I am to inform the Phoenix Metropolitan area about my business experience with 1st Choice Moving & Storage. It was ABSOLUTELY HORRID say the least!

When I came into the office to set up for my move, I orginally wanted to schedule the move for October 17th and 18th from El Paso, TX, to Gilbert, AZ. As I spoke to the manager and agent about it, I was told that the pick-up could not be done on those dates and the date of October 23rd was put on the table. It was also suggested that my mother oversee the pick-up on October 23rd. Trying to be a good customer, I agreed to divert from my original plan and have the move scheduled on that date. Little did I know how much it would cost me to have the company move MY furniture at THEIR convenience!!!

There were several problems with the move. First of all, my mother (Carolotte Snell) called me at 7:29 p.m. to inform me on that Rafael did not call (915) 592-9090 until after 4:00 p.m. MST. This is the number that I gave the manager and agent at the time of the order. She stated that when he called her, he told her that was trying to call her for an hour. In actuality, he called my cell phone number at 1:30 p.m. local time. Because of this, the movers did not begin moving my furniture out of the storage facility until after 5:00 p.m. MST. Consequently, my mother and the moving crew were locked in the storage facility because the facility closed at 7:00 p.m., and the movers were not finished by that time. This served as a great inconvenience for my mother, who had a engagement scheduled at 7:30 p.m. MST. Needless to say, she missed this important engagement!

Secondly, my mother reported that the movers DROPPED my brand new pool table. The pool table was already boxed up and was not tampered with. The cost of the pool table was $700.00! I was not called nor notified by the company about the damage.

My date for delivery was rescheduled several times because, as I was told by the dispatcher, my delivery was not in "the system". When I went to the place of business on Saturday, November 1st, and asked to speak to a manager I was told that there were two invoices drawn for my account and the dispatcher said that this might have been a mistake on the part of the company. Another man (whose job title I do not know) supposedly posing to be began to argue with me about the total cost of the move. I proceeded to tell him that I was given two different prices on two different receipts and that I believed that the actual cost of my move was not given to me in writing. After a legnthy conversation with him and the dispatcher was was orginally trying to help me, I asked to schedule a meeting with the manager.

On November 3rd, I spoke to the manager about the problems with my move. I explained to him what happened on October 23rd, the lack of professionalism by the staff in not calling (as they promised) before my delivery, and the discrepencies in the billing. The manager told me firstly that I would not be receiving any discounts od any knd (although I have not received my furniture). The manager also proceeded to tell me that his movers were not responsible for the incident on October 23rd, and he insisted that I was fully aware of the cost of my move. I tried to show him that differences in price between the prices on my receipt and the price on the "original" contract ( of which I have yet to see and sign!). The manager continued to state that I knew how much the move was and offered a $100.00 discount for the incident on October 23rd. When I asked him about the discrepencies in the invoices, he became defensive and stated that I needed to either take the $100.00 discount from the amount on the contract that I did not sign or pay the remaining amount for the contract in which I had a receipt for. When I asked about how I could be compensatied for the damaged pool table, he gave me the number to the claims manager and stated that if I wanted to go to court, I had the choice to do so. Seeing that I was not going to resolve these issues effectively, I left that office and scheduled for my delivery.

If you are a single woman who needs moving services, don't trust radio ads like I did. TALK TO OTHERS and get their recommendations for movers! I deeply regret doing business with 1st Choice Moving & Storage! It has been a COSTLY and STRESSFUL mistake!

Susan C. Snell

P.S. I still don't have my furniture!!!