ComplaintsforArmstrong Relocation Florida, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  05/17/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Delivery Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I am contacting you with a complaint against the following regulated companies and sub-entities that conduct business in your state. These companies moved my household goods. ********, ******************************************************** DOT#******, MC#****** United *** Lines LLC, ******************************************************** DOT#*****, MC#***** Armstrong Relocation Florida LLC, ************************************************************************************ DOT#*******, MC#****** The shipment was moved under my own name along with my husband, ******************************* and ***********************. Items originated at *********************************************************************, were packed and removed from our home on 4/10, 11/2018, stored, and delivered to ******************************************************* 4/20/2021.The claim number (bill of lading account number) is ***********. I am enclosing both Bill of Ladings. In total, I have paid this company over $42,000.The documented monetary value of loss exceeds $190,000. Full value protection exceeding this value was purchased. The following issues have occurred (but not limited to):1) Double charged items in excess of $10,000 2) Extensive loss and damage to belongings 3) Failed to provide Full Value Protection purchased 4) Failed to provide alternate dispute resolution options, despite requests to do so, for two years 5) Failed to maintain proper inventory 6) Misrepresented an agent as a state licensed professional in order to gain access to private home 7) Failed to correspond in a timely or consistent manner in order to "run the clock" on deadlines The file on this claim is voluminous, detailed and complete. Please do not hesitate to request any additional supporting documentation. Attachments to this correspondence are enclosed for your reference.

  

  Business response

  06/30/2023

  this shipment (71-9202-8) came into our warehouse as husband/wife for storage. Once we learned about the divorce,  we asked ******** to come into the warehouse to split up her portion of the shipment, but she could not do that, and we had to FaceTime to separate her items. This was not ideal, but we were trying to accommodate her needs. Origin transportation charges (71-9202-8) were collected for the origin packing/loading/full valuation, storage from 2018 - 2021, and crating costs to bringing into stg as husband/wife. Then we provided ******************************* ****** an interstate estimate (71-71011-1) of $13,185.66 for loading her portion of the shipment from storage at our warehouse to deliver to her in CA, including the unrating charges and total valuation amount. On 4/8, she e-Accepted the estimate for that amount, which was the exact amount processed on her credit card on 4/15. (See the attachment of the estimate, Bill of Lading, and the United *** Lines invoice). 

   

  Below is a timeline of claim events for this customer:

   

  • 4/10/2018 loading date and bringing items into storage
  • 4/19/2021 Main portion delivery
  • 6/7/2021 Second delivery
  • 6/25/2021 Claim form was emailed to the customer
  • 4/18/2022 United *** Lines emailed the customer a claim denial because the filing timeline expired on 1/19/2022 and 3/7/22, and later that afternoon United *** **************** team reviewed the claim and accepted it.
  • 7/5/2022 The inspection report was completed of the claimed damaged items to determine if the claimed items could be repaired.
  • 1/4/2023 United *** Line claim settlement of $13,095 was emailed to the customer. 
  • 5/24/2023 The customer filed a request for Arbitration with the ****************************** The customer is disputing $345,000.00
  • 6/12/2023 United *** Lines declined the arbitration request with ***************************** because ******************************* and her assistant agreed that an appraisal would be conducted on the claimed items to determine the depreciation of the high-value items. The customer declined to let the appraiser in her residence determine the values.
  • As of 6/29/203, this customer's claim is still with our **************** to determine the settlement amount with the customer.

   

  United *** Lines's **************** is working very hard to get all escalations resolved for this customer.   Please let me know if you have any questions to resolve this complaint. Armstrong hopes that  BBB will NOT Suspend our BBB Accreditation.

   

   

  Thank you,

   

  ******************************

  Customer Service Manager

  The ******************** Company

  
  

  Customer response

  07/01/2023

   
  Complaint: 20069764
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This response from United *** Lines is just shy of wholly inaccurate, remains overwhelmingly  misleading, and is successfully both by fact and omission.

  The letter provided by the United fails entirely to address the following complaints made by me which are documented occurrences:

  United *** Lines (DOT#*****, MC#*****) double charged in excess of $10,000 for moving household goods and failed to rectify this mistake once they were alerted to the error.

  United *** Lines (DOT#*****, MC#*****) knowingly triple charged for uncrating expenses, and failed to rectify this mistake with us, the customer, once they were alerted to the error.

  United *** Lines (DOT#*****, MC#*****) knowingly double charged full protection value for the very same items during a move, and failed to rectify this mistake once they were alerted to the error.

  United *** Lines (DOT#*****, MC#*****) knowingly failed to provide information on alternate dispute resolution options, despite it being required by their federally regulated industry, and despite having been explicitly asked for these options in writing, over the course of a two year claims process.

  United *** Lines (DOT#*****, MC#*****)  obstructed the claims process by failing to answer our questions in a timely manner or at all, passing the customer between departments, providing false or misleading instructions to obfuscate the customers ability to comply with a claims format the company would accept or within the filing period.  This was most egregiously exemplified in United *** Lines failure to reply to the customers request for  confirmation of receipt for the actual claim form-- for an entire three months -- at which point receipt was still not willingly confirmed or denied by the company.  It was only after supplying United *** Lines with a detailed, documented history of their (perhaps bad faith) communications was the claim finally accepted.

  United *** Lines (DOT#*****, MC#*****) knowingly misrepresented an agent as a state licensed professional to gain access to our private home, and then proceeded to base a total valuation for settlement -- on fewer items than were listed in the original claim --  on his unqualified opinion. When the unlicensed professional revealed himself to be admittedly unqualified, United still failed to remove his opinion from their settlement offer.  In addition, the settlement offer did not follow Section 4 of the Bill of Lading which references 49 U.S.C. ***** and 49 C.F.R. Part 370 or the rules governed by the ***************************** notably Title 49, ***** which United furnished to us in Your Rights and Responsibilities when you Move on March 31, 2021 via email.
  

  United *** Lines, (DOT#*****, MC#*****) failed to maintain proper inventory, a document the Claims Prevention and ***************** (An Armstromg/United partner) considers Perhaps one of the most important documents in the shipping file and is currently unable to account for the whereabouts of additional items we stored in their facility, as evidenced by the loss of our oversized living room silk rug, and other household items.
  
  Excerpted responses are as follows to the narrative in quotes provided by the company:

  The shipment came in to our warehouse as husband and wife for storage
  This is not wholly accurate.  The shipment arrived to the warehouse in *************, ** after our contract had already commenced, and United *** Lines was in full possession of the items. Over the course of several days prior, workers from the company inspected,wrapped, packed, itemized and inventoried the contents of our home in **********, **.  This effort produced a thirteen page, single spaced inventory sheet signed on site in ********** by company representative ************************  According to an email from ********************* to *********************** dated 4/10/18, the cost of this detailed process was $6,825. In addition, the handling of the items, moved from our home in ********** to *************, receipt in the warehouse, and presumably the cost to arrange them for future storage since the line item was not inclusive of storage fees, was an additional price of $4,490. In total, our shipment did not come in to the warehouse, but was contractually executed at origin in ********** that is --  packed, moved, arranged and organized within the warehouse exclusively by United at a total cost to us of $11,315.
  
  Once we learned about the divorce..
                  There is no divorce, nor is there any legal change of marital status. This fact is false, and irrelevant even if it were true -- but most importantly it exemplifies the off-colored tactics United *** Lines has chronically employed throughout our tenure with them. Fast and loose unrelated false narratives, seemingly harmless, are unleashed obfuscate what is relevant -- United *** Lines' abject failure to abide by their contract.
  
  We asked ******** to come in to the warehouse to split up her portion of the shipment but she could not do that
                  A detailed list of items to ship to ********** was provided to the storage facility which included color photos, descriptions and exact measurements. As previously mentioned, the inventory, listing,storing and location of items within the warehouse had been organized and maintained solely by United, for the price of $11,315. The idea ****************** would or should be responsible for entering the facility belies logic.  If that were the case, an off-site, cost effective self-storage facility would have been arranged to receive the packed items at inception.
  
  We had to Facetime to separate her items.  This was not ideal, but we were trying to accommodate her needs.
                  A Facetime call did take place,for which we were charged $120/hr for the time. During the call, ****************** observed damage to upholstered items and asked **************** to please make note. **************** said the items would be steam cleaned upon delivery. No cleaning or remedy took place.  During the call items were also observed by ****************** wholly unprotected and improperly wrapped (photos available). Labels were insufficient causing items that were sealed to be opened for identification,exposing them to additional dirt and damage. Despite the additional time and costs incurred by ****************** for this call, items still arrived inexplicably haphazard.  A box spring arrived with no mattress, dish sets were half present, side bed rails arrived with no cross slatsin addition to extensive damage and disrepair to items.
  
  Origin transportation charges (71-9202-8) were collected for the origin packing/loading/full valuation, storage from 2018-2021, and crating costs to bring in to storage as husband and wife
                  By omission, United *** Lines fails to be truthful here.  Bill of Lading ********* also includes a signature by *********************** for Declaration of Articles of Extraordinary (Unusual) Value, third party charges for uncrating at destination, the move to location is Manhattan, ** with the Extra Stoplisted as ************* the storage facility. The total value of the contract is $29,717.20 including the full value protection at $250,000 with $0 deductible.
  
  Then we provided ******************************* ****** an interstate estimate (71-71011-1) of $13,185.66 for loading her portion of the shipment from storage at our warehouse to deliver to her in CA, including the uncrating charges and total valuation amount.  On 4/8 she e-accepted the estimate for that amount, which was the exact amount processed on her credit card on 4/15.
                  While this description of events true, it would stretch reason to believe that the same salesperson who organized our original contract to the warehouse did not check our file, review our documents or was unaware of our contractual pre-paid move to ********, which should have been applied towards a move to **********. While that detail may have escaped ********************** office, these moving contracts constitute the entire business backbone of **************** office and her professional trade. In addition, once such errors were brought to light, absolutely no effort has been made by United to correct the overcharges -- a genuine cause for concern in any business, but ever more so serious in a federally regulated trade. 
  
  It would be my pleasure to address the timeline at a later date.  Simply put, the volume of the file is burdensome.  We have meticulous call, text and email records that show countless correspondence sent by my office to United,requesting clarification for the claims process, inquiring for a simple response back, or to rectify conflicting instructions provided by different representatives.  Pleas for help went unanswered or were shuffled between departmentsor worse. Hours, days and weeks lost to the United *** ************* without a shred of clarity or accountability offered in return.  The dialog internally between our own team was shock and awe, with systemic brazen nonfeasance a collectively imagined best-case explanation.
  
  Even without asking yet, I am confident that those in my office who were privy to this process would willingly provide affidavits that speak to their experiences with United *** Lines. Adding insult to injury, after United *** Lines finally finally --referred me to the arbitration process two years later, they had the audacity to return a letter of declination of arbitration in return! Another turn around the mulberry ****...delay, delay, delay...kick the can down the road, shuffle the papers...flip the page on the calendar. Clock it in, another paycheck in the bank.

  The shamelessness of these tactics, employed by a large corporation like United *** Lines, willing to grind small individuals through the mud for actual years, knows no bounds.
  
  This is patently wrong, if not illegal, and should be reported to the **** STB and any other regulating body.
  
  Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can provide any additional information at this time.
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  

  Business response

  07/25/2023

  The customer is refusing to allow our inspectors into her home to review her claims. Due to this fact, we are unable to finalize any sort of settlement. We are at a stand still until Unigroup, our parent vanline, can have the items inspected. Unfortunately we are unable to move further without the customer working with us. I have included ******, our claims manager, if you have any questions. 

  Customer response

  07/25/2023

   
  Complaint: 20069764
  
  Dear United *** Lines and BBB,

  This claim reaches beyond simple damage to items. The fact this point is continuously ignored, as proven by the correspondence in this forum, should serve as reason enough to consider revoking any positive BBB rating or affiliation. 

  As to access to my home, this was granted (albeit under misrepresentation) and many items were discarded afterwards due to extensive mold as we were instructed was appropriate at that time.  As to some other large furniture, hi resolution photographs accompanying original purchase order receipts and/or spec sheets from manufacturers has been provided, in addition to any information their unlicensed agent gathered. Most of these high value items, some signed originals or one of a kind, are nearly valueless with the hand of another artisans repair the exact reason for having purchased additional full value protection.

  While United *** Lines may have the legal option to repair, their responsibility for monetary compensation unequivocally includes depreciation. A quick look at their own paperwork at origin detailing condition, and my own date of purchase provided to them, corroborates the fact these items were pristine upon receipt by United *** Lines. 

  We are only at an impasse because United *** Lines has declined the very arbitration process to which they referred me, and which our executed contract outlines as alternative dispute resolution.

  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  

  Business response

  08/18/2023

  see attachment

  Customer response

  08/21/2023

   
  Complaint: 20069764
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  ************ and the BBB,
  
  This correspondence from ************ conveniently fails to address a number of important issues raised in my last response. I refer you now back to a small number of points, though not wholly inclusive, included in my last letter that remain unresolved:
  
  United *** Lines (***#*****, MC#*****) double charged in excess of $10,000 for moving household goods and failed to rectify this mistake once they were alerted to the error.
  
  United *** Lines (***#*****, MC#*****) knowingly triple charged for uncrating expenses, and failed to rectify this mistake with us, the customer, once they were alerted to the error.
  
  United *** Lines (***#*****, MC#*****) knowingly double charged full protection value for the very same items during a move, and failed to rectify this mistake once they were alerted to the error.
  
  United *** Lines (***#*****, MC#*****) knowingly failed to provide information on alternate dispute resolution options, despite it being required by their federally regulated industry, and despite having been explicitly asked for these options in writing, over the course of a two year claims process.
  
  United *** Lines (***#*****, MC#*****)  obstructed the claims process by failing to answer our questions in a timely manner or at all, passing the customer between departments, providing false or misleading instructions to obfuscate the customers ability to comply with a claims format the company would accept or within the filing period.  This was most egregiously exemplified in United *** Lines failure to reply to the customers request for  confirmation of receipt for the actual claim form-- for an entire three months -- at which point receipt was still not willingly confirmed or denied by the company.  It was only after supplying United *** Lines with a detailed, documented history of their (perhaps bad faith) communications was the claim finally accepted.
  
  United *** Lines (***#*****, MC#*****) knowingly misrepresented an agent as a state licensed professional to gain access to our private home, and then proceeded to base a total valuation for settlement -- on fewer items than were listed in the original claim --  in his unqualified opinion. When the unlicensed professional revealed himself to be admittedly unqualified, United still failed to remove his opinion from their settlement offer.  In addition, the settlement offer did not follow Section 4 of the Bill of Lading which references 49 U.S.C. ***** and 49 C.F.R. Part 370 or the rules governed by the ***************************** notably Title 49, ***** which United furnished to us in Your Rights and Responsibilities when you Move on March 31, 2021 via email.
  
  United *** Lines, (***#*****, MC#*****) failed to maintain proper inventory, a document the Claims Prevention and ***************** (An Armstromg/United partner) considers Perhaps one of the most important documents in the shipping file and is currently unable to account for the whereabouts of additional items we stored in their facility, as evidenced by the loss of our oversized living room silk rug, and other household items.
  
  
  In addition, ************** assertion that I am not party to the original  2018 move in Florida is not accurate, as acknowledged by United *** Lines Claims Team 5 agent *************************** in her recent official correspondence to the BBB.  She explicitly outlined the fact that our shipment ********* was moved by United *** Lines as husband and wife. As noted on the **** this was a pre-paid interstate move to originate in Florida and finalize in ********. It should be noted, no claim has been made on that BOL from 2018 because it has not technically been completed.  We were erroneously charged for a new move on a new BOL.
  
  Furthermore, Uniteds reason for declining arbitration due to the amount indicated on the form is not a valid or cogent argument against the fair process itself. As I am sure ************ is aware, any award value is determined by a third party neutral.  If ************ believes the law truly bounds the upper limit of an award in this instance, then there was no good faith reason for United *** Lines to have submit a letter of declination and the Arbitration should commence.  I urge United *** Lines to accept the arbitration process they referred me to at this time.
  
  Currently, United *** Lines is in receipt of hi-resolution images of all damages, plus detailed spec sheets and cost analysis. No further information can be gleaned on site. Many items were discarded as we were instructed was appropriate at the time after documentation and inspection, and due to mold and health hazard.
  
  Regardless of the outcome of my claim at this stage, my two and a half year odyssey with United *** Lines reflects a documented history littered with systemic bad faith business practices that deserve reprimand if not worse by the BBB, the *** and any other federal regulating body. If in doubt, look no further than the response provided by ************ from the legal department no less, who conveniently failed to address the most egregious transgressions committed by United *** Lines in their response remitted to this BBB.  Therefore, I urge the BBB of Florida to withdraw any positive rating at this time.
  
  Thank you for your consideration,
  
  *******************************

• Initial Complaint

  10/24/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This moving company, ARMSTRONG RELOCATION FLORIDA, LLC, helped me with my moving on September 27th, 2022. **** from Armstrong called me a week before to organize the moving. I told him that I have expensive and fragile items and asked him to send best guys for my moving who would be extra careful. On the day of moving, three guys came. There was a big guy who was horrible and careless with my belongings. He was throwing boxes onto the floor, he didn't care and he broke my ********** which I purchased last November from Best Buy for $1000, my glass lamp and glass table right in front of me. Then he blamed me saying the package was not good. He literally threw boxes and packages onto the floor by being reckless. I heard the cracking. He was not gentle at all. I texted **** while this was happening and asked him to intervene. I still have texts as proof. After moving, I called **** to file complaint. He sent me claim form through their moving coordinator, ******************************. I filed claim for $,130. She denied the claim next day. I asked their insurance information but they didn't share. Maybe they didn't even have insurance.

  

  Business response

  12/08/2022

  see attachment

  Customer response

  12/08/2022

   
  Complaint: 18306882
  
  I am rejecting this response because: I notified ****, the coordinator, that their movers were careless and they were even rejecting to wear booties. They didn't follow any Covid procedures. They were reckless, careless and didn't care for hygiene. My ********** was working fine. Their mover broke my TV, my lamp and my table right in front of my eyes. Then I asked that big, rude guy not to come to my apartment again. I told other 2 movers that I don't want that man in my apartment who broke my stuff. Now, they're saying there was hurricane *** and that's why they broke the items. That's not true. My items were carefully packaged in the storage. They removed the packages themselves and threw to trash before moving to my apartment. Moreover, that big man broke my items when he was putting onto the floor in my apartment. He didn't break outside or during carrying them. He broke them in my apartment. I heard the click and smash. I am a respected, well educated professional career woman and I know what I saw and heard. I am not lying or making it up. I filed complaint to Attorney General and FDACS about them. This company is liable to pay for the damages. If they deny, I will take it to small claims court. I will fight till justice is served. If their mover who broke my stuff and other 2 men who saw what happened lies under oath when they get the subpoena, then they will commit perjury which is punishable by jail time.

  I demand half of the cost of the items that they broke which is $500 in order to settle the case. If I file lawsuit, they will end up paying much more with legal and court fees. I will not let this go till they apologize and pay at least half of my damage and loss.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩