Crosspost in a few different places for visibility. Posting in Outdoors, because Outdoors knows things.

Howdy Ags,

I'm looking for assistance in contacting the owner of Transit Moving Systems out of Houston.

My sister hired this company to move them from Austin to Denver.

Transit Moving Systems estimated 1200 cubic feet and quoted a price of $5436. They require 60% up front via cashiers check. They picked up on 6/27/23 with a promised delivery date of 7/1/23 by salesman Mark Gonzalez.

My sister, her husband, and their new baby drove their 2 vehicles to Denver expecting their belongings to be delivered 7/1/23. On 7/1 she called and was told they had gone over by 500 cubic feet and that they would need to pay an additional $1600 via Cashiers Check to meet the 60% payment requirement. On 7/1/23 she was unable to reach the salesman, Mark Gonzalez. Customer Service told her she would need to send a picture of the money order for $1600 to release the shipment. The shipment was currently in Houston.

On 7/3/23 she reached out again and Customer Service told her they cannot accept pictures of money orders and she must overnight the payment to San Diego, which she did. It would have been much easier had they notified her while still in Austin that they exceeded the cubic footage or just requested the difference upon delivery. Instead they held their belongings hostage. Mark Gonzalez has been on vacation for 2 weeks.

They are now being told the shipment will leave Houston 7/13 for a 7/15 delivery. For the past 2 weeks her, her husband, their 3 month old daughter, and 2 dogs have been in a house without their belongings. They only have minimal clothes and a few essentials and have been sleeping on an air mattress.

We later found their BBB Page and it seems there are a number of similar complaints.
BBB

I am reaching out to the Aggie Network to see if anyone knows the owner, Mr. Carlos Delgado. I've tried to connect with him on LinkedIn and am awaiting confirmation.

Carlos Delgado LinkedIn Profile

IN!

Sounds very frustrating and hopefully others can help here.

Get a rope.

I had a similar situation about 10 years ago with a different moving company. We moved from Ft Worth to Houston and hired a moving company. They loaded up and stored our belongings for 3 weeks while we closed on the new house They arrived at the new house in Houston on time, and unloaded the truck. We were told that some of our stuff would not fit in the truck and would be delivered 3 days later. I thought it was odd, because it all fit when they loaded but maybe it was an interstate weight issue or something. Well, 3 days went by and nothing. We started calling the office and was only getting voicemail. I left multiple messages for multiple days. Long story short, we contacted the Texas Attorney General's office. There is a division of investigators that deal with this type of issue. Apparently it's very common. We spoke to the investigator, gave all the details, etc. two days later our stuff arrived. The investigator called a few days later to follow up and make sure everything was accounted for. I never found out what if any consequences there were for the movers.

Anyways, I can't think of the name of the division off the top of my head, but I would google it and contact them.

We are in the middle of a move right now and I started chatting with our driver during the pack out, trying to understand how it all works. Bottomline, the whole business runs off sub contracting. For one move, you could have three to five different companies involved from packers, loaders, drivers, storage, reload, drivers again, unpack. Small companies try to get in this action by finding other small companies to sub the jobs out to. I would imagine it would be really easy for things to get messy if a manager goes on vacation etc.

I threw air tags in my shipment this time - working pretty well.

Similar thing happened with Sarge's moving company 3 years ago. They underestimated the cubic footage and had to bring in another truck. They didn't hold anything up, however and we just paid the difference on the other end. I just assumed part of them winning bids is underestimating stuff on purpose

Man, I absolutely must have hit the jackpot when I moved from Phoenix back to Texas. I had never moved a house before, always had been single and broke so I didn't really own anything and everything fit in a U-Haul trailer so it was relatively easy to move.

I can't remember the company - the truck was yellow, white and blue (United movers, maybe?). I think they were a day or two late from what they estimated, but kept in good contact. The truck couldn't make it down my driveway so the crew hauled everything I owned from teh road to the house (about 300 feet) - which should have been an upcharge but they didn't charge me another dime. They got a hell of a tip from us though for the effort.

Just my uneducated opinion (I know nothing about your industry), but if you give a quote and they pay 60% of that, that should be considered full committed obligation of the down payment. Sure, things happen and it can be more pricey, I'm not saying the full price is locked. Yo can even ask them to fill that down payment gap. But I don't understand holding their shipment until they fill that gap.

Transit Moving said:

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t appears the payment provided at pick up did not fully cover the 60% payment required per her contract agreement. Fortunately, the payment was received and processed, we have informed her that the goods will ship out on Thursday/Friday, delivery will be a couple of days later since there will be 2 other deliveries along the way.

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This sure sounds like the typical scam moving companies pull where they quote one rate at pickup and then jack up the rate at delivery and hold your goods ransom due to being "over weight" or "over capacity".

Transit Moving said:

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Goods are not held "hostage", the goods remain in our warehouse at origin until the truck assigned is loaded and on the road

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Sure sounds like they are being held hostage with a bait and switch. They paid what was agreed and now are holding their stuff at your warehouse until they pay more

Thank you for making it clear with who I wont be using on any future moves

This is not at all how it works. You quote a price based upon estimated weight. Your customer's deposit is based off of that estimate. In good faith they deposit this money with understanding their end price may be different if weights aren't accurate. The transport company in turn has liability to deliver on this contract. You stated, too, you were waiting on another delivered load, but the OP says you had different delivery dates not reflective of your reply. So, yes, you did hold hostage.

I finance a few transport movers and before I replied affirmed with them how it should be done. Your firm is not someone I'd do business with.

yall are definitely jackasses and not someone with whom to do business.

So the additional required money was overnighted on 7/3 and the shipment won't leave until 10+ days after that? That seems pretty nuts, to me.

Our last move has been 18 years ago but we didn't pay a dime up front.

They have us a quote based on square footage. Came and loaded everything and kept it locked up in their facility overnight.

Showed up the next day and they actually charged us less than was quoted. We tipped the three guys $50 each and they went home happy.

No payment up front.

Quote:

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We have been in touch with your sister in regards to her delivery, it appears the payment provided at pick up did not fully cover the 60% payment required per her contract agreement.

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Ok, let me make sure I understand this correctly...

• You provided a quote to the customer with a delivery date of 7/1 and require 60% of quote up front
• Customer agrees and pays 60% of up front cost
• Once loaded, you see you under estimated the size and required additional money to hit your 60% up front payment before shipping to the customer
• It is now 10 days past the delivery date and still 2-3 days away from leaving your facility because I'm assuming you're using contract drivers and have a pretty limited pool due to them seeing how horrible you are to deal with because you've probably short changed them

Seems like you're a pretty chitty company to do business with. The customer held up their end of the agreement and shouldn't be punished because Mark sucks at his job. You let them know you underestimated the size and would require $xxx.xx additional upon arrival. Whether or not they agree to pay it is up to them. If not, that's Mark's problem. I understand issues with deliveries, but we're almost 2 weeks past the delivery date and it's still not in transit.

Oh, worked 8 years in freight forwarding doing domestic FTL/LTL and international air & ocean. Have spent the past 9 years in supply chain at a Fortune 50 Houston based company working with FTL/LTL carriers and 3PLs.

summary:
- nothing is guaranteed
- goods will be held until condition is met (but NOT hostage)
- payment required can change without notice

Oh and…

Transit Moving said:

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Howdy Ya'll,

We are very sorry to hear your sister is having issues with her delivery.

We have been in touch with your sister in regards to her delivery, it appears the payment provided at pick up did not fully cover the 60% payment required per her contract agreement. Fortunately, the payment was received and processed, we have informed her that the goods will ship out on Thursday/Friday, delivery will be a couple of days later since there will be 2 other deliveries along the way.

Delivery times are not guaranteed, delivery can be on or after the date we are provided as advised on our contract, we are unable to guarantee a delivery date as this is not a direct delivery and there are other deliveries from the same truck to be completed. Goods are not held "hostage", the goods remain in our warehouse at origin until the truck assigned is loaded and on the road, please note we work based on truck, driver, and capacity availability. The truck that will be delivering the goods is currently heading back from other deliveries. We hope this helps you better understand there are procedures and logistical factors in place that can affect how soon the goods will reach their destination.

We'll stay in touch!

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Unless this is a sock, kudos for you to at least reaching out here. "1 star provided"

As for how you (or your representatives) handled this, "93 negative stars to you". Hopefully you can use this in your training going forward and how a "Bud Light" moment can impact your business.

Quote:

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Unless this is a sock

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This is a sock 100%.

Hello,

I assume this is Mr. Delgado. I have attempted to connect with you over LinkedIn. You can also PM me here or send an email to me at jnewton at aggienetwork.com.

She was promised a timeframe by Mark Gonzalez. He now will not return any calls or emails.

Previously she was told their belongings would be packed up today, 7/12/23, to be shipped out tomorrow and would be delivered 2 days from then based on the 500 mile daily limit.

She called today and is now being told it will be packed up today, tomorrow, or Friday depending on amount of items and how many men are loading from Houston. She was never told this was not a direct delivery. She had no idea it was not going straight from her home in Austin to her home in Denver. Houston was never discussed.

Lastly, she was told today that a supervisor would reach out. That has not happened.

I am hoping you will make this right.

Regards,
Jake

Looks like you are not the only one to have issues with this company

https://www.mymovingreviews.com/movers/transit-moving-systems-5864

I always go for the longer reviews first, after looking at these I would be looking elsewhere.

Also: https://www.bbb.org/us/tx/houston/profile/moving-companies/transit-moving-systems-0915-49000043

Quote:

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Pattern of Complaint:
Since 2018, the BBB of Houston & Greater South Texas has received numerous customer reviews and complaints on Transit Moving Systems that exhibit the pattern below:
Complaint and reviews allege Transit Moving Systems changes their pricing and delivery dates that were agreed upon with their consumers. Many consumers stated they have waited long periods of time for delivery of their goods. Consumers allege Transmit Moving System has poor communication and does not update them on their goods being moved. Consumers also mentioned damage to their goods being moved and Transit Moving Systems not sending enough employees to load and unload their goods.

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https://www.txdmv.gov/complaints

This all tells me I'll never use or recommend your company to anyone.

I'm 100% in on this thread

This is kinda stuff I come to the OB for

Hey, you don't get a 1.63 out of 5 rating on BBB without trying real hard!

What a miserable pantload of a company this must be.

http://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/consumer-protection/dont-make-a-move

There's a reason they say "don't make a move without us"

Transit Moving you suck. What a bunch of BS. They pay you 60% upfront with no guarantee of delivery with their worldly belongings and then you hold it up because you underestimated the amount. Love that. Wish I could tell my clients that I want 60% upfront and then when I make a mistake, tell them they have to pay me more until we will deliver our services. Sounds like a winning strategy to me. If you want to do the right thing, give them 50% back of deposit. Oh and fire your salesman for being a POS.

From their website. Almost laughable from OP description.

The Flat Rate Formula

We value transparency at the Transit Moving System. We detail every aspect of your move; the requirements, the route we will take, the vehicle to be used, and overall logistics. Our solutions take cognizance of every detail no matter how minute; giving you peace of mind every step of the way.
Taking Stock
For every item we move, there is a record in our system, and with you. After this, a report detailing the whole itinerary routes, distance, weight, days etc. is given to you. This gives you a vivid idea of what you're paying for.

Hey Carlos (or is it Guido?),

What's up with the whole cashier's check thing?? That's the only form of payment you'll accept? And then when you underestimate the shipment, it's on the customer to MAIL YOU A NEW CASHIER'S CHECK to make up 60% of the difference before you will BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT releasing their belongings??

Yeah, my guy, that is called holding their stuff hostage.

Please come back and specifically defend this business practice.

Please stay in touch!

He isn't coming back.

There is no "Carlos Delgado" on Find An Aggie whose profile matches that on Linked In.

Hey Transit Moving, this board gets a lot of traffic. Don't expect that to be a plus for you.

It has been said that "all publicity is good publicity"

Not so in this case.

Update: their belongings were delivered today. A lot of stuff is damaged. No discount offered. The truck driver who delivered was a contract worker from Las Vegas and the crew that unloaded were day laborers. None of them actually works for Transit Moving Systems.