Complain about a product or service

United Van Lines

Shannon of Plains MT (06/19/08)
We made our reservations a few weeks in advance for a move from Idaho to Montana. The day before we were to move, we called to ask what time the van and crew would be arriving as we had to drive 8 hours to meet them at our house. We were told no driver was available, and that the computer system was down. They assured us they would call back when the system was working again, and let us know the status of a driver.

Never receiving a call, we called first thing the next morning with the same results, no driver was available, the system was down, and they had no idea when it would be fixed. Each time they answered the phone it was with a curt Hello, never identifying themselves or their company. We had to ask if we had the correct number. After several more calls, with the same results.

Hurrying back to Idaho, we rented a do it your-self truck, and hired a crew to help with heavy items. It was annoying and stressful, and an example of a lousy business. We will never use them again, and will tell all our friends not to either.

Jeff of Gladstone OR (06/06/08)
I had a 7 to 14 day transit time guarantee and was told not to worry about the 14 day last day to deliver as that was just policy and my trip would not take that long. I called on day four or five to find that my load had not even left Florida yet. On day 13 I was told that my driver was having problems unloading and would be late by a day or two and that customer service from United would call me the following day with a delivery date and that I would be compensated for hotel and per diem for food.

I did not receive a call for another 2 days and was told by Suddath that my driver was going to be 3 days late and that United customer support would compensate me. I called customer service at United Van Lines and was then told the shipment would be 6 or 7 days late and that there was only a $125 per day reimbursement, not per diem, no reduction in fees. Their rep was rude and completely unconcerned with the disruption to my life.

I am supposed to start a new job on Monday and give a presentation with materials that are in the United truck. I will be out over $1000.00 by the end of this it will have a negative affect on my employment. I will avoid Suddath and United Van Lines in any future moves and referrals.

Hotel: $1300 Food: $300 Work materials: $1200

Didi of Denver CO (05/07/08)
In March 2008 I hired Wade Odell, a United Van Lines agent in Midland Park, NJ, to move me from Lyndhurst NJ to Denver CO. I interviewed 4 movers and specifically choose Wade Odell due to their affiliation with United Van Lines. The movers arrived 1 days late. They didnt call, I had to call them several times. The truck that arrived was a Mayflower truck, not a United truck (I specifically hired United not Mayflower). I was not informed Mayflower would be transporting my belongings and would not have agreed to it.

As my belongings were unloaded, I noticed the boxes were extremely dirty, damaged, crushed, upside down or ripped open, some of my furniture was not wrapped and was dirty, and my television was completely broken. There were a total of 18 broken and 7 missing items (some of which are not replaceable, they were wedding gifts or bought on vacation). I immediately contacted Wade Odell and left several messages. They did not return my calls for 3 weeks and when they did they were extremely rude. I finally received a one page claim form for 10 items, sent it in and have not been contacted by Wade Odell. Wade Odell did a bait and switch? by sub contracting my move to another carrier without my consent, they transferred my belongings on multiple trucks and have provided no customer service.

I paid Wade Odell $6,184.09 for my move and incurred $9,427.02 of damages due to broken, damaged or lot items. Kathy Hufnal of Wade Odell contacted me once 3 weeks after I left voice messages for her and was exremely rude. I mailed a claim form two weeks ago and followed up but have not been contacted by her.

Albert of Laredo TX (02/15/08)
I was transfered by my employer from the Phoenix, Arizona area to South Texas. I shopped around and regrettably chose United Van Lines. My family and I worked for days packing everything carefully for the trip. They arrived promptly on the morning of October 22, 2007 and commenced the loading process. They arrived with a driver and 2 guys they found in the alley somewhere. They commenced to load my stuff. After an hour of work the driver, Alex, called me out to the truck and told me that something bad had happened. He lifted the blanket from my 65 Mitsubishi HDTV and told me that the guys had dropped it from 6' onto the bed of the trailer. It was destroyed.

I had recently bought the TV for $2800.00 and the driver said that he had called his office and he assured me that it would covered 100%. I felt like I would be taken care of since they were a large reputable Company. Boy was I wrong. They delivered my belongings a week later. I submitted my claim on 11/1/07 and the ride began. The received it and responded by saying that they would not process my claim until they receive an additional $956.00. I paid in full on delivery day! After numerous calls they claimed that the amount was a mistake and they would continue to process my claim.

Approx. 1 month later they called and said that their adjuster was very busy and would not be able to inspect the TV until the end of January 2008. (3 months after delivery) Mid January I get a call from Jarret Clark from their claims Dept. He states that now they don't have an adjuster in our area and he wants me to photograph the damage myself. I refuse and he suddenly finds an adjuster to come out. He arrives and inspects the damage in late January. I get a call from Jarret in early February and he says that my TV is now only worth $1700.00 and says that after the deductible I will receive $1300.00. I protest and send him a copy of the receipt to prove the value of the TV. After receiving the receipt, they conclude that the TV was still only worth $1700.00 and sent me a check for $1300.00. After talking with them extensively, I determined that they compared my TV to a newer model that costs $1000.00 less, since mine is no longer available. (That's like comparing a Chevy Tahoe to an Escalade, basically the same vehicle but about 20,000 difference in price.I want to pursue this further but i'm not sure what I can do. All I want is what they broke. I think that is fair.

To replace the TV that I spent $2800.00 for, I need to spend an additional $1200.00 of my own money to get what they blatantly destroyed by the total disregard for my property.

Kate of Brookfield WI (02/06/08)
Almost 16 months after we used this moving company, they sent us a bill for another $98 and threated legal action if we didn't pay up in 2 weeks. This was after they charged my credit card with my permission almost $3,000 just days after the move 16 months ago, and were paid in full. This new bill with legal threat showed up without any communications at all these past 16 months about any supposed balance due.

This bill and threat was the second time we've been concerned about Schroeder/United's ethics. When they picked up our belongings, the driver said he'd have to come back with a smaller truck to fit in the building's driveway. We were charged a substantial surcharge ($699) for this. When we later saw other moving companies operate huge moving vans there with perfect ease, we came to feel that Schroeder/United had used the stress and time-sensitive pressures of moving to take advantage of us. Even though it was 16 months ago that I allowed Schroeder/United to charge my credit card, the credit card company says I cannot prevent them charging my card (if they still have the number) an additional $98.21 now. If they hit my card, the best I can do is dispute it.

$699 surcharge to bring in smaller truck. Re the $98.21 attempt to bill and collect with threat of legal action--I've responded with a letter letting them know I'm very ticked off.

Tao of Richmond TX (01/01/08)
I recently relocated from Arkansas to Houston, TX. After comparing prices and terms, she decided to use United Van Lines of Texas located out of Dallas. A couple of weeks before the move date (12/29-12/30 2-day window), we paid the deposit with a credit card. Since we had been in Houston, we bought three airline tickets (my wife, my son and myself) to fly from Houston back to Arkansas in order to pack and meet with the movers. We got to Arkansas the day (12/28) before the movers were supposed to show up. We were told that the driver was going to call us at least 24 hours prior to his arrival. NO ONE called. We called United several times and were finally able to speak with a dispatcher with the name Jimmy. He said everything would be OK and the driver should get to the house around 10 am on 12/28 as scheduled. On the morning of the 28th, NO ONE called by 9 am, so we called the Dallas office. At this point we were told the truck no longer had room for our load since the household they had picked up previously had used too much space in the truck!! I was extremely upset and enraged with the company.

Another dispatcher named Brandi told me that this is the nature of this line of business. She said that if I would stop complaining then she would have more time looking for another driver. She promised to call me back before she was getting off work at 2 pm. I had to call only to find out that she could not find anyone to pick us up either on the 29th or on the 30th. At that point I lost it and wanted my money back. They said they could cancel the contract and give me my deposit back. I also demanded that they pay me to compensate me for the air tickets and trip expenses since the trip was made specifically to wait for the movers, United declined my request. At this point, I had to quickly locate another mover that can pick up my load within the next week's time frame, and find a friend to actually wait for the movers at my house because our return flight is on Jan 1.

This has been a horrible and stressful experience for the whole family. I would like to explore the possibility of resorting to law and taking legal actions against United Van Lines of Texas.

1. Air tickets $800 2. Trip expenses $500 3. Having to use another movers with an extremely short notice and pay a much higher price as a result --- $1000 more

Pamela of Washington DC (10/29/07)
We spent thousands having United Van Line's NY subcontractor Liberty pack and move and unpack our goods. They neglected to inventory half the goods, didn't tag them, signed the inventory form on our behalf under customer signature and walked off the job, throwing boxes of untagged goods onto a truck, and then throwing them into storage. Beyond their rude demeanor and unprecedented ineptitude, when contacted about this for one year they refused to take action.

Today I called their legal department, and Nancy hung up the phone on me when I asked why our goods weren't inventoried properly. I had asked if it was standard practice to sign for the customer on forms that state no numbered items . We have to get our items out of strorage now, and we have no idea how to validate which items are left there and which are coming out since most aren't tagged.  United/Liberty is trying to blame this now on their storage company. They have nothing to do with it. I have never in my life dealt with such rude people as United/Liberty who refuse to take responsibility for the damage they have done to someone else's property.

John of Spring Hill FL (10/28/05)
I paid $5597.08 to move my household goods from Maryland to Florida during the first week of August 2005. During the move some of my property was damaged by the movers negligence. When I unpacked my belongings I found many items damaged. When my property was first removed from the truck the United driver did identify 5 items that were visibly damaged by the movers. Infinity speaker Curio TV stand Leather couch Bowflex The driver did write on the bill of lading that the items were damaged and would be replaced at "full value."

United Vanlines sent out a company named Schalck Services to inspect the damages. I do not believe the person from this company has any training or other qualifications that allow him to accuratly determine the value of my property. Furthermore, United then sent me a letter stating that the total damage was $205 as stated by Schalck Services. However, they stated I have a damage deductable of $500, so no money was sent to me. The United driver wrote on the bill of lading that my damaged property would be replaced at full value. My property was loaded on the truck by careless day laborers who received no training on the proper loading and care of household goods, while the driver slept in the cab of the truck.

Christy of Bella Vista AR (09/21/05)
When we moved from Forest, VA to Bella Vista, AR, we had to go into a United Van Lines storage facility, Goff Moving and Storage, for 10 days while construction was completed on our home. During that time, they lost approximately 20 boxes of our belongings. We listed what was missing to the best of our knowledge and the cost to replace those items. There were some boxes that they listed as missing that I told them did make it here and listed extremely reasonable replacement costs for what was actually lost. They lost our belongings because they did not follow their own procedures and they are supposedly ISO certified. Then they wanted to quibble over dollar amounts.

Doug of Montrose CO (08/06/05)
This move occurred the last week of Oct. 04. They finally sent me the small amount in March 05. I moved from Texas to Colorado. Mayflower was to move me be not available. They sent United as a replacement. This is the second time United has moved me. The first time the truck slid into a ditch in the winter time with much damage. My company paid for insurance and it was well used then.

This time the problem was the driver from United  did not use any packing blankets on much of the furniture. I have several pictures of what it looked like in the truck when it arrived. Needless to say there were several items damaged. I did not see a need to buy additional insurance when using a professional service. That was a mistake on my part. However, the estimate for repair was much higher than they would pay for. They went back to their per pound basic payout. And an extra $600.oo because this should not have happened. Total of $1400.00. The estimate cost of repair was about $2000.00 and up.

I asked for the repiar to be done and they said 'No'. Here is the rest of the story, They had had so much trouble with this driver he was called back to the United agent Johnson Moving and Storage of Denver, Co and fired before my household goods were delivered. They knew there was a problem and did nothing to correct the problem before the damage could occur. The new driver apologized when he came and said he hoped there was no damage as it was the poorest packing job he had ever seen.

John of Spring Hill FL (10/28/05):
I paid almost $5,600 to have United move my household goods from MD to FL in August 2005. During the move, many items were damaged by careless and untrained day laborers while their driver slept in the cab of the truck. Five specific items were written on the bill of lading with a note from the driver that they should be replaced at "full value". United sent an adjuster from Schalck Services to inspect the damages. United then notified me that damages were estimated at $205 which would be applied to my $500 damages deductible. The actual cost to replace all of the items is $3,480.

Wendy of Eugene OR (9/27/05):
I moved from California to Oregon. United loaded my furniture on a Friday and was supposed to have it delivered within 7 days. It is now 12 days past loading day and we do not have a delivery date in sight. United will allow no refunds and has horrible customer service. We have incurred added expenses of living in a hotel, eating out and having to cancel a trip that we planned months prior to our move.

Roberta of Honalulu HI (9/26/05):
United delivered my household goods and furniture to Honalulu on 5/25/05. When they unloaded the truck, almost every piece of my furniture was damaged. Chunks of wood were taken out of some of the pieces and others were rubbed together so hard that there were burn marks all over them. I paid over $10,000, including insurance, for this move. When the adjuster, Patrick Nii of AIMS, showed up, he estimated the damages at $998 and applied it to my $1,000 deductible. We worked hard to pay for our furniture and now it is ruined.

Christy of Bella Vista AR (9/21/05):
When we moved from Forest, VA to Bella Vista, AZ, we had to store our belongings in a United Van Lines storage facility, Goff Moving and Storage, for 10 days while construction was completed on our home. During that time, they lost approximately 20 boxes of our belongings. We made a list of missing items and reasonable replacement costs. It is now 3 months later and United is still $500 away from an acceptable price.

Hsiao-Wen of Chicago IL (9/17/05):
I recently moved from Somerville, MA to Chicago, IL. I decided to use United/McCollister who gave me an estimate of $3,450.57 with a 100% binding charge of $3,795.63 for the entire move. My furniture was loaded on 8/24 and was scheduled for delivery on 9/2. On 8/31 McCollister's called to notify me of the total moving charge of $3,882, and I proceeded to give them my credit card information so they could charge me for the move. A few hours later, I received a call from my credit card company telling me that McCollister's was demanding payment of $4,552. When I spoke with McCollister's, they explained that they had given me incorrect information earlier that day and that if I did not pay the $4,552 charge, they would not deliver my goods and any further delay would only add more charges. I was forced to pay the $4,552.

Doug of Montrose CO (8/06/05):
I moved from Texas to Colorado in October 2004. United packed and loaded my furniture without using blankets or packing supplies on many of the pieces. The driver who loaded the truck in Texas was fired before even delivering my goods to Colorado. I signed a contract for a professional service, but United supplied a less than professional driver. Since I did not purchase additional insurance, I have had to accept the $1,400 offered by United in lieu of the actual $2,000+ it would cost me to have my items repaired.

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