Sterling C.

TSI is a middleman that is supposed to make the process much better through their relationship with the actual shipper and interacting with them on your behalf. What they actually do is the sales and marketing for the shipper and nothing else. Just book with Plycon or whomever directly.

I used TSI for my move from NYC to SF in June of 2020. Summary bullets below and then full detail of my TERRIBLE experience. In short,

Summary:
1. I hired TSI to move my things cross country including many expensive pieces of art which I paid extra to be specially crated for safe delivery.
2. I requested additional insurance on the items as TSI made it very clear that the base level insurance is effectively no insurance whatsoever
3. I was billed for half the cost on 4/22, my items were picked up on 5/20, the second half was billed 6/03, and the shipment was delivered 6/17 (6/19 was the last day within the 20 business day delivery window provided)
4. When the shipment was delivered 1 piece of art was damaged ($600 to repair) once piece of art was not delivered at all. None of the art was crated.
5. We realized the art was missing immediately and got a number from the delivery people to call. They told us to sign the delivery documents for the items that were delivered which we did
6. We reached out to TSI to resolve the issue. They told us that we did not have insurance, that because we signed the paper work technically there was no missing item but since we called the same day they would do us the favor of believing us.
7. From that point on we received no proactive updates on the status of our art. Just today after our email request for an update they let us know that they are closing the ticket, our item is gone forever and they will be reimbursing us a total of $72

Detailed Review:
We started out by looking for a company that could help us move our stuff across the country - particularly our very valuable art. We came across TSI which has a nice website and particularly mentioned solutions for Art. We contacted them for a quote and Trey was extremely responsive and helpful. He told us that it would take 10-20 business days for them to ship cross country, but we could expect to have our stuff in more like 10-12 (the 20 is just a CYA thing). We told him about our art shipping needs and that we wanted to crate the art. He told us we could do 5 crates with two pieces of art in each which would meet our need to ship 10 pieces. He also told us that the insurance on the items would be negligible and so I asked to get the additional coverage given that our items were worth ~30k. He provided a quote which we agreed to and then sent the terms and conditions which are required to be confirmed. I read them and had a few questions so I called Trey and he answered them - particularly the language around checking if or shipment "qualifies for full coverage and FMCSA consumer protection" given the link provided just goes to the TSI website and we had already discussed it. We also discussed the pick up window and paid extra for the 3 day window as well as the white glove service. We paid $4,410.10 for the service. We were told explicitly not to show the bill to the shippers. We knew there was an upcharge to have them as a middleman and were happy to pay it to ensure that we would have a good moving experience.

On the day of pick up the movers were late. We called Trey and within 30 minutes the movers called us to say they would be at the house in another 35 minutes or so. This was not ideal, but a good experience with TSI in terms of them doing what we thought they would when the moving company is terrible (we fully expected the shippers to be bad based on the reviews of all companies we saw out there which is why we used TSI as a middleman in the first place)

After that no communication at all. No email verification of pick up, no tracking number nothing. We called TSI a few times for an update. When we call support we couldn't get anyone so we called Trey. Now that the shippment was in their possession and paid for he was no longer bothered with us. He forwarded us to support who were pleasant but told us numerous times that they would look into where our shipment was and call us back with an update, but never did. This was all quite annoying, but ultimately fine. We had hoped for better service from TSI since that is what we were paying them for (given another company is doing all the packing and shipping) but the sales process was good and Trey seemed to have been helpful with the pick up so we were cool not making a big fuss. We expected our things to arrive in 10-15 business days (June 4 - 11) but they actually arrived on June 17th which is inside the 10-20 business day CYA window but just not what they represented to us verbally. Again, a bit annoyed sleeping on an air mattress for an extra week, but with COVID and protests and everything else we understood and again did not make a fuss. Then our things arrived...

The first thing we noticed was that our art was not in crates as we had paid for, but instead wrapped in the paper they used to take it from our home (where they said it would be crated off site, two pieces of art per crate). The movers, Plycon, had a whole apartments worth of stuff which they brought into our home very professionally. When they were done they asked us to sign for the delivery. We noticed right away that one of our art pieces was missing. The art was supposed to be shipped two per crate, so how could only one be gone? We noted this to the movers and they gave us details of whom to call about it and said that we needed to sign for the items that were delivered. That made sense to us, so we did. Shortly after the movers left we also noted a chip/crack in one of our frames. Obviously we called TSI to help us resolve these issues and everything that happens next is the reason for a 1 star review as opposed to a 3.5 star review.

First they told us we didn't have insurance - but of course we did. Who pays to ship art in special crates but doesn't pay for the insurance. On everything we ship of value we always include insurance. There is no way to confirm the insurance coverage or whether it was included in our bill or not so that is just gone. If that had been it we would eat the $600 repair cost that resulted from our items both not being shipped and the insurance requested not being added to our shipment and this would have been a 2.0 star rating, but there is still the issue of the missing art.

Renee Goryl was our quality assurance person and she is just terrible to work with. We report the missing item and she tells us that we didn't note it on the document we signed. We tell her that we submitted the complaint the same day and we signed for what was delivered as instructed. She kind of implies that she will do us a favor and look for our art but we should actually be SOL. Nice thing to hear from someone whose company lost our valuable art that we paid extra to have specially shipped. We're frustrated, more by the missing and damaged art than by Renee specifically at this time but trying to contain that emotion to get the best result possible, we are admittedly short over email, but professional. She tells us over email that they will ask Plycon to do a dock search for our art and it will take up to 72 hours. Previously we had called (again through try to get routed to support since that is the only way they actually pick up the phones) and Bob the support agent told us the same thing but added that he was 99% certain that they would find and redeliver the art in that time frame. Two days go by and nothing further for them so we send an email to Renee asking for an update - again priceless art missing! She responds that it has only been 48 hours. Okay, fine. 24 hours later no update. Weekend goes by and all of Monday, still no update so we email asking for an update Monday night. Tuesday Renee responds no update but she will call them now to check in on it. Okay cool. 2 more days pass and no update from Renee - what did they say when you called... did you actually even call? They picked up my stuff on May 20th its June 25th and we reach out by email again for an update and to request to know what the policy is when an item that we've paid extra to ship special is simply not delivered. Automated response that Renee is out on Vacation, no one covers her while she is out apparently. We're now upset and comment in another email that she should take some pride in her work. Not a nice thing to say, but again we're frustrated and as far as we can tell no one is doing anything to help, and since it appears to be her job to help, the comment felt accurate. She took offense to the comment (when she returned from vacation on the 29th) but was professional in the manner in which she indicated her displeasure and said they would continue to look... Then we get to today July 9th since there has been NO UPDATE in the 10 days since we last asked for an update on where our priceless are is, we email again asking for an update. This is when they let us know that they'll be giving us $72 bucks and to please go on our merry way.

Things happen. Contracts are bad. People take L's. Our issue with TSI is that they didn't provide any updates or customer service or help us even a little bit once our shipment had been picked up. We do not believe we got what we paid for with respect to the insurance or the crating of our art, which resulted in the damage and also resulted in that damage not being covered. At no time did they proactively provide updates as to when our shipment would be delivered, or once delivered the status of our missing items. They did not attempt in any way to rectify the situation beyond the exact letter of claim. Our conclusion is simply that you should book with the shipper directly for the exact same experience and a lower price. Potentially a better experience if going through the shipper directly gets the appropriate packing and they do not mess up the additional insurance. These guys are basically sales and marketing for the shippers. Ask what shipper they are going to use and then go their directly. They charge for a premium shipping experience but do not deliver premium service.