MONUMENT, Colo. — An Indianapolis couple's move to the Centennial State has been nothing but a nightmare.
"You would never dream that you would pay a company money and this is how it would show up. I mean, never in my wildest dreams," Jamie Bunting, a U.S. Navy veteran, said Monday.
The nightmare first began when Bunting says RoadRunner Moving, based in California, held their belongings for a month.
The items were picked up from their Indianapolis home on June 16 and were supposed to be delivered on July 2. Alliance Moving and Storage, based in Florida, hired the company for the cross-country move on the couple's behalf.
"Dozens of phone calls, emails, complaints to DOT, the Better Business Bureau, attorneys general, anybody I can think of to file a complaint with," Bunting said after not receiving her items.
Nearly two weeks after Denver7 reported on the Buntings' ordeal and their empty home, their items finally arrived.
Bunting says a local contractor, not someone with RoadRunner Moving, delivered the items on Aug. 3 at 6:30 p.m. The items weren't in the same condition the couple had left them.
"The local mover that they contracted, a wonderful human, actually asked me if he could give me a hug because he said he has, in his 15 years of moving, never seen anything like this," Bunting said.
Several desks, a TV, a dining table and even a lawnmower were damaged, along with multiple other items.
"We also have a lot of things missing, stolen, whatever the case is," Bunting said.
The couple already spent about $20,000 on the move, some of which Bunting says she was supposed to get back. Now, they have to spend even more money to replace their damaged items.
Despite filing a claim, Bunting says no one from RoadRunner Moving or Alliance Moving and Storage has contacted her to help her.
She's already participating in a class-action lawsuit against Alliance and is considering also suing RoadRunner Moving.
"We've discovered there are just hundreds and hundreds of people going through the same thing. I just don't want anybody else to have to go through this," Bunting said.
With the worst of their move behind them, Bunting and her husband look forward to enjoying their life in Colorado. But if they have to move again, they plan to do it themselves.
"You just get the nieces and nephews in the family out, and you buy pizza and sodas," she said. "That's what we've done in the past."
Denver7 reached out to RoadRunner Moving, but no one had responded as of Monday afternoon.
The Better Business Bureau has several tips on how you can protect yourself from scams and untrustworthy moving companies on its website.
If you'd like to file a complaint against a moving company or broker, your best bet is to file one through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
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