Emmerson Ufv
map-marker Houston, Texas

Stolen Mattress, Terrible Communication

I absolutely DO NOT recommend working with this company under any circumstance. Read this review and save yourself the money, the headaches and the lost items. The other reviews are 100% correct and we sincerely are trying to save you the experience that we’ve already been through. For starters, my wife and I were moving to Houston from Sacramento and our move date was June 30. I got a call the day before the move to see if I could move the date to July 1 because they absolutely wouldn’t be able to make it on the 30th. Reluctantly, I complied. They then showed up 2 hours late on July 1. During the move, the movers stacked boxes too tall outside of the truck and they eventually fell over. A box spring, standing upright in the street also fell over and was damaged. At this point, I saw some loose pieces in the truck that turned out to be part of a bed frame and a futon. If I didn’t get in the truck and pick them up myself, they probably wouldn’t have made the trip to my place in Texas. A cabinet was also completely damaged upon the load-in to the truck. After everything was loaded in, the price of our estimate more than doubled with a not very scientific guesstimate of cubic footage by the lead mover. All of our items were packed into the truck and we assumed were on the way to Texas. Mary, the woman who secured my business, told me that our belongings would be in Texas in 4-14 days. That seemed reasonable to me. After inquiring when our belongings were going to arrive, I was told around July 18 and then around July 23. After 14 days had passed with no delivery or update, both days came and went. On July 24, I got in touch with the dispatcher/manager Danny and he told me that my belongings had not even left California. For 23 days, our things sat in some warehouse and no one told me. After July 24, I reached out daily to Danny to figure out when my things would arrive in Texas or at least be on the road en route. Danny rarely answered the phone and rarely returned phone calls when he said he would. On August 5, Danny said our things would be in Houston on August 8. They eventually showed up on August 10, but our king size TempurPedic mattress was missing. Alan, who unloaded the truck in Houston, signed a document saying the mattress was missing but later told Danny that he had delivered the mattress. From August 10 until September 5, I went back and forth with Danny, Shawn (the guy who loaded the truck in Sacramento) and Alan (the guy who unloaded the truck in Houston) to figure out where the biggest item we owned had vanished. No one had an answer and the three began to pass blame to each other. They eventually stopped answering my phone calls. On to the claims process. We filed a claim for the stolen mattress through MovingClaims.net which we were told would be a 30-120 day process. We filled out all of the necessary paperwork for missing items (mattress, plastic bin of about $500 worth of books) and thought we had a pretty good chance of being reimbursed. Finally, on December 12, we got an email saying that we had been awarded $148.00 for our missing/stolen items. Based on receipts, we estimated the cost of the items to be $3300. In Summary, Virgin Van Lines arrived over 24 hours late to pick up our stuff, broke our things while loading them, charged us an additional $1150 more than the $1950 estimate, delivered our belongings in the ridiculous span of 41 days, and stole our most costly possession (a brand new mattress). Throughout the process they demonstrated a complete and utter lack of concern for the service they said they would provide us by rarely even answering the phone. In hindsight, we should have stopped the process on July 1st when they broke our belongings as they loaded them. For that we will have to take the lessons learned. But our hope is that this review will prevent everyone else in the country from signing up to use Virgin Van Lines in the future.
View full review
Loss:
$3300
Anonymous
map-marker Winter Park, Florida

Don't USE THIS COMPANY

MY stuff was picked up on May 30 2013. As of today it is August 14, 2013 and I still don’t have my things. My suggested drop off day was June 8th 2013 and that passed with no calls or anything from Virgin Van line movers. When I called they said they were on their way and would be a little later. I asked when and they said that next weekend June 14th. I got no calls and when I called on June 12th to confirm. I was told that its on the way and will be there that Monday June 17th. Again they never showed up. So I kept calling and they kept on pushing the delivery date back week after week. I asked when I would actually get my stuff and of course they kept on telling me the next week. After many "arguments " with the dispatcher about the delivery lateness, a new issue came up, how could they think that I should pay the full price since they are so late. Danny the dispatcher/owner told me they would deduct $25 per business day they were late. So a month later now July they are still telling me week after week that my stuff is on the way and should be here shortly. Again nothing has been delivered. Naturally I have become worried and demanded they take pictures of my things to prove they still had it. After a week I finally got 4 photos. (woo whoo). Naturally I was getting very frustrated and increasingly angrier. I demanded to know what they were doing and where were my things. Finally they told me it was in a storage unit in New Jersey. This made no sense to me since I never asked for them to place my things into storage. At this point it was July 17th. Still no actual expected delivery date in site. When I called this "company" Virgin Crapline mover/crooks. The "customer service" woman Michelle told me I had asked for them to put my things in the storage unit. She argued that this is what I wanted. I explained to her that this was never the case and how could she even say that considering I have been calling almost everyday complaining that my things are over 45 days late. She flat out called me a liar. (nice customer service). They gave me a number of an east coast dispatcher. His name was "Haji", he seemed much nicer and concerned that my things were so late, he also mentioned that he didn’t understand how messed up things go with my move and wondered why they were in a storage unit in NJ. After a total of 4 phone calls with this "Haji" guy, I have never heard from him again and nothing was accomplished. During the week of July 22nd, I was told my things left New Jersey and were in Georgia and should be in Florida by the 26th. I called on July 28th asking what was the deal and why I haven’t heard anything. The dispatcher told me they actually never left NJ and he had never said they were left. (another nice lie there). So my things have sat in storage in a self-storage unit in New Jersey for a month. Finally I found out they didn’t have any drivers available and I had to wait for that to get settled. Finally on August 4th they told me they outsourced my move to a freelance driver and finally gave me their number. (sort of passed the buck on). Naturally I called the new drivers. They told me some interesting things. Firstly I was told the truck had many DOT violations and was "grounded" from going anywhere for a few days. The next thing they said was also not good. I was told that they had inherited all the moves that Virgin Van lines couldn’t complete. The driver told me that there was nothing but major problems with everything. Tons of customers were complaining and he was overwhelmed with the situation. He told me one family that he delivered complained that EVERYTHING except a bicycle was totally broken and damaged and there were other families in the same situation. Large screen Tv’s smashed, furniture damaged and missing parts, basically completely unprofessionally handled. It is now August 14, 2013, and STILL I haven’t received my things. Currently I am waiting for the DOT violations to be lifted and the truck to be repaired for some engine issue. The driver said that I should expect to see them some time this week, most likely the 15th-18th. He also told me that my things seem intact and undamaged. But we shall see how true that is. I write this review to warn you of this company. Virgin Van lines is not a company that should be used to handle any of your personal belongings. They are not a good moving company the customer service is garbage. They are all rude people and absolute liars. You will be ripped off, your things will probably be broken and or lost. In fact you might not even get your things. DON’T USE THIS COMPANY!!!!! They should be shut down everyone should be fired, and the owners should be locked up and the key should be thrown away! If I ever get my things I’ll update my post to let you all know what happened if this 85 day move ever gets resolved. I am a real person, I have been very patient and at this point I have filed complaints with these agency and I recommend you do the same. U.S. Department of TransportationFederal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Los Angeles District AttorneyVan Nuys Branch Office State of California Department of Consumer Affairs BBB Headquarters
View full review
3 comments
#711748

did any one from the authorities helped you at all ?

#703610

That's terrible! I'm using them currently and appear to be in the same situation. Any updates on your matter?

#718728
@PissedConsumer703610

I went through the same. One thing you can do - call them every single day, twice a day.

They will get tired of you and get your things over quicker. Don't give up.

View more comments (2)
Anonymous
map-marker Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

Fraudulent Movers never choose Virgin Van lines

I was worried about moving all my expensive items in which I have invested all my major saving. I got the information of Virgin Van lines moving company from the online and contacted them. Their delegate visited and got the assessment done. They persuaded me in such a way that without any uncertainty all my expensive items would be moved, though it was local my moving made me tensed. Finally the Fraudulent Virgin Van lines didn’t stick to their promises they moved all my expensive items scratched and unsafe. Don’t ever believe Virgin Van lines moving services they are very pathetic.
View full review