Meyers Van Lines of CA 1

Run far and Run fast from contracting for moving services with Meyers Van Lines of CA. This page will serve to summarize the nightmare detailed in the five pages following. Note that you can find many similar accounts by Google search.

Meyer’s Van Lines of CA is NOT a professional household goods moving company, they are long-distance haulers, in no way professional or efficient. In brief, the following highlight my experience:

• Regardless of the seemingly friendly and efficient assistance you get in first making your arrangements, everything changes once the movers arrive.
• The personnel are about as far from Meyer’s claim of ‘Professional and courteous’ as you can get. In fact, in my experience, not only are they neither of these things, but they are quite deliberately abusive and intimidating thugs. In my case, all the terms of the move changed upon their arrival and, as I was at that point pushed to the extreme outside of my schedule, there was nothing I could do about it. The charges for the move doubled with my having no way of verifying anything.
• Once my goods were on the road, there was no one (contrary to their representation) communicating with me about the progress. They had no consideration for the moving schedule originally planned. My goods took three weeks to get from Campbell, CA to Fort Mill, SC. I had given them a week head start before making the cross country trip myself and still ended up camping out in the new home for almost ten days, during which time they were not even tracking where my stuff was. I was not sure it had not been stolen and was tempted to check for it on Craig’s List.
• As mentioned above, Meyer’s is a group of rogue haulers, NOT a professional moving company. My household goods were given not even the care of ordinary freight.
• Upon delivery (finally) I was again faced with abusive and intimidating thugs. Again, all the terms changed. I had to come up with $2,700 cash (the certified check I had made sure to obtain, per instructions on the paperwork I was given on loading, was now not a payment option )in a matter of a few hours while all my stuff was held hostage riding around on a truck. My goods were barely unloaded, mostly into one room of the house. NO inventory of any sort was checked. In fact, they tried to leave me with some items that were not mine. As well, some items that I knew to be missing, they knew nothing about.
• Meyer’s claim of ‘Disassembly and reassembly’ is a lie. In my case, the guys on pick up were shocked that there was any such work to be done. I had very little furniture in the first place and what it consisted of had been discussed in detail with the original moving counselor. On delivery, much of what furniture there was had been damaged or broken and nothing was set-up or assembled. My simple request to attach a dresser mirror brought on a tantrum such that I felt in threatened and prepared to call security.
• To truly appreciate the nightmare, the detailed account must be read, but in brief, you would be better off to find a way to do it yourself. I found that the fact that they appear to have all the proper licensing does not count for anything or mean that your move will be properly handled.
















DETAIL OF CALIFORNIA TO SOUTH CAROLINA MOVE
MEYERS VAN LINES OF CA
JULY 2008

March 27, 2008: Submitted deposit of $250 on move scheduled for 07/01/08. This was after submitting my estimate of amount of goods to be moved. At the time, I spoke with Michelle Greer, with whom I reviewed the list. On the phone with her, I provided additional information about the goods, such as the bed being a full wall unit w/ attached nightstands and mirror and what was identified as a computer system actually being nothing more than a printer and scanner. She had said she was mostly concerned with getting the space calculated and the movers would handle the goods appropriately. At the time, as I had not yet packed, I was concerned about underestimating the number of boxes, but the furniture was pretty accurate as I had very little. She informed me that, if it went over the quoted amount, the price would be adjusted on loading. I was OK with that and expected some adjustment. We scheduled pick-up for 07/01/08 based on my expectation of being at the new home for delivery by 07/16/08. She informed me at the time that an exact delivery date could not be guaranteed, but it normally took about 7-11 working days for this distance move. Michelle also informed me that: 1) she would be my contact person through-out all phases of the move. 2) If I had any questions or experienced any issues with the move, I should contact her and she would make sure all issues were resolved. As stated in the contract: ‘We look forward to a smooth and stress-free moving experience. Our representatives are always available to assist you with any questions.’ In reality, nothing could be farther from the truth.

March 2008 – June 2008: I contacted Michelle a couple of times in the interim period, once to ask if it was necessary to empty the dressers and box the contents. I was told no, not necessary, as long as it was not too heavy. So, what I did was leave the drawers with contents, leaving some boxes aside in case it turned out to actually be too heavy. I contacted Michelle again before I left town to close on the new home, to confirm the arrangements. She told me at this time that they would be calling me around June 30 with a definite pick-up schedule, which would be, not necessarily the 1st, but between 07/01 and07/03.

July 1, 2008: After arriving back in CA the night of June 30, I got up early to tie up loose ends to be ready for Meyer’s pick-up. As I had not heard from them, I called Michelle. I was told by David that a crew would be available for pick-up the following day and would call me that night to confirm a time. Ok, that was fine.

July 2, 2008: As I had heard nothing by the morning, I phoned David again. He told me, in argumentative fashion, that what he had said was that they would call me on the 2nd. I knew better than that, but was not going to argue with him. He did say they would call and be there on the 3rd. So, OK – I was ready with all my stuff packed, so, no phone (land-line), nothing to sleep on, fix meals with or even make coffee, but they still had not exceeded the 3rd day of the window Michelle had sprung on me. Though at this point, I was a bit annoyed, it still was not a huge inconvenience and I was going to have patience and not worry about it. That evening, around 7:00PM I had a call from John, who had been identified to me as the driver. He told me they were just leaving Portland (OR) and would be picking up my goods between 9:00AM and noon the next day, the 3rd