Hill's Moving Company sent three men to my home to move my furniture and boxed personal items from Tampa, FL to Margate, FL. Most boxes were already packed but they packed several other boxes, including wardrobe boxes that contained expensive clothes and fur coats. As they were packing, I noticed that a tote bag that was hanging on a barstool had suddenly disappeared. It was hanging there just 10 minutes before.
I did not say anything but that should have been my warning sign that something wasn't right. These guys appeared to be very friendly and chatty, so I wanted to believe that they were trustworty. One of them kept an inventory list of my belongings. As I found out later, he listed my furniture as being mostly damaged/gouged/scratched/broken - and that could not have been further from the truth. Yes, there were normal minor surface scratches on some of the pieces, but that's just from normal use. Their descriptions absolved them from responsibility just in case something was damaged in transit. When I asked for my copy of the inventory, he told me that they will give it to me upon delivery. I was stressed and exhausted so I did not argue, although later I realized that it was dumb to let total strangers leave with all my belongings without so much as a receipt. So I called the company and told them to send me one by fax or email. They agreed to do it, but they also tried to tell me that they usually do not give the shipper any documentation for intrastate moves. This mades absolutely zero sense to me. It took them a few days to email me a pdf file copy of it. In the meantime, I drove to my final destination and within a couple of days, I realized that I would have to find a different place to live than where I had originally planned to have everything delivered. I notified the moving company dispatcher immediately and the person I talked with suggested that I rent a mini-storage space for all my things while I find a new home. So on the date of the delivery (exactly one week after pick up), they arrived to the Public Storage facility where I rented a space. When they started to unload the truck, I noticed that some of my furniture was completely unwrapped. When I saw the large gashes on my beautiful lacquered wood bed frame, I was heartbroken. I started to cry and I asked them what had happened and why was it not wrapped in blankets. To this, the 70 year old driver said to me exactly these words: "you are so ungrateful, a pain in the neck, I told them I didn't want to deliver you nothin' ". He had everything I owned on his truck - what could I respond with and not risk him doing more damage, or worse? As they kept unloading the truck, I saw more damage to other pieces, especially a bashed in roof of my china cabinet. They lost screws, bed wheels, just did a very careless job. But that was only the beginning of it- when the 76th box was counted, I was told that the truck was empty and that was it. I insisted that I had six more boxes that were not accounted for, but the remaining kept insisting that they had delivered everything and the truck was empty. I signed the papers thinking that maybe I had gotten my count wrong, although I kept a running total of boxes on my calculator as they were being wheeled in. But I wasn't wrong- I returned and moved most of them out of the storage unit, counted them one by one, and the final result is the same-six large boxes are completely missing. The complaint department has structured a story that makes them look good, but they cannot explain to me why I am missing boxes of clothes/shoes/other valuable personal belongings. I am sick at the throught of having to open those remaining boxes in a couple of weeks when I move to my new home, and finally finding out which items had been stolen. So far I know that a wardrobe box containing all my winter coats is missing (and they packed it, so they are aware that it contained several fur trimmed coats).
Let me just preface this by saying that in 2010, I had moved with National Van Lines (Hill's Van lines is one of their agents). That previous move was a very pleasant experience, and even the small amount of damage that had occurred was insignificant and handled by the company promptly.
That is why I was confident that my move with this company would be equally pleasant, but it has been a nightmare from day one. I know that I will never see many of my favorite things again but I will continue to do whatever is in my power to prevent this from happening to any other person. I am a single woman and money is tight, and replacing all those clothes and shoes will cost a me a fortune. Some items aren't replaceable. I dread the day when I start to open the boxes and finally realize that I do not have any winter coats, or shoes, or jeans. My stomach is in knots constantly and I regret the day I ever called this company. These men clearly did not 'misplace' so many large boxes, and they claim that they did not comingle them with any other shipment.
I hope that you will find it in your heart to make this story public and help me to make Hill's Van Lines accountable for hiring dishonest men to handle people's cherished belongings. They were paid handsomely for their service, and if everything had been delivered and undamaged, it would have been money well spent. I had to file a dispute with my credit card but a couple of thousand dollars won't compensate me for replacing most of my wardrobe. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions at 267-253-4174. Thank you. Irene Milman
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