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Bait and Switch - AVOID these guys
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Deal with CLS Moving at your peril! They cheated my 94 year old mother in two different ways that I know of. I will explain exactly what scams that they perpetrated on us. Do not be taken in by their low estimates (you will certainly pay more, one way or another) or by the telephone charm of Sam and/or Sally, who are obviously well-paid to put a face of concerned helpfulness on this company of crooks. One reviewer has a good line – If they “treat you like family,” as they claim, it must be the Soprano family.
First, CLS disobeys the law that requires them to provide their potential customers with an estimate that includes replacement value insurance for lost/stolen/damaged items. Their estimates include “Basic Valuation Protection: $.60 per lb per article.” If you get estimates from other movers who obey the law and include replacement value insurance, they will naturally be higher than the illegal CLS estimate.
After the furniture is loaded on the truck, CLS tells you that you must sign a waiver of full replacement value coverage or the cost will be higher. Classic Bait and Switch trick. If you do this and anything is lost or damaged you will be entitled to 60 cents per pound. Good luck getting even that pittance.
The bottom line of my first complaint with these people is that because of their fraudulently getting our business by giving a low estimate, illegally not including replacement value coverage in their estimate and requiring that we waive such coverage (or the cost would rise) is that they lost 5 items from our shipment with a replacement value of about $580 and when we filed a claim they offered $24.60 for their “Basic Valuation” coverage.
Second complaint is that we were supposed to pay about $1100 (40% of the total “binding estimate) upon delivery, but when the truck arrived, the driver eyeballed the distance from his truck to the apartment where the furniture was to be delivered and declared that we must pay $500 more for a “long carry.” It was a rather long way, but I believe that the charge was exorbitant and based upon nothing but a self-serving estimate of distance, which I have checked and found to be grossly inflated. We paid the demanded charges, of course. The alternative was to refuse to pay and have our goods taken away, which would have only cost more in the long run.
In the days after the delivery, we complained of 5 lost items and of the inflated cost demanded on delivery. I spoke to “Ben” at CLS. He quickly decided that the items could not be located. Upon being pressed about the over-charge, he told me that the charges were justified but that the company had agreed to refund $250. I felt this was fair. He said that we would need to file a claim for the lost items and when a settlement was reached for compensation for them, the company would cut a single check to include the $250 reimbursement.
After I filed a claim and received the $24.60 offer, I asked the claims people about the promised $250 refund and they told me that this amount (which I had included with an explanation on the claims form) would not be paid by the company. I then began a month-long attempt to contact Ben and/or his supervisor. They have refused to take my calls and to call me back. I wonder if his offer of $250 was totally bogus and an attempt to get rid of me or if the company simply decided not to honor their offer. I am sure they hoped I would just get tired of fighting them and go away. I am not going away.
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