Sad Moves: Shocking Service Failure by Key Moves

I recently booked a relocation for my sister Dr HN Mchunu from PE to Durban. After a lengthy search for a reputable company, I was directed to Key Moves. I was sent a quote, which I completed & returned, paying the amount required upfront, in full. I was offered insurance, but due to the fact that I did not have an accurate estimate of the value of the household goods, I did not opt to take it. I rue that decision now.

In any case, they arrived to collect the cargo on Friday 25/05/2018, about 4 hours after the appointed time. They did not manage to complete loading on the day, on account of their arriving late & finished up the following day. We were told that the delivery would be made on Monday 28/05/2018. Unfortunately, they were unable to keep their promise & finally made delivery on the Wednesday. My sister, who was the one being relocated, arrived from PE on Friday. We had opted to have the cargo stored at our Farm home near Adams Village, my sister was only able to go to the house to see verify the cargo yesterday. To our shock, almost HALF of the cargo did not make it. Half the boxes that were dispatched simply did not arrive.

And so I called Key Moves Ops Manager, Johannes Afrika, who, after listening to my emotional retelling of the story, calmly asked that I forward the inventory list, which I informed him I was unable to do as it had been misplaced. As it turns out, the inventory list was irrelevant anyway as they hadn't actually shortshipped my sister's stuff...but more on that later.

This morning, I sent a very politely worded but firm (I informed them that I would be reviewing them on Hello P) email to all the folks I had been dealing with, up to this point. The response to that mail just added further fuel to the flames as the respondent, Fortunte Kutibiwa (rather arrogantly) decided to flay me for venting my dissatisfaction in the service I received from Key Moves. At this point, I was incensed & wrote her another email, informing her that I had rights as a consumer, something that she seemed to have lost sight of. Her ***ed response, I imagine must have come from management.

After that, I was sent an a lame "apology" by a Dean Knezovich. In it he misspelled my name, calling me Mondi & not Mondli, informed me that the truck had been broken into at a "trusted rest stop" en route to Durban & that they would not be able to help since we did not opt into the insurance. I was sent a copy of the dispatch inventory (why they kept asking me to provide one when they had a copy, remains a mystery) & a Police report filed by a 69 year old Truck driver by the name of Sathanadan Veerasamy Govender. In the report, Govender states that he, his assistant & the rest stop guard saw 2 gentlemen unloading boxes from his truck & throwing them over the fence. Mr Govender then repositioned his truck & went back to resting. He reported the incident yesterday, the same day we discovered it had been missing.

In the mail from Dean, I was asked that I contact MY insurance & send a copy of the Incident Report to them. Maybe they could offer some relief, because as far as he was concerned, they were in no way responsible for this stuff up. When I responded asking why it took them so long to inform us, I was not given an answer. In fact, my response to the apology mail has not yet been received. No partial refund even has been offered. In effect, I have been given the finger. Over & above that, the attitude I got was one of lethargy & complete disregard for me as a customer. I mean, they didn't even spell my name right in their apology. Their service (Johannes Afrika notwithstanding), is atrocious. Their operation complete shambolic.

Fair warning to all, stay away from Key Moves. You are better off renting a traler & doing it yourself.