In India Don’t choose Packers & Movers Blindly.
In March 2020, the Indian government announced the lockdown to control the spread of COVID-19. All the IT companies announced work from home due to the lockdown and the deadly virus outbreak.
When the lockdown took place, we thought everything will get normal at the end of this lockdown but, it was not the case. With the exponential rise in the number of cases and severity of the situation, most IT companies decided to continue with the WFH arrangement.
Come September 2020 and my company decided to increase the WFH arrangement till April 2021. This prompted me to relocate to my hometown as house rent is a major expense in the life of a salaried individual. However, the indecisiveness continued for months as I was not sure if it was the best idea to vacate a good rented house and search for another post 5–6 months.
Even the cases started to decline towards the end of 2020 but then India was hit with a severe second wave in the month of March 2021. I decided it was time to pack up and relocate. The need to be with family coupled with financial reasons brought in confidence about my decision.
I began my search for Packers and Movers to shift my household items and car from Hyderabad to my hometown of Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. I received quotations from many companies and deal done with AGARWAL MOVERS & PACKERS INDIA (Unfortunately he was not the authentic one).
I spoke to a worker of AGARWAL MOVERS & PACKERS INDIA (http://apmncr.in), his name was Sandeep Singh (Contact Number + 91–8376004001). He gave me a total quotation of 43500/- for Car & Household in which 30K is for household and 13.5K for the car.
Since I was in my hometown at the time of shifting, I asked a friend of mine to assist the Packers and Movers in the packaging and loading of my belongings. On April 18, 2021, 5 persons from Packers Movers came to my house to collect the goods. One of the guys from the packers and movers tried to steal 1000 INR from the worship box and was subsequently caught red-handed. The same I told Sandeep that your employee has stolen the money and what would happen if someone took things out of the way. He assured me that would be not going to happen as not all people are a thief.
Post the packing was when the real game began.
The next morning, he sent me a video for proof where my car was shown as being loaded into a container along with the other household items. Post loading everything I was sent the final invoice which infuriated me. The final invoice was of 99166 INR instead of the discussed amount i.e. 43500 INR
Hesitant about the new price which was almost double the discussed amount, I told Sandeep that I would prefer to not have my household items sent. Sandeep’s insensitive response was that the items are already loaded, on the way and he’d be happy to drop them midway if that’s what I want. I was shocked at this treatment where a person would just decide to drop a customer’s belongings midway at the drop of a hat.
In the invoice, he charged me 38157/- INR in the name of insurance but when I check with the Future General insurance company I found out, he paid only 1772/- INR premium only.
Having exhausted my mental peace with all the useless calls to these scammers for 4–5 days, I finally decided to give in to their demands owing to my helplessness so that I can at least get my stuff back.
The deal was to deliver my items within 10 days. However, no such thing happened. The whole series of calls started again post the 10th day but to no avail. Whenever I called him he said with 1 or 2 days luggage will be delivered but before May 1, 2021 nothing happened. On 1st May, my household delivered to me. I checked and found multiple items are damaged. The total value of damaged items estimated was near 35K INR.
Still, my car is with them only. It was a brand new car which I bought on 25th Dec 2019, which run nearly 2815KM. I have paid them 90K on 1st May and asked about the status of my car. Sandeep told me, my car has reached Gurgaon and it will be delivered to you soon and it was never the case. I used to call Sandeep about 40–50 times a day, most of the time he did not pick up the call or the phone was switched off. Whenever there was talk, he reverted “my car could not be delivered due to the lockdown. Can’t find the container. The container has been found, but it is not going to take a single car, we didn’t get a driver or the driver is not getting a pass lockdown pass etc.”
Finally, My car was delivered on 24th May (after 1month and 6days). When I saw the condition of the car, I lost my mind. A brand new car with no scratches or dents whatsoever was now full of scratches, dents and damages. Not only did these guys damage my car on the inside as well as the outside, I found an excess of 1621 Kms on the odometer upon inspection. My odometer reading was 2815KM before the packaging and the car was delivered to me with a reading of 4436KM. These guys drove my car for 1600 km which is only 200 Kms short of the actual distance from Hyderabad to my hometown of Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan. Now that I look back, I think it would have been so much better if I drove the car myself instead. Would have saved me a lot of money.
Post the delivery, the guy called me for the leftover amount which again was in excess of the original discussed amount. Filled with disgust, I asked him to pay for my damages and only then would I even think of paying the extra 9000 INR he was now asking as a “leftover amount”.
If you are also planning for the same then pls keep in mind the following
1. Packers Movers should be Authentic and have a clean track record.
2. The quotation doesn’t have any blank field like GST, Insurance etc. If it’s there then ask them to fill it or strike it with an appropriate value.
3. Compare the quotation with other service providers as well.
4. Check if the Service provider has any local branch in your city or not.