A-Whisco Inc

Response to complaint from customer *** ***.A-Whisco Inc fully understands the customer's concerns with the delivery date scheduling OUr company's goal is to make deliveries for government/military shipments in as timely a manner as possible However, this move is coordinated by and
through the US Government and is not controlled by our company The indication that was given to the customer by an unnamed source of a 7-day window for deliver was not made by A-Whisco Inc and was improper by that party The shipment was not serviced at origin by our company A-Whisco Inc notified the customer of the shipment's arrival to our facility in ***, MD on 7/23/ The customer contacted us on 7/24/to arrange delivery At that time, the earliest available date was 8/8/ All days prior to that were completely booked with previously scheduled shipments There is no other resolution than to deliver at our earliest available date A-Whisco Inc recommends the customer contact the US Government agency in charge of his move to make his complaint We are bound by regulations and cannot schedule a delivery prior to the shipment's arrival at our facility, nor can we cancel another customer's delivery to accommodate any customer whose shipment arrives at a later date.End of response.Respectfully,A-Whisco, Inc

Review: My family and I moved into our apartment here in Maryland on Sunday, July 13th. We were originally told that we would receive our items within 7 to 10 days from the date the movers packed our things, which was Friday, July 11th. We figured that certain items could be packed up as we would be fine without it for a week. Now it is going on a week and a half. I just received an email at the beginning of the week that said that I could call Wednesday to find out my delivery date. My wife called, and the rep Diane asked her when do we want our items delivered. She of course said as soon as possible. Diane came back and told my wife the first available time is Friday, August 8th.

That will make it a total of 4 weeks without our furniture, appliances, all kitchen items, linens, majority of clothing and identification items. Cooking is a major obstacle with simple items like a pot or can opener. We can't afford to eat out everyday, nor purchase items that we know we already own. Same in regards to clothing. I need my Social Security card for my job, but that is in my safe sitting in A-Whisco's warehouse. I don't know how they think we can function this long without our every day household items. We need our items asap.Desired Settlement: To get my household items this week or next week at the latest as opposed to Friday, August 8th.

Business

Response:

Response to complaint from customer [redacted].

Review: The Required Delivery Date for our household goods (BL number [redacted]) was August 1, 2013. We have contacted A-Whisco several times to try to prompt the company to work to attain delivering our goods by the Required Delivery Date. We initially contacted them while our shipment was still at the port and going through customs, but they stated their policy was not to schedule any deliveries until they had the shipment at their location. We contacted them again after our shipment had cleared customs and was just waiting (for over a week) to be transferred to their company for delivery. Again they said they would not project out in scheduling the delivery and it needed to be at their location. When they did receive our shipment their company was already booked two weeks out and they told us we would have to wait an additional two weeks for delivery. We asked if they had a system to prioritize shipments that were past the Required Delivery Date. They stated it was not their fault the shipment was late and would not prioritize us in the delivery process. They also stated that there are families who are not past their Required Delivery Date who were receiving their shipment ahead of ours.

We have been without our belongings Since June 6th and I do not appreciate the lack of urgency this company has for handling our belongings while we are sitting on the floor, eating off of a cardboard box, with our 3-year-old, while I am pregnant. This company lacks efficiency in their scheduling process, demonstrates a complete lack of responsibility in adhering to the Required Delivery Date, and also shows a total disregard for the families who are waiting in empty homes to receive their belongings.Desired Settlement: 1) Immediate Delivery of our Household Goods

2) This company needs to review their policies to better support the customer. The system in place is inefficient and does not meet the contract requirements for the shipment. Shipments should be tracked, and delivery schedules should be projected based on an estimated arrival time to the delivery company. If a shipment doesn't make it from the port on the estimated date, the slot could be filled by another family ready for delivery, rather than a family who is passed the required delivery date having to wait for a cancellation of a shipment, or wait additional weeks for delivery.

3) This company needs training at all levels in what their overall goals are, and needs to work to meet those goals. Currently there is no indication that any of the staff members have any sense of responsibility for meeting the delivery deadline, and they also demonstrate a nonchalant attitude toward their customers.

Business

Response:

We were the delivery agent for [redacted]'s household goods that came from Italy. Due to tighter custom's clearance and security, we have no control on when his shipment would be processed and brought down by truck from [redacted]. Until we actually receive any shipment on our docks in [redacted], Md, we cannot begin the notification and delivery setup. We received his shipment on August 6, 2013 and emailed [redacted]. [redacted] on August 6th at 11:14 am. Due to the size of his shipment, almost 18,000 pounds, requiring a tractor trailer plus and additional truck for his delivery, our earliest available date was August 19. The shipper chose not to take that date and scheduled the delivery for August 23, 2013. Additionally, we advised the shipper that we have a cancellation list and if we were able to set the shipment up earlier, we would prioritize his delivery and call him. Unfortunately we were not able to free up two trucks until his requested delivery date of last Friday. According to the performance sheet that was signed by [redacted]. [redacted] during his delivery on Friday, the destination services were excellent and his comments were "Very good crew!"

The Washington DC area was heavily saturated with service member moves during July and August and we strive to make every shipper happy. We only control what we can at our warehouse, and have no influence on trucking companies, port agents or shipping lines. I agree that [redacted]'s shipment should have arrived before his required delivery date of August 1, 2013, but for some reason it did not. The Transportation Service Provider is responsible for coordinating the logistics of these shipments from origin to destination, we are simply the last one in line to handle the shipment. We do what we can to accommodate every shipper's concern, however we can't cancel shipments that are already set up for delivery to accommodate a shipment for someone else. If we set your shipment up for delivery, we guarantee it will be there on that date. We fully understand and sympathize with each and every military member during their move. We realize that moving is one of the most stressful things to do, and are sensitive to that fact. However some things are beyond our control and feel it is better to be honest from the beginning and not set unachievable goals with the shipper feeing they were strung along or lied to.

Review: I received a quote for 7 hours just to move furniture that required no packing of materials or moving of boxes. 2 bunk beds, 2 bedroom suites, 1, sofa, 1 china cabinet, 1 entertainment system were taken apart, moved, and re-assembled. I moved multiple furniture items to include 2 book/computer shelves, 3 night stands, etc in order to save some time and money. The move still took over 7 hrs. I have moved many times within the military and those moves included the packing of all household goods and moving boxes. The same furniture that was moved then is the same furniture I have now and I believe this move with Worldwide Movers took too long. Three movers were provided and the majority of the time all three were working on the same thing at the same time. I was charged $165.00 per hour in addition to travel. For travel I was charged $165.00 which was calculated at 0.30 minutes. When I complained to the company about how the movers stopped at gas station for lunch, one of the representatives from the company stated I would be refunded $41.25 for the lunch which was calculated at 0.25 minutes. I don't understand how this adds up. The representative stated that the move estimation was "good" because it was within one hour of the estimate. It was only within an hour because I moved many items after the quote was provided. If I would not have done this, the move would have taken 1-2 additional hours. Not only that, the workers only began to work faster and branch off to other areas of the house to complete the move after I stated to them that they had 10 minutes to finish what they were doing and stop because at that time they had already exceeded the 7 hours. I could only imagine the cost and time of move if the movers were required to complete a full move to include packing and moving of boxes. Overall I was not satisfied.Desired Settlement: I believe the move should have and could have been completed in less time if the movers would have worked at a more moderate/consistent pace as well as communicated more with each other, and the use of drills. At this time I would like to request a refund of $123.75

Business

Response:

July 7, 2014To Whom It May Concern,This move was completed on May 31, 2014. On that day, the customer informed us of two problems with the move: (1) the bed rails and dresser mirror were improperly installed, and (2) the estimate was not accurate.On June 1, the move-day paperwork was reviewed and a clerical error was found. The customer paid for the time the crew took lunch, which is not normal company protocol. Therefore we issued a refund of $41.25 to compensate. This figure was based on the paperwork signed by the customer indicating a lunch of 15 minutes (0.25 hrs) was taken by the crew. The hourly rate of $165.00 was used to determine the refund. The refund check was issued on June 12, 2014.We received the customer's written complaint on June 2, 2014. We responded via email on June 3. A copy of that email has been sent to Revdex.com with this letter. In summary, we explained that estimates are based on crew performance averages, while each crew works at its own pace to ensure safe and efficient service. In response to the customer' concern about the time the move took to be completed, this seems to be a matter of perception. We regret that her perception was that the crew was slow and inefficient, as was stated in our response email on June 3. However, we believe that the crew completed the service in a timely and professional manner. It is an inherent vice of our industry that estimates cannot always be exactly accurate. Our goal is to be within 10% of the estimate, which we were.In the response email on June 3 we also explained why the mirror was not attach using all of the hardware the customer supplied. We went on to offer to fix any improper assembly issues or minor damages. Our company repairman first attempted to contact the customer on June 10 and was later able to reach her and made the corrections/repairs on June 12, 2014.Considering that the summer is our industry's peak season, we were very pleased to have addressed the customer's concerns in such a timely and professional manner.Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

Good Evening,

The Required Delivery Date for our household goods (BL number [redacted]) was August 1, 2013. We have contacted A-Whisco several times to try to prompt the company to work to attain delivering our goods by the Required Delivery Date. We initially contacted them while our shipment was still at the port and going through customs, but they stated their policy was not to schedule any deliveries until they had the shipment at their location. We contacted them again after our shipment had cleared customs and was just waiting (for over a week) to be transferred to their company for delivery. Again they said they would not project out in scheduling the delivery and it needed to be at their location. When they did receive our shipment their company was already booked two weeks out and they told us we would have to wait an additional two weeks for delivery. We asked if they had a system to prioritize shipments that were past the Required Delivery Date. They stated it was not their fault the shipment was late and would not prioritize us in the delivery process. They also stated that there are families who are not past their Required Delivery Date who were receiving their shipment ahead of ours.

We have been without our belongings Since June 6th and I do not appreciate the lack of urgency this company has for handling our belongings while we are sitting on the floor, eating off of a cardboard box, with our 3-year-old, while I am pregnant. This company lacks efficiency in their scheduling process, demonstrates a complete lack of responsibility in adhering to the Required Delivery Date, and also shows a total disregard for the families who are waiting in empty homes to receive their belongings.