Allied Van Lines - Werner Donaldson

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They showed up on time, and the movers were professional, friendly, helpful.  The movers were not able to hook up a washing machine as originally scheduled, due to a plumbing issue which wasn't their fault, and later we got a $50 credit for that, which was acceptable.  They moved our baby grand piano smoothly and everything else went fine with the exception of a large office desk. The desk was reassembled incorrectly in the new house.  Most of it was correct, but they did not get a pull-out writing shelf in, and there were many leftover bolts and screws that were not put back in the desk.  I called the office about this and was told they would get back to me about possibly finishing the assembly of the desk, but I never got an answer. I quit calling after three calls.  Overall this was a good experience, but the tail end with the desk could have gone much better.

Summary:
We have relocated several times over the course of my career and most the time our things were moved without a scratch.  Our recent move with Werner-Donaldson was an awful exception.  We suffered extensive damage and our attempt to recover damages through the claims process was blocked by the Driver's clever manipulation of the paperwork.   I have provided some details below, but the bottom line is to avoid these guys at all cost.
We incurred significant damage (estimated at $4,000 - $6,000) to our household goods as the direct result of rough handling and careless packing by the Driver and his loaders.   In spite of paying for "full replacement insurance", we were compensated only $280 after a $250 deductible. Our appeal was denied because the carrier declared that the damages could not be proven to be the result of transit.
We strongly believe we are the victims of an inspection and claims process easily manipulated by the Driver and tilted heavily in favor of the moving company. More specifically, the Driver arrived late on the day of our move and hurriedly announced that he needed to "take inventory". What he failed to mention was the fact that he was ALSO penning in notations that falsely indicated extensive pre-existing damage to literally every item in our home. At the end of the loading process he handed us the inventory sheet and told us to sign it. We immediately objected to his assessment of the condition of our furniture because most of our furniture was in excellent condition and some was nearly brand new. No Matter.  In the Driver's inventory, literally every item was marked as scratched, dented and soiled. At this point there was no option to review and amend the inventory because our things we loaded on the truck and the closing for the sale of our house was the next day. We had no choice and had to sign in order to get the truck moving.  
The guys who loaded the truck appeared to be day laborers with little training in the proper way to pad and load furniture.  My objections to the obvious rough handling of our best furniture were met by sarcastic comments that it was  "good stuff" and "built to take it".  The Driver spent virtually no time on the truck supervising this critical process.  He remained in our house, doing his "inventory" and talking on his cell.
Upon receiving our goods at destination we immediately noted extensive damage to some of our best furniture. Items marked as "high value" were poorly padded and protected. An irreplacable family heirloom table had it's leg completely snapped off. A cherry dresser had 3 dime-sized divots 1/8 inch deep in it's top. A nearly new $5,000 2 piece leather sectional sofa has hockey puck size abrasions on it's surface because one piece was stacked on the other without padding. Our bedding was soiled from soot on the truck because the driver failed to bring and use protective cartons for which we were charged an additional $103 and were told were not optional.  In summary, nearly every one of our articles of furniture had some level of damage but we could not "prove" it was transit related because of the Driver's manipulation of the paperwork.   Items that were damaged beyond repair were valued at "buy out value",  a fraction of replacement cost because we did not have the original receipt, yet we were never told we would need receipts to collect on the expensive full replacement policy option we were sold. 
Finally, we were never given a scale ticket to reconcile our charges with the original estimate which we believed was significantly over actual weight.
Allied Van Lines, the parent carrier of Werner Donaldson, offered no recourse other than to submit to a arbitration process where THEY pick the arbitrator and you pay an additional $250 for the service.  Of course, we refused.  
When I informed Werner Donaldson of my intention file a formal complaint with the D.O.T. and post this review on Angie's List they offered to refund our $250 deductible.  I refused the offer because it is far less than our losses and I want to warn others of the risk of using this Tampa based mover.  

Overall a very pleaseant moving experience.
In a recent move, I happened to be referred to Werner Donaldson by a friend who was very pleased with their moving services. After speaking with a couple of competitors and getting quotes, I decided to give Werner Donaldson. I scheduled an appointment with a member of their staff, and was happy that they were very accomadating to my schedule.
The quote process was seemless as the representative was clear about their pricing and communicated clearly about what the moving day would look like.
Upon moving day, the movers arrived promptly at the start time that was promised - even 10 minutes early! The movers were professional and worked efficiently.
When arriving at our destination, the movers were attentive to what room the boxes and furniture would go and used special caution since we were moving into a new home.
I have no reservations to user Werner Donaldson again and would reccommend them to others looking for a great local, Tampa moving company.

Warner Donaldson has moved us twice, and both times we had a great experience. The movers are quick, efficient, and careful. They carefully protected all our belongings and not one item was broken. Dealing with the main office was also pleasant. I would highly recommend them and would use them again if the need ever arouse.

The packing job went well in Tampa. The crew that came out was polite and worked hard. Our troubles did not begin until after we arrived in Atlanta. The truck did not show up on its scheduled arrival day and the company provided no notice that it would be late. After we got in touch with the right person, we learned that there would be about a 5-7 day delay until they could get everything to Atlanta. We were in our new house by this point with an 18 month old baby and had nothing except the things we brought in our car. The truck did finally show up after approximately 7 days and the crew they hired in Atlanta to unload was a pack of thugs. One guy in particular I remember talked on and on to the others about how many times he'd beaten a DUI arrest. They also claimed that they could not get their truck down my street because it was to steep. So, on the spot they came up with a price of $800 that had to be paid in cash to rent a smaller Uhaul truck and shuttle our furniture and boxes little by little from a department store parking lot a few miles away where they parked the big truck. I later learned it is a violation of their rules for the driver to be out of sight of his truck when customer goods are on it, but he spent the entire day out of view of his truck. Anyway, the biggest loss was that a valuable and nearly brand new Trek mountain bike was missing from the delivery. Mike and the rest of the management team in Tampa claimed they had no liability because I did not buy the extra insurance and I have never been able to recover the bike. Two police departments refused to investigate because I could not tell them if it had disappeared in Tampa, Atlanta, or somewhere in between. That bike had a special hitch on it that attached to a baby trailer my son and I used to go for rides. Trek stopped making the hitch right around the time I bought the bike and it took me over a year to find a replacement to use on a different bike. It has been over two years since this company screwed me and it still hurts that I let a company with such little regard for other peoples happiness enter my life. Every time I see one of their orange trucks on the road I cringe and hope that the family that hired that one does not get robbed and taken advantage of the way I did.

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