Capitol Moving & Storage Co — Establishment, moving company and storage at 220 Strong Road, South Windsor, Connecticut.

Overestimation (Personally paid move)

Having used Mayflower for a first time move and having a nice experience, I decided to give their owning company United Van lines a go.

Out of the 3 first time quotes received, Capitol was the highest in weight by 1000lbs+ but was provided some spiel regarding Allied (probably should of chosen) being a poor choice and mayflower is United (although I had a different agent quote - hindsight is a wonderful thing...) as well as i was saying i would move myself - told not recommended due to the estimate weight should of gone with my gut - $4k minimum cheaper.

Capitol estimator came round he was nice and spoke of his experience of being a driver for united for XX number of years - this increased our confidence in the company - first quote came in at nearly 11,000lbs.

Having had that quote I preceded to rent a u-haul trailer to reduce the weight and had the move re-quoted which led to the new weight of 9000lbs with capitol - hindsight - should of had Allied come out.

I took the bound weight option as was recommended it was a better option to over estimate than under and from his experience we will be close (he was an old driver for united so experience was very high) and everything is per the contract.

Day before move day and on move day we had to add 16 large 27 gallon totes, a love seat, a king bed base and other bits and bobs on the day of the move.

The ACTUAL WEIGHT CAME IN AT 7640lbs ( 1360 under - around 620kg) with a cost of $.93 per lb and reimbursement at $0.32. I agree some estimation error is expected but 20% is too great especially for the average family to absorb (imagine if i had not added the above articles!!).
I now see this gross overestimate to manipulate the difference in price to maximize revenue for the agent and company at a cost to my family nearly $1000.

The management company (all extremely pleasant) said this was ‘a bit excessive’ and United Van lines said immediately to speak with the agent to see if they would provide some personal compensation.

Have tried speaking to Capitol, i was finally told I would hear back in a couple of days -so i waited a couple of weeks, called again and was told tomorrow I would hear from management- 4 days later I call again and a different lady picked up to whom i had only spoken to briefly before just told me 'she doesn’t know why I keep calling' and 'it’s probably just a room of furniture!' I see it as a lot more than a room of property weight wise and it has cost me nearly $1000.00 not including the damage to an outdoor swing set and chest of drawers (still not received anything.... from United van lines (unrelated to Capitol))

Summary -
Overestimated by 20% (would of been a lot more if i hadn't of added articles through the management company and on the day) to manipulate the situation and gain that $0.60 difference...

i still haven't spoken to management as i was told i would.

They are very responsive when they trying to get your business but once you sign the curtain comes down and its all on other people, job done. Thank you very much.