Colonial Van Lines Reviews

During the pick up, two guys showed up, and they took all the boxes. They were all boxed up, sealed, and put in a van. There was some artwork, some framed prints that I didn't have boxes for. So, they charged me a little bit extra, and they boxed the stuff up. There were a couple of desk chairs. They loaded up the truck, and within three hours, they were done and gone. I told Colonial that the stuff needed to go into storage because the new house that I bought had not been built yet. I gave them a rough idea of when escrow would close. So, they stored the stuff. Where they stored it, I have no idea. But when I finally got a date, they showed up here.

There was a small hiccup when their truck broke down, and they were going to be a little bit late, but the lady was very pleasant, and I said, “That's fine. I understand.” When we finally got a date, they showed up here very early in the morning, and brought the desk in, and assembled it. I told them to just leave the boxes in the garage. I would bring them inside one at a time, and open them up, and put stuff away. All in all, Colonial Van Lines was very informative. Nobody else called me back. But Colonial made the effort to call me back.

During that time, when I realized I was gonna let go of my deposit, I checked with Colonial. The guy I talked with was very helpful. He agreed with my assessment of what was going on and that it had been misrepresented. He said things to get me to switch to them and it sounded good. He told me they could get everything onto one truck and set me up with people who showed up and did a good job. It was a single truck move, although it wasn’t what I expected. And the van and the people weren’t from Colonial.

I was given an amount to pay and my understanding was that my stuff would be weighed, and if I had gone over what I had gotten a quote for, I would be charged more. I am not convinced that my stuff was ever weighed. The two amounts I paid were reasonable, and I wanted it all to be over with. I don't remember what I was quoted and what it ended up costing me. But it couldn't have gone too far off. I would have noticed that. The movers were friendly, and the experience was positive, but it wasn't what I had expected. It was two guys who had rented a truck from Enterprise. One of them couldn't speak much English, and the other spoke a little more English but not super well. There was a lady who kept calling to check on me and make sure I knew what to expect. I talked with three people from Colonial, and they did a good job of letting me know how everything would work and what I needed to do.

When the drivers arrived, they probably took more than what I had originally listed. My boxes ended up being a lot more, but they were helpful and moved all of my stuff. I was happy with that. After the disappointment, feeling like I had been tricked by the other company, and with Colonial seeming like it wasn't really Colonial but someone they had lined up for me, everything turned out very positively. The movers were very helpful, and in the end, there wasn’t anything to complain about.

One of my biggest disappointments was realizing that moves don't happen in one day. Since it was only a five-hour drive, I imagined my stuff would be loaded onto a truck, follow me to my destination, and be unloaded the same day. With Colonial, it wasn't so bad because they arranged for people who could work within a delivery window that was acceptable to me, and my stuff was delivered the next day. Overall, the move went well. The sales process wasn’t as straightforward as it could have been. But the end result was what I needed. It was a pleasant experience because the people were easy to get along with. They didn't nitpick about the weight or the number of boxes.

Some of the companies were insisting upon having a check on one end or the other. And what happened in this situation is I flew from Florida to Missouri and got them loaded up and made the down payment. Then I flew back from Missouri to Florida. And when we unloaded the truck, I made the final payment.

The other two companies I talked to needed a cashier's check on the delivery end, and that wasn't possible because we had not established a banking system yet in Florida for them. Colonial was the only one of the three that would allow me to make payments on both ends using my credit card.

And when you've got somebody moving cross country, and they are moving because of senior memory issues, and we are moving them into a care facility, those bank arrangements, we still have to open an account in their name, and we may never open a bank account here in their name. In today's modern banking world, there's no need to, except that it's almost impossible to get a certified check without a local bank representative. So, that being the final decider, I could pay them.

They did fine. The only thing that they were not upfront with me about, and I was very disappointed in the whole operation, was that I ended up being farmed out to somebody else. It was not a Colonial Van Lines truck that came to the house and picked up the stuff. It was not a Colonial Van Line person who delivered on the other end. They used a company called Florida Movers. Those guys were fantastic. Next time, I'll just cut out Colonial Van Lines, and I'll call Florida Movers. That was the one thing I was really looking for, and the one thing I did not get.

But the service on the pickup end and on the delivery end was fantastic. The workers did a great job. I have no complaints about how they handled any of that. It just wasn't what I was told was going to happen. On both ends of this move, it was impossible to get the delivery van to either the house to pick up or the apartment center to deliver. And so, they had to shuttle in smaller trucks. I thought they would be able to actually get to the delivery end. I anticipated the shuttle in the smaller truck on the pickup end in Columbia. But the truck driver from Florida Van Lines had contracted two guys to come in, and they loaded everything up, and they were fantastic. He just sat and watched. And he had hired them to do all the labor work. And in a day's time, they loaded up that truck and packed everything that had to go in it, and they were ready to go. They did great.

On the delivery end, I didn't find out until three days before I was anticipating the delivery that they decided they couldn't get to the delivery end with the big truck. And so, rather than calling me and saying, “We got a problem, and we're going to solve it this way," they just told me that my load would be delivered on such and such a day, and there would be a different vehicle. No explanation as to why it was at their facility for five days. What they didn't know was that I got an Air Tracker and stuck it in one of the boxes. I knew exactly where my stuff was, every inch of the way.

When they finally told me, "We don't think we can get in there with this truck," then they had someone else from Florida Movers unload the truck at their warehouse into a smaller truck, and then bring it here to make the final delivery. Once they got here, it was a team of about four workers. They knocked it out in two or three hours, and they did a great job. Of all the stuff that we moved, I only have one thing that was damaged, and it is a piece of art that had wooden leaves glued onto a wooden tree inside a wooden octagon, and one leaf came loose. No big deal.

I can't find anything scratched. I can't find anything broken. They have been going through and unloading as they wanted to, and unpacking things. And sometimes they've had a hard time finding stuff because they weren't there when it was packed. But when they find it, it all makes sense, 'cause it's stuff that was together. All of that was great. The communication could have been better. But the actual work was fantastic.

I wanted my mother to use the time as bring-only-what-you-really-need type of deal. She and some of her friends and family members had already started packing boxes. The movers did the bed, the dresser, and other big items, and they wrapped that up. I had a little confusion ‘cause they were asking for payment for the extra packing material, and I didn't know how that was supposed to go. I reached out to my assigned customer service agent at Colonial Van Lines, and I told her thought I was only paying them at the end when the stuff was delivered. She told me to let the gentleman know and he made the change on the paperwork. Once that was done, I didn't have any issues after that.

Whenever I reached out to whichever department I was dealing with, whether it was the finance department, my customer service person, the person who initially started me out, everybody was great. I also received phone calls from the QC people, to make sure I understood the packing and the date that stuff was being picked up. I have already recommended Colonial Van Lines to a few people. There's one gentleman that used to work with me, and he's relocating. I told him that I had a very pleasant experience with Colonial Van Lines.

I moved out of an apartment, but I still had a lot of stuff. What was nice is even though they have like a minimum payment, which kinda took me aback at first, I realized that's because they do houses. Even though I had stuff to do that wasn't on the estimate, they didn't add any money to it. I guess they figured I was way under what they were charging anyway. They did an excellent job. They did exactly what they said they were going to do, and didn't charge me anything extra. So, I would definitely recommend them.

My delivery arrived 4 days late than promised. To make matters worse, the final cost was approximately $1,000 higher than my original estimate. Again, Ms. ** assured me that they have this down to a science with estimates and their quoted estimate is what you pay nothing more. However, upon delivery I was informed either I pay the bill or they take my belongings. The bill must be paid before they will even start to offload your belongings.

When I spoke with Jose about the increase in the final invoice, he informed me that because Colonial Van Lines gave an estimate for a king size bed with headboard and footboard, that there was an increase in weight because my king size bed with headboard and footboard was a canopy bed. That explanation felt unreasonable for the increase, especially since I had provided accurate information about all my other items. I was never asked about a canopy bed as it is a king size bed with headboard and footboard.

As a Doctor of Nursing Practice, I believe in never allowing emotions to override sound judgement. Unfortunately, the way this company handled my move tested that principle. Then, when my belongings finally arrived, the delivery crew attempted to charge me additional fees because there was an elongated walk up to my home-another unexpected cost and surprise that was never disclosed by Ms. **.

My experience with Colonial Van Lines was filled with poor communication, delayed delivery, and unexpected charges. I will never utilize this company to move a lamp for me. I strongly encourage anyone considering Colonial Van Lines to do your research before trusting Ms. Shena **, Jose or any other employee with this company. Based on my experience I can never recommend Colonial Van Lines.

Come to moving day, we find 1: they did not put our washer and dryer on the list like we asked, and had to pay more money. 2: the movers show up with a 26' Penske truck. 3: They are not colonial van line workers(they subbed out like they said they wouldnt). 4: Were not prepared to pack anything as their paperwork did not have partial pack on it like we paid for. So now we had to pay for the moving materials and the labor for them do so which was almost another $2000 on top of the original.

5: Of course they force you to pay the bill before they touch anything on the truck once you reach your destination, so once everything was off the truck and unpacked we found broken furniture, furniture that was not wrapped that should be, mold on a mattress that got wet, glass broken and boxes crushed including ones labeled "FRAGILE" that were on the bottom of stacks, and brand new articles of clothing, still in boxes, missing. I 100% would not recommend and give a 0 out 10 stars. I would not even recommend this company to my enemy if I had one.

P.S. If you still decided after my family's horrible experience with this company to choose them, please do your best to not deal with "Brian **", he will lie to you from the start of your conversation to the finish but make you believe it. If you need him for anything after the day he seals his sale with you, forget it. He is no more than a greasy salesman who apparently gets his jollies off by screwing over the average American family. I can't speak for the rest but I only imagine they are all the same. I would also like to add that it has now been well over a month and after putting in our detailed claim report for all the broke and missing items with Bruce ** and Devonya **, we have know been ghosted and can can not get any reponse after days and days of emails and phone calls.

Toshiba ** - Claims manager

All listed above I hope this reaches you and see the type of people you have working for you, if you are already aware you should be ashamed to run a business like this and for the record, the company I work for relocates employees all over the country multiple times a year and I will be sure to pass this along within my company and make sure it reaches well outside of my company to ensure you don't do this damage to anyone else.