Our experience with College Hunks Moving in Nashville…read morestarted on a positive note, as the actual moving crew was hardworking and did a
good job on-site. However, once the move was "finished," we
discovered that two of our TVs were missing from the delivery. One of them is a
55 inch TCL Roku Smart TV, so it is difficult to understand how the movers overlooked
it. We realized the TVs were missing
about 2 hours after the movers left and directly contacted one of them about it. He apologized and acknowledged the TVs were
likely still on the truck. He further
indicated that his manager was aware of the situation. He said he was unable to bring us the TVs
that day because he apparently had returned the truck to the office site and no
longer had access to it. However, he
stated that he would return the TVs on Monday (the move occurred on
Saturday). We understand that mistakes can happen, but from
that point forward, our experience with this company was frustrating and generally
unpleasant.
The TVs were not delivered Monday, and we never heard from a single employee of
this company that day despite efforts to contact both the same mover we had
communicated with about the TVs Saturday or someone at the local office. Every number for the "local" office we could
find went to some general call-center, and the center would not connect us with
anyone here in town. Finally, Tuesday
morning, a manager did call to say they would be dropping the TVs off that
morning. (Side note - we had to carry
the TVs in ourselves. We know this is a
small thing, but it says a lot about a moving company when they deliver your
TVs 3 days late and do not even offer to carry them in for you.) After the missing TVs were eventually
delivered, the 55in TCL Roku Smart TV was severely damaged with a cracked
screen. And, when turned on, it would
not load the home screen which indicates internal damage.
While the company did promptly respond to the damaged TV
issue and agreed to refund the value of the TV (we are still waiting for that
refund to actually go through), in the process of dealing with that we
encountered several clerical and billing issues that added to the frustration:
* Bedroom Overcharge: We were charged a $60 "Disposable Fee." When we inquired into what this fee was for,
we were told that it is for disposable supplies the movers utilized during the
move. The fee is $15 per bedroom, so we
were charged for 4 bedrooms. The problem
is that the house we moved out of only has three bedrooms. I pointed this out to the company, but they
refused to refund $15 because the move "estimate" listed 4. While the estimate document did include "Supplies
x 4," it did not give any indication that the number of supplies was per
bedroom. So, we had no way to even know
to question that on the front end. The
fact that the company refused to refund based on the actual number of rooms
involved and held firm on charging us based on the "estimated" number of rooms
is simply predatory.
* TV Kit Charges - We were charged for 3 TV "kits" at $20
per kit. A kit is essentially protective
equipment designed to prevent damage to the TV during the move, and the company
will not transport a TV unless you pay to use theirs. Of course, here, one of our TVs was
damaged. Despite this, the company
refused to reimburse us for this charge.
Essentially, then, the $20 fee for protective equipment functions as an
insurance deductible. We had to pay it
to get the benefit of having the movers transport the TV, but when damage
occurred anyway, we are only being reimbursed for the actual cost of replacing
the TV. We are still out the $20 kit fee
despite having received no actual benefit from it. (And now have to deal with buying and
transporting a replacement TV.)
* Confusing Billing: As noted above, the charges were not
clearly explained. The same fee is
listed as "Supplies" on the estimate but a "Disposable Fee"
on the invoice. This just appears to be
a deliberate effort to confuse customers and hide costs.
* Calculation Errors: There were manual calculation errors
on the final invoice that resulted in an overcharge. It wasn't massive, but when you consider this
error, plus the failure to deliver the TVs until 3 days after the scheduled
move, PLUS the damage to the TV, you would think this company might do or offer
something to us (like refunding the supplies fee for the fictional 4th
bedroom and/or the TV kit fee for the damaged TV). But they did nothing, and they were not even
particularly apologetic. In business,
the key to handling mistakes is to own them, apologize sincerely, and rectify
the situation. Instead, we were met with a defensive attitude and rigid
explanations for unclear fees. While the movers themselves were good, the lack
of transparency in billing and the poor customer service we received when
dealing with damages and missing items made our overall experience terrible. We
strongly recommend using another company.