Broken Dreams of an Easy Move
Written: Feb 01 '01 (Updated Mar 08 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Customer Service Experience: |
 |
|
| Ease of Filing Claim: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Cheapest estimate of all major movers
Cons: Arrived late. Broke antique furniture. Dragged bed mattress thru mud.
The Bottom Line: This was based on one horrible experience and maybe it was isolated but it was so bad that I will never forget my move with Bekins.
|
|
|
| aplatt's Full Review: Bekins Van Lines |
I can speak with some experience on this subject having moved six times in the past five years, twice across state lines and once across country. On one such interstate move, I had to foot the bill, so I solicited several bids and went for the lowest price. Bekins won. I lost.
The packing crew was led by one experienced gentlemen and two hopelessly frustrated guys who obviously hated every moment of their job. I tried to explain what needed to be packed where. Everything took on an air of frenzy. I tried to keep up with them. I found them packing my boxes with bags of garbage and had them unpack and repack boxes to remove the trash.
The moving crew at the point of origin consisted of the truck driver who wasn't inclined to lift a finger except to write things down on his note pad and two workers one senior and one junior. That poor junior soul. More about their heirarchy later...
Since this was an interstate move, I had very specific instructions about breakable items and some furniture pieces which were old an delicate. Bekins assured me that they would take the greatest of care. I was concerned as they hauled things out of my apartment and apparently ignored my instructions as to what should be loaded in what order so that it would travel safely.
Arrival at the destination was nothing short of a disaster. The dispatch had promised that they would arrive on Monday. I waited all day and then called. The truck had not arrived, it would be Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon came and still no truck. Finally, they arrived at 6pm wanting to unload the truck. I knew this would go until midnight but I wanted my bed.
At the arrival location, we had only the driver who wouldn't lift anything and one small, weary junior helper who could really only be described as an indentured servant. I really felt for this guy. He had to haul ALL of the heavy boxes by himself and I tried to help as much as I could. Unfortunately, he was so exhausted that when he arrived at the top of the stairs he would drop the boxes to the floor. I could hear things breaking inside...
That wasn't the worst of it. They pulled out an antique side table and unwrapped it. It had been loaded in the van in such a way that one of the mahogany side legs had been torn off completely . The driver apologized and I just stood there stunned.
Then they unloaded my mattress. For some reason they decided to remove it from its protective carton while they were still outside. It was approaching midnight, they were exhausted and they dragged my mattress through the mud. They placed it upstairs in such a way that they hoped I wouldn't notice the wet, muddy side. I did. So much for sleeping on my own bed.
As I unpacked the boxes which they had packed not only was everything in total disarray but it was so poorly packed that picture frames were broken and, although the packers removed the bags of garbage I still unwrapped trash cans filled with garbage that traveled all the way from New York!
I decided to call and complain. I was passed around to several departments and finally the most senior person I was allowed to speak to was a junior customer service rep who only knew which forms to fill out. Bekins would reimburse only 25 cents per pound on the broken items since I had foolishly not taken the additional insurance.
This is only my experience. It was horrible. I am sure there are others who have had things go just fine. Nevertheless, I will never use Bekins again and I do not recommend them to anyone.
As an alternative, I do recommend that readers check into Paul Arpin Van Lines especially for long-haul moves. Unfortunately, there is no category on epinions where I can rate them. Nevertheless, on two of my interstate moves I used them and had an excellent experience both times with the quality of the move, the packing and unpacking of my belongings as well as one of the affiliate's long-term storage facility. The risk with Paul Arpin, however, is that they apparently operate as an confederation of locally based movers so the quality may vary somewhat from region to region. I have dealt with four of their local affiliates (Palo Alto, Manhattan, Chicago and Long Island) and have been generally very pleased, to varying degrees, with each of them.
Recommended:
No
Punctuality: Showed up late
Lost Goods: No
Amount Paid (US$): 2000
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
aplatt
|
|
Location: New York and Chicago
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 24 members
About Me:
"Little thugs in clown suits"
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.