Gaithersburg Econo Van Lines LLC

On or about March 23, 2013 I put a request in online for moving companies to contact me in regards to moving my home location. I received a call from Econo Van Lines about the move along with several other estimates as well. Econo Van Lines had the cheapest price and that is why I chose them to complete the work. They also seemed to have good reviews when I checked their feedback page on line. The estimate I was given over the phone was for 1 truck , 3 guys and 5 hours to complete my 3 bedroom 1250 sq ft apartment and move it to our new home that we just bought. On March 23, 2013 I was quoted a price of $474.00 to complete this job. I then gave them a credit card number for a $100 down payment. After this I did not hear from econo van lines until the day of the move. Upon arriving the driver came up with a pile of papers for me to sign which I thought was the contract and normal procedures. However I was very wrong. There was a list of item charges in this package which included boxes and tape and shrink wrap. Well of course I signed it because I had already shrunk wrapped most of my own items there was no boxes needed because we already moved all of our items out of the house except for all of the big items which could be put on the truck very easily. There were a few boxes 5 to 7 of them but they were already tapped up and in boxes to be removed. When they began putting blankets around all of the big items which was included in the price, they began tapping the blankets to the items and wrapping everything up with shrink wrap which I though was unnecessary and I voiced this. However, they stated this was their policy and if I did not allow them to wrap and protect it properly they could not move the items per their policy. It took the movers 4 hours just to get the items on the truck from my apartment. 1 hour was spent figuring out how to fit all the items on the truck and the rest was spent moving. At one point in time the driver was sitting in the truck eating while I was paying them to move. After all was packed we proceeded to the next location to unload. The driver said it is policy to get payment before unloading the vehicle so we went to discuss payment. He then handed me a written estimate by pen of $1,110.00 for the total services and this did not even include the $100 that I already paid. I began to ask questions and he stated "these are the charges for all of the materials and we are going to need an additional 3 hours to unload the truck. At this point I had him call his manager about the price because the estimate was almost $800 more than what I was quoted over the phone on March 23, 2013. His boss at corporate refused to lower the prices even after I told him about his driver eating, he stated that "well they need to eat too". They had began to unload the truck without payment but soon stopped when I refused to pay the bill because of the false and misleading statements given in the estimate. I tried to work it out with the manager of the company for $800 as I thought that this was reasonable but he did not agree. So again they would not unload the truck until I paid the full amount. The owner did offer me a discount of $150 to help out which I did not agree with as I wanted the total balance adjusted to closer to what the estimate was. I was then given the option of them just sitting there until I paid or not getting my items off the truck. I feel as if I was held hostage in my own house and they were steeling my items. I then agreed to sign the credit card slip but told them I did not agree with the charges being placed on my card. I wrote my concerns on the credit card authorization form. The driver called and they still pulled the payment of $960 which was with the discount of $150 that I did not agree to. I still had not signed the credit card slip yet and the payment was already pulled from my account. When I went to sign the actual credit card slip and wanted to write on it the same statement that I wrote on the authorization the driver told me I could not do this because if he let me write on the slip his company would fire him. I explained that it is my right as a consumer to write on the slip what I want as I am paying for the service. They again halted unloading my items even after the payment of $960 was already funded from my account. All of this transpired over about a 3.5 hr period of which it took them an hour to get the items off the truck. However they already charged me until 5 pm which was for the 3 extra hours of service he said it would take. I then called the police to come solve the matter but they would not get involved because it was just a civil complaint and stated that they do not get involved. I then had to speak to his manager again about the charges and that I would not sign the credit card slip unless I could wright on it what I wrote on the authorization form. His manager argued with me for about an hour total and would not let his men unload until I signed the slip which I would not. The manager then told me "I lied to him over the phone and there were more items then he expected", they came to move a 3 bedroom apartment and that is what they moved. I feel as if the company was misleading in their estimate and the charges they charge for extra items and their policy about wrapping everything and I do mean everything down to the mattress which does not need protected. Again I have tried to solve this with the company and have gotten no where. They have pulled the funds from my bank account and now have left me with $112 to live on for 2 weeks until I get paid again. I have a family of 4 to feed which is quit hard to do on $112 and a misleading quote that cost me more than $700 more than the original quote. I have also filled out a merchant dispute with my bank as I do not feel as if they should have pulled all the funds. I did not agree with the charges and I wrote it on every fee slip and credit card authorization form I signed as they would not give me my belongings unless I paid them in full. Again I feel as if I was held hostage as the cops do not get involved and they had my items which I had already paid for on their truck. After speaking with the company ower approximately at 4pm he did let me write on the credit card slip what I wanted to write because he said I was costing him money at this point.