4 Apr 2022 · MoveAdvisor
1.0 out of 51.0
I do not write reviews. But if any person reads this and chooses not to go with Van Lines of America, then I will at least feel somewhat better about my experience. Everything is great during the quoting process. They promise they only use their movers and that it's a consistent team, etc. Should have realized when they showed up, one guy short, several hours late, that this was going to be awful. They proceeded to load the truck. By the time they finished, it was close to 9 pm and the foreman called me over and said that I was over the estimate and that they could either charge me an additional $7k, or I could pay him $4k to his personal account and that he would take the overage down to a small amount over the estimate. All of my belongings (I thought) were on the truck and it was 9 pm and I was leaving the next day. What was going to happen if I refused now that they had all my stuff? Well, I'm not sure whatever would have happened would actually have been worse, because I went out front to discover that several things were not on the truck and left in the driveway (including my Peloton). They were on their way and I was left scrambling to find a friend who would let me store some items. Fast forward to delivery day, late in the day, and they showed up in an 18 wheeler that refused to pull up on my street. Why isn't this discussed at the time of estimate?! I live on a pretty normal street. This meant I could either be charged storage until they got another shuttle truck, or I could go rent a uhaul and they could load it in a church parking lot with a couple trips. I opted for the uHaul since it's not that much stuff. As they began unloading, and I was speaking with them, again it was clear these are not Van Lines employees, but contracted employees. I was noticing more and more broken or damaged things. I received things that belonged to other people (Van Lines never offered to come get them or have them shipped). They had to go back and search the truck for my TV which had been marked with someone else's name. Large plastic totes from Home Depot where shattered, with all the items inside broken. Items are missing (a/c unit, my bed, etc). It doesn't end there. They left late in the evening, and I filed a claim the next week. I was told they would adjust within the allotted 120 days. Between the extortion and damage, this was so egregious I contacted the BBB because no one answers the phone at Van Lines so figured it would get some replies. I received the snidest, most unprofessional responses via the BBB platform. I then received an email from their Claim administrator that they canceled their contract and they were no longer adjusting the claims. So I contacted the insurance carrier directly. Eventually I received another email from the claims provider that they re-instated the contract and would continue with the claim. No other correspondence followed until I just received a settlement offer of $116 to cover thousands of damage and missing items, not to mention extortion from their "employees".. Long story short, this is a garbage company, run by garbage people who will treat your belongings like garbage. I can only hope some other company treats each and every one of those criminals as they have treated me and others.
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