In the summer of 1988, I hired the agent of Allied Van Lines in Bellingham, WA, to move my personal belongings from a mini-storage unit to Hyattsville, Maryland.
The agent "Doug" told me that the federally regulated tariff was approx. $1 per pound for the distance of approximately 3000 miles. So I spent several days at the storage place to dump anything that I could sacrifice, in order to reduce the weight and save moving costs.
I was single and really did not have many things to fill the smallest 5'x5' bin. After the dumping and cleaning up, I drew a diagram and took pictures with my Nikon F2 camera indicating the number and positions of the boxes, and the approx. weight of each box and furniture.
I made sure that the total weight would not exceed 1500 lbs, since I budgeted $1500 for the move. (I estimated each box that I could lift up was approx. 30 lbs., since that is the weight I could carry easily.)
Finally I gave Doug the contact info and the storage key and flew home. Doug assured me that he would take care of everything, that Allied Van Lines was #1 in the nation, and that I needed not worry.
Since the items in the storage bin were mostly a poor bachelor's inexpensive old furniture, books and kitchen stuff, I did not mind to leave the key to Doug and let them move. There were absolutely no valuable items. I assumed that they would not want to steal or miss anything so they could keep the weight heavy and charge me the maximum amount.
Doug said it would take two weeks, because my things could not fill up the big van which would travel around to pick up and deliver other orders. That was fine with me too.
The truck was several weeks late, but I kept calling Doug everyday. He had many excuses: the van had an accident; he could not reach the van driver, etc.
After a while, I got tired of calling him on a daily basis. Then one morning I was walking into the office, my officemate told me: "Go home now! The truck is at your apartment."
I raced back home but could not find the van. I returned to work and my officemate told me: "The truck could not wait. It is making other local deliveries and will meet you at the Hyattsville agent at 2pm. You need to pay $3000 cash to take delivery." I called the Hyattsville agent and was told to pay that amount and receive refund after weighing. I scrambled to get $3000 cash from my bank.
Arriving at the Hyattsville agent and waitiing for a while, I watched the big orange truck coming in. I asked the driver to show me the weight ticket indicating 3000 lbs. The driver climbed back to his seat and found something like a parking ticket to show me.
I asked: "How can you say this is a weighing ticket? The date is not recent and there is no weighing data." The young driver said that was all he had. If I refused to pay $3k, he would dump my things to a storage place.
I asked the woman manager at the place for help. She said I had signed the bill of lading authorizing them to charge $3k. I knew I did not sign such thing and asked to have a copy. The woman then only waved the papers with an ugly face.
I asked to have the truck weighed first, then unload my things and weighed again. I showed her the cash and assured her that I was very willing to pay. She made a phone call and said all the nearby weighing stations were closed. She urged me to pay $3k or give up my things. I was mad but still refused to pay. Of course, I left there angrily.
Fortunately I was working with the enforcement branch of a government agency. An attorney made an appointment for me to meet someone at Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which was at its last days. (Interestingly, 17 years later, I am working right at the same elegant building.) In the meantime, Allied Van Lines HQ contacted me and told me that my things were unloaded to its agent in Virginia and that I would be billed the storage and insurance fees.
The ICC nice guy listened to my story and said: "I understand the situation. However, the Congress imposed a lot of restriction on us. We no longer have much power." He suggested that I contact ICC's Chicago field office and urge them to talk sense to Allied Van Lines HQ there. I did and found a woman at the ICC Chicago office who was willing to contact another woman manager at Allied HQ.
A few days later, the ICC lady told me: She visited the Allied HQ and looked at the documents. She said I signed the bill of lading giving them the permission to store my things and charge against me. She suggested that I paid $2000 cash first to show good faith, had my things weighed, delivered and weighed again to settle the dispute. I said that sounded reasonable and I agreed to do so, but please fax me the bill of lading as I remembered that I did not sign any papers. The ICC lady quickly faxed to me.
Whew! Whew! I could not believe my eyes: There were several signatures of my names, but none of them were my signature.
I protested to the ICC lady and she lectured me: "There is nothing we can do. You can't expect us to help you get a free move."
I discussed this with the attorneys in my office and was told that it's a criminal offense of forging my signature.
Armed with this info, I filed a complaint, for $10, with the Circuit Court in Prince George's County, Maryland, seeking one million dollars of damage against Allied Van Lines and its agents in Hyattsville. Though no legal training, I found it very easy and excited to quote the ICC regulations and charge against Allied's balatant violations of Hoursehold Goods Transportation Act of 1980.
(If you can write about your experience here, you should be able to write a short complaint since the court clerk or a public librarian will help you find the many templates. If you suffered a couple of thousand dollars of damage, file at a Small Claims court. If you have a strong case and desire more compensation, file at a higher court and request for a jury trial.
Not to worry that the court would not allow you to represent yourself, since there is no law prohibiting it. With the documents and the bitter experience you have collected, it should NOT be a problem to convince a jury or a judge, who invariably sympathize the victims. Moreover, 99.99% of cases never reach a trial. It should be a safe bet to receive a good settlement offer since it would cost the crooks a great deal more to defend themselves in court.
By the way, if you find an attorney to represent you on contingency basis, be sure to netgotiate a significantly less contingent fee. Not the "standard" one-third. Best one-tenth. Because the lawyer will work quickly through the phone to negotiate a quick settlement and get paid.)
The complaint gave Allied 30 days to respond. Immediately, a lawyer at Allied HQ called and offered for a free move plus $1000 to settle. I refused. It was my turn to relax and watch the crooks' dancing.
In a few days, Allied raised their offer to $10,000. I declined too. Then I received a letter from a local attorney notifying me that he represented Allied and every future communications had to be addressed to him.
At that stage, I was concerned about a prolonged litigation and the emotional damage. My attorney- friends also advised me that even if a jury trial found Allied guilty (it was for very sure), the judge would probably be a pro-business fellow and would not likely to punish Allied to the maximum. So, I settled for $20,000 and used it to buy a townhouse, which is now worth $235,000. Thanks so much, crooks.
All these times I always wanted to publish my experience to inform, alert and educate my fellow-consumers, but could not find a good place. Even Consumer Reports does not publish such personal experiences, which should be a pity.
Originally published March 8, 2005.
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