Moving Van Lines

Tampa, FL

Anna of Hackensack, NJ May 1, 2009

I hired this company to move my belongings from Clifton to Hackensack. I explained that I had to be moved in by 4pm, so I booked them for a 12pm move. They did not show up until 2:30pm! No one from the company apologized for their tardiness, no one tried to make any amends for the issues...further, when the foreman explained that we would not make it before 4pm, and I explained that there was a fine at the new condo complex, he left the job half done!

They took all my stuff out of the truck and left it on the sidewalk. They would not even give me a copy of the contract they made me sign prior to starting the job in the first place. The customer service was ATROCIOUS...they lied about the whereabouts of their crew, lied about the pricing schedule when I had initially called, the time that they were supposed to arrive, and even lied about a time guarantee. I am pregnant and the amount of stress that was caused by this situation made me literally ill. My items where left on the street LITERALLY in front of my home leaving me very embarrassed and stressed out. Further, that night we had no where to SLEEP and our items had to be placed onto a budget truck (that my husband subsequently had to rent for an additional 100.00). This was a terrible situation. I hope they could at least be apologetic about the entire situation.

Andi of Queensville, ON April 27, 2009

Arranged a move on Tuesday April 21st for 9am. Put off the move by hours 3 times that 1 day. Were 1.5 hours late when we rescheduled the 2nd day, April 22nd. Came with a truck way too small. I was quoted 800 but after they had packed the truck told me the bill was 1250 - and that was not including the other half of the stuff they had to come back for! I had asked for my things to be stored. Estimator (Floyd) said 80 to store for a month and he would give me a grace period of 2 weeks. Owner (John) said 200 per month! Gouged my hardwood floors in 5 places. Took 20 minutes to get my couch out the front door as the movers swore and cursed in front of me - huge black mark in front hallway.

Movers went into my fridge and ate food out of the fridge without my permission. After I expressed my displeasure they did it a 2nd time! BTW that day they were 1.5 hours after scheduled 9am start and movers insisted they were there at 10 - so owner billed me from that time. Took 3 hours to load a small truck! Continual problems with scheduling. I was fed up so if there were not at the house within an hour of their promised time I left.

This made the owner very angry. He has sworn that he will make me 'pay and pay' in order to get my things out of storage (he wasn't even going to tell me where my stuff was). He hung up on me, refused to answer my calls, won't tell me how much he professes I owe him. He and his worker Floyd have sworn at me, hung up on me, called their employees [expletives], and refused to take my calls. Save your money and aggravation. These guys are unprofessional sheisters.

Anonymous of Chicago, IL April 26, 2009

Supposedly Golan's charges much higher rates because they are worth it. In my experience, they are awful. They broke a table, lied and said it was already broken. When I called the guy out on it, he admitted it. They also broke another piece and knew it because they unwrapped the piece, saw it but didn't say anything. I unfortunately noticed it afterwards. I paid for premium service and received horrible work. During the claims process, I had 30 days to file and they 90 days to respond. No surprise, they responded on day 89. Since I did not buy extra insurance they offered me .30/pound which did not come near the cost of replacing antiques. The thing is why would insurance be necessary if they are so excellent at moving. Also, insurance doesn't cover the fact that the movers were dishonest. They did offer a little extra money as a measure of "goodwill" which did not approach even 1/4th of the damage cost to me. It was instead an insult. Buyer beware.

Marchell of Ca, CA May 8, 2009

i previously wrote in and my situation was published. I continue to investigate every day to uncover information that will allow me to collect on my judgment against Moving Van Lines. i just learned that Moving Van lines OWNS First Van Lines. (check SunBiz.org) PLEASE post this so that consumers will know to stay away from this company also

Brian of Clifton, NJ April 28, 2009

we were given a quote of 275. This was supposed to include everything. Upon moving we were given a bill for 791. This was because they included a 200 charge for going down stairs, they they charged us for 35 rolls of duct tape for approx 10 funiture items, blanket rentals, boxes that they didnt use. They also double billed our credit card and pretended that they didnt. When you call the company they use different names, accents, and alias, so that they can say that person was fired or that the person doesnt have the authority to make that change in the billing. The owner is never there. We were ripped off over 700.

Laurie of Ardmore, PA April 23, 2009

Movers moved my office from 3rd to 1st floor (same building). Although the movers were very polite and accommodating, they broke a door closer (approx value 225.00 installed) plus they dragged a 400 pound desk accross the carpet and burned the carpet. When I spoke to the moving company about this, they blamed me for all the damages. The door worked right before the movers arrived and stopped working immediately after they left. The carpet burns were a direct result of dragging the heavy desk across the floor, but they deny it. I am unsure of the cost of replacing/repairing the carpet. The door closer is appro 180.00 plus labor for installation (not sure yet).

Sable of Napa, CA April 20, 2009

We signed a contract with Green Van Lines for interstate moving (from Maryland to California) under their false promises. The way they operated was, at minimum, unethical, and we arent sure whether it was illegal. We are filing the complaint for the record so other people can be alert. There are three major issues. First, they lied about their business practices; second, there was questionable weighing of the vehicle; third, the actual delivery being a nightmare.

Green Van Lines lied about their business practice: We chose Green Van Lines because they said that they never sub-contract. Initially I was considering another moving company, Guy (the owner) directed me to a website and showed me that it registered only one truck for this other company. Guy told me it would be impossible for them to move us without subcontracting, having only one registered truck. And that Green Van Lines on the other hand, owns all their own trucks (15 total), and employs all their own moving staff with intensive training, and would be a much better choice. In our case, it was not true.

On the day of pick-up, they arrived in a Budget Rental truck (they originally promised that our belongings would not be loaded, transferred and reloaded to other trucks.) Later we found out that our belongings were transferred to a truck owned by North American?, and the deliver guys were not Green Van Lines employees. - Green Van Lines conducted a very questionable weighing process: After they loaded the truck, we found out that they had weighted the truck the day before in New Jersey (we were in Baltimore and the scheduled pick up was at noon (the weight station in Baltimore was right next to the highway.) The first ticket from New Jersey is very minimal with no specifics. In fact, the two tickets had nothing in common and there was no way we could verify it was the same truck. (We scanned the two tickets and could send you the PDF files for reference.)

The original estimated shipment weight was 3,416 lbs based on a detailed inventory list (we had almost no furniture except for two antique chairs, four bar stools and two antique coffee tables.) The final calculated weight was 7,500 lbs. We had our doubts. We contacted Green Van Lines and Guy calmly stated to us that each weight scale is different and can result in a 5-10% difference, and that it was completely legitimate to weight the truck in another state at a totally different weight station on a different day. - Green Van Lines subcontracted our moving and actual delivery was unprofessional and reckless. Our belongings arrived on a truck owned by North American, not Green Van Lines. There were two movers with the truck, none of them was employed by Green Van Lines, and they had a local daily for-hire person to help out.

When the truck arrived, we saw how they had so crammed in our belongings that they couldnt even get the boxes out. The truck was repositioned several times and all three doors were attempted before unloading was possible. No walk ramp was present and a ladder was needed to reach the trailer door. When they turned the truck around, it hit and damaged a nearby building. When my husband expressed concern about this damage, one of the movers (we were told that he was the brother-in-law of the owner of the truck company) threatened my husband's life.

Similar to many peoples experiences, they wanted more cash or they would not unload our belongings. In addition to the original agreement, which including 550 guaranteed delivery charge, 515 furniture wrapped-up, and 10% fuel surcharge, they asked for 300 in cash. They threatened to just leave our belongings on the side of the road if we did not pay. After negotiation, we paid 225 in cash. We received a hand written receipt on my notepad without any company logo. While they unloaded our belongings, we saw that boxes that we marked fragile and this side up were crushed and up-side-down.

Several items were broken, including one item, which was broken right in front of us during its forcefully unwrapping. When I tried to support and protect our fragile antique furniture during its unwrapping, I was accidentally slashed with a box cutter. After only partially unwrapping our furniture, they left all the torn cardboard and bubble wrap piled up in our new home. It was the for-hire guy who helped us to clean this mess. The movers did not follow their inventory list. Even when we mentioned that there were more items wrapped by Green Van Lines that were paid to be unwrapped, they just stormed out in a hurry with their new cash.

After our delivery, we told Guy what had happened. He seemed genuinely concerned and said that he would get back to us regarding our unfortunate delivery experience. We never heard back from him, even after our follow-up email. We want to make other people aware of their false promises so no one will fall for it again.

Tanya D. Brock of Rochester, NY April 19, 2009

Hilford did not complete my move from California to New York. The movers were carefully instructed where to put boxes and furniture and they did not. I cant move the items they left in the incorrect place. I advised them of the boxes that were to go in the basement. Those boxes were left one flight up in my living room. They are too heavy for me to move. The drivers insisted on additional payment to uncrate items that were their contracted responsibility to uncrate so they left without uncrating them telling me they were in a hurry. Hilford did send someone out ONLY to uncrate as they did not send movers but a packer and the furniture inside is supposed to go one flight down into the basement and the person that came to uncrate left the furniture at the top of the basement stairs.

The person they sent out to uncrate left cardboard and paper outside and inside my home. The boxes are still in my living room and the furniture is still not where it was requested to go. I have tried to contact corporate customer service and spoke with Mr. Hoog and was told there was nothing they were going to do about it as they would not pay to send someone out here and it is Hilford's problem.

I contacted the Hilford office and spoke to Gloria the office manager and she hung up on me. The Hilford representative that arranged my move states that she cant help me. The boxes and furniture are too heavy for me to lift. It requires two people and a dolly to move the extremely heavy boxes. In addition to damages to some items, there are items missing. A small stained glass mirror, a lamp piece, black vase, small black glass table top, & a wood chest filled with jewelry.

I have not been able to order any furniture for my living room or complete my basement recreation room as it has boxes in it that were supposed to go into the basement. I attempted to move the boxes myself and hurt my back. Plus there is furniture that the movers left blocking the basement stairs. I would like a partial refund as they did not complete the move or I would like Hilford to send movers out here to complete this move as I have been in my new home now for three weeks and this move is not complete.

Terri of Brighton, CO April 15, 2009

I needed to move from Cali to Colorado and hired this company. After they changed my pick up time 4 times I should have known this company was unprofessional. Finally they picked up my household goods on March 24th and promised a delivery by April 1st. I called them daily and got the run around each time each employee told me a different story of where my goods were. Finally on April 8th my stuff arrives: Well boxes were opened, stuff was gone through. Items were missing and broken. My boxes looked like they were kicked around by an elephant.

The delivery guys who brought my stuff to me was a different company from who I hired this was never disclosed in the begining. They also told me my stuff had changed truck 4 different times. This was never disclosed either. They said this was the way my stuff was put on their truck. Items were thrown throughout the floor of the truck that were packed. I have pictures of my stuff. And witness as to what it looked like when Universal packed it in Cali and witness including the delivery drivers as to how it was deliverd.

After numerous phone calls and emails to this company I have yet been able to talk to someone regarding their so called insurance. I have filed a complaint with the bbb in Santa Barbara. This company had no respect for my personal belongings and after 16 days had time to go through my boxes and retape some of them in a different tape then I used. They are unorgainised, unprofessional and wont even return calls or emails. I can not even put my beds together do to the fact they lost all screws. Broken items and missing items. What can I do. I feel so violated by this company.

Broken, missing items. I have pictures which have been sent to them with no response.

Don of Moonachie, NJ April 9, 2009

If you need a professional, courteous mover with years of experience, DONT call Booth Movers. We recently had them move furniture for us and they were HORRIBLE. Their workers were Rude and SMELLED like they hadnt showered in weeks! They scratched our antique hutch not to mention dented our dywall up the staircase. We have called and complained with no response back in 2 weeks. Shame on this YO-Y0 Operation.

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