Colonial Van Lines Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

The gentleman who did make the move, Jose, was phenomenal. He was the subcontractor that Colonial hired to move the items to its destination. He had a trainee with them, and they were really good. He was teaching him exactly how to do it. I saw him grab everything and double-wrap it. A lot of people don't do that. They just put something over it, and they're done. He took his time and they got there when they said they were going to get there. It was a cancer patient who needed this furniture because that was her last request, and as soon as she got her furniture, she passed away. Jose even took his time of getting out of town on a Sunday to get there as soon as possible because my friend was dying, and she wanted that furniture. He introduced himself very politely, and said, "I've got your furniture here.” He had a big heart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Toshiba ** - Claims manager

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

I currently have back issues from sleeping on an air mattress. Their compensation offer was $30/day for each day late. The loading of the furniture was professional but was NEARLY THREE WEEKS AGO! The auto move was the only smooth part of the process. I would ask that you take this in consideration in your future recommendations and provide me with any advice for my future dealings with this company.

The second and larger issue is how our items were placed into their storage unit. Items wrapped when picked up in IL were unwrapped and haphazardly shoved into the storage unit. The deliberate act of unwrapping fragile items (like televisions) and smashing them into a storage unit without any care in handling them, is gross negligence. According to the contract, we should be entitled to replacement value for those damaged items packed and unpacked by their movers. Colonial Van Lines will not reimburse us for these items and has offered only a very small percentage of their value. The "white glove" promises made to us by sales were not the services we received. It was very disappointing! These photos demonstrate just three items that were initially wrapped, then unwrapped and significantly damaged while in their care.

If others want to move, Colonial is a good company to contact. I had a decent experience with them, and they got my stuff here in a timely manner and were very good at packing. They were also very good at explaining everything to me and getting everything I needed moved.

I had already made arrangements to leave after the first day. So, I had to leave the keys and the movers dropped them off with my Realtor after they finished at 6 o'clock the second day, which was kind of concerning. Apparently, everything got packed okay, but I wasn't there to see the end of it. The guy who was driving told me that things were hanging off the back of the truck. I lived on a hill, so they couldn't bring the big moving truck up. They said they were going to have to do a shuttle and it was kind of strange, because they ended up using the same truck that they packed it in to bring it all the way from California to Oregon.

I was under the impression they were supposed to transfer it to a larger truck. I had been told my belongings would probably fit in a 10x15 storage unit, but when they were close to Oregon, they called and said it wasn't going to fit, so I had to arrange a larger unit on the fly. Then, they said they were about 90 minutes away, but they didn't arrive until two days later. They said they had to go to Washington, but it was past where they were supposed to leave my stuff.

The movers did a good job of unpacking but I also had to pay extra because the larger storage unit was more than 100 feet, which they had to carry. I had to wait because where I was going was not very near where the storage unit was. When I checked the storage unit a couple of weeks later, everything had arrived safely and looked good. It wouldn't have fit in the smaller unit, and the guy at the storage place said they did a good job unpacking everything, though it took them a long time.

Moving day was very good. They called me many times in advance. I was in control of everything. I talked to the driver to provide some direction and instructions, and I received everything right on time, as scheduled. The moving crew was very good. There were three gentlemen. They did a great job, taking everything down out of the truck, and they placed some of the big items where they were supposed to be, and everything else was in the garage. Colonial Van Lines was on top of the job. They keep you informed every two or every other day about what's going on in the process. It was a very easy and stress-less approach to something which is usually very stressful.

The worst part hasn’t even been trying to get restful, consistent sleep on the hardwood floors for nearly a month, working 8 hours a day on folding chairs with no monitors or work equipment, or even spending way too much money on takeout while we wait for our dishes and cookware, which we’re beginning to fear will never arrive. The worst part is Colonial's absolutely cavalier attitude after charging us nearly 10k to move our belongings and then proceeding to sit around for nearly a month.

When we’ve called to complain, they remind us what a big old favor they did us. After all, they upped the $30 dollars a day they were going to give us for every day they went past the delivery window to a whopping $50. When I said that wasn’t acceptable and I had a hard time believing they would not be furious if they were in my shoes, customer service then proceeded to lecture me about the tone of my voice. How dare I care that everything I own is missing for nearly a month after paying thousands of dollars — shame on me, I suppose.

And if you think a 50-dollar penalty a day isn’t enough to light a fire under anyone who wants nearly 10 grand from you, you’d be absolutely right. At this point, not only have they not made an effort to give us an estimate as to when the truck will arrive, they’re just calling us to tell us they’ll call us later. Or sometimes they say they’ll call us later and they don’t.

In any case, at this point, everything has been affected. Neither one of us has slept well without our bed, we’ve spent so much money on food and belongings we need but we already own, and it’s affected BOTH of our work. We are so tired and still trying to care for a very sick relative on top of all of that. Please avoid this van line if you care even one bit about customer service.

We paid for packing. Zach said all workers are Colonial employees trained for two weeks in their Florida office. So I asked one of the packers how long he worked for Colonial and he said he didn't, he was just a day laborer. None of the packers were Colonial employees. So they took my wife's carefully hung clothes and stuffed them in a box. They did the same with my clothes, even though we paid extra for wardrobe boxes.

We told them not to take anything hanging on a wall. But they did anyway, leaving the new owners without critical parts. They also loaded the sectional sofa by mistake and when we discovered it, they refused to take it off the truck. I called the home office and told them if the new homebuyers scuttled the sale because the sofa was missing, I would sue Colonial for the lost $1million. Shortly thereafter, the driver said he was ordered to take the sofa off the truck. But he couldn't do it alone and the day workers refused to help, saying their day was over. So I paid them to help the driver. They took it off, but left it outside. I had to drag it in.

The move in went even worse. They broke a $600 swivel chair and a $500 cocktail table. At $0.60/lb, We'll be lucky to get $50 for these pieces. They were supposed to put back together all the furniture they took apart. Well, that didn't happen. Plus, they took all the remotes to all our devices and threw them in a box marked "Parts."

Looking back, I feel we were fraudulently induced to sign the contract and Colonial failed to live up to the many assertions and promises they made about how the move would be handled. They got their money and left us with a massive mess. I have to believe that the only thing Colonial does well is generate good but bogus reviews. My guess is they come from professional review writers in Indonesia.

When the guys came in and dropped my stuff off here, they didn't unpack or set anything up for me. I did it all myself. These guys did not speak English either, so they had no idea what I was saying or talking about. They were rushing to get in and out, and I'm really pissed because I had several things broken, including a brand-new TV, a drawer on my daughter's brand-new dresser, and the back of my TV stand. These guys have no consideration of people's stuff when they're loading and unloading it. The brand-new TV was only a $100 TV, but I spent a lot of money between tipping these guys, and I went out and bought them food. I did a lot of stuff and I should have had better experience than what I had. People should be careful with their stuff and pack them better.

I contacted Colonial Van Lines about that, then I sent an email with pictures like they asked and I have not heard anything back. I’d just seen an email the other day stating that I had to print stuff out and do all sorts of crap, which I don't even know how to go about doing, because it does not make sense to me. I want a refund for my stuff. I've been here for over a month and still haven't gotten any calls.

We lived in the middle of nowhere in Illinois. Our son offered to help us buy a home close to them in Florida where they have good doctors. So, we moved here. The first quote I got was well done, and I thought it was okay. I was assured that if it changed a little bit, they would make that work for them. I went through the house and showed everything that was going and everything that wasn't. That worked out okay. However, I got more calls from different people, and they asked to do it again and again as the time went on. The price kept going up and I was showing them the same things that I'd started out with. They said, “Well, that's not on here, and that's not on here.” I said, “Excuse me. It is on my list.” It was when we started. So, I was not happy with that.

I tried to reach out to Colonial Van Lines' customer service but I couldn't get anybody who said that it was any different. The couple of them said, "Well, we'll talk to them. Don't worry about it. We'll make it work.” Those were the people on Jamie's team. They were always supportive and always saying they'd make it work, but it didn't.

The people that packed up the house and took it out to the truck were wonderful. They worked hard. They were extremely careful. They did get tired by the end of the day, and a few things did get chipped. But other than that, they did a good job of packing them. It was better than I thought they would. They were very friendly and easy to deal with.

It was really a horrible experience. There were about four people for each truck and they were there at the same time, but there was no communication between them. They didn't even know each other. So, that part of it was terrible. We would not recommend Colonial for any big move like ours. It was a very expensive move, but we knew that. Unfortunately, we paid extra to have a sourced van and that didn't work. When they left, the 22-foot panel truck was overweight and they got stopped and had to unload. They moved stuff into two other trucks. So, we had three trucks unloading.

During that transfer, we lost a lot of stuff. I know that ours was intermingled with others because we had a box delivered that wasn't ours. It just took us a while to figure out what all we're missing. We just went with a standard six cents a pound insurance. One of the frustrating things is, when we got there at the end of the day, they gave us 21 pages of inventory and said we needed to sign every page. So, we sat there and manually signed every page. That was at 10:30 at night. We had no idea what was in those lists. It's just a terrible way to do it.