United Van Lines Reviews

The “loading,” took well into the evening, even with my help and the loader's family's due to the failure of United to actually fulfill the packing requirements that I fully paid for. Next, the truck was supposed to arrive in PA by Saturday that same week. Driver contacted me and relayed there would be delays and that he’d arrive at 0800 on Sunday, the next day. I said no problem. Sunday rolls around and I bring coffee and donuts for the unloaders, only to wait four hours for no one to show or even contact me. So I contact the driver and ask him the ETA. He informs me late afternoon. They arrive at 5 PM and begin to unload, rapidly and hastily. Forget unpacking, which I also paid for. They simply unloaded all boxes, the piano, and my furniture and left - around 9 PM.

Once I finished unpacking, I noticed several items were destroyed or damaged due to horrendous packing along with damage to the home to hasty unloading. Further, the drawer under my bed was broken as was my upright piano, which no longer closed and the damper pedal no longer functioned. I contacted United to file two claims as well as file a claim to be refunded the packing and unpacking fee, since that obviously didn’t occur. They refunded me $400 for packing/unpacking, which is an absolute joke for a $16,000 move and denied both claims, alleging it’s normal wear and tear. This is despite me submitting evidence from the piano tuning/inspection that verified the piano was in excellent condition prior to the move as well as the bed.

Even though I appealed the denial, the company failed to respond. In essence, I paid $15,600 for a move that was hasty, sloppy, and damaged two significant items as well as damage to my home. I would have been better off paying people off the street to load a moving truck and driving myself. What a colossal waste of money and what a joke of a company. NEVER use this company.

On Day 1, the company called in an additional packer, bringing us to four. On Day 2, only two packers showed up, and the one who didn’t arrive was the person who had the boxes—so we were short both packers and supplies. Again, the company called in another packer, but we were already behind. By the morning of Day 3, the loaders showed up and the house was only half packed. The company called in two additional packers, which I appreciated, but at that point I had different people packing each day—many of whom had not been briefed on what was high value, collectible, or fragile. Items were being thrown into boxes, and the constant turnover was really disconcerting.

The loader was clearly unhappy that the house wasn’t packed and told us he had to be gone by 6:00 PM at the latest. My husband and I started packing soft goods, books, board games—anything non-breakable—just to keep things moving. Even the driver started packing. Fortunately, we had been gathering boxes ahead of time, because the crew did not have enough (since the person with the boxes never returned). That was especially frustrating because we paid $25K for a move from Oklahoma to Florida and still ended up spending a full day packing our own belongings and using our own boxes. We were also charged for boxes that never showed up.

By the end of Day 3, the truck was full and not all of our items fit. The driver left, and we were told another team would come on Day 4 to load the remaining items from the garage and shed. Unfortunately, those items had not been packed. When the Day 4 loaders arrived, they told us, “We are not packers. We do not have packing material. We will just have to do our best.” That resulted in significant damage, including a dozen vintage blow molds that were completely destroyed because they were thrown into a box with no padding. To make matters worse, the second crew marked every single item they moved as scratched/damaged/etc., which I’m concerned will make it difficult or impossible for us to file a claim.

We also have a major issue with collectibles. My husband and son are big Lego collectors. We have many built sets as well as collectible sets still mint in their original boxes. I specifically asked both the surveyor and the packers if they knew how to pack built Lego sets. I was told they do it all the time and there would be no issue. Since the move, we’ve opened boxes where multiple built sets were placed together with no separation and no wrapping. They are broken, and the pieces are mixed together—total nightmare. Even after I raised concerns, they insisted on putting the boxed Lego sets directly on the truck, saying, “We do this all the time, they’ll be fine.” The boxes came out crushed, which greatly decreases their value. They were not placed inside another box or protected in any way.

I have also not yet found my Barbie collection, and I’m honestly worried it was packed the same way and I’m going to run into the same issues. On top of everything else, the second truck arrived four days later than the promised delivery date. I sent a letter to Jody Davis, the Tulsa President of The Armstrong Company (agent for United Van Lines). While she apologized, she essentially said there was nothing they could do beyond having me file claims for damaged items. She also suggested that “next time” I pack the Legos individually in bags—which I would have done if I hadn’t been told repeatedly that this was common and they could handle it.

Before writing any reviews, I wanted to give the company an opportunity to make things right. I understand mistakes can happen—I work in client service too. I asked to be reimbursed for the labor my husband and I had to do and for the boxes we used (especially since we were charged for boxes that did not show up), but they were not willing to accommodate us financially in any way.

At this point, I do not recommend United Van Lines for an interstate move. And if you use a mover that outsources packing, I would think twice about using Armstrong. The two original packers who stayed with us through the end did a good job, but the rotating crews and the second-day loaders caused a lot of damage. Most of what we own is mid-century vintage, and even if a claim is approved, many items will not be easy to repair or replace.

I accepted and signed their documents on 5/21/2026 for a 6/15/2026 move delivering on 06/26/2026 (in 2 weeks). On 6/2/2026, I called them and had them update our pickup date to be 06/08/2026. They happily accepted the new date but did not convey this to their end vendor who still had 06/26/2026 for our delivery date in WA. I had requested that our stuff be delivered to our new place on 06/22/2026 and was given a 06/22 - 06/24 window with a promise that they would try their best to get it delivered on 06/22. Today, 06/17, I called to check in on the delivery date and was informed that the delivery is delayed due to the reason that I had pulled the pickup date a week sooner but the end date was not updated. Not updated by who? You guys obviously, who forgot about this and now I have to bear the consequences.

I have two little kids and we all have had to sleep on the floor in an empty house for 12 days thinking our stuff would be delivered on time on 06/22, only to find out that Sydney and Amber at Admiral Moving and Storage probably never communicated to their end vendor/dispatcher. The moment I got upset about this, the signed contractual agreement was brought up as a defense that according to my contract, the delivery window is 06/22 - 06/24 and since my stuff gets delivered on 06/26, it’s only 2 days late. Does that mean their real date was always 06/24 and never 06/22. So the window is fake, if they calculate from the last day, as no-ones stuff will ever be delivered on day 1 of the window???

I was then told by Amber in angry defensive tone that I would be eligible for compensation of the additional 2 days of delays. I now have to sleep on the floor or get a hotel for 5 days from Monday, 06/22/2026 - Friday, 06/26/2026. The answer to that was: "We understand your concern and are very sorry but the date will not change and that there is nothing we can do about it."

Does that mean that our stuff has been sitting here in AR for 10-12 days waiting, while we slept on the floor thinking it is enroute for our Monday, 06/22/2026 delivery date? I told Amber that I would be posting reviews about this inconvenience and the lack of commitment and the response was “Go Ahead! That’s FINE”. I will leave it at that but am Highly Disappointed and would NEVER book a move with United Van Lines or their local agency “Admiral Moving and Storage”. I would recommend you book elsewhere as well but seems like this entire industry is super crooked!

To make things worse, several of my expensive (restoration hardware, pottery barn) furniture sets were damaged. When I went to file a claim, the loading inventory marked every single one of my expensive items as damaged: scratched, rubbed, worn, etc., on ALL sides. Therefore, I will be unable to file claims because they are just going to say that it was damaged when they loaded it.

My question is, what about the majority of our stuff that arrived safely without any damage that is still listed on the initial inventory as damaged???? These people are criminals, the corruption starts at the top and works its way all the way down through the hourly wage employees that fill out the forms. AND I STILL HAVE NOT SPOKEN TO A CUSTOMER SERVICE REP! Do not use this company. Literally, use ANYONE else.

Most of my boxes arrived crushed. Wardrobe boxes labeled FRAGILE were collapsed, and most of my vintage glass was shattered. My Pilates Reformer is ruined and they lost parts, but claim I did it! I paid for them to box and move artwork, and it was all damaged from improper packing - they didn’t even protect it with packing material before putting in a regular box. They also lost eight items. Four were accidentally delivered to another customer. The remaining four are still missing, and United refuses to compensate, claiming they “can’t verify they were moved,” despite them being matching pieces to items I received.

Without my knowledge, United transferred my belongings from the original semi into a rented U-Haul, causing additional damage and exposing my shipment. They present themselves as a reputable national mover but farm moves out to third-party vendors and freelance day laborers, with different crews loading and unloading and no accountability.

After months of desperation they finally sent a repair team to address what could be salvaged. However, for items deemed beyond repair by the team, they have either refused coverage outright or offered insultingly low compensation, regardless of documentation, video evidence, or the additional insurance I paid for. Their approach has been consistent: delay, deflect, deny. Now, four months later, I am still chasing missing items, unresolved damage claims, and unanswered emails. They are the absolute worst. Stay away.

I took pictures of everything, furniture even boxes and plastic bins. So glad I did. You better plan to do the same. My bed has a cloth frame that supports the mattress. It was all tore up! My dresser was a small dresser (easy to move around) and they broke the legs off the back side, the top drawer was scratched up. My bike was totally unridable. The frame was bent from furniture and boxes falling on it, the pully system for the brakes was broke, the chain had come off and was damaged, the tires were flat. Many of my dishes were broke even though I had bubble wrapped them and marked the boxes with may dishes as FRAGILE!

I tried contacting UVL several times, sent them the repair estimate of 400.00 for my bike along with pictures of the damage, and still not a word back from them. When the truck came to deliver my belongings It was not the same truck that picked everything up in Arizona. What they did was take it to some warehouse, unload it, someone else with a truck comes, gets it and takes it further down the line and unloads it again.

There is no telling how many times this stuff was loaded and unloaded. I learned this from the guys who delivered my stuff in Michigan. I had to pay another 1021.00 CASH to people I did not even know. I video taped me counting my money out loud to the guy that took the money. I have not bothered to get an estimate on the bed, I figure I can get thread and needle and sew up all the damaged area. The dresser cannot be fixed, patched at best. It would have cost me 3100.00 to rent a u-haul. This company charged me 4700.00 for boxes and a few furniture pieces, which all came damaged. Do not pack anything in plastic bins. They are easily broken by movers. Even the sewing machine cabinet has several cracks in the top of it. I have uploaded several before and after photos

When our items were picked up, it started off poorly by the driver complaining to us about: the traffic in the area, the narrowness of the streets in Philly, and the size of our house and stairwell. He was unaware of certain items I had asked the company to pack ahead of time, and gave us a hard time about that. He made my wife and I fee stupid for misunderstanding a direction on packing (I had asked if items that where listed separately on the inventory, like ‘floor lamp’ needed to be packed and was told no, which was not exactly accurate). The put a huge gouge in the drywall of the house, and overall it was obvious that our items where not being handled carefully.

Drop off was just as bad, with the driver and movers flat out refusing to re-assemble multiple pieces of furniture including our bed and couch, which took two weeks to get reassembled (some of our furniture was never re-assembled). It was extremely uncomfortable. We had at least three missing boxes, two missing trash cans, and a set of expensive adjustable dumbbells that where also never delivered. A few items. Like a bookshelf and wardrobe rack where delivered completely destroyed. Many other pieces of furniture were damaged, missing parts, and not-reassembled.

It took months to get paid a settlement, and I think it only happened that quickly because I had to be very on top of things and constantly emailed and called. I was told multiple times things like, “I’ll have an offer for you by Wednesday” only to not hear back from them for a week. When I asked for a small refund on the cost of the very expensive move for such terrible service, United literally told me that it was illegal for them to provide any refunds… if you can believe that. This is a criminal company, and I highly recommend you do not use.

Planning a long distance move was complicated with many things to juggle. We rented a truck to move the things we had accumulated in three years from NY. The plan was to pack the truck on day one and drive to MD to meet the United Van Lines crew the next day who would take our combined belongings out of storage and move it to KC, MO..

The Penske truck we rented was 7 hours late in being available to us so we had to load the truck and drive all night to get to MD. The truck had a speed regulator that prevented us from going over 45 miles per hour. We hit morning rush hour outside of Baltimore where a wreck occurred and we were several hours late meeting the United Van Lines crew in Gaithersburg. They were understandably upset at the delay but it was out of our control.

Because of the location of our storage they had brought two rather small trucks to load our things on, explaining that a large van could not have been situated in the parking lot easily. They were going to load our things and take them from Gaithersburg to Frederick and transfer them to the large van which would later hold another family's belongings for delivery before reaching KC. I wasn’t thrilled with this arrangement but felt I had no choice at that point. I am 73, I had already been thru an ordeal and I just wanted to get my things out of storage! We had one large unit and two small, admittedly a lot but for two households not that much!

During this process the driver, Peter was less than agreeable. He complained about the volume of boxes, the size of boxes and the fact that some items, brooms, vacuums, etc. were not carted. I packed and stacked everything in those units myself and when I did so I fully expected I would be moving them out myself, one car load at a time just like I moved them in, anticipating making a local move in the DC area. I didn’t expect to be moving half way across the US and didn’t expect someone else to be doing the move. I packed things in manageable sizes for me! I was paying him to do the job so I felt he was out of line.

Because it was more volume than he had anticipated, in spite of my being very clear that the move was two combined households, he refused to move one thing until we agreed to pay an additional $3000.00 above the $11,000.00 we had already paid. I had to make the arrangements for a certified check to be mailed to our new address right then in the parking lot of the storage unit before he would commence to remove things from storage, delaying things even further.

Because of the loss of time we had to prolong the process another day. They took one load of things the first day and returned the next day to remove the remainder of our items from storage. He assured me our things would be transferred and locked securely in the van. The second day everything was out by noon and we were on our way. My son and I drove to KC in the Penske truck pulling a trailer with his car.

Five days later Peter arrived in the large van telling me that our items had not been combined with another household as that move did not occur. I was relieved as I had been concerned our things would get mixed up with someone else’s. The certified check which I had arranged to have delivered to our new home had not arrived yet. The delivery service delivered it to the wrong address the day before and I had been frantically trying to get it rerouted. Again, Peter would not unload one item until he had the check in his hand! It arrived after noon after many frantic and unpleasant phone conversations. Then, and only then, did the unloading commence.

Peter had many pages where he had supposedly recorded the numbers of the boxes he had placed barcodes on. He supposedly checked them off as they were taken off the truck and placed in our home. At the end of the day he gave me the pages to initial signifying my having received my possessions and before I did so my son went out to the van to see that every item had been removed. It was empty so naturally we assumed, there is that word!, that we had been delivered everything that had been taken out of storage.

The home we had moved to, sight unseen except for a video the realtor provided us, was smaller than anticipated. The rooms filled fast and in the chaos I told the crew to just put the boxes in the detached garage and I would take them out when I could make room and figure out where things would go. When I went to the garage I found boxes stacked unevenly, heavy ones placed on light weight ones, things were leaning, it was a mess. As I unpacked things I found many items had been broken. I had packed every box myself.

I have moved over 40 times in my life. I KNOW how to pack. Everything that was remotely breakable I had wrapped well in bubble wrap and had paper stuffed around them in the box yet things were smashed. Some things I could repair and did to the best of my ability, but many had to be placed in the trash. I should have taken the time to take pictures of each box and item but I was exhausted and focused on just getting settled and thought surely “thus will be the last thing that is damaged” but as time went on I realized the volume of things was significant. Still I did not have an itemized list and had no intention of making an issue of the breakage.

It was the things I wasn’t finding that disturbed me. With each row of boxes that were exposed I kept looking for certain items that never were found. The most glaring item was a step ladder. Three stairs with a tool tray attached which was extremely handy. I owned two of them, one of which Peter had asked if he could use it as he unpacked the storage unit and I had given him permission to use, not take! It was only after the very last box was opened that I called the gentleman I had originally made the arrangements with to see what I needed to do to process a claim for the list of then 62 items, now 77, that are missing, among them family photos that can never be replaced, bronzed baby shoes that are priceless, and high school and college yearbooks! The list is heartbreaking to me and my son. Items we have cherished for years, are gone!

I itemized each item as I was directed to do and submitted it days before the deadline for being allowed to make a claim. A few days later I received a determination letter telling me the entire claim had been denied. We would not be compensated anything as our move was a “direct move” and not combined with others belongings and I had signed each page saying I had received my items. Our move was anything but direct, our items were transferred, out of our sight and in the process apparently picked thru and stolen!

As for signing off, everything was out of the van, I trusted we had been delivered everything. I guess I should have stood in the van and required the crew to wait until I found the bar code number assigned to each box before they could unload. Can you imagine how much longer the process would have been had I done that? I thought I had paid for someone else to do that! I would NEVER hire United Van Lines to move me across the street let alone across country. I will never pay anyone to move me again. I have always moved myself and I will continue to do so if I ever need to do it again, hopefully this will be my last one. Learn from our experience!

When the items were first picked up, they apparently used a third party and tried to have family who were overseeing the pickup sign an additional moving contract and pay for the move. I had -already- signed for the contract and paid for half the move! The items were stored as I did not have a living location when I first arrived to Missouri. But when I tried to schedule a delivery, they were delivered a month late because he said he needed time to sort my items out from another household. That should have been my second red flag. When the items arrived, I had discovered the boxes missing. He gave excuses on why they were not there. It took me ages to unpack to discover what all was missing. I am still discovering things that were lost during that move.

Upon delivery, we discovered 25 of the 489 items inventoried were missing: for instance, of five beds we shipped, only two came back with enough parts to build them, rendering them unusable. Additionally, 11 items -- including high-value items -- were damaged during the move. The movers on site were aware of the missing and damaged items and spent considerable time searching for these items to no avail. According to the terms of the "Full Value Protection," we itemized all missing and damaged items and submitted them for compensation, and to substantiate our claim, they sent out several inspectors.

Clancy then set our claim to their UVL parent, who sent out another inspector (supposedly an expert in "antiques" misidentified generations-old family heirlooms we shipped from Europe as "American made”). UVL then offered only 8% of our claim as their final offer. While we may have accepted a more reasonable settlement, 8% is ludicrous. To offer "Full Value Protection" for $160,000 and then offer a tiny portion of this is fraud, in my opinion. I would recommend you not use Clancy nor United Van Lines, nor UniGroup: they lost more than 5% of our items, damaged others, including High Value items, and then fraudulently offered "Full Value Protection" which they did not intend to provide.

Our couch was missing screws from when the cushions were taken off, it rubbed the material off the corner, were missing boxes, my white dresser and black cube organizer rubbed on each other and now have paint on each other. And united wants to compensate me $235, after they hired someone to ruin/break all my stuff. Worst experience ever. I even have photos to show the dresser was put together in the same nursery they moved it from, I have photos of the tv 2 weeks prior, the couch is just a year old in April.

The truck was on time with a new set of teamworkers that efficiently and effectively unloaded all our boxes and hauled in furniture and placed it in the appropriate places at our request. We couldn’t have ask for a smoother experience than they provided. Door to door and not 1 item broken or missing! We had 30 days to fully unpack and call them to pick up the empty, broken-down boxes and packing paper. It was amazing and we are very satisfied and highly recommend this company.

I then spoke with dispatch, where the dispatcher informed me it will be 2-3 weeks before delivery. I am 39 weeks pregnant. If I had known any of this, I wouldn't have spent a time with them. Now I am moment from going to the hospital, and all of my supplies and everything I own is MISSING with no end in sight. Yuri told me he doesn't care about my personal problems as I was BEGGING this man to help me rectify his lies and poor business practices. I'm now to the point that they are dodging my calls and texts, a delivery date has not been established, and I'm pretty sure they stole everything I own.

I saw that he kept walking to his car and hiding things under his shirt, but I never imagined that he was stealing my things. I gave them 2 stars instead of 1 because the rest of the crew did a great job, the loaders, truck driver Jeremy and unloaders were great and hard working. Sadly the theft took away from what could have been a great experience. If you decide to hire them I suggest you have cameras to watch them and don't leave them alone if you have expensive items, if you pre pack do not label your boxes with what is inside instead make a list elsewhere and just put a number to identify your boxes. We reported it, but the company doesn't seem to care too much. They advise us to do a police report in Texas when the guy lives in California. I'm extremely disappointed that after paying so much money they hire thieves.

I highly recommend whatever is precious to you move yourself if you use this company. The delivery crew was so rude and disrespectful of our things they broke after moving across the country unscathed! Slamming lamps down and breaking their base, marking walls as they went downstairs to repair, Leaving your clothes in the dinning room and dishes in the bedroom, each box clearly marked where they went.

I absolutely do NOT recommend this company. Filing out the report to damage thinking we would be reimbursed? What a joke. I will take the loss over letting them have one thing of mine again. I paid for the repairs myself and worked on letting go of the things lost. The harp however was a hard one to overcome being it isn't made anymore. So if you don't want to cry at the losses and don't like your things, and don't care if you get pennies for very expensive items, hire them. Just remember you were warned at their poor protection of caring for your items. my suggestion is take pictures of EVERYTHING you own so you have proof it arrived and cherished items moved by you.

Moving out: The move out team was very late. They got to our house and then decided that they wanted to go get some food. So even though we paid for a full day of moving, they were only there from about 1 PM until 3:30 PM. The first day was for packing. The main guy brought his two nephews with him who are both under the age of 18. We watched him back into our neighbor's fence, destroying the fence completely. He tried to say that he didn’t hit it, but because we had multiple witnesses, including our neighbors that ended up getting resolved. Because I only spent 2 1/2 hours at our house barely anything was packed. The second day was the loading of the truck day. He brought two adults therefore I was hopeful. Because they only spent 2 1/2 hours the first day packing. They were there all day and they were very rushed.

I watched them drag a wooden desk down the stairs, slamming each step as it went down, thus destroying the desk right in front of me, they just threw things in boxes without any kind of organization and broke multiple things because they weren’t wrapped or packed appropriately. They also were smoking in the truck. I was pregnant at the time and I have asthma and now all of our stuff had cigarette smoke on it. None of our stuff was marked. I’ve moved multiple times and usually boxes get some form of a barcode or a marker to take inventory to make sure that nothing has lost. It’s a miracle that nothing got left behind. Transport: everything was driven back to their main warehouse, which was in South Carolina And transfer to a bigger truck. Everything got disassembled there I’m assuming and then packed.

Arrival: This team was excellent. They were communicative. They were organized. They were polite and intentional. And they did not cause any property damage like the first guys did. They made multiple comments about how things were packed poorly. they were shocked at the state of some of our items. But they did a great job. Overall experience: I would not recommend United Van Lines. We did get a refund for the destroyed desk. But we did not get any kind of compensation or apology for the rest of the matters. Our neighbor's fence was compensated fully. But we were not compensated for the full day of packing that we paid for that ended up being only 2 1/2 hours. The smoking situation. The poor packing job. I was overall incredibly frustrated and I will not be using this company again. I tried to upload more photos with the websites and letting me.

Now on to the move. After loading (taking pictures of damage for evidence), and securing the house, we took off. Guess what? They didn't. In fact, they didn't bring it up until a local driver up here in SD found out they were not hauling it because they didn't have time. The driver when down from up here and picked up the load to brought it up on the 11th. It was supposed to be brought up on the 6th. Thank goodness for his kind heart. Some local good Samaritans pitched in from a local moving company to unload it for my blind and disabled vet husband and myself. As for United, they took no responsibility nor discounted us for the delay.

Now, the good Samaritans were specialists who took great care in unloading. Before they unloaded, they checked everything with us. Here is what we found thanks to them: Oxygen concentrator, broken and unrepairable. Computer box, stolen. Box with Playstation and games for our son and grandchildren, stolen. Collectibles box, stolen. Camping gear box, stolen. Not to mention a few other items stolen. Again, United and there insurance refused responsibility. Needles to say, there is a reason they have a low rating on sites they can't buy off to remove reviews.