Colonial Van Lines Reviews

Original Review: July 18, 2018

I contacted Colonial Van Lines because of their high customer satisfaction. I felt they could handle our move across the country from Missouri to Florida. I was informed by Colonial and Royal (their contractor) I would be packed on Friday 6/22 and loaded on their semi 6/23. None of which happened. Royal Logistics packed all of our belongings in Home Depot boxes with no tracking labels for inventory. Midway through the first day of packing I was presented with an enormous estimation which I did not request nor agree with. Royal and Colonial both stated it is only an estimate we will get weights of truck. 2 guys packed 6/23-6/24. I was told Royal would be back with helpers to get loaded up on 6/25 and it would only take a few hours. Called Mikal at Colonial. Mover still not at the house to load at 12:41, I was informed they were working to get a truck.

One Budget truck showed up at 2:52 pm on 6/25, they had to stop and get blankets and weigh the first truck is why they got delayed. I called Mikal back at 6:09 and he stated he would call back with answer on why there was no semi and why they were running behind. No call back from Colonial. I asked the driver to speak with his boss-received a bunch of excuses and assurance they would get it all loaded up and get more trucks. Natalia at Royal stated the mover would be back on 6/26 by 10am with another truck to load the rest of the house. I asked the driver to be sure there was a lock on the load on 6/25 while they had it at the hotel. Assured there would be one-truck arrived on 6/26 with no lock. Load unsecured night of 6/25. 10am 6/26 mover not at the house as promised.

I called Colonial and Mikal will not answer-ask to speak to supervisor, Colonial tells me they will call in 30 minutes, Mikal called back 45 minutes later not a supervisor. I spoke to the driver at 9am and he stated they were again working to get a truck, I asked that they be sure to get extra blankets and wrap for all of the furniture and pictures to be loaded for the day. Movers arrive at 12:03. 1:05 pm the movers are out of shrink wrap. Driver stated they needed to get more-since it was raining now he couldn’t go out in the rain. I called Natalia with Royal Logistics and she was upset they didn’t show up with everything they needed (as were we, since I just asked him before they arrived). I called Colonial frustrated they were running out of space on the second truck since they only got a 16 foot truck.

I spoke with Sanad at Royal to express my concerns and sent pictures. Third truck arrived at 4:25pm (no weight ticket). Finished packing 3rd truck at 9:58 pm only because we physically had to help bring stuff to the truck. My family had to drive their 3rd truck for them and go purchase locks to be sure everything was secure. No lock on truck / inventory not accurate / carried all backyard furniture around to the truck / no “picture or TV boxes” as in estimate most wrapped in blanket - not all pictures protected with blankets or boxed. Move out was 4 days late related to insufficient equipment and personnel / the movers had to use my dolly and screwdriver to disassemble items-bed frames-did not bring own tools. That completes phase one of lack of commintment to deadlines and fulfillment of services.

Phase 2 delivery. I was promised by Mikal at Colonial and Natalia and Sanad with Royal Logistics that delivery would go much smoother and they would be on time and deliver to Florida on 7/14. Attempted to call Mikal 7/9. Left message that morning - no return call. Spoke with another agent that got Mikal on the phone and confirmed delivery for 7/14 between 9am-12. I wanted to be prepared to drive my family for 2 days across the country. I heard nothing the rest of the week from either party. 7/13 I called to be sure everything was still on track for 7/14 delivery. I was then informed by Mikal the delivery is now delayed until 7/19 or 20th (no one called to update me on this delay). I called Mikal at Colonial for update on 7/16, per the conversation the truck was in Tennessee on 7/13-per Mikal we would be delivered in the window by the 20th of July.

7/17 I called for an update on where the truck was, Tyrone from Colonial stated that he would have a manager call me since he was not getting any commitment from Royal Logistics. 7/17 Mikal called back to state Royal now can’t commit to be here before the 20th after they originally agreed to arrive on 7/14. To date I have incurred significant costs to provide for my family and work to keep them comfortable while we have no belongings. We have had to purchase personal items, clothing, hotel stay, pans to make food, and also miss countless hours of work related to deliverables not being received. We need help... We still do not have a date on when our items will arrive to our home and we need a resolution. We have already pre-planned personal and work trips as our belongings were supposed to arrive on 7/14.

Original Review: July 16, 2018

I am waiting, at this moment, to hear from CVL regarding my pickup. I was given an “estimated pickup” of July 15 or 16, after requesting a pick up on July 15. I was “never” told I had to pay extra to get a “confirmed” delivery date. I knew if the date were July 16, I would still meet other deadlines I had. My initial contact with CVL was with Annie and her great service is why I chose CVL after reading many of the negative reviews. And sure enough I too paid 30% of my final costs upfront.

I’m writing this review before my disaster strikes because today is July 16 and I’ve not heard from anyone at CVL. I called Friday after talking for the first time with my supposed “move manager” to communicate items I told them about were not on the list. (She’d suggested I check each item carefully so I did.) I waited on hold for ten minutes and no one ever picked up my call. I left two messages after that call. I’m so surprised I’ve not heard from anyone because I’ve had several changes to my move as late as a week ago, and they had been so supportive and responsive.

I am so concerned my experience will be like all the other negative reviews I’ve read. I decided not to wait until after the “scheduled” pickup to communicate my concerns. I should have heard from someone by now. It seems their service review teams dies their job because they respond immediately to customer concerns. I pray that by posting here before I have any more concerns will get me a response now because I cannot wait for days to have my furniture picked up.

Nicolas assured me I will hear from him, to understand what number I will be on the route. I have called Nicolas NUMEROUS times and have left NUMEROUS messages. I have also communicated with Mena ** and yet to receive information. The window I got for delivery was 7/7 to 7/14, which is 2 days for the window and I am yet to receive the weight and cost. I sent a review 2 days ago. I received a generic response that someone will contact me. I am yet to receive a call. I called and still have not gotten a response from anyone.

However, the contractor used by Colonial gets low marks as they provided a different experience from Colonial Corporate. The driver who came made it clear that he had been up since 2 o'clock, that he didn't even know he was coming and that he had another pickup at the end of the day. I got a bunch of whining when he was here to do a job. He had attitude which I already communicated to corporate. Then, instead of moving a queen Tempur Pedic bed, we were moving a king Tempur Pedic bed instead. The whole bed itself doesn't weigh more than 150 and I estimated that I had to pay an extra $1500 or $2000 in deposit because their contractor was estimating all the extra weight. That started sending up red flags for me because I felt like I was starting to be taken. He kept saying that it was just an estimate but here I was signing the document.

That was when I called Colonial and complained about the guy. They told me that I could always meet the guy at a certified weight station on delivery, follow them to my house, unload and follow them to the weight station to get another certified weight after. That was great to know and that was what we did. The guy was way off and the actual weight came in less than the quote originally given by 100 pounds. Had I not verified per Colonial's rep, their contractor would have overcharged me. Instead, I got a refund of 1200 bucks.

Colonial was true to their word that they charge objectively. As a consumer, I wouldn't use any transport company unless I was paying by weight only and that I could verify before and after delivery. Still, I wouldn't trust Colonial's subcontractors because they are paid based on the weight they deliver. They have every incentive to fill up the gas tank at the appropriate time to make sure the truck weighs more to say that they transported more. Because Colonial told me I could verify the weight, I would use their service again and I would recommend them.

(3rd) We were given an exact date/time, but the movers showed up a day early, which by the way, were SUBCONTRACTORS! I was not told that they sub their work out. They arrived at 4 pm on a Saturday and packed until midnight. We were furious! We were also promised weight station tickets for before and after the pick, which we never received. So, after we paid $300 for a hold my fiancée drove 14 hours to meet the truck, and they decided to leave a day later. (4th) I still haven't received any documentation from Colonial Van Lines stating our final bill...

Now the real sad part. I'm in Maryland at work, my fiancée is in Florida, the truck arrives and they are demanding payment for $3000, and if she doesn't pay, our belongings will go into storage. She is crying her eyes out, and having a panic attack. I had to write a nasty email to CVL, demanding my documentation which I should've had days ago to prepare for this move. If I knew the final bill was over $5000, I wouldn't done this differently. Anyway, I was forced to leave work, and pay by credit card. I made several emails, and spoke to Roxanne at Colonial Van Lines, the account manager, about the breach of contract, and how we had the WORST experience ever. I still haven't had any response. They took our money, and left us hanging. I will Never use this company, and I will Never recommend this company... Stay Away from COLONIAL VAN LINES!

Updated on 07/25/2018: I finally received a call after a week and half about resolving this matter. I was told, they will ONLY refund our funds if I write a review stating this matter was resolved. I have rights, and people need to know the truth about this company. They need to know before choosing a moving company. It's a Big deal! I will only accept a fair refund, which is not even close to what they offered us. Also, once this is resolved, then I will post, that our situation was taken care of, in a professional manner. I've read about their tactics in other posts.

We followed them to the weigh station afterward just to make sure they didn't pull any shady stuff. Apparently our household goods were 2000+ pounds more than what was quoted to us. We didn't get a chance to see them weigh the truck empty, so we are suspicious of that. We will be requiring them to allow us to inspect and weigh the truck before and after, just to ensure they did the right thing when they weighed it the first time. That is, if we ever get our stuff.

They told us that our belongings would go straight to storage in the city we were moving to. That was a lie. It's still in storage in Alabama where we moved from. We called them two weeks ago to tell them we had gotten our house and were ready for our stuff. We were initially quoted a window to receive our things between June 21st and July 1st. They didn't even call us to tell us they weren't coming on those dates. We were then told that they wouldn't arrive until the 4th of July.

With that being said, we canceled our plans. They just called today (July 3rd) to tell us that we won't get our things until the 8th. They also told us their truck broke down in Missouri... While our stuff is still sitting in Alabama. So, doing the math, they will have our stuff for over 30 days when we were ready for it three weeks prior. We are currently living out of suitcases, sleeping on an air mattress, and eating fast food since our pots and pans are with the movers. Needless to say, we are pissed and have surpassed our threshold for patience. This move has cost us $7,000+ and most of our sanity. Whatever you do, don't call Colonial Van Lines or J T Express. They will screw you harder than you've ever been screwed before.

During the pick-up, I was prepared but my daughter did not quite have all her stuff packed up. She was still kinda going through her stuff in the bedroom, but the movers helped her. I was also impressed with their efficiency. You could tell they were very experienced with the way that they pack things. They knew exactly what they were doing. Also, the driver who dropped our stuff was a wonderful person to work with. I've recommended Colonial Van Lines to some friends in Savannah and told them how great and efficient they were. They were in and out in one day, which really surprised me. Everything worked really good and nothing major was damaged during the move.

So later Friday evening I called back and got someone in dispatch who told me my account was on hold and in compensate status. Saturday came and dispatch called around 10 am to inform me they still did not have a driver to pick up my load. I was crying and frantic and desperate and sent about for hateful emails to Anne because here I am in my apartment and my lease is up the next day and I have no way to move any of my stuff and nowhere to move it to and nowhere to go. She called me back later Saturday afternoon on her way out the door to tell me they were still working on finding a driver for my load and just left me hanging. At the very least I should have been offered some kind of credit card or PO number or something so that I could go get a room on the company since they put me out so horribly.

I trusted them and they totally screwed me over and they have $1,650 of my money and I am still sitting in a ghetto Motel 6 in Topeka Kansas wondering when the hell I'm getting moved. If I wanted to move myself I would have rented a U-Haul. Doing what they did to me put me out having to move again before I even get moved by the moving company not to mention having to store all of my possessions when I've already been paying two months on an empty storage shed in San Marcos. As far as I'm concerned Colonial Van Lines you owe me big-time. Nice way around doing the right thing by your customers putting your clause in your contract under shipping letter G to say pickup and delivery times or estimates.

Who the hell hires a moving company with an estimated pickup date? You have thoroughly destroyed my trust and confidence in any major moving company ever again and I will never do business with you in the future. Tomorrow I will call and my contract lady and tell her I want a full refund plus reimbursement for this ghetto motel room I'm in, my meals for yesterday and today and I will just go get that damn U-Haul and move myself and tow my car. 0 stars as far as I'm concerned.

Updated on 07/21/2018: So I was supposed to get a check for $200 from Colonial Van Lines "for my troubles." To help offset the cost of the motel room I had to get the night THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO MOVE ME... I never got it. Today a rep said they were going to expedite the money to my checking by Monday, 7/23/2018. Then he called back again today to say the reason the money had not be disbursed was because I haven't removed my review from ConsumerAffairs website. I WILL NOT TAKE YOUR $200 BRIBE COLONIAL VAN LINES. Keep your money!! You cannot just say "sorry for the inconvenience" and continue doing this to people. If I could give you zero stars I would!! Shove your money where the sun doesn't shine!

I was also warned many times by people saying that Colonial was a trumped-up van lines, that they contract out to everybody, and they don’t have any van of their own. But the person that American Van Lines contracted out to really worked well for me. They did a very good job and were very careful with the furniture. Two persons came out for the pick up and one of them was the same one who delivered my stuff in Kentucky. At the time, he brought another person with him and they were small individuals but they were mighty. They lifted a piano and an organ and I didn't think they were gonna make it but they did.

And in the end, their charge came in $500 less than the estimate and they delivered on time after two and a half months of storage. The guys who came out were very fine men. They were from Portugal and with my knowledge of Bulgarian, I was able to speak to them a little bit. So, it was sort of fun and I liked dealing with them better than with some of the reps from Colonial Van Lines. I even got some bad information from a survey individual that called and told me the final payment which turned out to be wrong. She quoted $3,070 and the final payment was $1,060. But it all worked out very well. I appreciate the service and I thank the world for the people that came out.

Original Review: June 27, 2018

I ended up picking Colonial Van Lines based on some reviews and some pricing when they had given me a quote. The interaction with their rep was good. I was really happy with that. But I did have a couple of issues particularly regarding items being dropped off because we moved and most of the items were supposed to go into storage. We were first told, “Well, the truck can make a stop off before they put it into storage.” We found out a week before we were supposed to move that whoever had given me that information was incorrect and we then had to take all the items that we needed and ship them.

We then had an additional problem where one of the items that needed to come was a set of tires and because I was also having my car trailered through them instead of driving it up myself, one person I'd spoken with said, “Well, we got an approval for you to load your tires into your car and they'll just take them when they trailer the car.” So, when the person showed up, he asked about the tires and said he can't take it. So, that was an issue as well which I did end up getting figured but basically, they said, “Well, we’re gonna get charged X amount for being overweight. Can you give us an extra $100 to pay for that?” There's no way I was able to get it out there and this was the day before I was supposed to fly out, so I didn’t have much of an option then.

When we did finally got our things delivered, the window for delivery was supposed to be between 10:00 AM and 2:00 was when they were supposed to start. They did not show up until 7:30 at night. We kept trying to get in touch with people and they said, “Oh, we got to talk to dispatch and this and that and everything.” I guess our items were stored in Chicago and we were moving out to Denver. So, when the time came to move, they had one driver coming from Chicago and was supposed to be meeting the local team so that there’d be two of them to unpack. So, something fell apart between the scheduling with them because it sounds like the guy from Chicago was sitting around for most of the day waiting for the crew.

And when they did deliver, because they were running late, they were very much rushing. So, a lot of the items that got brought in got put into random rooms. They took our directions of where we wanted things for the first hour and then after that, they were just moving stuff in. Because of the rushing, they also did manage to drop a couch on top of a 200-year old antique writing desk which we did get reimbursed in full because we had bought extra insurance on it. But that was not pleasant. I don't know if something fell apart on Colonial side or if it was from the local movers they were using. So, that was concerning.

Furthermore, as we were going through stuff, there were definitely a lot of things that were missing and unfortunately, I've already put in my report. So, it sounds like I'm not allowed to add things now. Obviously, I'm not real happy about that. A lot of the stuff that we got out which was supposed to be in a climate-controlled space, as we were told when I talked to them in beginning, was definitely not in a climate-controlled space and it came out extremely dirty. Colonial Van Lines definitely could use some work.

Original Review: June 27, 2018

Oh, Colonial. They contract out to the lowest bidder, and it shows. Expensive as hell for the deposit. About $2,300 for our initial deposit. Once the goods are picked up, another $2,800 or so. Let's talk about the guys who came to pick up our stuff! They got lost on the way to our house. We lived on a military installation that isn't hard to find at all. By the time they did show up, they were two hours late. We were quoted a window of 8 am-12 pm, so that put them at our house at 2 pm. We blocked off the whole morning for them, where we could have been taking care of other things we had to do before the move. We boxed up everything ourselves and took inventory of everything to save them time and save us money. They charge outrageous prices for boxes and materials, so we bought everything ourselves. We also hauled everything outside so all they had to do was take everything to the truck.

So, one of the movers (they sent us two whole movers), spoke terrible English, and the other was just weird. They finally came on the clock at 3 pm, and instead of starting to load our things onto the truck, they immediately took a 20 minute lunch and cigarette break. So, after actually starting at around 3:20 pm, they took four and a half hours to take everything to the truck, one small box or item at a time. They took 15-20 minute breaks like every 45 minutes. Our account manager (Tyrone **) kept great communication throughout the whole process up until our household goods got picked up. Suddenly his phone didn't ring in his office and he didn't check his messages.

After calling other people and complaining about him, they told us he has been in his office all week. We finally got in touch with him where he claimed he didn't receive our voicemails we left on his phone, nor any of our calls the whole week. Because of this, we might receive our household goods by the end of the quoted window for delivery (June 21-July 1 was the quote). They might even be later than that. We called the people they contracted out to and they weren't any help either. I will update this review once we receive our things and let you all know if anything is missing or broken. Nothing will surprise me at this point.

Original Review: June 26, 2018

Don’t use Colonial Van Lines. They are a brokerage and not a moving company. They subcontract the move. They charge about 30% over the actual cost of the move. If you go with a mover directly you will save 30% over using Colonial. We had a contract. The first item on the list was a pizza oven (weighs 1,000 lbs.). Contract was in place 5 weeks before the move. 6 days before the move Colonial called to say they couldn’t move the pizza oven. If we had more lead time we would have changed companies right then but we were stuck with our timeline. 4 days before the move date they called to say they could move the pizza by using a separate truck with a lift gate. 2 days before the move they called to say the separate truck was not possible and they talked to the drivers for our move and the drivers said they couldn’t move the pizza oven.

At that point (less than 2 days before the move) we ordered another pizza oven to be sent to our new house and would leave the old pizza oven there. 1 day before the move (less than 24 hrs) they called to say they could move the pizza oven. When the drivers arrived they said they could move the pizza oven. I asked the drivers if Colonial had contacted them about the pizza oven. Drivers said no. We asked Colonial to take $1,000 off our bill of $9,000 to partially compensate for the cluster they created. They declined. Don’t use Colonial. Colonial Employees: Get your resumes together. A company with this many problems will go out of business.

However, we had a little issue because after the movers got there in Knoxville, Tennessee, it’s a little bit confusing on when they were gonna arrive at the next place. They said they could get in Aberdeen, Maryland at a certain date. We asked if they can get there in the next 24 hours to which they said they can. But we never got an ETA from the company when they would exactly be there. So we called and they said they were given a long date range from 23rd of May to June 2nd. We needed our bed and stuff and we thought they would happen just a little quicker. It wasn’t super slow but they were about a day off from what we thought it was going to be. It wouldn’t have been a problem had we known. But some of the communication was messed up and so it messed up our plans, which wasn’t necessarily the best.

I like the movers and they were nice guys but I didn’t like that they smoked around my stuff and some of that got into the boxes, which is unprofessional. I didn’t particularly like that because we have a baby, but they were very good with our stuff and they moved real fast. Another thing was the way Colonial do their estimation. We were told one amount for the estimation and they said that it would change based off of weight, but it wind being $2,000 more than they initially estimated. I’m blessed that my job paid for the move but that probably would have been a huge issue if that was a regular person. I could have probably found a company who have done it for less and we would have known to guarantee the rate for us. So, that’s not very good.

The only thing on the papers were the moving information at origin and destination, no dollar amounts of any kind were on the paperwork. My daughter took pictures of all documents that she signed, when they went outside to the truck knowing that if any dollar amounts or information was changed that document would've been altered. They loaded the truck with no issues. After loading she signed the inventory list and the driver signed the list as well. When my daughter asked for copies of all of the other documents, the Duntara driver stated she could not have the copies because they had to go through quality control at CVL and that they would give them to her.

Two days later I got a call saying that the truck weighed 1,880lbs more than the original estimate and come to find out Duntara did not weigh the truck before loading or after loading. They waited until 2 days later which is a violation from the US Department of Transportation (red flag # 3). At this point we asked for a reweigh at destination (Michigan) which was our right according to the U.S. Dept of Transportation. We also asked for a copy of the weight ticket and copies of all documents signed. Upon receiving scanned copies of the documents we learned that not only was almost every document altered in some way but they also forged her initials on the document stating that she agrees to a new weight and increase in price.

For 2 weeks we reached out to CVL to resolve all of our issues without success. We talked to multiple representatives and each one had a different story. Representatives from CVL at multiple times asked us what compensation we would agree to so that we wouldn't post negative reviews or file a complaint against them. May 25, 2018 day of delivery in Michigan. After watching the truck get reweighed in Michigan the household items were taken to my daughter's house. I was then told that I owed $2,451.11 in cash, (this is called bait and switch) even though my paperwork said $802.31.

We were told that if we did not pay the money that my daughter's stuff would be put in a storage shed in Chicago and we would be charged a daily rate and good luck seeing our stuff. We were on the phone for almost 3 hours trying to get this straightened out with CVL without success (reg flag # 4). We paid the money so at least my daughter could get her stuff. Not only did they not put the stuff in the house or go up any stairs (which according to my contract 21 steps were included) my husband had to help them unload the items because they were running behind. Many of her boxes were damaged and she was missing a ladder and wardrobe box.

When the driver gave us the Household Goods Inventory list to sign stating we received our stuff, we noticed that document had been altered after both parties signed it at origin. We have proof of this. That document was changed to justify the 1880 lbs increase of the first weight ticket by saying boxes were heavy. They also had changed the codes to state things were rusted, damaged, etc to cover any damage in transport caused by them. After all items were unloaded from truck, I again followed it back to the weigh station. Come to find out the correct weight was 2,740lbs. Duntara had bumped the original weight of her household items by 2,140lbs (red flag #5).

Since May 25, 2018 I have reached out to CVL for my refund of money that is owed to me based on the weight of our items. I have spoken to and emailed Leon multiple times with no resolution. CVL has said it would be credited back to my original charge card but has not. I was contacted at least 3 times from CVL regarding compensation for not reporting any of this move to agencies or internet websites. Each time I have declined. I have many pictures, emails and paperwork to prove all my allegations. I could continue but I am sure you get the message that no one should ever use this company for a move. What I can say and prove is that my moving contract was with CVL. They choose to outsource it to another company which is not in my original contract with them. All paperwork has CVL as the heading on top of them.

I can prove that CVL allowed bumping of a weight ticket, altering of paperwork after it was already signed, forging initials, allowing the bait and switch tactics, and trying to bribe me with compensation for not reporting them. I am almost certain reviews get screened and they use the good ones, but I also know that I have been to many websites that have consumers like myself that have been taken advantage of by this company. This company allowed fraudulent activity to take place and they didn't honor their contract with me on multiple occasions. I would not recommend anybody using this company and to make sure you take pictures of everything you sign and they sign because they will alter them after they leave your house. If you are moving anytime in the future go to the Department of Transportation website and look up your rights as a mover so that you do not get scammed.

Another issue or concern is that we have moved many times and clearly our 4 bedroom - 3,100 sq. ft. house was not going to fit in a U-Haul. We told the lady supervisor that everything was not going to fit. She said she will gauge that. Thirty minutes into the packing she comes back to us and starts requesting we pay for more boxes because they don't have enough boxes for what they were told by the Colonial estimator. What the heck is going on here? This is a $10,000 white glove move and is becoming nothing but a disaster and moving is stressful enough. We continue to watch our move and sure enough not everything will fit in the U-Haul, they had to go rent another U-Haul. They finally get everything packed up and we ask when our items will be delivered. Shocked once again all our items will be driven to another city, unloaded and stored for a few days until an 18 wheeler comes to pack and deliver.

We are now at our new home and still waiting for our delivery. We have receive several calls from Colonial saying the 3rd party moving company has run into delays and now will be here past the estimated Colonial delivery date. Fast forward 12 days later our items arrived now in a Penske truck with a haul trailer. Our 4 bedroom house has been packed, unpacked, packed again and now delivered late. As items come out they are damaged one after another. We understand an item or two might have a scratch but we are having items severely damaged. This is pure negligence not a mishap. Beware this company is not one to be recommended, very misleading and should have gone with another moving company!!!

I was looking for somebody to help me to move my stuff over from Las Vegas to Idaho and the guys in Las Vegas were priced around $12,000 for the move. I said, "Are you guy nuts? I'm only going one state up." It didn't cost me that much to move my stuff from Hawaii to Iowa along with my two cars. And so, when I called Colonial Van Lines, they were about half of $12,000. And then they told me, "If you have a hard time, you can make payments." Nobody tells me that because nowadays, it's about money. They walked me through the whole step until the last item was put into my house and never charged me a penny extra. I like them. I am so pleased and grateful with them.

And then, the guy that they contracted out to move my stuff was really nice also. He assured me that everything would be okay. The company also made sure that they packed everything in so much bubble wrap that I had so much bubble wrap to unpack. It wasn't funny and only had a few items that was cracked, but nothing to complain about. I would recommend them to everybody. In fact, I just did to a lady that went to church with me in Las Vegas. She's gonna be moving to Texas. Her husband passed away too, so she wants to be with her children. She called and asked about my move with Colonial. I said I had an excellent experience. And if I have to do it over again, I would definitely go with them.

These companies subcontract all their moves to other moving companies. A 2012 US Senate investigation found that DiSorbo broker companies regularly misrepresented themselves as moving companies, stating, "[d]espite regulations that require brokers to disclose their status as brokers, customers repeatedly reported that they were not made aware that the [DiSorbo] companies they were dealing with were brokers and not carriers with the capability of conducting their moves," and, "Websites for the DiSorbo Broker Companies and Budget Van Lines often portray themselves as full service moving companies seeking to service a consumer's move from initial estimate to final delivery of goods. The websites of these companies often fail to clearly disclose the fact that the companies will likely never move a consumer's goods but instead act as a broker and contract with a carrier to complete the move."

According to that same Senate investigation, DiSorbo companies also received a disproportionate amount of complaints submitted to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. From January 2006 to October 2011, DiSorbo companies received 4,500% more complaints than the average moving company, where a customer's goods were being held hostage while DiSorbo's company demanded ransom. The following, which comes from the same Senate investigation, is an example of DiSorbo's conduct. The company in this situation, Nationwide Relocation Services, is also owned by DiSorbo.

"Similarly, a Nationwide Relocation Services customer moving from Colorado to Florida spent nearly five months negotiating with the carrier to deliver. The customer was given an original binding estimate for $3,332.85. She paid an initial deposit of $1,585.73, leaving a balance of $1,747.12. After pick-up, the carrier advised that the 'final weight of her goods was an additional 2,035 pounds above the original estimate.' The customer was also charged for $1,220 worth of additional packing services, increasing the amount due at delivery by $1,877.52. The customer objected to this increase and alleged that the carrier made her sign blank documents. The customer was unable to pay the increased fees, and the carrier placed her goods in storage.

After several months of unsuccessful negotiations, on March 9, 2011, the carrier sent the customer an auction notice. After many more months of haggling with the carrier and Nationwide Relocation Services, the carrier agreed to deliver her goods for $2,500." The full Senate investigation can be read here: **. Submit your own complaint regarding a DiSorbo owned moving company here: **

The driver was in charge of relocation. He was really good and he called us. We set it up anywhere from the 1st and the 5th of May. He got it there on the 1st. We were contacted and everything was good at that point. But I didn’t think the packers did such a hot job. We found some things that were broken and some things that were just packed and labeled wrong. We've unpacked boxes that said dog toys and tables and didn’t have any of that in it. So all in all it was a decent job, but not the extraordinary job that we first thought we were getting.

My sister said the guys had a great attitude and they really worked hard and so she thought they did great at the beginning and we didn’t get any major damage to things that were breakable. But for her, it was the clothes that was not a good deal. My sister had some very expensive suits and they were left on the hanger, triple folded and rolled in a ball and then put in the bottom of one of the shipping boxes that had shoes in the closet with them. I wasn’t real happy. I had a lot of the clothes like that, too. They had wardrobe boxes, but they either didn’t have enough of them and didn’t say anything to anybody. I also thought they overdid it with the packing paper, but I can't really fault them for that. There's a lot of dish packed and the kitchen was really big to pack.

While there were a couple of dings in the furniture, there was nothing terrible. Their guy told me that they took basic effects to their home base in Missouri from our place in Oklahoma and then when we were ready for delivery, they went and retrieved it out of the storage unit there. They were the only ones that ever had a key for that storage unit and so our things were under their watch.

She gave us some pointers that we didn't need like to put all of our shovels and stuff in a garage trash can because it would be easier for the guys to move them. We did and the movers laughed at us and they separated them and taped them together like four each. Also, she told us what to expect to pay the mover when they came to get the stuff out of our original house and we did.

We paid what we were supposed to. I went and got the money order for the 2,000 they told us to have when he got there. The guy said okay and told us what we owe for storage. I told him the lady told me that storage would be calculated at the end because if we didn’t use the full 30 days of storage that we would not pay for 30 days of storage. He said no and that we owed him. I didn't have cash on me then so he said he would send me a link so that I could get that paid which he never did. But then when they delivered, we ended up paying the remainder of it for storage.

It was hard to pinpoint a delivery day because it was the time that we set it up. I didn’t have one because we had not closed on our new house. Then we got a closing and the mover kept saying he would get back to me. And I kept calling Colonial and the guy who was helping me out said he would call the mover. The mover said that he could do it that Tuesday. But then Colonial called me back and said that the mover called and that he was not gonna make it until that Thursday. We finally got them pinned down, but that took a little while.

I have a lot of Pyrex broken and we had wrapped it, put it in boxes, and marked them fragile. I expected it got moved, put in storage, moved, and hauled back. Also, the lady that I talked to on the phone initially told me to not break anything down because sometimes the guys don’t like it broke down, sometimes they do. And we were told when we moved that anything that they broke down, they would put back together. They broke down two beds, eight sets of shelves, an exterior table that went outside my yard, an entertainment center, and a baker’s rack. But they put up our bed and that was it. They left everything else and we had to put them together. But I would definitely recommend Colonial and I would use them again, too, because they did well. It was just trying to put stuff together so that we could get stuff unpacked. And then panicking over paying and not knowing that we would pay at that time.

But other than that inconvenience, the movers were very good and professional. They did a great job. There was damage to a piece of my furniture. The mover brought it to my attention that they inadvertently mistakenly damaged and I appreciate the integrity about bringing it to my attention. The rep had me submit paperwork to do a formal claim about it two weeks ago but I haven't heard anything yet back. That was kinda concerning me. But maybe they're trying to finalize that thing.

They eventually sent us a 2 man team and a 24 ft truck. 12 hours later, we finished loading. My families help. The quote went from around 5,000$ to 10,000$. The weight estimated was 10,000 lbs, but eventually became 16,000 lbs. After this failure, I contacted three other companies who proceeded to tell me that a 2 man team and 24 ft truck for that size house is a clear undercut... expected to become inflated.

Get the Deposit: The first payment you pay, is their money. As in, every penny spent after that first downpayment, is the money they pay the sub-contractors for the move. This gives them massive financial flexibility and safety to push back and separate themselves from any loss for poor service. By the time the scam is apparent by the purchaser, your money is already in their account.

Sub-Contract: Colonial doesn't show up to your house. They don't pack your stuff. They don't move it. They don't unload it. They literally, just pick up the phone. My "deposit," of 2900$ to them, was paid for a bad estimate and a phone call. That's it. EVERYTHING ELSE, is sub-contracted all the way to the end. There are zero services rendered beyond poor customer service, which they have a lot of. See other reviews here and elsewhere. Their response is canned and always "we've been trying to contact you..." Hilarious if you had been in my shoes the last 2 weeks.

Walk away: And here is the prestige... once their subcontractors show up and explain how you've been lied to and cheated, Colonial will not resolve anything for you. They will not send more crew, more trucks, they will not refund you for their poor estimates, nothing. They will not call you back. You will be the one picking up the phone every time, trying to find someone with some sensibility. You will be redirected and lied to more, until you give up... because you're tired of their existence.

Moving is deeply stressful. No one deserves this. Do the best you can and find an alternative - there is lots of good competition out there. I would highly recommend you start with a company who: Will send someone out to do the estimate. Has their own trucks/and crew. Does not require large upfront deposits. Be cautious...

The only thing I was upset about was that it got here a couple of days outside of the protected delivery date, but beyond that, things were fine. When we got to the new place, they unloaded everything in a very short amount of time. All my stuff got there perfectly fine except for a couple of minor dings on a coffee table. But I wasn't worried about it at all because those things goes with moving. Overall, it was one of my better moving experiences. I'd definitely be using Colonial Van Lines again.

Once the move was booked, I was contacted by Christopher in quality assurance as well as Michael who was my account manager. My move was scheduled a short time prior to the actual moving date, but everyone made the process smooth and easy. I was contacted prior to the originally scheduled pickup date and asked if I could have things picked up one day earlier with the hopes that delivery would be earlier and I agreed. Communication was great throughout the process. On moving day, the driver (The only person whose name I forgot to write down! He was wonderful!) showed up on time and did a full inventory of my items, wrapped everything that required packaging and went over all the charges with me. Within a few hours my items were loaded and on their way. He gave me an estimated time of travel and we scheduled a tentative delivery date for 3 days later.

On the day before delivery I received a call from the driver confirming the delivery time and he arrived promptly at that time the next day. The truck was unloaded quickly and all of my items were placed where I wanted them. My bed was reconstructed and furniture items were positioned where I wanted them. During unpacking, I have noticed that some of the boxes were a little crushed from being stacked rather high, but so far I have only found 1 broken item which was only a decorative item that was not of great value.

Following the move I was contacted by Michael and Stephanie to assure that I was satisfied with my move. I have been very happy with the service, communication and ease of this move. My items were delivered very quickly with only minor damage that is to be expected when moving things. Colonial Van Lines and Beast Coast Moving (Colonial is a broker and Beast Coast was contracted for the move) were wonderful to deal with and I will be using them again for my next move!

But Colonial's service was very good and they were on top of things. Everybody kept us informed all the time as to what was going on and we really appreciated that. The moving coordinator told us how the service would be and we were expecting that, and he turned out to be absolutely right. We were very prepared and all set for them to pick our things up and have these delivered. The guys who packed our stuff up did a nice job. They were very professional, as were the guys who dropped our stuff off. Everything was very seamless.

I had some stuff moved into a storage unit and then stuff moved to the house and I couldn’t be there. And it probably would have went better. I had my sister trying to coordinate unloading the stuff that went into the storage unit. There were a few things that should have came to the house that didn’t and there were a few things that should have went into the storage unit that came to the house. But we were able to solve, fix and correct it so it wasn’t that big of a deal. I was much satisfied with the experience.

I also just found minimal damage despite the amount of stuff that we had and despite the truck being extremely packed. Fortunately the stuff that was damaged wasn’t anything of extreme value. They sent me a claim form and I'm not working on that because I've been going through some of the items in storage and found several items in the storage unit that were damaged. The items that came to the house I didn’t find any damage. This was the first time I dealt with a moving company on my own and Colonial made it extremely easy. I was a little bit stressing with the thought that I was missing something, but they seemed to make the move less stressful.

The moving coordinator was very good. One thing I noticed, however, was that it may not have been as detailed as some of the other I saw at the other companies, but it worked it out fine and we adjusted a couple of times and they were very accepting of that. They were very easy to work with. The only frustration I had was that we had an address and it was wrong on the document. I was really afraid that they were gonna take it to the wrong place because I wasn’t gonna be at the end of the line.

And so, even up to the day when the mover came the zip code was wrong and it said Albany instead of Schenectady, and so I was freaking out a little bit. And then he said, “Don’t worry, we got this. We know exactly where we’re going and you’ll be taken care of.” So they really allayed my fears, so I was fine. I don't live in that address, so they worked with my son on the other end and it just really worked out perfect. Everybody was cordial and I was pleased.

Also, the estimate was very accurate. We had a good idea of what we wanted to move. We also added in boxes of stuff that we didn’t really end up sending but it was close and the estimate was pretty much spot on. On the day of pickup and delivery, we were very prepared and were ready to go. We had everything all packed up except for some furniture they had to take apart for us, and they were careful.

The follow up was great too and we kept in touch right up every couple of days, right up until the actual move happened. And then it was subbed out to a local vendor down in the area I was moving from, and they did a great job because they were really prompt. They were also very careful. Overall, Colonial Van Lines was very professional. I was very pleased with the first person I spoke to and then the person I dealt with as the move was getting closer. They were two different people but I was very pleased with the interaction that we had. That helped me make my decision and think I made the right choice.

The movers were R&R MOVING, the guy in charge RODOLFO I THINK WAS HIS NAME, said they are in Los Angelos. He was a problem from the beginning, rude, did not answer my questions, kept repeating "it's all about the weight", shook his head when I'd ask the question again. Ruffled through his papers as though he didn't know what they were, pushed me to sign the contract... Even when I told him I needed time to read it. He actually said "this is the worst move I've ever been through." Kept saying "I'm a professional" when he obviously wasn't. AT ONE POINT ASKED ME IF I WAS MARRIED!---WTF??? AND IT GETS WORSE!

His helper showed up, looked like he'd been on an all night bender! Wore a "wife beater" T-shirt, baggy faded jeans that looked like they hadn't been washed in months and floppy shoes, was so old he couldn't lift the end of my dining table... I had to help them! I even gave them $50.00 each in a tip and asked them to not damage my dining table, it was my prize possession. Well, it came damaged from top to bottom. Obviously had been dragged on its side resulting in two cracks 4" in length on that side, marks all over the top, likely laid on its bottom with stuff stacked on top, probably because they didn't want to lift it. It's a beautiful Crate and Barrel dining table. Each box was damaged to some degree, some crumpled 1/4-1/3 down from the top.

My antique desk had the bottom trim ripped right off, half of it missing! Glass was broken, pictures and dishes broken. Before the movers arrived I was working with a "Kim" actual name is Camelita. Only because I complained to her that I was getting calls from many different people with Colonial and I wanted one person to work with. She was courteous and consistent after that. The deliver guys were quite good, big and strong, two were able to lift my dining table easily. The guy in charge became frustrated with me when I wanted to write all the damages down before signing the contract. All they wanted was a signed contract and no questions asked. He became so frustrated yelling and throwing his arms in the air! What the what???

Two of my dining room chairs were missing which I reported. The first mover didn't tag any of the dining chairs or the table so my dining chairs are lost forever. Kim said they would look for them, I told her they weren't tagged, so they don't know what they looked like. She went silent... I suggested I email her a picture which she said, "Oh that's a good idea." Also I called Colonial to inform them of the damages and the rep. said she'd have someone call and talk to the mover, they never called.

This company if you dare to call it a company was awful!!!! I cried many times after receiving my damaged goods that looked like they had been thrown all around. I know this is a long review but felt I had to say everything so readers would understand the horror this experience was. I strongly advise anyone considering using this company to stay away... You will be sorry if you don't.

I moved 61 times in my life from coast-to-coast and continent-to-continent. A lot of those times, I’m with myself, but often with a company. Colonial is responsible for the people that they hire to do the work and Thomas Brothers, who Colonial contracted, was beyond the payout. They did everything so well and not one item was damaged. I did my own packing but they went through and verified that everything was going to be safe in transport. They were fast, efficient, fun and cheerful through everything. On the way back, I had a lot of scares and but they didn’t hesitate and there were no complaints. They called me within 24 hours with what the official weight was and texted that to me so I wouldn’t worry. They went way beyond what I would have expected, which would have been indifference because that’s what I’ve always thought. But not these people plus, the follow-up with Colonial was wonderful.

There was some sort of issue with the billing and before anyone even had a chance to go over the paperwork, they noticed it and refunded it immediately. I’ve never heard of a company taking the initiative and checking it. All these national companies are only as good as the people they contract to do the move because people that are being moved do not make a distinction between the contractor and the company. So Colonial Van Lines, in choosing Thomas Brothers, absolutely demonstrates the quality and the values that Colonial holds as a business. Because if these people had not been any good, I naturally would have declined Colonial in the long run. It really matters who they contract with, and they chose a wonderful company to represent them. I have three families that are moving to different places and I recommended them. I told them all that they would be foolish not to contact Colonial.

I had to go back forth a couple of times because we sold our house and they were looking online at our house that was staged. It looked like we had a lot but we had a bunch of stuff that kinda crammed into spaces that other people couldn't see. As I started packing, I felt that I wasn't comfortable with their original estimate so I went back to them. They upped it and when we got the new number together, it ended up being 40 pounds off which was pretty amazing. Their moving coordinator, Paul was fantastic as I went back and forth with him about the estimate. He was great on the phone and spent time talking to me about the weight.

The person who coordinated with the dispatch was good as well. She wasn’t extremely personable which is fine because everyone is a little different. She didn’t return phone calls but she returned emails, which is fine because she wasn’t in communication. She just didn’t seem like she was gonna go the extra mile. Still, there was no problem and she was on the ball. During pickup and delivery, I was really happy with how Colonial Van Lines' team helped set everything up. We ended up needing just only a few additional boxes which was fine. Everything went off without a hitch. Based on our experience, I would recommend Colonial.

The timeline worked out perfectly and there was no delay in service for whatever reason. The moving coordinator that I got was very professional and very nice, too. He told me he was going to quote high because they wanted to be safe than sorry and the final price ended up being somewhere in the middle. His walkthrough and assessment showed straightforward communication and we understood what was going to take place and what was going to happen. The account manager also had good communication, was prompt, and returned phone calls. Then, when the movers came for the pickup, they were two hours early. We were wrapping things up when they arrived and it was a little bit of a shock but it wasn't a big deal.

Initially, I was assuming that Colonial Van Lines was not going to subcontract the packing and delivery. They were my main contact people but Cal Van ended up packing and moving us. That was not made clear to me in the beginning and I didn’t really think to ask. But I would have liked to have known that and understood that a little bit better. When I found out it was Cal Van Lines, I went online and found that they had bad reviews. I was a little bit disturbed about that but things worked out. I would recommend Colonial Van Lines to a friend.

My move was from Houston to my retirement home in Anderson, South Carolina and it’s about 900 miles. During the time of pick-up and delivery, we were very well prepared. And at the delivery end, there was no way they were getting a big truck here so they had to shuttle everything. They actually helped me out, covered some of that cost for me, and did all that. I’d recommend them if people are moving ‘cause they made it easy on us. They handled our move with no problems and we were very pleased with them.

The total was nine days from point of pickup to drop-off. It was pickup on Friday and delivered on the following Sunday. The people involved in the picking up and the unpacking were spectacular. We were able to get in and at least, get semi-functional very quickly. I found that the individuals who we dealt with were polite, respectful and attentive to our needs.

We were reasonably prepared for the pickup and delivery but the guys came in and burned through the place fast. It was amazing. They would say that we weren’t as packed as we thought but they wrapped up literally everything. But there could have been a little more communication with the guys on the ground because they packed some stuff that we haven’t asked to be packed and that caused a little bit of trouble. It was a minor inconvenience but they packed my girlfriend’s or some stuff that we were holding on to and just put it in the box. It got moved perfectly, but it had my girlfriend's driver’s license and bank cards in it. Also, we got multiple calls from multiple individuals on the same day of the move or within an hour of each other, telling us the same information. We’re busy trying to do other things and I’m getting repeat calls. That should be coordinated slightly better.

Aside from that, they were unable to give more than a two day window for pickup. When you’re trying to book plane tickets and so on and so forth, that’s very difficult to do if you’re unable to provide that window with less than 24 hours in advance. If I’m moving back to Michigan from Wisconsin, that’s a car journey, that’s fine. I can do that. But when I’m trying to move four people and a dog across the country that’s definitely a lot more difficult.

Lastly, I need to get an invoice and it has been excessively disappointing. I contracted with Colonial Van Lines and regardless of who got paid, I need one invoice to show “This is what got paid and we received the money” so I can go and get refunded by my company. I tried emailing a couple of times last week but I received nothing. I also reached out this morning but also received nothing. But overall, I've had a highly successful experience with Colonial.

Original Review: May 2, 2018

I cannot believe these reviews. I should have just looked at BBB for this company for an accurate review. This company brokered this load to someone I never heard of before. Provided a moving box truck, not a van. They could not fit all of our things in this box truck so we had to leave our things. Customer service does not exist. They claimed that they call but they don’t. I called multiple times leaving messages. Only one of the movers spoke English. Upon delivery the only concern they had was moving everything off of the truck and into our garage.

The three things they did disassemble I had to reassemble and replace bolts that were lost. This whole experience was an absolute nightmare. $6,700. The truck that the movers used was a Penske truck. All in including fuel for the distance was $2100. Quite the difference considering I did the reassembling and moving everything from my garage to the correct spot. Don’t fall for these fake reviews. Look at BBB. I’m not alone.

But we ran into a bit of problems on the day of the pick-up. The original driver that they had scheduled cancelled on them so, my pick up date was one day late. It was still within my window, so it all ended up working out. But because of that, the communication was a little sketchy. When that driver fell through, they were working very hard behind the scenes to get me another one. There was a point where nobody knew what was going on. But as soon as they found a driver, the driver himself called me to let me know. And he was amazing. It was just the one person and he did it all. I couldn't believe it. I'm very impressed.

The job got backed up though. They told me it was gonna happen on a Monday and worst case scenario was Tuesday. But then they told me it was gonna be Wednesday and I think the reason for that was somebody had trouble with their closing. It ended up happening on Thursday then I got the delivery here on Friday. It wasn’t a big deal other than we were under the gun to get out of the place since it was a rental. But it all worked out.

I had lived up here in the steel mill I worked at but it shut down. Then I moved to Atlanta to work construction but then I decided to move back to Kentucky. I'm retired now and I ain't moving again. But if I had a friend who was gonna move, I would recommend Colonial Van Lines. The guys who did the work were exceptional. I had pickups at two different locations in one town and delivery at one location. Two of the guys delivered but three picked up and the two who delivered were on the pick up as well and they were very good at their job. In fact, they were staying in tight. They were just good people.

At the end of the move, there's a wait for one hour when they unloaded everything up. They made me sit and wait for an hour while the guys sat on the phone, flipping through his paperwork, and talking to some guy some other place. I didn’t know what the techie was doing or why he had to talk to the guy on the phone for about an hour and fiddle back and forth. At that point, I started getting angry because it was getting late and we were all tired and hungry. If I would’ve known I would’ve just picked a local moving company instead of a large company. It turns out they get a middleman to do it for them and then charge the higher price.

When you're closing on the house and you got to be out by a certain date and they can't pick things up for two weeks that doesn't work. I spoke with them a couple times when I handled the furniture because I got two different apartments. It's two different areas of Colonial but one handles household goods, the other handles transporting cars. As far as the furniture move the people that handled it did a great job. Colonial Van Lines followed up a lot as far moving the household goods.

I was properly informed but they guesstimated the weights and of course it was a little bit more because we had a lot of stuff. The quote was a little low but they're trying to do it over the phone. You're describing all you had. We had more boxes we thought we'd have. The moving crew we had was excellent. They delivered quicker than we thought they'd actually get to the house. We had the furniture and everything the same day we closed on the house so it worked out well. I was impressed and I'd recommend them to a friend..

The two gentleman who actually did the pickup were very knowledgeable. The driver didn't have payments for them, and it was awkward and uncomfortable. Luckily, the laborers that were there really knew what they were doing and packed the truck very well. Also, I didn't get a final cost set before the driver showed up here. I got to pay by credit card, which was fine. But it's a little hard to prepare yourself for not knowing. Other than that, it was fine. The price was really fair for the poundage that I had.

Also, Colonial didn’t explain in-depth how the move works and that was my very first time having a moving company because I was going from state to state. Rather than telling me that the total is $1200, they should have given me one big total that would've already paid for them to pack home and pack the stuff. They told me it's one price and then I just get everything together that I have. But when they came, they told me they still have to pack things and those have to be packed in a particular way. Then I had to come up with another 1,000 something dollars because nobody told me in full what needs to be packed and wrapped. If I would’ve known that they were gonna charge me extra, I wouldn’t have had people come and pack everything for me in that one price at that. And so, I wouldn't have ended up paying more than what I had to.

The pickup and delivery went perfectly as well. Their guys showed up within the window of time that they said and completed the entire job on the same day even though they could have done it in two. So I was incredibly pleased with that. They also did a nice job of taking my stuff apart and putting it back together. They ran out of room in the truck for my stuff, but that was fine. They never came to look at the place, so we did an estimate over the phone and I covered everything that I had. All in all, I would recommend Colonial Van Lines to my friends. But I would tell them that if they could, they should have a picture of their place so Colonial would know exactly how big a van to send. They should also make sure to ask about all hidden costs like the packing tape and boxes.

Original Review: April 19, 2018

Colonial Van Lines looked like a pretty good company to go with when I originally decided on them. I was moving for work and the coordinator was fine. The only issue I had was with the scheduling. I gave my original dates for pick up and delivery. When the company that did the move called, they said, "Oh, no. We'll be there between these dates and then we will deliver between these dates. If you want to have a confirmed date and time, you will have to pay an additional fee". And I was not aware of this fee but I needed it done so I had to pay. That was very inappropriate and made me not refer or go with Colonial again.

Also, everybody I worked with after the salesman was terrible and I would never use them again. The people who were charged with confirming the order and following up were rude and abrupt. When I tried to get back with the salesperson who was supposed to be the main person that I was supposed to be in-touch with, I didn't hear a word from him. I left multiple messages and the secondary person who was supposed to be in-charge gave me a bunch of attitude. He even raised his voice to me and told me I had an attitude.

My move was on a Monday so over the weekend, the movers were supposed to confirm the pick-up and the arrival. But they kept changing the time that they were going to arrive. So I called the coordinator of the van line company and told them that I needed to know because I was driving up to Washington to meet them. But I never got a call back from him. Then finally, when I got a call back from him on Monday, he said it was a weekend and he was away. I told him that generally somebody put someone on-call. They shouldn't leave me hanging out here. They were very unprofessional and they could care less about customer service. All they wanted was the money.

The pick-up guys were good. But I was specific about certain things that I wanted wrapped and they ended up wrapping way more than I asked them to. Then they charged me a lot more than I expected. Also, the box inventory was a joke. They didn't actually give me an inventory. They did a run around the apartment, threw stickers on everything, and there was no one keeping a list of what was in what box. Then they had me sign a bill of lading that said I acknowledged that they took box number 1 through 742. But I had no idea if they did because they literally run around flapping numbers on it at random. Still, they insisted that I sign it for liability purposes. It was completely fraudulent.

The exact same thing happened on the unloading. They didn't count the boxes, the guys just dumped them off on my house, and said they got to go do another job. So I didn't get to count the boxes and after all the charges for packing, there was stuff that was broken. So I was very unhappy with Colonial and I would tell everyone I know never to use them because they're thieves.

I called, no answer, no nothing. They were supposed to load my things on Friday or Saturday. And then finally on Saturday, about five to 12:00, I called Drexel again. He didn't answer the phone but he returned my call in five minutes. He told me what he would do, and then he transferred to another woman and then she was able to tell me, "The driver will be in your house tomorrow between this time and this time." But the first one that Drexel transferred, the service was a disaster. I didn't like the service that I got.

The work they did was over and beyond what I could ask and the two guys were very good workers. Nothing was broken and there were no scratches on anything. I’m a contractor and I've been doing work for many years. And we were extremely pleased. But there was a little issue with the payment. In the end, they owed me a couple hundred dollars. But the owner of the company sent me a check and it wasn't a problem. He was very professional. Everything was great.

Let’s fast forward to April 5th when a representative calls to give us the amount due upon delivery and lies again. Tells us it’s still the same so the next day I call to pay ahead of delivery and they tell me a lesser amount and I confirm that this is the correct amount and won’t change. He confirms then 3 days later they want to raise it. And I’m not going for it and they try to get us to sign an agreement not to post our experience and it's not happening! I refuse to let this company keep lying and defrauding people. Our stuff is supposed to be here Saturday yet it’s in Texas. And the customer care rep wants to give us a lesson in geography. Rather than tell me when my stuff will arrive and the correct price. The worst customer service. I’ll continue to post our experience on every social media and internet site until it is resolved. James ** is a crook and this whole company is a scam!!!

During the move, we were really prepared. We needed a little bit more packing and that ended up a couple of hundred more dollars over what we had estimated. But I understood that there were some things that we just kind of like, "Okay, we're done." And I was told at the beginning that my packing was going to be a bit over and I was okay with it. The person who assisted me was very professional, kind and helpful. I called Joe a couple of times because I had concerns and he eased my mind. The person who dealt with the actual movers and the scheduling was on top of all of it in the communication. Everybody was great.

John, the contractor that did the moving, was awesome and was very thorough. All the movers were very careful with everything and we didn't have any issues with any of our furniture or anything being scratched or broken. They were just very nice people. Everything really worked out well and the quote that Joe worked with me was right on.

The only negative was that I was asked the day before to have some cash available on the Pittsburgh side of the move for the drivers to eat and pay tolls and gas. This wasn't disclosed to me the night before the move. I had to have my mother go to the ATM which was a little inconvenient. But they then discounted that money from the total so it wasn't anything improper. It was just that I was picking it up from my mother and bringing it to me so I was gonna to pay everything. Other than that, they did well. And with the two guys who handled it with my mother, it was very complimentary and they did a great job. They did a great job here as well.

So, when it doubled in the final bill, it felt weird. Giving the low quote was like a ploy to get the price under everyone else's and make me go with them. Then they raised it and it put a bad taste in my mouth. Later, I learned that the guy who gave me the next quote was the guy that packed my things and he might have been off a little bit or something. He was the only one who came during the pick up and he was there for a very long time to do it. Knowing the size of the house involved int the move, I would have thought they would send two or three guys. But the one guy there that worked was very good. The packing took 10 hours to do instead of four with a couple of people and I didn't know if that was normal or no one was available. Then, when my stuff was delivered, I haven't noticed anything damaged. So, all in all, I had a good experience with Colonial Van Lines.

Aside from that, James, the first person we talked to on the phone, was extremely accommodating. He was really on top of our satisfaction and everything that we were worried about. He took the extra time to answer us, email us, and call us back. He provided such an exceptional service that it felt like Colonial was the best place to go to. During pickup and delivery, everything was working out fine. The company was very enthusiastic about getting everything done properly, making sure that we were comfortable, and delivering our stuff in a very reasonable way to show that they were serious. And it cut above everybody else.

We had two miscommunications but they weren't bad at all. One was about the final pricing. The van lines was under some sort of one price and Colonial was under the assumption of another. And when the difference was properly determined, we inquired about it the second time and Colonial without question, gave us a refund within a week of the difference. So it was not like the outsource company that delivered all our stuff was trying to swindle us. They were just given a different number. So, Colonial was able to accommodate us so quickly on that. The other thing was about something that should be written on the form. But the moving company was able to work with us on that and kept the same schedule that we have been on.

But things went sour the whole move. I was locked into a Monday-Tuesday window and from that, the movers said they'd be there late Tuesday. Then I got a notice that said they were going to be there on Wednesday from noon to 5:00. And that evolved into them asking if they could come on Thursday which really pissed me off because they got my deposit and I was totally at their disposal. Plus, my daughter had to be our of that apartment that day. So, they did not stick to the original timeline and I got worked out of shape because I made plans with my daughter to drive from Denver to California and I made reservations for it. And based on the actual mover pushing things back, we were put in a really tough situation. Colonial could've told me upfront that the two-day window was not solid because as a consumer, I was making plans on what they told me and when they didn't live up to that, that made the experience hell.

In the end, their driver showed up at 8:00 that night on Thursday and he was real nice and professional. But what screwed things up in my mind was I was on the hook and I couldn't change movers at that stage. Plus, Colonial Van Lines could not control that driver because drivers get backed up. So, it's the industry I'm pissed off at, not Colonial. They don't own the movers and they just dance on the process. And no matter who I work with, they'd still go with independent contractors.

Our coordinator was fine. We switched halfway through from one guy to another, but I was told exactly what I needed to do to get ready for them and what was going to happen. There were circumstances that nobody can control like when they got to our place in Hilton Head a little later than we expected them, but that was not unexpected. If they’re picking up somebody else first and it takes longer than they thought, there’s nothing they can do about it. So we have no problem with it. They assembled a list of everything that would be ready. They were very accurate in the cost, and as far as the coordinator, it was well done.

In Hilton Head, we moved within the complex we were in. We moved about 50 yards. And the cost of that move was about the same as it was to move from Hilton Head to Clearwater, which was about 400 miles. We took a little bit less stuff from Hilton Head to Clearwater than we did from Hilton Head to Hilton Head, but I was amazed that the cost was similar. Overall, it was a positive experience.

Chris was also very professional and very courteous. He asked me a bunch of questions and at the time, I was in turmoil about the divorce and selling my property and he helped walk me through the process of getting the best cost estimates of how to do this. He also told me what was going to transpire and everything transpired like it should. The quote he gave me was very accurate, too. Then, the guys that came to pick me up and drop me off were very nice. Colonial Van Lines did a very good job and I would recommend them. I would also use them again.

Colonial Van Lines put together a perfect move that we have ever had in all of our moves in a state. They had to plan it that day. I called them on Thursday and he called me Friday. He said we were all set and asked when we wanted our furniture in Florida. I told him the date and that we move in on the 14th of March. He said that they could do that and everything transpired according to the plan. So I called what used to be known as Colonial Movers and is now known as We Pack and I said I want my money back, and he asked if I called them a week before they were going to be there. I said no and they refused to send me my money.

Colonial Van Lines gave a quote and we got within a hundred dollars. They delivered and picked up on time and there were no damaged or missing pieces. There was one driver and he had a local helper come in to help him. We had to leave already for Florida, so we were driving down. Our daughter went over and babysat the apartment, the load of the items and to wrap everything that needed wrapping like the mattresses and stuff. They did a fantastic job according to our daughter. When unwrapping, they put everything where we told them to put them. It wasn’t very extreme that they did well. We had the boxes marked where everything goes and they were very gracious. They helped us, got it done and left.

Then, their guy was the one that moved our stuff out of the pod into the truck and he did a great job. It was the same one that delivered here in New Mexico which we didn't think was going to happen because he said he normally didn't travel this far. Also, there was supposed to be more than one person for that but they broke down. So he unloaded that pod out by himself and my husband helped him. I've told other people that to me, hiring Colonial Van Lines is the way to go. In the future, if we ever move again, I'd be calling them back because I know that they do it from the start to finish.

The account manager informed us of the overcharge to dispute the weight. We didn’t know that it had to be done while they were at the weight station and I was in the middle of my move. So I can’t go to a weight station to meet them. It was very poorly communicated. They contracted us out to a third party who showed up late. They left my apartment at 11:30 that night which was not fair to my neighbors. They should have either done the packing and come back in the morning or just came in the morning because it was very rushed and very late. I had frames and pictures that weren’t wrapped and damaged art pieces. None of my boxes were labeled so they were getting mad at us for not knowing where to put them, but we didn't know what was in any of the boxes. We had to take a picture of the inside of every box because all of them were half packed.

Right after we moved, we contacted them and ask for more information on compensation. They lost a piece of my bed so I had to buy a brand-new bed and they never got back to me about giving me money for that. They said I only get to do one claim sheet per move so they told us to wait until the end. They were extremely rude and we haven’t heard from them pretty much since they dropped off my stuff. I would never use them again, and I’ve already told other people that are moving to never use them. It’s a bad experience. I moved before as well as my family but we have never run into anything like this.

The first time they tried to send the truck up, we tried to tell the salesperson that a 27-foot truck wouldn’t work. But he swore up and down that it would. But that didn’t even come close to working. It took about another week for them to line up somebody willing to come here and also take a smaller truck up the mountain and then reload again into a bigger truck. And it was another six days after that for us to get moved.

One of the things I really liked was that we dealt with the same person pretty much from beginning to end, if there were any questions or changes we had. He was local to the Fort Lauderdale area where we were moving from, so that made it really easy to make changes. He was quite familiar with our situation so we didn’t have to reexplain ourselves every time we talked to someone. Also, the quote they gave was competitive. There were some lower ones, but we weren’t crazy about the firms. And so, the combination of what was offered and the confidence that we had in Colonial made it a very attractive offer.

It was a third-party mover that did the moving, and I was a little concerned about that arrangement. But as it turned out, Colonial kept close tabs on them and the person did a quality job. I was able to talk with the driver who also owned the van. He was a small business person, so he was concerned about making sure that his customers were happy, and I was very pleased with that. Of course, it was a time of some considerable stress as well, but it turned out everything went fine.

The locations were about two hours apart, and what became uncertain was the timing of the deliveries. The driver arrived substantially later in the day at the first location. And we were trying to coordinate some other things around having to be at the locations when the household goods arrived. Having better information from the driver as to exactly when he was planning to arrive and then having him arrive when he said he would would’ve improved things a lot. But we weren’t overly dissatisfied with anything as a result. We were very pleased with the move overall and we’d probably recommend folks to consider Colonial by all means.

I moved 1600 miles away and I opted to do the partial pack. I packed everything at my home that I could pack then they loaded it. When my things were delivered, nothing was damaged. However my things went into a storage unit, so I don't know for sure how everything made it in the boxes. Then I had some things left over that were very happy to pack for me and those were the ones that were not so breakable except maybe one or two. And as far as I know at this point in time, everything sits well. Overall, Colonial Van Lines was great. Their customer service people were wonderful and if someone asked me, I would recommend them. But I would tell them about the things they should check on before signing up.

There was one lady from Florida that contacted me, and she was very nice. She checked what the progress was. I made one mistake, though. One of the two guys who came out to pack me up told me, “Your first mistake was going through a broker company." I didn’t go to a damn broker company. I just picked the company that I thought would work. So when the lady asked me how everything was going, I told her that. And it turns out, the two guys who packed me up were also the guys who delivered my stuff. So it was a little awkward because they were upset about my comments. I got them in trouble, which I didn’t mean to. But they were great and they did a good job. And I like the guys. I’m very happy with Colonial Van Lines. The price is good. It was a little higher, but moving is not cheap.

When my items were delivered I called Cherry Ann to let her know that I was charged for picture or NEER boxes and dish pack boxes but they didn't use any of those. And since they interested on receiving payment before they would unload the truck, I'm still out about $1,100 and it's been six weeks and I'm struggling to get any answers on how to resolve that.

They put pictures in a medium or large box but they marked them as picture frame boxes and so I was getting charged for a NEER box when they didn't use the more expensive NEER boxes that actually holds for pictures or mirrors. So, in the end they charged me $2,600 for packing and I calculated that I should only have had to pay about $1,400. I've been working with Jim, Cherry Ann's supervisor, but right now the Cal Van Lines is refusing to do anything other than offer me the difference between what they charged and the original estimate. Colonial Van Lines has been helping me out a lot and I appreciate that. But I've just been waiting for a long time and paying interest on my credit card for an amount that I don't think that I should have had paid. I can't do a whole lot if I had to dispute with Cal Van Lines.

They said they won't take anything off the walls and they should pack all of my delicates. So I left my really nice pictures on the walls and my big wall hangings from Hawaii and Colwood, so they could take them down and pack them professionally. And I took everything else. I got packing blankets, I cut them, I wrapped all of my wall hangings and then I wrapped them up in the plastic wrap with the packing blanket around it first.

When they did my best stuff, they took a box, stuffed two pieces of paper in the bottom, stacked the picture in it, and two pieces of paper on top and taped it up. I could have done that. I wrap my less expensive things way better than they did my very best things. And so when I got them unwrapped a week later, there were little scratches and not big but lots of different things. I had a glass table top that they didn't wrap as good I would have done. And so there was a little broken glass. It was nothing major but there were lots of little nicks and scratches, and I could have wrapped better myself. And it pissed me off that I saved it for them to wrap the best things, but I wrapped better than they did.

Their timing was good, though, and the guys were good and super nice, and they did everything I wanted, and they were really apprehensive about leaving everything in the garage. I was crying calling the realtor and super upset. The thing was when they did the unloading and they verified several times, "Are you sure you want us to do this? Are you sure?" They put in two beds and my sofa in the house, so I had something. And everything else went in the garage. But they stacked them where I had no room to even look at boxes. And I had to tell them to line it up and leave aisles so that I can walk in between the boxes.

Also, they didn't mark anything. And they did that because they unloaded the big ones and undo them. So in the end, I had everything in big boxes on the bottom not labeled. And I didn't know what was in any of the big boxes because they didn't mark anything. And then, they didn't even bother to put forward the boxes that had the writing of what room and whose it was. So I had boxes stacked on top of boxes in the garage and the writing was facing the wall. I had to try to turn boxes and figure out what was what and then their boxes weren't labeled so I had to take all little boxes off and move them to open their big boxes to even figure out where my bigger stuff was. In my circumstance, having nothing marked that they packed was really a mess especially because they used the big boxes. And they were underneath all of my smaller ones.

I had a lot of conversations with the coordinator and he was very helpful. In the end, I might have paid a little bit extra for the weight, but other than that, the expectations he set were very accurate. With their help, I was very prepared for the move. I also got a call from them before and after the move to make sure everything went fine and that was good. It was a pretty successful experience for me and I'd tell my friends that they were pretty cost-effective and on schedule, and nothing got damaged with my stuff.

They had picked up my stuff and put it in the truck but when they got to their warehouse, they realized that there was another pick-up and that had to go in first. So they took all of my stuff out, put the California one in, put mine back in and then moved and delivered mine. My box probably got mixed up with the California one. Still, I would recommend Colonial Van Lines. It is family-owned and the reviews are good. Also, the number one reason I chose them was the cost and that quote ended up being very accurate.

There was no one to call at Colonial 'cause they were closed since I asked and they booked the move for a Sunday. But if their offices are gonna be closed, they shouldn't be scheduling a move. I was really stuck. I either had to agree to pay $5,600 versus $2,800 and move that day or send the movers home and move God knows when. So it was a really unfortunate situation. On top of that, they had given me a three-hour window of arrival but the movers arrived after that window. And then it took them two hours to go through pre-work documentation before they even touched a single box. It took another four hours to load up the truck and they arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania two days later.

I truly thank Colonial Van Lines because we had another moving company that didn't come through and Colonial stepped up to the job. They did everything to our expectations and even exceeded our expectations, so they were awesome. If you need a company to move your stuff, Colonial Van Lines is reliable and they'll make sure that nothing gets damaged. They'll pack your stuff as it should be packed and they'll get it to where it needs to go.

First, they were supposed to pick up on Friday or Saturday. They ended up not showing and came Sunday instead (late instance #1). After boxing my goods, they expressed that my window of delivery was unlikely, but said dispatch knew best. When I spoke with dispatch on Monday, they assured me it would be there by February 3rd at the very latest. On Friday that week, I called for an update. They told me the delivery window had been pushed back 5 days to February 8th due to the moving truck “breaking down.” Seemingly good reason, until I called the actual truck driver who said that they were doing great and their truck had not broke down. Unbelievable. February 6th comes and they say we “guarantee” it comes on February 8th.

February 8th comes and we have not been called and the movers are nowhere to be found. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but when I called, they said they wouldn’t deliver until the 9th. (Late for the 3rd time). Upon delivery, they DID NOT HAVE INSURANCE to deliver to my condo complex. They had a month to provide the insurance and they couldn’t!!!! Thankfully, the apartment manager made a one time exception so I could get my stuff, otherwise they were going to leave with my stuff. Upon delivery, there were items broke and my mattress looked like it had been dragged on the ground. Bottom line - this is an unethical company that will cause your family mental, emotional, and financial stress. They alone cost me probably around $1000 in hotels. Please do yourselves a favor and do not use them. Do not make the mistake I did! I will be reporting them to the BBB.

But if you are in a different location of the United States and you want to have something moved across the United States, the company needs to make certain that the people on the leaving or the storing end have power of attorney to remove that if they aren't able to be there. 24 hours before the move, they told me I needed a power of attorney but I had not lived there in six years and that should be something that is said beforehand so the mover is well-prepared. Customers should think ahead of time, write some questions down ahead of time and be sure to let the crew and the management be fully aware of what you hope to expect and maybe they can come through completely. I was very satisfied with Colonial Van Lines. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Original Review: This company is the worst moving company I have ever used. I have moved long distance four times and have never had any issues. This company mis-quoted me, and I paid over $1,000 more than was agreed upon. They hold your belongings hostage and there is nothing you can do but pay the extra money. The movers were un-professional, my mattress and box spring was taped to the outside of the truck. They would call and tell me they were on their way for delivery, and then change their mind at the last minute. They put my stuff into a storage warehouse for no reason, held it up for two days, then finally it was delivered, with me paying over $1,000 because they said I had over a thousand extra pounds, which was not even possible. They lost a very important box, I have never seen it again, even though I filed a claim. It was a complete nightmare from beginning to end. BEWARE.

In addition, the movers were supposed to be there on a Sunday night, but they didn't show up when they were supposed to. At the last minute, late on Sunday, they called and notified us that they weren’t going to make it.and they weren’t coming until the next morning. The two guys that moved our things were really nice. But I’m surprised that they didn’t give us a break for being a day late. They should have said, “Hey, we’re late. We’re gonna give you $300 off your move.” Because it was a last minute notification, we could have told them, “Okay, don’t come tonight. Now we want you tomorrow morning,” but that wouldn’t have flown. Our move was fine this time, but we won’t be reaching out to Colonial Van Lines and using them again when we move our son to Minnesota.

Original Review: March 21, 2018

I had a horrible experience. I chose them over Bekins because they had a lower initial estimate and Anthony **, the sales rep promised me that it would be a great experience. I made a huge mistake. It seems like the cost kept going up from the original estimate but to be fair we ended up with a lot more boxes than we first estimated. This is mostly because everything had to be packed in a box.

Bekins would have better been able to accommodate my pickup and delivery dates which needed to be 7-8 days apart. Colonial charged me a Storage In Transit fee of $520 for my items to sit on the truck. They told me that no one else's items would be on the truck so the days the truck had to sit idle were the reason for the SIT charge. When our items were delivered finally, there were other peoples items on the same truck so this must have been a lie too.

Due to a delay with the wire transfer because of bank system failure, we were unable to move in on the Friday we closed and had to wait until Monday. CVL was scheduled to deliver Sunday night so I called them and asked them to wait one more day. They informed me that they could not do that and they put my items in a warehouse which was in my home state near my home that they picked up from. I had to wait about 10 more days for another truck to be in the area for delivery and the warehouse storage fee charged was an additional $500 dollars! I had to pay all the fees and remaining balance before the men would unload the truck when they finally showed up.

The guys who loaded and unloaded the truck were nice but they rough handled our stuff and seemed to pay no attention to the words "FRAGILE" on the boxes as they piled other boxes on top of them and dropped them. They did do a good job however at wrapping our couches and TV's but it cost us extra for the boxes and packing materials.

As a result, a box of priceless knickknacks we had collected over many years was demolished, total loss. They also managed to break my computer desk, rip our outdoor BBQ grill's cover in several places, and they destroyed my wife's antique Singer sewing machine (the cabinet ended up in pieces). There were also missing items, one kitchen chair (they did find and deliver the chair a week later) a box of kitchen items, and a large wall picture and frame that was handed down from family members over many years which had great sentimental value, priceless. To date, I still have missing items!

Customer service was a nightmare. Phone calls and emails to Ebonie ** who was supposed to be handling my case went ignored and unreturned. I still have not heard back from my last two emails about the other missing items. If you are considering using them, I urge you to go with another carrier, someone well known with a good reputation. I feel like the customer service was horrible, the value was not there either, and overall the professionalism sucked too. I am greatly disappointed!