North American Van Lines Reviews

Original review: Overall it was a very good experience. The one problem we ran into was the person who came out prior to our packing told us one thing and the moving people said another. This made us unpack and repack. This messed up our schedule and cost us more in time and money. Your people need to be on the same page.

If you get move coordinator Michelle **, cancel your order immediately. She is hard to get a hold of, barely responds, sends one-sentence responses making you feel insignificant. She couldn't answer basic question like what was the weight of the truck at load-out, when is the driver arriving. She said Sunday, it was Monday. However, the worst part of the experience was the lies. I was told that I could request an earlier delivery date once I found a place when I arrived 7/11 in my new city. Since I didn't have an address, we used a zip code and agreed to an 8/1 delivery. I found a place sooner 7/19. I signed the lease and left a voicemail and sent an email to Michelle and Blake the same day requested an earlier delivery. Crickets. Then Monday I get a one-sentence response, NO we are following the contract dates. Read, they never intended to deliver items faster than 8/1.

I ask to speak to a manager but what I get is a phone call with Blake, Michelle, and some scheduler. No Manager. All their responses were refer to the contract. No accountability for what they said or their poor performance. Initial delivery date stated was 8/1 then Michelle said 8/4 (no one called Sunday to say it was going to be late). My load finally arrived 8/5 with only an hour and a half warning. The driver and helper were nice enough but extremely slow and always on the phone. Load out took less than 4 hours and load in took almost 6 hours. My load was supposed to be picked up at storage 7/26 per the contract. The driver said he picked it up 8/1. So, more time and money lost.

End of the day, I received my furnishings (some damaged, and some things missing), but the process definitely was not worth the stress and amount of time I wasted trying to get answers or being told see the contract. Let alone being overcharged. Yes, the contract does not match what I was told by their employees. I went with a known name in the industry, Capitol North American, and they were not the cheapest plus they charge for storage when other companies did not. I was worried about small mom-and-pop operations delivering on time but ends up corporate companies like Capitol North American hold all the cards and the house always wins. What a mistake, a painful and costly one. Just one last comment. Delivery was 8/5 and I'm still waiting on a receipt over a week later since payment was done over the phone.

Unpacking in Texas has been slow, but I am finding damages. The worst is to 3 places on bedroom dressers that I listed separately as "non-replaceable" valuable pieces as I designed them and had them custom built. Two dings on the top surface of the man's chest and a broken edge on the ladies dresser bottom right. A tall, modern floor lamp is broken. The weight of the lamp was due to cement filling the recessed bottom to stabilize it and prevent it from falling over. The cement is in pieces. Sterling disassembled a cherry wood futon and claim they wrapped all the nuts and bolts in shrink wrap. The futon was not shrink wrapped and some of the edges were scraped down to bare wood. Nuts and bolts are nowhere to be found and Beltman, who unloaded our belongings in Texas, searched their North American Van Lines truck and found nothing. So the futon is in pieces with no way to put it together and Sterling says it takes time to process a claim.

As of 10 minutes ago I have my computer up and running and I can file a claim, but very little of our belongings have been unpacked and I am worried that there is more to come. I expect Sterling Movers/North American Van Lines to replace my diamond rings if the police cannot solve the case in reasonable time, and send an experienced refinisher to correct the damage they have caused.

2nd, moving day (12/26/23) was an absolute joke by the hired movers of NAVL and University, Ohio Pro Mover (Duane, Tyrece & Troy), & the third-party driver, Roberto ** (? last name). We had very meticulously packed all of our home except for 1 large TV & our furniture in appropriate boxes, bubble wrap and labeled each one with our name, contents, fragility and location of room to be delivered. We worked packing for over 2 months so it was done correctly & even better than any other vendor. We even organized the boxes by room for loading.

Roberto informed us we were the only load on his truck to SC. Roberto disassembled all our furniture - taking out pegs for shelves, screws for items & kept them in a box in his cab. The move was chaotic with no organization & very careless handling of our items. We even saw a box being dropped in the loading process & other pieces that were not handled well. Roberto took an inventory (Household Good Descriptive Inventory) by hand that contained errors, repeated numbers & inaccurate information. We did not get to review this 20 page carbon document but was told to just sign as Roberto did not allow us time to read & promised us this was just a small part of the process.

3rd, delivery & unload day (12/29/23) by Roberto & hired crew of movers, Dennis and Tony. Upon unloading, we found countless items mostly furniture that was packed by Roberto that were damaged in the move. The number increased as more items were removed. We addressed this with Roberto on multiple occasions and he told us to acquire claim forms from Travis and Freida** (client services) for all the damage. I addressed with him the box that I saw dropped & when I opened it - was my good china numerous pieces broken. I went to him multiple times with the numerous items that were damaged and each time he said I would have to get a claim form for the damage from the office. Never once did he tell us that we needed to note this damage on the Household Good Descriptive Inventory that we had to sign as he quickly had us sign at the last minute as he left.

We also suffered damage to our brand new home from the delivery. In fact, Roberto even damaged the baseboard & put a hole through the wall when he let the headboard from our king bed fall and go through the wall. He personally informed us of this damage, but did not have us note it on the Inventory either. He also informed us about one of our glass curios suffering a broken glass as well - still did not note this on the inventory. He promised us when he left he had measured the glass & would try and find replacement glass and get back to us. He never contacted us again. Dennis and Tony were appalled by the condition of the truck that was packed in Ohio & the condition of items as being removed. Roberto also brought in the box of pegs, etc. for our furniture and he had not noted appropriate furniture it went with. He had to try and figure out and ultimately it came back on us to reassemble our furniture - this was not what was promised.

4th, found Roberto tried to repair & hide damage to our furniture items. How would you like to have to nuts & bolts put through your bed frame? Tried to fix our bookcases & bedroom end tables. How do you break a stainless steel prep table & split the floor of mini refrigerator? There were no issues when we moved! Apparently mishandling by the moving crew & driver for North American Van Lines. So we followed up w Travis & Frieda to acquire the info for claims forms to submit our damage. Here is insurance process w/ SIRVA - NOT MUCH BETTER:

2/17/24 - submitted online claim form - 27 total items ~$2,500 (reduced amount based on depreciation - we were very fair, not what we are actually out - really just wanted our original belongings in one piece and undamaged). 2/23/24 - call to inquire next step in process. 2/26/24 - email from Robin **, Claims Analyst, that Furniture Doctor, Inc. would inspect the damage, not to dispose of any items & our claims adjuster was Kathlyn ** w her contact info. 3/5/24 - Bruce ** & Darnell of Furniture Doctor, Inc. inspected our damage, took photos & informed us that we should hear in 7-14 days re: our claim as nothing was repairable & settlement would be made.

3/21/24 - 3 emails to Kathlyn ** with no response. 4/1/24 & 4/8/24 - phone calls to ck claim & received no response. 4/11/24 - called main number for claims & was connected to Kathlyn - informed would get a settlement letter by end of day & if any follow-up to email her. 4/11/24 - letter was received as Word Doc - not on letterhead, did not contain all info supposed to contain, immediately sent an email re disputed issues.

ALMOST 2 MONTHS TO GET A RESPONSE. Agreed to pay $1,579 as the items we packed were denied - "decline responsibility for items not packed by NAVL, inventory shows this item was packed in its own container, no control over the quality of packing, the cartons used, or the placement of the items, & no notation of container damage was made at the time of delivery to show mishandling by NAVL" and damage to our home denied "because the residence is always at risk of wear, the carrier only considers liability for damages noted at the time of delivery, found no written notation to residence damage and have declined liability of this damage for this reason."

4/23/24 - 2 calls to Kathlyn & left messages w no response. 4/23/24 - called the main number again & notified once settlement made that Kathlyn can't respond & the letter should have included info re an appeal, but did not so the agent gave us info to appeal (if cashed ck too late as you are agreeing to settlement - don't tell you this either). 5/6/24 - Sent 11 emails for appeal of our claim w all supporting documents, photos & letters, appeal was accepted by Margie **, Lead Claims Analyst.

ALMOST 2 MORE MONTHS TO GET A RESPONSE. 7/3/24 - Received letter dated 6/27/24 allowing for damage of home to be covered and 2 lamps but declining items packed and 1 cabinet as follows: "We cannot accept liability for the items claimed that were in packed by owner cartons. Carrier personnel were not involved in packing these items into the cartons. At the time of delivery of the shipment, there was no written notation made indicating that there was any damage to the exterior of the cartons containing the items claimed. We cannot determine that the damage claimed to the contents of the cartons is due to any mishandling of the cartons during the move. You indicate that you witnessed carton #357 being dropped. However, you made no written notation on the paperwork that you witnessed the mishandling of the carton. The claim is settled based on the written documentation available."

"We cannot accept liability for the damage claimed to #338 cabinet. The damage shown in the photos is not due to mishandling of the cabinet during the move. The damage is due to the original construction of the cabinet. This cabinet is particle board item, and this type of construction is not made to withstand the normal vibrations that occur during a move. There is no sign of impact or trauma to the cabinet."

They included a brochure to pursue arbitration with Household Goods Dispute Settlement that will cost us $300 to participate in and may not get anything else. So North American Van Lines and University Moving and Storage don't follow through with their promises or their contracts. After all the proof provided them and the time involved in appeal as well as money paid for insurance, we are still not being compensated for over $500 in damages that was caused by North American Van Lines and University Moving and Storage.

The MVP full value protection description on the contract is as follows: "If any article is lost, destroyed or damaged while in your mover's custody, your mover will, at its option, either: 1) repair the article to the extent necessary to restore it to the same condition as when it was received by your mover, or pay you for the cost of such repairs; or 2) replace the article with an article of like kind and quality, or pay you for the cost of such a replacement."

Nowhere in the contract does it say that it has to be noted on the paperwork or the claim is denied. Also, the contract gives you 9 months to file a claim. This was also stated to us numerous times by Travis and Frieda. I guess you have 9 months to file a claim, but if you don't note it on the paperwork, your claim will be denied. So I guess the warnings for you if you do go with North American Van Lines and University Moving and Storage are as follows:

4. Better make sure that you don't have furniture made of particle board as this is not to withstand vibrations of the move, even though it had been moved at least 2 times before by us and had no issues prior to this move.

IN SUMMARY, BUYER BEWARE!

Adding to our frustration, we were pressured to forgo the itemized check-off upon delivery. They claimed it would take too long, which now seems like a deliberate tactic to cover up their shoddy service. As a result, we discovered numerous items that were either damaged or improperly assembled. Among the casualties were multiple bikes, collectible books, and other sentimental mementos. The lack of accountability and care displayed by North American Van Lines and Robb Messer Moving is unacceptable. I strongly advise anyone considering their services to look elsewhere. Save yourself the heartache and choose a company that values your possessions and treats you with the respect you deserve.

The fact that the estimate is 40% more than what was provided is a fail. When asked about it, I got a snarky comment in response saying "When someone is set up to fail, they usually do". Felt the estimate was just to get the business. I have received similar quotes but no hidden fee. Please be careful when you get the estimates and read the fine print. Do not recommend and this is my first ever 1 star review.

The worst, however, was that after several days of unpacking and rearranging boxes we realized a number of thingss were missing. We contacted North American/Allied and they directed us to fill out a claim form, which we did. Several weeks later we received a blanket denial of our claim because we, the customer, did not inspect the shipment before the movers left to be sure every item was accounted for per their contract. I can't even imagine how many hours it would have taken to go through every single box - we had more than 500 items to account for in a 4-bedroom, 2-story house plus outdoor furniture and boxes piled up in the garage. The movers of course did not remind us to do this, but rather left in a haste after delivering the last box. For Allied to put the onus on us to inspect hundreds of boxes before the crew left was an unfair and nearly impossible task.

We took a chance on this mover even though we were initially inclined to go with a smaller operator who assured us that we would have the same team throughout the process and that our possessions would be the only ones on the truck. We did not heed their caution about national moving companies losing belongings when moving multiple households and making multiple stops with multiple crews. Do yourselves a favor and steer clear of North American/Allied.

The men also packed and moved a farmhouse in North East, PA. They did an excellent job with that house. HOWEVER, they never came back to the Dorn Road house to ship these items along with the farmhouse. THEREFORE I AM ASKING (not demanding, yet) that I be reimbursed $2000.00 for them not completing the job that I was told would happen. I would like these items to be put back into the house, or shipped immediately. If neither is done I demand a refund, and I will go elsewhere for the remainder of my move in the next month. The amount that was charged is outrageous especially since the job was not finished nor done correctly. A RESPONSE WOULD BE APPRECIATED ASAP! STILL WAITING!