Atlas Van Lines

Lacy of Redwood City, CA November 23, 2009

I hired Atlas Van Lines to facilitate a local move on 11/21. The drivers showed up late, did not follow direction, moved extremely slow, and the foreman was constantly on the phone. I hired the company for three hours, so every minute was precious to me. I prepared for the move by putting a large amount of the boxes outside, and the remainder in the front room, by the door. Everything was labeled and ready to go. I was in another room getting some things together when the foreman asked me to enter the room he was working in. He put shrink wrap around my couches, cushioned ottoman table & side table, & book case. He then proceeded to tell me how much each item cost for wrapping. I did not authorize him to wrap these items and no where in my contract did it state that these items needed to be wrapped. I asked the foreman to continue with loading the truck and to not wrap any other items with out my consent. I left the room and called the company to inquire about the items the foreman was wrapping. The dispatcher told me that these items needed to be wrapped to go on the truck even though the contract did not state that.

When I re-entered the room, the foreman had wrapped a dresser and several other items. At this point, two of my three hours had been used and not even ¼ of my things were in the truck. I asked them to please pack the items they had prepped and leave the rest so that we could go to the other location before my time ran out. They slowly put the items in the truck and then proceed to sit there for 15 min doing who knows what. Finally we reached the new location and the foreman presented me with the bill. He said they would not unload the items until I paid them in full. To my surprise the bill went from the 223.20 I was quoted to 628.77. He then proceeded to tell me I had to pay in cash. I was very upset, and phoned the office to inquire why the bill was so high, and why the foreman demanded cash when the contract did not state that, and they had my credit card number on file. The dispatcher was rude and hostile and said I had to pay in cash or they wouldn't release my items. I refused. I asked for a manger but was told there wasn't one available to speak with since it was Saturday. I was told I had to wait until Monday. I reluctantly agreed to pay the amount and speak to the manager on Monday since I didn't have much of a choice. I had to get my things, and felt threatened by the company so I agreed to pay the outrageous amount and figured I would speak with the manager on Monday for my refund. Next they demanded I pay the full amount in cash.

Nowhere in my contract did it state I had to pay in cash, and when reserving the company I gave my credit card number over the phone. I was told I could pay by card but the foreman supposedly did not have a slip to process the card. For the next hour several calls were made from myself to the office, and the manager to the foreman. They continued to demand cash, and I continued to refuse. Finally they conceded and used my credit card number on file and the foreman magically produced a credit card slip. When I received my receipt by email, another company's name was on it. Shamrock Van Lines. I have placed several calls to the company and no one had called me back. I plan to dispute this charge with my credit card company, but I feel like this company should have some sort of consequence for their actions. I would also like to help prevent this from happening to other people in the future.

Theresa of San Jose, CA November 20, 2009

Bait and Switch: I was informed that the local move, 2 movers and full packing, loading truck, round trip point A-B, 5 free wardrobe boxes, free wrapping of furniture, min. 5 hours, free stairs and long carry, 5% discount, PLUS "Packing supplies are extra if needed. (Items that must be packed in order to be transported safely are: glass items, mirror, lamps, lamp shades, marble tops, pictures, mattresses, all electronic and all delicate fragile items" - would be 665.00. The nite before I received a call from a man, supervisor, that one extra person would be better for my job at 10 extra dollars. I agreed. 10 extra for min. of 5 hours should be 50. They arrived at 10:15, and departed at 7:15. It was a big job for a 1 bedroom move. They charged me 3500. When I complained, they said if I paid cash they would waive the 500. or they could leave the job. My choice. I decided not to pay cash. I even fed them food. I've made several phone calls and I'm not getting my calls returned. I can understand even 1000.00 over the quote price, or 1200. NOT what they charged. They won't return my calls. This is clearly against CA laws what they did. To threaten to leave the job midway was the straw. A total of 1075 should have been charged (3 men- 9 hours), then plus the packing material. to my calculations 2425 dollars worth of packing material was not used. I had 70 boxes that I packed myself.

Sally of Brooklyn, NY September 5, 2008

Sally of Brooklyn NY (09/05/08)
In early July I moved from Alexandria, VA to Brooklyn, NY. At that time Atlas Van Lines had given me an estimate of approximately 3400. They also gave me a signed statement by their representative Bob G, Herndon, VA that the move could go only 10 percent above their estimate.

On moving day they charged me approximately 3100. On August 27 Ms. R sent me a letter telling me that I owe them 1,172.43. She also stated that a fee will be added until the bill is paid. I had some very unpleasant telephone communication with her. This is a disgusting scam and I'll never pay them a cent until we go to court and get them plenty of publicity.

No physical damage... just shock at their total lack of integrity.

Elizabeth of Picayune, MS April 9, 2008

Elizabeth of Picayune MS (04/09/08)
We moved from Iowa to Mississippi last Aug by Atlas van lines. My husband is a physician brought here by Forest general. Atlas sent a representative from Desmoines Ia. He spent a whole day calculating our move. The quote was 16,000. We are now told the move was raised to 40,000 due to overweight. thwy miscalculated horribly.

The move was a nightmare! They damaged most of my new frniture. They are now saying that it was damaged before the move! What can I do they aren't willing to pay! I have had many sleepless nights

I have had to throw away many items that were ruined. My furniture that was new is now damaged. They drove my husband bmw and dropped the bed on top of it. Why did we have insurance? They should fix or replace everything they destroyed. They had a young kid working for them that had an attitude and through my belonging around! He did the bulk of the damage! Why am I suppose to just take this! I trusted that company with all my worldly posessions. I still owe money on damaged furniture, its not fair!

Dipankar of Alpharetta, GA March 29, 2005

Dipankar of Alpharetta GA (03/29/05)
I took the service of Atlas Van Lines for moving my stuff from Tampa, FL to Atlanta, GA. They damaged my leather sofa and few other things and lost some valuables (most importantly, my coin collection). They used the same truck which they used to move my stuff to move somebody else's stuff. And while doing that, they messed up with some of my boxes - some of those boxes were open (no sign of taping) with no tags at all.

When I challenged the driver, he indicated that since the total number of boxes did not change, we have to accept it. Without the full details of the content of each box, we had no way to prove that some of our stuff was lost. The inventory list that the packers (employees of Atlas Van Lines) prepared while packing our stuff did not list all the items; and those dishonest people just took advantage of that. When I claimed for compensation of the damaged leather sofa, they simply said that damage was not caused by handling during the move. However at the time of delivery, the driver himself admitted that damage was caused by him and he even offered me some cash; but I did not accept it fearing that repair would cost more than what he was offering me. Without having any other recourse, I went for arbitration with National Arbitration Forum. The movers appointed their favored judge for my case and I could not win; on the contrary, I had to spent additional money to bear the expense of arbitration.

Damage to furniture and loss of money.

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