Colonial Van Lines Reviews

The moving coordinator at Colonial Van Lines was very helpful and he adjusted the price when we added a lot of the things that we thought we weren't going to bring. Everything worked out well and even though the price went over, it was not unexpected. The whole process was wonderful. It was more of a local move, but I recommended them to a couple of people I know who are moving out state because it was the best thing I ever did. There's no way we could have done this without them.

But there was a little hiccup when they were supposed to show up to pick up our goods. They had to delay it one day because the prior house that they went to ended up filling the truck, so they had to procure another truck. But it wasn't a huge deal. They had to outsource the truck for us and got Cal Van Lines, based out of California. But then there was a slight disorganization with these guys. I told them what things to take and not to take but they took what’s not supposed to be taken and they didn’t get what’s supposed to be taken. But they protected everything well, put everything back together and put it where we wanted it. And the truck guys were good, too. Everything wasn't perfect but I would still recommend Colonial Van Lines. They were very friendly, kept their word, were very professional to work with and kept us up to date with any changes or anything else that we needed to know.

What I do for a living is archive. I deal with boxes in and out so I deal with this kind of stuff all the time. I was very prepared and did my own packing. But I left the flat screen TV for them to pack and they charged $45. I should never have paid $45 for that pack ‘cause I could’ve done a better job than that. That was really stupid but we all do that kind of stuff. Every single thing was really good. I was impressed with their honest customer service, the support, after, during, truck drivers and packers. They’ve really took care of my furniture. They’ve really did well with wrapping and taping.

My only complaint is that the day before they were arriving to my house, they said I had a balance of $7500 and I didn’t sleep that night. Because it was late in the afternoon, I couldn’t communicate with anybody, nobody was around and I was so worried. It turned out that the person who was communicating this to me through an email made a mistake. They must’ve looked at somebody else and put that figure in as opposed to what I owed which was $1500. It scared and really pissed me off. I just couldn’t imagine all my stuff from my mom going away. That was disruptive and disturbing.

When I brought it to their attention and I talked to this specific person, he just laughed it off and said, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I must be sick.” and I was like, “I guess, it’s hahaha to you but wasn’t hahaha to me.” Other than that, that would not change my mind with it. It’s still a good experience and they’re a professional team. If I were to move again, I would definitely call Colonial and consider them to move me again.

On top of that it would be a small moving company they hired to move our furniture. We were told that the furniture would take at least 9-11 days longer than the window we were given. So we told Paul we would accept delivery on the day he had given us knowing that it would not arrive for about 10 more days. He tried to talk us out of that decision. It actually took an additional 8 days to get the furniture and the only way we got updates was by our contacting the driver of the truck. We were told that we would be reimbursed for our inconvenience but that never happened. I would never use Colonial Van Lines as they are just a broker and they lie to you to get more money than the estimate.

Original Review: June 19, 2017

I had a very bad experience with Colonial Van Lines for my move from South Carolina to Boston, MA and would not recommend this company for any long-distance move. I heard a lot of nice talk from people from Colonial Van Lines on the phone about what they would do, and they never did any of it as far as I can tell. To me the company is all promises with no follow-through and no accountability.

I had a budget to adhere to, and as such a binding moving estimate was important to me. I received one and talked with a number of agents regarding how to prepare for my move. I described all my furniture accurately - followed every packing instruction exactly. The movers they sub-contracted were friendly, but provided no inventory and did $300 worth of packing without ever asking me. This packing was ridiculous so I never thought I'd be charged for it. They put my vacuum into a box when I told Colonial Van Lines I had a vacuum and received no packing instructions (just it was on my inventory). They also took things I had placed in my own boxes to put into theirs. I thought this was complimentary as the guy assured me he was 'full-service'. Only when everything was in their van at 7 PM was I ever told that my estimate had jumped up by $1000.

This struck me as crazy because I described all my possessions in great detail to the moving agent on the phone (twice), and trusted their estimate of the weight. I also paid $1500 for a binding moving estimate fee (to date no Colonial Van Lines employee can tell me what that is!). This began a bad negotiation with me and the van owner (not part of Colonial Van Lines) where he was insulting and overall terrible to work with. My stuff was already packed up and it was getting dark - and though I was talking to Colonial Van Lines on the phone, they weren't helpful with the actual van owner either. The best I got was a verbal commitment to remove the $300 packing upon arrival.

I figured over the delivery time frame (came to six days) I could then work with Colonial Van Lines to express my frustrations and see what could be done. Some people listened, but passed the buck on any charges as I was assured two or three times on Wednesday/Thursday I would receive a call from a finance person to review charges before delivery, as well as request a reweight. This call never came. Instead on Sunday prior to delivery I had agitated calls from the van owner saying I had to pay via credit card up front to ensure delivery Monday. Colonial Van Lines was closed and their emergency mailbox was full. In the end it felt like my possessions were being held hostage, and I had to authorize charges I didn't agree with to ensure delivery. I was left on my own to deal with this disreputable van owner.

I've since talked to Colonial Van Lines agents about my issues and I get "I definitely understand where you're coming from" but still more promises of looking into things. It has been two weeks since delivery now. I paid $1500 for a binding estimate which never helped me, and can't get an answer to explain that charge (or for that matter any others). I ended up still paying $220 for bogus moving charges.

I never had the opportunity to request a re-weight. I'm sure the van owners failed to pass Colonial Van Lines compliance checks - but that doesn't benefit me at all. And ultimately, I just felt like Colonial Van Lines were there to take a cut of the action for placing phone calls to me, but never really did anything on my behalf to help or assist me.I thought I was paying to avoid a moving hassle, but it's not fun to deal with pushy van owners that are in possession of all your stuff with no help from the moving company who supposedly is there to help you.

Colonial outsourced the job to a different moving company. When the moving company showed up 4 hours late from the expected time, they didn't have the mirror/TV boxes that were requested so I had to get a friend to go buy some in the middle of the move. They didn't provide adequate padding or wrap the furniture items. I had to ask about the paperwork (inventory sheet, billing stuff) when they started loading stuff on the truck and they gave me someone else's. I called my moving agent and then they found my paperwork. They wanted to deliver the load 2 days prior to the scheduled deliver date window. They stopped loading the truck when they found out that I wasn't going to be in Washington on the day they were going to deliver. The date didn't even fall within the scheduled delivery window.

I contacted my agent and left a message then called the emergency line and spoke with a representative who told me that the moving company could determine whatever delivery date that they wanted to. My current rep called me back and walked me through some helpful options (load our stuff in storage or unload the truck and return back in a few days to reload the truck). I was able to get my friends to supervise the unloading of our stuff since we were unable to be there 2 days early.

A few hours after the movers had left the house they called to ask me to text them pictures of the signed paperwork because they left it at my house. The unloading process was adequate except for the broken desk and the extensive damage to the interior house (staircase railing trim, holes in sheet rock, and scrapes on the trim). Once Colonial had their deposit they dropped all customer service responsibilities except for the one helpful agent who worked with us until the end.

I packed the things myself then I had furniture and everything else ready for the people to pack the way they pack it. When they loaded, they were pretty organized. However, they were not quite as careful as I had hoped. I told two people with the company when and why it would take me four days to get here. But somebody didn't tell the guys who are driving and loading so they had to wait here a day and a half to off the load. That kind of ticked them off and it didn't do me any good either because I got a call in Lincoln, Nebraska that they were here waiting for me.

Everything was offloaded when I got here and they disappeared down the road. They knew that I needed the boxes that I carefully marked immediately and they were buried. The real heavy boxes were stacked on lightweight ones that were just crushed and upside down. It's a mess in the garage. There's only one thing broken and unfortunately, it's a 100 plus years old piece of glass. And so I'm still picking through it trying to find the things that I need three weeks later.

The gentleman who was the driver and the head guy with loading and unloading was a smart guy. But they have the potential to do better with a little more organization and care. I went with Colonial because I had read several people who would use them for commercial moves, and used them several times. And that to me, speaks volumes. I'm as flexible and easy to get along with as anybody can be. All they had to do was ask in certain instances but they didn't.

I started to explain my situation, and said again that I did not have time at that moment because I have a terminal illness. I started to say that I really needed to go to sleep, and that I wanted to be sure I had less of a problem and so really wanted someone to come out - which is not an unreasonable request. I never got the chance. He started yelling into the phone, "Don't raise your voice to me, because you have a terminal illness. Don't take it out on me." I had not raised my voice at all. In fact, when I get tired, I usually can't raise my voice due to a lack of energy. I tried to state that to him, saying "I am not raising my voice to you." I never got the chance to say anything else because he HUNG UP THE PHONE!

If that is the service that Colonial Van Lines offers before you book with them, I would hate to see what happens after you sign a contract or after they have your belongings on a truck. Fortunately, thanks to this rude, confrontational and obnoxious salesman, I won't have to worry about it. I hope this serves as a warning to others who might think of using this carrier. I certainly wouldn't if they gave it to me free! Oh, this is my first review. Hope I have better luck.

When I got there they said that it's going to be about $14,000 instead of $6,000. I was flabbergasted and devastated. They inflated what they said it would be, and then it wound up being less than what they estimated when they got there but more than what the coordinator estimated. We didn't have the money for that, and we had agreed upon 150 boxes. What they could do was take the 150 boxes then leave the rest and that was unacceptable. I had no idea what 150 boxes they were going to take. We felt our hands were tied. It's frustrating and frightening.

But there was one gentleman who was there on the pack up and on the unpacking who was wonderful. His name was Saul and he was very personable, friendly, he put us at ease, and he was there at the beginning and at the end. Then the two men that packed up had a great working relationship and good rapport with one another. And aside from the shock and horror of it being way more than we expected, they were fine.

We packed up all the boxes and staged them in our garage, so it was easy for them to load. It seemed like they were overestimating weight, but the box weight that they calculated was 30 pounds a box, which was low. I saw that and I knew that we were way over on the boxes. As far as expectations, I thought that we were going to come in close, but we ended up going over.

There is a quarter mile driveway that goes back to the house that we bought. It was windy and I was very concerned at the time about using a semi-truck. It would have never gotten our stuff back here. We were quite happy that the delivery truck was a shuttle-sized truck instead of a semi. We were able to credit the shuttle truck service. Everything, dollar-wise, worked out great. We were right as far as the overall cost, so no big surprises at the end and we were really happy.

I was very satisfied with everybody that I spoke with throughout the whole process. They didn't beat around the bush and they knew what they were doing. I felt comfortable that they were very knowledgeable. They knew how everything was going to go, and everything that they explained to me was exactly the way it happened. In this day and age, to try and get answers from people, most of the time I throw my hands up because people half the time don't know what they're talking about. In this case, it was the opposite of my expectations. I called it in and I thought all this would be a bare, but it wasn't. It was excitable as experience can be when you're moving across the country.

The move was straightforward across the state from Chicago, Illinois, to Greenwood, Indiana and because we didn’t have any odd pieces of furniture, it was easy for the movers to do the packing. They came at 11:30 and they finished at 1:00. The movers understood the time frame we had so they did efficiently all the work, packed our things nicely, blanketed all the equipment properly and the items received at our end was all well, except a small damage but it was acceptable.

The movers that came were from In Demand Movers. Phil was very nice and helped out. He said, “Don’t worry. We will do all the work properly for you”. We also had Luis and Rudy. They were very nice, fast, polite and wherever we asked them to keep the things, they kept it for us. We were very happy with their services. Everything went smoothly, plus we were properly informed. They called us one hour before they came to our apartment and even when we arrived in Indiana. This was the first time I moved from one state to another. Earlier on I had a lot of anxiety. I was not so sure whether the movers would do a good job but overall, at the end of the day, I’m very happy I chose Colonial Van Lines. I would definitely recommend and use them if I move again, even overseas.

The moving coordinator, Anthony was awesome. He was very helpful and always responded to my emails promptly. I wasn't sure of the date I was moving and he had no problem changing the date. He made it pretty easy. I only had one problem. I think Colonial Van Lines sent somebody else to pick my stuff up from the storage. And they broke my coffee table. That was just careless. I was so mad. It could have been avoided. It's glass and they just put it in the truck, had it leaning to the side of the truck. Which is what? Stupid. If you've been moving people's stuff, you don't do that. Of course, it turned over and it broke. But then the manager compensated for it by cancelling the cost of my steps, which I thought was really nice.

The guys who delivered my stuff were very helpful. They did everything that they could do. The only thing that was left for them to do was pack my clothes up. Which I told them they couldn't do because there was nowhere to put them. I had a very good experience. I didn't have to hurt my head at all with anything.

Because we had to clean our old house to sell we were not able to get across country in time to take delivery. So my elderly parents had to. When we did arrive several boxes were missing and we had someone else's rug. It had the colored sticker on the rug so they knew who it belonged to. Yet they told us to just keep it, only after insisting that they ship it where it belonged did they reimburse us but we still had to do the work to ship it.

Which leads me to believe they did not even try to get our boxes back and they never did. They just kept giving us the runaround and told us to file a claim which is probably cheaper than shipping our boxes back. Then to top it all off after dragging this out for a year they denied our claim. I would NEVER recommend Colonial Van Lines again.

The only other thing is that there was a little unusual about the coordinator who dispatched the guys. They picked up my stuff in Massachusetts and the crew was from New Jersey. And so a few days later, they drove down from New Jersey and the coordinator said, “Hey, you know, we’ve got your credit card on file and we’ll charge you the balance when we deliver your stuff, but do you think it’s possible that you could pay some of it in cash?” I said, “Why and how much?” He goes, “I don’t know, you know, maybe $400 or something.” I replied, “For what?” He says, “So the guys can buy gas for the truck,” which struck me as bizarre because they don't have a car they can use and they have to have cash to get the gas.

So I said no. He said, “No, there’s no pressure. I’m just asking, you know, is it possible. If it’s not, no big deal.” I said, “No, I’m not gonna do it,” because it was very odd. But, the guy who drove the truck was very experienced. He and his crew were really good. He said that they’d call me all the time. They have gone all over the place so if he’s experienced like that, why in the world wouldn’t they be already covered for fuel and food and all that other stuff?

Original Review: March 27, 2017

This company should not only be out of business but should be in jail. They will lie and change your order once you have signed up with them. They then broker your move to a third party that should all be deported. The third party are all scam artists. They overcharge, make up packing charges, and lie about a long distance moves. The companies reps are arrogant and rude. Stephanie ** should be fired! I will be contacting my lawyer!

Having the moving date on Sunday was an alternative plan to the original one, which was supposed to be on Saturday. But there was a miscommunication between the original moving company and my husband where they were going to come on Friday which did not work. By the time they were involved in the process, I know that there was a pick-up schedule for Sunday. And the understanding that we had was that we were going to all go down together. So, even in terms of how we organized and packed, it was with the understanding that it was only going to be, at most, a five-hour trip down the highway. It might not have been reiterated in a way that it was clear because I believe my husband is a planner's planner. So, if that had been communicated, we would have planned this in terms of having a suitcase worth of clothes. We wound up packing out for his car and mine with things that we were going to need more immediately.

Our things did not arrive on Sunday evening when we did, but they did arrive Tuesday morning. Once that situation was identified the two movers who were there did a really good job of contacting their headquarters and trying to rectify the situation based on what appeared to be a miscommunication or misunderstanding. The people who came to pack and move were not the administrative people that worked up the contract. The people who came to help us move out were the same two that helped us move in on Tuesday. So, it was nice for continuity purposes. I'm not sure if that would have normally happened but it was nice to have seen the same faces.

It did take awhile to pack our things. They did a much faster job of unloading and putting things. They have to break down some things and it did take quite a few hours to do that. Longer than in my mind's eye but again, there were only two of them. In terms of direct customer service, as far as the two gentlemen that were the laborers that were involved in the process were concerned, they were very good overall. And then helping for us this side up, but they did a good job with that. It's possible they might have been able to pack the truck faster but they made up for it on the other end by getting us our things much sooner than the forecasted time frame and putting things back together. It was a faster process on the other end as well.

Original Review: March 8, 2017

The experience started off really good. My initial contact was Thomas and was very professional and did a good job with follow up and made me feel like my business was of value to them. I then had Eric come do a physical inspection of the home and he was also good to work with and professional. It all changed when we were officially signed to a contract and then became the responsibility of Dorika ** with CS. She was constantly not available and never had any answers to some of the following problems that came up.

It appears that Colonial Van Lines outsources almost all facets of its infrastructure. Most people you talk to when you call them back from the caller ID on the phone they are working for other moving companies. Which would reason to the lack of care or professionalism from most of the staff. They are not true employees but agents.

So the movers were set and confirmed to arrive on March 7 at 8:00-10:00 AM. This was confirmed with Dorika the CS rep. At 12:00 I began calling Dorika and could not get a return phone call till I went thru the switchboard. I was put on hold for over 20 minutes to be told the mover will arrive between 12:00-4:00. I explained that was not the agreement and she became irritated I would question the answer she gave. I kept calling the driver and CS with no answers and I finally got the lady packing to call the driver and he immediately answered her call. I did get to talk with him on her phone and he assured me the job would get done on time and that they would arrive by 10:00 AM the following day.

Well 10:00 am came and no crew and nobody was returning my phone calls. I have to be out of the house on this day or I will miss my closing. So hopefully you the moving consumer can understand my frustration. Finally after demanding to speak to a manager and not a voice mail I waited 27 minutes and talked with Sonya. Not sure where she works and her caller ID was a complete different moving company 3 time zones away from the main office. Finally after the CS Manager demanding an ETA we had 1 26' truck show up. Not what is needed to move my house, which they were well aware of with the site assessment conducted. The truck is a "Rental" and does not even have a company logo on it other than the rental company where it came from.

So now you are up to date with the chain of events. I have one small truck here and supposedly another OTW but has yet to show. I will post another update tomorrow so everyone knows how the packing ended. So far this is a miserable and very nonprofessional company from my dealings. Also this is the first time I have ever even given a bad review on anything. I just don't want you to have the same issues I am having.

Scheduling was a huge hurdle we had to deal with. I was initially told they would contact us 24 to 48 hours before they came to pick up. Pick up date was scheduled for 25. On the 24th, that afternoon, they haven't called. They'll be calling or confirming up the next day so I called Colonial. They told me they would be out the next day between 12:00 and 3:00, although no one has even bothered to call us and let us know that. So, on Saturday, at 2:30, when the driver had not shown up, I called Colonial again and they pulled up my record and said I'm not scheduled for pick up until the next day. That screwed me on that 24 hours. I asked the time the driver will be showing up. They said between 8:00 and 10:00. On that Saturday, I got a text message about three hours later from a Colonial driver so I sent back a text message to confirm that he was supposed to come pick me up the next day. He said, "Nope, wrong number."

The next morning I waited from 8:00 until noon but there was no driver. So, I contacted Colonial again at noon and they told me that the driver would be here between 12:00 and 3:00. That was a Sunday and Colonial Van Lines is closed on Sundays so there was no customer service. The only thing I had to do was to contact the driver that sent me a text message and said I wasn't his pickup. When I called him, he said he's my pickup. He was driving in Charlotte at that point and I asked him how long he thought he would arrive. He said he just got there and waiting should be here between 12:00 and 3:00.

I made the drive from Fayetteville to Charlotte and it took a lot longer to get there because of traffic. So, he stopped at 2:30 for lunch, called me and said he just left Charlotte and that he’d be there by 3:00. So, I anticipated he would arrive at 6:00, which he did. He then called for help so they could come over to load. They finally got it done at 7:00 that night which put me behind schedule by 48 hours. When I talked to Colonial about it, they determined they will give me a $50 discount. Their taking care of the customer at that point and for that kind of hassle just did not transpire into anything. I've been moving for 40 years with the military, but this is probably the worst experience I have ever had. It was all sorts of hoops that I don't wanna have when I’m trying to move.

Original Review: March 1, 2017

When I first contacted Colonial regarding moving I thought they were very professional. First the price per pound we spoke about was not the price per pound we were charged for. They had said calls were recorded but when I asked them to do a call review they said price was never discussed in the call. As you go along the process you are moved from one person to another. I spoke with two people in sales, QC, account manager and customer service (after the move). Keep in mind Colonial does not move anything, they pick a company out of a list to move you. First thing our movers did when they came to pick up our furniture was hand me a inventory list for me to fill out of the furniture and it's condition. This should be done by the movers! Because I was moving out of state 500 miles away, Colonial had agreed to pick up the furniture one day and deliver it two days later allowing me time to travel to destination.

Our movers knew nothing about this. We were forced to drive three hours into the night after loading of our furniture and remainder the following day. Colonial states in their binding estimate "All furniture is blanket wrapped at no extra charge". None of my furniture was blanket wrapped which lead to damage to almost all my furniture. Colonial agreed that I was credit card approved to pay remainder upon of my bill upon delivery by credit card. Movers wanted "Cash or Certified Check" on a Sunday!! I asked to call Colonial regarding this and movers told me "you don't deal with them, you deal with me". Once they left the following day I realized just how much of my furniture was damaged. Corners of my table smashed, almost all of my dressers were badly scratched on bottom from not wrapping and more.

I also calculated that my weight of goods came in 2000 pounds under the estimated weight and was charged a higher rate per pound than I had originally been told. I paid about $500 too much. Colonial has a refund policy if you cancel your order prior to move but not for overpaying by weight. After discussing this numerous times with the account manager and being told to call back in a week to see if refund is processed I finally turned it over to my credit card company dispute resolution team. I'm not sure what means they go to for checking out the movers they assign to you but as soon as I was given the company name I googled them and found mostly nasty comments.

While the moving company was a disaster Colonial's customer service is worst. They have done nothing to apologize for the movers or after several requests (and sending pictures) regarding damage that occurred. I have not heard back from them. If you decide to use them keep in mind they are not moving you but they pick from a list of movers unknown to you and they keep a portion of the funds you pay for themselves. You are better off choosing your local "2 men and a truck". To this day I have still not received an invoice showing how they calculated what they are charging me for.

I would have rather gotten a U-Haul and done the move myself because I could have done the whole thing in a week for less money. I've done moves before, but I didn’t realize it would take over three weeks before I got my stuff. There was a lot of questions about when it was gonna arrive and Colonial didn’t have an actual weight, so they had to adjust the price accordingly. It was a little sketchy and longer than I would have liked to have done it. I don’t even know how many times my boxes got moved from one truck to another by folks who may not really know what they're doing.

Colonial Van Lines had to contract out the unloading because the driver got sick and had to go to the ER. But then, there were only two helpers who unloaded and it was frustrating. They were already a day late and it took them two days, and they could have put in the storage units a bit better. They were trying to hurry because it was raining. But the helpers, David and his brother, Robert, were awesome. They were polite and they worked hard for us. It wasn't their fault that they didn't have any help. I called Colonial Van Lines and asked if their guys were gonna come but nobody came.

If we had help, it wouldn't have taken two days and someone could have stayed inside and helped pack the storage unit a bit better, because we thought we were gonna end up having to get a fourth storage unit. So I got in there and started rearranging stuff and we were able to get our things into three storage units. But the reason I paid so much was I shouldn't have to do any hands-on. I guess it was a hard time to find any workers since it was a holiday, but they should have been able to foresee that.

The movers were nice and decent guys. The other one especially was a really hard worker, but the other was going a little bit slow. And the guy who's working hard was saying how slow the other guy was. If they had three people instead of two and had a larger truck I wouldn't have ended up leaving stuff behind. I ended up giving stuff to my neighbor. There was a bunch of shelves that I wanted to bring but I couldn't. I left $500 worth of shelves in my basement because we didn't have a big enough truck. The dispatcher I dealt with was some guy down in Miami on the day of the move. He was yelling at me on the phone because I didn't think that what we had was correct in terms of weight. Then we could not get a straight answer on when they were going to be there, so we didn't know when to leave. They said they would be there on Monday, then it became Sunday. So I'm not happy with the service.

Original Review: Jan. 13, 2017

If I could give no stars or negative stars, I would. This has been the WORST experience ever. I was given a delivery window of 12/17-12/31. They picked up my belongings at 11 pm at night and told me there was no other time they could pick up my belongings. Then, I was told my items would be delivered on 12/21, so I drove up 7 hours from Southern California to meet the movers.

On 12/21, I had to call the company and they said they had made a mistake and that my items would not be delivered on 12/21 and that they could not give me a date of delivery. So, I called every day and they refused to give me a date. The window passed and I was sleeping on the floor for over two weeks with no items, no cooking material, no bed, etc. My items were finally delivered on 1/7 without the 24 hours notice as promised. Three of my items, two of which were glass, were broken beyond repair.

Three very expensive pieces of artwork were completely missing and no explanation was ever given. When the driver and another man arrived, the driver was complaining the entire time and he refused to move my couch upstairs through the front door. The driver did basically nothing and the other man did everything. So the driver left my couch downstairs in the rain.

The next day I hired two men to move my couch upstairs through the front door and had to pay them $140, so more money I was out because of this terrible company. They only wanted to give me $200 off for the whole thing, which is ridiculous because I had to pay for an extra night at the hotel on 12/21 ($100), the men who moved my couch up ($140), the loss of three broken items ($150), three paintings missing ($350), plus the emotional stress of not knowing where my items were and when they would be delivered plus sleeping on the floor with my dog for over two weeks with nothing in my apartment.

When my friend posted a bad review, Christian ** contacted her back and provided his phone number. I called him Monday of this week 1/9 and he told me this would definitely be resolved by the end of this week (today, 1/13). He also instructed me to take my friend's post down while this is being resolved. So it is today, 1/13 and he is not even in the office nor responding to my calls or emails. I will be posting bad reviews on every outlet I find because this is wrong and I do not want this to happen to anyone else. HORRIBLE COMPANY, do not use!!!

I had one instance where I tried to call the moving coordinator, Tom, because the guys were gonna be late like 9:00 at night. It’s too dark at my house and it was past the time frame that they gave me where they would show up. So I declined the receipt of the goods and they came the next morning. I wanted John, our customer service guy, to know that I had declined it and why. But when I called him back, he was busy and some operator answered and I didn’t want to talk to her as I talked to enough different people. I didn’t really appreciate her attitude and she could have been better. But, John was great. When I finally talked to Tom, I reported to him the phone incident and he wasn’t very happy about it.

My friend who initially referred me to them had a horrendous experience. But mine was completely opposite of hers. I hate it for her. A move is stressful even when it goes perfectly. They made their effort to get me to accept the delivery that night because I’m sure they had another one to do. I just held firm and they were fine with it. They held up their politeness, courtesy, and their professionalism.

However, they contract out the move and they don’t really say that. And so, when the folks show up in unmarked trucks, it’s a little unsettling. There’s nothing in their work that shows they're from Colonial Van Lines wherein all the receipts and stuff that I got were from the contracted mover. I think they should tell everybody in advance because it bothered me and my friend. She knew that it was gonna happen because I told her. I ended up moving before she did. If only they just acknowledge it on the front end. My guys pulled up in a U-Haul and a Penske. And so, if anybody would ask me who I use, I would tell them about my experience as well as my friend’s. And I would tell them not to expect anybody to show up in a Colonial truck.

Prior to the move, I was informed of overweight charges per pound if this happened. The same 2 men stayed with the same truck during the move. They arrived at our home in New Hampshire about the middle of their delivery window. Again, the same 2 men offloaded the truck and placed all furniture pieces and boxes where directed. They carefully unwrapped the furniture and reassembled anything if needed. There was no damage to anything during this move. This move was very well coordinated and Colonial kept me informed all along the way.

It was a quick move. I had to get down here and start work all within a couple of days and they were able to get my stuff here before I even started the job so it was okay. But I was a little dissatisfied when I was told not to take apart my bed or anything because they told me that whatever the guys took apart they would put back together upon delivery and that was not the case. They took apart the queen-sized bed that I had but when they came and dropped it off they just left it and it was up to me and my 78-year-old mother to put this bed back together since they told me they don’t do that. So that was a little disheartening with the whole process.

But, I had to do a bit of communication to their account manager because my home phone was out of commission as I was in transport from Nevada to Texas then. For a while, it was communicating by email and then by cellphone. I was 99 percent packed but there were some lampshades that they helped me with. Overall, the move went very easy. They put my furniture on the semi even though I have a small load, and so it was the same crew that picked up and delivered. They were nice, very pleasant and worked very hard.

However, Colonial Van Lines kept calling and telling us when are we gonna give the down payment. That guy was nice but he told us that the cost is gonna go up with every day that goes by without us paying the down payment. That didn't make any sense to me but the guy said that's the way it is. Just like buying an airline ticket, the closer to the date, the higher the price. I argued with him, saying that if the cost was gonna be higher, I wasn't gonna do the move with them. So then he lowered the quote and it wound up being $20 more as opposed to $300 more.

They had told me that they would be getting in contact with me by Friday to let me know when the delivery would be made. But I didn't hear from them. I called them, wondering why they haven't called me even though it's already late afternoon. I wanted to know if I should already make arrangements at the place. The guy told me to be patient, they'll call. When I didn't hear from them again, I called them once more. He said he was gonna call someone but it wasn't until Saturday afternoon that they finally told me that they were coming at 8:00 the next day.

Colonial Van Lines' quote was lower than the two estimates that we have gotten on site but there wasn't that much of a difference because in the end, we have to order more packaging than we had originally thought would be needed since it turned out that my mother's stuff wouldn't fit in the boxes that Colonial have. I guess that happens when they just go based on the pictures the client sends whereas when someone goes on the site, they'll get a better sense of what needs to be moved. Hence, the cost went up by about $500. Fortunately, everything arrived fine. I think something broke but it wasn't anything major.

All in all, our experience with this company was okay. There were a lot of mix-ups though since there are so many people who intervened in the process. It isn't like hiring someone and that's the person I talk to until the very end. Everything is broken down into parts so there was a lot of confusion regarding when they were gonna deliver it, which was a delicate issue because my mother was moving to a retirement community where we can't just move her in without the people knowing.

Also, they said their employees were going to be background checked including people that were helping with the move but that did not happen. And as far as the booking agency and the agents go, I don’t have any concerns with them. When I talked to them and I did my research, I tried to find out if they were a broker and I was told they weren't a broker, but the move was brokered. But that doesn’t necessarily reflect on Colonial, and that reflects on that driver.

I really was overwhelmed with my move as it was a company relocation and I knew I had a budget to work within, so when I found Colonial and began working with them, I didn't want to even shop around because going through inventory is exhausting. Lucky for me, they were perfect from the beginning. Because I didn't have the time or energy to try and shop around, I was putting my move in their hands and they delivered... Literally. I'd recommend them as they do everything they can to keep you calm, protected, and incredibly informed so there are no surprises. Job well done!

Initially, I got a quote for our move from a Colonial guy based on the inventory that I did with him. Then I got a competitive quote from another transport company. At that time, the manager of Colonial came back to me and said, "We need to see what they quoted based on the walk-through." The problem was, the guy from the competitor way overestimated the cost of our move. Despite this, the manager from Colonial said, "We're gonna have to go with what they said based on this walk-through as an estimate now." I said, "But it's way overdone and not right." Even so, Colonial changed their quote to where I had to put down more deposit.

But when we actually did our move, it was back to the original price that the first guy quoted. So, it ended up that I barely had to pay any balance at the end, and I was annoyed that I had to pay a larger deposit based on the competitor's quote versus what they initially quoted to me. As for the pickup and delivery of our things, the movers themselves contacted us, and everything was fine and great with them.

As for the workers, they knew exactly what they were doing and they did it in a timely manner. They were communicating with me which made it a hundred percent better instead of wondering where somebody is. They got caught up in an accident on the George Washington Bridge, but they phoned me about it, which I had already seen on television. They explained to me that they should be there shortly. And when they arrived, they went right to work.

During pickup I was prepared. They did not have to do anything but load my stuff. I was surprised that the people on the other end had gotten here at the time that they did. I thought it was gonna be later, but they called and said they'll be here Sunday afternoon before 12:00, and they were here about 11:00. They unloaded everything, set up the beds, and placed the furniture and everything. I was much pleased that I used them because I have heard so many horror stories about moving companies. I was very satisfied with the whole move.

The account manager was pretty fantastic as well. We had a couple of problems with my move because I was living in an apartment and then the truck broke down and there were some weather problems with Hurricane Matthew. I was getting daily updates about where my stuff was and when it was gonna get to me. Everything went great. Their guys showed up on time and had everything loaded in about half the time than was anticipated. Same thing during drop off, only half the time that we were quoted.

All in all verybody at Colonial was so professional. They were easy to reach when we had to make phone calls back. They kept in touch with us. We moved from New Jersey to North Carolina the day that they delivered my items in North Carolina, and I got a call from them to make sure that the movers showed. Everybody was on top of everything. The mover told us where he was and when he was coming, and about what time. Then, his supervisor called as well. There was very good communication.

Everybody was cordial over the phone and all the rest of the people that handled things over the phone, the sales rep and the moving coordinator was good, except the people who moved the furniture, who sucked. When the packers came in, I was already partially packed. It was a few things that they had to help me pack because the move was getting late and I really wasn't ready. Now that I'm unpacking my stuff, I'm finding a lot of damage to my furniture. They could have come to me and let me know about the damage because I had insurance and could have resolved it. Now, my stuff is gonna be damaged forever. That was very bad. I spent a lot of money, almost $4,000, if not more, to get my dining room table and my stuff damaged like that. That’s not right. What I’m gonna do is I have family in the entertainment and communication businesses and am gonna spread the word.

I got damage to my dining room table which is antique. Decorative wood got a slight cut. The wheels and feet to my couch are damaged. I got damage to my couch and my dresser. My footboard to my bedroom still had a couple of nicks in it. That was the major damage. And it won’t make it so bad if the damage wasn’t visible. I know that after moving I had these damages because they’d set the furniture up where I couldn’t see the damage. If I wasn’t moving things around then I wouldn’t have noticed it. And it wasn’t damaged before they moved it. I’m really not happy with Colonial Van Lines. I’m seeing what I can possibly do. I’m looking at whatever legal avenues I have and wherever I can make moves to get this justified. I’m very dissatisfied with my experience.

To be fair, the initial person I spoke with, Chad, to set up the move was good. After I spoke with him, made some date and storage changes, and locked in the insurance and deposit, at that point I had full confidence that everything was running smoothly and I could focus on other details of moving across the company with my pregnant wife and two year old. As I would learn, everything went south from there. Upon the arrival, our two movers were three days late. We learned that Colonial had subcontracted to another company named Boost Van Lines and there would be communication problems across the board. We paid for a full packing job which we didn't even come close to receiving. To be fair, the movers worked their tails off, but I think they were not prepared well for the type of job we asked and paid for. They also didn't speak very good english which made it difficult to communicate when we had questions.

Once they did arrive and opened the back of the truck up, there was only a small place to fit our stuff into. The full packing job consisted of a lot of our breakables just being thrown into boxes with no wrapping or protection. We actually had to have them reopen several boxes to repack. They had to make two different trips to pick up more materials because they weren't prepared. They did wrap our furniture in plastic, but because they didn't have enough space in the truck, had to extend a port off the back where our larger items traveled outside of the trailer. I was horrified to see that this was the plan.

In the end, we had to leave behind 3 large items that we had let Colonial know about initially, and we decided to move more of our valuables and breakables than we wanted to. Honestly, our cars were packed to the gills and probably unsafe. I rented a storage truck for some extra space and to make things easier on the movers in our small town home to move around, but because of the delay in arrival, and 48 hours of loading and bad packing, I had to pay for 3 extra days. When it was time to sign the paperwork, I had some questions that the movers couldn't answer and just insisted that I sign. At this point, we are put a week behind schedule of driving across the country.

Fast forward to today. We are still waiting on our stuff to arrive. It's been a frustrating week. My son is in his pack-n-play and my wife and I have been sleeping on air mattresses for two weeks. Our customer service rep Samantha told us last week to expect a delivery on Nov 1 or 2. Then she calls to tell us, "Oh the movers let me know the stuff will be coming early" without an idea what that meant. After calling several times, she finally explained that yesterday would be the day. This made us pretty happy after all that had gone on. We took the dog to daycare, got sitters for our son, and had volunteers come over to help. 4 hours go by and we hadn't heard anything and several calls and texts to our customer rep and nothing.

We finally get the cell phone of the movers and they inform us it won't be until today between 3 and 6. Lo and behold it's 3:32 as I'm typing and we can't get a hold of the driver or Samantha to see if it will actually happen today. This is infuriating and looks to add even more money coming out of my pocket. To make matters worse, Colonial has asked us to be at the weigh station both times to confirm the weight before and after they arrive. This really irks me as it's hard to move work around and get the family going with zero communication. We just really want this to be over so we can move on.

What Samantha has been good about is telling us repeatedly what we owe. We were told that Colonial and Boost had offered us some compensation back, but really feel it pales in comparison for how bad this has been. The only reason we even got a moving company was because my wife is 7 months pregnant, NEVER AGAIN! Next time I'm using UHAUL. Using this company is just not worth it, look elsewhere! At this point, we can only hope our stuff doesn't arrive broken, but the way everything else has gone I'm not banking on it.

I talked to two different people about the weight then they sent out an inspector to do a visual inspection and give an estimate. Everybody high balled it a little bit so that the actual amount and the actual weight was less than the estimate by 200 pounds. Even so, everything went on time which was the most important part. It was quick and the actual team of movers were very good and careful with things. We had a couple of minor breaks but not too much. I thought there would be more last-minute problems but it turned out to be very smooth. They exceeded expectations.

First, there was clearly poor communication between Colonial and Interstate from the start. Colonial told me that the movers would call me an hour prior to arriving at my house. They called me when they were on my front porch and told me that no one ever told them to call me ahead of time. Second, my household items were delivered on August 30th at 2 AM; that is 41 days late for those of you counting. Here are the following excuses I received:

5. They don't have a driver to deliver my stuff.

When I asked Colonial Van Lines what they were doing to expedite my delivery, I was originally told that they do not have their own trucks to move stuff, but was later told that they were going to have one of their trucks go get my stuff, and I was told that they had threatened Interstate to 1. Stop sending them business until my stuff was delivered, and when that did not do anything, they threatened to stop doing business with them altogether. Threats only work if you carry them out.

During this time, I was told that my stuff is 2 hours away (from Savannah, GA), that it is actually in St. Louis, MO (which is 11.5 hours away), and that it is in Tennessee but that it is 800 miles away (the northwestern most part of TN is ~700 miles away from Savannah, GA). Furthermore, during this time, I was the one calling Colonial Van Lines for updates despite being told at the beginning that I would have a moving coordinator that would keep updated throughout the process, and I was the one that had to ask the more specific questions about what was wrong with the truck, what was the time frame for it get fixed, what are they doing to get my stuff delivered to me since they were late. Colonial never had answers for me and did not think to ask Interstate these questions themselves.

I did get a discount from Interstate Best Moving- $30/day that they were late- 40 (technically 41 since they delivered after midnight) days from the last date of my original delivery window; that did not even cover the expenses I accrued from not having my stuff but I was told that this is the industry average. This was deplorable management by Colonial Van Lines, and to further worsen the situation, the dispatch manager at Colonial Van Lines called me several hours after my goods had been delivered to make sure there were no problems, told me that he was going to talk with his managers about further compensation for my troubles, and would call me the next week to talk about this and reimbursement for any damages to my stuff. It's been 2 weeks; I have called several times, left messages, and have not heard back from them.

They were pretty accurate. The only hiccup was on the no-price-hike guarantee. They gave a quote over the phone and claimed that it was not a maximum estimate, and it wouldn’t normally go up. However, it went up because there was one line item that wasn’t clarified, and if you didn’t give every single item that was being transported, the mover on-site will redo a quote. It was one of their terms and conditions, which was not really clear.

The account manager was okay. It was difficult for her since I was out of the country leading up to a couple of days before my move, but she did a couple of things for me that were beneficial and she contacted the local agency, which was the mover and she also made sure they were on top of things. On the day of the pickup, the subcontractor had an issue with the truck, so they got there at the latest possible time from the two-day window that was given to me.

Moreover, I didn’t really anticipate a lot of follow-ups, but I see that as a positive thing because Colonial is trying to make sure that their customer satisfaction is high and what can be done in the future. It's a beneficial thing to not just be a part of it until the move is over but also to ensure that after the move is over, everything is satisfactory.

Another thing is that they didn’t come out to my house to give me an estimate. I walked through my house and literally mentioned every single thing that needed to be packed and the rep estimated 10,000 pounds, and when they got all my stuff on their truck, it was 20,000 pound so I had to pay double of what I was quoted. Moreover, they outsource everything to different companies and for that reason, I don’t think I’d use them again. They have too many different contacts, and every single person they outsource with calls me for a survey. It’s ridiculous that I’m getting called and e-mailed all the time. I would not recommend them because they outsource so much and there are too many people involved in the process.

The pick-up was fine too although there was a little language problem with some of the people that were picking up the furniture. As they were about to close up the truck, I ran into my garage and they forgot my bed. They came running back, picked it up and put it in the truck. The arrival of my furniture had nothing to do with Colonial Van Lines, though. I was not able to move into my home again so my things were placed in storage. I had a storage facility available for the delivery guys to move my things into. There was another language problem there and I had to tell the man to slow down his speech so I could understand him. But the overall experience was great like the price and the interaction with the employees. I had no issues with regards to the move.

Then, when they picked up, the driver said that they would probably deliver on Monday or Tuesday, then called while I was driving home on Saturday and said they'd be able to come Sunday morning. It worked out fine for me, but if I had had arrangements to fly back later, it would've caused a problem. Other than that, both the driver and the two young men that loaded, were wonderful. It made all the difference in the fact that I was getting one time and then having it changed. They were so good with the furniture and very nice to me. I was really pleased. The mover, himself, said he didn't know who would be delivering the furniture, and it turned out, it was the same three. They must have left right after I did and driven almost straight through in order to make it here by Sunday morning. I was real pleased to see that it was the three of them again because they just did such a nice job, also in helping to clear out the rooms that the furniture was going into.

While I was on my way to go and meet them, the coordinator called me to confirm that the movers were coming the next day after 5. I don't even know why she was calling to confirm if she hadn't actually talked to the movers. Luckily it all did work out. And I called on a relatively short notice, so they did a good job of getting my things in about five days, which is right around what I needed for them to be there. I had a window of about three days, and they made it in that window.

When the mover showed up, he sat down with me, explained thoroughly about what was involved and how they store it. They were very thorough. He also said that he had a feeling there’d be more weight but it didn’t wind up being more. The biggest problem I ran into was the different people I was dealing with which kind of messed up the delivery date by probably about almost a month. So I had to have stuff put in storage. The gentleman in storage kept in touch with me the whole time. The two delivery guys were excellent as well. I was very pleased with everything and have nothing to complain about.

Don't trust their initial quotes...it will change! Don't trust the pick-up/drop-off dates. They barely got my stuff packed and moved out of my house in time and that was because I stayed up all night packing what they didn't have time to do AND they were close to 2 weeks LATE!!! Two weeks of no belongings and no idea of the status/health of our belongings. Our stuff was transferred numerous times, which we specifically stated we did not want to have happen (but they agree to anything to make the sale). So in the end their only compensation was $350, which required us signing a contract that states we will not request further reimbursement and will not speak of our experience. I have yet to hear back from them regarding submitting reimbursement for our damaged items.

Resolution update 9/22/2016: Since posting my initial review of this company I have since been in touch with them and at the end of the day we reached a satisfactory resolution.

Original Review: July 21, 2016

We contracted with Colonial to move us from Kansas to Texas. When the truck showed up, it didn't say Colonial, or any name on it, and it looked like it was on its last legs. Three Croatian men came up to the door who could hardly speak or understand English, and we learned they had been contracted to move for Colonial, which we should have been told in the first place. It took them 10 hours to load the truck and they finally left. We drove to our destination in Texas and waited 3 days longer than they told us, before they arrived. There was no way to contact anyone who knew anything. For all we knew, we'd never see our furniture again. But that's not the worst!

I started to get very itchy bites after sleeping on our bed every night. After a month of torture, I went to an allergist and was told we had bed bugs! We didn't have them in Kansas, so they had to have come from a dirty truck that doesn't get cleaned. We had never had bed bugs in our life. We're still battling to get rid of them... Not easy. We would never ever recommend Colonial to anyone for any move in the future. I called to talk with the man, David **, about our experience and all I got was voicemail, which he declined to respond to, so talking to him about our problems was not an option. But he was so friendly when he was convincing us to use Colonial. This company is dishonest and unreliable!!!

UPDATED ON 09/08/2016: We moved from Kansas to Texas May 2016 with Colonial Van Lines. The movers were very friendly and polite and told us when to expect our household belongings to be delivered in Texas. We arrived the day before they were scheduled and stayed with relatives. The next day we received a phone call that they were on the way. They arrived and unloaded our belongings, placed them where we asked, and were very helpful in putting beds back together and changing furniture from where we originally wanted it placed. They were more than willing to please us and were most gracious in going above and beyond what we had asked of them. They clearly wanted satisfied customers and made sure we were happy before leaving.

Original Review: July 18, 2016

Colonial Van Lines misrepresents information and services. I was not made aware that Colonial Van Lines was just a broker and not a carrier until after they asked me to pay a $3000.00 deposit up front. This was my first clue that something wasn't right. When I spoke with a Manager regarding my concern with this, she indicated that the money was to hold and guarantee our pick up and delivery dates during the busy season. I learned 24 hours before our pick up date that Colonial had brokered out our move to a carrier named Best Price Moving and Storage in Chicago. This company had horrible reviews and I did not want to utilize a company with such a bad reputation and history to trust with our move. I voiced this concern to Colonial and they said that it was too late and that we'd have to use them or lose our deposit. They also told us that they have used that carrier many times and never had any issues.

Against my better judgment I decided to hope for the best and that maybe I'd be proved wrong. That is not the case. Our guaranteed window for delivery was July 7th-12th. We were told on July 10th that the truck was loaded and in route to AZ. On the 12th we had not received or heard anything yet. I called Colonial and was told by Josh that our items would arrive the 16th-18th. Today is the 18th. I've called Josh several times and just get his voicemail. I called Best Price directly and they told us our items would arrive the 20th-21st. This will make it 21 days without our items. We have 2 young children and it is very difficult to live with our stuff. We planned through the 12th when we packed as we trusted in that delivery window.

We have had to spend money out of pocket to buy stuff just to get by. Additionally we were told by Josh at Colonial that we would be reimbursed $30/day for each day that our items were late and that we'd get a claim form from Best Price at the time of delivery as the refund would come from Best Price directly. When I spoke with Best Price, they indicated that they do not reimburse for late delivery as those dates where provided to us by Colonial and any reimbursement would come from them. At this point, we'd just like accurate information as to if and when we will see our stuff again and get reimbursed the $30/day for every day it is late after the 12th.

Review Update, Approx 2 months after my initial review was published.

I was contacted by the Customer Service Representative, Mr.DiSorbo who was very considerate of my issues with the company and the move itself. We had a healthy conversation about the issues I had and the lack communication that I experienced from their staff members. He ensured me that warnings will be given to the representatives who should have done their job, and kept me informed and in the loop during this procedure. I wasn't asking for much, but as a customer, keeping me abreast is my right. The company has promised me reimbursement for the boxes which were lost and the items which were broken, which I have not received so far, but I hope to.

Things sometimes don't turn out to be as you had wished for. Mistakes happen, people often lag. This is life. As long as we are ready to make improvements in our shortcomings, I think were heading in the right direction. I hope the next time Colonial Van Lines improves on their business with their customers and resolve them in a timely fashion.

Original Review: July 17, 2016

I researched long and thorough before choosing a company. I wasn't moving anything fancy, just a two bedroom apartment with hardly much of furniture, mostly books as my wife and myself are both students of medicine. I wanted to make sure that the company I choose, gives me peace of mind, is reliable, professional and helpful during the move. I found colonial van lines to meet NONE of the expectation after my moving experience with them.

On the day of the move, they were 6 hours late! I had to change my entire itinerary. I was moving out of state and believe me making changes last minute with my 2 year old toddler wasn't an easy task. I understand this happens, no big deal. I called customer services and they had no idea why this happened. None of the customer service representatives took any responsibility for the delay. I had to call several times to follow up, there were no call returns. No communication whatsoever. I was just left to wait for a phone call from the driver to know what to expect and his time of arrival. There was no explanation why movers were late, neither an apology for the delay. How sad!

The moving went okay. The movers were courteous and packed everything well. I did see that they were throwing boxes at the time of loading, which I did not appreciate much, even the boxes that said FRAGILE on them. At the final destination after looking at boxes, I could clearly tell, that between moving trucks, most of the boxes were not dealt with kindly.

At my final destination the movers arrived several hours late. These are young kids who moved my stuff. Extremely rowdy, rude, uncourteous and not professional at all. Boxes are being thrown. This gentleman threw the coffee table on the ground after carrying it, breaking it and rendering it completely unusable and then denying any such behavior. They did not move boxes into the rooms as they promised to, and dumped everything in the living room and rushed out as soon as they could. When asked to keep up to their word to move boxes into their respective rooms, they tell me that "they have the boxes moved from the truck and I can do the rest". Getting them to re-assemble the bed was a task, and I had to do half the work as they were least interested and trying to rush. How pathetic!

Two boxes went missing, several items were broken. Happens in a move, no worries! Currently am in the process of claim, however once again there is NO COMMUNICATION, email replies which keeps me in the loop. These people are really good when it comes to fooling you into signing up with them, and once you have, then they don't care much at all!

In all I found Colonial Van Lines a company not to trust for any moves in the future. Please hire a company for your move who directly moves your stuff rather than sub contracting it. These people are unprofessional, do not believe in communication, and your stuff reaches in a way you wished it didn't. You have been warned off the misery that is Colonial Van Lines!!!

He also said he'd be with me throughout the whole move but when it came to the actual time of the move, I had a different moving coordinator with whom I've had very little contact. She tried to call me a couple of days before the move and when I tried to call her back, she was out of the office. I didn't end up hearing from her until after the pickup had already happened. The movers were professional but as I unpacked, I noticed they didn't do a very good job so when it comes to the actual quality of their work, I'm dissatisfied.

If that wasn't bad enough, I read a review from a user complained that Colonial erected a garment pole, hang the items on a line of silver duct tape. When he received his possessions, he discovered that some of the pieces were wet, and he suspected they were on the back of the trailer and was caught in the rain. When he called Colonial, his complaints were answered in a hostile, rude manner. He named "Mike" specifically and said with his intense, outrageous, and "could not care less" attitude toward a customer who paid in full, he should be in prison. Should be taken to prison. His review horrified me more than the TV story.

For our pick up we were given a two day window within which the driver and team would arrive. Then I got a call that they would arrive 8-11 am on the second day of that window. At approximately 5 pm the night before, I got a call that the driver would not make that window, and would arrive a little after 12 pm. At 11:30 am I got a call that the driver would arrive between 1-2:30 pm. I then got a call that the driver would definitely arrive by 5 pm. I called both Colonial and the subcontractor to find out what to do if they didn't arrive. I got no answer--of course. At 7:30 pm of the last day of the window, the driver arrived with two other guys to finish our partial pack. At a little past 1:30 am the next day (outside the window) they finished packing us.

When I tried to sign the papers the driver handed me with the correct date, he took them back, filled in the previous date, and said that was the date he had to record since that is when the contract was opened. At 1:40 in the morning, I was too tired to argue but it was suspicious. I asked him when he would be delivering my things to Colorado (as I was instructed to do by my first coordinator at Colonial), a 1200 mile drive; he said Saturday or Sunday and described the route he takes. Later that morning, after a short sleep in a hotel, I received a call from Colonial to find out how it went and I told them. The coordinator promised to call me back that day and confirm the delivery date. Instead I got an email with one week window reiterated but not specifics.

When Sunday passed and no one had showed up, I called the driver. He said he wasn't coming and delivered my things to a warehouse in Las Vegas. I sent emails to explain how irritated I was that no mention of middle of the night moving was ever agreed to by me and that I had better get answers soon. I was informed by email that I had a new coordinator who played phone tag with me for two days. Finally, on Tuesday, I was told the delivery would be within the next two days. No "Hello, I'm your new coordinator. Sorry about the delays." Nothing.

The next call from him was the same. "Your delivery will be between 11:00 am and 3 pm." No greeting, no "Do you have any questions?" Just the times and "Goodbye." I still have not received the weight comparison, but I was quoted a new price by the subcontractor. I don't have an invoice from Colonial with the final price, but I am expected to pay the driver before he unpacks the truck. This is not what I agreed to and it is not the service I was promised. I cannot recommend this company to anyone, and I think ConsumerAffairs needs to re-evaluate their recommendation.

Still the experience was mostly good. There were three people I dealt with. There's a guy named Chad, who was the first person I talked to. Then there was the lady moving coordinator I worked with who gave me the number of the mover and told me that the movers are going to call me. Then there were the movers. Chad was pretty great, coordinator was okay, and mover was good but just not the greatest personality. The guy who put the stickers on everything was a little bit dry, bordering on rude, but not terribly so. Nevertheless, the two guys who physically moved my stuff in did a great job. They were super quick and polite. It was also pretty impressive as I'm sure they were coming from low altitude.

For the services, when they weigh our stuff, it would probably be less than it turned out to be more. I never really saw them do it. I just got a call few days after they took our stuff and told me that the weight came back and was over what the estimation was. They also asked if they could get a semi-truck into our apartment parking lot and I kept saying they can. But then their rep still added the U-Haul and told me that the movers would be reticent to use the U-Haul and they would try to use the semi. But when they got there, they never even tried. They just showed up initially with the U-Haul and so that costed us an extra $250.

When I asked for their semi-truck, I couldn’t understand what they're telling me. It was a bit of language barrier. The positive thing though was that they were super fast. They picked up the stuff from our apartment on a Monday and they had it in Austin, Texas and then they had it delivered in Sacramento, California on that Sunday. So it was 6 days plus they delivered it on a weekend without any extra fee, which was really convenient for us. So we really appreciate that. I didn’t think the other stuff was that big of a deal. I guess we paid for the speed and the accuracy because everything made it. We didn’t lose any boxes.

They were a little rough with the stuff but there was nothing that was irreparably damaged. There were a few dings and dents here and there. I have never done this before so there were a few things that I would have worked harder to get inside the boxes had I known but I left them out. I will be more prepared if we ever do this again. Overall, they were fast and easy to work with but I would have appreciated a little more transparency with the pricing from the beginning.

When the truck arrived they really didn’t have a sense of when the stuff is going to be there and nobody from Colonial could really tell me when it would be there. But they explained the process and I did understand that they are contacting the actual trucking company and the trucking company was giving them the runaround. So I felt like Colonial handled that situation but the expectation they provided upfront was incorrect. It was by more of a sales agent than the actual moving agent. The moving agent was very good but the guy who sold me the job made promises that they were not able to keep. I genuinely felt that’s what he believed, that I would know my route once the truck arrived.

We had everything packed except for the bigger items. And then on delivery, the guy that moved me, handpicked a crew out in Washington but he had a hard time finding people here to help him unload so that was an issue. My husband was able to get a couple of his employees who came out and helped us. And then, the guy ended up getting a couple of guys from the job service but then one of them didn't show up. Because the unemployment rate out here is really low, there's not a lot of people looking for work, and he doesn't bring his own crew with him. Also, if you wanted to hire a crew out of one of the towns, the nearest bigger town is worth three hours away.

He was more worried about the expense out of his pocket of getting an actual moving crew to come help him. It was going to be $1,500 out of his pocket. So, he was willing to use whoever he could to unload to revert that cost. It's understandable, and he was a really nice guy, but at the same time, since he got people unloading things that didn't know what they're doing, I had some damage done to a few things. I was trying to figure out how it happened and felt bad because these guys that were here on the receiving end didn't really know what to do. They're not movers.

Overall, I like Colonial's set up procedure and helpful staff throughout the way. What happened was I wasn't the one at the receiving end, it was my mother-in-law and my husband who were around. So, when Colonial called me back to ask how things were, I couldn't tell them much. I wish I could talk to somebody and give them a little bit of feedback in regards to that, but I can't get anybody to email or call me back. I also needed the final receipt because the cost had changed. My husband needs a receipt for work, so I emailed Oliver and then I also called and left a message with a gal named Roxanne and didn't hear back from anybody. Once we're moved and they've contacted me to make sure everything was okay, I had a hard time getting somebody to get back to me. They closed us out and that was the end of it, but other than that, it's fine.

The only downside to the whole experience was when they came to pick it up. We did a pretty exact inventory before anybody ever showed up and we did most of the packing ourselves in boxes. There was no furniture in this move. There were a few paintings that they had to wrap in blankets and packed up for us. But the driver insisted when he came that there was about $300 of additional packing material that wasn't accounted for in the original quote, which I did not agree with. But at 9:30 or 10:00 at night, I wasn't gonna argue about $300. So, I just signed the paperwork he laid in front of me to get them on their way.

What was most impressive was I was given a two-hour window instead of a day so we would still be here. They also called me earlier in the morning to be a little more precise about it and I thought that was excellent. They had given an early morning delivery time of 7:00 to 9:00. The driver called me about 10:00 and I asked where they were and he said they were on their way and will arrive between 5:00 and 7:00. There was a mix-up but I didn't even care because they were so responsive and good at communicating and staying connected. Then the driver called me on the way and said he'll be there at 5:30 and he came on time. So, it was very good.

If anything was broken, I would have been upset. But they also talked about how I was going to fill out a form and what I needed to do. I knew everything, what was going to happen and what I needed to do. My experience with them was above my expectation. It was like they’re almost too good to be true. I also never expected the kind of follow up that I got. It was outstanding.

The driver was amazing. He was as attentive and professional in this move as anyone could possibly be. He wanted to know when I expected it. We were working across the holiday weekend, which complicated things. But the move was very quick. He fired the helper midstream in the morning because he didn’t like the work the guy was doing. He was very intent into what was going on and continued the work. I have rarely seen anybody work that hard. He was working by himself for quite a while until the replacement got there. Also, the moving coordinator kept me informed and let me know what was going on. They told me what to expect and then checked back after the move was done.

The only complication was that the move started in San Francisco, which means CVL had to use a shuttle. They had to pick it up in one van and in theory move it to another because of this van delimitation and the size of the vehicles in the streets. I’m in a nine-story apartment building and they had to take it down the elevators but there were no issues. They were taking my word for what’s in the apartment and the packing was about twice what was estimated, but I would prefer to pay twice and have it done professionally and faithfully than shortchanging it, and they did not do that.

We received a call confirming pick up on 6/24. On 6/24, we received a call that there was an issue with unloading the previous load and that they would pick us up Sat morning between 7-9 am. No one showed Sat morning and we were given no after-hours # to call. We finally got a hold of an agent at 10 am and were told that the drivers for our truck got in a fight with their boss and quit. They were sending another truck down from Jupiter, FL. It would be there at 1 pm. At 1 pm, they called and said there was traffic and they would be there at 2 pm.

At 2 pm they called and said there was bad weather (radar showed none on the route) and they would be there at 3 pm. Then at 3 pm they called and said the driver had put in the wrong address. They finally showed up at 4:45 pm. No one spoke English. Claudia (the inventory person) finally arrived and said they would need to charge us an additional $3000 for being over the weight limit. My husband said we had exclusive use of the truck regardless of weight limit (both my husband and I had confirmed that prior to signing the contract). They continued to load the truck and the estimate was off as we were unable to load some of our things. We had to rent a U-Haul trailer for the remaining items.

My husband talked to the driver who said he would be on the road first thing Sunday morning. Fast forward to Monday... we finally get a call on Monday around 1 pm from Sonja in Customer Service. She said that our furniture was sitting in a warehouse in Miami and that it had been moved from the original truck to a larger truck and then back to a smaller truck. I was livid. I had declined the additional insurance because we had exclusive use of a truck and it was point to point with only 1 load and 1 unload. Sonja said she would investigate further. She called back to tell me that the information was incorrect.

The original truck was in the warehouse in Miami and the shipment had not been re-loaded. I felt a little better then. Sonja told me that they had had to call in a favor to get the truck to pick us up, but now they had no driver. In my opinion, at this point Colonial should have escalated to their internal Dispatch dept to get another driver. Of course, that was not done. Sonja says she will call me with an update. My husband receives a call from Colonial's billing department Monday afternoon. They would like to process our final payment for receipt of our furniture. My husband laughed at the agent. Funny how Billing was also under the impression that the shipment should have arrived on Monday.

Tuesday comes and goes... no update. Then on Wed, I call Sonja and Tequila (the 2 agents assigned to our order) and leave messages for them to call me as we have no update on our delivery. I get no call back, but my husband received a voicemail that our furniture would be delivered on Friday or Saturday. Today (Thursday 6/30) I called to find out whether the delivery would be on Friday or Saturday as I would have to take off work if it were on Friday. I left messages for Sonja and Tequila to call me back.

I didn't hear back from them for over an hour so I called the main line and got the next available agent. The agent proceeded to tell me that the driver was coming from North Carolina to pick up the truck in Miami so our delivery date was pushed back to Monday or Tuesday (7/4-7/5). Tequila called me back an hour later with an update. She said that she had put in a request to Colonial's internal dispatch as they had more authority to get a driver there, etc. Why was this not escalated on Monday?? I asked for her to let me speak to a manager. She said she put in the request and a manager would be calling me back. Again, I'm beyond pissed. How can so many "issues" happen to one order! But wait! It gets better!

Sonja calls back Thursday afternoon (I still haven't heard from a manager) and tells me that the information I got earlier was incorrect. The driver had actually picked up the shipment in Miami and was in Jacksonville when the truck "broke down". Seriously?? She said that it would be Tuesday or Wednesday of next week before our furniture would be delivered. She said that since I did not want our items re-loaded, they did not know how long it would take to fix the truck. I told her I just want my stuff. I waived the additional insurance originally because it was point to point. I said they needed to credit me for the additional insurance, get our things on another truck, and get it here.

I asked to speak to a manager right then. She put me on hold and finally Kelvin her manager was on the phone. I honestly let him have it. He told me since I had declined the additional insurance up front there was nothing they could not add it midway. Complete BS! Someone in that company has the ability to override. I work in IT and there are always ways around the system when needed. Regardless, I told him it was not okay for us to have to wait another week. They needed to rent a U-Haul or find a closer truck. Absolutely ridiculous!! Kelvin said he would talk to his Dispatch management, see what they could do, and call me back.

I told him he had better as I'd heard that same statement before and not received call backs. Kelvin assured me they were doing everything they could and he was working on a discount. I said they were not. If that were the case, these escalations would have been made on Monday when our assured delivery date was not met. The discount is definitely warranted, but I want our things ASAP. It's 8:30 pm and I have not heard back from Kelvin. He said he would call me before he left the office today. I guess I'll just chalk that up to yet another empty promise. The worst part of all this is that there is absolutely nothing we can do. Suing Colonial would just end up costing us a fortune and a year of our lives. Not worth it. I just want our things so we can start our new life in our new house is that really too much to ask?

Our previous experience with moving companies ranged from experiencing fraud, lack of respect, inflated rates over quotes, and destroyed property. We were very nervous when we began to work with you. David ** was our contact and he represented your company at its best. He reviewed information with us then checked to make sure we understood what he said. He was available as we needed him for information and reassurance. Your office provided us with insurance for our one of a kind, handmade bedroom set. The rates were respectable.

The contracted moving people also were professional and took good care of our property. While I am sure this was not a large move in their experience, and they were handling water-damaged property, they treated us and our belongings with respect, and were a good reflection of your business and on your business name. All in all our moving experience insofar as Colonial Van Lines was concerned was a good experience. We would gladly recommend your business to future customers.

Pretty much all of my interactions with Colonial were efficient and courteous, and I was very happy with all of them. They handled everything very smoothly. The moving industry at large does not have the best reputation for honesty and integrity, so I had a little bit of trepidation going into it. But I felt as comfortable as I think I could have.

The coordinator was great. She gave us her number and basically said that if there are any problems or questions, we can call her anytime. Everyone was very courteous and friendly and I was very pleased. All in all, it was efficient and a very good experience, much better than I'd previously moved with the military which was terrible.

It also cost me more than I thought it was going to be in the end. But outside those things, Colonial did what they said they were going to do. I moved, 1,300 miles in total from Denver to California and I’ve only found a few broken things. Like everybody else I probably took the cheaper of the two insurances so there has to be a ton of breakage before I can submit a claim.

I also asked them to be very careful with the house that I was selling and my new home because its whole floor was brand new. The floor is wood, I put blanket all over it and they were nice with me. I also have a dryer that I just bought which cracked. But even if I have stuff that's damaged they still did a very good job and went above and beyond to do it.

Original Review: May 25, 2016

I am extremely dissatisfied with this company. I initially booked them because they were well reviewed on other websites, but the entire move was one event after another. I will say that their sales team is very persuasive, but they do not live up to their policies and their movers are extremely unprofessional. I said from the very beginning that I needed to know when they were going to pick up because I was leaving the minute they were done. I repeatedly asked for confirmation. I was told I would be notified two days in advance. My pickup was scheduled for Monday or Tuesday. I talked to someone Thursday, Friday, and Saturday but none knew where the driver was or when he would arrive. I reached out to everybody from sales, quality, and logistics. They either didn't respond to my inquiry or were out.

Then on Sunday late afternoon a man called, claimed he was with the moving company, and was ready to pick my stuff up. I didn't know who he was, I didn't know if he was with the moving company, and I was not ready for him. He told me he would pick up half then and half on Monday. I told him no. I was scheduled for Monday and until I heard from official channels that he was who he says he was, I was uncomfortable letting a stranger take my items. I scheduled with him to pick up at noon on Monday. I talked the logistics Monday morning. They confirmed that he was the mover and he would be there at noon. He did not arrive at noon.

When I called the company they said he was in Phoenix, but had no idea where he was or when he would be there. He showed up at 1pm. They did not start packing anything up until 2:30pm. It was the driver and one other guy. I realize that paperwork and number the boxes takes time. However the driver kept leaving every 20 minutes or so to sit in his truck and smoke. So essentially I had one guy trying to move me out for the vast majority of the move. Everything was already packed. They didn't need to take anything apart. They were not done until 5:30 and didn't leave until 6pm.

They paid no mind to the labels I wrote stating fragile or heavy. They put book boxes on top of boxes with glasses. Their attention to detail and care for my stuff was lacking. I did not have an address for delivery. I had asked for a later delivery so I would have time to find a place or make arrangement. They claimed to have worked with logistics to give the latest possible delivery schedule. I doubt this very much. The mover called me only three days later demanding to know where he was going to deliver and wanted to deliver two days earlier than scheduled. Having not found a place, I booked a storage unit and inform my agent about it. They then asked if I would be willing to move into the storage unit early. If so they would waive the re-delivery fee. There should not be a re-delivery fee because they hadn't tried to deliver yet.

They changed their phrasing and said they meant they would waive the fee to deliver to a storage unit; because delivery to a storage unit is more difficult and more care is needed. I said fine, eager to be done. We scheduled for delivery between noon and 3pm on Sunday. I got a call AGAIN from the driver asking if he could deliver that night, Saturday. I told him no, that the storage place was closing soon. I got another call from the finance department for the third party moving company (Yes that is right. Colonial doesn't do its own moving. It is simply a logistics company that contracts out to third party movers.) asking if I could pay that night since nobody would be in the office on Sunday.

From the beginning I had made arrangements to pay via credit card. They knew this when they scheduled it. Yet 8:30pm on a Saturday night I was being asked to text my credit card information to a third party vendor for a move that was not yet complete. I called and did it over the phone, fearing that I wouldn't receive my delivery. The next day I get a call from my storage unit company. Apparently the driver parked in their lot all night with engine running. They had repeated calls throughout the night because people were spooked and the noise was disruptive.

I arrived as quickly as I could. NO additional care was taken. Boxes were stacked haphazardly, push without care. Once again no attention paid to the weight or contents of the boxes. Nothing I saw was worth the extra 200 dollars or so I was threatened to be charged. Interestingly enough the items that were numbered were not counted. What is the purpose of number all the boxes and furniture, if they are are not checked off?

In addition to the lack of communication from logistics and their inability to know where their drivers are, there was a general lack of transparency. I repeatedly had to ask for the before and after weight, so I could verify how much they were charging me. Their policy on underweight vs. overweight is unclear. You are charged a set amount per pound and that same price is applied if you go over the estimated weight. However I was told if I was under then I would receive a price cut proportional to the weight under I was. I was encouraged to overestimate. I found out later that the amount you get back is only a fraction of the price. It is better to underestimate your weight than overestimate, because you will be overcharged.

Throughout the entire process I was very vocal; I expressed my concerns and anxieties. I was told the driver and the 3rd party company would receive coaching to address my concerns. Meaning they would be told not to harass future clients. When it was done I was glad it was over with. I will never use this company again and cannot recommend it. I would not recommend them.

I talked to at least three different people. Jimmy sent the initial quote, then there was another moving coordinator that I spoke with, and then there was a quality person who called before and after the movers came. During the quotation stage, they said that I wouldn't have to pay that much should they weight be less. When they delivered the things, I gave the rest of the money that was due as half the amount was paid upfront and the other half was paid upon delivery. They already calculated the actual price and told me I paid extra so they returned the money that was over.

The moving coordinator was very helpful even with estimating for the space that I ended up needing because I couldn’t remember everything. His experience was really a benefit to me. The rep who assisted me during my move kept me informed the whole way. If I started to get nervous, he would be supportive that all the pieces were in place and he was absolutely right.

It was quite a big challenge but the actual movers were rodeo movers from Austin, Texas and very helpful. They did some extra work without even charging me because I was disabled and trying to do my best. Being a disabled person and needing help, it was such an important factor that Colonial Van Lines accommodated me get through this move. For other people that might be in the same situation, I would love for them to know that they can count on this company. I was pleasantly surprised with how great they were, their care and the professionalism. I’ve moved many times and this was above my expectations. It was excellent.

Their people all did a terrific job. I talked to about three different guys throughout the process because everybody was rotating through the weekend, but all three did a very good job. Johnny was very helpful, and so was Mike. The guys that were driving the truck and unloading it also did a very professional job. I wasn't there the day they unloaded, but from what I understand through my two family members, the crew showed care in doing protective packaging and picking things up that were fragile. They weren't just throwing things around and stacking them in the truck for the sake of it.

During the move, we had a little bit of a walk to go through because the building I'm in is doing some remodeling, and half of it got all the balcony torn off. There’s a specific construction area that we’re allowed to park in which was a little bit further away from the door than I would have liked. But we took care of business and kept them done. I'm a firm believer of taking care of people who helps take care of me, so I made sure to show them some thanks as well. Colonial Van Lines made it a point to be on time and professional about it - that's all what anybody, including myself, is paying for.