International Van Lines

Long story: I picked the company based on the reviews on the internet and I believe it’s my obligation to come and make everyone aware of their POOR service. I moved from Missouri to California, and I wanted my furniture arrive ASAP. First when I talked on the phone, they told me it would take a week and in worst case might be two weeks. When I got my contract I see it was mentioned 7-21 business days. I called back but this time they assured me that’s formal contract and they can’t write less than that because they don’t have control on moving truck if it gets flat tire or etc. but they said they will put a note to expedite the whole process. This was a LIE!!!

3+ weeks passed I have not heard back anything and when I called they said my stuff was sitting in a storage in Chicago for 3 ** weeks!!! After couple days I called back and they set a delivery for the weekend. The driver called and scheduled my delivery for the Sunday but again couple hours later he called and canceled. He scheduled it back for Monday which I was supposed to work so I asked him to give me a window so I take couple hours off from work. He didn’t show up on that time, and called and rescheduled again!!! Till this point it was all good compare to the rest. All my furniture's screws was taped to my bed. Believe me it was taped very well. But so conveniently when my stuff arrived there was no screw!!! So I am left with useless pieces of wood, which is technically trash. My China was broken. They lost a big suitcase. All my tables were scratched. My tv table doesn’t have a leg anymore!!!

The driver who was moved everything to my apartment, was throwing all the boxes right in front of my eyes. And he damaged my wall in the apartment as well!!! Can you believe this!!! Besides this I called to complain about the drivers bad behavior and the customer service started yelling at me. :))) If you want to pay to someone to make a trash and deliver it to you go ahead, otherwise don’t make my mistake. Don’t get fooled with the good reviews in the internet.

The trucker they hired to bring our shipping container to the door showed up 8 hours late because of mechanical problems. (The driver told us that the trucking company was trying to save costs by using cheap diesel fuel that would not work in cold northeast winters.) As a result, my costs went up by $300 because the crew of four guys that I had hired to help load the container had to wait idly for several hours. (The truck was always "almost there" and would show up in "fifteen minutes".) Because of the delay, the container with its chassis was away from the seaport for a couple of days, and IVL/OSI would like me to pay an extra $100 per day chassis rental fee. (So far I have refused.) Tolls are not typically included. They may be as much as $100

Scale fees for the truck are not included ($150 in my case). iv) If the delivery of the goods at point B is more difficult in any way, there may be an additional $500 charge. For example, the delivery service may charge if they have to carry goods more than 20 meters, or if they need to shuttle the goods from the container to your house using a smaller truck, or if your house has more than two stories. In conclusion, if you have been reading carefully, you will have noticed that the final bill could be as much as $1000 more than the initial estimate.

The information about which ship the container would be on and when the container needed to be at the port was constantly changing. Apparently, the initial container ship was overbooked, which caused the week delay in the shipment of our goods. IVL/OSI is not particularly nice to its employees. When we pointed out that toll fees were in our contract, they claimed it was an error by one of their employees. They docked his pay by $72 to give us our money back.

They respond to complaints about billing with threats. Here is part of their response to my complaint on the Better Business Bureau website, "[T]he sea container has or is due to arrive very shortly, if the invoice is not paid quickly, the port will place a hold on the sea container, and not release the container to the agent in the UK, and the steamship will begin to accrue daily charges to the shippers account, called "Demurrage", and the port will accrue "Port Storage" fees up until the day the sea container is removed from the port.

Depending on the steamship line, these charges can go as high as $150 per day, since their equipment (container) is being held stagnant, while they need their equipment back quickly to place back in circulation, as since this is the way they generate their revenue. In closing, we wouldn't want the shipper to be injured like this, so the shipper must check his email quickly to view and pay the revised invoice with the toll fees removed." It may well be that other international moving companies are simply worse than this one, but my personal experience with this one has not been inspiring.

My stuff was to be stored for 2 weeks until closing. I notified them of the date and they now said I owed 8000.00 more. Held my stuff hostage until I paid and there was significant damage and loss. I contacted a lawyer and AMFA. They said it would cost more to fight this than they would give in compensation. Totally shameful experience and rogue manipulation.

In April, IVL came to our house with three men (Serge was the driver) and picked up about 90 boxes that I packed and put them in storage. They had an IVL truck and Serge wore an IVL shirt. This is the last time I saw IVL logos on any trucks or uniforms. Our home in Winter Park closed on June 19, 2017 and on June 16, 2017 IVL came to pick up our remaining furniture and put them in storage until our home in South Carolina was ready for us. The truck was not an IVL truck, but a rented truck and four men came including the driver—Serge.

We were expecting them at 9-10 am—Sean the dispatcher said they would leave early and be at our house in this timeframe. The non-IVL truck showed up at about 2:00 pm. The person assigned to pack everything breakable (this was in the agreement) had never packed before (I distinctly heard him ask another of the men how to do the packing). When I unpacked the fine crystal wine goblets, two of them were next to each other wrapped in one sheet of wrapping paper (whereas this person used so much wrapping paper on things not likely to break)!

There were just four items I wanted crated because they were so fragile: Two antique mirrors, another unique mirror made from plaster of Paris, and a marble top for the dresser in our master bedroom. To me crating was using wood on the outside and very carefully wrapped in good materials to absorb shocks and jars from the moving process. These items were put into cardboard only—when I asked Serge why he didn’t used wood he said this was how they CRATE! When Serge finished “crating” the antique mirror we received as a wedding present, I picked a piece of it off the floor and put it away to be repaired after the move-in.

Later in the move-out, it started to rain and these men in no way tried to protect my flooring and as a result the carpeting was a mess and they scuffed the wood floor and marked the walls. The truck used to move a 4-bedroom house was not large enough to hold all our things—we had to give away the following items: a Metal Lathe, a jewelry armoire, a floor lamp. My husband was really upset about losing the metal lathe. They rushed the move because they were all calling their family and friends and insisted they had to get back by a certain time.

We asked for the move-in to be done on December 19, but the house wasn’t ready and so we cancelled it and rescheduled for December 28th. I was informed by Sean that when I cancelled that it was no big deal because my things were already in South Carolina. He was annoyed I rescheduled and that his timeframe is more important than mine. I can understand this, but I’m the customer and their customer service is really poor—I know, because I did Customer Service for years and never treated a customer as I was treated by IVL. When I contacted Jeremy ** from IVL, every discussion always ended up by him lecturing me and making me feel as though I was a completely unreasonable person.

I received a call from Sean on Dec 26 to tell me about the delivery plans for the move-in on December 28th and to inform me that MS Relocation would be doing the actual delivery. I missed a call from MS Relocation on December 27th because I was in a plane on the way back from New York. I returned the call about an hour later and was told by Danny (**) that the delivery would be the following day around 12-2pm. On December 28th at 10:40 am I called Danny to find out how the delivery was looking and he told me they were 10 minutes away. Mike (**) the driver and the person in charge from MS Relocation was called at 3:19 pm and told me he would be there in about an hour and was just crossing the South Carolina state line.

I called Danny and told him that I thought it would be too late to do the delivery and that it would be dark soon and he assured me that there were 4 men and it would be much faster than normal. 2 men showed up in two trucks at 4:30 pm! I was assured by Sean that there would be a kit to protect my new floors and walls and nothing was provided by IVL—my husband put cardboard on the floors and instructed them how to bring the items in to do the least damage to the house and items.

By 9:00 pm we were so upset with the entire ordeal, that we wanted them to just finish and leave us alone. They finished at 1:30 am the next morning after telling us when we asked them to put the beds and piano together, that they don’t do that and that it is the job of the homeowner to remove the cardboard and tape left over from the move. No boxes were unpacked, just the furniture was unwrapped. We are not neophytes at moving and have moved before and never have been treated so rudely and lied to so much. I need a bed to sleep in and my grand piano put together as soon as possible.

At this writing, no one from IVL has called me. I called Jeremy ** and was told to call a handyman to put the piano together and that he would discount it to me. What discount is he talking about—we paid everything in full and at no time did we ever give them a minute's worry about the monies owed to them. WE PAID PROMPTLY FOR EVERYTHING! As an aside, Dana from their accounting department would send me emails for the first few months our items were in storage asking for the storage fee due. I told her it was sent and she wrote me back saying that she found the payment and it was at the company before she knew it—they are not very organized if this is the case.

Turns out my things didn't even leave CA until some time after 10/1/17. Now, after several request letters and unreturned phone calls, I still have not received the promised compensation for the delay. Unless I go to Florida to file a small claims suit, I am left without recourse. DO NOT USE INTERNATIONAL VAN LINES OR HONEST AND TRUE MOVERS. THEY WILL UPCHARGE YOU, LIE TO YOU AND NOT HONOR THEIR OWN CONTRACT. Horrible experience!!! I have given up any hope of obtaining any satisfaction or money from these people, so I am writing this review in the hope that others will learn from my experience and thus avoid the stress and frustration I was subjected to.

The thing that was aggravating is that my friend was in Gainsville and that’s where I’m staying right now. International Van Lines was supposed to do a pick up with my truck since he doesn’t have that much stuff to take and then we were going to have the combined move. For some reason, they took my stuff all the way down. I was moving to Venice, Florida and they took it down there. The whole price changed for his move since they have to come all the way up to Gainsville and then back down again. It was a bit of a price difference and I was not happy about that. Ryan, the gentleman who set this whole thing up, has not called me back. Right now, I have Karen who's been trying to be very helpful but it’s been hard since she wasn’t the one that originally told us about the pickup in Gainsville. I’ve tried several times calling Ryan and he doesn’t recall phone calls. So, I’m very unpleased with him and things have not gone smoothly.

Also, I had told them that the house would not be accessible via semi so they were supposed to use a back truck. Still, they used a semi and then they couldn’t use it to get here because we're in a fairly remote mountainous area. They had to unload stuff from the semi and load it on to another truck and we ended up having to drive the truck driver to a place to pick up a rental truck. It was an interesting experience.

The second part was, on his way to the house, he was asking me which way to take, which was our building. They’re the experts and they know how big their truck is. I never had this experience when the car was shipped from New York to my house in Albuquerque but I had problems with this guy. He wanted me to meet him about a mile away and bring the car over there. The third thing was when I was talking to International, they said I could put stuff in my car as long as they were not heavy so I put some Christmas stuff and boxes there. We were on a tight schedule that day as we had to drive out of Albuquerque and he made it worse because by the time we came, he was late and we were rushing. On top of that, he told me to take the boxes out and shove them back in my garage to get them going.

By this time, I was really fed up with the whole experience. So, three strikes and they were out. My advice to International Van Lines is to listen to their customers and to whatever complaints they have because normally, the customer is always right. It was not the first them that I used a car relocation company so I have somebody to compare the experience with.

The movers came on time, and there wasn’t any delay. They packed up everything fast and it was done in less than an hour. Also, the seven days duration that was promised was followed very well. But when they arrived at the destination, some of my stuff was missing, and I talked to their customer service team and they said that they'd be following up with the driver and find out where the actual luggage is. I was also following up with the driver, and he sent me the tracking details. I was a little bit worried initially about them because I had some of my important documents and things, but I got them so I was happy.

The estimation can be improved because it’s done on the phone and then once the crew arrives, they don’t do it again. The cost was based on the number of boxes and stuff and wasn’t based on the weight. I didn’t know the size of the boxes that I had if they were falling under medium or small. There were boxes that were in between small and medium but still I had told them I needed large ones where their estimation was based. It might have been the reason for the high estimate, too, and if it’s true, they may revise it and not increase it. And if they decrease it, then it makes me happy. Other than that, I would definitely recommend them.

They were wonderful and respectful which I really appreciated. They took care of the stuff and really wrapped my pictures that I wanted. I'm very organized so it helped that I knew exactly what I wanted, what was coming and what wasn't going. It was a two-hour move and from start to finish, it was smooth as it can be. Everything was on time. They packed us up on Thursday, delivered our stuff and we unpacked Friday. I was very lucky with my crew. I am very pleased and I would definitely trust them.

We were leaving to go cross country the next day and they gave us no option of taking the remaining items. We set up delivery and at this point it has been delayed by the company the day before telling us that they don't even have it loaded in another city. These are just the main points. We do not believe this is a legitimate company. It is terribly managed with everyone we speak to giving us a different answer. It has been a nightmare experience!

Nevertheless, they did a really good job. There was a gun that was missing, but I was going to rid of it anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. There were two, three other small things missing, but I'm sure there always is whenever a person moves. But I don’t believe that International Van Lines was responsible for that. It all worked out in the long run though. I was also really impressed with the drivers and I highly rate the movers and their ability to make me feel at ease.

Other than that, the move was handled well from the get go. I would trust International Van Lines to do it again. Everybody I talked to was caring and professional. They gave us a deal on storage so the fact that we could have everything moved from my house and storage was really helpful in not having to move it into a storage unit ourselves. The whole process was great and the customer service guy I talked to initially giving the box quote was really great, too.

When contacted, by email, again, not local, he sent a "fill in the blanks" form. I called the second agent Jeremy **, I started to explain why I needed someone to come out, he rudely interrupted me, saying "we are going to pass on this move, goodbye." After dropping other movers, time spent with the 1st agent, waiting for response, this is how this company treats people. Well there was one good thing that came out of this is, imagine how bad they would be if I had actually used them!!

A third delivery was required after I notified the company's president that a number of items were still missing. Some of those items never showed up and International has chosen to do nothing further. Some minor damage can't be avoided; but there were numerous pieces seriously damaged due to improper packing or due to loss of parts. Framed wall art was stacked four or five together and wrapped as bundles causing glass to be broken and art to be slashed by the glass. All three floor lamps were broken, the washing machine was scraped and dented, leather sofas were scratched in multiple locations. Knobs were removed from the gas grill, legs removed from the picnic table, mattress detached from the frame of a bed made to lift the head section all with the pieces required to re-attach, lost (and items left to be figured out by us).

We had been assured that the same people who packed and loaded us would also be the ones to unload our belongings. That was definitely not the case and, as a result, there was no accountability for anything that happened. If you're interested in more detail or examples of why I could never recommend this company, read on. The guaranteed estimate was to hold firm unless there were pieces of substance not included in the estimate. As I said above, the team lead who packed us and loaded us (until he ran out of room) said there were no additional items. We were charged more money nonetheless and there was nothing we could do about it. They wouldn't load the remaining household goods without agreement to pay and they wouldn't unload anything at the new destination until it was paid.

When I ultimately lodged a complaint with the company's president, he said he would look into why we were charged and into possible reimbursement, but I never heard anything again about it. Prior to the International Van Lines team showing up, I packed my costume jewelry. I used a shoebox-sized box, layered necklaces between tissue paper and topped them with small zip lock bags of earrings. The box was wrapped with duct tape and placed in a dresser drawer amongst clothes. The dresser was delivered with clothes still in the drawers; however the box was never seen again. The necklaces were found tangled in a box of workshop tools (packed two stories below). The earrings were not found anywhere.

On a much larger scale, we had five wheels/tires and the original rear axle for a classic car. When they did not arrive with the second truck, I started making calls. After some persistence and contacting several people, I got confirmation that they were still in a warehouse in Pennsylvania. After contacting the company's president (I didn't know where else to go to get answers), I got commitment that they would be delivered as soon as possible. When the third truck came, it arrived with four wheels and tires. The fifth wheel and the axle were not part of the delivery. Again, I have been unable to get further information on these items and, ten weeks after our move, presume, that we will not.

Lastly, each of our (three) deliveries were partial deliveries, meaning that someone else's belongings shared space on the same trucks. In the first delivery, only a couple of things that weren't ours ended up in our house. (They were returned to the truck before it left; but had we not noticed them in the confusion of the day, they would likely have never made it to the rightful owners.) In the second delivery, tags for both families were of the same color. The movers opened boxes and asked if it was our stuff. In other words, we had the option of picking and choosing.

Clearly none of this is what we expect when we entrust a company to move our belongings. It's certainly not what we pay for. They had three delivery chances to make us whole. All were disappointing for various reasons. The president, who was responsive in calling me when he initially received my letter, had opportunity to improve upon the poor experience and he disappointed as well. I couldn't possibly recommend this company to anyone wanting a professional move.