To read the most recent update on this situation, please visit my new blog at http://www.adambohannon.org/blog/update-on-our-horrible-moving-experience-transamerica-moving-inc-receives-f-from-better-business-bureau-accreditation-revoked/
There are many, many more terrible stories about negligence and intimidation by Transamerica Moving from extremely unhappy customers that you may read yourself, many of which are seeking recompense for their troubles. Transamerica has also been posting fraudulent comments in order to try to persuade readers. The IP addresses of these comments have been revealed below for all to see, which further undermines Transamerica’s attempt to prevent the onslaught of negative feedback that their negligent business practices are generating. Action is being taken. If you have fallen victim to Transamerica Moving, please share your story on my blog and/or get in contact with me at abohannon28@gmail.com. You are certainly not alone.
**UPDATE AS OF 7/09/08 – The rest of our stuff still has not arrived and, upon calling Transamerica Moving Inc. to inquire about the status of their arrival, Transamerica has REFUSED to deliver the rest of our stuff because their negligent business practices that inspired us to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau resulted in the revoking of their license. They told us they refused to deliver the rest of our property until we wrote a letter of apology to the BBB (which, to my knowledge, is illegal). According to Transamerica, we filed a fraudulent claim regarding my stolen belongings, which, I guess, legitimizes their decision to break contract and refuse to deliver the rest of our stuff. The case report # for the theft is listed below and the responding officer’s card is still in my wallet (his name is Halladay). Now, Transamerica is telling us we will need to hire another company to pick up our stuff (which, not suprisingly, is still in Denver). I am astonished Transamerica Moving Inc. is still in business.
As many of you know, recently we had a less than pleasant experience with Transamerica Moving Inc. To recapitulate, they:
Were 2 days late arriving at our residence in Colorado. They were also 3 days late getting our stuff to our final destination in San Diego.
Failed to fit all our stuff in a 26 ft truck, though we were independently quoted a weight and size that would have no problem fitting in a truck of that size. What’s more, when my brother and I recently had to move all the stuff from a storage unit into a temporary rental here in San Diego we were surprisingly able to fit everything in a truck the same size. We even had room to spare.
Lied to us regarding a drop the movers made at a distant storage unit in Denver. They claimed there was another person’s stuff on the truck and that was the reason they couldn’t fit everything. Supposedly they had dropped this person’s stuff off so they could fit the rest of our stuff. However, upon asking the movers themselves about the other person’s stuff once they returned, they informed us that they had unloaded our stuff, NOT someone else’s and that there wasn’t anyone else’s stuff on the truck besides ours to begin with.
Stole from me. The movers they hired stole an envelope containing $400 dollars in cash (in an envelope that has”Country Club Bank” printed on it), my iPod nano (green), and my digital camera (Canon Powershot) with a 2GB memory card inside with thousands of pictures from my recent backpacking trip in South America. I contacted the Westminster police dept. but I don’t expect anything to come of it. My case report # is 2008-06378. Once we were in San Diego and the movers met us at the storage unit to unload our stuff, one of the movers, John David, was missing When we asked Carlos, obviously the primary employee, where John David was he informed us that he had failed to come to work that morning. He further informed us that he had originally picked up John David on the corner of a Home Depot where he was living out of his car. He thought he’d give the guy a chance to make some money, he said. The guy Carlos brought to help him unload that day was originally from Mazatlan and spoke little English. I asked him where John David was and after smirking, subtly laughing, and asking why I wanted to know he told me John David had taken another job in Canada. What this means, I have no idea. The two stories about John David’s disappearance were interesting, nonetheless, and made me question who actually stole my belongings.
Continuously failed to return our phone calls. After frequently promising they would get back to us ASAP, our calls were returned only a few times and never in a timely fashion.
Overcharged us. They told us our hardships were “to be expected” and refused to dock any more than $200 and the 3% credit card fee, a total discount of approx. $326 off of a $4,200 move fraught with problems and frankly unprofessional business behavior.
Have still failed to deliver the remainder of our belongings, as of 7/3/08. The items that were supposedly someone else’s but which turned out to actually be ours are still somewhere between Denver and San Diego, if not still in Denver. They were supposed to deliver the items 3 weeks ago, a week following our arrival in San Diego, but have at this time failed to do so. Also, they haven’t returned our calls regarding the status of our remaining items. On June 20th we called and were told our stuff was going to be picked up and then delivered on the Monday of June 23rd. It was not. We called on Thursday, June 26 and left a message that has yet to be returned.
After filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Transamerica responded saying they were “amazed and disgusted” by our dishonesty regarding the theft and proceeded to tenuously refute our complaint.
As of 6/18/08, Transamerica Moving Inc. in Carlsbad, CA had its BBB accreditation revoked. It’s Van Nuys location in LA also has received a rating of ‘F’, the BBB’s lowest rating. As an explanation, the BBB writes on their website that an ‘F’ rating means
We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices.
I wanted to post this experience for anyone who’s planning a move in the near future. I do not wish the frustration, stress, and expense caused to us by this horrible experience on anyone else. I advise you not to use Transamerica Moving Inc.
We expressed our frustration to the officer who responded to our call about the theft and he sympathized with our troubles. He told us how his brother had recently moved to Las Vegas and the company responsible for his move had lost the container with his belongings, which consisted of many perishable items, at a warehouse in the city. The perishable items either melted or rotted and it took them 6 weeks to recover the lost container. After sharing in each other’s amazement and amusement at such negligent business practice we warned him about Transamerica. The look on his face was priceless. “Transamerica? No way. That’s the same company my brother used!”
BBB’s rating of Transamerica’s Carlsbad office
BBB’s rating of Transamerica’s Van Nuy’s office
