I've moved countless times during my 45 years on this planet, but dealing with this company was the WORST experience of my lifetime. Everything from start to finish was a nightmare. FACT #1: This company goes by two names: Air Ride Moving & Storage, Inc and Meyers Van Lines. FACT #2: They have an "F" rating on the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Not a D rating, but an F. There are 28 other clients who have had similar NIGHTMARE experiences that I did.

I was contacted by a "Tony" at the company. He was a smooth-talking but shady businessman who made 10 promises he couldn't keep. Overall he was very pleasant on the phone, but this would prove to be a gimmick in the end. Tony would be unavailable on the phone, refuse to call me back when I called eight times, and disappeared off the face of the earth. He bashed the competition, told me "all our rates and fees are out in the open", and "we're incredibly professional from start to finish." He promised me a pick-up date and a delivery date, which he guaranteed. On the day of the move, both of these dates were changed with NO explanation. He also told me that he couldn't give me more than a $65 discount because they had to pay their professional staff and maintain their moving "trucks". On the day of the pick up and the day of the move Meyers Van Lines showed up with one "day laborer" on the first day and two "day laborers" on the move-in day. I asked them what they were being paid, and they told me $7 an hour. I asked where the movers picked them up from and they said, "Home Depot". So much for having to pay professional movers. And so much for trusting your prized possessions with men working for the company. Turns out they subcontract all their work to other people who have no affiliation with the company.

Come the day of the move I heard NOTHING from any of the movers. They were supposed to show up at 10am, and come 3pm, they were nowhere to be found. I was told by a "David", this gruff, remarkably rude, temprarmental man who barely spoke English that they would not be picking up my possessions on the day of the move now. I had already sat around and waited 5 hours for them, and now I would have to wait longer.

The following day they showed up 8 hours late once again. I expected to find a moving semi-truck - the kind you see on the roads all the time. Instead, what showed up, was a Dodge RAM pick-up truck carrying a 48-foot trailer. Immediately in my gut I knew this was a mistake - something I will regret for the REST of my life. The "moving truck" was unlabeled and I wasn't even sure that they were, indeed, working for Meyers Van Lines. I dealt with a "John" on the day of the move - an incredibly intimidating and scary-looking man covered in tattoos from head to toe. He was covered in filth, and both he and the driver smelled horribly - as if they hadn't bathed in weeks. They were chain-smoking the entire time and littered their cigarettes all over my property. They also urinated in the bushes by my door.

John told me he couldn't get his "moving truck" into my apartment complex because of the turning radius. Despite the fact that the lanes were 25-feet wide going into the complex, and over 200 residents lived in the complex, they told me they would have to "shuttle" my objects from my apartment to the "moving truck" at a cost of an additional $300. I asked them why they wouldn't even try getting the truck into the wide-laned complex, and they said, "We know it won't fit. You either pay the $300 or we leave." I should've had them leave, but I foolishly didn't.

So after agreeing to pay the additional $300, John went and got a U-haul, on my dime, and drove it into my complex. Then he and another mover (a day laborer from Home Depot) came up to my apartment. The third man, the driver, sat in the truck for the entire 6-hour move, never lifting his finger. John spent the next 3 hours "crating" my glass objects. He wrapped them in bubble wrap and cardboard and charged me an additional $275 for "materials". I told him I didn't need them wrapped - as I'd moved these tables over a half-dozen times during the past decade and never had a problem. He said it was the rules. I asked him how he came up with this $275 figure. He said it was his decision, and he was giving me a great deal on the crating charges.

One mover remained to move ALL of my and my wife's belongings out of the apartment. It was already pitch black outside, and 10pm, and I realized they would remain here for another 8 hours if I didn't help out. I was actually guilted into helping, and foolishly agreed to do so - after paying a fortune for this move. Over the next 4 hours I would move more than half of my objects out to the U-haul, it would be shuttled to the moving truck, and this would be repeated. The other mover sat outside, talked on his cell phone, smoked cigarettes, and basically refused to help out. So here I was paying for a moving company and the two movers did nothing to help out.

At the end of the day, it was nearly 2am, and John told me I was over my allotted cubic feet by 400 cubic feet - at a rate of $4.00 a cubic foot. I was looking at nearly an additional $1600 for my move when I only had an initial 500 cubic feet. I told him I went over my inventory item by item with Tony, and we came to the 800 cubic foot rate. John said, "Well you're over." I said to him, "Go over the list with me and tell me where I'm over." He went over the list and then said, "You're over. You have to pay us $1600 extra." He never bothered to look in the truck to see the cubic feet - plus it was pitch black outside. I know for a fact I was under the said cubic feet - as my wife and I left some objects behind to take with us in our truck. And by the way, our Dodge truck doesn't double as a moving truck. So after being quoted $3300 for the move, I was going to have to pay an additional $1600 come the day of the move.

I told John that I moved nearly all my objects, and I wanted a discount. So he knocked off an additional 100 cubic feet. I said this wasn't acceptable enough, and he called up "David", the head mover, and David started screaming at me at how ungrateful I was - and that if I pissed him off I'd be "sorrier than hell. I'll never deliver your possessions now and you'll be sorry for waking me up at this hour." It's funny, because I thought I was the one being wronged here.

I ended up catching John in three separate "adding errors", which he tacked on another $1200 in charges. He must've thought I was a complete idiot that I wouldn't notice this. "Tony" said they charged a 5% fuel charge for the diesel trucks. Well, their Dodge Ram never took diesel. It was an Unleaded-running vehicle. John decided to make this amount 12% - until I told him I knew it was only supposed to be 5%. He tried to charge me another 12% for using a credit card, too. I told him it was only 5%. And then he tried to say that the "shuttling" fee was now $600 instead of $300. I got into an argument with him, and he called David again. David started screaming at me on the phone telling me I would never see my items again and that "I'll break your TVs and furniture and no one will know." I told him he better not threaten me, as I wouldn't tolerate it, and he said, "You either pay the money now or you'll never see your objects again. Plus you'll only get 60 cents per pound in replacement fees." I was blown away that a "professional" moving company would be threatening to intentionally break my stuff.

On the day I was supposed to receive my items, now 4 days later than I was promised by "Tony", I heard nothing. I called Tony eight times to find out why my move date had changed - he never called me back. On the 9th time calling he answered the phone. I asked him a simple question: "Why did you promise me a move in date and it was changed?" He said, "Wow, that's really horrible that they did that to you. Let me call the mover and call you back in 20 minutes." Tony never called back. I called an additional four more times and was never able to get a hold of him again. The woman who answered the phone said, "You just missed him" each time. This man who made all these promises failed to deliver, BIG time.

My wife and I waited an additional 2 days for our objects to show up. This was 6 days after we were promised our belongings. We never received a call. Instead, we get an angry call from David saying he was outside our new place and "Where the hell are you?! I'm going to charge you another $500 for making me wait!" We rushed over to our new home and there was the Dodge Ram truck again, with the trailer. John was there, and he demanded payment immediately before they unloaded. My wife did some research and found out from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the commission that monitors movers, that after paying our initial deposit of $3300, we were only required to pay 10% above the deposit - and had to be billed for the additional amount. This is the LAW by Federal Department of Transportation regulations. You can look this up online, as it is a FACT. I told this to John, and he called up Loni Levin, the owner of the company. Loni immediately started to yell and scream at me saying, "Do you think I'm a f-cking idiot? I'm going to let you pay 10%?" I told him it was the Federal DOT law. He said, "You don't know the law. You don't know anything. Either pay me in full or I'm taking your stuff and you'll never see it again."

I ended up calling the police, and the police arrived a short time later as John was packing up his stuff and preparing to leave with all my objects. This is called holding my possessions "hostage" - in moving terms. The police ordered the movers not to pull away, took a police report, but told me they couldn't make them only take 10%. John spent the whole time, after I called the police, telling me they won't get involved. They did get involved - and ordered the moving company to unload my possessions after I paid them in full.

John made me sign a form stating that I agreed I had no rights to "reverse the charges with my credit card company". He told me if I tried, I would fail. I ended up disputing the charges with my credit card company though, told them everything that happened, and the charges were reversed! So there you go, finally there was some justice in the end. I didn't have to pay the remaining amount that was due. Don't let them threatened you with these bogus forms when you have rights.

The day laborers ended up doing all the work. John and the driver smoked cigarettes, talked on their cell phones, and laughed and told jokes. They ended up breaking two tables, a lamp, some dishes, my LCD TV, and a computer desk. I think this was intentionally done - as I had been threatened by David a few days before.

All-in-all, this was an absolute NIGHTMARE of a move. I beg you not to use Air Ride Moving & Storage, Inc or Meyers Van Lines as your movers. If you don't listen to my story here, the same thing will happen to you. Now I'm making it my mission to put Air Ride Moving & Storage, Inc / Meyers Van Lines, owner Loni Levin and his companies out of business for good. I have already filed complaints with the BBB, the attorney general, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and I'm hoping what happened to me and my wife doesn't ever happen to anyone else again.

Air Ride Moving & Storage
www.airridemoving.com

My complaint with Air Ride Moving and Storage is that they broke half of my stuff because of their negligence. They hire nothing but illegals and people with temporary visas who don't care about your stuff. Air Ride Moving and Storage Inc told me that if they pick my stuff up on August 20th, then it would be delivered on September 1st. They picked up my stuff on the 20th of August and delivered to me on the 7th of September. On their website they show a couple of men who look professional standing on the side of a nice truck with the Air Ride logo. What I got was the opposite... a couple of illegals and a very run down trailer. As soon as I saw that I told them to bring my stuff back and call the whole thing off. The guy who moved my stuff told me that I would still have to pay for the move weather they move me or not. This guy's name is David. He works for a different company then Air Ride. Nobody told me that 3 different moving companies were going to move me from California to Idaho. I got into an argument with the movers because they were throwing my stuff around like it was garbage. I told them to be careful with the tv because they were most neglectful with it. They totally damaged my lcd tv beyond repair, damaged my 2 book shelves and broke several pieces of my good imported plates and wine glasses. I believe that David broke the tv because of the argument that we had about it. He knew that I would get only 60 cents per pound for it.