Wellrive Avis 1

We chose WellRive based on a recommendation from someone who used them for a recent move. At our initial contact, we discussed that we were shipping internationally by cargo ship and truck, and that things need to be extremely sturdy as we had already used this carrier and the boxes took a beating. Since we were not on site, we did a video walkthrough of the job, identifying items that would need extra packaging including valuable bicycles, a new couch, and an entertainment center. Throughout our interactions, we offered to purchase dedicated supplies (e.g. crates) to ensure our valuables would survive the shipping. The refrain from Michelle at Wellrive was "our specialist has 30 years of experience, he knows what he's doing" and that he frequently shipped these items internationally. We made a $450 downpayment on an estimate of $1,570+supplies, and waited by the phone/video on the day they were packing our old house, expecting calls with questions, clarifications, or rethinking plans as these things have a tendency to go. We were surprised that we did not hear from them except at the end of the day, when they said they were finished, boxed up everything with extra care, and unilaterally decided to exclude some of our items (e.g. the keys to our bicycle locks and safe). They sent an email summarizing their work, and asked us for the estimated ~$2,300 labor and supplies for that day.

That evening, our house sitter stopped by and took video and photos of the job to ensure that everything was ready for the mover coming the next week. What we found was absurd! Despite the assertions in their summary email "we put the bikes in big boxes", 3 out of 4 bicycles and one of our most prized lamps were literally just wrapped in paper with no cardboard or box at all. These would almost certainly have broken in shipping.

As if that was not bad enough, they "boxed" our entertainment center in a way that it was not even protected from the humidity and salt air. Even more unprofessional is the way they left the removable legs on the entertainment center, and the removable feet on the couch. At the very least, these would get bent or damaged, but more than likely they would also have damaged our other boxes when crammed into a container. There is nobody with any number of years of experience packing for long-distance shipping who would send valuables in this condition.

We thought maybe the email was sent on Friday but they planned to come back over the weekend to complete the job. This was *not* the case. By Saturday PM nothing had changed, and we did not want them touching any more of our belongings. We replied to the email summarizing what they claimed they did for us, including photos proving that it had not been done, and indicated that we do not believe they fulfilled the contract. Therefore they could keep our deposit, but we would not pay them any more than that. In response to this, Michelle insisted that their specialist felt this was the best way to package the items. She refused to speak to the fact that items reported to have been boxed were not in a box of any kind. She insisted shipping the large items with removable legs in place (and unprotected from scratches) was the way their company had done it for years.

Given the time constraints, we had to pay another moving company to re-package the bicycles and the smaller items. We then had to arrange for a climate-controlled storage and paid to move the larger items there, because there was no longer time to crate them properly before the moving truck arrived. Despite these costs more than double the Wellrive bill, and their failure to provide any satisfactory explanation in response to our email, we continue to get harassing emails. First, she was encouraging us to just talk it out on the phone to justify their approach, then repeatedly sending a bill for the job they lied about completing. Do not use this company. Do not let anyone you know use this company.