I dont even know where to begin in this total nightmare. We hired Condor Moving Systems in Arlington, TX. to move us from Texas to Oregon. When my fianc called, she talked to a guy named Mario. While discussing our options, she specifically told Mario that we had heard that some moving companies are actually brokers and do not own their own fleet of trucks. We did not want our belongings to be switched from truck to truck simply because the more it is handled, the more likely it is to get damaged. Mario told us that they were not brokers and that the 18 wheeler that showed up at my door would be the same truck that would carry our belongings to Oregon. We continued calling moving companies and getting estimates but we kept Condor Moving Systems in our minds as an option. Mario had specifically asked us if they would be able to park an 18 wheeler outside of our house. We said, "Yes." That question led us to believe that an 18 wheeler would be showing up at our door. We were shocked when a 26 foot truck showed up at our door. This truck would go & unload our belongings to another facility where they would be unloaded and then reloaded onto the 18 wheeler heading out to Oregon. We were never told that this would happen. We wouldn't have agreed to having our belongings switched from truck to truck. The Guy that arrived with the small truck (and his crew) have so far been the only people at Condor Moving Systems to follow through on their promises. My fiance called Condor Moving Systems nearly every day to check on the status of the truck because they would not call us with updates. Every day she got a different eta on when our belongings would be put on the truck for Oregon. After several days, we were told that Condor Moving Systems would be sending our belongings on an 18 wheeler all to themselves. Our belongings wouldn't have to share the 18 wheeler with anybody else's belongings.
A few days after pickup, we received a call from Condor stating that we owed them more money because our load weighed more than THEY had estimated. This left both of us scratching our heads. We had already given them a complete list of what they would be picking up. We even called them back several times to edit the list because we sold some things before we moved. We reviewed the list and respective weights prior to pickup and we quickly noticed that almost every item was logged as weighing more than it actually does. We were satisfied because that meant that we were covered because many of the items weighed nowhere near what they had estimated. This was good. It was determined by Condor that we should have about 80 boxes, aside from all the furniture and other items already on the roster. When it was all said and done, we ended up with about 136 boxes. We were told that this is where the extra weight came from and that Condors shipping software has built in weight for items and box size. What is an average box? Well, lets go back to grade school for a simple refresher in mathematics. 136 boxes minus 80 boxes leaves 56 boxes. Take the amount we were overcharged (approximately $2500.00) and divide by 56. This gives you a weight of about 46 pounds per box over. Having previously owned a swimming pool, I am all too familiar with what 50 pounds feels like because that is exactly what a canister of chlorine weighs. These boxes did not weigh 46 pounds each. Did we have other items? Of course we did. In fact, we had a total of about 205 pieces total. 136 were boxes and most of the rest was what they gave us an estimate for prior. There were other light weight items as well. Such as plastic vanity waste baskets, 2 aluminum ladders, ice chest, etc. The majority of the weight was pre-determined. Mario gave us a max monetary figure that we were told would be the absolute worse case scenario. This far exceeded that. It became clear that Condor was out to cheat us and having read others reviews about this company, our suspicions were validated. It seems this bait and switch scam has been in practice for quite some time at Condor. All the way back to 2009 to be exact. The common denominator in almost every complaint is this scam. They are nice and friendly up front and give you a quote based on your inventory and even give you a maximum amount as a worst case scenario. The scam comes in to play when they give you a lowball estimate to get you to commit and call after they have your goods stating that you owe more money because they lowballed the estimate to hook you. If there were just a few isolated claims, I could see where there may have been bad communication or a misunderstanding. However, there are a multitude (many, many) of complaints about this company all over the web and nearly all of them involve complaints about this scam. You also find out after the fact that your belongings are not insured if you pack them yourself.
We were told that we could be present during the weighing of the truck. What they do not tell you is that your belongings are on the same 53 trailer as the belongings of four other poor cheated souls in other locations. So, it is impossible to know what your section of the load weighs unless you unload the entire truck, leave & weigh it, and then come back and reload and go weigh again. The driver that delivered stated that he was not told to weigh the truck before coming to deliver. Since they arrived after dark, there was no place to take it to get it weighed. He also would not take a cashiers check. This, after Nisrine stated very clearly that she called & told him to accept it. So, the driver refused to unload our belongings because it would get him in trouble with his boss, neither of which are employed by Condor. At this point, we were at our wits end. We were so sick of having to continually re-live this ongoing nightmare with this company. After about an hour of trying to reach someone at Condor, we finally just left a message. Jessie called back and asked to speak to the driver. Twenty minutes later, we were back on track. The driver insisted that Nisrine had not called him with instructions to take the check. Someone lied. The driver showed us his call history and guess what? There were no calls from any Arlington based numbers. The drivers also come unequipped. No toolsothing. They wanted to borrow our tools to do their job. I told them they were out of luck because my tools were packed on the truck. After getting the truck unloaded and furniture assembled, the driver insisted that we sign off on the paperwork even though boxes were missing. He said if we did not, he would get in trouble with his boss. We signed it, but we also got a signed affidavit from him stating exactly what happened. We mentioned in conversation to the driver what Condor had done to us in regard to the overweight boxes. He made the comment that our items were light in weight & weighed nowhere near 46 lbs. per unit. He also stated that he & his assistant were horrified as they witnessed the way in which Condor employees loaded the truck. They could not believe what they were seeing. Throwing boxes & stacking light boxes under heavier boxes which led to a lot of our damage. Aside from the boxes, we were also missing a 20 foot extension ladder and a professional grade aluminum dolly that I used in my previous line of work. The drivers finally left our house at 2am exhausted, as were we.
When my fianc contacted Condor about the missing items, she talked to Nisrine. Nisrine promised us reimbursement outside of their 3rd party claim office for the ladder & dolly because of all the grief we had been thru at this point. As of today, all we have received is the money for the ladder. I talked to a guy at Condor about the dolly. He was very condescending and insinuated that I had picked out this particular dolly because it was one of the upper end dollies & was more expensive. He said it seemed odd that I picked out such an expensive one to be reimbursed for. I could not believe the audacity in this statement! I told him that the dolly costs less now than when I bought it years ago. So, if my intention was to cheat him, I would have claimed what I paid for it, not what it is selling for now. He tried to lowball me citing depreciation issues. What does depreciation have to do with them losing my dolly? He also stated that he might get in trouble if he paid me the full amount. He stated that he would look into it further & call me back. Two weeks passed and you know what? No one ever calledas has become expected at this point. I emailed Nisrine because no one wants to talk and asked her about the status of my dolly because the guy never called me back. She emailed back and stated she would have to inquire about it. After not hearing back from her, I emailed again the next day to which she replied,After speaking with Emit you need to go ahead and send a claim for the dolly with items that your fiance had said she was filing a claim for. I could not believe what I was reading! We do not have a problem filing a claim for all the items that your people damaged or even the items in the boxes that are still missing. Our problem is that this woman promised us reimbursement and has failed to follow through. So, yet another empty promise. You know what? You should not have misplaced it! While we are on the subject, how does someone misplace a 20 foot extension ladder and a 4 foot tall aluminum dolly? In retrospect, after reading a multitude of negative reviews, it seems that my ladder was not the first ladder that got misplaced. Bicycles seem to mysteriously disappear with this company as well. I strongly urge any prospective customers to read reviews for Condor Moving Systems before committing. It is absolutely appauling reading about the horrible things this company has done to its customers!
I really wish we had done better research and had seen all the horrible reviews before we committed to use this company. We both regret using them now. There is a reason why this company does not have a BBB (Better Business Bureau) logo on their website. They have not earned it. I urge you to go and read the complaints there. Their stories are nearly identical to ours.
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