WORST. Experience. EVER. Deceptive Salesman. Changed the deal afterwards without calling me. Grossly underestimated moving needs and timeline. If I didn't have TWO of my OWN vehicles we wouldn't have made it and went HOURS over estimate. I would NOT TRUST THEM!
- Approximate cost of services:
- $2,500.00
- Company Response
Hi Nathan, as the owner of Europa Moving and Storage I must say I am not only completely shocked at this review but also saddened. I feel the work we do for our clients is so important as it makes a big difference in their lives, and we take our responsibility and the promises we make VERY SERIOUSLY. So when someone uses words like "Deceptive" and "Changed the deal" in discussing their experience with us, it hurts more than you can imagine and undermines everything we do. I wish you would tell people exactly what you are unhappy about and let them judge for themselves if we acted deceptively or not.
Since you didn't mention the details of your move I will, and I will only deal with the facts so as to avoid injecting additional emotion into this situation.
1. When we spoke over the phone after your move, you told me the movers were terrific and did a great job of moving your home without any damages to your property or your items. In your own words our staff did a great job and are excellent movers - hard working, experienced, and honest. YOU EVEN TIPPED THE MOVERS because you were happy with their work.
2. Your move went 1 HOUR over the estimate, not several hours as you stated. This is a fact that I can prove as your estimate was provided to you in writing, as was the final bill for the move. You were quoted 8-10 hours for the move and the move took 11 hours. Unfortunately quoting is not an exact science even for someone as experienced as Ray, but your review makes it seem like we purposely deceived you when we did not. Ray did underestimate the total volume of items – which we admitted, but we also provided you with a SECOND VEHICLE and even provided an ADDITIONAL MOVER for 7 hours AT NO ADDITIONAL COST TO YOU. You make it sound like we left you stranded when in fact we did everything in our power on moving day to make sure the move was completed on time and on budget.
3. We never changed any deal. When Ray came to your home for an estimate you asked if we could move your hot tub. He told you he would look into it after speaking to our Operations Manager. He then sent you a written estimate via email which stated clearly IN THE FIRST LINE OF THE EMAIL that we WOULD NOT be able to move the hot tub. You read the email, and responded with several detailed questions about the quote, which Ray answered and after which you booked the job.
Please explain to me how we "Changed the deal"??? We sent you a written agreement and you responded in writing confirming your acceptance. When was the deal changed? What did we try to hide? How were we being deceptive? If Ray was trying to deceive you into believing we would move your hot tub, he NEVER would have even mentioned it in writing, let alone stating clearly that we wouldn't move it, and even further putting it as the first line of the email. I really don't understand!
On moving day you were upset because the movers told you we wouldn't be able to move the hot tub, even though you had this information SEVERAL WEEKS BEFORE THE MOVE HAPPENED, AND BEFORE THE MOVE WAS EVEN BOOKED!
4. You asked us to pay the cost of having your hot tub moved by a specialty mover, which I explained we couldn't do. Even if we had agreed to move your hot tub ourselves, there would have been a cost attached which you would have had to pay. So I didn't agree that we were responsible for these charges since we did the work we agreed to do and we did the job properly, and the movers who moved your hot tub did their job properly.
In short, homestars is a site that is supposed to help people make a decision on which company they should hire and what they can expect when they hire them. Based on your moving experience and how we conducted ourselves, we have demonstrated that we employ hard-working and experienced movers, we operate transparently by conducting all business in writing, we provide ample time for customers to review all quotes and respond accordingly, and most importantly we follow up with our customers if their experience doesn't meet their expectations.
Between Ray and myself we have spent several hours following up with you on your move. We never ignored a single phone call or email from you and we did our best to understand your point of view on the "hot tub" situation, but concluded that not only did we do nothing wrong, but also that you were in no way put under undue stress by the fact we refused to move your hot tub. You needed it moved and you paid someone to move it, and I still fail to see how you have been wronged in this situation in any way.
Most importantly, I fail to see how we deserve a 0 out of 10. A 0 doesn't accurately reflect how we performed on moving day or during the whole process - even by your own admission - so I can only conclude that this review was written in a vindictive and malicious spirit. This is the part that baffles me the most since no one from our company (including Ray who you accused several times of being deceptive and lying to you) has ever been anything but polite and professional to you during this whole process. In fact I commended Ray for being so professional in his conduct and for not reacting in anger to your repeated accusations of him being a deceptive liar, which to be honest are quite offensive and not supported by fact.
Nathan, after many years in this industry I've learned it is impossible to please 100% of customers 100% of the time. As a company we do occasionally make mistakes, but when we do we always try to go above and beyond to rectify the situation. In your case I'm still at a loss to know what we could have done better. In our phone conversation you mentioned that even though Ray stated in writing that we couldn't move your hot tub it wasn't enough, that he should have called you as well. If our biggest crime as a company is that we only communicated something to you in writing and failed to follow up with an additional phone call, then I will stand proudly by who we are and what we do here.
Forgive me if this sounds condescending, but the truth is we aren't responsible for calling you and reading through your quote with you line by line, that's your job. All you had to do was read the first line in the email and we wouldn't even be discussing this issue, but you didn't and here we are.
Here is the first paragraph of the email - QUOTED WORD FOR WORD - so others can read it and decide if it sounds deceptive:
"Hi Nathan,
Thanks again for contacting us for your moving needs. I have included in this email the details of your upcoming [move] in Aug. I would also like to add that since we do not have the proper equipment, we will not be able to move your hot tub along with your main move."
If this is what you consider deception then I question your understanding of that term. You asked him a question and he answered it clearly as the first point in his email. What's most confusing is that you replied to this email with questions about two of the sentences Ray included, which clearly showed that you read it. As a reasonable person, if you were in his position and someone read your email thoroughly enough to pose questions about two separate sections, wouldn't you assume they read the whole thing? Or would you call them to make sure they didn't skip the first line?
With over 100 moving companies listed on Homestars there are countless examples of fraud, criminal activity, and "horror stories" to be read about moving companies who operate without scruples or shame; companies who are outright ripping people off. Homestars is here partly to ensure people don't hire one of these companies, so by attempting to slander the name of a company that works so hard to earn and keep peoples' trust, and who has stood by their good name for almost 30 years, you are serving nobody. Your review contains no valuable information that would help someone make a decision on hiring us. To call a move where the movers worked hard, protected your furniture and your home, and where the company responded at the last minute by sending additional support staff at no extra cost the “Worst Experience Ever” is disingenuous at best and malicious at worst.
I sincerely hope you never learn what it truly means to have a bad moving experience, because it is a terrible experience to be ripped off and taken advantage of and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. By the same token if you do move in the future and hire a company with whom you have a better experience, I’d be humbled to learn what they do better than us so we can grow as a company and become that much better.
I wish you good luck in your future endeavors.
Rocco Salvatore
Owner - Europa Moving & Storage
