items, and it did not seem possible that we had used that much space. The truck was completely packed full, with mattresses and two bikes strapped to the outside of the truck, so it was impossible for us to see inside and measure the space after it had all been packed. Another customer's belongings were taking up a good part of the truck. We argued the point with George but he would not back down. He said he would give us a discount of $225, bringing our total cost down to $4700. We had already made a $300 deposit several months before, so at that point we owed him $2200 (50% of the remaining $4400). He warned us that if we didn't sign the paperwork saying that the job cost $4700, that they would measure the cubic feet after he got to the warehouse and we could end up paying more. We felt we had no choice but to sign the paperwork and pay him. We paid him $2200 in a personal check because he convinced us not to use a credit card, even though the company had been telling us up to that point that we could use a credit card. The check was cashed on Tuesday, September 30^th.

We received delivery of our items at 8:00pm on Saturday, October 4^th. Many of the items were damaged, one was completely broken, and one item was missing. Once our items were removed from the truck, the driver John told us that we had only used between 650-700 cubic feet of space. Based on 700 cubic feet, our total cost of the move would have been only $2700. We had no choice but to pay John the remaining $2200 in order to get our items. We paid $2000 in money orders and $200 in cash.

Bank of America is unable to cancel our money orders and unable to reverse payment on our personal check. They advised us to file a police report and seek legal counsel. 

We called Shannon at USA Van Lines on Sunday, September 28^th and Monday, September 29^th to report the difficult experience we were having with the movers. We received no response. We emailed Shannon on Wednesday, October 1^st and received no response. We called USA Van Lines on Sunday, October 5^th to report that we had been overcharged by $2000 and were told by a manager that he would get back to us in 1-2 days. We called twice to follow up on Monday, October 6^th and were told both times that a manager was not available and that our message would be passed along and they would get back to us. We told them at this point that we would be filing a police report if we did not hear back from them. We have received no response.

We secured legal counsel and USA Moving Service / USA Van lines has done nothing but give them the run around as well. At one point they offered us a $400 settlement but this was just a fraction of the money that they overcharged us. 

We also have visual proof that we were overcharged as I took many pictures of the truck and the space that we used in it. 

This company is well versed at playing this game and they know that people will not sue them because it would cost tens of thousands of dollars to get them in court. They will continue to rip off their customers so long as people keep using them. 

Please do yourself a favor and stay away from this company!