Top Tier Van Lines Bit & Switch Pricing
In December of 2023, I sold my home in Lawrenceburg, Tn. I hired Top Tier Van Lines of NJ, to move my possessions. Their agent, Mandy, worked with me on the costs and details. To facilitate her making an accurate quote, I supplied a complete detailed inventory every item/box I needed them to move. I supplied not only a detailed description of the contents in each room or area, but assigned photos of every room each room an number associated with the details and descriptions of the inventory. There were some items I wasn’t taking with me and they were clearly physically marked and noted in the inventory. She quoted me $9205.00. After a bit of negotiation, she adjusted the quote by $1000 to $8205.00. That was our agreed final price. On the day (Dec 8th) the Top Tier crew was supposed to arrive, they were almost six hours late. For my medical and transport reasons, I waited a few hours for the crew, but I had to leave for the five hour non stop drive. I had a friend assigned to direct the load in my absence. Later that late evening, about halfway thru my drive, I got a call from the ‘load foreman’ stating that the contents of my move were more than they expected because would take more space in the moving truck? He also said that in there was an increase in cost for the ‘hours’ additional packing they had to do? (I was never told by Mandy about any additional packing charges?) (my main contents of my home were already packed in marked boxes) I got the sales agent on the party call but she said nothing of substance and offered no answer to why the loading cost was now (apx $4000+) more than the previously agreed quote? Their load foreman demanded I wire the additional cost to complete the load and allow the final delivery of my possessions? Which I did to facilitate the move and repossession of my items and avoid the potential storage costs they threatened? Summary: In good faith and to provide Mandy, the Top Tier salesperson, I supplied a detailed written inventory of EVERY room along with photos of every room (with a sequential reference number) with descriptions of each item. She had all the visual and written inventory details to make an accurate quote. ($8205.00) But still, according to the demands of the onsite load foreman on the late evening of the move, the quote was insufficient to a tune of more than $4000? This is a classic bait & switch scam. Initially providing a deal closing attractive quote along with a discount, only to have the ‘actual’ price (apx $4000.00 additional) demanded in the 11th hour when the possession and moving of my possessions was at risk? Days later when Top Tier delivered my possessions, I noticed that a wheel had been broken of an expensive display case? The load foreman’s reply was: “Well we swept the truck?” Finally they handed me over 20 pages of line item inventory and asked me to sign off on their damage waiver for each line? I had about 15 minutes to complete this when it is impossible to access any damages when most of my possessions were boxed in advance? They clearly have this classic ‘Bait & Switch’ routine as their business model so I recommend that no one use their corrupt company. Thank You Clarence Novak
By CLARENCE N.