If you have a problem with a mover contact
http://www.azdwm.gov/ Weights and Measures
We were not aware of this agency until it was too late to file a complaint.
During the move take detailed notes... recording times of problem situations. Take photos and report damage immediately. Most importantly, be sure the company sends an estimator to your home to give you a written quote on the cost of the move. If they don't, they are not a reputable company.
This is our story....
The owner gave me a "worse case scenario" quote over the phone of $680.00. No one came to the house for a written estimate. Knowing the square footage of our home and where we were moving .... a high rise downtown with a loading dock and freight elevator, a very local move. He said we would need a third man. That was included in the total for the quote. The owner denies the amount of the quote. Why would I go with them if I didn't get a quote? We have other written quotes considerably lower but my husband wanted to go with Topline because they had moved us three years prior ($350.00) with no problems.
They were fifteen minutes late on moving day and we were charged for their lateness. We had everything boxed and organized to help things run smoothly. My husband was working as a fourth man and worked very hard all day moving boxes.
Felix, one of the movers, told us Thomas, another of the movers, wasn't one of the companies full time movers and he didn't really know what he was doing and he would have to keep an eye on him. He was told NOT to touch my dining table. The Topline website states only full time experienced movers. Thomas was called last minute because of a shortage. Felix was constantly correcting what he was doing. This is why my table base and floor was damaged . Thomas didn't wrap the table base in cardboard, shrink wrap and blankets before he put it on the dolly and didn't follow orders. Felix explained this to us after we saw the broken table base. He said he should have watched him more closely.
The movers took a long lunch and went back to the office to get dollies on our time. Paul wasn't able to park the truck (poor driving skills) in the appropriate location at the high rise close to the freight elevator so time was added because of the distance factor.
The last piece of furniture moved was my heavy armoire which was dragged at an angle over the unprotected hardwood floor because Thomas couldn't get a grip on it and lift it with Felix. I watched and listened to the scratching of the floor. Two foot curved, deep scratch into the bedroom. It was dark by that time and I didn't see the scratch until morning at which time I called Topline to report it. They said they would take care of it because it was obviously made by the heavy armoire. The owner never came to our home to assess the damage.
8:30AM to 6:20PM for a 1600 square foot house....four men working. $1050.00. It was a nightmare.
When we questioned the total, the owner was called and he yelled, threatened and called my husband names. We had to hang up because he became belligerent. I could hear him from across the room.
We ended up paying the $1050.00 that night because we were fearful of the owner's threats.
$500.00 damaged table base with a $250.00 glass top we now can't use. Topline paid us $46.80.
Estimate to repair the damaged floor $350.00. Topline paid us nothing and claimed we damaged the floor.
The fact they were negligent and hired an incompetent mover, that they knew was a bad risk according to Felix, cancels out their ridiculously low settlement. The consumer deserves experienced people to handle their precious possessions. This was fraudulent .
The movers said Topline would take care of the damage problems and take it out of their checks over time. It happens all the time they said. Don't worry they would make it good. They took our damaged table base and we haven't seen it, just a photo from their warehouse ...discarded like trash. It was a birthday gift from my husband.
This is the latest email we received from Topline....
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 3:14 PM
To: Neff,Dennis
Subject: Table base
The table base is going into the garbage unless you want it. You can come pick it up if you choose too. I can set the base outside my office so you wont have to face me if you like and Im sure you do not want to do that. Let me know I will be throwing it into the garbage on sat. All I ever did was call you a crook which is nothing but a valid statement. read more