Military families waiting weeks for belongings after moving to new base

Staff Sgt. Marvin Washington has spent 12 years in the Army. He's moved several times over his career, but never had a move like this before. His family was left waiting four weeks to have their belongings transferred from Fort Stewart in Georgia to Fort Hood in El Paso.

During that wait, he and his wife had to send their three children to stay with grandma, because there are no beds for the children to sleep in each night.

"I've been through my ups and downs in this uniform," Washington said. "And they've felt it too. But when they feel it, then it hurts me. And i can't stand that."

The army assigned Jacksonville-based Suddath Relocation systems to the move. Military families don't get to pick their moving companies. The army assigns a mover and the taxpayer foots the bill.

Suddath picked up the Washington family's belongings in Georgia on June 4. It was supposed to be in Texas three weeks later. By four weeks, nothing had arrived. Instead, the family got a new delivery date for the end of July, nearly two months after they moved.

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Suddath says it's one of the largest military relocation service providers in the country. It moves more than 35,000 military families a year. That's about 8 percent of all department of defense family moves.
           
Suddath uses a public website to allow trucking contractors to view and claim open jobs. It recently showed dozens of military family deliveries are overdue. A closer look at the company's Yelp reviews revealed nearly every military family in the past year had awarded it one star.

The military uses a system for selecting these movers. A spokesperson for U.S. Transportation Command says it is based on 30 percent cost and 70 percent past performance. That past performance score is based on the company's own satisfaction reports, a score that's not open to the public.

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U.S. Transportation Command says it relies on members of the military to file a complaint if there's a problem.

Suddath blames delays on a truck driver shortage and says "military relocations typically involve high volumes of moves to smaller markets." The company claims this is especially problematic during the summer peak season. Suddath poined out its 4.6 star review on Google It says the company has a 94 percent on-time delivery rate.

It only took a day after a reporter showed up for the Washingtons to get a big update on their delivery. Despite the new end-of-July date, movers arrived less than 24 hours later.

Cox Media Group