Movers jacked up his bill, made his life hell, then told him, he says: ‘Have a great day’
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Movers jacked up his bill, made his life hell, then told him, he says: ‘Have a great day’
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In early August, the Herald published a story on moving scams in Florida. The article featured the story of Richard and Christine Norman, a recently retired couple planning a move from Marina del Rey, California, to West Palm Beach, Florida.
They hired Florida-based moving broker Alliance Moving & Storage — which then subcontracted the work to moving carrier All Time Moving. Soon, the Normans found themselves in an escalating nightmare involving late pickups, left-behind items, and snowballing additional costs amounting to thousands of dollars.
Specifically, the price rose from $16,500 to nearly $24,000. And no pay, no furniture.
A representative of Alliance Moving & Storage, the broker that set the Normans up with All Time Moving, called Richard Norman soon after the Herald contacted the company for comment. The representative told Norman that he would be receiving a refund of $2,000 in the mail, Norman said. But the promised check has yet to arrive, he told the Herald. And since the first article was published in August, two other couples reached out with their own allegations against Alliance, including Annamarie and Joel Auerbach and Ken and Lena Mayo.
But Norman was more hopeful that things would work out with All Time Moving. Baraa Awaad, one of the owners of All Time, texted Norman immediately after the August article was published. In the texts, which Norman shared with the Herald, Awaad apologized for Norman’s experience and promised him free delivery of his items.
Norman’s optimism didn’t last long.
On Sept. 7, the customer representative from All Time texted him telling him to be ready for delivery the next day, with $7,250 in cash to hand to the drivers to cover the unpaid balance. In the texts that Norman shared with the Herald, Norman insisted to the representative, a Tova Silber, that he had written confirmation from Awaad that the delivery occur with no additional payment required. Norman forwarded her the evidence, but he said she told him that it didn’t matter. Awaad was only one boss of many, and the others disagreed with Awaad’s decision, she told him.
When reached for comment, All Time representative Michael Omar confirmed that Norman had been promised he’d pay nothing additional, but that the company decided to rescind the offer after he kept calling them to ask about his things.
“He kept calling and he was very rude and so we decided he didn’t deserve to get his things for free,” Omar said. “So we delivered the stuff and we’re done with him. We didn’t overcharge him. ... There is nothing for free in this country.”
Omar added that Awaad was now in agreement with the decision to charge Norman the money.
On Sept. 14, Silber texted Norman again demanding the money. If he didn’t pay, she texted, they would turn the truck around and he would have to pay even more for delivery down the line. When Norman asked if he could pay by wire transfer instead of cash, Silber told him no.
“Spoke to the owners and they will only accept cash as a method of payment,” she texted.
““I had never before in my life felt so completely, utterly powerless. ... My wife was worried I was going to have another heart attack.,” he said.
In July, he had checked himself into the hospital for cardiac surgery for a condition he attributed to stress from the move.
Richard Falcone, the owner of Alliance, did not reply to multiple emailed requests for comment.
Norman agreed to pay the $7,250. He just wanted to have the entire experience behind him, he told the Herald. The next day, Silber texted him again, advising him that she had gone over the math and that the final price would be an additional $200.
“Have a great day,” she texted. That was the last text Norman received from her.
Silber had sent Norman a phone number for the driver who had been contracted by All Time to deliver his things. Norman called the driver, and the two spoke, he told the Herald. The driver was kind and polite, Norman said, and told him that he had received a lot of complaints about All Time from customers, and he wouldn’t be working with them in the future.
Norman had a friend accept the delivery in West Palm Beach, as he had yet to move into his new home. Over the phone, Norman told the Herald, the driver advised he would be charging $6,450, instead of the $7,450 demanded by Silber. So he had his friend hand over that amount upon delivery. Then, he said, he started getting heated texts from a different All Time Moving representative, this time someone named Noelle Stanley.
“You shorted our driver almost $1,000 for your delivery? Your balance was $7250. You only gave the driver $6450,” Stanley texted Norman.
“You have 15 mins, if there’s no response from you then will go to the next step, which is pulling the truck out. We are owed an additional $800,” she texted. Norman called the driver and asked him if he was planning on leaving. The driver told him that he was definitely not.
Then, another text from Stanley: “We just spoke to the company that is delivering, and they are leaving since this is not being resolved,” the text read. Norman called the driver again, who he says told him that All Time was lying, and that in fact he had already begun to unload Norman’s possessions at his new home. Norman’s friend accepted the delivery on his behalf.
“You didn’t pay us the money that was due at delivery,” Stanley texted Norman after the driver finished unloading his things. “Therefore we will be seeing you in court. Have a great day.”
That sounded OK to Norman:
“I look forward to meeting you and the rest of the criminals in the company,” he replied.
This story was originally published December 12, 2021 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Movers jacked up his bill, made his life hell, then told him, he says: ‘Have a great day’."
