Complaint Review: Starving Students Movers - Los Angeles California

On August 30th, 2012, I employed Starving Students Movers to help me move my possessions from an apartment to my newly purchased condominium, only six miles away. Starving Students Movers promised the following guarantee when I hired them:

1.     Two strong, professional men would be sent;

2.     A moving truck large enough to accommodate a 4 bedroom, 2000 square foot home would be provided;

3.     Furniture pads would be provided free of cost to ensure protection of my large pieces of furniture;

4.     The rate would be $84.99/hour, with a 2-hour minimum, plus 22% added to the total;

5.     Driving time in Los Angeles is doubled (i.e., if it takes fifteen minutes to drive from location to location, the amount of time would total thirty minutes);

6.     A guarantee that no additional or hidden charges would be incurred in the price; and

7.     My possessions would be cared for with the utmost respect.

However, these are not the results we received from Starving Students Movers.  Following is a list of our complaints with
regards to the two charges:

1.    One man took two fifteen-minute restroom breaks in the middle of the day;

2.    The other man constantly kept making inappropriate advances on my girlfriend and making her feel totally uncomfortable and it was completely unprofessional;

3.    Neither man brought any water or water bottle to drink from on a sweltering hot day in Los Angeles, to which I spent over $40 for several bottles of water and Gatorade for them for fear that they would collapse otherwise;

4.    I opted to hire a third man to help with the unload at the condo but he stopped working 45 minutes before the job was done;

5.    One man sat in his truck for over 30 minutes hand-calculating my total while only one man finished the job;

6.    The truck did not accommodate all of the property within our apartment, which was only 1,200 square feet and included no large appliances such as a washer/dryer, dishwasher or refrigerator.  We had to rent a U-Haul truck the next day in order to finish our move, which included 2 dressers, 10 boxes, 1 vanity, plants, a sofa and a desk with a hutch as well as lamps and a few chairs;

7.    Furniture pads were not offered.  Instead, I was told by the two men that if I wanted my furniture protected I had to spend $29.99 to buy industrial plastic wrap and have each individual piece of furniture wrapped by them.  This added an exorbitant amount of time to the overall move;

8.    The rate was calculated at $89.99/hour instead of $84.99/hour which is what I was quoted;

9.    In addition to the rate discrepancy and the $29.99 charge for the industrial plastic wrap, I was also charged three additional hidden fees: $18.40 for mattress bags, $3.00 for tape and a PUC fee (of which I am not sure it is) for $5.83;

10.  During the unload, boxes that had clearly been labeled FRAGILE, CHINA or CRYSTAL, etc. were turned upside down and very carelessly placed about;

11.  Boxes were crushed;

12.  Furniture had scrapes and scratches that went right through the industrial saran wrap;

13.  Boxes and items were tossed carelessly throughout two rooms and I was told that if I wanted the movers to put the boxes in the rooms as they were labeled, I would be charged additional;

14.  Once the truck was fully unloaded, I saw a stack of furniture pads that extended from floor to ceiling that were never utilized for the protection of my furniture; 

15.  In the end, I was told my balance due was $565.08 but 45 minutes later (when the job was actually complete) was told that the balance was $622.35 because the computer was now working and could accurately calculate the price;

16.  The man who gave me my bill couldnt even verbalize a three-digit number, such at six-hundred-twenty-two-dollars-and-thirty-five cents.  Instead, he had to say the amount digit-by-digit in order try to explain my balance to me.

I called Starving Students Movers the very next day, August 31st, to complain about the service I was given.  I was sent to a voice mail of a woman in claims who has never called me back.  That same night I decided to call Discover to question the charge and find what kind of protection I had.  Since then, I have tried calling back to Starving Students Movers to get the complaint department on the phone but to no avail.  I feel I have been completely taken advantage of and have no form of recourse.

Finally, SSM contacted me to offer me $80 off of my $1,200+ bill.  They accepted NO blame and said that everything seemed normal to them.  ARE THEY SERIOUS??????