When I was searching for a moving company, I filled out many estimate requests online. One of them was for White Glove Moving and Storage. I talked to the gentleman several times, and I was happy with the quoted estimates. I asked all the right questions and was given all the right answers. At the advice of a friend, who had seen some horror show on Nightline or something, I checked further into the company. I checked the Better Business Bureau’s report on the company and was satisfied. There was another business by the same name that said that it also went by the name American Renaissance. It didn’t have a favorable report, but it was also located in California. The one that I had been talking to was on the east coast, and the numbers listed on the east coast company matched the business with a good report. The logo on the web page also matched the one on my faxed estimate. I wasn’t satisfied by that, though, and called the company with which I had been speaking.
I asked him point blank if this company had any affiliation whatsoever with American Renaissance. I was told that they did not. I asked if he was sure, and he was. I then told him that I had checked into the BBB and that there were two companies in their database with the name White Glove Moving and Storage and that one with a bad report had “Also goes by American Renaissance” listed under its title. (That one is no longer to be found, which is weird.) I told him that I was concerned because of that. He said not to be concerned, that it wasn’t his company, and that I’d be telling all of my friends about White Glove! Well, I’m a sucker, and I believed him. The numbers matched the one with a good report, not the one with the bad report. I felt reassured.
The movers were to come on the 23rd or 24th of June. I didn’t know which day, so I called and I was told that the dispatcher would call me closer to the day. Okay, I would wait. Well, the 23rd was a Monday, and by Thursday prior I still hadn’t heard back from them, so I called again. I was told that they’d be there on Monday, the 23rd. Fine. Mom and I were mostly ready! I never did receive a call from the dispatcher, though.
They were to be there by 9 A.M. At 11 A.M. I called the company and was told that the dispatcher had been trying to get in touch with me for hours. I told them that my phone was working (obviously), but they had been calling my school number. Argh! Why would they call my school number when I am at my house waiting for them to pick up my stuff. Heh. I gave him my phone number and a few minutes later, the dispatcher called to give me the details. He then told me to whom I should make the cashier’s check: American Renaissance.
Whoa! Hold it! Repeat that!
Yes, I was, indeed, to make the check out to American Renaissance.
I was stunned. I said, “Excuse me? I’m sorry, but I was told by White Glove that they had no affiliation whatsoever with a company named American Renaissance, and now I am finding out that that’s who I’m making the check out to?” He didn’t understand my concern and I told him about the BBB and finding a horrible report on them. He told me that there must be some mistake. They’ve only had two complaints in eleven years. I must be mistaken.
I assured him that I knew exactly what I was talking about and asked him to give me twenty minutes to check it out. He agreed. I called around trying to find the number for the BBB, which isn’t very easy,mind you. Unless you know the city in which the local BBB is in for that particular company, you can’t use information! After I finally found it, I asked them to check into this company for me. They couldn’t find it. I told them that it also went by the name of American Renaissance. They found that and read to me the contents of the report. I then asked how many complaints they had received. 87 in two years!
After hanging up with the BBB, I called the company back and told them that they had a horrible report and that they had received 87 complaints in the last two years. He was stunned. He said no way, that couldn’t be right, there was a huge mistake. Blah blah blah. He asked me to wait for a bit while he called and talked to his manager to get this cleared up. I agreed and waited for him to return the call.
He didn’t.
I called back and asked how things were going. I was told that his manager was on the phone right now with BBB and that they were fixing this problem; there had been a mistake and it was being resolved. He told me about the two complaints and that they had been resolved. He assured me that it was a good company and he couldn’t believe this huge mistake. He told me that they would call me back when they knew more. I waited. And waited. Finally, I called the main company (White Glove) and told the guy what was happening, and asked why I was told that the company had no affiliation with American Renaissance when, in fact, it did. He guffawed and passed me off to his manager person. She restated what I had been told about the company talking with the BBB. I told her of my concerns, and she asked if she could call me back in “two minutes because someone just walked into [her] office”, and I complied. An hour later she still hadn’t called me back. An hour and a half later, she didn’t call, so I had to call. She was gone to lunch. Nice.
When she finally called me back, she said that the BBB was “fixing the problem”, and then told me that they don’t give out the information that I received. I assured her they did because it’s the information that I was given. She said that they aren’t supposed to. Duh. Whatever. She said that if I didn’t feel comfortable with the company to no to use them. I asked her what she thought of them. Did she trust them? Would she use them. Honestly. She said that she would and that they were honestly a great company.
I discussed it with Mom. It was the last month of June. There was no way on this green earth that I would find another moving company on such short notice. Not only is the last week of the month, but it’s the busiest moving time of the entire year. Not only would none be available, if by chance I got one, they would charge WAY more than I would ever be able to afford. I decided to take my chances. I called up the main company and told them that I would still go with them. Let’s do it. She asked me to give her a couple of minutes to call the company before I did. I said fine.
When I called them, I was told that my truck had been sent on a local move and that they wouldn’t be able to pick my stuff up until the next morning. What? They gave away my truck? I calmly asked them why they would do that, and I was told, “Well, we didn’t know what was going to happen, so . . .” Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat. The next day was better than not at all.
The next morning, bright and early, I called to confirm with the company. He told me that they would be there between 12 noon and 2 P.M. I said, “Okay, between noon and two?” He said to give a call back in a couple of hours to talk about it. I calmly, but firmly told him, “Look. I’ve had to rearrange my entire schedule because of this ‘mix-up’. I have errands to run, and I have places that I need to be.” He told me that it definitely wouldn’t be until 2 P.M. and to please call at 1 P.M. to confirm. I thanked him and started on with my day.
One of the things that I had to do was take my car in for its minor check-up—oil change, brake check, tire check, etc. It was great timing considering I would be driving it across the country. I was also leaving it for the day because I wanted them to check out this vibrating rattle that was in the dash somewhere. Mom and I would rent a car so that we could run our errands. One of the things that we had planned to do was get a manicure. Well, since all of my stuff was packed up, we had been staying with Patsy for our last few days in town. She told us not to rent a car, that she would be more than happy to chauffeur us around. So we dropped off my car and began our errands. We decided to stop for a sit-down-and-be-waited-on lunch at Olive Garden, knowing that if they left at 1 o’clock, they wouldn’t be to my house before 3 o’clock.
Promptly at 1 P.M. I called the company. I was told the person that I needed to talk to was on the other line. I called back in fifteen minutes. Ron (the dispatch guy) told me that the crew was still on a local move. It was a huge one, so they’d still be another two hours. Knowing that they are located in Gardena, California I asked, “So when they finish around 3 o’clock, they are then going to drive up to my place and pick up my stuff? They won’t be getting there until 5 P.M. or so.” Oh no. I wasn’t that far away. Uh, yeah, I am! He thought I was in San Bernardino. No, I’m in San Bernardino County. I’m another hour and a half east of SB. He said not to worry. I asked him to please keep me informed of the progress. He assured me he would.
At 5:00 I had heard from neither the moving company or the car place. I called the car place and I was told that they couldn’t find the noise. Great. It’s almost constant and they can’t find it. I went there to pick it up and go on a drive with someone so that they could hear the noise. Sure enough, there was NO noise! This is a noise that is always happening. Always. Now, even on a bumpy road, there was NO noise! That’s very frustrating. It was late, so I paid for the service and Mom and I left. Patsy was following us. Before we even left the lot, there was the noise. We drove on a bit, and it got louder . . . and louder. We turned around and took it back. I took the mechanic back on a test drive with no luck. Until we were turning back toward the car place. Then he heard it. It was coming from the steering column, as I had always told them! Yay.
I had to leave it another day. Another day my Mom and I were to be driven around by Patsy. It was so very generous and kind of her, but two days of being driven around relying on someone else’s schedule is not easy. But so be it.
It was now around 5:30 as we were heading home. We decided to get some ice cream as the temp was about 115 degrees or more. In the shade. As we were driving there, I decided to give the moving company a call since I hadn’t heard from them. Big surprise. Have you noticed a pattern here? They’ll call me back. They don’t call me back. I have to call them back. I get Ron, and he tells me that I need to call the main company. I ask him why, and he just tells me that they need to talk to me. He won’t give me an explanation. As frustrating as it is, I comply and give the other company a call. They are in New Jersey. It’s 8:30 P.M. there. They, of course, are not there. Or so I’m told by whoever answered the phone. I call Ron again, telling him that no one is in the office because of the time, and could he please tell me what’s going on.
“I called and told them that I didn’t want to do the job anymore. We’re not going to do the job.”
What? WHAT?!?! After two days of delays and running me around, they decide, for some unknown reasons, that they are NOT going to do the job?
I asked him why. He said he had his reasons. Of course he did, but he wouldn’t share them with me. He finally said that Isaac (at White Glove) called and said not to do the job. Stephanie (at White Glove) called and told them not to do the job. I asked why. He told me not to take it personally. How could I not? I was a little more than frustrated by this time, demanding a reason for delaying two days, running me around, and then deciding not to do the job. I told him that I had done everything that they had asked, I had trusted them regardless of the things that I had learned on the BBB site, and now they were going to mess me over??? He refused to give me a reason, and I hung up. I was angry. After taking a deep breath, I called him back. Someone else (Eric) answered the phone. He would not put me through to Ron, whom I had been dealing with the entire time. He told me that Ron couldn’t do anything and that they weren’t doing the job.
For the next half-hour, I talked to Eric, trying to understand why in the world they would, out of the blue, cancel my job. I told him what Ron had said (everyone at the main company calling and telling him not to do the job), and he said that no, the main company was called and told that they (AR) couldn’t do the job. I was also told that I cancelled the job. I said, “No way. You can’t say that you thought I cancelled the job. I’ve been talking to your dispatcher all day today!” After much debating and disgust, I told him that I would definitely be making a huge complaint to the BBB and that their communication process needed to be improved in a big way. I was absolutely disgusted.
And scared. How was I going to get to Georgia? All my stuff was packed and ready to go. How was I going to get there? There’s no way I could get movers! It was after 6 P.M. by this time, so I couldn’t call anyone. No one would still be open. I’d have to wait until the morning. What could I do? I tried to make it through the night without worrying, but I couldn’t.
Patsy and Mom assured me that I had done everything right. I was controlled and very calm and collected on the phone, when I could have been downright mean. But I wasn’t mean on the phone. I always ended conversations with a kind and pleasant ‘thank you’. Had I done something to make them not want the job? All I had done is to call when they hadn’t returned calls. If that makes me an obnoxious customer . . .
The next morning started early. I called the main company (White Glove) and asked them what the heck happened. (Actually, I talked to the first guy that I dealt with and said that he was right; I would be telling all my friends about the company! And that it definitely wasn’t a good thing.) I talked to Stephanie, the supposed manager, and demanded to know how this kind of breakdown in communication could happen. She told me that the moving company that they had hired had just overextended themselves and were physically unable to do the move. I asked her if she or Isaac had called them to tell them to not do the job, and she said that they didn't. I told her that that was what I was told. This was all ridiculous. I trusted both companies. How could this happen? She said that if I could wait two or three days, they would send one of their own trucks to me and move me. So if I wanted to wait five or six days, she’d send one out. (Yes, it changed from two days to five or six in a matter of seconds.) I said, “No, I don’t think so. And unless you are going to compensate me in a big way, I would be sending a complaint to the BBB for both companies.” She told me to go ahead. She also told me that she understood the inconvenience. The inconvenience? How about the ton of extra costs that this “inconvenience” is going to incur. I ended the conversation by telling her that she and the White Glove company should seriously reconsider their relationship with American Renaissance and that the breakdown in communication is absolutely unacceptable.
I spent the morning calling moving companies. As suspected, there were none available until the middle of July. And with each call, I was basically verbally reprimanded for “waiting until the last minute” to make my arrangements. Finally, I broke down to my mom, telling her that I couldn’t handle people talking to me like I was an irresponsible fool for not making arrangements before this and for daring to think that there might be some kind of availability.
I’m so glad that my mother was there. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t had her support. Both she and Patsy were very kind to me, assuring me that they wouldn’t have been able to hold it together as long as I did. They’re so nice.
Mom started making some calls for me. She, of course, started each conversation with, “We have a problem. My daughter hired some movers, and they didn’t show up,” or something like that. She got more sympathy than I did! Anyway, one company was really nice and suggested a company that might be able to help us, a reputable local company. (Because I was, of course, only going with national companies at this time.) Mom called them. They couldn’t do it until after the 4th of July, but they would come and pick up my stuff, take it to their storage unit until then. It would cost me buku bucks to have it done that way. Mom and I decided that perhaps we were going to have to just bite the bullet and rent a moving truck and drive it out ourselves.
The reason we had been avoiding that route is because it would mean that we would each be driving a vehicle—alone. That is a l-o-n-g trip to drive by oneself, without any kind of respite during the day. Well, we found something that would be decently priced. A truck would cost us nearly $1000, and we decided to go with pulling the car behind it, which would be another $400 for the car-trailer. However, neither Mom nor I have ever driven a big truck with a car-trailer behind it. So, I flew my father out . . . on a day’s notice . That was another $300 (not too bad actually for a last-minute ticket). He would, of course, be taking time off of work to do this. That costs him money. We did this only after finding out that they did have a three-seater truck available. (I didn’t want one person to be driving alone all the time.) So, with the truck getting about 10 miles to the gallon, and we’d be traveling about 2,200 miles. Well, it would be at least a couple of hundred dollars worth of gas.
Oh, we also had to get the truck loaded once we picked it up. Yikes! I called the boys (the custodians at school), and begged them to come and help us get the big stuff on. Mom and I could load all the boxes, but it was the couch and the heavy boxes that we needed help with. They agreed to do it. Yay! I tell ya, it is soooooooo good to be well-liked by those guys. Really, the most important person to befriend at school is the custodian.
Being the second day that my car was gone, we were once again at the mercy of Patsy and her vehicle. I really wish I had insisted on renting a car. Mom and I waited for a long time for Patsy to finish up her errands. She had given us time on the phone all morning, so when we were finally settled, she had tons of calls to make. (She was in charge of the plans for a bunch of people at school going to France in July, so she had many calls to make for that.) Then she went online to do some stuff. I sat there, afraid to ask to borrow her car so that I could do what I needed to do. I had a dentist appointment to fix a filling at 3 o’clock. The boys were meeting us at my house to help load at 4 o’clock. And we hadn’t picked up the truck yet. Well, finally Patsy said, “Why don’t you guys just take my car to do what you need to do while I work on things here?” Yeah, I should have just asked her two or three hours ago! Heh.
I went to my appointment, and Mom went to go do as much as she could with the truck. She took me back there after the dentist appointment, and we checked out the truck. It seemed roomy enough. It would be a very cozy ride to Georgia. We paid for everything. They were SO good to us there. (I’m going to write a letter to their corporate office to let them know how helpful and kind they were.) The boys were in my house when I arrived. Heh. They got there early, dagnabit! But they loaded up everything. Everything! They are so cool! I bought them pizzas and thanked them profusely. I even gave them things that they liked. What can I say? Dad was even more thankful that they loaded everything because then he didn’t have to do it all!
We had planned to go to a special restaurant that night with Patsy, but because of everything, we didn’t. We had to still clean the house. Because everything was boxed up and around the house, we couldn’t do it earlier. (Yeah, another “inconvenience” of the wonderful moving company.) It took forever. It got frustrating because it didn’t seem like it would take that long! I had tons of stuff for give-away, so Patsy logged all of that for tax purposes. Argh. We were there until midnight! And we still weren’t done. Mom and I would finish up in the morning.
Patsy, Mom and I met Katy for breakfast the next morning. She would be flying out later that day for Kentucky, so I wanted to be able to say good-bye to her adequately. It was nice. It was hard to say good-bye. She had done so much for me and been a really great friend. I’m really going to miss her. After that, we had the day planned. My car wouldn’t be ready until later, so Patsy once again drove us around. We had it all planned out. (The previous night we had completely filled her CR-V to the brim with all my give-away stuff.) Our first stop was Goodwill. They were open! Yay! That meant that we could get rid of all that stuff right away. So we did. Then we drove all the way to the district office for me to talk to the personnel lady. She wasn’t there, so I had to leave the stuff there. Then we went to pick up my contact lenses. I had ordered a whole year’s worth since I was moving. They weren’t there. Nice. A completely wasted trip, which was a half hour in the opposite direction that we needed to go for my car!
We took Patsy down to get a pedicure while we got our manicures—finally!!! She had never had one and was very nervous about it. Like many women, she hates her feet and thinks that they are abnormally ugly. We assured her that her feet were not bad and that she would love the pedicure. We were right. She loved it! She also made plans to get another one in a couple of weeks before France. Heh. We did the other things that we needed to do before picking up my car. Well, it still wasn’t solved AND I heard new noises. Great. Well, what else could I do. I have to live with it. It’s hard to solve the problem of noises in cars. It’s just a fact.
It was nice to have a car again! Patsy was so kind, but it felt so good to not be dependent on someone else. Mom and I went back to the house and finished up there as much as we could before we had to leave to go get Dad. It was late, and the two-hour drive to L.A. was painful because I was so tired. While we were driving to the airport, I suddenly remembered Lucky! The three of us in the truck AND Lucky? Oh, that would be comfy. I figured Lucky could sit on the floor. There was plenty of space when Mom and I checked the truck earlier. But something just struck me wrong about it. It’s an awful long trip to be smooshed.
I only nodded off on the highway a couple of times. Really.
It was good to see Dad. I’m glad that he flew out. He’s the professional trucker, ya know. Although there were so many things that went wrong, making my life miserable, there was something very nice knowing that Dad would be there to help, too! The trip home was even more painful. It was about midnight when Dad got in, and we had a two-hour trip home. Yuck! Nothing like doing so much driving each day for three days before taking a really long trip across the country!
The next morning we had a nice breakfast, thanks to Patsy. She made us eggs and bacon. She’s so cool. After breakfast, we loaded up and I said good-bye to her. It was quick because I was fighting back the tears. It’s so hard leaving this place that I have loved, and it’s harder leaving the people that I have grown to love and cherish.
We went to the house to finish things up completely. It took us several more hours. I don’t even know how that’s possible. Things took so much longer than I thought it would be. There were so many little, piddly things, it drove me nuts! But finally we got it done. Dad put more on the truck. We filled it up. I filled up a 15-foot moving truck! Yikes! I ended up throwing less away because I didn’t have to worry about weight anymore, which is how the moving company would have charged me. I had a nice living room chair and an office chair that I wasn’t going to take with me, so I put a sign on each saying “FREE—just needs to be cleaned or a cover” on the living room chair and took them both outside to the end of the driveway.
I looked out the window ten minutes later and they were both gone! Gone, I tell you! And here I was worried that they would still be there when my landlord returned from his vacation. Heh.
While we were making our final preparations, and after much discussion, we decided that we didn’t really need the car-trailer. Dad thought the truck would be too cramped with all of us. The extra gas it would take for the truck to drag a car would far outweigh the cost of gas for the car. My main concern was really that there would always be one person driving by his or herself. Mom and Dad were the only two driving the truck. That meant that it would be Mom’s duty to not only relieve me but Dad, too! They both assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem. I didn’t want to be squished for 2,200 miles. But would the truck rental place take the trailer back and give me at least most of my money back? I called, and she said that they would refund the whole thing!! Oh my gosh. I was expecting them to charge me for a day, but they didn’t. How cool was that? I really am going to write a letter exclaiming their wonderfulness! (Yes, that’s a word . . . now.)
We were finally ready to go. I looked around the house, left the note for my landlord on the cupboard door, locked the doors and left. It’s all very sad really. I wish things could have ended on a better note with him. I am so afraid that he is going to diss me at work, saying that I left the house a mess or something. However, Patsy was there to help, and she said that she would defend me if he did. She knows that I left it clean and in good condition (except for one spot where Lucky scratched into the drywall in the bathroom). I left a check for the landlord to cover minor repairs and things, which is more than I had to do. The whole ordeal of the landlord/colleague/parent-from-Hell was over. Wow.
I’m moving to Georgia!
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