My dog is my new boss

It has been a couple weeks of a rollercoaster ride.  I hope that I am finally off the rollercoaster. 

Here is what has happened.... 

Headache #1.... 

I ordered some items from Kohl's, which were supposed to be shipped via UPS.  UPS  transferred the items to the Post Office and that is where the trouble began.  After a couple of days of back and forth with USPS, USPS admitted that they disposed of two of the packages. Why? Because it takes too long to forward them when they get transferred to them.  Is this really legal? Well, the lady I spoke to at 1-800-275-8777 said all packages must be sent to the relocation department, if they don't know where to deliver them.  This lady gave me the phone number to call for consumer affairs in my area. I filed a complaint with the consumer affairs office.  A man in the office called me back to inform me that the USPS did act appropriately. They have the right to throw items aways if the sender refuses to have them returned to them if they are transferred.  I contacted Kohl's and the young man was super duper. He didn't seem surprised that this happened.  He credited my account for the two items I didn't receive.  The one item is no longer available, but the one is so reorder it for me and it should arrive on Friday. 

Headache #2....

Scammed by movers. Can you really say scammed as in a legal sense no according to the police?  Let me explain what happened.

I booked Continental Moving Services on March 12, 2020 because they had an A+ rating with the BBB and they were recommended by another person.  On my what a disaster.... Joe at Continental contacted me two days before the move and said they transferred my move to Ocean Moving and Storage.   If I cancelled at this point, I would lose my deposit because I could only cancel up until a week before the transaction. Joe wanted to go over things to "finalize" my move. He was concerned he hadn't had enough room in the truck for my belongings, so I needed to make another deposit to make sure we had enough room. Reluctantly, I paid it.  Next, the price to move my car increased from $700 to $875.  This was the big red flag that made me question everything.... I was told that I needed to pay half of my move in cash or cashier's check when the movers left with my belongings. I kept asking why I couldn't pay with my card as I had done the two previous times.  I was getting told this is how it is done. I expressed concerns because I have worked with movers before and it is a big liability concern to have drivers handle cash.  

Ocean Moving and Storage arrived with a tiny Enterprise Rental Truck.  Nothing would have fit in it.  We were confused why a reputable company would use an Enterprise Rental Truck.  They wanted us to pay them using an app that you download on a phone, cash or with a cashiers check.   

The movers came inside and said  they would need two trucks, but it would double the moving price.  They also told us that they would charge us extra to move each lamp and protect any glass.   The price kept climbing.  We fired them. They NEVER loaded any of our items into the truck. The police have told us it is a good thing we didn't let them put our stuff in their truck because we would have probably never gotten our items back.

 We called Continental Moving Services to find out what was going on and were told that this is the way things go. Joe the guy at  Continental Moving Services called us a little bit ago to relay all deposits had been had forfeited. We told him this was a scam and hung up on him.  

We learned that Ocean Moving and Storage has a D minus rating with the BBB. I have researched Ocean Moving and Storage and found lots of complaints. The police found lawsuits against them in Florida.

The police said that they cannot call it a scam because the company didn't steal anything. They were deceptive.  If they would have taken my items, loaded them on their truck they would have increased the price by nickle and dimming me and if I called the police, the movers would have said they would release my items if I would just pay them, so per the police it doesn't fit the legal definition of theft or a scam. 

I am suppose to be a smart person, so I feel super dumb that I let someone scam me.  When I first felt uneasy, I should have walked away, but I knew I was on limited time, so I felt it was too late to find someone else. Luckily, while the scammers were still in the house, I called Two Men and Truck who told me that they couldn't help me, but recommended a local mover. The local mover told me I was being scammed and told me to get them out of my home and call the police if I needed to. That local mover saved me a ton of money and possibly the loss of my belongings. The local mover was able to get my items out of my home before the new home owner took over. 

Headache #3....

Went to sign the papers at the title company and was told that the HOA dues for June weren't paid.  I was able to prove that this information was wrong.

Headache #4....

The hotel lost the reservation for the first night.  I am not sure what happened, but the lady at the hotel found another room at the other location in town. This worked out well because it was $10/ night less expensive.

I hope all of the headaches are over and the rest of this journey is more pleasant.