This summer, I re-located back to Toronto from Vancouver. I knew of my impending move more than a year ago and started planning the logistics in February 2012. I had sent out request for quotes from moving companies using an online service. A number of companies responded but I settled on Troy Transportation for a number of reasons: 1) offered competitive rates, 2) responsive to my questions and 3) had positive reviews (www.troymoving.com). I provided a deposit near the end of February in order to secure a move date originally scheduled for June 29th, 2012 (we then moved it up to June 28th a few weeks later so that we could fly to Toronto earlier as it was the long weekend).
On their website, Troy Transportation states the following "Troy Moving and Storage takes pride in its honest and reliable service. We value our customers and satisfaction. We guarantee that you will be happy with our service..." However, our experience has been less than pleasant. Below is a summary of the issues that we encountered when dealing with Troy Transportation:
- Seeing that we booked 4 months in advance and that it was a cross-country move for a family of three, one would expect that we would be scheduled to be the first customer for June 28th. However, when we called their office on the afternoon of the 27th, they still had no firm pick up time. We received a call shortly thereafter that a crew would come between 3 and 5. I stated in no uncertain terms that this was unacceptable because we had to be at the airport in the evening. They acquisced and changed the crew's arrival time to 8:00 AM on the move date.
- We arranged through Troy to have our car shipped via rail to Toronto by another company that their contracted out and pick up was scheduled for Wednesday, June 27th. When we did not receive a call on June 26th, we followed-up. This company had no record of the pick up on the 27th and the receptionist told us that we were supposed to call to arrange a time (this was never communicated to us by Troy).
- On move date, Troy's crew did not arrive until around 9:30 AM. Unfortunately, our neighbours had stepped out and their cars prevented the moving truck from parking on the street in front of our house. The crew leader indicated that he would charge us long-haul fees. This was not our fault because, had the crew arrived on time, we would have been able to ask the neighbours to move the cars (we were afraid that if we did it too soon, then people would park and prevent the truck's access regardless). [By the way, Troy hired a Vancouver company to do the move (again they contracted out) which is contrary to statements made in the FAQ page on the website which states that they do not subcontract].
- On move date, a dispute ensued between us and the moving crew regarding the long-haul charges. It resulted in the crew walking out on us! (The crew claimed that we had to pay, we stated that we were not because it was not our fault that the cars could not be moved due to their late arrival). We scrambled to call Troy in Toronto to get the situation resolved.
- On move date, the same crew finally returned at around 11:00 AM. We had to apologized and asked that bygones be bygones (as they were hold us hostage with the move). When things settled down, the crew did not have sufficient number of wardrobe box hangers/bars (I was forced to use an old broom handle to hang my clothes) and they did not bring their own tools to dismantle my furniture i.e. they were obviously unprepared.
- On move date, we marked items that we wanted re-delivered with a "star". The "starred" items included mainly clothes, shoes, work-related material, and some personal items. This was because we would be living with relatives for an indefinite period of time until we found a house in Toronto. As such we paid to have this second delivery service. However, when we did have the second delivery arranged, only about 65% of the items that were starred were actually delivered. (They indicated that some of the "stars" were hard to see so it was not able to sent to me. I offered to go to the warehouse to help retrieve the non-delivered items but my request was denied).
- Lack of communication. Once the deposit was made in February, either my wife or I were the ones that had to follow-up with Troy to determine the status of the delivery of our belongings. I have numerous emails on file which shows that I have been the one initiating correspondence. In particular, this relates to the missing "starred" items. The initial delivery happened in mid-July but I still not had any movement with the remaining "starred" items at the end of August. I was so frustrated that I was forced to ask my employer to send a fax on my behalf to establish a delivery date.
- We bought a new house and we moved in mid-September. We arranged for Troy to deliver all of our items for Friday, September 14th. They erred in both the address where items were to be delivered (despite the fact that I mentioned it in correspondence on at least three occasions) and claimed that we did not pay for the items while in storage (paid in full a few days before the delivery date).
- On delivery date, once again, the crew failed to bring tools so I had to borrow tools from my father to take apart furniture so that it could be moved into our house. The resulting number of items damaged was extensive. Completely damaged were: a child's desk, a floor lamp, a ceramic vase, a picture frame, a garbage can, and a patio chair. Also a number of items also were damaged/dented/scratched including: a child's bike, an office desk, end table, wooden console, child's bed, a dresser, and a bench. There were also a few boxes that went missing. In addition, we noticed water damage to pictures, footprints on furniture and mud on our kitchen table. (This is contrary to what is stated in FAQ portion of their website that "all of the furniture is protected using our Specially Padded Moving Blankets. Our moving crew will carefully wrap all of your furniture and will secure them using moving tape to ensure that the moving blankets remain on the furniture until arrival to your destination". I can safely say that not all of our furniture was wrapped in padded blankets - some had nothing at all).
- Given the number of items damaged, we sent in a claim form to try to recoup our losses. Based on the required fields of the claim form, we estimated damages to be over $2000. When the claim was finally processed, we were told that our compensable amount was less than $10 (once the $350 deductible was factored in)!. There were many errors on the claim form. They indicated that some things could not be insured because we (the owner) packed the items. This included, but is not limited to, two vases (one damaged and one missing). This is completely untrue. We left these items to be packed by "professionals" because we did not want to take a chance with these delicate items (our claim form and their response is included).
As you can see we have had a less than positive experience with Troy Transportation. The last straw came when the compensation was caculated to be less than $10. There is no question that we are seeking appropriate finanical compensation (recognizing both our material losses and our time dealing with them). However, just as imporant, we are looking for accountability (i.e. they erred in a number of ways) and that they remain true to the statements that are found on their website. We are not happy with the service provided, insulted by the amount that they are offering us.
****WARNING: DO NOT HIRE TROY MOVING AND STORAGE SERVICE***** Save yourself the stress, pain and suffering!!!
