Complain about a product or service

National Van Lines

Jennetta of Knoxville TN (11/21/05)
We were moving from Ukiah, Calif. to Knoxville, Tennessee last November. I called National Van Lines and spoke to Richard Buti about the cost of moving our furniture and household items to TN. We lived in a small town and he said he would give us an estimate over the phone with a room by room description by me as to the contents. I was concerned about the accuracy of the estimate and discussed this with Mr. Buti. He stated they do phone estimates all the time and they are very accurate.

I did the room by room description of all our furniture, closets, especially the bookcases and books as I have a lot of books and I was concerned about how much they weigh. He assured me the estimate would be accurate. He did not offer me a written estimate. I requested he fax me a written estimate which he did on Nov. 15, 2004. The estimate was for $4,831.58, which we agreed to pay. The movers arrived on November 20 as agreed, our driveway was narrow and the truck was unable to drive down.

The movers advised us that they would have to rent a smaller truck to transport our belongings to the large truck and there would be an additioal charge of $500.00 for this. We agreed to the additional $500.00 - this seemed reasonable to us. Sometime after we were in TN. we received an additional bill for $1,810.52. We feel this is outrageous and have refused to pay it. We can see the possibility of the estimate being off a little but not $1,810.52, this is unreasonable and unethical in our opinion. I have tried on numerous occasions to talk directly with Mr. Buti, but he will not return my calls.

We are now being called by a collection agency. National Van Lines told the collection agency they don't like to give a guaranteed estimate in writing but that I insisted on one. When you have your car worked on they give you a written estimate and if it goes over the estimate they must get your authorization to do the work. We feel we should have the same opportunity and didn't.

Joe of San Diego CA (04/25/05)
I hired Tri-County Moving, a subsidiary of National Van Lines, Inc., to move me from Washington to California. I did my own packing, yet they charged my credit card for packing anyway. They said they had a document signed by me that agreed they had done the packing. The paper they presented me with was a forgery. I protested, but they proceeded to bill my credit card anyway.

I complained to my credit card company, who completed a lengthy investigation, and they agreed my signature had been forged. My credit card company reversed the charges. Now, National Van Lines, Inc. is threatening to take me to collections if I do not pay them for packing, although I continue to insist my signature was forged and they didn't pack a thing. They never contacted me once regarding this matter until they threatened to take me to collections. I would love to know who to contact regarding prosecuting National Van Lines, Inc. for forging my signature.

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