If you just read a review from Haiva Marks, here is the “rest of the story”.
We now have an open case file with Broward Sheriff’s Office, as 1 year from this move – almost 1 yr to the date of her losing her dispute, we received texts and messages that were a little threatening and felt a bit off. Office Collins advised us to block on all social media and phones, and not to respond to her messages.
BSO Case File:11-2405-004844 Officer P Collins 19504
Ms. Marks filled a dispute with her credit card company – American Express. Here is the letter, pictures and video we sent to American Express that had us WIN the unfounded dispute.
Would you carry heavy furniture that would require you/it to hang off/over the edge?
Below is how we left the new home – the downstairs all set up. We did not take things upstairs with the unsafe conditions. Here are some texts with Ms Marks and the team.
Letter to American Express in response to customer disputing charges.
To whom it may concern, (all pics in Google Drive folder)
In response to the dispute filed from Haiva Marks, I will go through the entire move process and relationship with her. I will share the invoice(s) sent, what was billable, collected, what was charged, and the contracts signed. We send an estimate as step 1. Once signed, we send an “Understanding of Agreement and CC Authorization”.
Important sections to check are:
Estimate: bottom page 3 (Hours Charged)
UofA / CC Autho: bottom of page 6
Ms. Marks contacted us to support her with her move process. She already had her new home and it was undergoing renovations. Our first visit to her current residence included us taking a mattress to her new home. During this initial “job” I took a quick look around at the other furnishings in the home. This was Feb 3, 2023. We did not have any paperwork, and we did not charge her as this was intended to be added on to the full move bill. Our normal minimum pickup/delivery charge is $175 or the dollar amount per men hourly rate + minimum 30 minutes of logistical time. $175
(see pics “Marks 1 and 2” for screenshots of texts documenting- times)
Our second visit (March 16) to the Marks origin was to “move the beds”. Based on the description and pictures provided, I guessed the 4 man team we had for her would need about 2 hours to move things. They arrived approx 230pm. At 3:30 I received calls/texts from the team that they were having trouble with the canopy bed (pic named beds 4), and Ms Marks. Ms Marks insisted the headboard and footboard came apart, “it had to as that is how the previous movers/delivery team got it upstairs” This is a 3 story townhome. My team sent pics, and had me on speakerphone. It seemed pretty clear by the pics that there was not a detachable section. She insisted. After about an hour of this, my team was ready to leave and deliver the other items already loaded on the truck. Ms Marks sent me an email with “the instruction manual” showing the parts detaching. I sent my team back in – to no avail. At 4:15, they were on the road to drop off the few things loaded. At 5:30 they were on the way home. Total time for 4 men on this “job” was 3 hours ($265 x 3.5 hours was what we could have billed). $925
We did not bill her at this time for this work either, electing to add it to the final move total and bill as one.
see pics “beds gps” for timeline of team on/off site
see pics “canopy 1-6” for the pics of the headboard and the instructions sent by Ms Marks
Move day 1: We have a signed hourly rate contract, and Understanding of Agreement/Credit Card Authorization. (pics – )
This day was to be the “taking the rest of the big items” from the origin to the new home. I sent a team of 4, 3 of which were on the previous day. I went over about 1.5 hours later to look at the canopy bead. I brought with me rope in case we had to hoist the headboard out the 3rd floor balcony. Upon my arrival, I began to go over the plan with her. She did not want to hear anything as “she heard it already and time is money”. I went straight to the canopy headboard, and in 4 minutes was able to prove that it did not come apart. She told me, “yes, the guys before hoisted it.” (Yet the previous visit she was insistent it did come apart). Ms Marks was “on business calls” almost the entire time we were there, yet she was also walking around point things out – for instance, she would say “time is money” and try to push us quicker, then tell us the object we were protecting/padding was delicate or fragile and to take care…. very confusing as to what she wanted from us overall. We were able to hoist the three (too big for the stairs) items successfully
Once the only things left to go on the truck were the patio furniture (which she had never pointed out or mentioned up until this afternoon), things took a turn for the worse. She was outside – on the phone- and I pointed at a very large stone table top and asked if it was going. She got upset as she “had already told the other guy”, who was not around, nor did I know about any of this…. At this point I told the team to drop all patio furniture and we are heading to the destination to unload. We did not have enough space on the truck for what she still wanted to take, we do not take outside plants (which she expected us to do), , AND it was starting to rain. (see pics of gps for time verification). The plan was to go back tomorrow and complete as we had a couple hours of time in the morning to do so. Mr Marks knew the plan and the deadline time the crew had to depart to get to an office move.
I left my team to do the delivery. Once they arrived, they were surprised to see the second floor spiral staircase and balcony NOT HAVE ANY RAILING. The team set up items downstairs and left the upstairs items down and still in pads. They tallied the hours from the day, and included the amount I advised for the 2 prior days of “deliveries”. See invoice pdf lines 1-3. The hours total for that 1st day was $2,425, plus ONLY charging $400 for both deliveries – (which could have been $1,100) – we wrote a milestone invoice for $2,825. Ms Marks only sent us $1,000 via zelle as “the job was not finished”. This was her only payment
see Pics balcony 1-3
see pics GPS move day1
see invoice lines 1-3
see pic Marks Zelle
Move Day 2: Upon arriving and beginning to move the patio furniture, the team (same 4 men) called me to advise that: there were roaches inside the wood furniture, the stone top was already broken, and more. I advised Ms Marks we would not be taking those items. This began a bit of back and forth. There was also a few loose items still in the home that we were going to take. The crew was still loading items from the patio when Ms Marks left the home and locked the door. The few items were still inside. (see pics for timeline verification). The truck had run out of gas,and the guys had to walk over to a close by gas station. This additional time was NEVER in any invoice, nor were we going to bill for the travel time between the two locations. The crew had to leave for the office move, as they were already almost 2 hours late. We were to go to the destination in the morning to unload and complete.
see pics Move day 2
see pics Move day 2 hoist
Move day 3: I had contacted my insurance companies for verification on the – no railing balcony. I was informed that IF a worker was injured from anything with the balcony, that myself/the business, AND the customer, would be sued (unsafe work environment). I had two separate teams that day, and sent them both to complete what we could for Ms Marks in the morning. I instructed my team to NOT go upstairs and to unpad the items and set up the downstairs. She was unhappy and did not let them team inside. They unloaded the patio furniture that was on the truck into her backyard, and then departed, planning to return again in the afternoon.
In the afternoon, there were more delays as Ms Marks did not let the team in at first. Ms. Marks and I had spoken, and I told her we were only going to complete any downstairs set up and grab any gear from upstairs items etc. A team of 5 were on site another couple hours of billable time. Ms Marks was still arguing “the job was not finished” while I was explaining we were “on an hourly rate contract, and our hours were the agreement, not working in unsafe conditions. She did not pay the invoice sent.
See pics move day 3
Several days later we had our staff member Nicole call her to collect the balance of our first invoice, which did not include move day 2 or 3. Ms. Marks hung up on her. It was at this point we decided to run the card on file for the invoice sent. Per the agreement and the cc authorization form (see highlighted areas) we have the autho to run the card for the balance, as long as we are inside the terms of the agreement. Since this was an hourly rate agreement, the hours we billed were well inside those terms.
See invoice lines 4-6
Here are the messages received a year (almost to the date) of her losing her dispute). You tell me, how did we “harm her and her kids”? If “other movers” want to risk injury and carry heavy items up onto an unsafe and unprotected balcony, THAT’S ON THEM.
Our team is never put into an unsafe situation, and does not have to risk their safety for someone else, much less a piece of furniture.
The issue this customer had were all caused from her actions/or inaction and unpreparedness.
