A-1 Razorback Moving Company and the BBB Part 1

Got to love free speech! I'm going to use my right here on my blog. If you don't care to read, skip these...it won't hurt my feelings. :-)

I want to post this here in hopes that it will turn up in searches for A-1 Razorback Moving Company. My reason is because if another consumer is researching this company, I want them to know about our experience with them. This might help them in making a decision as to use them or not. I hope they won't, but it will be up to them.

I filed a complaint with the BBB and have gone back and forth through them to try to get this resolved and the company insists they have done NO wrong and should not have to do anything else to compensate us for all that went wrong. So, our last resort was to go into arbitration where a non-biased third party hears our case and decides on it. The decision is legally binding. The cost is $75. So instead of paying the money and using up our time, we have decided to just blog about it instead. This first blog will contain my original letter I sent to the BBB. Each day I will add the responses that have gone back and forth. Read and judge for yourself!

My Letter to the BBB:

September 8, 2008

Better Business Bureau Office of Complaints
12521 Kanis Road
Little Rock, AR 72211
Phone: 501-664-7274

I would like to file a formal complaint against the following business:
A-1 Razorback Moving
6500 Holt Road
North Little Rock, AR 72117
Phone: 501-945-3338 Fax: 501-945-3380

Reason for complaint:
We hired the above moving company to move us on Monday, August 4, 2008, from our apartment and two storage units and into our new home. We chose this company because they had previously moved us back in March of this year into our apartment. We were very pleased with their services and did not hesitate to use them again for the August move.

Our complaints for the move on August 4, 2008, are as follows:
1. They were three hours late in arriving and did not come with the equipment and team we had reserved. We scheduled them to come at 9:00 a.m. with their largest truck and a three man team. We received a call around 8:30 a.m. saying they would be an hour late. After 10:00 a.m. when they still were not there, we called them. We were told it would be another 30 minutes. Again, after 45 minutes, no one had shown up. We were constantly calling them to see where they were. It was almost noon when someone arrived. It was not what we had requested. It was a two man team with a small truck.

2. They did not come prepared. They did not bring any blankets or anything to properly wrap our furniture to protect it. They did not bring any tools for disassembling of furniture. This concerned us and we knew they should have brought something. From our previous experience in using this company, we knew what they had provided before.

3. The two men that came took four smoking breaks in the two and a half hours they were at the apartment to load our furniture. I am paying them by the hour to work, not to smoke. I can understand a break to get a drink, it was hot, but I am not paying for them to smoke. Speaking of drinks, I also did not appreciate them helping themselves to our cokes in our refrigerator. Had they asked first, I would not have minded. But I walked into the kitchen to find them reaching into the refrigerator getting themselves a coke. Very unprofessional and rude.

4. After calling and complaining to someone at the office, they sent the larger truck. This was not actually a large moving truck. It was actually a large trailer, pulled behind a pick up truck. This was not explained to me at all. They said it was their largest moving truck. Coming with this truck were two more men to help. They did tell us that there would be no extra charge for the second truck.

5. They took a one hour break for lunch, of which they asked us to pay for.

6. At the storage units, the men were in a hurry and we observed on several occasions them throwing our stuff into the back of the trailer. They paid no attention to writing on the boxes indicating they contained fragile items. They were told at the beginning that all boxes were marked by room and if they contained fragile items. They were asked to pay close attention to these markings.

7. One of the workers asked to use our bathroom at our brand new house. He proceeded to go in and stick his head in our sink and get it wet to cool off. He then proceeded to walk across our living room, with his hair dripping all over the place, all across our brand new wood floors. I went into the bathroom only to find a much larger mess with water all over the place. UNPROFESSIONAL!

8. After the were done unloading at our new house, it was found that several items were damaged. Our home office desk was broken into four pieces. They did offer to fix this, but could not tell me a time frame of how long it would take to get it repaired. I work from home and must have this desk. We negotiated $100 off our bill to cover the damages to the desk. But nothing else was said about the rest of the items that were damaged (that we knew of at that time). I called and left a message for the manager at the office to call me about these damages, but never received a call back from him.

9. When they presented us with the bill, they charged us for a four man team. We had only reserved a three man team. I know four men worked, but that was not my problem. They were three hours late in arriving and did not come prepared. This is their business and they should be equipped to handle situations like these. This again was very unprofessional. I told them I should not have to pay for the fourth man. The worker treated us like we were stupid to question the bill and loudly and sarcastically spoke with the man at the office (the same man that had not returned my call about the damages). After this call, they re-figured the bill again with only a three man team.

The following items received significant damage from the move:
1. Home Office Desk (two parts were able to be repaired, one cannot and we have to look at this everyday)
2. Home Office Desk Cabinet (entire back was ripped away from it)
3. Couch (side arm and back wood supports were ripped apart)
4. Antique China Plate broken (was packed in a china box from U-Haul and marked as fragile)
5. Crystal Glasses broken (was packed in a glass box from U-Haul and marked as fragile)

The following items received significant scratches/dents from not being wrapped properly in the truck:
1. Home Office Desk (two large dents and scratches)
2. Small Entertainment Center (this was a brand new piece, still in original wrapping from furniture store; the top received some deep scratches, you can see clear down to the natural wood under the stain)
3. Master Bedroom Bed (deep scratches and large chunk out of the wood)
4. Master Bedroom Dresser (deep scratches on the top, very noticeable)
5. Bookshelf (large scratches down front side)
6. Coffee Table (scratches on top)
7. Small Curio Cabinet (scratches on front)
8. Toy Storage (broke supporting rod for the storage boxes)
9. Tall Curio Cabinet (door latch broken)
10. End Table (dent in leg)

Attempts to resolve issues:
1. Called on August 4, 2008, and left message on the answering machine about damages we knew of at that time. Never received a call back.
2. Called around the middle of August and talked with David. He said the manager, Jacob, was not there. Explained my issues and concerns. He said he would leave Jacob a message to call me back. Never received a call back.
3. Called on September 4, 2008, and left a message on the answering machine to please call me back to discuss the issues about our move. Never received a call back.

What the business did do:
1. Did not charge for the second truck. (Would expect this since they sent the wrong one and were three hours late in arriving).
2. Paid for a three man team, when a four man team worked. (Not my problem, should have only sent one man, to fulfill the three man request that we had.)
3. Took $100 off for the damage of the desk.

What I would like for the business to do to resolve this issue:
1. Acknowledge they screwed up in being late and not coming prepared with the proper moving materials (ie. blankets, tools, etc.).

2. Acknowledge the workers acted very unprofessional in taking too many smoking breaks, stealing drinks from our refrigerator, sticking their head in our sink, dripping water all over our brand new wood floors, and treating us like we were stupid when we questioned the bill and asked about damage to our property.

3. Compensate us for the damage to our property and for having to put up with all of the unprofessional actions listed above. The scratches/dents will always be there. You can cover them up with a pen (like we have done on some), but they will never be in the condition they were before this move. The china plate and glasses cannot be replaced, they were antiques/family heirlooms. We have already had the couch repaired, along with the desk. And one piece of the desk cannot be repaired. I think it is fair of us to ask for compensation of $250 for the damage and rudeness.

Documentation and Enclosures:
1. A copy of our invoice from moving day.
2. A copy of the check for $900 to pay for the move on August 4, 2008.

My contact information:
Jennifer Jones
Street Address
City, State, Zip
Home Phone and Cell Phone
Email jennifer@houseofjones.com

As stated before, we used this company back in March of this year. We had NO problems with the company or the workers. They were great and I did not mind writing the $720 check to pay for that move! Needless to say, it was not a repeat performance and I cringed when I had to write the $900 check to pay for this move.

Thank you for your help in resolving this matter. Should you need any more information, please contact me using the above information.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Jones

To validate this complaint or to see the documents for yourself, click on the link below under the heading that says, "BBB and A-1 Razorback Moving Company Documents."