My daughter was planning a move from Richmond, VA to New York City. Because of the starting date for a new job, she had to make the move quickly and did not have time to
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My daughter was planning a move from Richmond, VA to New York City. Because of the starting date for a new job, she had to make the move quickly and did not have time to do research for a moving company. I offered to do the research and recommend three companies. Based on my research, I recommended Mazlan Relocation. We looked at their reviews online and they were mostly very positive. That was a good sign, However, we did not look at the reviews on the Better Business Bureau, which was a mistake. There were too many complaints about problems similar to the ones my daughter experienced. It made me wonder about the authenticity of the many positive reviews on their website.
My initial contact with Mazlan was with Michael Anthony. He was very helpful, explained lots of things to me about moving, provided useful information about insurance requirements, shuttle service, packing, etc. In addition he was very pleasant to talk with. He told me it was a family business which I also saw as positive. My daughter signed a contact with Mazlan to pack and move her belongings. On Oct. 25, two men came to pack and pick up. All inventory had been agreed upon and they did not identify any additional items that were not on the list. The men did a good job. I asked where they were taking the items and was told they go to the warehouse. We had been told that delivery could take 7-10 days. To me that meant 7-10 days from pickup. My daughter interpreted it to mean 7-10 from the date she could accept delivery, which was Nov. 1, the day she could move into her apartment. She was content with the fact her belongings would arrive between Nov 1-10, She asked for at least two day’s notice because she needed to take off from her new job and reserve the freight elevator in her building. She had informed Mazlan that the building allowed move-ins on Mon-Fri. Only. No weekends.
My daughter was called on Nov. 2 and told they would deliver on Nov. 4 and would call her the morning of Nov. 3 to let her know the time of arrival. She arranged to be out of the office and scheduled the elevator. Things fell apart after that. On the afternoon of Nov 3, I got a call from Mazlan informing me that their truck broke down and delivery would be next week (Not sure why they called me in VA instead of calling my daughter in NY whom they had been dealing with). I could not believe what I was hearing!. What kind of established moving company could not have a truck fixed or replaced for a whole week to accommodate their customer. Only one truck! They could give no date the following week so she was at their mercy. In the meantime she is in a vacant apartment sleeping on an air mattress. The positive side was she had a place to stay.
Next disappointment: She was contacted on Nov 9 and told they would deliver on Nov 11. Again, she made the necessary arrangements for the arrival of the movers. No such luck! When she had not heard from Mazlan the morning of Nov 10 about arrival time, she called them that afternoon. She was told they wanted to deliver on Sun , Nov. 14 because they had another load to pick up in VA and wanted to pick that up and make both deliveries. Mazlan gave no consideration to how they would be inconveniencing a client whom they had already disappointed once. They were thinking only of themselves. My daughter pleaded to have her things delivered as scheduled and not wait for an additional pickup. She reminded the caller that her building does not allow weekend move-ins so Sun was not an option. The only person in customer service who had been somewhat helpful said she’d see what she could do. Shortly thereafter, she called back to say they could deliver Sat. morning. Again she said no weekend move-ins are allowed. They finally agreed to deliver on Mon. Nov. 15 at 1pm.
Nov. 15, 1pm came and no movers. She was finally contacted that they would arrive around 3pm. They actually arrived about 4:15 pm. She was then informed about the long haul fee ,which they say was in the contract Michael told me about the elevator and step fee but said nothing about the long haul fee. Unpacking began. Not at all surprised, some things were broken and packing obviously was not done by professional packers.
The day after delivery, I attempted to contact Michael Anthony, to whom I originally spoke and I have not been able to reach him. A recording comes on directing the call to someone else’s voicemail. If you decide to use Mazlan, you do so at great risk!
Move Date:
Sep 04,2023
From:
Glen Allen, VA
To:
New York, NY
Move
Cost: $5000
