Complaint Review: America's Best Movers - Sunrise Florida

On 1/20/2001 I requested bids for my move from Sterling, VA to Carson City NV. On 10/21/2001 I received a quote from Tina at America's Best Movers. The quote was to move 534 cubic feet, at $3.50 per cubic foot. The total for the quote was $1869.00, however the quote also mentioned that any additional cubic feet would be billed. The quote also mentioned that I would be billed for packing materials, however it provided no cost of these materials. This was the best of the two bids that I received in response to my request.

I called Tina to set up the move, and we set the move date for 10/28/2001. Tina told me that I would need to Fed-ex a check for $150 as a deposit on the move, and that the total would be due at the time that my belongings were delivered in NV.

The movers showed up on time on 10/28/2001 with a 15-foot truck (my estimate), and proceeded to pack my belongings and load the moving truck. Very early on, the driver said that he thought that my belongings would take up more than the 534 cubic feet that was in the estimate, but made no mention that it may be at a different rate than the $3.50 per cubic foot mentioned in the quote.

When the majority of my belongings had been packed and loaded into the truck (I estimate about 75% of my belongings), the driver again mentioned that it was going to be more than the 534 cubic feet that was in the quote. This time however, he said that the price per cubic feet would be a different price than what was in the quote. I could not get an answer from his as to what the price would be for each additional cubic foot.

Once all of my belongings had been packed and loaded, the driver filled out his paperwork and let me know that I had an additional 316 cubic feet, and that the additional cubic feet would be billed at $7.50 per cubic foot. Over twice the original price per cubic foot. The driver also charged me $775.50 for packing materials. His reason for the sharp price increase was that they were supposed to pick up another persons belongings with the same truck, and that that wouldn't be possible since my belonging took up so much extra space on their truck. This brought my total to $5012.50, a $3143.50 difference from the original quote.

Because I had promised my new employer that I would be in Nevada by the end of the week, I did not have time to refuse their service, look for a new moving company, and make new arrangements. I needed to get driving and was already behind schedule.

The driver then told me that despite what Tina had told me about when I would pay for my move, he needed one-half of the total right away. I had a money order made out for the original quote amount of $1869.00, which he accepted as the down payment. The driver then had the gall to tell me it was okay to tip them.

I was told that my belonging would arive withing 7-10 days, but after repeated phone calls, and countless lies from 'Joe', it was more than 6 weeks before they showed up. They even had the balls to tell me that my stuff was "in transit", and then that the truck had "broken down" only to tell me a week and 1/2 later that my stuff had been in storage in New Jersey and had just left.

This company is the worst of the worst and I hope that this will at least keep someone from using them.

Since then, I have learned that there are many other movers in the Ft. Lauderdale Florida area that use the same practices. I will never use a Florida mover again.