Do not use Bekins Moving! I mean it.
Written: Oct 09 '01
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Pros: Quick set up, flexible schedule
Cons: Unreliable, wrong delivery time, theft
The Bottom Line: Bekins is a company to avoid. Corrupt employees, rude customer service and no empathy for the plight people face when moving across the country.
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| Beauregard's Full Review: Bekins Van Lines |
Few things are as precarious as a move across the country. You rely on so many services and people, hoping to start a new life in a new city with as little disruption as possible. So, you secure a new job, secure new housing, have going-away parties with local friends, and, finally, board the plane to head 3,000 miles to your new home. Wait, you ask, how do you move your possessions those 3,000 miles?
Well, let me interrupt this happy little scenario and tell you the answer you should know: DO NOT USE BEKINS MOVING COMPANY!
O.K., the positives:
They were able to schedule a truck to be at my house within 2 weeks and were able to accommodate packing up only 3 rooms in a house I was sharing, without inadvertently packing my roommates' things. And, the packing job was great -- everything was packed securely, including my car.
You may ask, "Well, what more is there to moving than flexible scheduling and secure packing?" Try trustworthy drivers and on-time delivery.
The negatives:
So I bid my possessions adieu on January 26, and was told they would be on the opposite coast in 8 to 10 days (February 3-5). Seeing as my lease began on February 1, this left me at least 2 days to establish occupancy in my new condo before my items arrived. I touched down on February 1, intending to live in my condo for a couple of days with just a suitcase of essentials while waiting for the truck. I rented a car at the airport and drove to the condo.
My first surprise was that my car that had been loaded back on the east coast just 6 days before, was now sitting in the parking lot of the condo complex. I immediately knew something was wrong. What did this mean? Well, I soon found out the Bekins driver must have made record time across the country and arrived at the condo a full 3 days early (in 5 days!). No one had bothered to call me. The condo manager had the movers unload my things into a storage area in the main building, as my condo was not ready when the truck pulled in and the driver demanded he unload my items that very minute.
So, not only was I not called and informed on this early arrival (I could have bumped up my flight, or they could have stored my items in their warehouse for 2 days then driven it out to the condo on the scheduled date), but I now had to lug couches, chairs, beds, etc. from a storage area, across a parking lot and up stairs to my condo!!!! I called Bekins to have them do this for me and they basically laughed at me, saying they had delivered the items to the address indicated. There was no reasoning with them. (The Better Business Bureau in my city has a scathing report on them courtesy of me.) To top all of this off, a dresser-top box that contained some rare coins, fraternity pins, class rings and other memorabilia, had been broken into and emptied of its contents. I know it was the moving company and not the condo folks, because this box had been in my car that was the last thing to be loaded in the truck. The driver clearly had pilfered it while taking a break on the trip across the country, or while unloading it from the truck into the condo lot. Nothing too valuable, probably less than $1,000 worth of items, but much more valuable to me for nostalgia's sake.
Every time I now see a Bekins truck on the road and sneer at it and then think, "Oh, those poor people who chose Bekins."
Bekins is not trustworthy, and that's the last thing you need when going through the stress of a new city, and new job and a new home. Do yourself a favor and go with another moving company.
Recommended:
No
Punctuality: Showed up early
Lost Goods: Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 6500
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Epinions.com ID:
Beauregard
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: Portland, Oregon
Reviews written: 129
Trusted by: 129 members
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