Safari Moving and Storage

These people should not be allowed to victimize unsuspecting families with their beguiling sweet talk and low ball quotes. They deliberately trap you with a low quote and then sock it to you with rude service on the day of the move when you are helpless. Their supervisor is asked to deliberately inflate packing materials charges by unnecessarily wrapping even furniture completely with bubble wraps and the like. For a local move from our apartment to another part of town on 2006, they ran up packing material charges of $709. Their supervisor was in a fowl mood. The poor laborers had very poor or no equipment to help them. This is tantamount to mistreatment of labor.

I can't believe that almost after a year of my first contact with Safari that I am STILL having an extremely bad experience. They owe me money because my claim went into arbitration. They agreed to pay for my damaged items (in writing), but they have not done so. I've made over 25 phone calls and they will not return the calls. Owner Gary Raviv is "never in" & refuses to talk to me. His staff gives me the runaround every time I call.

I booked my move with Safari of Santa Clara CA on June 28th. I chose Safari for a number of reasons – although I had bids from several companies, Safari was the only company who requested to do a visual estimate of my stuff. I was very impressed with Jeff Olson, the visual estimator and his professionalism. He was confident that the load was about 9,000 pounds and recommended that I “buy out” the entire truck at 10,000 pounds, which would ensure a quicker delivery and no one else’s stuff would be on my truck, so that’s what I did, at .28 per pound, which put the cost at $3202 plus a recommended gratuity of $350.

Moving day came on August 15. Four movers came from Safari at 10:00 a.m. with the foreman being a man by the name of Adrian (who later signed a paper as Oscar Barriguete). They did a good job – all worked hard and were very courteous. The day began with a bunch of papers to be signed, none of which made much sense…”sign here, initial there”…no time to read everything. Since I was not completely packed, Safari started packing my stuff. There was no request from them to count boxes as they were loaded onto the truck. They just packed & loaded. At the end of the day (around 6:00 p.m.), Adrian came into my office with a sheepish grin on his face, saying that my total bill would be $6199, which was almost twice the cost of Jeff’s initial quote. He said the additional cost was for boxes and packing materials. He charged my Wells Fargo Master Card with $4454.90, and stated that the remainder of the charges must be paid in cash the next day ($1425) upon delivery. Needless to say, I was in shock. When I saw the itemized list of packing materials and charges I was in more shock, because the figures were grossly exaggerated and inaccurate:

• Special Crate x 2 – what is this???
• I was charged for 4 mattress boxes at 49.99 each – those were supposed to part of the initial estimated charges; plus I only have one mattress and one box spring
• I was charged for 4 boxes of “Dish Pack” – I packed my own dishes.
• I was charged $34.99 for white paper – even though the invoice form says it is to be included in the original estimate
• I was charged for 2 King Mattress covers; I don’t own King mattress covers…I own two queen mattress covers and those were stuffed into two small boxes
• I was charged $419.58 for 42 rolls of TAPE – The inventory sheet says tape is included…however, even if I was being charged for tape for the 56 boxes that Safari packed, they surely would not have used 42 rolls for 56 boxes.
• I was charged for 30 rolls of shrink wrap – $570; I was originally told that shrink wrap and bubble wrap were included; I was charged $300 for bubble wrap.

I dispute all of these charges and feel that I was taken advantage of.

Adrian then approached the subject of the gratuity. I was appalled with his aggressive attitude on demanding the gratuity before the job was complete, and demanding that it be 10% of the NEW total, not the initial estimate. I told him that gratuity is customarily given at the END of a job, not in the middle. He insisted that he and the other guys would most likely not be same crew the next day. I gave him $400 in cash but was not happy about doing that. I have witnesses who observed the kind of pressure he was putting on me to give the gratuity immediately. Wouldn’t Adrian have known if he was the driver for the next day???

Safari Moving & Storage is a relocation service company. We have more than 10 years of experience providing local and long-distance moving and storage services to residences and businesses. Our goal is to help your family or business relocate. We understand that this is a big responsibility and requires a team effort. Our moving experts are, knowledgeable, efficient, experienced, and have a positive attitude. You can trust Safari Moving & Storage to take our responsibility very seriously, handling every step of the moving process skillfully.

Safari Moving & Storage has become a premier relocation company by virtue of our excellent reputation for service and highly competitive rates. Our company stands committed to integrity and goodwill to both our customers and our industry by providing professional courteous service.

Safari Moving & Storage offers on-time service, competitive and accurate pricing and extreme care and concern for all your possessions. With Safari Moving & Storage, your relocation will go smoothly. Our pre-move consulting and planning expertise, flexible pickup and delivery, and excellent customer service all add up to a worry-free moving experience.

Safari Moving also owns and operates a 40,000 square foot warehouse suitable for your storage needs. We are a fully licensed and insured company operating under the authority of the Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Transportation and we are members of the American Moving and Storage Association.

Our vast experience in relocation makes us the logical choice for any moving service you may require, whether just around the block, to another country, or all the way around the world.