Bekins Kelowna

Reviews

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1. M

   Maggie G.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Kelowna, BC

   4 Aug 20214-bedroomPaid C$20,000

   No Surprises!

   Bekins was absolutely fantastic in communication and accommodation. Very professional, super organized and detailed. Nicole is a very pleasant person to work with. Thank you for great service.

   Response from Bekins Kelowna

   Hi Maggie, Thank you for taking the time to submit a review and share your experience. We will pass your kind words on to all the team. Thank you, much appreciated

2. L

   Lorien L.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Kelowna, BC to Melbourne, VIC

   8 Jun 20221-bedroomPaid C$1,900

   Bekins - Never in a Million Years!

   Never in a Million Years! When is a “quote” not a “quote”? I contacted Bekins Kelowna to arrange packing and shipment of my 1 bdrm appt possessions overseas. I had my belongings in a self storage unit with Kelowna Self Storage (can I say what a fabulous business they are, honest, friendly and super efficient). I am currently a full time student until starting employment in July and am on a strictly limited budget. I advised Bekins of this and they agreed when advised that I wouldn’t be in a position to pay the $10,000 overseas shipping fee for several months. Given COVID related delays, it would be some time before shipment could be arranged. Bekins contacted me in March and advised they could have my goods transferred to their warehouse in April, getting it packed ready for overseas shipping and storing it until I was ready to have it shipped. They quoted $1900 for packing and moving to their facility and provided a monthly storage “quote” that was close to what I was already paying. I agreed and paid a $500 non refundable deposit. When the storage fees came in for “bulk storage “at double the quote and double what I was paying at Kelowna Self Storage for a self contained unit, I questioned this. I received an email in a berating tone suggesting I should expect this figure “given the weight of my goods”. Who could estimate the weight of their household goods? Only someone in the moving and storage industry, and Bekins failed to do this when they provided me with the storage “quote” which was actually their minimum charge, not what it would likely cost me. With this monthly figure, I was unable to make any contribution to my outstanding account with them, this was distressing, not a comfortable situation to be in. I contacted them and as they were not negotiable on the monthly storage fee, I asked for a quote to have my goods moved back to self storage until I was able to finalise overseas shipping. They quoted $900 to have my fully packed and securely wrapped (I am assuming) goods moved 5kms from their facility to Kelowna Self Storage. I am not in a position to pay this fee until I start work in July, so agreed to pay their bulk storage monthly fee until the end of July, when I intended moving my goods back to more reasonable self storage and make payments against my outstanding account with Bekins for packing and shipping my goods overseas. I then got a demand from Bekins Kelowna to pay my entire outstanding account within 3 weeks or my goods would be publicly auctioned under the Warehouseman’s Act. They had added an additional $400 charge for “warehouse handling” – without any explanation – I can only assume there is an extra charge for their staff to move your goods off the truck and into the warehouse. They billed me for the next months bulk storage in advance, while advising my goods would be auctioned in the middle of the month. I contacted the Better Business Bureau, and their only service to me was to forward aggressively worded emails from the Bekins Kelowna General Manager, Dawn. I regret not taking the time to read the previous BBB negative reviews, specifically mentioning this person who I had the misfortune to be dealing with. I contacted Bekins Canada and they quickly distanced themselves, claiming no responsibility for the actions of their franchisees, and went so far as to request I remove my complaint from their website. I contacted Consumer Affairs but their jurisdiction does not cover the moving and storage industry. So I am sadder, much wiser, and much lighter in worldly goods, including many precious and to me, priceless possessions collected over the past 30+ years. I never in a million years imagined losing everything I own to a business so lacking in brains, heart and backbone. So would I recommend Bekins for your moving and storage needs? Never in a million years!

   Response from Bekins Kelowna

   Hi Lorien In response to this review, and in addition to other reviews you have posted on other sites, we advise that the best method to discuss outstanding moving and storage costs is to contact us directly. We have been attempting to communicate and resolve your outstanding amounts with you however to date you have for the most part been ignoring our communications and attempts to resolve your outstanding balance owing. As was advised prior to services being provided to you the only way to determine exactly what you had in your self storage unit and to enable us to give you a more reflective International quote to Australia, was to pick up your items, have them scaled and prepared for shipping, and stored at our warehouse until you were in a position to ship. We did estimate the weight of your goods, that where in your storage unit, based on the information and pictures that you provided us. This is industry common practice when goods are coming out of self storage units. This was all documented in the quote, estimate, documents, and emails that were sent to you prior to the services being provided to you. You agreed and signed acknowledging all of these points. It is never expected that the customer should know the weight or the volume of their goods, that is why an approved scale is used to determine actual weight. You were given a written quote outlining the service to be provided and how charges were to be calculated. This was acknowledged, agreed to, and signed by yourself prior to any services being provided to. At no point did you advise you would not be able to pay for any of the said services you had requested. You also provided the non-refundable $500 deposit to secure those services. That deposit has been deducted from the moving charges accordingly. It is worthy to note as well that you provided a credit card and agreed to pay for the moving charges, after they had been completed, and this method of payment declined when we attempted to process the charges related to the picking up of your goods. When your method of payment declined you advised you would contact your bank and have it resolved in the country where you reside. That did not happen and you decided then that you then wanted to remove your goods and pay the charges later and have Bekins trust that you would in fact pay the charges incurred. Bekins has yet to receive any payment towards your outstanding moving charges besides the original $500 deposit plus a $300 payment for a total of around $800. Ultimately you have refused to pay the outstanding moving charges, refused to pay the storage charges, and the storage charges continue to accrue without any indication from you as to how and when you plan to pay for the charges that you have incurred due to the services you have requested from Bekins. It is recommended that you to contact us directly to discuss and make arrangements to pay your outstanding invoice so that you can remove your goods from our warehouse. When your account has been cleared Bekins Kelowna will be happy to have you assign someone of your choosing to pick up your contents. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank You Bekins Management

3. C

   Colleen M.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Victoria, BC to West Kelowna, BC

   9 Dec 20203-bedroomPaid C$14,000

   Bekins moving nightmare

   Terrible company. My quote went from $8,000 to $14,000, and this was when the truck was still on my property. I feel I was scammed and taken advantage of - now will pursue legal action.

   Response from Bekins Kelowna

   Bekins completed a zoom survey with Colleen Murray. At the time of survey Colleen showed Bekins all the items she would like to have moved. She advised Bekins that she would do all the packing of her contents into boxes. When the survey was completed Bekins sent an inventory of all the items that Colleen had shown them and asked Colleen to confirm the listed items. Colleen confirmed, initialed, and signed those listings. That inventory was used to calculate the estimated weight of Colleen’ goods and in turn Bekins provided Colleen with a quote based on that weight and based on the services that Colleen had asked for. The original quote was estimated at $8072.99. Colleen was advised throughout the entire move process that the final charges would be based on the final actual scaled weight, services requested, and final services provided. Colleen agreed to this and signed/initialed all the documents that stated exactly that. Colleen was advised of her final charges on July 30, 2020. Colleen was advised, it was documented, and Colleen signed to it that the final charges would be collected when the final bill was calculated. Bekins moved 197 more items than what Bekins had originally quoted/estimated and that has been clearly documented throughout the entire move process. Bekins provided additional packing services at the request of Colleen on her load date. The crew loading had to arrange to have packing materials brought out to them so that they could complete said services that Colleen had asked for and they did exactly that. Bekins was not given a destination delivery address until September 8, 2020 and there was no delivery address on the quote. Colleen’s goods stayed in the equipment they were originally loaded into and were never taken out of that equipment until they were unloaded at destination. Colleen made no attempt to communicate with Bekins to file a claim, advise Bekins that there were possibly damages, and/or express her concerns with the apparent delivery issues. Only after she filed a BBB complaint on November 30, 2020 did Bekins become aware of her potential claim and delivery issues as Colleen did not communicate any of this to Bekins prior to her BBB compliant. As soon as Bekins became aware of Colleens complaint Bekins phoned her on November 30, 2020 and advised Colleen how she could and would need to file a claim. Colleen is also in possession of the move paperwork as the crew accidently left it at her house on the delivery date. Bekins has attempted to retrieve the paperwork but Colleen has refused to return it. The difference from the original quote to the final charges was due to the increased weight, added packing services, and the long carry/access challenges at loading. Colleen asked Bekins to provide all of these additional services and Bekins did exactly that. All of this was clearly discussed, documented, and signed by/with Colleen throughout the entire move process. It should also be mentioned that Colleen was offered and given free storage for her move in the amount of $4388.00. She was also not charged for the long carry at destination for the amount of $450.00 for a total of $4838 in savings. From the very first moment Colleen Murray reached out to Bekins, Bekins has been completely transparent, documented, and educated/explained the entire move process to her. Bekins fully agrees that moving can be stressful and we have and continue to do everything we can to help our customers have an easy and stress-free relocation. There are endless amounts of extremal stress’s that Bekins has no control of that impact each of our customers moving experiences and needs, especially in this current pandemic climate. It is unfortunate when Bekins is blamed for those external stresses that are out of our control. Bekins has and will continue to do its best to help out or customers when they are experiencing and going through such challenges.