Colonial Van Lines Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Original Review: May 2, 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Original Review: April 19, 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Original Review: March 21, 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

I spoke to the moving coordinator multiple times because I forgot the desk chair I was sitting on and the cabinet behind me. And then before I moved in, I talked to her and she talked through things. And then right before the final estimate, someone called me and said, “Okay, I’m going to give you a list of things that people don’t usually forget.” They were very thorough and accurate. The final cost was more and the first company said they estimated high. The crew that showed up and did the moving said that my stuff was about 1,200 pounds and asked for the actual paperwork. He discussed the cost and I was okay with that. It wasn’t so far off and it wasn’t a big issue. We knew it was going to be more. The account manager was wonderful and all of them were very good.

The staff at Colonial gave themselves the window of time and they were within that time. On the first day, the guy didn’t come and I called and left a message. He offered back something right away and said he’ll be here at seven in the morning, which was good because they estimated in the afternoon, giving them enough time. It was good all the way through. Colonial is an excellent company to deal with and I would recommend them.

It would have been much nicer and it would have made a lot more sense if there had been a daily email update or if they had a website where you could punch in the number of your move like FedEx and do a tracking thing. There was also some confusion as to whether or not Colonial was a broker or the movers were all their own employees. That was something that my wife had specifically asked them and they said that everybody was working for Colonial, but it seemed like there were other companies involved somehow. That was upsetting to her.

Otherwise, the overall expectation was accurate. Moving isn't easy and I understand there are complexities behind the scenes that we don’t get any visibility on, so our experience wasn't necessarily a terrible thing. That was even probably a normal experience for moving like we did. We did a little bit or research and it didn't seem like going halfway across the country with a house full of stuff has ever really turned out awesome.

To start with, the first point of contact was a true salesperson. He skirted overall information that I might have needed to know: That Colonial has good reviews, but they pawned me off to a subcontractor with really bad reviews (Cal Van Lines). He also assured me that I would have a QA person helping me throughout the process, but when I needed help the most, I had no way of contacting anyone. He never responded to my communications after they got my money. All talk and no delivery so far. He assured me my stuff would probably get there fast, making it sound like my stuff was being driven by itself. My stuff got there over two weeks after it had been picked up and right at the end of the window they gave me. It doesn’t inspire confidence in me that he knows what’s going on with the sub-contractors.

If I had known Colonial would set me up with Cal Van Lines, I would have reconsidered working with Colonial. Cal Van Lines has bad reviews on all sites. I was called by both Colonial and Cal to confirm a Sunday (28th) move out time from 8-12. I received a call from the driver the night before (Saturday the 27th and after business hours) that he might not even be able to move me out until Monday. If I hadn’t packed all my stuff, they would not have even met the Sunday time. I had originally paid for a full service move. As such, they arrived eight hours past the scheduled move time and didn’t finish until 1 am. The movers had obviously gotten there as fast as they could, because they were tired when they got there. It was poor scheduling on the dispatcher’s end and I entirely blame the company. The dispatcher was not professional at all and was in a bar when we talked. He avoided talking to me on the move out date entirely.

My account manager was impossible to get in contact with before the move. She told me to call her and I tried many times. I eventually ended up calling customer service and then called Cal Van Lines themselves. Need to be more accessible. After I complained about this on the first customer service feedback survey, she was more available. My experience has been that this company can’t keep their own timelines.

Colonial should do visual inspections of homes they’ve contracted with. They do a phone inventory, but that allows people to lie about the amount of stuff they have. I waited A LONG time to know a definite move out time. When I was told a time, I expected them to fulfill that time. I made plans. I moved across the country, so I made plans with my family. Moreover, it caused my ride to miss work the next day because we had to stay until 1 am while the movers finished unpacking. I am very displeased with how this has been handled. Because of the changed time, we had to stay in a hotel.

Be careful of the “long walk” fees. I was charged that on both ends. I had been given to understand that it would be small moving truck that could fit into my first apartment’s parking garage and there wouldn’t have been a long walk in that case. After the move: I was charged a surprise “long walk” fee that I hadn’t had ready for. The driver expected cash right there rather than accepting a credit payment later. It was sketchy. They lost my bookshelves, but not the bookcases so I just have these empty bookcases. They were supposed to put my furniture together after my move, but didn’t so I had to put together my bed all by myself... Which isn’t easy since I’m single. They sent me a reimbursement for that, but it doesn’t begin to compensate for the overall bad experience I had.

I filled out all the surveys that had come on over and everything was excellent. The coordinator was very professional asking me about things that I might have forgotten about and going down a list of things by sending me e-mails on how to prepare for stuff and following up with any additions that I might have had. I had just a standard insurance if I wanted to do anything more and they explained everything as to how that went. I made a very prompt reply when I would e-mail or call with extra something that I had forgotten that was to be shipped.

They were very reliable and I felt very comfortable giving my credit card over the phone to them as well. And while I was on the phone completing the process, I was having my computer open and having them send me an e-mail so that I had a receipt for everything. The account manager was very prepared for everything. And I was very happy that they were updating who'd be picking up my stuff and where he was so he could talk to to my son and if they wanted to come a little bit early. There was a lot of give and take on both parts.

I was also very pleased with how professional and organized the driver was. He explained everything to me and I felt like I was signing a mortgage on a house for all the paperwork that we went through. He said exactly what he was doing, when he was leaving and where he was going. But then he had to sit down because he had had his 70 hours for the week, so my stuff sat for a few days down in Denver, which was fine because I needed the time to get here. My stuff arrived when it was supposed to and I did not have one piece of breakage. I felt confident and was never concerned my stuff because I knew they were in good hands. I would tell others to look them up and get a quote from them. They were right on with everything and I was very happy with them.

I know Colonial Van Lines broker to a number of companies. And so, one of the things I was concerned about ahead of time was whether we would be able to count on the person doing the actual move or not. But the guy who was in charge of the move was really terrific, responsive, and made sure that everything was delivered ahead of schedule. Also, the movers and the account manager were great. They were a little bit late arriving on the first day which was the day we have some time to finish some packing that we didn't think we'd be able to get done. So that worked out. I would recommend Colonial to my friends but if possible, that they use the guy who was in charge of my parents' move as well.

The only thing that I was really upset about was that the weight that I was quoted was so much under what it rounded up to be. I had a bit of feeling that it was done on purpose and I blew my stack when the driver walked in and immediately said, “Oh, this is 8,000 pounds.” I understood that he had to do it to get a signature before he started loading, but he wound up to be a really nice gentleman. The amount quoted was $5,300 and I did not have one single item that was chipped or broken or scratched. I got over the extra money because I realized that if I would have hired U-Haul, I would have had several things scratched. It was a really pleasant experience.

Original Review: Feb. 23, 2018

We contracted with Colonial based on high reviews. On 7/22/17, a truck showed up from Zip Moving and Storage and two guys with Zip Tee shirts got out of the unmarked box truck and said they were here to pick up our furniture. Called Colonial and from there it went downhill. We were told that all moving companies subcontract with other movers to do their work. We were then charged $1100 more for unexplained packing. Zip then took our household to one of their climate controlled storage for 6 months.

When we finally received our goods upon moving in, another group from Zip unloaded our material. At that time, we were in complete shock with the condition of our boxes, the material they packed and the damage incurred. Solid wood chairs broken, metal sculpture pack without protection, wardrobe boxes smashed, bedside stands had doors broken off, and scratches too numerous to tally. Turns out the insurance I purchased through the mover insurance consortium was worthless since covered only damage not related to the move itself, ie, natural disasters, van accidents, storage fires, etc. Too much fine print in the doc. for the average customer. I will never know how they got the rating they did, but my recommendation would be to stay away from Colonial. The best thing that happened to us was when they left and we could get our lives back together.

He was intelligent, personable, highly professional but most of all knowledgeable. He seemed on top of his game. I was impressed. He gave me a phone estimate on my move and then sent an actual in-person estimator to my home to confirm his phone estimate. It was confirmed. Colonial gave me a visually confirmed estimate which was below the other two national companies. I was so surprised I sent Colonial one of the other companies detailed estimates (also conducted onsite by an in-person estimator). He stood by his estimate. When I went back to the other mover and told them Colonials estimate they laughed and said Colonial could NEVER be able to do the move for that estimated price. T

hey were correct. The final move was significantly higher than their estimate and well over the estimated price of the other two movers. I know there was a problem as Colonials mover when he first arrived and looked at my items almost immediately told me he would need at least 2-3 times the number of boxes in the estimate. Guan told me three times during the initial conversation that he would oversee my move from “start to finish.” Things were going well, and without any problems what-so-ever at this point.

Shortly after the contract was signed, he disappeared (literally). He stopped answering e-mails and calls. I was suddenly contacted by a very rude and abrupt young woman who now told me she would be my account representative for the rest of my move and that was their process. Her horrible customer service skills made an already stressful experience even worse. The move itself was fair. While seven people were assigned to the pack and load. They only assigned two men to the unload and unpack. So the unload and unpack took almost eight solid hours. When I complained to Colonial about their numerous issues they sincerely tried to make things right but what would they do at that point the damage was done.

The packing crew was unprofessional constantly complaining about how much work that they had to do and making other comments like, "You have too many books." As I found out when unpacking the items, they did a very shoddy job, literally putting items that were fragile in the boxes unwrapped with no protection. The actual delivery did not take place until 2 weeks after the last date of my delivery window with no explanation for the delay. When the movers finally arrived at my new home, they added another charge because of the distance they needed to travel to get into the apartment, which was not disclosed to me upfront.

The delivery crew was competent though they did not alert me to items that they had to know were broken in shipment. Dealing with the customer service people was somewhat frustrating as they were not able to provide much information and the restitution offered was a pittance in comparison to all that I dealt with regarding the move. In exchange the agreement said I could not share my experience. I chose to forego the money. I think being free to warn anyone and everyone I know to be careful when dealing with this group was more valuable. Again, please be very careful in engaging this company.

The delivery truck (MoveX.com?) came on Sunday which was barely within the promised time frame and asked us to pay almost $1,000.00 extra to deliver our piano to our living room on the 2nd floor. The piano was clearly listed on their binding estimate as 490 lbs (actual weight 450 lbs) and the binding estimate clearly indicated that we only pay any extra for the items not listed. We could not contact Colonial since no one was available on Sunday and we refused to pay extra and the delivery truck just left with our stuffs on it. I was afraid they will try to extort more money from us one way or another but since we did all the boxing by ourselves, actual moving items were less than the initial estimate (we got rid of lots of stuff which we had to buy here again) and we are asking them to deliver all the boxes only to the garage I thought we have covered all the loose ends. I was wrong.

My wife had to call several different people at the Colonial for hours and finally a lady claimed to be a manager or supervisor told us we have to pay extra to deliver the piano to the 2nd floor since we didn't inform them that the piano will go to the 2nd floor in advance although they never asked us which item will go to which floor other than that we will be charged extra for the steps exceeding 21. My wife is tired of sleeping on the floor and eating take outs, so now our Steinway piano will sit in our garage for a while.