Want a nightmare...choose Bekins
Written: Jul 09 '04
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Pros: cheap
Cons: you get what you pay for..trying to save a buck
The Bottom Line: Use United Van Lines. It's not worth the headache Bekins will cause you. Believe me. It's not worth it...
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| ljessen's Full Review: Bekins Van Lines |
This is a copy of the letter we sent to the BBB and Bekins (no response from Bekins of course) if you don't have time to read it here's the nutshell version:
they don't honor contracts
they don't return calls
they lose and break things
they don't care
disorganized and poorly run company..even the CEO would not return our repeated request for help locating our lost items.
This letter includes information regarding our claim as well as services contracted for, but not performed by Bekins Transportation. Our Agent, Suzanne Purifoy 972-434-2666 was not entirely honest with us regarding delivery date (capability to guarantee delivery, services to be performed and items insured).
Guaranteed delivery date- We contracted with Bekins because we had a specific delivery date (2-day window) that needed to be met. We were assured this could be done. After at least 25 phone calls to Bekins (various departments including Suzanne herself) we were able to track down our shipment which was delivered 5 days late and with 10 minutes notice. We specifically told the driver that we needed AT LEAST a 3-hour notice of his arrival because we were in another state. The driver called 10 minutes from our house so unloading commenced without our being present.
We incurred several costs and hardships because of the delivery date not being met. I had to buy clothes for work since I started my new job on Monday, June 7. I have attached the receipts and expect full compensation for them. Luckily we had relatives we could stay with since we have 2 small children and 2 cats. We are attaching the grocery bills and gas expense for traveling.
Delivery- Delivery of our shipment was made at night after dark. We contracted for professional movers to handle the loading and unloading of our items. Professional movers were NOT used to unload our shipment. They made inappropriate remarks to my wife and her sister. They were contracted at the last minute by the driver and were not employees or regular contractors for Bekins. There was damage to several items outlined in our claim that happened because of unloading by these individuals. Damage was done to our brand new home. Walls were cut, dented, scuffed and marked by careless individuals contracted by the driver of our shipment. We have taken photographs of all damages.
During the unloading of our items, the individuals paid to unload our items started to unload items from someone else’s shipment. My wife discovered this and the driver had them return those items to the truck. My guess is that the same thing happened with our missing items and that’s why they can’t be found.
Services contracted for and not performed- We contracted for packing of breakable items, loading, shipping, unloading, set-up of: beds, mirror on dresser, and crib. No set-up was performed. Several breakable items were left unpacked.
“Bekins Packed” items missing- the bulk of our missing items are those that Bekins’ representatives packed- 2 VCR’s, stereo, Queen sized mattress, etc.-listed in our claim. Bekins packed these items and did not label them. There was no way to keep an inventory of boxes we did not pack when we do not know the contents of them. Most items that are missing weren’t known until we unpacked the boxes. My wife and her sister discovered the missing mattress just after the driver had left. They jumped in the car and caught up with him. He searched his truck again, but said he found nothing else of our shipment. It was 11:30PM, how could he possibly know everything of ours was out of the truck when he didn’t even have a flashlight? When they were finished unloading, my wife went into the truck with our flashlight to find a board that had fallen off of an office shelf. She found several other items that they had missed.
The overall experience with Bekins has been terrible. Not one single person (our agent included) will take any responsibility for any of the problems they’ve caused. Each person seems to hold the driver solely responsible for everything that went wrong. I find this hard to believe. The core of the issues seem to stem from inadequate sharing of information through Bekins. Tracking our shipment was nearly impossible.
The customer service reps we spoke with told us they never guarantee delivery dates. They provide a 1-2 week window. It is our opinion that our agent did not coordinate with the Operations Department at Bekins/AAMCO, Sheldon Brown, nor did she follow up to ensure timely delivery. We spoke with our driver regarding our shipment date (after we were finally able to track down his number). Damien (Driver # 0549) told us the date for delivery the entire time was to be June 10-11 not the 4-5. Customer Service confirmed this.
The experience of trying to track down our missing items was as bad as the experience of trying to track down our shipment. Zero help. Our agent provided no assistance. We were put into the voicemail of Felicia Reochus (located in Illinois) whom is the only person in the entire company responsible for tracking lost items. She has only returned our numerous phone calls one time to let us know she would track our items down and call us right away. I have also left a voicemail for Doug Schultz in Illinois whose name I was given as a backup for Felicia. He has not returned my call. We’ve left SEVERAL messages for Sheldon Brown in Operations in Denton, TX-he has never returned our call. We’ve left a voicemail for the President of Bekins, Larry Mazzoulo, for some hopeful resolution-still no reply.
We have filed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau and expect compensation for our loss and damages.
Recommended:
No
Punctuality: Showed up late
Lost Goods: Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 5,000
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Epinions.com ID:
ljessen
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Reviews written: 1
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