If we could give 0 stars we would. Since we are unable to, let it be known that the 3 workers who completed the move, per our property manager, were hard working. This obligatory star can be for them rather than the sandbagging company they work for. If you are considering using this company and are falling for their scam of a "fair" initial estimate - DON'T.
To set the stage for why we are so frustrated and to save anyone else from falling prey to the Pink Zebra company scam: We are a military family and completed over 20 moves in our career - in other words, we are not new to any part of this process. Following the unfortunate event of our tenant's death, our rental manager, who is one of the best in the business, found the Pink Zebra to pack and move the deceased tenant's items from the 2-bedroom, first floor condo unit. The quote that was offered to her appeared fair and in alignment as far as the amount of estimated time for the move. We signed the contract and (with much regret), did not read or give much attention to the clause that says, "HOURLY RATE (DETERMINED BY ACTUAL NUMBER OF HOURS REQUIRED TO COMPLETE MOVE)". The original quote was for $1317 and estimated 3 hours and 45 minutes for the move with a team of 3 movers. For additional reference, our family recently completed a military move this summer, also with 3 movers, out of a 4 bedroom, 3-story townhouse that is more than twice the size of this unit and had far more stuff; it took those movers took approximately 4 hours.
Imagine our surprise when we received the updated invoice following the completion of the move - that the invoice had more than doubled to $2,713 - a 110% increase from the quoted and estimated rate. Their rationale? It took 9 hours and 45 minutes! That is a *6 hour* difference in what they estimated for a small 2-bedroom unit. Flabbergasted, my husband and I called their manager, Kelsey. She seemed to hear us when we raised several red flags on the amount of time it took and the huge difference from the estimate. Kelsey agreed to adjust the invoice and asked us what we felt was a fair price for the move. We all verbally agreed over the phone to pay up to $2317 (a $1000 increase from the quoted price) to reach resolution and made the final payment with her over the phone, to include a large tip for the movers. She indicated she would send the final and completed invoice our way.
Upon reading the "updated" invoice the next morning, we called again, confused because we had agreed to an updated price given the vastly incorrect "estimate" of time and our shock that a move for the amount of items, size of unit, and ground floor location would result in that much time. Again, we spoke with Kelsey, who changed her tune and boldly lied about our conversation the day before. Her response this time was that "they were not allowed" to update an invoice and "she had only asked us what we were willing to pay", and said she did not agree to making any changes. She provided us the owner, Cameron Calhoun's number and indicated he was on the phone, but would call us back if we left a message. We called multiple times and did not receive a call back.
Here we are, approximately 1 month later, and we received a threatening email indicating that if final payment is not made within the month, our account will be submitted to debt collection. We have made additional attempts to reach Cameron, to no avail. We are left paying this absurd amount of additional money, after we reached what we agreed to as a final resolution. We intend to take this up with the Better Business Bureau, are planning to consult with the local legal system, and have warned our rental property management group to steer clients away from this scam of a company. read more