Colonial Van Lines Reviews

We were moving a studio apartment size from our house and were bringing small items. I packed my boxes then the movers went to each area that I indicated, wrapped anything that needed wrapping, pulled the blanket, and taped that all together. It was very well done. They made sure everything was nicely covered. I had put my cats away because they wanted to be able to get the doors open and leave them open so they could walk in and out freely. I directed them to the items that needed to go on the truck and they were done in a couple hours. They were thorough. They didn't stand around chitchatting. They just worked hard and got everything done in a quick amount of time.

Colonial was reasonably priced. They were very communicative and always there to answer my questions. The person I dealt with was so helpful in directing me on what needed to be done and when. All my stuff arrived safely and I'll probably contact Colonial again after Christmas because we're moving the same apartment with this stuff back to our house in Colorado.

Original Review: Sept. 1, 2024

They lie, manipulate, and take advantage of customers. Absolutely stay away from this company. They look and sound professional and send you a nice pdf quote that is meaningless. Once you accept the quote they call you for quality assurance and review your inventory and change the price. The first agent lied to me and said a semi was coming to my house and a shuttle would go up and down my driveway (that was an extra 700 for the "shuttle"). None of that happened. They contracted out the work to another company called "Posh Moving" (in my case) and a 25 ft. Penske Rent A Truck with "posh moving" written with marker on it taped over the van came. They claimed to be with Colonial and denied contracting out the work, but made me sign posh moving papers.

It gets worse, the truck was half full with someone else's stuff and they couldn't load all my stuff. So they came back a week later to get the rest, blamed everything on me and charged me 4k more. And of course at the very end when I pay the final price I have to pay a $199 transaction fee. Stay far away from this company. This was the worst experience of my life, and I will never hire another moving company again.

Original Review: Aug. 30, 2024

I am not sure if there is a good moving company out there but definitely recommend to look elsewhere. At first, we had a plan in place to move my belongings from Pennsylvania to Illinois in a five-day timeframe. My belongings were picked up as promised on the specified day and without any issues. However, it became a logistical nightmare when it came to the delivery of my belongings. In fact, I had to pay an additional $700 to store my belongings because of the poor management and communication. It was honestly easier to work with the actual movers- J.R. Moving Corp- then to speak with Colonial Van Lines. Also, at least four glassware items were broken, which is not surprising at this point. Please look into another moving company.

The overall experience was pretty good. There was a little hiccup when they got here to Florida at the end. I got a call saying that they would have to unpack the truck and then bring the boxes in on a smaller truck because they couldn't get the big truck in here. I told them I just saw a big truck drive through and deliver in another house. So they went ahead and they were able to get in with the big truck, unload it, and then leave without any issues.

They were not able to deliver the stuff on time or at least provide me the estimated window. An option was they would give me the estimated window before the day of move, and I would have to fly right away, costing me $1,000 flight ticket. I was getting calls telling me, “If you wanna accept, accept. If you don’t want to accept, don’t accept. Just leave.” Then they hung up on me.

The day before the move, they called and told me they were bringing the stuff the day after. Unfortunately, I was not able to travel when they called me, so I had to have my friend at the delivery. The guy over the phone was asking for email and other information. I said, "You called me yesterday and told me that you are going to deliver today. How am I gonna have everything ready within a day?” They also made me do the payment on the spot and I was not happy with that. Some of the stuff were broken as well. It was a nightmare.

Original Review: Aug. 18, 2024

I DO NOT RECOMMEND this company. I initially signed up with the company for my move from Florida to Maryland because the customer service person was so super nice. However, the company over-promised and under-delivered. First, I was given an estimate based on a phone walk-through of my home and was told I would receive a call from quality assurance to go over the list again to see if anything had changed. I never received that call even though I called and requested an inventory call and e-mailed requesting a call. Then, the driver came and gave a new cost that was $1000 more! I spoke with a manager Leslie, who grudgingly gave me a $150 discount – although my cost came to nearly $700 more.

Then, the van broke down before the driver ever left Florida. No one told me. I reached out to the driver and found out. I communicated directly with the driver for the final delivery date because my quality manager, Bridghet, was a always a couple of days behind any real time updates. When the movers finally arrived, they did not want to bring my antique safe (it is very small, but mighty) into my apartment due to the stairs (2nd floor apartment).

The driver even went so far as to say he didn’t know about the safe that he moved out of my house. Then, he said he didn’t know about the outside stairs, but I reminded him that we had the conversation because he told me when he was moving the items out of my Florida home that I would be charged additional fees if there were more than 19 steps. After I reminded him that he knew about the safe because he had moved it to the truck and Florida and recounted the step conversation, he told me that I should have hired a 3rd party to bring the safe up the stairs. I told him it was not fair to wait until delivery spring that on me. The driver then said that he would bring the safe upstairs for a “large tip.” So, I ended up sending him an extra $100 via Venmo.

I spoke to the manager, Leslie, afterwards, and she said she agreed with the driver because she felt the company should have charged me anyway. So, I guess a bit of extortion is okay with Colonial Van Lines. Leslie stated she could not give me another credit because I already received $150 (actually they still haven’t charged it back to my credit card) and Colonial Van Lines “normally does not credit more than $75.” The lack of transparency, extra charges, and negligible customer service made this move a very dissatisfactory experience. Just say no.

Original Review: Aug. 18, 2024

I was moving for work and when I used Colonial's service, the coordinator was helpful. But they contracted out the actual movers and I really wasn't happy with the physical movers. They damaged my property, then forged the documents afterwards to change what we had said.

I told them, "I don't know if I believe that. Is there a way for me to verify what you're saying?" They said, "Yes. If you want, you can go and meet us at the weigh station." I told them to meet me at the weigh station and we'd figure it out. My physical presence being there and having them weigh it reduced the price by $800. I don't know where they get their numbers from. But it wasn't a negative experience, it was just questionable. There was also a question of damage to some of the stuff that they brought here. But it was a moving process so I expected this type of stuff to happen. If I were to move it, I would probably do a way worse job and a lot more stuff probably would have been damaged.

When they delivered, they brought in someone else's television. My husband was like, "That's not my TV." Now there are a couple of very expensive computer monitors that belong to the University of Arizona that we couldn't find. They're state property that we were allowed to keep at our home in Texas for a short time. Then we needed to move it here and those were lost.

The people that I talked to on the phone, at the planning and setting up process were fantastic. They were very helpful and accommodating. It was just the people who did the hard work, none of them spoke English. I speak Spanish so it wasn't a problem. But when you say something to someone else's house, that could have been an issue.

I was on the phone with their rep and we went from room to room. We did big things first -- tables, couches, beds, and dressers. From there, we estimated boxes and he gave me an idea on the boxes for the kitchen. He walked me through everything with each room. Then, moving day was chaotic, but it wasn't a bad chaotic. The guy brought three workers with him and the workers started taping and putting wrap around things that they thought needed wrapping. He went around, counted boxes and other things, and got my invoice ready. The crew was great. They got that stuff out of there so quick, it was unbelievable. We're missing a kitchen box, though, and I think, at this point, there’s nothing that can be done.

Original Review: I would give zero stars if I could. My stuff was picked up over two weeks ago and I was just informed this morning that it is going to be at least another 10 days if not more for my items to be delivered. I was given repeated reassurance that the delivery would be no later than a specific date by my “account manager” and I will now be at least 10 days outside of that before I get my things.

The only updates I’ve been given were from the dispatch and not even my “account manager” from Colonial Van. It’s completely and utterly absurd to be told I have to be at the drop off location between this date and that date and for them to have zero responsibility to deliver within that window. I am now out thousands of dollars from paying for a hotel room and having to eat out for over two weeks now, and when I asked about reimbursement the “per your contract” line was thrown in my face about a $30/day reimbursement if delivery is outside of the quoted window.

I start my new job next week and have none of my things, and will now be in bad standing with my new employer having to request for time off for whenever they decide to actually deliver my stuff. All I have on me is a suitcase of casual clothes and sneakers, nothing that’s appropriate for work attire. I will now be out even more money buying clothes and shoes that I can show up to work in and not to mention the additional just day to day items of toiletries I’m having to restock.

The first excuse was they were waiting on the driver to update them with an ETA, then it was a line about my load being so small that it hasn’t been “economical” for them to do the transport because the truck wouldn’t be full and “it’s a long way to go”, and now the latest excuse for the delay is the driver is sick and won’t be back in until Saturday, another 5 days out for the transport to even begin. It’s been one excuse after another, moving my entire life by myself 2500 miles away to start a new job is stressful enough, after taking my money the one thing I should not have to worry and stress over is getting my things delivered within a 3 week period. Save yourself the nightmare I’m in the middle of dealing with and go with someone else. They are full of promises and make it all sound like it’s such a smooth process but nothing about this has been smooth or easy or affordable.

However, there was a mix-up at the very end. The account manager at the end that was supposed to keep me informed of things she was not friendly or timely. They were supposed to deliver on a certain date but the driver ended up in the wrong location. Because it was on a Saturday, he wasn't going to be able to deliver. One of the provisions that was in the plan and was paid for was that he would have to secure from a rental truck to transfer our goods to in order to get under the bridge that was too low for a large truck. But he couldn't find a rental truck so it turned out that he had to come that following Monday. They were planning to come on the 29th, and the 30th was Sunday, so the 31st was when they came. We left our location in Southern California on the 3rd and arrived here on the 4th so it had been quite a long time that we were having to wait for our stuff.

When the driver got here, he had another helper, but he couldn't get the truck all the way up onto the level of the garage. But it was close and he worked so hard. They had to unload all of our goods and it took quite a while. But they had to push up the hill a bit then in. It was tough for them but they did it. He was wonderful and everything came fine so I was very pleased with that. The guys that packed up everything over in Southern California were wonderful. But I didn't realize that I needed to tip them. At the end when they lined up for me to say thank you, it was clear that they expected a tip. I felt terrible after afterwards. It was too late for me to do that, but I certainly would have done that. I really liked them. Something like a hint about that would be helpful.

We paid for our boxes to be stored in a climate-controlled, indoor environment. They were not. Most things had mold, and other signs of long-term moisture and heat exposure. We had to throw out many of our fabric items because of this. Many things were lost in transit, totaling several thousand dollars of actual damages. They delivered over a month late. Per the contract, they are required to pay for each day they are late. They have refused to pay us, stating we must sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement first. They are offering virtually nothing for the lost and damaged property.

4) Lied to us during the contract negotiation phase, insisting Colonial employees and Colonial vans would be used for this move. They were not.

I recommend everyone avoid Colonial moving for all local and long-distance moves. Every other moving company I have used has been better than them. Colonial has been the least professional agency I have worked with. Arranging the move. In 2023 we hired Colonial Van Lines for our move from San Jose, California to the Denver, Colorado area. Colonial Van Lines came highly recommended by reviews, and my primary criteria for hiring a van line was hiring one that has their own trucks and their own employees. Colonial Van Lines promised us, specifically, swearing up and down, left and right over the telephone that I will 100% NOT be brokered out to a third party. They still maintain that to this day.

However, my move was not handled by Colonial employees, it was handled by a company called "ITX, LLC" whom Colonial Van Lines refers to as their "agents". The truck was not a Colonial truck, and the employees were not Colonial employees. On the phone they were not even sure if my payment would be 2 payments, or 3 payments--and in hindsight, I now understand why – At that time they were not sure if they would actually be handling my move, or one of their 3rd party movers would be. Because it ended up being a 3rd party mover I made 1st payment to Colonial, 2nd payment to the ITX movers on pickup, and final payment to the ITX movers on delivery. It is obvious how much ITX made and how much Colonial made. Colonial knew we had a five-bedroom, two-story house, and contracted out the job as if it were smaller, reasonable for only two people.

As soon as Colonial received their payment telephone contact became very difficult – they effectively ghosted us. My first contact, Renee, was no longer willing to help me despite her telling me she'd be handling my move front to back. She refused to even answer our calls. Instead I was directed to contact my account manager, Kiana. The extension for Kiana is literally never answered, and voicemails never returned. I started just talking directly to general support, who would then get Kiana on the phone. For every four calls we’d make, eventually we’d be able to make contact. Kiana never helped us in any way. At one point she wasn’t even aware the movers hadn’t shown up on schedule. Colonial was 100% in the dark about what ITX was doing at all times. There was no communication between these companies.

Despite Colonial's insistence that "my move is with them" my move was instead handled by a 3rd party company "ITX, LLC", and here's my experience with the actual move: The pick-up. We have a 5 bedroom 2-story house, and I ordered a partial pack (I self-packed most, but required some packing assistance with some items). On the day of the move the movers arrived late, around 3pm. They rolled up in a truck with "ITX, LLC" printed on the door, and there were only two of them. One young man who looked to be in his 20s, and one middle-aged gentleman. They did not have any company uniforms, truck insignia, or anything that identified them as employees or "agents" of Colonial van lines. As soon as they rolled up I knew something was very, very wrong. At this point I had absolutely no choice, though.

Two people had to pack and move all the furniture from a five-bedroom, two story house, after arriving at 3pm. They worked long into the night, and upset the neighbors. Luckily no police, but I would not at all have been angry at neighbors for calling. They were still packing at 1am. One of the very very last items they packed was our 90 inch television, which we paid for two television boxes to pack it in--I have a video of them jamming it into their truck with no packing at all, pushing on it to make it fit.

They spotted me taking a video and then took it down and packed it properly. This is not acceptable. They broke our front porch as they moved one of the couches. We highlighted this on the paperwork we signed, and they initialed it, agreeing the damage was their fault. Colonial refuses to even address this damage, however. After they packed everything I signed paperwork with ITX, LLC and paid them their 1st half payment (my 2nd of 3 payments).

Storage. Our goods were held in storage-in-transit, as arranged, at a high above-market monthly rate. The contract terms guaranteed this would be an indoor, climate and pest controlled environment. Clearly, however, our items were NOT in climate control for the full duration of storage, as some items show signs of warping from moisture. Many fabric items have mold, and wooden and other materials indicate long-term moisture exposure. Drop-off scheduling. The scheduling of delivery was a series of missed deadlines which colonial self-imposed. They could have picked any dates but they picked several deadlines and missed all of them. They communicated none of these misses, and at least once thought ITX had arrived and delivered when they had not. It was like they had zero idea what ITX was doing.

The majority of contact was us reaching out to Colonial to find out what the heck is going on with our stuff. We never received pro-active communication. Sept 2nd: We called Colonial and updated our earliest delivery date to October 9th, extending our storage-in-transit for that time. Sept 21st: We called Colonial and arranged for delivery, we were informed October 9th would be our "earliest delivery" and were told that by Oct 2nd we will receive a phone call from the movers and will receive a 6-day delivery window. Oct 3rd: ITX LLC contacted us and wanted to schedule delivery immediately, as we had not taken possession of our house yet that was not possible, we informed them October 9th was the "earliest delivery" date. They told us they would call us back, but they didn't call back.

Oct 9th: Called Colonial and was informed our "latest delivery date" is October 24th. Oct 23rd: No updates or calls from the movers so we called Colonial and was informed we will have an updated delivery date within 5-7 days. Oct 27th: No updates so we called Colonial and were told that we will be delivered between Oct 31st - Nov 2nd. Nov 3rd: No updates so we called Colonial and was told that the "service provider" is still working on the move. Nov 4th: Still no updates so we called Colonial back and was told they could not reach the "service provider" and will follow up with me as soon as they can reach them. Nov 6th: Colonial called us and informed us that dispatch and our acct manager are "working on it", got a text update that our new delivery window is Nov 8th through Nov 10th.

Nov 9th: Kiyana called to inform that the movers will arrive Nov 11th between 3pm-6pm. Nov 11th: Kiyana called to confirm the movers will arrive today 3pm-6pm. The movers did not arrive. Nov 12th: ITX LLC text message informing they will arrive the next day (Nov 13th) between 1-2pm. Nov 13th: Alex from ITX LLC called us and informed us they will arrive between 3-4PM. Unpacking/Delivery. The movers actually arrived at 4:40 PM local time. Again one young adult and one older man to unpack a 5 bedroom house, full truck. Including furniture assembly. They managed to finish at 11:30 PM. It took them all day. We fed them, because nobody told them how much effort this was going to be.

It would take a minimum of 2-3 hours to complete going through every single box and confirming there were no missing items and document all damaged items, as it was already very late I signed the paperwork confirming I received all my goods. It was late at night, and everyone (including the movers) just wanted to get to sleep. Upon inspecting our goods the next day, however, we discovered MANY items were damaged, and some items were missing entirely.

Many items (bicycles, desks) had deep scratches in them, virtually all our furniture was damaged in one way or another, and anything made from MDF (bookshelves/desks/etc) was completely obliterated. Among the missing items was our YETI cooler, which is not at all surprising given their street value. Many smaller things are just missing. We felt as if our property was picked through by scavengers and treated like trash.

Damage Claims Resolutions. The form to submit for damaged items has numerous arbitrary requirements, such as requiring a copy of the bill of lading, which is something THEY should have since THEY are the movers (well, supposedly, right?). It seems designed to be tedious on purpose. Regardless of this, according to our contract, Colonial owes us money for being extremely late with the delivery. Additionally they owe us for the damaged & missing items. Their resolutions got back to us and offered us a HILARIOUSLY small amount of money for the items they damaged and lost. They informed that anything MDF is not covered, at all, and so the fact they absolutely destroyed bookshelves and furniture doesn't count, at all.

The amount they offered for everything damaged+missing was less than the value of just the YETI cooler that is "missing". They also informed us that to receive our pittance we must sign a confidentiality agreement, which we did not agree to. They still have not paid us even the amount for the late delivery, as stipulated by the contract.

Conclusion. What we wanted from the very beginning was to not be brokered out to a 3rd party moving agency. Colonial maintains they did not and do not "broker" but instead refers to ITX LLC as an "agent" of theirs. It is my opinion that the movers who arrived had little to no connection to Colonial Van Lines, and were acting independently, with Colonial Van Lines merely acting as a middle man. I paid an excessive amount of money for this move, higher than average for this move, because I thought I was getting a professional moving company. I was willing to pay a premium for premium service. Instead what showed up were two dudes in an old truck who broke a significant portion of our stuff and "lost" other stuff. Colonial van lines gave me incorrect information at every step of the way, they failed to update me regularly, were very difficult to contact, rarely returned calls, and generally exceptionally difficult to work with.

The initial contact with Colonial was also exceedingly dishonest, telling me things which were flat out falsehoods like that the movers would be in colonial vans with colonial uniforms, and that colonial does not broker out to 3rd party movers. This was probably one of the worst experiences of my entire life, the damage they caused is irreparable, and I have nothing but regrets. Do not use Colonial Van Lines. In my opinion they are liars and thieves.

1. The Customer Service Agent Dan would be my account manager, and my only point of contact.

2. No third party companies would be involved with the move. Colonial Van Lines would be my only point of contact. No brokers were involved with the sale.

With these assurances in mind I selected Colonial Van Lines for my move out of state.

Before Moving Day: A few days before moving day I received a notification that my mover would no longer be Dan, but instead a person named Emma. No problem, I thought. She contacted me the Friday beforehand to verify my address and my inventory. Dan would still be around in a "supervisory capacity". Moving Day: On moving day on my residential street I was waiting for the moving truck to arrive at 8. At around 7:45 that morning "helpers" arrived to assist with the loading and unloading of goods to the truck. 8 rolls around and the movers had not arrived, at 8:30 I get a call, the movers are struggling to reach the street and would like me to lead them in.

I drive out to where they say they are, and find that they are attempting to bring an 18 wheeler onto a residential and shaded street on Daniel Island. This is not possible. I attempt to talk to them asking what they intend to do. The driver responds "you need to take that up with Colonial". I respond "aren't you Colonial?". They don't respond and instead drive off attempting to find a place to put their truck. Finding a place to put an 18 wheeler is a difficult process.

I contact my account manager, or rather attempt to. Emma is apparently out of office for the day. I attempt to contact Dan, who is also out of office. So now attempting to navigate my move I am contacting the general customer service line. This goes on for close to two hours as they are struggling to first contact Emma, or Dan, or the Third Party Moving Company Kennedy Trucking.

In the meantime the "Helpers" who have been waiting patiently since 7:45 have also not heard from Colonial, or Kennedy Trucking, the third party who hired them. So a third party to a third party. The Helpers explain that if there is no communication with the mover, there is no incentive for them to stay. They can attempt to find another job so the whole day is not wasted. They provided some help moving things down the stairs for an easy load and unload, and to make sure they haven't done all of that work for nothing, I give them a tip, and they leave at around 11.

At around 12:30 I hear back finally from Colonial, who says that the dispatch has finally heard from Kennedy Trucking. They are attempting to purchase a "shuttle" to complete the move. I explain that their movers are now gone, and that seems to frustrate them, more phone call tag back and forth. Colonial explains that to purchase the shuttle they will need to charge an additional $1600 on top of my quote. I explain how is it my problem that they can't get their truck here, shouldn't they have planned ahead for that? More arguing, at this point, I demand basically a refund and to cancel the move. Colonial explains that if I don't agree to pay for the shuttle, they will cancel the move and keep my deposit. Colonial explains that I signed the contract, and that there is no recourse for the cost of a shuttle, it is entirely my liability.

After more arguing we agree to split the cost of the shuttle, roughly 800 a piece. The move is now back on. Kennedy Trucking is now attempting to find new "helpers". The crew finally arrives at around 4 PM and the truckers in tow to load the shuttle to take to their 18 wheeler. The moving crew does not apologize for the delay and tells the helpers to move quickly, they need to be on the road that night, and will likely have to make two trips on the shuttle.

The helpers do so, I attempt to warn them about boxes marked fragile, and boxes marked do not stack, to make sure that they aren't crushed under weight. More on that in the post-move. At around this time I get a call from Emma, my account manager, asking how the move is going. Emma had not bothered to look at my call log for Colonial, or to see the 4 hours I'd spent arguing with Colonial Customer service about who pays for the shuttle. I explain this to her, and she says simply to contact her if there's any problems. I begin to observe that there seems to be a divorce in communications between the customer service dept members at Colonial. After two loads of their shuttle Kennedy Trucking is finally on the move to their final destination.

Unloading the Move: Kennedy Trucking arrives on time to begin unloading the moving materials, with more third party helpers hired to their third party trucking service. The helpers do not bother to place wrapping on the stairs or corners of turns to prevent objects from scratching as they move up stairs, and so they do. I will late have to pay the home manufacturers (it was a new home) to repaint the chipped areas. In addition, the movers attempt to load two cabinets upside down, and refuse to put objects back together that the first group of "helpers" (the ones who left because Kennedy didn't communicate with them for 4 hours) took apart like beds and cabinet feet.

At the end of the move, the moving company Kennedy Trucking refused to review the inventory list with me of what was unloaded, noting that "I could do that at my own time, we need to leave." They refused to stay while I requested to look over the box count numbers to make sure the right items were unloaded and that all items were accounted for, instead leaving. I did not receive a copy of my unloaded inventory list from the mover.

Reviewing the boxes, remarkably all items were accounted for, however one box was absolutely crushed. A box that had been marked "fragile" and do not stack" had been stacked during the unload, and on the truck itself under 4 other boxes (see the pictures). Inside were crushed silverware, a soviet era tea glass, and a fragile sombrero hand made in Mexico in the 1960s crushed to pieces under the weight.

Customer Service Post-Move: Emma in Colonial contacted me post-move to ask about my experience. I explained my issues and they seemed to have no idea that any trouble had occurred, and was unaware of issues with the shuttle or the boxes unpacked, or the difficulty with the trucking company. They did not attempt any additional follow up, despite stating they would pass my concerns along to their supervisor.

Claims: Upon reviewing the inventory I contacted the claims department. The claims department sent me over a form to fill out breaking down the items that were destroyed, by weight. Not by estimated value, by weight. The average weight of a sombrero and a few tea cups, is perhaps generously, 5-10 pounds at most. I sent over testimony from the helpers to unloaded to truck, as well as photos of the damaged goods and specifically of the box labeled "do not stack"

The claims department apparently reviewed the claims request and sent me an email with the final claims amount based on weight, and seemed to completely ignore the description I had provided with them, or my experience with Kennedy Trucking. They explained that this was the final claims amount, and that I had no ability to appeal. Someone from the claims department contacted me by phone asking if I was happy with my customer service experience. I explained the issue to them and they said they would research and call me back. They did not.

A separate person from Colonial contacted me asking about my customer service experience I had, I explained the issue to them, they said they would review my account and call back. I requested a supervisor, as I was frustrated with having to review my situation each time with a new person. The supervisor stated they would investigate my account and call back. They did not. Another claims department member called me back, saying they wanted to confirm I had received the final claims amount. I explained I wasn't signing anything until someone from claims got back to me about the review of my account they were supposedly doing. They cold transferred me to a supervisor's voicemail.

After two more rounds of phone calls with different people and threatening to go to the better business bureau, they finally agreed to give me 300 dollars. At no point in time did I have any indication that they actually read my account history, or even kept one at all, and didn't seem to have a clear idea of what was going on at any of their moves.

Conclusion (TLDR): The customer service department at Colonial made blatant lies in their sales pitch that they had no intention of delivering upon. The Account Managers of your move are non-existent. The third party movers hired by Colonial hide behind them and vice versa. A contract with Colonial is impossible to break, and any sudden or hidden fees as a result of the incompetence of the trucking company or the moving company are on you, the customer.

Customer service at Colonial is non-existent, and despite the seemingly well-meaning staff, they have very little power or ability to research, review, or resolve. Claims are paid based on weight, so fragile items that inevitably break during transport are inherently worthless. Recourse only occurs when you threaten to report them to consumer report agencies. I hope this detailed explanation helps. If this review causes even one person to switch to a different mover, it will reduce their profit by more than the amount they gained from me. Thanks for reading!

When they got everything done, they made an inventory and I checked it to make sure they had everything that I needed to have on the truck. They then packed the truck up and left. The two packers were very polite and easy to communicate with. I was able to tell them what I wanted and later, when I was unpacking a couple of things, one thing was broken and I didn't even bother to report it because it was a platter. I moved a bunch of times, so I didn't think that was egregious at all.

Also, when I looked at how the packers packed some things, they were not as careful as they could have been. But everything else made it up okay. When they got to the other end, the unpackers never showed up. So the driver had to do everything by himself and he worked like a dog all day because it was an apartment full of furniture. I've never had that happen at the other end of a move but apparently, the unpackers were day workers and that was the way Colonial operates on it. Aside from that, there was very good follow-up from Colonial and I didn't have any trouble in interacting with them.