The Cynical Universe

(** IF YOU HAVE BEEN SCAMMED BY CHAMPIONS MOVERS, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT TKN.MOVINGADVICE@GMAIL.COM **)

Another dissatisfied Champions customer found me. Here is their nightmare of train wreck proportion:

The contract was between *** and Champions Movers, Inc.

Our move was from San Francisco to San Diego. The agreement on the contract was to perform the move on the 17^th May 2008 and deliver to the new San Diego apartment on the 18^th May 2008.

The original quote from Champions Movers (CM) was for $1,175.00. We were concerned about moving of the big screen TV and asked if there special packing for large TVs. CM said yes and quoted us $50.00 for moving the TV.

Based on the articles list at the bottom of the email CM estimated the volume to be 2,000 lbs. This would later be weighed and invoiced as 3,980 lbs.

We were told the movers would call us 30 minutes before they arrived and would be at our apartment between 8am and 10am on the 17^th April. They did not call us by the allotted time and we phoned CM to get an update time. The driver (Juan Lopez) called us back and said they were running late and would be there soon. The driver arrived just before 11am, over 1 hour late.

They packed all of the furniture using blankets, plastic wrap, and tape on every item, except the boxes we had packed ourselves. The Movers used three mirror container boxes, bubble wrap, and tape to wrap the 65 inch TV. We were charged for the 3 mirror containers and the packing (totaling $150) on top of the $50 we were originally quoted.

We paid the first payment at the end of the packing which was half of the estimated quote (total of $1,175) and the packing materials cost at $518. I did not examine the calculations the Mover had made at that time I paid the $1,105 as the first part of payment.

Later, I checked the “Combined Agreement for Moving Services and Freight Bill” (Bill), and it states the Movers used 2 containers and packing materials for “King or Queen Size” beds totaling $46. The Movers also charged us with 3 Mirror containers and packing at $150 dollars for the packaging on the large TV. The grand total of this section is $196. We were charged $518 with no explanation. We were also charged another $50 for “Crating TV” on the Bill.

Initially when we phoned CM to question the Bill we were told by Riki Lepori that she could not read her copy of the Bill and we would have to ask the Driver when he arrived. Our copy and the drivers were quite legible and easy to read. Riki also had a carbon copy (as we did) of the Bill and it would have been exactly the same legibility as all the other copies.

In a later discussion with our Lawyer, see below, we were told by CM that the 3 mirror containers were for the 3 mirrors we must have had moved (even though we do not own any mirrors) and the itemized list of Household Goods which was created by the Mover does not list any mirrors as being packed.

We decided to question this issue when the furniture arrived in San Diego on Friday the 18^th April. We spoke with CM and agreed on the delivery date as 4/18/08, as is detailed on the contract, and arranged a time for the afternoon of the Friday 18^th April to take delivery of our furniture.

We had not received any phone calls by 2pm of Friday and rang CM. We were told by the CM Dispatcher that the truck had broken an axle and had not left San Jose yet. This statement was later contradicted by the delivery driver, Itay (first name), who stated that there was no problem with the original truck. This statement was also confirmed by Riki at CM when we finally talked t her on Monday.

When we tried to contact Riki over the weekend to find out what was happening, we were told by the Dispatcher on Saturday she was not in until Sunday. When we called on Sunday the Dispatcher told us she was away sick that day.

The furniture arrived on the 23^rd April 2008, six days later than the agreed delivery date on the contract. During that time we rang CM several times per day to find the status of where our furniture was. We were told many things during this period of time, such as they could not find a replacement truck in San Francisco as they were all “booked out” on Saturday. They told us there were no available drivers, and that the other truck was also having problems.

When we told them we had no clothes except for the clothes on our backs, I had no work equipment, and we had no kitchen utensils to eat, we were told that “there was nothing they could do” by the dispatcher at CM.

When I also told the Dispatcher that I could not work as all my equipment and tools were on the moving truck, he told me to “go to Home Depot and buy the tools you need, and when you are finished return them”. I told him my equipment was computers, and that all of my work information was on those computers. He told me again there was nothing they could do.

We asked Riki about our expenses that were starting to mount for the hotel, food, etc., and she offered us $50 a night for a hotel, and nothing else.

We asked Margarita for a written invoice for the remaining outstanding amount and she wrote an email which states the outstanding amount would be $771.50. When the delivery driver arrived the outstanding amount had been changed to $1,875.50.

This outstanding amount included the remaining $578 dollars from the first payment plus an additional $1,298.50 for the extra pounds over the 2,000 pound quote. We were not given a copy of the receipt for the extra pounds. We were told the extra pounds were 1,980 pounds and were supposed to be calculated at $0.55 per pound which totals $1,089. We were charged at $0.66/lb by CM were the quoted contract clearly states “$1050 for the first 2000 lbs; $0.55 for each additional pound; 2000 LB MINIMUM”. We were overcharged by CM by $209.50.

We asked the Driver about the two discrepancies (a third was found later):

1. The overcharge of the packing materials
2. The email from Margarita stating the outstanding amount was $771.50.

He contacted CM and spoke to Margarita and using his original copy that Juan Lopez in San Francisco filled out, and the Driver stated that the calculation for point 1 (above) was incorrect. She told the Driver that her copy was difficult to read (again) and we should pay the outstanding amount and CM would look into it later.

After speaking to the driver on the second point, Margarita told us that she had made a mistake and the actual value that we needed to pay was $1,896.50. She said again that we should just pay the outstanding amount and CM would look into it later, even though the driver also agreed it was incorrectly calculated. I told Margarita that unless she gave us an accurate invoice we would not pay now. Her response was that then they would drive away with our furniture, store it, and charge us storage costs until we paid total outstanding amount. I pointed out that the Bill states that we are not required to pay before unloading. She said that it was CM company policy that we had to pay and said it was in the contract. I directed her to her copy and highlighted the area where Juan Lopez had crossed out “Payment before Unloading” and it was also not signed by anyone. She said it did not matter and that we must pay.

We called the San Diego police and I waited with the driver out the front of the unit complex. The police arrived and looked at the paperwork. The police spoke to us, examined the paperwork and said that everything was in order and we did not have to pay before unloading, as detailed in the contract. The driver spoke to Riki at CM, who told him to drive away with our furniture. The police officer said to the driver that because we had already paid a deposit, he could not drive away, and if he did it would be theft and he would be arrested.

The police officer then spoke to Riki on the phone and then confirmed that the movers would unload the furniture and we would pay at the end. The movers then unloaded the furniture and at the end said they would only accept cash or cashier’s check. I said I would not be paying either and wrote a check.

After checking the remaining bill for $1,876.50 I discovered the overcharged payment for the extra pounds. I rang Riki at CM and told her that there was the third incorrect calculation by CM and I requested a new accurate invoice and would be cancelling the check and writing a new check for the new invoice. She told me I could not cancel the check and that if I did they would start immediate legal action to recover the full amount of $1,876.50. I cancelled the check.

We contacted a lawyer in San Diego for advice. He contacted Riki and spoke to her on several occasions. Our lawyer informed CM that we wanted a correct invoice and reasonable compensation for the expenses we incurred during the six days we waited for our furniture to arrive. Expenses that we would not normal have incurred if our furniture had been delivered on the agreed delivery date in the contract.

She refused any compensation for expenses and said that there was no discrepancies in the Bill and CM would begin civil action against us if we did not pay the full invoice amount of $1,876.50 by Monday, 5^th May.

We calculated a payment which deducted reasonable costs for our expenses for the six days where we did not have clothes, furniture, or kitchen items. We added the costs of 5 nights’ accommodation at a 2.5 star hotel near our apartment. We then sent a check for the difference to CM and we are waiting on their response.

(** IF YOU HAVE BEEN SCAMMED BY CHAMPIONS MOVERS, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT TKN.MOVINGADVICE@GMAIL.COM **)