Atlas Van Lines

This company is very dishonest, they will give you a rate and then turn around and charge you a lot more. Please be aware of them, do not use them. They are liars. When you call them, they take forever to get back to you. I had my own helpers that helped unload the truck. They didn't put furniture back the way it was supposed to be and they wet my mattresses and in general, I would never recommend them to anyone.

I just wanted to comment that this is not a bogus claim and the company representative that posted after my initial complaint and inferred it is a bogus claim, is just another company patsy trying to cure the poor reputation of a disreputable company with multiple complaints against them. This customer took their cash, valuables and medicines required for the move exactly as instructed by the mover. Because we obtained our prescriptions in 90-day supplies, there was a 30-day supply of prescription drugs left for shipment that was never seen again. But this instruction is not and should not be an excuse for theft of personal property by the movers. This isn't all that disappeared.

Had the movers been honest and told us they would steal from us, they would have shipped nothing and there would have been no complaints at all. The better policy is to ship nothing with this company then there will be no loss or damages to your property. But it was more than the theft of property, numerous damages, initially refusing to unpack us, intentionally hiding carrier packed boxes so they wouldn't have to finish the unpacking, walking out in the middle of the unpack, failure to return phone calls or e-mails, failure to abide by federal statutes regarding information on additional billing and complaints, and refusing to take responsibility for damages and more.

This complaint is well documented and was only resolved after I initiated legal actions against the company. During the period I tried to work with the claims department, they never returned a single phone call and failed to respond to e-mails as well. In identifying the parties to sue I learned the company wasn't properly registered to even conduct business in the two states they picked up in and delivered to by the names they gave me. Further, the claims manager wouldn't provide the legal name of the company for the lawsuit and I was only able to get that information for the legal action after much research which led me to the attorney for this company. Bogus claim? Not hardly! Nightmare? Yes.

I used this mover as part of an employer-paid move. Never again! I was estimated one weight and amounts were increased by my padding. The ending weight was over by 2,600 pounds after I moved 2,000 pounds myself. I was told to buy the driver and packers lunch and they would take care of me. That was just another way to extract additional compensation for a poor quality move.

The used my packing materials (tape, markers and boxes) because the driver lacked sufficient supplies. The driver delivered my property damaged and initially refused to unpack or even Jerry rigged my damaged refrigerator so I could use it. Over two pages of damaged items, stolen prescription drugs, failure to respond to complaints, walked out on unpacking, failure to respond to claims filed, shifting from person to person, no arbitration policy or complaint process provided as required under 49CFR 375.213. It is not yet resolved and there is no indication it will be anytime soon and it's been four weeks. Carrier refuses to communicate.

Why are there no agents names ever mentioned in these complaints? Are they all bogus? Everyone knows you are told by the salesman to keep cash and jewelry in your possession. I am a former mover of 20 years, the last 10 with atlas. These stories just sound **.

Long story short, I thought I hired Atlas Van Lines to move me from Oakland, CA to Tacoma, WA. They gave me the lowest quote until they got my stuff on the truck, and that's when the problem started! Instantly, they charged me $880 for packing material on top of the $963 quote they originally gave me. So still not knowingly, I agreed to that, and so they drove off with my stuff. I called the very next day to get the real weight of the move and then they said it was 1250 lbs. overweight! Okay, now $560 more to the bill, still not knowing until I had to fly back to California and wanted to call them to make a payment towards my bill. And this is where it gets good. I called 411 information and asked for Atlas Van Lines and then I learned the truth. It was all a scam! I hadn't been dealing with the real company at all.

So I played it cool like I didn't know who they were and what they were doing. Finally, I got them where I wanted them! When the guy came to deliver my stuff, I was cool until he opened the truck. That's when my whole family came out and started unloading my stuff free of charge! These idiots even had the audacity to hire help from Craigslist to help them unload the shipment. The poor guy almost got involved in a scam that would have only paid him about $50 while they were trying to profit $1844. So I guess it's not wise to scam people because you might run across the wrong person, like myself! I got the last laugh and got my whole shipment moved for only $500. That's all I gave them. It was a deposit. I know they read these comments, so Rachael and Itzak and whoever else is involved on this scam, thank you for being so greedy. This move was on you. Oh, by the way, did the driver make it home yet? Did he even have gas money?

I just wanted to put some of your minds at ease a bit. First off, this is not the legitimate Atlas Van Lines World Group. This is a scam that hacks into their site and reroutes you to theirs. I too set up my move with Rachel, as Isaac showed up, was a fast talker and blah blah what happens to everyone else. Except, he didn't know he was dealing with a cheap German and an almost divorced-pissed-off woman.

Needless to say, Isaac is sitting his ass in jail at the very moment in Utah, along with his 2 compadres; and their stolen truck has been impounded. Hope this makes some of you feel better. PS: before they drove him away, I gave him the bird.

I used a website (Craigslist) to look up affordable movers for an in town move after getting a quote from another company that would have cost me more than $1,000 to move a couple of blocks. The website did a "search" for affordable movers with the lowest rates for a two bedroom house, and then came up with Atlas Van Lines. I was contacted by "Rachel" (if that is her real name) of Atlas who did an estimate on the phone, asking me what was being moved, and estimated a move of 4,500 pounds, which she said would take three hours, at a cost of $105.00 per hour, with a total cost of $305.00 and a 7% discount for a total of $292.00.

The movers were supposed to show up at 7:30 A.M. on March 17, 2010, but did not arrive until 9:30. The main guy in charge, Issac, looked around my house and immediately said "our truck isn't big enough," or words to that effect, and told me he would not be able to move all of my property, including property in the garage (boxes, shelving, work bench) or any of the boxes in the living room, or bookshelves. I was disappointed, but foolishly told them to go ahead and start working, as I was focused on getting moved into my new house.

Near the end of packing the truck, Issac informed me that he had used quite a lot of packing materials and that he would have to call his manager (Rachel) to get a new estimate on the move. When he had the truck all packed up, he informed me that because of the use of materials and the extra time, the new price was $1,500 cash, or $1,600 if I wanted to use a credit card.

I briefly considered ordering everything off of the truck, but I was concerned at that point as to what these guys might do to my property, so I agreed to pay (I should have called the police). Issac also mentioned that it was a good idea for me to pay them a "tip" for their services, which I took as a mildly veiled threat if I did not. All cash was to be paid upfront before they would unload the vehicle.

In the process of unloading, these clowns broke the base of an electric piano, and tried to hide it by kicking the broken pieces aside. They only removed the packing material on some of my property, and what they did remove they left scattered all over my front yard without an effort at cleanup. I was charged $1,200 more than the original estimate, and my youngest son's electric piano was damaged.

They said they were Atlas Van Lines. They quoted $1600 move with detailed list of items. They showed up, packed me half up and then extorted me for an extra $907 in packing charges. I ended up leaving several things behind because I could not afford more. They guaranteed delivery on Sunday (5 days) and they showed up over a week after. I called and called and called and no one called back. When I called Atlas corporate headquarters, they informed me that "Rachel" was operating illegally with their name. Tod S. (Atlas Lawyer) told me they have 25 similar cases exactly like mine.

He was correct that when they finally show up expect to be charged a lot more than quoted, receive no copies of paperwork and be extorted for more and more while over 25% of my items disappeared. Gone. No recourse. $4500 move and thousands of dollars in damage. I have photos of the driver, the truck, the DOT #, the license, the weight receipt and other papers (I did this in secret) but I have been severely victimized by this company. Atlas says they have 25 such cases currently from the exact same people in the last six months! Todd S, Atlas lawyer, If you want copies of the photos of the driver, paperwork, and etc., please let me know.

Never use Atlas Van Lines! I do not wish anyone to suffer what I have gone through. My experience has been exactly what others have described earlier and more. I was quoted approximately $1200 for a one-bedroom, 2000 lbs. interstate move. I had itemized the stuff I would need to be professionally packed and I was quoted that it would be an extra $100 as packing material. My final quote became approximately $1300. Till then all was fine except that I was never clarified that nothing on the quote was actually binding. They were free to twist charges and conditions to their benefit!

The Saga started with the foreman (not belonging to AVL) making me sign a bunch of papers with some conditions I did not agree to but was forced to sign since he said he would not start the move unless he had all the signatures in place. I was made to sign on a blank sheet with itemized costs for packing supplies. When I mentioned that I had already agreed on $100, I was told yes it would be what was mentioned in the contract. I was not given a copy of anything I signed. I was told that the office would send it to me, which till date has not happened. Packers started work at 1:20 pm and ended after 7 pm when all my personal stuff was already packed by me and I was moving stuff of 1 bedroom/studio size. They were utterly unprofessional!

However, over halfway through the move with all the stuff I had packed already on the truck and some furniture packed by the movers, the foreman claimed that the cost of packing supplies would be more. I immediately told him this was not agreed upon. He insisted that it was just his estimate, maybe it would be around $300, and he would give the final estimate at the end of packing. I stopped him from packing half my furniture just to keep the charges down.

When I mentioned that I did not require all that intricate packing and whatever minimum is in the contract would work for me, he said it was the policy of the company to ensure all things reached safe and that is how they will move it. When I called the AVL office to talk about it they had the same reply. They would not move my stuff in any other way. Meaning, they would pack the way they wanted and I would have to pay for it! When your stuff is already packed and loaded and you need to be in another place to join work, you have no choice but to wait to know the final estimate of packing.

Well, final estimate was a whopping $1085 as charges for cost of packing material (bubble wrap, shrink wrap and few cardboard boxes), just to pack only half of the furniture initially intended. He had added numbers on the itemized charges on the slip, which I was initially made to sign with the assurance that it was going to be a total of $100. So now I had my signature on the total he had created. Also, that I had to pay 60% of the total cost by cash or he would not accept any other form of payment. The contract said I could pay by major credit cards and I was not ready to pay in any other way. After a lot of discussion and with no one to talk to at the office, being after hours and really late, with a manager who I was not allowed to talk to by the foreman, he walked out and took away all my stuff in the truck.

I had been initially assured by AVL and the foreman that right after my stuff got loaded it would be taken to the weighing place and they would let me know how much the weight of the shipment would be and send me a copy of that document. Well, he did not send me the weight. The office agreed to send it as soon as they knew it. Finally, after 3 days of constant arguments and discussions they assured that they were going to email me the before and after weights. I never received that email and the person in the office who had promised to email me later confessed he did not know why it was never emailed since he had left instructions for others to do so! Later "one of those others" mentioned that the driver who will deliver the stuff will be handing the details of the weight over to me and he never did so! They increased the weight of the shipment from 2000 to 2360 lbs. so that was an additional $198.00.

As a great remedy to the problem of extra charges, they came up with the great news that the manager was giving me a 50% discount on the $1100 bringing it down to near $550 for packing material when what I had agreed to was $100 and the total shipment cost was over $600 to what I had agreed. I was threatened that my stuff would be auctioned if I did not pay up the 60% by check or cashier's check and that they would not accept any credit card payment though the contract stated that 60% could be paid by major credit cards. After days of arguments, sleepless nights, hotel bills, threats of my case going for collection and consequences, absence of manager to talk to on phone, finally I agreed to pay an overall increase of $500 from the initial quote. I was made to pay 60% of that by check.

That was, however, not the end of the story. The day of delivery my stuff did not arrive, and at 8 pm at night I was told the truck was still 40 miles away. When I refused accepting shipment at that time of the night I was threatened that if I did not receive the shipment that night, I would have to pay for overnight charges. If not, I would have to allow shipment at 5 am in the morning. Any delay would be charged at the rate of $145/hour. When I mentioned that there were rules in my apartment, I would have to pay for extra charges by hour at $145/hour.

I had waited a full day for the shipment to arrive and taken time off from work to be there to receive it. However, that was not of any consequence! To top it all, after having paid extra for packing so that my furniture would be protected from damage, my desk is broken despite my paying for the extra packing material. One suitcase full of clothes and personal belongings is missing. A bed frame is broken. Lamps are scratched and dented. Screws are missing and I am awaiting another drama with reclamation.

The company and agents will run the show and make life difficult for you from the time you sign the contract. I had sleepless nights and had been reduced to state of tears by the constant mental agony and stress imposed by the company. The following are the consequences: broken desk, $80.00; lost suitcase plus personal belongings, $90 plus $300 (not accounting for objects of emotional value); broken queen bed frame, $30; extra charges over quote added by AVL, $500; new furniture expenses (due to disposal of old ones to reduce packing charges), $500; and hotel charges incurred due to unavailability of living items, $450.

I hired Atlas Van Lines to facilitate a local move on 11/21. The drivers showed up late, did not follow direction, moved extremely slow, and the foreman was constantly on the phone. I hired the company for three hours, so every minute was precious to me. I prepared for the move by putting a large amount of the boxes outside, and the remainder in the front room, by the door. Everything was labeled and ready to go. I was in another room getting some things together when the foreman asked me to enter the room he was working in. He put shrink wrap around my couches, cushioned ottoman table & side table, & book case. He then proceeded to tell me how much each item cost for wrapping. I did not authorize him to wrap these items and no where in my contract did it state that these items needed to be wrapped. I asked the foreman to continue with loading the truck and to not wrap any other items with out my consent. I left the room and called the company to inquire about the items the foreman was wrapping. The dispatcher told me that these items needed to be wrapped to go on the truck even though the contract did not state that.

When I re-entered the room, the foreman had wrapped a dresser and several other items. At this point, two of my three hours had been used and not even of my things were in the truck. I asked them to please pack the items they had prepped and leave the rest so that we could go to the other location before my time ran out. They slowly put the items in the truck and then proceed to sit there for 15 min doing who knows what. Finally we reached the new location and the foreman presented me with the bill. He said they would not unload the items until I paid them in full. To my surprise the bill went from the $223.20 I was quoted to $628.77. He then proceeded to tell me I had to pay in cash. I was very upset, and phoned the office to inquire why the bill was so high, and why the foreman demanded cash when the contract did not state that, and they had my credit card number on file. The dispatcher was rude and hostile and said I had to pay in cash or they wouldn't release my items. I refused. I asked for a manger but was told there wasn't one available to speak with since it was Saturday. I was told I had to wait until Monday. I reluctantly agreed to pay the amount and speak to the manager on Monday since I didn't have much of a choice. I had to get my things, and felt threatened by the company so I agreed to pay the outrageous amount and figured I would speak with the manager on Monday for my refund. Next they demanded I pay the full amount in cash.

Nowhere in my contract did it state I had to pay in cash, and when reserving the company I gave my credit card number over the phone. I was told I could pay by card but the foreman supposedly did not have a slip to process the card. For the next hour several calls were made from myself to the office, and the manager to the foreman. They continued to demand cash, and I continued to refuse. Finally they conceded and used my credit card number on file and the foreman magically produced a credit card slip. When I received my receipt by email, another company's name was on it. Shamrock Van Lines. I have placed several calls to the company and no one had called me back. I plan to dispute this charge with my credit card company, but I feel like this company should have some sort of consequence for their actions. I would also like to help prevent this from happening to other people in the future.

I was informed that the local move, 2 movers and full packing, loading truck, round trip point A-B, 5 free wardrobe boxes, free wrapping of furniture, min. 5 hours, free stairs and long carry, 5% discount, PLUS "Packing supplies are extra if needed. (Items that must be packed in order to be transported safely are: glass items, mirror, lamps, lamp shades, marble tops, pictures, mattresses, all electronic and all delicate fragile items" - would be $665.00. The nite before I received a call from a man, supervisor, that one extra person would be better for my job at $10 extra dollars. I agreed. $10 extra for min. of 5 hours should be $50. They arrived at 10:15, and departed at 7:15. It was a big job for a 1 bedroom move. They charged me $3500. When I complained, they said if I paid cash they would waive the $500. or they could leave the job. My choice. I decided not to pay cash. I even fed them food. I've made several phone calls and I'm not getting my calls returned. I can understand even $1000.00 over the quote price, or $1200. NOT what they charged. They won't return my calls. This is clearly against CA laws what they did. To threaten to leave the job midway was the straw. A total of $1075 should have been charged (3 men- 9 hours), then plus the packing material. to my calculations $2425 dollars worth of packing material was not used. I had 70 boxes that I packed myself.

In early July I moved from Alexandria, VA to Brooklyn, NY. At that time Atlas Van Lines had given me an estimate of approximately $3400. They also gave me a signed statement by their representative Bob G, Herndon, VA that the move could go only 10 percent above their estimate.

On moving day they charged me approximately $3100. On August 27 Ms. R sent me a letter telling me that I owe them $1,172.43. She also stated that a fee will be added until the bill is paid. I had some very unpleasant telephone communication with her. This is a disgusting scam and I'll never pay them a cent until we go to court and get them plenty of publicity.

No physical damage... just shock at their total lack of integrity.

We moved from Iowa to Mississippi last Aug by Atlas van lines. My husband is a physician brought here by Forest general. Atlas sent a representative from Desmoines Ia. He spent a whole day calculating our move. The quote was 16,000. We are now told the move was raised to 40,000 due to overweight. thwy miscalculated horribly.

The move was a nightmare! They damaged most of my new frniture. They are now saying that it was damaged before the move! What can I do they aren't willing to pay! I have had many sleepless nights

I have had to throw away many items that were ruined. My furniture that was new is now damaged. They drove my husband bmw and dropped the bed on top of it. Why did we have insurance? They should fix or replace everything they destroyed. They had a young kid working for them that had an attitude and through my belonging around! He did the bulk of the damage! Why am I suppose to just take this! I trusted that company with all my worldly posessions. I still owe money on damaged furniture, its not fair!

I had my furniture moved to my new apartment on 3/17/06, after having it in storage since 10/1/02. When the movers left and I turned on my 50 big screen t.v. I noticed a split down the center of my screen. I immediately called the company and they sent out a claims form. I received the form and mailed it back.

Today, 3/29/06, I received a call from Advance Storage telling me that it had a split in it when they first took it, which is a lie. I take good care of my furniture that's why I paid $85.00 an hour to have professionals, at least I thought, move my items. I also have the paper work to prove it. They said they were only liable for $50 on each item. To get my screen replaced it would cost around $500 for the part including shipping and handling and not including installation. I spoke with the owner and he wasn't any better and I gave him a few choice words because I know the condition of my t.v before it went into storage.

When I turned the t.v on, there was a long slit down the center of the screen. The material at the bottom looked as if it had been rolled across the ground instead of being put on a dolly. Consumers have to be protected and there should be something that can be done about the $50 per article and or .30 cents per pound per article. You sign a piece of paper and they can steal and break up your valuables.

I moved from New Rochelle, Ny to Ft. Lauderdale on 8/15/2005. My goods were delivered the following Tuesday. Four of the boxes had missing id tags. The driver claimed they came off becuase of the heat. I signed that I received the correct numbe of boxes. I subeseuently opened one of the boxes that had no id tag and found that it did not contain the table linens I had packed in a copier box, but paint that belonged to another move custoemr. There were four customers on one truck

I had purchased replacemtent insurance. The claism rep wrote me and I quote The settlement on the cliamed missing carton is made as a getsure of good will as our records do not inticate any itmes were noted missing at delivery. How was I to don until I opened the box.

The Atlas Van line claims rep is offering me $200 for the contents of a bocx that contained valuable lace, linen and cootn tablecloths, runners and napkins, etc. The value I claimed is $910. There were other items that I am gettign the proper vlaue for that totled $449.00. I have a $250 deductible.

Atlas Van Lines was hired to move my family from Bothell, WA to San Jose, CA 8/25/05. The items arrived in California on 8/29/05. After unloading the items the driver informed me that the local Atlas Van lines affiliate in Seattle (Mitchel Moving and Storage) was not able to give us a copy of the moving inventory at that time. The inventory shown to me at delivery was very vague, including items like, clothes. After unpacking all boxes I found that all of my jewelry and jewelry boxes were missing. I filed a claim for the cost to replace all jewelry at $3,000.00. After two weeks, a claims representative named Brad called back and left a message saying to call him.

I called back and reached another representative who told me Brad was busy, but had denied my claim because I did not tell them my jewelry was missing at the time of delivery and that it was not noted on the inventory. Of course I could not note it on the inventory, because it was not on the inventory, and I could not even find out that the item was not on the inventory because they did not send us a copy of the inventory until 10/1/05. I told the claims representative that I did not recieve a copy of the inventory and she said he would consider that, but I never heard from then again. I would like to file a complaint against Atlas Van Lines because they lost all of my jewelry, did not inventory my items properly and refused my claim based on me not signing papers that I never had access to.

I would like other potential customers of this company to be aware that Atlas Van Lines may misplace expensive items and that the company does not honor their own warranties.

All of my jewelery was stolen during the move. The company says it was not listed in the inventory and therefore did not exist.

I took the service of Atlas Van Lines for moving my stuff from Tampa, FL to Atlanta, GA. They damaged my leather sofa and few other things and lost some valuables (most importantly, my coin collection). They used the same truck which they used to move my stuff to move somebody else's stuff. And while doing that, they messed up with some of my boxes - some of those boxes were open (no sign of taping) with no tags at all.

When I challenged the driver, he indicated that since the total number of boxes did not change, we have to accept it. Without the full details of the content of each box, we had no way to prove that some of our stuff was lost. The inventory list that the packers (employees of Atlas Van Lines) prepared while packing our stuff did not list all the items; and those dishonest people just took advantage of that. When I claimed for compensation of the damaged leather sofa, they simply said that damage was not caused by handling during the move. However at the time of delivery, the driver himself admitted that damage was caused by him and he even offered me some cash; but I did not accept it fearing that repair would cost more than what he was offering me. Without having any other recourse, I went for arbitration with National Arbitration Forum. The movers appointed their favored judge for my case and I could not win; on the contrary, I had to spent additional money to bear the expense of arbitration.

Damage to furniture and loss of money.

$750

we a tv that the color in it is messed up, and we have no lamp to go in our living room that works, and we worked hard to be able purchase these item.

I filed a claim for the following: Kilm-repacement cost $825 (broken) Work bench table top-$150 (not recieved) Monitor-replacement cost $169(broken) CPU-reinburstment for repair 441.40 (CPU was repaired in May 1999, moved June 1999) Atlas claimed if the box is not visualy damaged they are not responsible. I have reciepts for both repairs. Total of items listed: $1585.40