9 Jun 2021 · MoveAdvisor
1.0 out of 51.0
When you contract with a mover, most people expect four things: on-time pickup of furniture and possessions; on-time delivery to the new address; a minimum of breakage and other damage; and a company that stands behind its work.
Late last year, my sister-in-law hired U.S. Van Lines – St. Louis to move the contents of her two-bedroom townhome from St. Louis to Orlando. To say the move was a disaster is like comparing COVID to a mild case of the flu. While the pickup came off as scheduled, the contents arrived late and, too often, in pieces. And the co-owner, Chuck Vilnai, did his dead-level best to get out of paying for any of the damage.
My sister-in-law’s furnishings were loaded into a U.S. Van Lines truck in November, at the height of the pandemic. Everything seemed to go smoothly and professionally. As I witnessed, her furniture and boxed-up possessions were stacked neatly in the truck. They were to be held by U.S. Van Lines in storage until December, when they would be trucked to Orlando.
More than a month later, a U-Haul truck pulled into my sister-in-law’s apartment complex. It was two days late, the result of a breakdown of the truck that had left St. Louis with her furniture. The U-Haul was rented as a substitute. And, it was clear, her furniture and possessions had literally been thrown into the truck.
The interior of the U-Haul looked like a landfill – boxes cascading every-which-way; furniture stacked on its top, bottom and side; loose packing paper and cardboard strewn across the floor. And as the truck was slowly unloaded, the extent of the damage became obvious – and staggering.
The front leg of a loveseat was snapped off. The curved glass to a curio cabinet was shattered; so was a custom-made, six-foot piece of glass that fit on top of a dresser. The corner of a bookcase/wall unit was crushed. Silk lamp shades were shredded. Pictures had been ripped out of their frames. A tea cart was simply missing, as were other pieces. A steel stepstool was bent at bizarre angles, indicating it had sat beneath an extremely heavy object. Many, many other items were cracked, chipped or otherwise damaged. The driver of the truck – a contract employee named Josh, who was from North Carolina -- repeated over and over, “There’s no excuse for this.”
Our preliminary estimate of the damage was $30,000. But when we called Chuck Vilnai, and sent two dozen pictures of damaged items, he offered to compensate my sister-in-law … $200. He reminded her that she had failed to take out insurance on the load (because of the pandemic, she had rushed through the final signing of her contract to keep contact with the driver at a minimum and had skipped over the insurance option.) When we threatened to go to arbitration, as the contract allowed, he raised his offer to $600. After months of haggling, we finally did go to arbitration – and ultimately won a settlement of $1,500.
My sister-in-law thought she’d vetted U.S. Van Lines carefully. The company is A-rated by the St. Louis Better Business Bureau. But clearly, this rating meant little. And we also discovered that federal and state law gives moving companies extensive protections when consumers complain.
My advice: do NOT hire U.S. Van Lines St. Louis to handle your move. Before the move, take pictures of your furniture and accessories. If you can, take your most precious items with you; don’t give them to the mover. And whatever mover you choose, carefully explore your insurance options to ensure that you’re protected in case of damage or loss. In the event of a disaster like this one, you’ll need an insurance company on your side.
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