Patriot Van Lines

The contact person's name is Devin Berke. My son was in rehabilitaion in Arizona, and we thought we were going to keep him there but we changed our minds and decided to have him come back home to Houston early. We tried contacting another company prior to Patriot Van Lines, but Patriot were the only company that said they could get his belongs out in a timely manner. I knew they were rated poorly on Angie's List and confronted them about that, but they said that the only reason they were rated poorly was because they service so many people and only negative people write in. Well, what happened was that he quoted me a price and it ended up being double what he quoted me. They said that they would not deliver my son's belongings unless I paid them double the price. There was nothing that I could do at this point other than to pay the fee. I tried calling patriot and get a hold of Devin, but he literally blocked my calls. They also said they would take special precautions to package certain belonging (Plasma TV's, etc.) in a better way, but when they arrived at my house, nothing was packaged in any special way and they charged me more for this. I just feel like I was scammed by this company.

I received quotes over the phone and a local mover inspected the load and estimated the weight at 7500 lbs but advised a 53' truck could not access the property so a shuttle truck would be needed. He quoted approximately $5,000., Over the phone, Patriot offered me $3,200 for a 7500 lb load based on sending a smaller truck that could access the property but a contract for 9044 lbs at a "Will not exceed" cost of $4,634.13 and agreedto have the load weighed. I agreed and authorised a deposit of $1,736.04 to be taken from my Mastercard Account. Patriot sent a contract that excluded all verbal representations and did not include the sliding scale of charges. I amended the contract to include the verbal representations and returned it to Patriot by email. They sent me a receipt for it. The scheduled load date was 1/11/12 to 1/12/12 and the delivery date 1/16/12 to 1/24/12. On January10 they told me the pickup would be delayed to 15 January and that they would give me $150 for the late pickup. I appointed a family friend as Power of Attorney (POA) and my wife and I started driving my mother in law's car to California. My POA drove 50 miles to the house on 15 January and no truck turned up. Their office was closed and messages were not returned. On 16 January Patriot called and said a driver was 50 miles was 50 miles away and he would arrive at the property at 1-3 pm that day. My POA made another 100 mile round trip to facilitate Patriot. At 3.15 that day the driver called to say he would not be there that day. On 17 January my POA attended again and the Patriot Driver said he could not get his 53' truck to the property and that a shuttle would be needed. Patriot called to say I would have to pay an additional $650 for the shuttle. I referred to the amended contract which Patriot had agreed and resent the amended pages to another Patriot Employee. (at this stage I had dealt with five executives in the head office. My POA advised the truck driver had gone to rent a U Haul to shuttle the goods. After waiting 8 hours, my POA went home. Patriot revised an estimated weight of 12,000 lbs! and asked my POA to signe an amended contract that he could not understand and so long he could not read it to me over the phone. I instructed my POA to have the good taken off the truck. Patriot called and told me I would not get my deposit back. I told him I had contacted Patriot immediately I was informed of the revised contract and that I was entitled to my deposit as a result. Anther Patriot executive called and agreed to send an email confirming the $150 rebate, no charge for a shuttle and a sliding scale of 51 c per pound. Patriot advised a smaller truck would aarrive the following day. On 18 January my POA made another trip to facilitate Patriot but the new driver called and said he would be delayed nother day. On 19 January the new driver said he would charge an additional $25 per box to pack 17 boxes although these were included in the contract. He loaded the truck. The driver told my POA he was heading over 100 miles off the direct route, and leaving the load in Texas for transshipment. On 24 January I called Patriot twice to confirm delivery and no one called back. On 25,26,27 January I called repeatedly to four Patriot executives and no one returned my calls. On 28 January Patriot called and required authorisation for a final payment of $2,732.55 without any justification but told me the weight was 6820 lbs, packing $169 and the load over time even on an amended basis. I calculated the amount payable at $1,382.85 as I had to pay $400 to delay my wife and my return trip to Australia and sent an email to Patriot to that efffect. The email was never responded to and I stll have no accounting of their charges. I called Patriot three times and offered to deal to get the delivery. They did not respond. On 31 January I called Mastercard and told them the story and that I believed the goods were being held "hostage". They advised me to agree to the charge to have the goods delivered and that they had logged it and would stop the payment or reimburse my account. I called two Patriot executives and advised that I would agree to the payment and they finally returned my call and told me the goods were on route. On 4 February Patriot called and advised the delivery would be made the following day and took my Mastercard details and authorisations. I arranged for six men to transship the goods to family members from the deilvery address in Ramona on 5 February. The truck did not arrive. On 6 February I emailed Patriot and left a message. They returned my call and advised the delivery would be made at 12-1 pm that day. On 7 February I called early and was advised that the delivery would be made at 9.30 that morning. The truck arrived at 9.35 and the Mastercard debit was "Pending". The driver unloaded the truck and at 12.45 required a credit card imprint which I refused to give. I checked the Master card account and it was "paid". Fine timing indeed. Mastercard advisd me not to pay the amount deducted by American Van Lines (an associate) on my next statement.

I called Patriot Van Line Movers and received a quote on how much it would cost to move my mother?s furniture from Wisconsin to Las Vegas. I gave them the list of all the big items I would be moving then asked the guy ?ok well do you need a list of my smaller stuff?? He told me ?No 50 boxes should cover it.? He gave me a price and told me the only way it would be a lot more is if I moved a whole other room other than that it would probably be less. I made sure to tell them that I needed this to be done on the exact date because my mother had to catch a plane the next day. They said ?no problem.? Patriot Van line Movers estimated me at 8000 lbs. Over the phone I paid $2,700 deposit for the move and they told me that I will pay the rest when they drop off my mother?s items. The movers showed up and were from Best Price movers and they said right away that they didn?t have enough boxes and they could tell right now that we got quoted way too low on the weight and it will be at least 11,000lbs. The movers just sat by the moving truck and never called their dispatcher. I just came back from my deployment when my mother called me and told me that the movers said that they won?t move anything and are now just sitting by the truck. I talked to one of the movers and he told me that he can?t do anything until my mother resigns a new contract about doing a partial move. I called Patriot Van line movers and they have told me that nothing can be done till after the move because they don?t know if we will need more boxes and won?t know till after the truck is loaded up. Best Price movers and Patriot Van line movers never really communicated back and forth except through me. I then told their customer service guy that the movers won?t move my mother?s stuff unless she resigns a new contract. He then just said to me ?tell her not to sign the new contract then.? I informed him I did and that this was his job to do not mine. After the whole day of arguing, my mother packed 90% of her own stuff with her own boxes. The original order for 50 boxes was brought down to 40 boxes because the original 25 boxes that were ordered can hold 32lbs but only fit three bowls in it. After the movers took my mother?s items. They informed me that they needed me to pay $2700 of the total cost again before they could drop off her items. Then told me that the total weight came to be 11,000lbs and that the original estimate of $6700 is now over $8000. This is supposed to be for a full service move that was never provided. I paid it because I have read horror stories of others who refused to pay the extra money and their stuff suddenly ?got lost?. The movers showed up to the new house and when unloaded every single item that they have packed has gotten scratched, nicked, dented, and broke. They even tried to pound out dents in a garbage can with a hammer. They caused over $11,000 in damages. I called Patriot Van line Movers about this fiasco and they never called me back. I left three messages. I then waited till they opened at 9am and called right away. They let the phone ring for 15mins and didn?t answer. I then called right back and let the phone ring another 10 minutes. They finally answered. I spoke to their customer service and she informed me that it?s not their fault about all of the events that happened and that my mom shouldn?t signed the new agreement. I told her that she had no choice and that their original customer service guy said that there was nothing they could do till after the stuff was moved. She was extremely rude and unhelpful and so I told her that I wanted to talk to the manager and they let me sit on the phone for 15more minutes. The manager said there was nothing they could do, that on the list all the boxes were moved and the items that were damaged could be reinstated through the insurance (p.s they only reimburse by weight. So the $90 trash can that they were pounding out with a hammer can only be reimbursed by the pounds.) I tried to argue with her and she then said for my displeasure she can reimburse me 10% of the packing items that was used, which only came out to $178. It also came with an agreement for me to sign that said I can?t take this issue any further, no complaints can be filed and I can?t sue. I have had nothing but hard times with this company. They ruined my mother?s items. They also did the bait and switch on me, which in the end cost me over $8000 and my mother?s items to be ruined. JUST TO UPDATE THIS COMPLAINT EVEN MORE SO OTHERS KNOW THE DIFFICULTY THAT I'VE BEEN DEALING WITH. IT HAS BEEN OVER THREE MONTHS SINCE THE MOVE WAS PERFORMED. THE COMPANY STILL WONT COMPENSATE ME FOR THE MOVING MATERIALS AND NOW I'VE JUST RECIEVED AN INSULTING AMOUNT FOR MY CLAIM. THEY HAVE RUINED... I WILL EMPHASIS RUINED $11,000 IN MY MOTHER'S ONLY BELONGINGS AND ONLY OFFERED $171.00. THE COMPANY HAS PUT ME IN A FINANCIAL BURDEN THAT I AM STRUGGLING TO RECOVER FROM. I DONT WANT OTHERS TO GO THROUGH WHAT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH. THE COMPANY I HAVE USED TO MOVE IS PATRIOT VANLINES AND THE COMPANY THAT HANDLED MY CLAIM IS RELO VAN LINES IN NEWARK, NJ. HOPEFULLY THIS WONT HAPPEN TO ANYONE ELSE.