Piano Mover Damages Piano and then Blows Off Customer

[jpm]

I am a new member here but a fairly regular participant on the PianoWorld forum.

I had a problem with a piano mover when I moved from northern VA in June 2005. The piano moving company I hired to pack and load the piano on to a rental truck dropped it while moving it out of my house in VA. The piano mover's service area includes parts of NJ, PA, MD, VA, & Washington DC.  I believe the company is a PA-based firm located near Baltimore.  (The firm's warehouse is in PA anyway.)  You can read the details of what happened on the PianoWorld forum:

https://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/1/11334.html

To date, the owner of the piano moving company not only refused to take responsiblity for the damage, he also has refused to return my phone calls and emails.  I guess he thinks if he ignores me the I will simply fade away. 

So why am I posting this affair here?  For consumer awareness. Periodically, individuals post here asking for recommendations for a piano mover. There are also a good number of piano dealers and technicians that work in this piano moving company's service area that have occasion to use or recommend the use of a particular piano moving company.

While I cannot recommend a particular piano moving firm to use if you are in this area, I can certainly recommend which firm not to use.

I have tried not to identify the piano moving firm or its employees so as not to cause a problem for PianoWorld. I would prefer to do the same thing here.  Should any of you need/want to know the name of the piano mover, PM me and I let you know who it is.

JP

[jeremyjchilds]

This has been your good deed for the day... thanks for the heads up

Make his life miserable untill he makes it right

[leahcim]

Ouch.

Dunno why the person you are emailing isn't dealing with it? If they have to fax Mr. G, if it's that big a company that they've got more than one office, there should be someone there who has authority? Given the time of year, he might even be on holiday.

Getting your insurance to look at it, give you the go ahead to get the repairs assessed and completed, and letting them sort out Mr G if they want to, is probably the quickest less-stress option [you might lose no claims bonus if that's part of the policy]

I wouldn't have paid them, but that's hindsight, and you'd still be out of pocket - but mebbe they'd have been more attentive.

[jpm]

Jeremy, thanks for your comment.

Leahcim, reading the email traffic one could easily assume the company is a large one.  In reality, it is not.  I learned that the employee I corresponded with and the company owner are in fact related only after this series of email were exchanged.

Thankfully, the piano was insured with a could company.  They have been quite helpful.

Take care,
JP

[gfiore]

 JPM, please e-mail me the name of the mover. b214cm@aol.com