My family and I recently moved, locally, from a smaller home to a larger home. Due to my husband having had a lower back fusion surgery this past January, we agreed it best and safest to hire professionals for this move. I chose Two Men and a Truck located in Gulfport, MS (our move was from Diberville, MS to Biloxi, MS) because of a personal referral and great reviews on ONE site (I should’ve checked Yelp, BBB, and Facebook).
This move had to be divided into a two-day move due to us having a double close; we closed on our former home early afternoon on June 28, 2018, then closed on our new home that same afternoon. I rented a storage unit specifically so that we could store ONLY the items packed and moved by Two Men and a Truck (we had a second storage unit, but we did NOT bring them to it or touch anything in it).
The first move was completed on July 27, 2018 from around 1:30pm until around 8:30pm. Firstly, when I scheduled this move, I SPECIFICALLY told the representative that I was ONLY interested in them packing and moving our furniture and appliances, as well as our kitchen-specific items. Moving day: the movers literally DUMP items into boxes, randomly wrapping a few items, but more predominantly NOT wrapping anything, and they didn’t just pack up kitchen items, they were packing up EVERYTHING ELSE which I had SPECIFICALLY said WE would pack ourselves. I just opened a box they had packed that had KNIVES just thrown in it, no wrapping whatsoever. NOTHING was wrapped in this particular box. Padding and wrapping furniture was NOT done per the terms stated in one of their emails to me regarding the move, which is also advertised and is a part of what the customer is paying for. Lack of such protective materials has since resulted in various damages to our belongings, which I have documented (and have tried numerous times to come to a REASONABLE settlement with this particular branch’s owner, Michael Sham). These damages include a cut along the console section of our leather couch, leather backing getting pulled out from one of the couch pieces which exposed 3 nails, that same backing getting torn in one spot, our Samsung TV getting dropped and its stand getting a couple of areas broken off (so we can’t attach the stand back to the TV), a discontinued IKEA queen bed getting DESTROYED (one rail was ripped out from its support beam, so we cannot attach them back together, neither can we attach ANYTHING back together because they didn’t pack any of the hardware for this bed), a discontinued IKEA 8-drawer dresser was dropped on a stair which resulted in severe cracks and a chunk hanging on just barely all on one side of the dresser, and my BRAND NEW LG FRENCH DOOR REFRIGERATOR getting scratched in a few places on the STAINLESS STEEL DOORS and the water dispenser drip tray getting scratched several times AND a dent in one side (my husband just bought me this fridge December 2017).
Many of these damages I didn’t notice until moving day TWO when a different crew came to start documenting damages as they loaded everything from the storage unit into their truck (I had emailed Caitlin James about having noticed a couple of damages and just poor handling of our belongings during the first move, and she reassured me things would be better on the second day). The second crew was FANTASTIC. They were APPALLED at the lack of protective padding and coverings for our furniture, especially when they saw the stainless steel LG fridge… They took the appropriate measures to pad and protect our furniture and appliances at this point, which I appreciated greatly. This move only took from around 8:30am until 12:45pm, WITH taking the time to pad and wrap the items that needed it. Same number of men (3), and less than half the time the first move took. AND this crew put our furniture where we asked them to AND assembled our King bed frame and leather couch pieces (the couch comes apart into 4 pieces). The driver for this crew, Chris, specifically told me that due to the damages being so severe, he was NOT going to charge me for that day’s move. I was incredibly grateful, and was not expecting that, so I thought it more than appropriate to show my appreciation by tipping the crew a total of $200 cash.
Now to my current problem: after having communicated extensively with Caitlin James and Emily Sham, about the damages, documenting the damages, and requesting a settlement, I was very much dissatisfied with their settlement: $500 cash and discounting the second move to $416 instead of the original $916. I explained MULTIPLE times about having been told I would NOT be charged for the second move due to the severity of damages, and I requested they reconsider their settlement amount of $500 because I felt that that was too little considering the extent of the damages, the lack of protective materials being used for the first move (which WOULD HAVE prevented MUCH of those damages), and the fact that majority of damaged items were the more expensive ones (again, I have documentation of each item damaged, their serial numbers/SKUs, prices to purchase, etc.) They refused to reevaluate everything and reconsider their decision, which then resulted in me disputing the charges for the first move ($1387.12). The owner, Michael Sham, has since called me and very rudely demanded that I pay for all services because “your items were moved from point A to point B.” When I refused, he threatened that “we have other means of collecting payment and we will exercise those means, ” and that “when you’re ready to be reasonable, you can call back and submit payment for the services.” I tried to explain to him why I was so upset and dissatisfied, but he would NOT let me get a word in and ultimately left me in tears at the end of our call. I am still disputing the charges, and have taken this to the BBB. However, I was offered the option of mediation or arbitration on the matter, and was given 5 business days to respond…that was on July 13, 2018, it is now July 17, 2018, and I was prepared to fax my response this morning until I checked my email and saw the BBB had a message for me, which stated that the complaint has been closed, remaining unresolved. I intend on contacting the local BBB office tomorrow morning to find out why I was not given the allowed 5 business days to provide my response, and will move forward from there.
At this point, I just want a full refund of ALL charges. The $1387.12 is presently being disputed again, but if I can just have a full refund so I can end this dispute, and not be bothered about the second move charges of $916 and some change, I will no longer pursue any settlement for these damages. I just want to be DONE with this company and not have to deal with Michael Sham ever again. I do not want to be bothered for any payments, and I will not bother about damages. After everything that has happened to my belongings and the way I was treated by this owner, I think that’s an absolutely fair request and resolution. Leave me alone and I’ll y’all alone.
Found At: Two Men And A Truck International – local move done by two men and a truck in gulfport, ms