By virtue of my 25-year military career, I have gone thru 14 different moves and I am no stranger…read moreto moving households.
On the 2nd wk of August 2018 I contacted Garcia Trucking Service Incorporated to move my brother's belongings from his apartment (Condominium Parque de Loyola, Jesus T. Pineiro Avenue #500, San Juan, PR) to storage or a local address in San Juan. They send an agent to do estimate/quote. At the time of the estimate we still did not know were my brother was going to move.
On 29 August 2018 we received an estimate/quote to move from his apartment to storage (as of that day my brother had not yet found a place to live). The estimate for moving 3,000 pounds was $1873.20. On 30 August 2018 we set the date for the move to storage for 4 September 2018. Note that my brother found an apartment to move into and signed the lease in the late afternoon of 31 August 2018 (that is, a day after setting his move pick up date). The movers came as scheduled on 4 September 2018. By this time we had advised the moving company that the move was from Condominium Parque de Loyola to Condominium Segovia (my brother's new address) and NOT to storage. The crew began packing my brother's belongings and we noted that they were leaving articles unpacked. For example, we noted that they did not pack all the kitchen cabinets and removed items from a wall unit and took the unit leaving the items on the floor. I asked the crew leader about why these items were being left and he responded that he had been told by dispatch that the move was a 2,000 pound move and that therefore he did not bring enough boxes and paper to pack more than 2,000 pounds. By this time is early afternoon & the crew has finished taking way the 2,000 pounds and started to pressure me to sign the work order and submit payment.
In view of the 3,000 vs 2,000 pound difference between the quote/estimate and the crew leader's statement, I called the Garcia Trucking main office who informed me that the move was a 2,000 pound move. I protested to no avail. At this time it is mid afternoon and the crew pressure on me has reached peak levels with them telling me they had to go because the home owner association rules in my brother's new apartment did not allow moves after 5PM. Faced with this pressure and the refusal by the crew leader to move the remaining 1/3 of my brother's belongings I was forced to sign the work order and pay the bill. As a result, I was forced to move the left behind 1/3 of my brother's belongings by myself (note that my brother is disabled and could not help).
After the move I kept trying to get Garcia Trucking to assume responsibility to no avail. On 14 September 2018 (10 DAYS AFTER THE MOVE) I received email from Garcia Trucking that included a letter dated 29 August 2018 that, according to the company, was handed to me in person on 30 August 2018 by the crew. This letter is another estimate/quote that I had never seen before in which the theme is not pick up and storage but rather pick up and deliver to my brother's new address. This belated after-the-fact new estimate/quote is dated 2 days before we knew were my brother would be moving. Also, it contained no estimated weight at all.
In summary:
1. Garcia Trucking reduced the estimated pounds of my brother's household goods from 3,000 to 2,000 pounds without informing me with me finding out on the actual date of my brother's move on 4 September 2018. The pick and storage quote is the same as the pick and deliver quote ($1,873.20) but pick and deliver quote has not estimated weight.
2. Garcia Trucking accused me of receiving a letter delivered by hand that was never received by me (until emailed to me on 14 September 2018 after the fact) that was dated 29 August 2018 with my brother's delivery address which we did not have until the afternoon of 30 August 2018 (that is 2 days after the dated letter). Furthermore, this new letter contained no quoted estimate of the pounds to be picked up at the original address and delivered to my brother's new address).
3. There is a total of 3 letters received by me regarding my brother's move: my mother's household goods move dated 27 August, my brother's household goods pick up and storage letter (3,000 pounds for $1873.20 dated 29 August, and my brother's household goods pick up and deliver to new address also dated 29 August (no pound estimate for $1873.20 and dated 2 days prior to us knowing my brother's delivery address).
As you can see, Garcia Trucking was misleading (regarding the pounds of my brother's household goods) and clearly falsified a second letter for delivery of his household goods dated 2 days prior to us knowing the delivery address.
DO NOT EVER hire Garcia Trucking Service for any moves in Puerto Rico!!!
Sincerely;
RM