International Van Lines Reviews

After everything was unloaded, I noticed that several items were damaged. I called and complained about having to help unload and they said that the driver claimed that I didn't help him with anything. The driver completely lied to them. I eventually demanded a partial refund because nowhere in the contract did it say that I was responsible for helping unload the truck which they complained about but eventually relented and paid me back. Avoid this company at all costs.

We would like to emphasize that Rick was not only responsive to ALL our questions and requests very promptly by either replying to our emails or calling back upon receiving our voice messages, but also very patient about explaining everything in detail to ensure our understanding. He was articulate and made it easy for us to understand their volume based charges per cubic foot (some companies charge differently by weight) with boxes of small/medium/large and special items in different sizes. Thanks to his upfront clear explanations, we were able to provide relatively accurate information on the numbers and sizes of all our boxes. In addition, he pulled our house on MLS listing with photos while talking to us to make accurate estimate of all pieces of furniture to be moved.

This in turn, according to Rick, made it easier for him to give us a more accurate overall estimate. As a result, there was no unexpected extra charge when the pickup team came. (This is one of the complaints found in online reviews of different moving companies.) And we think the actual cost of the moving is fair compared to quotes from other companies.

Rick’s job did not stop here, He coordinated the whole process very well. Everything happed, in sequence, was exactly as he described. We received an email and phone call from Lisa, the account manager and one of the team members, the day before pick up with all the details. She helped us with minor modification of the number of boxes and finalized the bill. The pickup team arrived within the window frame as specified by Lisa. During the transit, we received emails with updates from Carlina of the dispatch service. We received phone calls from the delivery team 2 days prior to the scheduled delivery.

When the weather changed unexpectedly on the planned unloading day, the delivery team communicated with their main office and got back to us with the decision to postpone unloading to the next day out of concern of possible damage to the furniture in heavy rain. Again, Rick was making the calls for the rearrangement and communicated back to us very promptly. The whole process was seamless. We also would like to mention that both the pickup and delivery teams were very professional and handled all the items with care.

Again, Rick’s job did not stop here, he went above and beyond. We received a call from him during the unloading process and another follow-up call the day after delivery to make sure all was taken care of timely and appropriately. My wife and I expressed our hearty thanks to Rick and his team and we shared our experience with Rick.

We both agreed that it is the team work that satisfies both parties. And the key to working as a team is COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, and COMMUNICATION! But we also would like to emphasize that it’s Rick’s customer-oriented attitude, patience and excellent communication skills that makes him exceptional. As he puts it: “I’m the specialist and you (my customers) are special”. We highly recommend the Relocation Specialist, Rick **, of International Van Lines, to anyone who is planning to move, especially long-distance interstate moving. We also would like to suggest preparing a list of commonly asked questions related to moving before making calls to moving companies.

When I contacted IVL, they said I must contact the mover (HRS), but the latter just gave me a website for filing a complaint. It has been over 1 month; I have not heard anything yet. There is no response from HRS either. It has been very bad experience with IVL and its partners. Before having signed a contract, they acted like the best caring businesspeople in the world. Once having got customers' money, they all disappeared. My experience could serve a reminder “don’t trust some online review”. I hope this industry should be closely monitored and regulated.

Professionals do not behave this way so now I question how they even got the high ranking they have online. I was told by another shipping company that they paid for their ranking (and I know this is true of the lawyer ratings - they are all bought and paid for because my husband and I - both lawyers - get solicitations for lawyer rating scams all the time, i.e., if we pay, we will get rated highly - ridiculous).

I called 4 different times to file a complaint. I sent one email. Finally someone picked up and we were able to discuss concerns. I have waited a week for an ETA of when stuff will arrived. I understand it takes time and know arrival date will "be worked towards however not guaranteed." However not having any estimate ETA or communication with an entire household full of personal property is not appropriate. The customers should be top priority as they are paying good money for "good" business. Overall, I give them 1 out of 5 stars. I have moved 12 times. This is by far the WORSE company I have ever moved with. I would not give them a single dime of money again.

- When they are looking to sign you up, they'll say anything to get the contract. Jeremy claimed they don't use subcontractors for delivery, and if you read through some reviews, you'll realize they basically only use subcontractors. One driver who made the delivery said I needed to pay cash or get a money order to his trucking company as it was contracted out to him.

- IVL packed my furniture as per the agreement so they took apart some of the furniture and packed the parts and said they would put it back together on delivery. But on delivery, the driver was adamant on not doing that even after I showed him the paperwork that showed, it was promised unless I paid him more money to do it. This turned out to be a moot point as all the parts for my furniture was lost during the delivery. Now I'm left with over 20k in furniture without parts to put it back together. Seems they also lost some other boxes along the way.

- As things were getting unpacked, I noticed that most of the heavy furniture was dinged. Also a $1200 end table was smashed into pieces and a $5k dining table's base was cracked and will no longer sit level. So I started the claims process which really made me upset. IVL said they were sorry and wanted to offer $400 as compensation, if I waive the claims process and not write any negative reviews about my experience.

I obviously did not that the "deal", as I think it's more important for me to warn other prospective movers to avoid IVL. At the end of the day saving a thousand dollars for the moving cost will end up costing you 5x the saving once factoring in the broken/missing things from your move.

When I mentioned to the driver they would need to unpack the boxes, he told me he had not been informed of this and was not planning to unpack the boxes. I promptly called IVL and they proceeded to tell me it would cost an additional $500 to have my boxes unpacked. This was such a SCAM!!! This was even detailed out on my invoice as included in the costs. They would not answer my calls and I was told by the driver he was the person in charge of my load. I was able to discuss with IVL, but only on his phone and they were adamant that if I wanted my boxes unpacked, I had to pay an additional $500. In the meantime, the driver told the hired hands they would have to stay and unpack the boxes for no extra pay and a whole new fight broke out in my front yard. This was extremely stressful and embarrassing and unfair to me as I had been led to believe I had already paid for the unpacking.

In the end, I did not pay them the $500 and I had to unpack the boxes myself. The driver insisted I sign the delivery papers with no opportunity to check the inventory, and he promptly left. I later figured out that he must not have completely unloaded the truck. As soon as I signed the papers, he slammed the doors closed on the truck and left. I am now left with approximately $2300 in undelivered items. There is no form on their website to claim a loss, nor will anyone return my message as I have left several. DO NOT USE THIS MOVING COMPANY!!

We had our belongings in storage for a couple months and gave them a month heads-up of when we would want our belongings. They said they would "try" to make the delivery date (after 2 weeks of silence). They replied that they can deliver up to 21 days after the delivery date as they try to consolidate moves (OK, get it, we knew that was in the contract), but we get 24 hours notice once our things are loaded into a truck (THAT was not in our contract). The communication is now non existent. We're past delivery date and now getting copy and pasted emails of our contract. No updates. After reading some other reviews I'm concerned we won't be getting our things for quite some time. My advice, pay a little extra for a well known company. DO NOT use these guys if your items are going to go into storage and you want them within a reasonable timeframe after. I hope to update my review after the delivery, but If I could go back in time I would make a different decision.

The IVL team was entirely unresponsive when we contacted them by phone and email to help us resolve the issue; we had to resolve on our own with Alheet. Moving company showed up at 9:15 pm. The team consisted of exactly two men (the packing team was a team 4). My husband and I helped them unload and worked just as hard as they did for the low cost of $4,000+ dollars (as the final balance due). They were only going to leave the boxes in one area and not disperse in the house nor were they going to assemble the furniture the original team disassembled for moving. My husband and I had to haul boxes into the house.

IVL was not forthright in providing the details we needed, such as the name of EACH moving company that would be handling our things and they were deceptive. IVL became unresponsive when we needed their help and we haven't heard from them since. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY despite the positive reviews you may read. Our move was super expensive and they do not deserve a penny of it.

I did my due diligence, scouring the internet for days to find the most reputable company to handle our move. I ultimately picked International Van Lines (IVL) because the firm came recommended by Forbes Magazine as one that was capable of moving families with lots of high-value belongings over long distances. I now shudder to think of the experiences others may have had as the result of this disastrously inaccurate recommendation by Forbes.

Our initial estimate was handled by an IVL desk lackey in Florida over Zoom. I had concerns about this, since it seemed unlikely that he could appreciate the sheer size and scope of the move over a Zoom call, but he assured me that because of the pandemic, this was the new standard practice industry-wide. I made sure to visit every room in our home, highlighting the contents of drawers and closets and cabinets as we went, so he could give the best estimate possible (full disclosure: we had had an L.A.-based local mover come to the house and walk around for 2+ hours prior to this Zoom call, so I’m not sure the “industry-wide” standard is a standard at all).

At any rate, our man in Florida came up with an initial estimate of roughly $25K, including two days of packing prior to departure from L.A. This was on the low end of several other estimates in that ballpark, and we elected to go with IVL because, in addition to its endorsement by Forbes, we figured they could offer a more competitive price because of higher demand for what must be superior quality service. Oh, how wrong we were!

Never once did IVL’s estimator alert us to the fact that no one from IVL was actually going to handle our move. We were under the impression that a team from IVL would be packing and transporting our belongings, up until the day the movers arrived to the house. As it turns out, IVL subcontracts out its moving jobs to smaller—and in our case, careless and disreputable—movers. The firm IVL contracted with to carry our belongings, BMR Moving, was absolutely dreadful. When they arrived to the house, the owner’s son began by insisting we pay him—up front—an additional $7000 before the workers would even begin to pack up our things. We were shocked. When we questioned this, we were told “you have a lot of stuff.” There was no itemized breakdown of the charge, and no coordination with the estimator from IVL.

This was shocking to us, but we complied because, at that point, what else could we do? We had scheduled the move weeks in advance and had time-critical commitments to keep in NH, not to mention the hassle we would incur if we had to re-book our flights, since we were traveling with our pets on board the plane. BMR Moving had us hostage at that point, and they knew it. We paid half up front and agreed to the balance of the $7000 at delivery. Needless to say, this soured us on them from the start. It only got worse from there.

Our situation was unusual in one respect, since we had spent more than 5 months in escrow and had to reschedule the move several times because the sellers couldn’t resolve aspects of their divorce in time to deliver us clear title to the house. As a result, I had begun packing up my entire wardrobe of designer clothing back in January. I have spent more than 20 years amassing a valuable collection, and I was loathe to leave it to movers to cram my designer dresses into boxes themselves. I took great care over several weeks to make sure it was all properly packed into more than 20 wardrobe boxes, labeled clearly and sealed with clear packing tape. When the movers arrived to deliver our things to our new home, I saw that all of these boxes had been opened and re-taped with brown tape.

This was instantly alarming, so I began to open them, only to find—in EVERY BOX—smaller, often filthy boxes containing all sorts of stuff from my attic like Christmas ornaments, tools, and books, stuffed inside (see videos, attached to this review). All the dresses were shoved aside, some off their hangers and wadded into balls, to accommodate the space these dirty boxes occupied. I was furious. I confronted the BMR driver (Rodrigo, who I believe is the owner of that company) about this, since it was his team that packed us up in L.A., but he didn’t care. He and his crew were rushing to empty the truck, so much so that they just started throwing the boxes haphazardly into the closest rooms, regardless of what their correct destination should be.

Boxes of linens for my daughter’s room were in the carriage house; kitchen items in a bedroom, etc. There was absolutely no thought or consideration given to making it easy for us to unpack, especially when some of the boxes with dishes were really heavy and hard for us to lift and relocate later ourselves. As a parting gift, the team of movers here in New England littered the road in front of our house with the trash from the pizza lunch we bought them to say thank you for their help. So the first night in our new home was spent picking up discarded pizza boxes and empty plastic soda bottles that were left on the street and thoughtlessly thrown into the woods on our property. We were so embarrassed to begin our residence in the neighborhood this way.

I have since opened all of the boxes we received, there are multiple missing items. I cannot find several of my coats and sweaters. More importantly, my 86-year-old father, who lives with us, is missing his hearing aids and a briefcase with important legal documents including his will and powers-of-attorney. When the BMR movers came to pack our house, my dad spent most of the day in his recliner with our dog, trying not to get in their way. They never once alerted him that they were busy in his room, and packed up ALL of his prescription medications and his hearing aids. You would think that, given his advanced age and seeing the bottles and aids out on the counter, they might ask if he needed them and set them aside for him to pack in his suitcase. But no. They packed them. My dad only realized they were missing once they had put everything on the truck.

We had to arrange for him to replace every medication, at his cost, once we arrived in New England, since Medicare would not pay for prescriptions that he had recently filled (which were packed on the truck). My father is also functionally deaf and his hearing aids are a vital part of his ability to participate in our family conversations and to get along in society. He was initially alarmed not to have them, but we figured we could wait to find them in the boxes from his bathroom once they arrived at the new house. They were not in any of the boxes of his things. We continued to be patient and search, since many, many of the items packed in one location in our California house were found in boxes from an entirely different location, almost always mislabeled (“pillows” turned out to be the contents of our downstairs guest bathroom and “small appliances” had only the contents of our spice cabinet, for instance).

But I have opened and sorted the contents of all the boxes, and I can tell you for certain that Dad’s hearing aids are nowhere to be found. They were kept in a small box the size of a phone or laptop charger, attached to a power cord that plugged into his bathroom wall outlet. I find it incredible that they were not among the items packed up in his bathroom that day—indeed, that they weren’t in the box of his medications (that we found in the carriage house, far from his bedroom, BTW), since they were located in the cabinet right next to the wall outlet containing the plug for the hearing aids. But they weren’t.

We have been in our new home for a few months now, and I have to yell at my dad every time I want to speak to him. When I asked the customer service representative at IVL about filing a claim so Dad could replace the hearing aids, she told us that we had to deal with filing a claim against BMR directly, but that they would only be responsible for $0.60 PER POUND of missing or damaged items. The hearing aids weigh just a few ounces, but cost thousands of dollars. Essentially, she said, you’re screwed.

I pressed the issue, and sent videos of all the damage BMR had done to our things. I am only guessing, but I suspect that after hearing all my complaints, the situation was so egregious and appalling that she offered to reach out to Rodrigo from BMR Moving to see if somehow, he might be willing to negotiate a fairer compensation with us. She arranged for me to speak to him by phone directly.

Rodrigo and I spoke for almost an hour, and I detailed the multiple issues that plagued our move. I explained to him that, despite all of the problems and missing and broken items, I would be satisfied if he would merely agree to cover the cost of replacing my dad’s hearing aids—about $6500. He admitted during the call that “my guys screwed up,” and acted like we had a deal. And days later he responded with a written offer of only $2500, and the IVL agent attached to it a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent me and my husband from ever telling this story or writing a negative review of BMR or International Van Lines. IVL accepted NO accountability for any of this. They washed their hands of the entire thing, and refused to make it right, even when it was obvious that we sustained damages that weren’t our fault. The whole thing felt crooked. IVL is a scam. RUN!

First, you can’t tell them anything because they will use it against you. I told them I tentatively planned to arrive on a date around two weeks, when the furniture should arrive. What do they do? They use that date as the date to store all your stuff as long as possible then don’t do a thing until that date, then start the clock, effectively buying them weeks more time during which time they do nothing at all and answer no emails.

The first red flag is they offer a quote, without looking with the assurance that as long as we are thorough it should be close to reality. I describe everything in detail - the quote is slightly on the high side, but I figure IVL is a reputable carrier maybe it's okay. They also told me it would not be outsourced and would be IVL doing the move since Houston is a “hub.” Then when they show up the red flags start going up.

The muscular-looking packing team lead guy suddenly says we owe $3,000 more (on a $15k quote), and points to an empty bicycle case and some empty plastic cases, as well as the number of items is higher than they thought. He says this with a straight face as I see them individually numbering each shelf component and tiny loose item (increasing the number of items) and emptying out plastic containers to pack them in other containers (effectively doubling the space). When we ask him about it, his inner Philly Teamster accent comes out, he turns red and angry, and starts going “want me to really calculate this huh?” and comes up with some other astronomical number and threatens to walk away. He ends up with $2k more and leaves in a huff.

Then the communication stops with IVL completely. I ask about an approximate time, nothing. A week's worth of emails, nothing. I get ONE text with literally ”we’re working on it” and nothing else. Our family of five is in and out of hotels, and eventually in the empty house two weeks later, with no notice of what is happening, and my continuing emails just unanswered. At some point, I realize this might be a scam so I let them know I’m going report my stuff stolen, and lo and behold, a reply -- except one with no information except it’s being unloaded and reloaded someplace else, with no times or estimates or anything, and they can’t tell me where it is. As far as I’m concerned, if they don’t know where it is then by definition they effectively lost all our stuff so I said I’d report it lost and whoever comes up with it might have stolen it.

Suddenly, another reply. Their justification is that the date I mentioned we need the stuff by is the date they used as their “we don’t do anything until” date. They sat on our belongings and stuck it in a storage facility (sounds like they unloaded and reloaded it maybe a few times) for two weeks and only proceeded to move, thus making the move more like a 4 week move (but only a few days according to their calculations) during which time our families cancelled their vacations over Labor Day, we slept on floors and had to just sit in the dark and hope.

As we speak, we are on Day 17 since they picked our stuff up, our kids have spent a week at a hotel, three days at a friend's house, and a week on the floor of the home we are renting, and the approximate arrival date has changed 3 times, now supposedly “next week”, but then again, according to them it takes 4 days to get from Arkansas to Oklahoma without stopping. I saw another review of a person who wrote their review on the 56th day or something, no doubt they made the same mistakes I did. Last time I moved from Seattle to Houston, another moving company said 4 days and showed with our furniture up in 4 days. Here, it doesn’t matter what you say or pay, you’re going to end up in limbo for weeks on end.

I’m posting this rather prematurely because who knows when it will arrive, but I think based on the reviews there could be grounds for some kind of class action on their pattern of benefitting from leaving people in the dark and them adding more and more pickup and drop-offs to their schedule, all they have to do is conveniently come up with excuses to hold you at bay. I have no idea who is writing these positive reviews but they're clearly not normal customers, some laughably so (especially the ones that say "I know the CEO Josh, he's a stand up guy" which sounds like less of a product review than something someone named Josh would write).

After trying for 1hr, only the backup person reached back to me and tried to get another driver to pick up my car. With his conversation, I was told that my car could be left in the parking spot and the car key could be left somewhere hidden, where I didn't need to be present for the driver to pick up my car, but this info was conflicted with the later information.

Another car shipping service company reached out to me and said that they would pick up my car on Aug 22. However, I was told by my neighbor that my car hadn't been picked up on Aug 23, which was one day delayed. My wife called to car shipping service company, and they only told us that they couldn't get a driver, which they never informed us so that we could rearrange our schedule. The driver picked up our car on Aug 25, which was 7 days delayed at this point. After the pick-up, we were told that the car would be delivered to our place on Aug 31 or Sept 1. However, on Sept 1, we were informed that the arrival of the car would be delayed again to Sept 2, and arrived at 10 pm after our calling.

We had no visibility on the car shipping and only found out the fact after we called their service with multiple tries each time. The car should arrive on Aug 25, but it came on Sept 2, which was 7 days delayed. We had to spend an additional ~$700 to rent the car for another week. No reply from the dedicated operator after writing the complaint email and CEO was also included in the email. International Van lines have poor customer service and bad drivers. The entire process didn't provide clear visibility to the customer. Would highly not recommend to their service.

Original Review: When they told me six weeks for delivery, I figured it would be longer than that. I didn’t think that after five full months my possessions would still be in their storage facility in New Jersey. Nor did I think that for the first four months all of my emails and calls to customer service would go unanswered. Now I’ve finally got someone there who writes me back. She has gone to enormous trouble to get my thing into a boat leaving in early September, landing in Rotterdam. Then it awaits customs check. How my possessions then get from Rotterdam to London is still a mystery. If I get my things by the end of the year I’ll be surprised. I’m hiring an attorney to try and speed things up and get some accountability, but I am not optimistic. Not sure even a lawyer can break through the iron walls protecting their customer service from the outside.

I waited 6+ weeks for the delivery. This exceeded the agreement. IVL never provided updates; they took 3-4 days to reply to my emails. Emails were sent in bold, red, nasty replies which simply copied portions of previous documents. No communication. I had to call the "partner" who told me they were busy and I just needed to wait. (At least they took my calls and were polite).

When the move finally arrived, I had 3 broken floor lamps, a missing headboard to a platform bed (makes the bed useless), and two missing boxes. They are still "looking" for these and simply sent me a claim form. One of the delivery men did not know how to assemble a basic bed frame and asked if I could teach him. As far as I am concerned all IVL did was take my money, deceive me, and treat me with lack of respect and rude replies. They provided zero support or assistance.

I opted for the basic coverage which I misunderstood to be $0.60 on the $1.00 - it's actually $0.60 per pound per article. So my antique dresser that has a huge gash through it won't be repaired by them. They toss a few bucks my way and call it a day. While this is on me, I would have really appreciated a better explanation. (Every other move I've done - and there have been a lot - has at a minimum included repair of damaged items if possible. Again, my fault. It wasn't until I got to the Claims department that anyone said, "it's best to get more insurance your high-value items.")

The movers they chose to complete my pack were a mix of good and bad. They were very nice, they worked really slowly and one guy just didn't care. That's where all the damage came in. I have so many broken items due to poor packing. It looked like one guy just threw items in a box and taped it up. Three boxes were missing. Because they don't make an inventory of what they packed, they estimate weight and give you the money based on that. So a small box has a limit of say 25 pounds so you'll get $15 for the box they lost. And you hope you can recall everything you own so you know what's missing.

The final part for me was the run-around I consistently got from Joey. I rarely lose it with people, but I did with him. He just doesn't listen. He answers questions that weren't asked and doesn't try to clarify what's being asked. His whole purpose is to protect IVL and his communication reflects that. I had a horrific experience with IVL and the company they subcontracted with. If you choose to move forward with them, noting that "hey, every company has a bad move," check to see who they will sub with and check them out. Ensure you are clear on what is being contracted and when. Good luck!

Second, before you pay them money they would tell you things like "your move will take maximum 5 days, we put in a contract 21 just in case of some extraordinary situation happens", in reality, as soon as you pay them money, they say things like "you signed a contract, we have 21 business days to deliver your thing". So be prepared to stay one month in a hotel if you hire this company. When I called customer service a guy would say things like "you changed your delivery date so many times", "6K is not much money, just wait 21 days". Absolutely disgusting customer service.

Third, non existent customer service. You can never reach them. You can call/email/leave the message, but they just don't respond to you. The only people who are available are the ones who take your money and make you sign up, after getting your money, good luck talking to anyone. Fourth, every single piece of our furniture was damaged! They also made a hole in our wall, damaged a staircase! We had a new house, just renovated, and movers came in with zero regard for our furniture or our house, made a literal hole in the wall. Please tell me how much worse it could be?

Fifth, they will charge you so much more money than they initially tell you. They charge by sq. ft, so they would pack something tiny in the big box and charge you extra. Also, they ask if 18 wheeler can come to the place and deliver furniture. We found out from neighbors and HOA that 18 wheeler will have no issues, however movers told us that "we cannot maneuver" and they asked for more money to get Uhaul and deliver things on a smaller truck. Sixth, on delivery they didn't assemble majority of our furniture and said "they had other deliveries". To sum up: broken furniture, damaged house, overcharged move, and horrible customer service. Please, please, please, do yourself a favor and avoid this company!

Specifically, at 8PM, within less than an hour of meeting my family and 3 days before we had to vacate our home, the mover said that he was not Russian but from Soviet Union, that the reason people are dying in Ukraine is because they don't believe in God and that gay people should suffer and lastly, that (since I am originally from Taiwan) China will eventually take over Taiwan and I should just know that... We had no choice but to move forward with our move due to IVL's last minute outsourcing. Not only did we experience bait & switch (mover wants to add $10K to our Binding Quote because the 3 IVL estimates were a "joke" and we were threatened that he’d leave a portion of our household items).

- Continued to call the local contracted movers "them **" and expressed to us that they were "lazy" even though we had specifically told him their names... And we observed that they took very few breaks and were hustling the entire time.

Finally, when our household items were being delivered, they called the night before and wanted to deliver at 6PM and unload throughout the night and even begged us to pick up one of their helpers from 40 miles away at a bus stop… The mover also refused to provide carpet protection, citing that it has always been the homeowner’s responsibility. We all know this is inaccurate, but since we just installed carpet the day before, we did what we needed to do to get the nightmare behind us…. I have moved nearly a dozen times via corporate and private moves and this scenario is completely unacceptable and this particular business SHOULD NOT be allowed to operate.

We did not receive invoices reflecting the cost increases and have requested a final invoice multiple times in writing. There was a chance we could be reimbursed for the move by our employer, but we needed a paid invoice. We explained this to IVL, but it did not make a difference, they will not send an invoice. Additionally, there were many issues with customer service after they had our money, and careless movers did serious damage to our belongings. Beware International Van Lines.

The moving crew was late in the evening, and as soon as the crew leader entered the first room, he looked at 3 materials (sofa, TV, and entertainment table) already listed in the line item and started harassing me to charge me more than 3 to 4 thousand without even looking at other items listed. Later, the other item was examined.

When I pointed out that he just wanted to take money, I was not interested in extra payment (due to the trust he gained), even if I didn't have to ship. Therefore, we had to remove 20-30% of the costly items already mentioned in the list of items and garbage them due to the unfair torture the crew leader kept putting us through. Prices for the items I was able to take are less than moving services.

The man broke my office table and shipped half of it, we noticed a broken wall clock and bench of dining table while opening the package. In front of me, the crew leader took out the key to the treadmill and threw it in the pile of garbage. I went to collect the key to keep with me, and I informed him that without it, the treadmill would not work.

We have yet to locate all the screws for the bed frame, and Entertainment table, and despite opening all the boxes. Therefore, our entire home is a mess because we cannot assemble any of those items despite having paid 1.5K extra for a full relocation package including boxing, unpacking and assembly. To save me time and to forget this extremely bad experience as soon as possible, we will not file a claim or follow up further.

Living in a high-rise apartment complex, this delay presented challenges with securing an elevator in my building since the freight elevator needs to be booked in advance. My items were picked up on 6/24 and as I write this review on 7/12, I still have not received a delivery estimate. I have paid for my move in full, but cannot reach anyone to discuss when I can expect an update. No one answers the phone or answers email. Terrible company. Don't believe the lies about great customer service. 0/10. I would never use International Van Lines for another move. I do not recommend this company.

Original Review: July 12, 2022

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! They make a lot of promises/guarantees that are not kept. We were given a 2-day guaranteed window for pickup of our items- The day before the window started we were told the movers would come on Day 1. After the window on Day 1 had opened, we were told that they had to bump our move to the morning Day 2 of the window. By the afternoon on Day 2, we had not heard from anyone at IVL or the carrier that they contracted our move out to; nobody at IVL answered the phone despite multiple calls, voicemails, and emails, and we were never provided contact information from the contracted carrier.

The movers finally showed up after 6pm on Day 2, but said they could ‘only wrap’ our furniture but not load the truck since they’d already worked too much that day. They ultimately did not finish loading our truck until Day 3 (despite our ‘guaranteed’ 2-day window). Not only that, but after everything was loaded on the truck, they decided we needed to pay another thousand dollars since ‘it looked like we went over the limit’… very predatory since we were not in a position to tell them ‘no’ and start from scratch! The movers even told us that companies like IVL will give low quotes to suck people in, even though they’ll end up paying more once it’s too late.

After this ordeal, it has been like pulling teeth trying to get someone from IVL to talk to us. We’ve tried calling multiple people in their company and leaving voicemails, as well as sending emails, all of which have still not been responded to weeks later! Do yourself a favor and AVOID THIS COMPANY!!! Despite their good ratings, read through actual customer reviews on trusted websites like the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Affairs, Yelp, etc. to know what you can truly expect.

What's worse - given I was notified just 2 days before the move, I'd ALREADY made my insurance decision based on belief IVL would be handling my move directly. My move was 6 weeks late with several fully missing items (value: well over $1000) that were never recovered. Working with IVL to get so much as an update on where my things were was absolute hell that probably took years off my life. IVL is a dishonest company that claims to be something they are not, in order to profit off your trust (that they will then abuse). I worked with Melissa (sales), Jason (ops), Daisja (compliance), Julie (compliance), and also emailed the company founders (Josh and Jay). I've seen this company for what it is. I have full receipts of all communication as proof of their negligence and incompetence. Absolutely do not give them your business.

Long story short, it took 25 days of miserable calling, poor customer support and “you will get your shipment when we are ready” attitude. Had we been treated humanely, I actually would have understood this delay. However, a few things frustrated me: IVL was a broker in my case without me knowing. I paid 2500 to them and they hired a company with the worst reviews I could find on Google and one I actively avoided (AMS transportation, to whom I paid 3500). I would not have minded this if I was told about this at the time I signed the contract as when these smaller companies work for larger companies, they tend to behave better.

I complained to Nico about this delay and the unresponsiveness of AMS. Nico was nice enough on the phone and over email and also said the timeline is ridiculous for a 500 mile trip, he will find out what is going on and get back to me. He did not get back to me on all 3 occasions where he promised to investigate what is going on. I was told when signing the final contract on my moving day that the “shipping delivery date” should be left empty as the exact date cannot be specified. But if I had discussed something with the dispatch, it will be honored. 25 days later, I saw this same contract that I signed and I now see “carrier’s convenience” written over the delivery date.

Long story short, my experience was that IVL is a broker who takes a large sum of money without providing adequate support or responsibility of their hired company. Once they have your money and furniture, they don’t care at all as the chance for repeat business in this industry is low anyways. If you have no choice but to go with IVL, I would advise that: you do not make the full payment until your goods are delivered. Write in every empty part of the contract as they will write things in there AFTER you have signed. Once you have signed, request a copy of the contract to avoid these illegal alterations.

When a crew finally showed up, of the three who did our packing, only one seemed to have a grasp of proper ways to do so. The others seemed untrained and unaware of how to handle things. They also arrived with a truck much too small for the job so it had to be done over two days. We waited in a half-packed house while the moving crew drove the first batch to storage, unloaded, and came back with the same truck.

When Cosmos finally scheduled delivery, only half of our belongings arrived. In addition to being disappointed and upset for obvious reasons, we thought paying only half the delivery balance was entirely reasonable. When the driver phoned his boss to discuss this point, the boss told us if we didn’t pay up, he’d have our belongings “thrown in a river somewhere.” Seriously.

In addition, we had no advanced notice of delivery from Cosmos only a call from the driver saying they were an hour out. To get the second half of our belongings, about 3 weeks later, we had to contact the packing crew directly as the office staff were entirely unhelpful. Though all mattresses were to be wrapped, the only one that was had been done in advance by us. ALL others were received uncovered. Some came ripped and dirty, as did box springs.

Closet boxes were filled 2/3 with other items in the bottom so clothing on hangers arrived crushed and crumpled; some of these boxes were packed with shoes so the clothing was also dirty.

Clothes that were neatly folded and in drawers were dumped randomly into boxes with other items. We received all the packed clothing rumpled, wadded, and wrinkled. Picture frames were stored under large and heavy piles of linens and came with frames and glass broken. Shelves and free-standing mirror were left poorly reassembled and wobbly. Several wood and wicker items were packed with items much too heavy for them to hold; they arrived cracked, damaged, and/or crushed. Overall, this is a very small sample of the damages and frustration we suffered at the hands of Cosmos Van Lines. Do yourselves a favor and stay away from both companies.

We would like to share our experience with CEO of International Van Lines Josh Morales. Per his bio on the website, “I’m always open to speaking with customers regarding any issue and will always do my best to fix the problem.” While that sounds reassuring on the website, good luck finding an email to request assistance or getting customer service to respond to multiple inquiries. Josh, if you are out there and listening, please contact us! We are still sleeping on the floor. You need to understand what is going on at ground level. There are other concerns I would like to share with Josh Morales outside of a public post as to what your customers are faced with using IVL. Josh….Please call us!

On the day of packing the movers charged us $800 more and they didn't take the bed because they said it'll cost $200 more to take that!!! After 21 days our stuff arrived and we realized two of my handbags are missing (a Kate Spade and a Michael Kors). The workout equipment charger is smashed!! One of my shoes has only one pair now! So basically the movers just charged us 5k to lose and destroy our stuff!

My experience from the get-go was awful. First I told them they needed to get a parking permit for Chicago. This comes from the city and would block the parking in front of my house on the day of the move so that no one can park there minus my movers or you could get towed. They told me the customer is responsible for that. Nope. Not in Chicago. You are not allowed to request that kind of no parking permit as a regular resident - the moving company has to do it. It’s clear on the City’s website and I even called to check (and confirmed IVL had an account already with the city making this process even more easy).

I told them that and then it was like - oh yeah, we reached out to our person and Chicago and you’re right. So they said they would handle it. 1 day before the move I get a call that the movers were coming the next day. “Where’s the parking permit?” I ask. After some back and forth they tell me they thought I was getting it and there had been a misunderstanding. WTF?! Luckily, I live on a pretty wide 1-way street in the city and I asked my neighbors if they would mind moving their cars for my movers. If I hadn’t had this particular situation, it could have been a nightmare. As you can see, things aren’t going well and we haven’t even made it out of Chicago.

Fast forward to 3 months later when I am ready to have my items delivered to me in NYC. I live in a midrise building in NYC. I was told I needed a certificate of insurance from the movers (a very, very common request). I told IVL about this a month in advance of the delivery. Considering how badly they mucked up the pick up I figured the more time I give them, the better. Here is how that whole process went:

4) day before - mover calls me and tells me he can deliver as soon as Saturday. Remember that other requirement???? No weekend delivery. Guess no one told him. I tell him and I tell him I have no COI so we cannot schedule the delivery yet.

I know this is a godawful long review so I’ll try to wrap it up now. I literally asked for a COI at least 5x from different people. They literally kept asking me to send them the requirements as if they had never heard of it before. Not kidding. I was calling and emailing constantly over a 24-48 hour timeframe as I was driving to NYC. I had to take on the job of coordinating with the delivery guy because no one was doing their job. I finally got that COI at 5:30pm on a Friday night. I had to beg my building manager to review it over the weekend so that the mover could come on Monday. Oh and there were all kinds of extra charges that the delivery guy charged me that was never mentioned up front when I signed my contract.

It all ended up kind of okay in that I got my stuff and it was generally in okay shape. But the move only happened because I did their job for them. I paid them to coordinate this move and I did all the coordination. They are seriously the biggest bunch of incompetent people I’ve ever dealt with. And no one ever followed up to ask me how the move went, if the COI was ironed out, how my experience was, etc. I think it’s pretty obvious why this company doesn’t ask for reviews.

Moving is one of the most stressful things you can do. They made it 100x more stressful. I would never recommend this company to anyone - unless you enjoy stress, wasting your time saying the same thing over and over again to a brick wall, and calling and checking your email every 10 minutes praying someone will do their job and help you.

I itemized every piece of furniture and item I had in my house and it was on their contracted inventory. Yet the day of the move the mover would not take my items claiming there was no space despite them being on the inventory. They tried to force me sign an agreement to pay more to move items I had told them about. The company is trying to claim that that my items are oversized and trust me when I say they are not. They did not pack an entire room of my home despite paying for packing service. After the truck was loaded, I could not get any response on my inquiry for a delivery update for over a week and a half and then I was given less than 24h notice prior to the delivery.

The moving company they outsourced to was rude and unprofessional. Their cost was the highest bid I received but because they could confirm a pickup date I went with them. Stupidly I thought I was also paying for quality service but I was so badly mistaken. I filed a complaint and they have completely ignored all the information I gave them and dismissed me. I am fortunate that I had options and wasn't stuck being forced to pay an extra $5000 the day of the move. This company will lie to you and try to extort money from you the day of the move. Do not hire them. It is not worth it, you are better off selling everything you own and starting over.

We attempted to submit a claim for damaged goods, however, IVL's claim system never showed that we sent our claim in even after receiving an "Acknowledgment Email". The customer service representative's only response was the acknowledgment email " must have been a glitch". The claim system is somewhat cumbersome to begin with, then to receive a response like that, made the whole experience even worse.

When you are first signing that contract the salesperson does not once mention the potential for outsourcing and downplays the possibility of a delay, saying the secondary date is just in case but not likely to happen. They have the audacity to move your date out, but that does not apply to your cancellation window. You can only cancel 48 hours before first move date you wanted, not what they push you to.

Based on what I’ve seen get out as soon as you can, take some time to really do some research and read some verified reviews on Consumer Affairs and the Better Business Bureau. CANCEL their services the second you think something is off and get your money back. I am discussing course of action with a business lawyer about a Deceptive Business Practice claim, anyone that has had a similar experience should as well.

Surfboard had holes, cracked tip. Armoire had a massive chunk removed from the wood facing. An original oil painting had slashes through it as if a forklift had punctured the canvas. Unique, one of a kind furniture was ruined, missing legs, wood grain damaged. Boxes were smashed, gaping holes, boxes missing. I was in shock, the people unloading the truck were in shock, and I when I called the moving company, nobody would take my call. Daisja ** was my contact at Int'l Van Lines, she was rude, made promises she never kept, and was actually belligerent at the end of our dealings. Jen was my contact at Safeway, she just simply wouldn't respond to me. Not a single person apologized. And after waiting for almost four months on my $23K claim, they've offered $292. I have over 100 pictures and witness statements to back this review.

They do not operate with honesty or integrity and couldn't care less about when or if you receive your items that you pay them a lot of money to move. The worst experience I've ever had as a customer of any company, including used car dealerships. AVOID THEM! Thousands of terrible reviews are the only proof you need, check the BBB website in Coral Gables FL. for more facts about this company and the experience you will have if you fall for their fake accolades like I did.

In short, I reached out to my 2 account managers that were in charge of my move and after 2 emails to each of them as well as leaving 2 voicemails for each of them...neither would reply to my emails or give me a callback. I continued to reach out to anyone I could eventually receiving an email from the claims department once I reported the incident with BBB, however, of all the damages and missing item they state I am only entitled to $168!!! Are they kidding?!?! Nope, they aren't. I even provided photos of the 2 guys that were packing and loading my things. The one guy which was to be documenting and tagging all item was Facetiming with his family the whole time while the other guy was off in another room packing and loading the truck prior to anything being tagged. Trying to confirm items being delivered was impossible. Nothing matched on the checkoff list.

I finally reached out to a law firm but what it will cost me to hire an attorney outweighs the loss and, of course, does not come with any guarantees. It's terrible how they work. Unprofessional, rude, and don't appreciate their customers. It's, unfortunately, ONLY about the money. And those that work with IVL must have no heart of conscience since they reject claims just because that's their job. Lesson learned....ratings mean nothing! I will continue to move my things on my own!

IVL or any other moving company are not to be trusted. They will not take any responsible for damages or loss item and, per the law firm, there are so many lawsuits against moving companies that they simply don't even care. Most will even ignore letters sent by attorneys. I've been offered $400 to close my complaint due to the claim process could take 30-90 days. I've agreed to this so I can put this all behind me but now I can't even get them to provide me the release to close end this so I can move one. THINK TWICE...about hiring any professional moving company. If you are able and capable to do it yourself that is what you need to consider.

Packing day arrives - truck driver in a regular moving truck (not the semi I expected), and 3 "professional" packers that had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Turns out, they packed everything, including many food items on the "prohibited list" (that was quite a ripe box to open after 3 months of storage in the humid and hot south). About 3/4 into the day, the drivers tells me "we need a bigger truck" (duh) and they proceed to move stuff to a local warehouse (where I suspect it was also stored for us) vs. the "temperature controlled" warehouse I thought I was getting. Anyway, all packed up and we head to our final destination to look for a new house. I enquire about the amount of packing we did vs. our "professional" packers and what kind of cost deduction I could see...crickets. Turns out ALL of the items we self packed arrived with no issues, not so for the stuff packed by our "professionals".

Once we found a new house and I communicated our closing date, I got bounced between IVL and our "contracted" company (Cosmos Transport). Not hearing a delivery date, I enquired once again and got a "WE'LL NOTIFY YOU WHEN WE ARE READY" email, yes, all caps. Delivery day, truck shows as planned and again, "professional" helpers that had no clue about moving stuff into a house. Then the fun begins - broken dining room chair, chipped china cabinet, gouges in the wall, etc. Start to unpack stuff and find what I call the "box o pots", all pots and pans, no paper, just thrown in. Discover that an entire dishpack with wife's cooking stuff (mixing bowls, rolling pins, mixer, etc) is missing - we are convinced that in the process of moving in/out of storage the box broke open and they said "** it" and left the stuff there.

Final thought - use the name brands that use only their own people and vehicles, I wish I had. If you are considering IVL - run, very fast

Our repeated calls to International Van Lines went unanswered. I later found out that this is the practice of International Van Lines. After their "sub-contracted" movers begin the loading process, they flag the customers' phone numbers and will not answer the customer tries to call. They sub-contract all of their work. All of their sub-contractors drive 26' rental trucks because the driver does not have to have a CDL (Commercial Drivers License). They are a Florida-based company (only). They do not have any offices or moving facilities other than the one that is Florida-based. As far as I have been able to determine, International Van Lines does not own ONE truck.

In short, I ended up paying much more than originally quoted and part of my property was left in New Jersey. Thank GOD I work for the US DOD. This move was work-related and I have been assigned an attorney based in Florida. We have finished our homework on this SHAM company and will be filing my lawsuit in the next three weeks. They have SCAMMED many people and it is my intent to SHUT THIS CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE DOWN.

Working with IVL. The initial estimate we received on the fly was $9500(+/-). This would include a “full service” move where movers would load everything we have and relocate all our belongings from California to Texas. Delivery would likely take place in 2-10 days. The next step was to get a more accurate estimate. In doing so, I was asked to walk from room to room and state “what won’t fit in a box” and at the end, we were asked for a “total box count”. These two requests are what was used to get us a more accurate estimate. In doing so, it brought our price down to $8000(+/-). A $2500 deposit was collected at this time.

At this point, all of our correspondence had been handled by a “Relocation Specialist”. After paying our initial $2500 deposit, we were then assigned an “Account Manager” that was to be our point of contact to help us along the way regarding our move. So they said. Over the next 48 hours our box count increased as we were still packing. Per their request, we gave an updated box count the day before they arrived and our new estimate escalated up to $10,454 for seemingly an insignificant amount of additional boxes. We paid another $576 deposit because of the increase in box count.

The evening before we they were to arrive we received an obscure, unformatted email from a different moving company (LD Moving & Storage) stating their time of arrival the following morning. Almost at the same time the email arrived, we received a call from a rude person at LD Moving & Storage stating we needed to have $3682 in cash, money order or cashier's check ready for the driver. It literally felt like we were being robbed of money. I questioned who they were and who our original contract was with and they assured me they were the same company. Rest assured, it was very unsettling having someone other than IVL contacting us, asking for $3682. Cash.

In digging further that evening, it was clear that IVL had sub-contracted us to a company with only 1.8 star reviews. After reading the reviews for LD Moving & Storage, we were now concerned about our items getting damaged or making it there at all. I reached out to our Account Manager, addressed our concerns and she assured me that all of their “partners” are properly vetted, etc. I clearly caught her off-guard and she rebutted my concerns with senseless fluff, hoping to put my mind at ease. She didn’t. This was the first and last correspondence with our Account Manager.

The morning of pickup, a standard moving truck arrives – NOT the semi-truck we expected to see taking our house cross-country. Our belongings were now to be loaded onto this smaller truck, then later unloaded and reloaded onto the actual semi-truck which was International Van Lines. This means our belongings were being moved twice, before they even left the state.

The bigger shock was once LD Moving & Storage was on-site and assessed what was to be moved, the price went up again to a total of $13,625. They recalculated all our belongings and felt it was more than what was originally quoted to IVL. Given that we had to be out of our house and they were already there, we had no choice but to move forward. We were then told our delivery would be in 2-30 days (possibly 20 days longer than quoted).

A little over a week, we received a call from another new person – the driver for IVL. He said they were in Austin and would deliver in 1-3 days. He also expressed concern that they would not be able to get a semi-truck down our street and we would need to pay another $1700 for a shuttle service. The shuttle would then move our belongings from the semi-truck, back to a smaller moving truck and then to our house. So now, our belongings had been loaded/unloaded yet another time, leaving more room for damage to take place.

I had insisted that semi-trucks (especially moving) routinely park on the street to move people in/out and we didn’t require the shuttle. Despite my opinion and observations, the shuttle had to be used either way. Having to shuffle from truck to truck added a few more days for delivery. This new cost of $1700 for the shuttle was never documented, never made it to a receipt, etc. To my knowledge, it was an arbitrary number set forth by the semi-driver. In addition to the $1700, I needed to have the total delivery amount of $7700 ready in the form of a USPS money order. Specifically “USPS”. It should be known that to acquire $7700 in money orders one has to go to their bank and withdraw that amount in cash. Then, head to your local USPS and request 8 money orders ($1000 is the max).

A few days later, a new person from the third moving company (The Blue Husky) reaches out via text, indicating an estimated time of arrival. They arrive with our belongings in 3 vehicles: 1 Uhaul truck and 2 personal pickups. After paying a total of $15k for a move, to see our belongings in the back of pickup trucks was hard to swallow. What was even more unsettling was 3 of the team members, at 3 separate times stating, “We didn’t need a shuttle, they could have parked the semi on this street”. In short, making it clear, we forked over $1700 for a shuttle service we didn’t need.

•From start to finish, we were reached out to by 6 different people between the three moving companies, all with limited knowledge of what was taking place. We had zero assistance or correspondence from our “Case Manager” and nothing with regard to organizing or managing our move was in place.

In the end, our belongings were delivered and arrived with modest damage. We do have scratches and scuffs on most of the items THEY packed/wrapped but in the end, if the moving experience was this much of an unorganized nightmare, I can only imagine the process of getting items replaced or fixed. We’ve already been through more anxiety and stress with this company than we care to go through again.

Again, the purpose of this review is to inform others of what they are getting into. Sadly, reviews like this are a drop in the bucket for large companies such as International Van Lines and will likely go unaddressed. The truth is, companies like IVL pay for their reviews and rankings through third parties and knowing people don’t relocate often, most of their customers are not repeat business. In turn, this allows them the luxury of conducting business this way with no repercussions. Jeff M **

I was working with Lisa and her response was she is only required to give me 24 hrs notice that they would be contracting out our move. Requirements and customer service are 2 very different things. We had a 2200 sq ft 3 car garage home. When the movers arrived they were from American Knight and it was only 2 people and a truck that wasn’t large enough to hold our household goods. They also had to add quite a bit to our bill in the end. The mover said this is done regularly to give a low quote and then jack up the price. Price isn’t the issue however. I don’t mind paying for a professional move. We did not receive a professional move. They had to pack and then put our things in a warehouse and come back.

All our other moves we were sent a team of 5 or 6 people to pack. Our items would be placed on a truck and that truck would then deliver our items. Not with this move. (Our items were left in some warehouse. Items left unpacked on the ground pieces of items completely disorganized. How do I know this. The delivery driver told me that’s how he found our things in the warehouse when he went to pick them up for delivery. I saw in his truck also our items loose and strewn about.) Needless to say it took 2 full days into the night to get us packed. Once we moved we did not see any of our items from Oct. 12 until Dec. 1. As we waited for our delivery I heard nothing from Lisa or anyone else from IVL about when we might get our delivery. I had to email them and they would refer me to American Knights.

I tried to be patient with all that is going on in the world. When we finally got our delivery it was a complete disaster. I haven’t even unpacked yet and have found lots of damage. My coffee table leg broken, our NordicTrack bike cord/electric box missing, Pilates machine pieces all over truck, somehow they broke my recliner chair. It was obvious care was not taken of our items. I have no idea what I will find once I unpack. We paid $26,000 for a professional move and we got 2 guys hired off the street with a truck.

First I emailed IVL about our terrible experience and did not hear back. Then I called and left a message and did not hear back. So I went to the website and contacted customer service. Lisa called me right away after that. Lisa did not seem to care much about my situation, showed no empathy or apology and just kept repeating to fill out damages and submit it to the proper dept. She said that wasn’t her dept. She also said American Knights had to pay and they will pay .60 cents per pound. In other words not much. IVL is taking no responsibility for hiring unprofessional movers on our behalf and not informing us that we would be paying for a professional move but they would be sending unprofessional inexperienced people. I did try to get insurance but the cost was over $8000. My homeowners insurance was less than $2000 for an entire year! So that seemed excessive or fraudulent.

Our items were not well taken care of left who knows where for 2 months and IVL whom we paid $26,000 for a professional move took our money and doesn’t care. I would highly recommend YOU DO NOT USE IVL for any of your move. They are unprofessional dishonest. I plan to leave a review for American Knight Movers also. People need to know the poor quality of both companies. I am planning to fill out complaints with the Better Business Bureau as well as consumer affairs govt agency. If for no other reason to warn others.

From the very start, they were unreliable. Did not come the day scheduled and came late the next day. Movers were not professionals, did not speak English, had no idea of proper handling. We had to stay at a hotel for two days. Worst--our furniture was ruined and my dishes BROKEN. The absolutely worst was moving in to new place. Damage on walls and falls and since they did know how to carry the furniture - tears in chairs, scratches on wood furniture, etc. Good dishes smashed. We filed claim with them - tried contacting them endlessly. You guessed it--NO Response. DO NOT USE INTERNATIONAL VAN LINES or SO CAL.

- Overcharged by more than $1,500 for a small-truck shuttle transfer that they never used.

In short, IVL and Roadrunner have not met even the most basic expectations for a reliable moving company. At this point, I would expect IVL to take full responsibility for itself and its subcontractor to address these basic errors promptly but they have not. It has been over 4 months since our pick-up date and we are still waiting for any response regarding our claim! It is impossible to recommend IVL or their subcontractors given our experience with their unresponsive customer service and lack of accountability.

-The initial salesperson set an unreasonable expectation on the delivery timeframe, apparently in order to get the sale. I planned to be moved in by October 1st and was told “no guarantees, but I see no reason why it wouldn’t be delivered by that date”. Well, I slept on the floor until my delivery date, which ended up actually being October 5th…

-The movers they hired for my pickup were very unprofessional. In addition to arriving several hours late, they also found a couple of my items in the “do not pack” closet that weren’t on the inventory, and decided to take them home for themselves. It’s funny how my favorite sunglasses and Bose speaker were somehow missing when they were right next to each other on the shelf… When I brought this up to IVL, they informed me that “their movers told them they did not take anything”, so I could feel free to file a police a report.

-I have over $1,000 in damage to my belongings that were delivered and have to deal with filing insurance claims now, which is always fun.

-The company and movers were not being honest about payment methods. On the phone, IVL told me that I could pay the company via Zelle, but the movers insisted that I sent a Zelle payment to their personal email, and refused to unload the truck until I did so. I ended up doing that, but it felt very shady and dishonest to me.

Those are my main complaints. But yes, do your research and remember folks, stay far away from International Van Lines!

I started to clean the bedroom and noticed the tape had been broken. I opened the door a saw that my AirPods and sunglasses had been taken! I emailed the company about the incident and they told me they would “speak” to the drivers. Of course, the men said they did not take anything. What did she think they would say? I guess I’m stuck here.

We were then told we would be notified 2 days prior to final delivery in Medford. We needed 2 days to drive to Medford. We got there on Wednesday and were told they would arrive on Friday. Then the next day we received a call and were told they would arrive Tuesday the next week. So we slept on a blow up mattress and had to go out to eat until they showed up. They called on Tuesday and said they would arrive by 11AM…showed up at 2:30PM. Then had the same conversation about the payment.

I had an email from corporate stating that I was approved to use Zelle to pay the company, not the driver. The man argued with me and said…no money, no delivery! I tried to get a hold of corporate, but they have a 48 hour return call policy! I paid the driver as I figured there would be a record and I would have my furniture. Delivery was made with a few broken items and a lot of aggravation. I would never use them again as their communication setup is horrible and I got stuck having my sunglasses and AirPods stolen. If we ever have to move again I would never use this company. It started out great with Justin “making the sale” and ended up as a bad decision

They really sound convincing or our relocation specialist Diego did. We cancelled them early because of lack of communication and rebooked after he convinced us it would be better. The account manager never communicated with us until she cancelled. She communicated more with us then then than EVER. She never returned phone calls. Karen threatened to report me for cyberstalking. I notice on a BBB complaint that the compliance office threatened another customer saying he was trying to extort money. No moral fiber or integrity in that organization.

No attention to detail. That was the issue with my insurance. They knew from the beginning that I had bought BAKER insurance. I then had problems with their contracted companies not being insurable. A few days before the move Karen finally responded all was in place. I called Baker, and guess what? NO. So they changed carriers again. I am convinced if I had not called, the movers would have showed up two days later and I would have been screwed.

Attention to detail? The clock crater left a message last night he was comping to crate the clock today. They didn’t cancel the poor guy. There is no way to explain how awful they are. Do yourself a big favor—-don’t believe their positive reviews. If you read negative reviews, there is a common thread in them all, and we experienced much of the same. I slept better last night than in MONTHS after we secured a new mover. I don’t think I even realized how much they had stressed me out. I do not know how they stay in business. I really don’t.

I called the dispatcher back, and he became angry and yelled at me that he wasn't going to send a truck down our street. So we ended up paying $1400 in shuttle services (as that was the maximum allowed per our contract). The delivery guys were nice and efficient. However, the claims process has been a nightmare. We had unexpected amount of damaged items and 1 missing item. I sent an email with pictures and estimated prices to IVL and the subcontracted company. The subcontracted company sent me to a website to fill out the claim, which I did.

7 weeks later, there's been no follow up or status update on the claim. I copy our IVL representative on all our communication, which hasn't helped. I reached out to the claims number for the 4th time and spoke to a representative who said no claim has been filed for our move yet (?!?). I gave her the necessary information, and someone is supposedly going to reach out within 5-7 business days to process my claim. All in all, it could have been worse. At least we have our stuff. For the $17,200 we paid (+$1,400 for shuttle services), I would have expected better and will not be working with IVL again in the future.

My move was subcontracted and then subcontracted again after that....making logistics or tracking my home goods nearly impossible. Had 4 different delivery dates given to me and no-shows for all of them. I would have to hunt the company down instead of them calling me to let me know something happened. Am now battling with them on all the items that were damaged now that I finally received my shipment.

We were willing to overlook all of the ridiculous charges for great service, but that didn’t happen either. They delivered on the last possible date, 21 days per contract and we had major damage. Every TV was broken, chairs and tables were cracked, furniture was put back together incorrectly, etc. They were kind enough to leave us all the additional screws and bolts that they couldn’t figure out where they went. To add insult to injury, they offered us .60 per pound to fix all of our stuff that we had to pay to move then pay to get hauled off by junk haulers. We would have been better off burning all of our household goods, and buying all new stuff. If you are dealing with Justin, Michelle, Karen and Daisa just run and thank me later! Total scam.

When our stuff arrived is when the real problems began. Notably, several of our belongings were not on the truck, including our big screen television, a very expensive family heirloom rug, one of our dining chairs (can’t have a set with one missing), several of my son’s toys, our patio chairs, and a few other things I can’t even remember right now. Obviously we were very upset and worried our things had been stolen. Though they worked to return our things, their communication was abysmal. The moving coordinator, who was the only person I could get to respond to me, was horrifically rude to me on multiple occasions. He didn’t let me know what was happening (when stuff was arriving, what steps they were taking to retrieve our things) and other staff simply ignored me.

I had multiple messages be ignored. When I escalated things to speak to their complaints department, they were initially great (as with all of my experiences with this horrible company), but then went on to ignore me and leave messages unanswered too. They did return our TV and rug (most important things to me), but naturally our television arrived broken. They hid behind procedures and red tape saying I signed such and such so they weren’t liable and “just fill out the claim paperwork.” So our TV was just broken and we were not reimbursed enough money to be able to replace it. They never found our dining chair (which makes our dining set now unusable so more $$$$) or patio furniture or some of my son’s toys.

They claim to have gone to lengths to find these items, but only communicated the steps they took after I was so angry and upset about what was happening, it did not help to hear they had called customers on the route to see if they had my things. Why not tell me that you were doing this from the start? It would have helped my experience to know what they were doing to help, and I only learned what they were doing after I complained and harassed people to respond to me. It shouldn’t be this difficult to communicate with people.

I waited to complete my review until I was done with the claims process. I haven’t even mentioned all of the belongings they broke in the move. Needless to say, after we spent over 5 figures with this company, they reimbursed us $700. That won’t even replace the TV with a comparable one much less the dining set or fix any of the things that were broken (my grandmother’s China cabinet for one). The claims department attempted to be reasonable but they also dropped the ball in communication. Letting emails go unanswered, saying things would be complete the next day and then not responding for 11 days, etc. I felt like a piece of trash during all of my interactions with them. They do not care about their customers and just want to get your money and get rid of you. I cannot beg you enough do not use IVL. It was an incredibly awful experience. No one should cry because of how someone at a moving company speaks to them. No one.

We paid extra for book boxes, kitchen boxes, etc and nothing special was used. Our items were seemingly tossed into the boxes with no packing material to protect one item from another. As I write this I am so angry for the poor care that they provided. Please do not use IVL. I can't stress enough how unprofessional they are and how much they do not care about your items. If possible, I would give them less than one star. I will never use them again and will actively share our experience to help others avoid what we experienced.

Regarding the price, the initial quote seems high but reasonable (I guess). When the guys are done loading your stuff, which is another company (Wayflowers Van Lines in my case) they will tell you that whomever quoted you that was wrong and that there are things they can't be stacked on top of each other; therefore, the cubic feet is more than what was quoted. Then you'll hear that if they cut down the cubic feet it will come out of their pocket. My initial quote was ~$5,000 and is now ~$9,000. I did add some stuff at the last minute but not $4,000 worth. No lie, I could have bought all new stuff for what they are charging me. Of course, I can't get anyone on the phone to discuss this or to give me an idea of when my stuff will arrive. I will say this, the guys from Wayflowers did an excellent job packing up the stuff. It took them a while but they did great work.

I filed a complaint with the BBB and they responded that they are only the broker and we have to take up our complaint with the mover - who by the way was very unprofessional and yelled at me on the day of the move when I questioned the price and threatened to leave. I did not hire that mover and would never hire them. And now will never hire IVL and will do my best to warn others. I now see lots of complaints and bad reviews on there. I wish I checked there before using them. The arrogance of the employees is unbelievable, why should they care they have your money now and it is a run around to try and get help. Overall BEWARE, I would not recommend this company. Lack of integrity in business practice.

1) They will bid low (of all the bids you get they will be in the lower range). 2) They tell you that they run their own trucking network, (they might), but your move will be sub-contracted with another mover. That mover will raise the moving contract price anywhere from 50% to 100%, citing material change to the original inventory. This, it turns out, can be anything they dream up. Remember once, they have your deposit and the moving date is at hand, your ability to control the cost of your move is out of your hands if you've contracted with IVV. Do the math, a 6k bid will run upwards of 9k. That was my experience.

3) At this point you're so far into your plans that you can't look for another mover. You're screwed, they know it, and you can't do anything about it. 4) Forget about appealing to IVV, they have your deposit and you're on a train that they drive for the express purpose of milking money from you. 5) You sign the contract bid by "their mover"... but that's not the end of it. 6) You will not know where your possessions are for weeks. IVV will tell you if you badger them that, "your furniture is at a staging area waiting for pickup."

7) Somewhere in your "delivery window " you will get a call from an "independent trucker" about 24 hours before your possessions are to arrive. This person, barely speaking a language intelligible to you, will claim that delivery to your neighborhood is a problem that can only be overcome with "more money." Despite IVV and the sub-contractor having had your delivery address from the day they picked up your belongings, they are only able to discover that your delivery address is "a problem for an 18 wheel rig" within 24hrs of delivering to you. 8) Your possessions will be offloaded only after you pay the driver with cash.

The estimate is supposedly a "binding estimate," but this means absolutely nothing. When the movers arrived in the morning, they said that they were going to have to charge more for various reasons. They did not give me the final amount we needed to pay until after 5pm, when the bank was already closed. Because the amount was nearly double what we'd been told before, we were unable to withdraw enough cash to cover the difference. We attempted Venmo and Zelle payments, but they failed. The mover said that we'd need to meet him the next morning at 10am with a new cashier's check for the new amount. So I woke up the next morning early, left the house with no time for breakfast, back in the car in rush hour traffic to get to the bank. And then he said he had had to go to another city and couldn't meet me. He would contact me later in the day to meet up.

This was our very last day in the state, and we had planned to visit with several friends. Two of those meetings were interrupted trying to meet up with this guy. Finally, we were able to pay him and hop on a plane to our destination. This was 6 weeks ago, and my stuff still has not been delivered to our new house. I provided my delivery address by email on June 25th with no response. I emailed again on July 7th and was told that my request had been sent to dispatch. I emailed again on July 12th with no response. I emailed again on July 15th and was told that my request for an update had been sent to dispatch. I asked for the name and number of someone I could contact in dispatch, and he provided a different phone number.

I sent an email and left a phone message for the dispatch contact on July 15th. No response. I left a phone message on July 16th. No response. I left a phone message on July 17th. No response. I left a phone message on July 19th. No response. I left a phone message on July 20th. No response. I sent an email asking who else I can contact. No response. I left a phone message on July 21st. No response. I left a phone message on July 22nd. No response. Are you noticing a pattern here?

IVL provides absolutely unacceptable customer service. I cannot imagine a worse experience moving. At this point we've been in our empty new house for two weeks. We had to buy a couple of beds, towels, dishes, a small table and chairs, and I'm trying to cook for my family of 4 using only a microwave so that I don't have to buy all new kitchenware. We have no idea when or if our belongings will be delivered at all. If they would ever answer the phone, I'd probably tell them to just dispose of my stuff so I don't have to ever see them again.

Due to their lack of communication and transparency we were unable in such short notice to obtain the service of another moving company. Early Tuesday morning there was no sign of the movers showing up until we got a call closer to the afternoon letting us know they were on their way and there was traffic from another major city over an hour away holding them up.

After a chronic lack of communication and every excuse in the book thrown at us, finally the movers arrived in the afternoon on Tuesday. The first thing they did when they came to the house was inform us that they typically receive a 5-10% cash tip, something we usually honor but have never been presented within such a manner before. A few minutes later they informed us that instead of the $11,000 price that was given during the virtual walkthrough they later told us the price was now $20,000. We did not hide the amount of items we had, in fact we already personally moved 20% of our belongings and furniture. The manager had the gall to tell us this after being three days late and not contacting us appropriately putting us in a very awkward position with the closing and walkthrough of our house happening in mere hours.

After a stressful afternoon we had to go to the bank in order to fulfill the new demands given to us. After all the delays, excuses, and utter lack of communication they had the gall to present us with this information as they were packing our belongings into the truck full well knowing we had no other option due to their lack of transparency. While the workers were very hard working, fast and efficient, at this point due to the delays they were not done in time for the closing and walkthrough and thousands of dollars was withheld by the buyers of our previous home while our property was still in the household with the movers, fortunately we were still able to close on the house.

Further delays happened when some of the trucks left to go to other households to move and they were lost for hours trying to return back and find the location they were previously at that day. After everything was packed into the trucks and the movers left they informed us they would not personally be taking our property to our destination but we would maybe get it by Friday (three days later). When they left and we moved to a new location we were contacted by the owners of our previous home to tell us that the movers forgot to pack drawers and drawers of silverware and appliances that they were directly told multiple times to pack. Fortunately the new owners were understanding and a family member personally picked up these items and drove them tens of hours across the coast to our new residence.

The movers also were not aware that we could understand the language they were communicating in, multiple times they were heard making disparaging comments towards us and scheming about getting us to sign a new contract as soon as possible. All of this to add to the numerous other issues. Perhaps you could look past the purely unprofessional behavior if they fulfilled their contract and delivered us our property in the estimated timeframe of three days, or the latest of seven days; however, it has been twelve days and hundreds of phone calls to every number we had available with not a single return call, voicemail, or message to update us where our missing property is.

Finally after the twelfth day we called the number for an estimation on a move and got to speak to a representative that was not only unprofessional and unable to explain what was happening, but hung up on us when we told us about our experience. The only information she was able to tell us is that the company was backed up and our belongings have not even left the state. At this point we are evaluating every option to proceed. But after dozens of cross country and international moves our family has experienced, we have never had an experience this terrible. We have never been jerked around, bullied, lied to, and left in the dark by a business experience like this ever.

The amount of undue stress caused by this experience has made our move infinitely worse as we sit in an empty home with no word if we will ever see our belongings again. We still don’t have our property, we have still not been contacted. This moving company as far as I can tell is not interested in giving reasonable expectations to customers or fulfilling their duty to deliver goods safely. We will never use this company again or recommend it to anyone we know that values transparent and realistic pricing, punctuality, basic professional behavior, packing and transporting your belongings on time, or the basic decency of communicating issues on the timeline of the move.

--that had at least one member WHO DID NOT WRAP OR PACK ANYTHING for this cross-country move.

This included most of my electronics and small appliances. My very heavy stand mixer was dropped unwrapped upside down in a carton with other small appliances. It broke my food processor and scratched and chipped other things in the box. My Blu-ray player was crushed in a box with gardening pots and supplies. My 2 printers were dropped on top of each other, no protection, in the bottom of a wardrobe box hung with clothing. Dishes and glass shelves were stacked and wrapped in one sheet of paper. There were chips and cracks and broken items everywhere.

In addition, the pack took 2 days instead of one--the crew (very good) in New Hampshire who moved me in said that there was an excessive use of tape and boxes--that these "professionals" were padding their hours. This crew could not believe the quality of the work they saw. In addition to the breakage and damage, one box was completely lost. They said they looked for it and sent me a communication about it which I never received. When I asked for that to be resent, I received nothing. I have to follow the rules to file a claim. It won't be worth it monetarily. What I would really like is my packing fee refunded since I received no packing on at least 1/3 of my possessions. All I can say is learn from my experience. DO NOT MOVE WITH IVL, especially from the Midwest. I have moved cross-country three times and this was the absolute worst.

At the time I contracted with IVL, I had extensive and explicit discussions with Justin in regards to my delivery date expectation. I was told they do not guarantee dates but give a 3 day window. The contracted conversation with their booking specialist was that they would pick up my stuff on 25/26 May in Virginia to be delivered in Texas within the agreed upon window of 17-19 June. (22-24 days should be plenty or so one would think) However a few minutes after the booking conversation, I received the contract by email and saw the 21 day standard language. I called the booking specialist back and I was assured that as with all contracts this was standard language that was printed on all contracts to safeguard for extenuating circumstances such as natural disaster, truck break-down/accidents etc. but was told the 3 day window (17-19 June) superseded that and I could disregard or so I thought.

IVL would then go on to apparently subcontract with American Knights Van Lines, which I was never advised they would do. Had I know that, I would have NEVER contracted IVL. I went with IVL because they were very highly rated. This must be another industry where you can buy your rating. Due to the horrendous customer service and blatant lies being told to me at every step of the way, I can say I have spoken to almost every level of management within the company only to get the same terrible treatment and for them to hide behind their lies. Their customer service has been completely inept at their job.

On the day of pack-out American Knights (which is an absolutely HORRIBLE company) showed up and my "binding estimate" increased by more than $10k and was told take it or leave it. They know you won't leave it because it most likely too late for you to re-contract with another carrier. So you're stuck and they know - scam artists). I was informed that they (American Knights) does not guarantee delivery dates and the dates I requested for delivery is what they refer to as "first date of availability". At NO TIME prior to 3/4 of my shipment already being loaded on their truck did they communicate that. The driver goes on to state that the "standard language" of 21 days from "1st date of availability" is what they WILL use and that nothing in the contact negotiation discussions will be honored and they WILL tell you to take it up with IVL. Which I did, only to be told they will "make every effort to deliver on your 1st date of availability. "

There is very little IVL will/can do and you will not be at the complete mercy of American Knights Van lines. [Just for clarity, for example, you ask for your stuff to be delivered 15 June, they can choose whenever the hell they want to deliver it between 15 June and 6 July. They hide behind this crap and must be the only industry that you pays tens of thousands of dollars to and they can do whatever the hell they want and show up whenever the hell they want.] Then when you call (because they never call you), they will tell you, "We will be there tomorrow between 10 and 11." Then 11 comes and goes, you call back only to be told, "oh the driver got mixed up, he wont be there until tomorrow," and so on and so on. I cannot describe to you just what a nightmare this entire process has been. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT contract with IVL or America Knights.

I was traveling for work when they decided to come -- they give you a very convenient window after they depart of 5 to 12 days of arrival. It is insane as it is. I gave them access to my apartment and they were supposed to build the furniture and put everything in place, as they had me on the phone. Well, no English so no one ever picked up the phone. The only person that spoke English, the foreman, wasn't even with them. Photos below of what I found as I walked into my apartment. Every FRAGILE box was crushed. The apartment looked like a disaster zone. Furniture wasn't even placed on the floor.

The best part, the customer service lady, Natalie, or whatever her real name is, said I needed to contact the broker. That it was not their problem. That their folks did not speak English and too bad I was not home. After she told me in writing that "we do deliveries all the time without the homeowner present. We will call you and take video as we go through." NOTHING of that ever happened, and apparently, is all my fault. Well, they have more than a review to worry about now. Half my items were damaged, and there was even damage to the floors and walls. Photos and video available!

The company contracted by IVL increased the price by $1,200.00. Any concerns or question from the customer will NOT be addressed. Worse than the increase in the “binding estimate”/contract quote, is the total lack of customer service. IVL has no process in place to address customer complaints or concerns, the company is slow responding to emails and returning phone calls. The arrogance of the employees is unbelievable, why should they care? They have your money and your belongings. Overall BEWARE, I would not recommend this company. Based solely on the lack of integrity in business practice, appearing as a mover when you are a broker and the poor customer service. If I could have rated the company a zero, I would have.

To make matters worse: no one from IVL will respond to my multiple emails & phone calls requesting a resolution: neither the contract manager (Joey, nor Melissa **) who confirmed the pick up date only two days ago. The subcontractor company gives the excuse, "my foreman became ill this AM and he is my only worker and I don't know if he will be able to do the job on your back up date either". Obviously, a multi-national company with multiple sub-contractor services has more than ONE foreman, so this provided excuse is in poor faith. I am no put in the position of being in violation of my home sale settlement agreement because IVL turned out to not honor our written/binding agreement, does not respond by phone or provide any remedy.

Calls and emails went ignored by IVL for WEEKS even after being told a refund decision (in my favor) would be made quickly. I was then told to contact the carrier even though I had only ever spoken to people at IVL. This was an absolute disaster from start to finish and I cannot emphasize enough that you should avoid this company at all costs.

It took 6-7 MONTHS for our shipment to actually arrive when they quoted it as taking 3 months. We ended up having to rebuy items that we were anticipating having, like winter clothes, so they cost us more money than hiring a more expensive option outright. In all, it has been nearly 8 months since they received our shipment and we are still missing items and trying to get them to reimburse us for their mistakes. It is a joke that they were ever voted best moving company.

Regardless, given the existing stress of moving my family across the country, my objective was not securing a cheap, inaccurate, unreliable and second rate service, therefore you acquired my business as I had a hopeful expectation that the professionalism I perceived, was lead to believe was foundational and the elevated cost of such would constitute for a significantly higher quality experience. Unfortunately, at this juncture, I can confirm it has not.

In addition to the incredible proposition of waiting 21 days from our first availability to receive everything we own, (communicated after they secured all of our belongings and $$$) my family and I have experienced the following –

• Much of our fragile/precious belongings were carelessly thrown in to boxes with heavier objects and as a result shattered beyond repair.

If, even remotely, viewed through the lens of the client; you will clearly see that the promises made and subsequent cost of this partnership is nowhere close to being successfully reconciled… As the Senior Relocation Coordinator, and more importantly than a job title, but as a exceptional sales representative (as I am myself) who acquires new business with the assurance of a quality experience backed by personal integrity; I would have an expectation of their uncompromised advocacy beyond a desire to simply maintain the reputation of the organization but of personal standards and to represent those whom they've made promises of quality, but the experience has evidently and substantially lapsed.

Contrasting their verbal indication of a 10-day max transportation time (from pickup which was 1/31), for which they confirmed by re-listening to the recorded call and confirmed with me on 2/9, with what we’ve been informed of in the below email of a now likely 21-day (from date we approved delivery), would appear to any reasonable consumer of your service to be an evident ‘bait and switch’ to the degree that it represents a standard business practice.

In fact, by having the transit time begin on the date we indicated we would be available to receive the goods, which is I’m sure is almost always padded by your clients given the threat of an incredible $3,000+/day fine for unsuccessful delivery, seems to again be a method by which your organization seeks to ‘punt’ the obligation of delivery to the furthest possible timeline? Based on this, I would say with confidence that your organization’s success rating for delivery on the actual date your clients indicate availability is less than 10%? This is beside the point and only conjecture but based on my perception would bet on that presumption.

In addition to the cumbersome circumstances of this relocation, my family and I have also been dealing with my mother’s cancer surgery/treatment (which the burden of the inaccuracy of the moving company has not made easy), running and re-engaging my own business remotely, as well as providing stability to two young children in a new place without any of our stuff has been compounded by the unexpected struggle of obtaining our goods. In short we were promised quality service (at an elevated price) but received long delays, extra charges on the backend, much of our stuff missing and broken. This was the worst experience I've ever had with a company.

Near the end of the move he informed me part of my furniture was still in a storage building in MS!! Missing my dining room table, leather recliner, outdoor furniture, antique wash stand, etc. 2 tables broken, kitchen chair cracked, hardware for bed’s missing, bed frame busted, and several boxes crushed. I have emailed them, called, and still no reply. I have moved 9 times in the last 20 years using a corporate relocation service with no issues. This is the first time I’ve had to hire a moving company on my own and it’s been a nightmare. Do not use this company!

We have hired a lawyer and investigator and uncovered multiple errors during the importation and shipping process that have caused more than 70 days of delays and fees to third parties of over $150 per day. We have incurred more than $15000 in storage fees to date and will likely incur an additional $10000 in expenses to recover our property. International Van Lines has consistently obfuscated their errors including when they violated their agent's policies ordering the container shipped before receiving approval from their agents an Ecuadorian Customs, thus causing tens of thousands of dollars in additional damages to me, the customer.

Fine print of possible customs checks at origin were not made obvious to me prior to accepting their quote and, lo-and-behold, I had to pay $500 extra for customs checks at origin as well as arrival ports. While I realize there is always a chance of such at arrival ports, I firmly suspect that such was IVL's disorganization and lack of care subsequent to receiving my money, they did not present my shipment in a professional way that may have averted the customs check at origin (apparently an extremely unlikely occurrence).

Ultimately, they were unaware of my shipment's actual arrival some 3.5 months after pick-up and only contacted me a few days after I had already found the local company that was subcontracted to deliver my goods to their destination and had successfully negotiated that delivery with said local company (i.e. no IVL notice or help). Of course, there was insult to injury with significant damage to the transported goods, extra insurance for which I could not pay for on account of having lost my job and lacking the wherewithal to afford. On the whole, IVL were dreadful to deal with. This is a huge and stressful undertaking for anyone at the best of times let alone having to deal with a basically uncaring and monolithic company whose services you have already paid more for than would have been the case had you've gone with other, cheaper quotes. Sometimes in life you indeed DON'T get what you pay for and I would NOT recommend IVL to anybody.

Imagine our surprise when a guy showed up from Brooklyn moving inc showed up in a Penske rental truck. Nothing to do with IVL except to say IVL was the broker and charged us a lot of money. So while we waited 3 hours for his partner, who had gone out and partied the night before, he covered the paperwork with my wife and myself twice. His partner finally showed and we loaded the truck. No problems, not much stuff really. Nothing that needed disassembled. The wife had most everything packed and labeled anyways. All the driver from Brooklyn kept saying was how much it would cost. Not really sure what he meant as we had the estimate and we removed a bunch of items from the list.

I will write another reveries of Brooklyn shortly. Just know that if you get IVL and speak to any of their people assume they are lying like they did to us. I would never do business with them again. Brooklyn damaged almost all of our furniture and household items as NONE OF IT WAS TIED IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK!!! Really. Could not believe it!!! You will better off calling the garbage hauling company than IVL.

1. The “Binding Quote” IS NOT: When the movers showed up, they had RENTED too small a truck to pick up our load and, a) charged us approximately 20% more despite the “Binding Quote” we had obtained from IVL, b) tried to charge us ‘special moving fees’ of $150 for each of 6 pieces of furniture, and c) told us we were going to have to put the items that did not fit on their truck IN OUR CARS, or figure out which items would have to be LEFT BEHIND (furthermore, they said this happens regularly!). After a number of heated arguments with the movers – just what you DON’T need to add to the stress of moving, we got ALMOST everything onto the vehicles and eliminated the ‘special moving fees.’ The moral of the story is, do not trust that IVL will stand by their “Binding Quote,” since it appears to be a marketing gimmick.

2. The customer communications are very poor: IVL had been unable to tell us what time or day the movers would arrive until LATE THE NIGHT BEFORE they arrived, and then kept pushing back the day we’d even know our delivery date. This was undoubtedly time used to consolidate loads onto a larger truck, but we should not have had to make numerous (unreturned) calls EVERY DAY to get the information we needed. Changing the contact person for the various elements of the job is probably designed to prevent any one person from being held responsible for the delays and mistakes caused by others.

I suspect one of the problems is that IVL appears to be a broker of other companies’ moving services, since WE NEVER SAW AN IVL EMPLOYEE at any point in time. On the positive side, George ** was easy to work with, and nothing was broken. I served in the Army and have multiple degrees, so I’ve been professionally moved nine times. Based on this experience, I would not recommend or trust International Van Lines to move you.

When finally someone decided to take charge we will get charged $2100 more dollars so basically it is the most expensive of all the quotes we had previously with the addition of extremely rude employees and the WORST customer service I have experience and the MOST expensive company of all the rest we talked to. Will definitely not recommend.

The truck loader did a great job and packed with it only being $400 more. He was very caring. Little did we know that they were going to move our stuff to at least 3 different trucks with boxes and furniture getting smashed each time. Furniture was not ready for delivery on expected date. After several phone calls, some of them being rude, we finally received delivery of only part of our items. We were then told, "The rest of your stuff is only a short distance away. It will come when it comes." After daily calls again they finally delivered it at 10:30 at night. We still aren’t sure of the extent of damage because most of it went directly to a storage unit until our new house is completed. A very stressful and negative experience! I do not recommend!