Mr. Bill Lovejoy
Regional Vice President
Bekins Moving & Storage Co.
7130 Miramar Road, Suite 300
San Diego, CA 92121
Mr. Lovejoy: I recently completed my eighth long distance household move. My very first with Bekins. And it was quite a unique experience. I thought I would share a few of the highlights with you and other members of the senior management team. The move out from my residence in Fallbrook was choreographed by ill trained personnel (the team leader and head packer commented to me he had been working with the company for three weeks now), absolutely filthy equipment and a total lack of organization, communication, care, or pride.
In fact, both my son and I had to assist the one (1) Bekins employee load the initial truck on the last day (July 31st), while he frequently made a point of telling me how the sales guys promise everything and delivering was another matter.
This obvious lack of cooperation between employees at Bekins, certainly didn't help my confidence level and, in fact, in retrospect, I should have told them to leave and made alternative arrangements. Based upon my belief that such a respectable organization would stand behind their promises, I didn't. After four hours, the remaining two (2) crew members arrived.
Probably the most irksome thing to me was, the mattresses being tossed on the garage floor, despite my having been charged for boxing (in my previous seven moves, mattresses were always boxed in the bedrooms, where it was clean). Except for the sofas, none of the furniture items were wrapped before placing in the truck. When I questioned these practices, I was informed by the team leader, "That is always done at the warehouse. You can trust Bekins to do it right."
I called your operations people, to complain and was politely told, "This is a busy time of year, we're doing the best we can". The move into my new (just built) home in Hollister was virtually a replay of the same scenario, only a different cast. And yes, the eleven-year-old boy who was part of my "Bekins team of professionals" particularly disturbed me. I am dumbfounded that your insurance coverage even allows that to happen!
From the very first 'damn', as the team leader scratched the brand new hardwood floor to the child's last 'oops' as he ran my stereo into the brickwork, this was truly a group that brought a tear to my eye. There was virtually no wooden furniture delivered without some sort of visible damage. Boxes were smashed. Clothing wardrobes totally crushed and open, to such an extent, the contents had to be sent for pressing. Items missing. Even my artificial tree had the trunk gouged! And, of course, everything was absolutely filthy.
Incidentally, that very same driver verbalized the apparent motto, it ain't my fault and carefully explained to me, in great detail, how the truck was very poorly packed by the warehouse folks and that was the reason all the damage. His exact words were, to the best of my recollection, "This was packed by a rookie." I smiled and thought to myself; maybe, just maybe that team leader, from my move out in Fallbrook, was looking out for me after all.
My eighteen thousand some odd pounds of personal possessions, were tossed into the various rooms without regard to either labels or common sense, nothing reassembled, save one table, which was left upside down on the kitchen floor, three legs grotesquely pointing in the air, the forth leg on the floor with a stripped bolt.
Overall, a dismal result. I'm sure there is a long list of excuses - but, in my line of work I have a saying: poor performance plus a good excuse doesn't equal a good performance. But, again the driver jumped in and provided a positive note, seems he never heard of anyone being stupid enough to ship a mattress without boxing it first. You can't begin to imagine how gratifying it was to finally hear a Bekins employee actually agree with me!
It was almost impossible just to walk inside the house and I'm just too old to climb over boxes and furniture. I was forced to hire people to move items into proper rooms, clear walking spaces, assemble beds and place the larger furniture piece. At last, I could leave the motel.
And, the not-my-job attitude is pervasive, I called customer service and was told to call elsewhere, claims aren't handled here. Funny, my Bekins sales professional was so busy extolling the virtues of the Bekins super duper, deluxe, full value insurance coverage that he neglected to tell me I had to go elsewhere for a claim. Bekins refused to acknowledge the fine print of their insurance agreement or be involved - they use a third party. I was given a minimal offer of settlement.
