American Moving Experts

I would like to recount the unbelievably bad experience and bad service that I had with AME. It started out well with Kyle Lavelle, whom I had 3 – 4 conversations with. We talked about the move, and about insurance - if there was a need and he mentioned he didn’t think so. I was concerned about expensive dishes we had (which came out OK in the delivery). Eventually we talked about the need to have the move done on a certain time frame. We agreed that the move from Strongville, OH to Cedar Creek, TX would start with the loading of furniture on April 1. We also agreed, that if needed, April 2 could be used as the alternate move-out day as long as the movers would finish in the early afternoon 2PM so that I could catch a flight around 4:30. I would be there when they loaded the truck. All seemed to be going well. I got a call from the moving help desk that the move would take place on Sat, Apr 2, so I had to wait in the hotel I was at the extra day. I reiterated to the AME rep on the phone that the inventory and loading needed to be done in the morning and the AME rep said that was clear and was documented with the shipper. All mostly well up to this point. In the morning of Apr 2, I got a call from Mark (216 258-6963) from American Knights Shipping, who said they were not able to come to perform the inventory and load my goods in North Royalton. I immediately emailed, called, and texted AME. Mark wanted to do the inventory and loading of goods early the next week? (Mon? Tue?...) (It was Tues when they finally loaded the truck). I dialed Kyle Lavelle’s direct phone because I told him I would be calling him if there were problems as he agreed to that in our earlier discussions. THIS SITUATION WAS A PROBLEM. Now I was faced with staying two extra days in a hotel, and missing a family get-together that evening. In my communications with AME, I asked for emergency help (leaving a message). I had already checked out of the hotel and had to make a decision whether to check back in, but I was not giving up on getting the problem solved. After several calls, leaving voice mails, text, and email, etc with AME, and calls back and forth with Mark from American Knights, Mark said he would come at noon. I changed my flight to accommodate a few hours later. I was able to leave my luggage at the hotel so I took a taxi to the storage place. There I waited two hours. I texted and left a phone mail for AME during that time with the concern that Mark had not shown up. I adjusted my flight again. Finally I was able to contact Mark by phone who “readjusted” his time to be 2:30pm. Not so, after a few more calls with Mark, he showed up at a little before 4pm and causing me to have to reschedule a new airline ticked in the late evening (I believe leaving at 9pm). Mark was very regretful and apologetic to me for being so late and not being able to load anything. He came in a car to do inventory only - and then said they would pick up the shipment on Monday (?). So I would not be on hand to watch the truck being loaded. He hurriedly made out an inventory list, which was mostly unreadable, especially through the carbon copies. We also talked about the 55” Samsung TV which was lightly wrapped in a blanked in the storage unit. He assured me that he would have it wrapped properly for transport since the wrapping was inadequate. The inventory was “completed” according to Mark, though exceedingly hurried. I did not have a chance to go over it thoroughly – it was hard to read. I gave him the card with the location storage code and the key to the lock on the storage locker, (the lock and key was supposed to be sent to me in Texas but I did not receive). As I understood, Mark had the goods picked upon Tues morning, which is specified on one of the documents. Upon receipt of the goods in Texas, the unloaders were nice and reasonable. They had a clear space from the garage door into the house and were quite efficient. I was watching and saw the TV laying in the truck laying on one of its corners. It was not wrapped the way Mark said it would be. It had the same single, inadequate blanket on it. I notice when they place it in the house the screen was busted. The unloaders wrote on the delivery inventory list that it was broken as well as a standup lamp was broken. I caught the last flight out that evening to my destination, though missing a significant family gathering. The way the whole moved ended was very unpleasant, full on anxiety for me, as I had to shepherd the process begging people to help me every step of the way. I did not have the opportunity to view the loading of the truck. Therefore, I hold AME responsible for not getting the shipper to the origin shipment point at the time they said they would. It is up to AME to hire a shipping company that will follow their instruction and the instructions of the customer. I also hold AME responsible, because of the delay and rush, causing the TV to not be adequately prepare for travel. I was not able to be at the storage facility for loading the truck. It was not the shipping, but the misalignment of the shipper by AME with the set schedule. I believe this was responsible for the mis-preparation of the TV , where I had warned the shipping rep, Mark. Mark may have been trying his best, but nevertheless, it was the responsibility of AME to keep the schedule per customer’s desire. This was very clear with Kyle. I was not able to see the goods loaded into the truck because of the failure to get the shipper to the storage unit at the scheduled time. Otherwise I would have asked for the TV to be protected better. AME should compensate me for the loss of the TV ($650) and the loss of money due to changing flights multiple times (approx. $350) – not due to the shipping, but due to incompetence of not following the customer’s instructions and not providing service in the agreed upon time frame. In trying to resolve this matter a few weeks later, I repeatedly tried to call Kyle from AME. I left phone messages, sent texts, emails, etc. I tried all the numbers he gave me. I got though a few times and someone answered and I asked for Mark, they said he was there and they would go get him – but then it was diverted to someone else or I was asked to call back. Because of so many calls I made and messages I left for Kyle, this was obviously a refusal to talk with me. I was willing to wait on the phone, - and wait until he was to call back – but no call from Kyle. I did get to talk with Maggie, I believe from customer support. I asked her to have Kyle call me, but he never did, and finally Maggie said that she would be the one to help me. AME eventually offered me $100 to settle the whole thing, but I was not satisfied. THEY COULD AT LEAST LISTEN TO MY STORY! Especially Kyle, whom we agreed I would call if there were problems. Kyle did not keep his word to me about talking through any problems – not one iota of communication with the customer (me).