Curative Movers - Where were you guys when we needed you ?

Our experience has left us bitter and terribly disappointed. We trusted this company and thought that we would give them a chance as it seemed to be a strong BBBEE company. The website looked impressive and the "feedback" from some Customers on the website looked good too. The representatives visited us to give us a quote for our furniture to be transported from Centurion to Port Shepstone. The first impression was nothing to write about but we still thought give them a chance. The morning of the actual move was a shock since the day and night before we received reminders and impressive looking updates on when the furniture guys would be at our house etc. - the guys showed up 2 1/2 hours late after many phone calls from our side! The truck looked a bit small to us although we were assured that the truck would be sufficient as well as the trailer. Our furniture and goods barely made it into the truck and trailer. We travelled down with our cars and trailers and a few boxes the next day. We received a phone call later that day to let us know that the truck had been in an accident - the tyre burst! We were a bit worried since we could not get hold of the company for the rest of the day - we stopped a few times and tried to make contact with them. We arrived dark at our new home - shocked when we discovered that there was no furniture truck ! We phoned frantically - as nothing further was communicated to us. We thought that the burst tyre had been replaced and they were on their way to our new home. My husband then opened some of the whatsapps he received - a few photos of the burst tyre and some of the furniture damaged ... no further detail. Not one of the contact persons (with after hour cell phone numbers) answered our phone calls. We were in a state ... we did not know where the truck and trailer were .... what had happened to our furniture .... was this a **** since the owner/head of the company and our contact persons did not one answer our phone calls. We had a few boxes with us - nothing much. Thank you for friends who has family in Port Shepstone - we were stressed out and dead tired - we had animals with us. We had NOTHING to sleep on in our new empty house ! We were put up in a small caravan in the back garden of our friends' family. We had to share a tiny outdoor shower and toilet. We had to keep our dogs locked in the caravan when we had to go to the shops. But the day after we arrived at our empty house we phoned Curative - we were anxious since they did not get back to us. When they finally answered the explanation was: "I did not know what to tell you Hannelie ...." - the lady said she was too scared to tell us that the truck was still next to the highway and that some of the furniture were damaged. I was very disappointed and upset! We told them that this is not how a professional company deal with its Customers. They later sent us a few photos of a few things that were damaged but could not tell us more since most of the furniture were still stacked and boxes obviously could not be opened unless it fell from the truck or trailer. We asked them nicely if they could please send another truck and they agreed to look into this. They never came back to us. We had to do all the follow up phone calls. NOT ONCE DID THEY ASK US WHERE WE STAYED, WHETHER WE HAD MONEY TO PAY FOR A GUEST HOUSE ... NOT ONCE DID THEY OFFER ANY ASSISTANCE. We begged them to get another truck from another company since they had insurance for theft, fire and accidents. We had to think of alternatives. they promised to follow up but nothing happened. Eventually the Manager / Owner came back and told us that it would be too expensive and that they had to wait for another truck from Cape Town. We explained that we were staying in a small caravan and that we need our stuff and that we needed to move into our house. They kept telling us that there is nothing they could do as the truck had to be fetched and then our stuff would have to go into storage and that they would have to wait for the Insurance guys. We understood all of this and we do realise that accidents do happen. But what we fail to understand is that a company cannot think of alternative plans, that they do not care about their Customers, that they do not follow up on phone calls and that they do not give feedback .... that they did not even bother to get another truck from another company .... we had to wait and we had to fork out extra money that we did not have. We had to phone day after day for feedback - hardly any feedback from their side. We were told by the Manager/Owner that it would be too expensive to get another truck. Almost a week later we were told that the truck was still at the panelbeaters so we gathered that this company only had 1 x truck ?? (from the photos of their profile photo on whatsapp and the website it looked like they had several trucks) ?? When we got excited and anxious on the phone wanting answers as to why they cannot think of a plan to assist us we were told not to shout at them and the phone was simply put down in our ears! When we tried to phone back they just did not answer the phone. We had to go and buy an new bed and base and a new fridge so that we could move into our empty house. These very kind friends where we stayed in a Caravan lend us some cooking utensils and extra bedding since we only had stuff packed for the first night when we were supposed to have moved in. Still the company did not bother to phone us and to offer us any assistance whatsoever. To make a long story short the truck and trailer arrived 10 days later ! The removal guys and driver were exhausted. They offloaded the few pieces that were damaged but informed us that we needed to go through all the furniture and boxes upon which we rep**** that it would take at least 2 days ! They informed us that they were in a hurry and that they needed to go and load another load in Durban area on their way back to Gauteng but that we should check the fridge and washing machine since these were also thrown around with the accident and it was also thickly covered with box material and bubble wrap so they could not tell. We even assisted them with most of the offloading since they were exhausted. They needed to go. We explained to the guy in charge / driver that we will go through all ASAP and will send photos/feedback in case of any damages since they could not wait. We even wrote on their delivery note that we would go through all within the next 2 days and should there be any further damages we would work through our lawyers. Well there were more damages ... serious damages to our big fridge, dishwasher, a huge solid wood study desk (expensive) got damaged on the trailer in which it was transported, most of our wooden furniture are full of dents and sc**** marks, a few other pieces were also damaged. We took photos and my husband sent these to Curative asking them to please look into this and to please forward us their claim forms so that they could claim the damages from their insurance company. They did not respond for some time - again we had to phone and phone and sent emails. We eventually had to work through our lawyers. We then learned that they can only pay us R200 per load!! But they are insured / were insured for R150 000 against theft, fire and accidents per trip - we even discussed this over the phone. They forwarded us a copy of the insurance certificate before we accepted their quote. We read through the insurance certificate but since we discussed this with the Manager/Owner over the phone we did not bother to ask a lawyer to look at the very, very fine script ! We trusted them and we gave them a chance with all our possessions (out of 5 companies we chose them). It has been almost 5 months and we are still struggling to get a few things replaced - we now have to take this up with the small claims court - we had to write off most of the damages. According to our lawyers we as customers still have a consumers right and we were not fully informed about the insurance cover per load per trip. I would like to urge people to take the time to ask for the insurance certificate and terms and conditions but ask your legal advisor / lawyer to look at the fine script and terms and conditions as this would save you endless frustrations, sleepless nights, arguments and money. Go with your instinct ..... don't go with "give them a chance ..." - don't be fooled by an impressive website .... don't. I honestly cannot recommend this company to anyone ... there was no support and care whatsoever from that hectic morning when the truck and trailer showed up hours late !