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Charlene of St. Michael's, Md., writes:
On December 15, 1999 I contracted
with Cook's Moving Ser vice of Hampton, Va. to move me from
Hampton to St. Michael's Md. I was given a binding estimate
of $1397.45.
On December 22 the salesperson, Katheryn
C. returned and said she had made a mistake and my corrected
estimate would be $1488.53. I accepted this and prepaired for
my move. She would not give me a copy of the 12/22 contract
saying that the driver would have nothing to give me when he
arrived.
The driver arrived on 12/29 and began
to inventory and pack my things. The estimator had full access
to all my belongings, opened closets, cabinets and looked throughout
the apartment. In the afternoon John M. arrived and said he
was going to help with the inventory. I had originally given
my Discover Card to the salesperson for the cost of the move.
The sales manager called on 12/29 and said he needed another
credit card, which i gave him, a Visa card.
Mr. M. said the card did not go through.
He called the office after looking at my actual card and said
that the office staff had transposed a number and that he had
been corrected and was authorized in the amount of $1488.
By evening Mr. M. returned and said
he felt that Ms. C. had made a mistake and estimated the weight
wrong and would I accept an additional charge of approximately
$150 to cover the additional weight and another $42.32 for packing
glass that she had left off the estimate. I agreed to the $42.32
but stated that the maximum additonal charges I would accept
would be the $150. I was assured that there would be no furnter
charges since I was given a "guaranteed estimate."
I would not have to pay a penny more and if the estimater has
made a mistake the moving company would have to eat the overage.
The movers arrived in Maryland the
next morning. They were late so I called the office. Mr. M.
said they had made made a big mistake and that the truck weighed
out at a lot more than estimated -- to the tune of an additonal
$900.00! I said that could not be possible as I had made a move
from Kentucky to Virginia a year earlier with the exact same
stuff with less weight and a lower cost! I said they moved me
over 500 miles and Cook's moved me 190 miles how could it be
so much greater.
M. said that C. was young, was going
on vacation, had a new boyfiriend and just made a mistake. He
even stated that she had included a packing charge for a queen
size bed with the original estimate without including the bed
in the cubic estimate.
I told him I could not accept an
additonal $900 instead of the $150 we had discussed. He spoke
to the drivers and told them not to unload me unless I would
agree to sign for the new amount. Over two hours laters I phoned
to speak to the manager who refused to come to the phone. M.
spoke to the driver and told him to cross out the original figures
and write in the new amount and have me sign it before he would
release them to unload my things.
I am a single female with arthritis
and the strain and discomfort cause quite a bit of pain. I phoned
M, and asked him why was he asking me to sign and illegal adjustment
to a contract. He said he was not doing that and asked to speak
to the driver. After a while on the phone the driver was instructed
to write on the contract that I must sign "I release my
rights of liability of a claim at any time, provided the below
is the final cost of this move with no added costs."
After I agreed to sign this they
delivered my furniture. But as of 1/10/99 the company has not
put through my credit. I was told that they were trying to get
me to sign this in order to try to sue me later for the full
amount.
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