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  • Report:  #1005473

Complaint Review: Ally Vanlines - Boca Raton Florida

Reported By:
Ananda - Cameron Park, California, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:

Ally Vanlines
1489 West Palmetto Park Road, Suite 475 Boca Raton, 33431 Florida, United States of America
Phone:
(877) 227-9860
Web:
www.allyvanlines.com
Categories:
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
My specific experience with Ally Vanlines are that they are a scam. I was quoted $1,700 for a move and asked to place $488 deposit to hold the dates of the move with their freight driver. My room mate paid the deposit using a credit card.

We never got an invoice or any paperwork at all and when we tried to call the company all we'd ever get is voicemail, no matter who we tried, or what time of day it was. Scared that we were being scammed, my room mate requested a chargeback on his credit card for the deposit and we moved on to just rent our own moving van.

Two weeks after we'd given up on ever talking to anyone at Ally Vanlines again, they called to schedule the movers. I told them we charged back the deposit and wouldn't be using their services. I told them we couldn't get a living person on the phone and they acted like that was crazy talk. The person I spoke to was named Tony Gousgounis and he assured me it had all been a misunderstanding and he was sorry we wouldn't be using their moving company, but that he'd need my help to cancel the freight driver they'd contracted on my behalf.

Then they proceeded to send me documents for the price quote, saying that in their system, they had to have a signed estimate on the books to do anything with the job, including cancel it. I didn't believe that I should have to sign anything to cancel the job and I argued with out signing for the majority of the day and through several calls. Tony Gousgounis spent 6 hours begging and calling and convincing me to sign, so they could cancel the subcontracted freight driver they'd scheduled so that the driver didn't show up to move us, expecting the remainder balance.

I did not want to sign, but he wore me down, and eventually I signed to get the ever more panicked Tony off my phone. When he took my paperwork, he said he'd be canceling the job with it, apologized for the misunderstanding, and then told me he'd give me a great deal in the future if I ever needed to move and was willing to give them another shot. I figured signing was harmless because my room mate ad already requested the credit back for the deposit through his bank. I thought they couldn't use my signature with my room mate's credit card, because I'm not an authorized signer on his card, so I figured signing the price quote would not be damaging.

I was wrong. They used my signature to fight the chargeback at the bank level and have it overturned, keeping the deposit. They did this knowing we were not going to use the service, knowing we'd given them plenty of time to cancel the work, knowing my signature wasn't authorized for the card they were charging.

This company knew exactly what it was doing to scam that deposit, did it willfully, and should NEVER be used.

Assist me in spreading the word however you can so others don't get scammed. A moving company should never require a deposit. Legitimate moving companies do an on-site free estimate of what it will cost to move you. The *real* moving company, Allied Van Lines, did just that and required no deposit. Ally Vanlines is a scam.


5 Updates & Rebuttals

Sue Ann

Cincinnati,
Ohio,
Ally Vanlines and American Moving Group

#2Consumer Comment

Thu, July 24, 2014

I have experienced this guys other business American Moving Group. He is a one man show that I have tracked every address he has had, from CT to NY to FL. I have called him out and he asked me to cease communication with him. Please contact me with your experience I am putting a criminal case against this guy.


THE TRUTH

New World Order,
Alaska,
LIES

#3UPDATE EX-employee responds

Thu, January 16, 2014

10,000 moves a month is complete BS. Prove it.  Your lucky if you can book a total of 20 jobs with three estimators on the phone.

 If you do the math, that would be roughlt 80 jobs a month. Nobody (even companies that been in business over a hundred years)books that much.

Not only that.... you said Ananda sent the ally driver away. With what trucks. Your a broker. You have no drivers!!!! It strictly states in your pathetic argreement.

Than you stole your new agreement from another company,... tony is a pure chump. Than you bash and innocent lady! Pathetic. I should let the world know where you park your car. Your a theif and a bunch of cowards! 


Sharon

Alexandria,
Virginia,
Tony does NOT know what he's doing in this business

#4Consumer Comment

Thu, April 11, 2013

Tony Gousgounis is a Jersey Shore wannabe who does NOT know what to do in the moving industry, has zero experience.  Ally Vanlines is going to be the fastest open-and-shut moving broker there ever was.  Ally Vanlines has only been in operations for 3 months, and cannot handle 10,000 moves per month.  Not even the biggest van lines do that.  There's not even 10,000 MINUTES in a business month so this claim is complete bunk.

Ally is a broker only, not a transporter.  They have a DOT number but aren't licensed for actual transport.  They take your deposit and find a different mover for you, one you've never heard of.  And since Tony takes his $500 "binding estimate fee" off the top, you're still going to be left paying the cost of the full move to that other company, above and beyond Tony's cut.

Tony runs his business via Gmail and a virtual office.  His paperwork is an absolute joke (the words the FMCSA said when I showed my "binding estimate" to them) and he has NO IDEA what laws are going to come back and bite him in the a*s.  Brokers get huge fines for misoperations, and the owners are liable, toTony's going to have to sell off some of his fake bling, maybe stop getting fake tans.

So glad I did my research and realized what a joke Ally Vanlines and Tony Gousgounis was.


Ananda McGee

Cameron Park,
California,
United States of America
No, not a liar and a dead beat... just gullible and out $488.

#5Author of original report

Wed, February 06, 2013

This entire statement from the company is a lie, except the part where this company won the credit dispute.  They used the contract they got me to sign the day I cancelled the move (on the 12th, which is well over 5 business days of the 28th) to lie to the bank and keep the deposit.

I've filed a report with the better business bureau of Southeast Florida, and I'm ready to prove and substantiate every step of my story with phone logs, e-mails and call recordings.

If I'm the liar, you should be able to prove a truck went to my house on the day of the move and was turned away.  this didn't happen, so to do that I guess you'd have to buy off a driver to say it did.  I wouldn't put this past you at this point.  If I was suffering financial hardships how did I pay Budget rental company $2,525 (more than your entire job quote) a to move my own stuff on that same day?  Be careful of your outlandish lies, they can be discredited.  We have receipts to prove we could more than afford my move.  We paid for our move in full AND lost out on your $488 deposit, which still hasn't been returned.  Financial hardships?  I don't think so.

For the record, I signed the contract and doing so makes me a gullible push-over, but not a liar or a dead beat.  I did cancel the job with plenty of warning (the same day I signed the contract, in fact) but the company kept my refund anyway.  They did win the bank dispute with their amazing lies and the signed contract.  That doesn't make them right or less fraudulent as this new rebuttal will show.  No truck was sent to our house by Ally because THEY KNEW THE JOB WAS CANCELLED.  I was not suffering financial hardships, nor am I now.  I did not threaten to call the police.  In contrast on a call I recorded when requesting a refund from Ally Vanlines, they threatened to call the police ON ME for harassment, which is laughable.  The call is laughable and I wish I could post audio to this to share it.  I asked them to yes, please involve the police in this, and they hung up on me.

Now they're threatening to sue me for slander.  I have a TON of evidence that my story is true and last time I checked slander requires lying.

I am not a liar and I can and will prove it with the Better Business Bureau.


Julia

United States of America
Ananda Mcgee is a Liar and a Dead beat.

#6UPDATE Employee

Wed, February 06, 2013

Ally Vanlines does 10,000 + moves every single month, and there is not a single complaint about the quality of service, the pick up dates, or anything about Ally Vanlines scamming people. customers get delivered on time and with their stuff in the condition it was picked up in. This one woman, Ananda; canceled her move the day of pick up, she could no longer afford to pay for the move because of financial problems, and told the truck driver of Ally Vanlines to leave her property or she would call the police. Ally Vanlines Terms and Conditions, that she willingly signed; clearly state that you have 5 business days prior to the move to call and cancel to receive a full refund. Ananda states that she was forced to sign the contract, which is a lie, how can someone force you to sign a legally biding document unless they have a gun to your head, can she not think for herself? I doubt it... A blatant lie, and apparently she can not read; or is too lazy to read a legally binding document before she signs it. The 488 dollar deposit that she left to book the move was not refunded by the credit card company or the bank, even though she did dispute it; Ally Vanlines won the dispute, because they were clearly in the right, and had legally binding documents proving so, as well as tape recorded customer service phone calls placed by Ananda. Any REAL moving company requires a deposit up front in order to reserve the truck space and the dates that the customer desires, should anything change you have 5 business days prior to your desired move date to get a full refund. If you reserve a move and decide to cancel a day or two before, that is money that the company is losing out on, or that truck space could of been filled by someone else who needed to move. Ananda is a dead beat who doesn't want to pay her bills, and can not admit when she makes a mistake; an extremely egotistical person, and a pathological liar. She is currently being sued by Ally Vanlines for slander, and is under legal investigation by the Florida State Police, because she lied to the bank and merchant services company on tape record. She said the same bogus story about her being scammed and bla bla bla; when Ally Vanlines provided the legal documents that she signed, and the tape recorded customer service conversation that she had with Ally Vanlines, she clearly states that she knows she was inside her cancellation dates and had to turn the driver away because she could not afford the move anymore. It's funny because like I said before, Ally Vanlines does thousands of moves every single month, and not a single complaint. The rip off report she wrote about Ally, is a lie; and I actually feel sorry for this woman, because not being able to afford a mover or financial trouble in general is no laughing matter, but under no circumstances is lying; ok.. Please help me spread the word so that this does not happen to another good company. People who try to skip out on their bill, or violate a legally binding contract  and try to lie about it; get what they deserve. Ananda, I hope your financial troubles take a turn for the best, and good look in court; hopefully you don't end up in jail for perjury.

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