8 Jul 2020 · MoveAdvisor
1.0 out of 51.0
This is a review for Accolade Moving and Storage, which is an alias of Future Van Lines operated by the same individual (Schlomo Dostikam). I very strongly advise against using this moving company. They did not show up for my scheduled move, did not provide any notice that they were not going to do so, and refused to provide any compensation for the damage their actions caused.
I made a reservation and paid a deposit with Accolade on 6/2/20 for a long-distance move. I made the reservation over the phone with Tom Parker, and as is reflected in the Binding Moving Estimate, I stressed that my lease was scheduled to end on Monday, 6/29/20, and that the pickup would need to be completed by then. Tom verbalized understanding and assured me that if the move could not be done on the morning of the 29th then it would be done at an earlier date instead. I was told that Dispatch would call me 1-3 days prior to the move with a time window for pickup.
On the evening prior to my scheduled pickup, I was concerned that I had not received the promised call, so I called the provided Dispatch number myself, and after 2 attempts (the first time I got not answer, left a message requesting an urgent call back, and was not called back) I reached someone named Sam who informed me that he was unable to reach the main dispatch office to give me a pickup time window but told me that they had been backed up recently and that there was a possibility that my pickup would be delayed. This was the first I had heard of any such possibility. A followup call (by me) the following morning confirmed that the pickup would likely not be completed until Thursday or Friday of that week, and the dispatch agent suggested that I "try to find someone else" to complete the move.
As a result of Accolade's failure to fulfill its agreement and failure to notify me of such with any reasonable advance notice, I was forced to scramble and find an alternative moving company to complete the job on the day my lease was scheduled to end. Due to the last-minute nature of the booking, the most cost-effective alternative I was able to secure was over $2600 in excess of the original estimate provided to me by Accolade for the same job. This doesn’t include the costs I had to incur from negotiating with my landlord to extend my lease by 1 day and expedited cleaning and painting costs, which became necessary since the earliest I was able to secure alternative movers on a last-minute basis was June 30th and a new tenant was scheduled to move in on July 1st.
Since then, I’ve followed up with Accolade numerous times via phone and email to try to recoup both my deposit and compensation for the increased cost I had to incur due to having to arrange for movers at the last minute. It is impossible to reach Tom Parker since he is evidently always “not in right now.” Several attempts at reaching someone with authority in the company ended either with me being hung up on, or with a promise that I would be called back the same day to achieve a resolution. In particular, someone named Robert assured me on two separate occasions that he would process my deposit refund immediately and “speak to the higher-ups” about arranging for compensation with a callback the same day. No one from Accolade called me back as promised.
Six days after my scheduled pickup date I finally did receive a reply to one of the emails I wrote to Accolade. They said they would “absolutely” refund my deposit but refused to provide any compensation for the damages caused by their failure to show up and failure to notify me in time to arrange for alternative movers. The only explanation given was that “the truck broke down,” which they had not mentioned at any point previous to that email and, even if true, does not excuse their failure to provide me with notification. They have not disputed any of these points and replied only “Sorry we can’t be of any further assistance in this matter.”
I still have yet to receive the refund for my deposit. Based on my experience with their dishonesty so far and track record from other online reviewers (they appear to also operate under the aliases “Future Van Lines,” “Trucks on Call,” and “Cross State Movers,” all of which are registered to Schlomo Dostikam at 852 QUINCE ORCHARD DR, STE T-2, GAITHERSBURG MD 20878 and 111 Washington Grove, Washington Grove, MD 20880 and have numerous complaints documenting other unprofessional and scam-like behavior), I anticipate I will have to file a chargeback with my credit card company in order to recover at least that small part of the damages that they caused.
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