Complaint to NorthAmerican Van Lines and C & D Moving and Storage Co Danbury

Check latest status / answer (Denial of Claim) and legal actions:

From: Plaintiff@essem.com

To: NorthAmerican Moving Services (www.northamericanvanlines.com)

PO Box 988 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-0988

USA

C & D Moving and Storage Co (http://www.cdmoving.com/index.html)

Danbury CT

2/27/04

Conc.: LCH415

File 063-0148-6

Dear Sir or Madam,

We have received your letter of claim rejection dated February 19, 2004. We disagree with the rejection, your general handling of this matter and your business practices. This letter is to explain, once again, the issue and appeal to you common sense and accept your responsibility for the incredibly poor service that you offered. Otherwise, we will take appropriate actions to recover our losses and make sure that this issue is publicized enough so that no other customer will be victimized in the future of your poor business practices and inefficient organization.

In summary, the whole move was plagued by numerous incidents. For example, the driver unloaded without checking inventory list, without setting up major furniture despite contractual agreement to do so, stating that the unpacking crew would do set up. When the unpacking crew came they refused to set up and left. We ended up having to moved he furniture ourselves despite your contractual obligation to so and the fact that we paid for it. As a result, unpacking was also delayed for 5 days…

As you can see, the experience with the North American Van Lines has not been very pleasant and we are really unhappy at the quality of service that you have provided, lack of professionalism and total lack of coordination and communication among its services.

Understand this letter as a complaint about the whole experience, for the total lack of professionalism and sheer stupidity that you services have displayed. Considering these incidents, we are in no mood to accept to be treated this way with the missing items. We demand that this be immediately settled and that you reimburse us!

We are losing patience by the lack of appropriate insurance services and total lack of courtesy that we have received on this matter. We demand that this matter be appropriately handled appropriately and professionally handled; as normally expected of a contractual and paid service.

We question the reliability and professionalism of North American Van Lines if such an approach and treatment continues and we want you to know from the onset that we will not accept to be treated this way and therefore we will take all necessary measures to recover our losses if North American Van Lines continues to follow such a path. Let us be clear that we understand very well how some insurance services follow systematic claim rejections or forward from department to department approaches hoping that no legal steps will result in most cases and playing the odds. Please do not underestimate our savvyness and determination! Understand that this letter is a formal “Cease and desist” on these practice addressed to North America and C&D, as NAVL’s agent. We request that North American Van Lines provide immediately the appropriated and fair service that we can expect from a reputable company. Do not try to reject or to bounce the matter between NorthAmerica VL and C&D in order to determine responsibility and blame delays or rejection on one another. Be aware that we will solve this if things continue this way by simply naming both parties in any future actions that would be required to protect our rights and obtain repair. North American van Line contracted the move and did not deliver. C & D acted as agent. You are both responsible and your internal organization, or should we say total lack of one, and discussions on who pays and who is responsible is of no interest to us! So please desists trying such delay immediately. I am sure that you as this proceed your practice is being documented and such typical patterns leave implicating marks easily traced across cases! Forward internal memos to whomever you want but make sure to fulfill your obligations.

In any case, in the matter at hand, we have filed a claim for missing items. We have explained that the mover unloaded items without checking the list of delivered items and that the team unloaded so fast the items repeating that it included our whole shipment that we had no way to monitor the delivery for any missing items. By refusing to check items himself and guaranteeing that all items are present and that any problem would be addressed by your services, the driver, i.e. your employee, transferred the responsibility to you for not filling the forms. You are still contractually bound you!

We have widely documented the situation through our exchanges so far with NorthAmerican VL and with C & D Danbury; including the stream of events, mishandling of our goods (broken items , broken fridge, etc…), the way that you have tried to deny each item while C&D Danbury has each time confirmed that we were in our right. This again illustrate total unprofessionally and provide illustrative and convincing repeated patterns of mishandling our move, lack of professionalism and lack of organization. These are unacceptable business practices. We will hold you responsible for these if we do not settle.

The long list of damages in addition to the lost items and poor services, certainly qualifies for further legal action if North American Van Lines / C & D is reluctant to act fairly and to take responsibility for the lack of professionalism that has been displayed in this case.

Insurance coverage must be provided for the missing items as claimed.

In addition to private legal advice, we have contacted the regional better business bureaus, corresponding state Attorney Generals and FTC to seek additional advice in this matter. However, at this stage, we are hoping that this matter can be smoothly handled and addressed to our satisfaction.

Please contact me immediately to discuss this matter.

I hope that C & D Moving and Storage Co. and North America Van Lines will accept to fairly address their responsibilities as we would come to expect from such reputable companies! I dare to expect that this was an unfortunate and isolated incident rather than a common practice business practice. I look forward to an amicable resolution as soon as possible.

Thanks

Sincerely,

Signature

CC: Better Business Bureau (Alameda County CA, Danbury CT & Indiana)

Planet Feedback

State Attorney General (CA, CT and IN)

FTC

Past Complaints:

Could you please call me as soon as possible, and no later than Monday 4 PM PST (12PM to 4 Pm PST would be the best to discuss). After, I will be traveling abroad and I want this matter clearly addressed and settled immediately.

As you can expect the experience with the North American Van Lines has not been very pleasant and we are really unhappy at the quality of service that they have provided, lack of professionalism and total lack of coordination and communication among its services. We do appreciate your help and professionalism in trying to address part of the issues.

However, at this stage, I am very concerned by what happened with the refrigerator and the glimpse of the insurance services and total lack of courtesy that we have received. As we have contracted with you and through you; for the move as well as the insurance, we feel that we need to interact with you to have this appropriately and professionally handled; as normally expected of a contractual and paid service.

In the mater at hand, when following your advice we filed the claim about the fridge damage, we were told that this is an appliance and that appliance damages like a door that does not close is not covered! Clearly this is an unacceptable answer and awful treatment from the onset that augurs very bad next steps for all our damaged items.

I do question the reliability and professionalism of North American Van Lines if such an approach and treatment is further provided and I want you to know from the onset that we will not accept to be treated this way and therefore we will take all necessary measures to recover our losses if North American Van Lines continues to follow such a path. Let me be clear that we understand very well how some insurance services follow systematic claim rejections approaches hoping that no legal steps will result in most cases and playing the odds. Understand that this letter and the one that we are sending directly to North American Van Lines is a formal “Cease and desist” on this practice. We request that North American Van Lines provides immediately the appropriated and fair service that we can expect from a reputable company.

In the matter at hand, you will find attached in GIF and PDF format the receipt of the Sears estimate that we will send to North American Van Lines claim department and intended to see acted upon immediately. We are also asking Sears to provide a better quality (legible) document that we will also forward as soon that it is made available. In any case, the diagnosis is clear; the fridge is not repairable as the frame is damaged and unrecoverable and this kind of damage can only come from having dropped the fridge. You will agree with me, I hope, that this qualifies as mishandling (as it would be a mishandling of any other piece of furniture).

Such kind of mishandling is in additional troubling and explains clearly the lack of care that was taken of our goods and other mind-boggling damage that we are discovering. The damaged item list will come shortly and it is long. Such a long list of damages in addition to the lost items and poor services that we have received, certainly qualifies for further action if North American Van Lines is reluctant to act fairly and to take responsibility for the lack of professionalism that has been displayed in this case.

As already mentioned, we especially appreciate your statements that indeed the fridge was in good shape and that damage (and others) should be addressed. However, we feel that more needs to be done. As you are the agent and intermediary with whom we have been dealing, we do expect and request that you immediately take the appropriate steps within North American Van Lines to have this matter solved and a friendly and cooperating claim service. We would not understand if this was not appropriately and promptly addressed.

We do consider that C & D Moving and Storage Co. as the party that committed services. These were not or very poorly delivered. In addition, the recent attitude and answers given by North American Van Lines’ claim department seem to indicate that we may meet unnecessary troubles to receive due compensation for the damages.

Insurance coverage and compensation must be provided for the fridge damage as well as all the other damaged and lost items that we are discovering and by now, it should be clear that service and handling was so bad that the process should be very smooth at accepting and dealing with North American Van Lines’ responsibilities! We also ask to be reimbursed for the service call of $69.00 (see attached copy of the receipt).

I hope that you, C & D Moving and Storage Co. and North America Van Lines will accept to fairly address your responsibilities as we would come to expect from such reputable companies! I dare to expect that this was an unfortunate and isolated incident rather than a common practice business practice. I look forward to an amicable resolution as soon as possible.

As suggested during our last phone call with your department, we have contacted Sears to examine the damage to our fridge. You will find attached two copies of the report.

The diagnosis from the Sears technician is clear; the fridge is not repairable as the frame is damaged and unrecoverable and this kind of damage can only come from having dropped the fridge. You will agree with me, I hope, that this qualifies as mishandling as it would be a mishandling of any other piece of furniture.

That such kind of mishandling took place is quite troubling and it illustrates the lack of care that was taken of our goods and the other mind-boggling damages that we are discovering. The damaged item list is still being compiled. Other items have been similarly damaged.

You will also understand that this mishandling clearly is the responsibility of North American Van Lines. For confirmation, you can contact our agent at C & D Moving and Storage Co., Matt Chila (mchila@cdmoving.com or +1-203-744-3010 / ext 11), who will confirm that the Fridge was in perfect and working condition when packed.

You will understand that we require immediate action and instructions on how to replace the fridge as we can’t wait for a long process. This is an every day item that must be immediately replaced. Please do not delay action unnecessarily in such a clear cut situation.

In the matter of the damages to the fridge, and following Matt Chila’s recommendation on how to best proceed, we request compensation for acquiring an equivalent new refrigerator (including any additional installation cost and delivery cost if applicable as well as cost to haul away the current wreck). We also ask to be reimbursed for the service call of $69.00 that you asked us to take with Sears and that clearly determined the nature of the wreckage (see attached copy of the receipt). Let us know how you want this to be handled and how/where you want us to buy the fridge; or if you will buy and deliver it for us. We would not understand another outcome. Other damage claims will follow later after all items have been examined or tested.

I hope that North America Van Lines will accept to fairly address its responsibilities as we would come to expect from such reputable company! I dare to expect that such a mishandling was an unfortunate and isolated incident rather than a common business practice.

Please contact us immediately with your resolution roadmap and the steps, if appropriate, that we should take on our side.

Incompetent Business Practices of NorthAmerican Van Lines and C & D Moving and Storage Co, Danbury CT:

Past Complaints: