11 Nov 2017 · MoveAdvisor
1.0 out of 51.0
I received an online quote from TLC movers for a move this August. I had extensive email conversations with an employee there, and also spoke to him on the phone. During all the conversations, he always worded it as though TLC was the moving company. The website he provided refers multiple times to the full moving services they provide. He referred many times to "our" movers, "our" dispatchers, etc. He also sent me "TLC Movers Reviews" from satisfied customers talking about how excellent their services were.
However, after booking, I discovered they had subcontracted out to AMS movers, a company that was never once mentioned before this. If they had been mentioned, I would have NEVER booked with TLC, as AMS has awful reviews online, and in fact is banned from the apartment building I was moving into due to multiple bad experiences by tenants and the building manager.
I then went on to have an awful move with AMS.The issues I experienced included:
1) Our move was scheduled for Sunday August 6. We got a call from the AMS driver the afternoon of Friday August 4. First, he wanted to know how much stuff we had, as he said his truck was smaller than expected and he may not be able to fit it. Secondly, he said he was coming Saturday morning (the 5th) instead. When we told him that wouldn't work, not only because we were not going to be prepared, but because we had arranged many days in advance to block off parking on the busy one way street we work on, he told us it was Saturday or nothing. He yelled at me and threatened to not come at all when I indicated that this was very problematic for us. He also told both my husband and myself that our business was basically worth nothing to him and the company, because our move was so small and cheap, suggesting that we lucky he was even bothering to do our move. We had to agree to move on the Saturday morning, because we were left no other option to get out of our home before the next tenants took possession. I reached out to TLC about this, and never received a response. We unexpectedly had to pay for a night at a hotel because of this as well, which was more expensive due to the last minute nature of the change.
2) Another issue, along side with very poor communication and many ignored emails, is how our belongings were treated. Our desk was smashed- one leg was entirely broken off. Our couch was wet- thank goodness it hasn't gotten moldy so far. Our boxes were beat up and squished, as though they had been dropped off a building- people watching the move commented on how badly things looked.
3) An additional issue was documentation. The pick-up driver completely messed up on his documentation. The numbered stickers did not match the belongings at all- an office chair was marked as a sofa, for instance. He marked that all our furniture was damaged, even when it wasn't. Also, several items had no stickers on them. We didn't have several items delivered, but we still don't know what they are, because everything was so mislabeled, as was as potentially unlabeled.
What we are especially upset about is that TLC misrepresented themselves. When we attempted to address our issues with TLC, they indicated that they can do nothing about our complaints, as they are just the "booking agents." However, this was the first time they ever used that term in our several months of communication. In all our emails and on their website, they describe themselves as a moving company. They never mentioned subcontracting out or AMS until after I paid the deposit.
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