First Rate Van Lines

Reviews

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1. J

   Jodi K.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · El Dorado Hills, CA to Provo, UT

   28 Feb 20233-bedroomPaid $8,900

   ZERO STARS Thieves!!!! DO NOT USE.

   Initial quote $4100 for 3 bed 2 bath. Was told I had a lot of furniture and bumped it to $6100 before they would begin loading. I felt trapped, new owners took possession in 2 days. Broker driver said I could use debit card to pay $2000. About 1/3 of my things were loaded and then the broker tells me if they fill half the truck it’s $12,000 and full truck $25,000!! WTF!!!! My head exploded. These pieces of shit saw I had a nice house and furniture and flagrantly increased the price. I was so angry about what was happening and I didn’t know how to get out of it. I called out the broker for bait and switch. Told him I wouldn’t pay any more than $6100. I told him to pull off items so it wouldn’t exceed this “bogus” amount. The truck was now about 1/3 full. He kept calling his boss and came back to me and said since the truck wasn’t full it was considered a quick turn around so there would be additional charges. At this point The total was at $8900! I wish, wish I had them empty the truck and just forfeit my $2300 deposit, but being under duress, I was worn down and continued to be taken advantage of. I tried to use my debit card, but was told now I had to pay with a cashiers check. Absolutely infuriated at this point. Broker said I would need to pay today or they couldn’t start driving to Utah. Met him at Walmart, it was Sunday, banks closed. My attempts to take $ from my acct failed. I was capped at $2000 for cashiers check or money order. I lost my temper with driver and asked him how he could live with himself or look in the mirror stealing peoples money. All the extra money required was for my family to live on for the month.. I honestly haven’t been that angry In a long time. I was incensed that vulnerable people going through such a difficult thing as a move were being taken advantage of. I was told my things would go into storage, on my dime, if I didn’t pay the money by the next morning. I was being extorted by them threatening to hold my things hostage until I paid. I felt like I was in a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. I had to get a cashiers check at my bank and deposit it into “the bosses” account and take a pic of deposit to prove I had done it before he would “release” his drivers to leave CA headed for Utah, I Was told by the boss that delivery was in two days…. Lie. He couldn’t send an almost empty truck, so his driver went to L.A., emptied another house, packed their crap in front of mine and then delivered it to Boise Idaho before coming to my house. Delivery was two days late. As for the other 2/3 of my house that didn’t go with the criminals, I rented a uhaul and my kids loaded it and took it to a storage unit. Three weeks since the traumatizing shake down and we still haven’t been able to drive the Uhaul to our Utah house. I’m so angry about being taken advantage of and having my hard earned money stolen by these low life scum bags. Research research, research!! United Van lines and Mayflower are the reputable moving companies and they don’t use brokers who can set their own prices and rules and continually change what they’ve said in order to suit themselves. Beware USA LOGISTICS. These are the brokers who stole from me. They bid on jobs through First Rate Van Lines. DON’T USE A MOVING BROKER YOU WILL REGRET IT!!!!!!

2. C

   Courtney S.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Charlottesville, VA to Holly Springs, NC

   30 Dec 20221-bedroomPaid $1,748

   Unprofessional

   We selected First Rate Van Lines to move my daughter's one bedroom apartment after she graduated college. We were given an estimate based on 320 c.ft. They brokered out the move to a company that quickly looked over her items and said it was 685 c. feet of items and the fee was now 2.5 times the initial estimate. I declined the move, asked them to leave and forfeited my deposit. We had to scramble to get a uhaul, yet all of her items fit into a 10ft Uhaul truck which was 402 c ft with room to spare as her items were Ikea style that could be broken down in all flat pieces. Just be sure you know what to expect before hiring First Rate - be prepared to pay much more than you expected! It is a shame because they are the "professionals" and should estimate your items correctly. I understand people's inventory may change and the company has to charge you for this, but if the inventory never changes, I am not sure how the customer is protected, because at that point you are stuck.

3. A

   Alicia N.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Plymouth, MA to Lake Worth, FL

   21 Dec 20222-bedroomPaid $9,227

   Scam

   DO NOT waste your time with this company. I don't typically write reviews but I am so upset with this company and don't want anyone else to go through what my fiance and I have. My fiance was seeking out moving companies after being quoted $7,000 with pods. This company called him because he put his info in on some websites inquiring about prices. My fiance told Jeremiah (the guy who called) that pods quoted us 7000 and the response was "that's insane, we can get you a better rate!" I gave the exact dimensions of all my belongings and also let him know the size of my two pods for reference. He quoted us $3,600. The following day my fiance called to make sure this was legit because the price seemed too good to be true. Jeremiah confirmed "yes, it will be 3,600 as long as you don't add anything else." Moving day arrives and after waiting til 3pm, we call the company and are told the movers needs to change to tomorrow. Following day comes and the movers let us know how much space we were given in the truck (there were lines on the wall where sqft were marked) and that for every line over would be an extra $200. The moving truck based the sqft off of the height, not length, so of course my belongings went far past the amount I was given. By the end of this all, we ended up having to pay $9,227....almost 3 times as much as we were quoted! Also, a large amount of my belongings were broken and cannot be replaced because they were my parent's who've passed away. The movers also somehow broke a bureau drawer and probably hoped I wouldn't notice because it was placed towards the back of the garage (we're keeping our belongings in my fiance's parent's garage until our house is ready for move in), and they had the broken side facing the back. After looking through my belongings, I have also noticed multiple missing/stolen items. I called the company and also emailed them letting them know what happened and I have gotten no response. I am so upset and disgusted with this company.

4. R

   Rak C.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Flagstaff, AZ to Pompano Beach, FL

   30 Nov 20223-bedroomPaid $12,000

   Wish there was ZERO STARS

   THEY ARE NOT A MOVING COMPANY - THEY ARE SCAMMING BROKERS. DO NOT USE! THEY LIE LIE AND LIE SOME MORE

5. A

   Ant M.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Oakland, CA to Beeville, TX

   21 Nov 20221-bedroomPaid $1,500

   Do not conduct business with this Company

   In there defense, I did sign the contract they provided. I should have read the contract and backed out of the process. There is a clause that states they can miss the pick up and delivery date for a solid year before a refund can be given. They failed to establish a pick up of my items for a whole month. Spoke to multiple "managers" and no one was able to help me. Had to get legal involved, and only then was I able to get my refund. On the contract that they had me sign, they for whatever reason changed the date that I signed the contract; this was my saving grace and i was able to get a full refund.

6. R

   Robin M.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Wheatland, WY to Hot Springs, SD

   5 Nov 20222-bedroomPaid $4,600

   Giving discounts that don't exist

   My experience is like many I have read here. They low balled the size and weight of what I wanted to move then gave "discounts" that don't really exist. I paid $2600 then had a total of $4600 owed to the movers. At least I got most of my items in decent shape. I advise to talk directly with the moving company and NOT a 3rd party. I wish I saw this site before I agreed.

7. H

   Harry S.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Wichita, KS

   4 Nov 20223-bedroomPaid $5,451

   Tripled the cost!

   First quote from First Rate Van Lines was $4,500, then they made a typo and changed it to $5451, now $10,000! They are a marketing scam only, not a shipper. They spam out your inquiry to dozens of companies that have no idea what was quoted. Then First Rate Van Lines steals that money - none of it goes to the shipper. They stuck me for $2,500 bucks and I never shipped a thing. Stay AWAY!!!!

8. A

   April T.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · San Francisco, CA to Seattle, WA

   31 Oct 2022StudioPaid $5,600

   They made my life a living hell.

   If I could give a 0 star review, I would. For anyone considering this moving company - do yourself a favor and DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR BUSINESS. I never go out of my way to write companies negative reviews and try my absolute best to be understanding with customer service workers. However, for First Rate Van Lines, I can write a 10-page essay on how they made my life a living hell. I can go on and on, but I’ll name just a handful of the horrendous business tactics that this company employs: 1. They’ll intentionally under-quote you just to get your business and then overcharge you last minute. I ended up paying $2,600 more than what I was quoted ($3,000), even though I had given the exact inventory up front. They bought out all of my stuff to the street and started loading, and then half way through, they stopped loading and said they reached my quoted amount. I had measured the volume of my load before they had arrived, and there was no way only half of my stuff could fit into the quoted amount, but it was my words against theirs at this point, and all of my stuff was sitting out on the street, so I had no choice but to say yes to paying almost double the amount that was originally promised. 2. They farm out every part of the move, so you’re talking to multiple parties throughout the process. Booking, customer service, dispatch, movers, drop-off — they’re all from different companies, and no one is held accountable for any issues that come up. When there are problems, it’s always another party’s responsibility, and you don’t even know who you’re talking to on the phone because they don’t say their name or share what company/party they represent. 3. You can never anticipate when they’re coming because there’s absolutely no transparency with how the whole moving process works. They called me 2 days before my move date and said they’re actually going to come in less than 24 hours, which was completely unacceptable. They also don’t tell you when they’re coming to drop off your stuff until last minute, so if you have a job, you’ll have to somehow arrange your work around the drop-off schedule at the drop of a hat. 4. Every customer service rep I’ve spoken to was incredibly disrespectful and unhelpful. They will cut you off and silence you with their attitude. They don’t seem to understand that the customers who are calling them for help and clarity are in the middle of uprooting their lives. I must have called them at least 10 times, and not a single time did they demonstrate an ounce of empathy or concern about the fact that this company’s shortcomings were causing so much headache for me to keep a job and handle other moving needs. 5. The movers showed up at my place around 6am and created so much noise that I got a noise complaint from my downstairs neighbor. They scratched and dented all over my walls, doors, and floor - it took me over 5 hours to clean up and fix everything after they left. One of the movers pissed ON my toilet, and I had to clean that up. 6. So many items were damaged during the move. I don’t even know how they managed to dent, crack, and break so many pieces of my furniture and kitchenware. Some of the boxes were completely crushed when they got dropped off at my new place. Of course, no one would tell me how exactly I can report damaged items, so I’m now left to figure that out on my own. I spent $5,600 to have all of my possessions tossed around between different parties and to be offered 0 help from their customer service. Think of the worst purchase you’ve ever made and the most despicable customer service you’ve ever received - First Rate Van Lines will top that. DO NOT give them your business.

9. L

   Leslie G.

   Source: MoveAdvisor · Hicksville, NY

   26 Oct 2022StudioPaid $5,995

   First Rate Van Lines

   Don’t use this mover! First of all each department you speak to (and there are 4) don’t know what the other is doing. I was on the phone with them for 2 hours getting things straight when the driver came to pick up the things from my storage unit in NY. In addition they tripled the price from the original estimate. The move is from NY to CA moving items from a storage unit. They also never informed me that they were first going to drop my items in a warehouse in New Jersey first then when I got my own storage unit they would deliver to that storage unit. I was told they would deliver my things to one of their storage units in CA, NEVER mentioning the New Jersey situation. This has been the most stressful situation one can imagine for a cross country movement of possessions. Thanks for reading this. I hope I save you from being taken advantage of! Don’t use this company!!!

10. M

    Mohammed A.

    Source: MoveAdvisor · Austin, TX to Irvine, CA

    5 Oct 20222-bedroomPaid $6,100

    Don’t do it! Complete scam

    They quote you incredible price and start charging you extras. They are a broker and all of them are scammers from Jeremy the representative all the way to customer service .. don’t believe anything they say.. even if they write it down in a binding agreement! They’ll find a way to to get you! All Google reviews are fake and complete scam