Vector...a move ahead

I would give this company a negative rating if I could. Our move, from the San Francisco bay area to Portland, Oregon, started well. Our goods were packed in three containers, where they were supposed to remain until we received them in Portland two months later. We had written and verbal assurances from Dean Felton, the Vector Mayflower Agent who supervised our move, that our goods would not be unpacked until we received them in Oregon: "once into the container, and once out at destination." There was a handwritten note on our Residential Services Order: "RLL [Robert L. Landsinger, President of Vector Mayflower] says to use 3 GoTainers. Store for 2 months and haul to Portland, OR. Store containers inside to transport inside van." However, Bob Sheahon, Vector Mayflower Operations Manager, decided to take our goods out of one container and load them in the main moving van along with our other two containers and another shipment going to the northwest. As a result, one-third of our goods were shipped in the moving van alongside the two intact containers, and were crushed by the two intact containers during transit. Our vintage teak patio furniture was reduced to little more than kindling; one of the legs was snapped off our classic mid-century Baldwin piano; and legs were broken off an iron patio chair and table. In all, there was more than $5000 of damage to goods that had been taken out of the original container. None of our goods in the two intact containers were damaged. When we approached Mayflower for compensation, we found that the promises to keep our goods in their original containers meant nothing, because they were not explicitly written into our Bill of Lading. On the basis of these assurances, we had decided to waive full value protection for our shipment, and Mayflower said they would pay only the minimum liability of $0.60/lb, or a total of $390. Dean Felton refused to answer our follow-up emails. Bob Sheahon told us that Mayflower could ship our goods any way they wanted to. We pursued our claim through the National Arbitration Forum, a process that took nearly a year and involved multiple submissions of claim forms, pictures, and explanatory statements. In the end, all we received was a check for $390. We would never ever use Vector Mayflower again.

They gave us a low estimate to win the business, loaded our belongings onto their truck and then once they had possession of everything we owned, tried to pressure and bully us into paying an additional $3k+. They were a nightmare to work with and we had to get Mayflower Corporate involved. They also put a huge gauge in our new wood floor while unloading and I'm now dealing with the insurance claim process. I absolutely DO NOT recommend this company and wish I would have done more research before hiring them.

They did an excellent job.

This was our second experience using this company. We moved out of our home and into a rental for the duration of a remodel, and had a very good experience with Vector. Unfortunately, when we moved back 18 months later we were not so fortunate. The job required two trucks with two men each. One truck arrived on time at 9:30 a.m., however the second got lost and did not turn up until about 11:30 a.m. The move out went reasonably smoothly. During the move-in, however, our freshly finished floors acquired several new scratches, our paint got some dings, and one box of CDs and DVDs came up missing and has not been recovered a week later. The last is something we are in the process of resolving with the assistance of both Vector and the police department. I will grant that Vector's management has been very cooperative about the missing box, however we have not reached a resolution for the situation yet.

This is the worst experience I have had with any company in my life so far. They made us pay $800 above estimate on the day of the move (really, what choice did we have?) when they declared they would have to do a shuttle. This, after assuring us twice that a shuttle would not be needed. Damaged furniture and loaded things w/o pads. Split up our shipment without notifying us and failed completely to communicate any information about when the rest of our shipment would arrive or who would be delivering it. Utterly non responsive. Did not answer emails. Have not responded to my formal letter of complaint more than three weeks after I sent it. Completely lacking in basic empathy for the customer. Extremely non-communicative about billing details. One day I got a fax asking me to authorize additional charges of $1,000.00. The fax did not indicate clearly what the charges were for, and when I finally got someone to give me a breakdown, they seemed clearly irritated. Beware!

THIS COMPANY WAS TERRIBLE. THEY WEREN'T CAREFUL WITH OUR BELONGINGS. THEY LOST SOME OF OUR FURNITURE. THEY DIDN'T PUT THE BEDS TOGETHER CORRECTLY. THEY LOST SOME OF THE SCREWS THAT WERE NEEDED FOR THE BEDS.