I booked a move with this company 3 weeks prior to my move date. They told me my pick up window (3 days) and everyday before and during the window they called to "update" me that no time had been narrowed down yet. Then, a day before my window closed and 2 days before my lease ended, they called me to inform me that they had no van to pick me up. Mind you, this is after I had already made a deposit and cut off my interactions with other companies. Now I have to find movers on super short notice. I was never made aware that there may not actually be a van. This company is awful and treats it's customers badly. Would not recommend. read more

Horrible moving company. When it comes to your final estimate ensure you add another $1k to that price to get the real final estimate of what they will end up charging you. Apart from the trouble of getting charged an additional $1k, the movers broke multiple pieces of furniture. When making the estimate on the phone, the man gave me a price after reading off all of the discussed items just to realize he did not include the items we discussed on the phone when receiving the final estimate in paper. From agreeing to a great deal and putting down a deposit, they then had to add all the additional pieces of furniture, the ones that I was told were already on the inventory list on the phone, onto my final price. Feels very Bait and Switch. The items themselves were not handled with care and we watched the movers run into walls and break the furniture as it was being delivered. After the delivery the movers did not address any of the breaks nor did they even accurate reassemble the furniture. My bed frame is now missing bolts due to them losing it. After they collected the boxes, there was no point in letting them know they were fragile because they threw them around regardless of what was on it and led to more breaks of my glassware. They just randomly make up weights of your furniture which leads to an insane over charge based on the volume. Suddenly I was the strongest person known to man when I asked them to move a mini fridge and they told me the mini fridge was going to be 210 lbs. Do not use this company and instead look for another moving company. read more

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This was disorganized, confusing and over priced. The amount on the initial invoice was never corrected from the onsite new binding estimate to not include specific furniture and charged $900 for packing that was not provided. The weight amounts were never received. The paperwork shows multiple items that were not loaded and left with no resloution of when it would be picked up for weeks now. The initial amount was less than half the price originally quoted and when they did a re-estimate the truck was clearly too small which should be obvious to professional movers. We could have rescheduled if they just would have said that. The delay of close to three hours late on arrival for pick up with no call or text was terrible. As the Move Manager for a private client, I requested multiple times that he not be contacted for any reason after the financials were approved by my client. That request was ignored numerous times by all departments of Colonial Van Lines and SMS Movers. This ignorant and careless act caused Mr. Turner's PTSD to escalate tremendously and upset him time and time again. The request to not contact the owner as I am a move manager was ignored numerous times and was notated on the account continuously. The client is an injured, disabled veteran who has served in the military for two countries (Australia & America), and as of recent still mourning the loss of his wife. He feels furious and is appalled at how a company in America can take advantage of anyone...especially an injured, disabled veteran who's wife just passed and is moving away 6 hours away and specifically requested to not be contacted throughout the entire process aside from financials-and they continued. Jason called to collect before delivery was complete and threatened the client with placing his belongings into storage until he paid was ridiculous. As of three weeks later he has still not received all of his belongings and not even an email to apologize and rectify- just a bunch of "escalations". The inability to communicate through the process with dispatch was awful. The account manager (Devonia) did what she could and the rest was a terrible disappointment. After 3 weeks the remainder of my clients belongings are still at his old house holding up the process for new tenants to move in. To date nothing has been resolved not even financial compensation or another truck to be sent. Even the person who was supposed to call to financially compensate the client has not left a voicemail, called or emailed. The drop off was not communicated well. A custom stone tile in a walkway leading to the new home was broken during delivery (1 of 40 stones so its obvious), no drop off paperwork was provided with corrections, a dresser of his deceased wife that was to be left behind was delivered and left with him to figure out what to do with it. There were so many screw ups in this process its ridiculous. I was told no one called my client from Colonial nor from the sub contracted movers but he screenshot the phone calls and time durations where the sub contractor called him to tell him they would be at the old house (6 hours away) the next day and that he needed to pay them an additional $800 to receive his belongings. I called and spoke to management who reassured me that no one ever called him....smh....he has it recorded. I asked could we please just fix this. I call almost daily to check in on progress and its still being "escalated". What kind of nonsense this man is already too injured to do this himself, his wife just passed away a year after marriage and hired me so he would not be involved. Throughout this process my client has been unsatisfied with Colonial Van Lines and SMS Movers service, communication, cost and quality of the work. As the drop off paperwork was not revised or provided we do not have proper paperwork to request a claim for damages or undelivered items which is required to be compensated for damages and is still a current issue that is needing to be resolved ASAP! Deliver my clients belongings that were left behind 3 weeks ago that was a part of the original contract free of charge. Pick up the dresser that was not to be delivered and return it back to the old home, refund the erroneous charges for packing that never happened and compensate him financially for this ridiculous service. This has been a terrible disservice and is a poor reflection of my company being involved with this company's behavior. read more

Colonial Van Lines - How full the truck was while still missing items that were included in the original estimate including smoker grill patio set&squished - Movers Near Me - Pompano Beach, Florida

Talked a good game when booking service. 1st day of scheduled pack up, between 8 and 10, they no showed. After calling to inquire when packers would show was told someone would reach out, zero contact. 2nd pack up day got a call at 10:30 saying they were too busy. A manager, Aaron, said the truck and enough packers to get the job done in a co of hours would be there at 7:30 the next day, 3 packers showed up at 10:30,2 more around 1:00, truck showed up at 2:00PM. Finished at 10:30 PM. Ended up paying for a hotel we didn't get to stay in. The packers and truck driver were very good, sales/management team lied to our face. Would give negative rating if it were an option! read more

We hired Colonial Van Lines to move us out of Tennessee October of 2023 which included a year's storage in a climate controlled environment. It was over twenty thousand dollars!!! They were supposed to deliver our things October 2024 in Massachusetts. First of all we hired Colonial not knowing they would sub out the move to a company called JR Moving Corp out of Maryland. When they arrived in Tennessee, It was a box truck like the one you would rent from a UHall. We were told that they were putting our belongings in a climate controlled storage facility in Maryland. When they arrived at my new address in October 2024, JR Moving Corp did not bring a full load but they wanted full payment immediately. I told them no way because all of my things are not on the truck. The boss told the movers to stop unloading until full payment was made. It took 3 separate moves over several weeks to receive all of our things. My Michael Armini bedroom set had scratches on it and the blanket used to wrap my dresser had melted onto the wood and couldn't be removed without taking the finish off of the woodwork. They made holes in two of the chairs of our outdoor patio set and scratches on the table top to the point that it had to go to the dump, the wheels on my credenza were missing resulting in scratches in our new hard wood floors. Our Temperpedic king mattress wasn't stored properly resulting being unusable, boxes soiled and wet, broken dishes and miscellaneous items broken, scrapped and damaged walls. The list goes on.... Their customer service was horrific the claims department was horrific, the management team was of no help to us at all. They offered us $198.00 for the damage they caused. We told them that was an insult. Their final amount they offered was $494.00 and we needed to sign a document saying that we wouldn't give them a bad review. We declined saying that "HUSH" money was not good enough. We highly recommend that you do your homework so that you don't have to go thru the experience that we had. If we could we wouldn't have even given them a 1 star review it would be a lot less. read more

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!! I am literally begging you. You will 1000% regret trusting these people. I have never been so hurt, heartbroken, and angry. Thousands and thousands of dollars down the drain. From lies, scams, delays, destruction, and theft.. I don't even know where to start. Just PLEASE GO SOMEWHERE ELSE read more

This is in the top 5 worst customer service experiences I have had. We moved from Cali to midwest and chose Colonial because of their solid (4ish star) reviews on various websites. We had a fleeting moment where we planned to go with a guy with a truck (insured and with good reviews) who would have gotten here in 3 days but we decided to go with a bigger company given reputation and fact that they said our furniture would likely be in TX within 1 week... boy did we make a mistake!!! I thought at first that maybe we had a bad customer service person (over promise under delivering type) but realized quickly (after speaking with managers too) that all the information we received was squishy or downright incorrect. For example, when choosing Colonial they said they run trucks to TX all the time and we likely would be on inside of 2 week window (closer to 1 week). We heard this 3-4x from different people and they barely hit the 2 week window. Because of their inability to communicate correct information, it cost us a few grand in extra hotels etc whereas we could have stayed in Cali for free... They also stated that 90% of moves come in under the weight estimate and yet somehow missed our weight so significantly (by 1500Lbs or 40%%) it cause a $500 increase in our cost. They also charge $150 extra for long haul steps to our door, an overweight fee of $150 or something that we don't understand. I know I know... this is standard for moving companies. The difference is other moving companies tell you up front. These guys say they don't do that when you are doing the initial estimate then just hit you with it day of... this isn't the 90s anymore guys... get it the beep together. You can't get away with this anymore. Next they told us you will receive your pickup and dropoff date the Tues before your move, then it was Thurs, then it was well, we're coming tomorrow maybe the movers can tell you your dropoff date. No one pro-actively communicated with us... we always had to call them multiple times before getting information. There was one certainty we had in working with Colonial... if they said they were going to call us on such a date and time, they 100% never did. Thanks for the certainty there guys. I have never had SO MANY DAMAGED GOODS FROM A MOVE. I moved from east coast to Cali for work and my hubby and I have both (separately) moved a decent amount and have never had this type of experience. They broke probably half the big pieces they wrapped themselves (smashed our babies antique rocking chair), broke wheels off our dining cart, BROKE our TV, scratched several other pieces and somehow managed to break the taillight off my Vespa. That Vespa is my second born... you messed with the wrong Scooter Colonial Not only would we not recommend Colonial (run away as fast as you can!!!), we have already started telling friends, family, and colleagues to avoid at all costs. I would have gotten over the terrible customer service over the process if our got here in one piece but not even close. Also, they PAY FOR GOOD REVIEWS. If you write a negative review, they will give you $$ to change it. We went back and looked and peoples written reviews were bad, but the overall rating was 4-5 starts because people received $ and changed their # of starts. CLAIMS PROCESS terrible. Also beware they pay per pound so if you have a nice light tv that they brake, you likely will only get maybe $50 for it. Their process and systems are antiquated so we had to submit photos like 3 different times, wait a long time etc. read more

I used Colonial Van Lines in Nov thru Dec 2023. They are misrepresented to you. They are just a broker. I had all my sons carriers doing the BS by Colonial. Albeit, 14 days late and still wanted full price. Because of Colonial van lines. Colonial will tell you what you want to hear. But, van lines have 21 days to delivery regardless of contact. I lost hundreds and maybe thousands in the delivery. Take my advice. Rent a Uhaul and pay for loading and unloading. When you broker. They will not unloading until fully paid. Don't care if everything is damaged. It is a shame that the government is unwilling to investigate. BTW. I am seeking congress to look into this BS broker system that benefits only the broker. read more

Company was great to deal with. Driver and Helper were respectful with moving our things. Wrapped everything professionally. Great experience. read more

Then, once his movers left unfortunately they had an issue with their vehicle that postponed them, which was not their fault. The best is yet to come, I say this sarcastically as when the movers arrived, Jay and Tim who were by the way, absolutely wonderful, they unpacked our stuff to find out that our brand new, 65 inch flatscreen that cost over $800 was completely broken and shattered, also featured in the photos, they had wrapped our suede and leather couch with packaging tape so when we removed the tape our couch was completely ruined and torn, they used our bathmats as packaging material for our lamps so all of our bathmats were ruined, also broken: my desk, my fiancés record player, antique wooden table, multiple lamps, and more smaller items as well. The only insurance that Colonial offered us was $.65 per pound so an $800 TV and a brand new couch basically got us about $40. Basically another load of BS and scammery. My fiancé called them, furious, and they said that if we had purchased extra insurance we would be paid more, at no point were any of us ever offered extra insurance which was another scam and lie. Again, it is worth mentioning that the best part of this experience was Jay and Tim, who don't usually work with Colonial, they actually have their own moving company called AZ Top 10 Moving. I highly recommend them for anyone looking in the Arizona area or beyond. You could tell they genuinely felt horrible for us and helped the best that they could. The aftermath was also ugly. During a move, you want everything to go seamlessly, especially for the top dollar that you are paying. We even paid extra for "handling with care," that was our TV that was $800 and shattered into pieces that we now had to replace. We wanted to turn a new page with this move and the first week was spent dealing with this aftermath, replacing broken items, and paying extra than what we were quoted. My fiancé has reported them to the Florida attorney general who has opened an investigation, FMCSA, plus working with local law enforcement and working on getting our money back. We've disputed all charges on our credit cards and we will not let this go. We are bound and determined to get justice and to make sure no one else has to go through this. From the bottom of my heart, do not put yourself through this stress, financial hardship, and overall nightmare of a moving experience. There are definitely better moving companies out there that are not scams. We received horrible treatment, lies, half of our stuff was broken, and we didn't even receive restitution. read more

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I was able to get some resolution regarding this awful ordeal with the help of Donna from the Resolutions Department. This rating is for Donna's efforts only . Thank you read more

Buckle up for this review because it's a mess of a move for us. I want to preface this by stating that we have had 4 full service moves since 2014, a combination of military and corporate moves. Two of those moves were across country and we used storage on those occasions. Needless to say we are experienced movers, you can find several moving stickers on pieces of furniture from our frequent relocations. We chose Colonial Van Lines because of their reputation for cross country moves, they contracted with Alliance. The one star I gave for this review was based off of our original movers/ packers. They were prompt, polite, they seemed to do a good job packing our items and attentively wrapped our furniture. Our house was packed, loaded and headed to storage the end of June. We sold our home (on the west coast) and would not be able to have occupancy of our new home (in the Midwest) until August 20th. Our first delivery was August 22-26th, we had little communication and were confused about where our things were. We were finally told on the 26th that the "truck broke down" and we were rescheduled for a delivery September 5-9th. It is now September 10th, we do not have our things. Our new window is September 19-23rd which is almost an entire month after our original delivery date. Our account manager called today with no new updates. We asked if we could just get our things out of storage and drive it ourselves, she informed us that it would have to go through "upper management." This has been an incredibly stressful time for our family, we have two young elementary school aged children and two small dogs. We did not plan to be in transition for this long with out all of our household goods. Colonial continues to say that we will be "compensated" for our delay, but that does not solve our current very stressful situation. I wish they had been transparent and upfront with the driver issues and shortages that they obviously have had so that we could have made a different decision. As it stands my husband will be in the state our things are located the week of September 19-23rd when we are scheduled to received our household items. If the driver has not left storage by then he will load our things onto a truck, with help from family the 24th. Not only will we have to re coordinate this move and my husband will have to take time off of work, but we will have to pay for other transportation costs that we were not anticipating. At this point we just want our things and to be able to live our lives in our new home. I will update this review with the outcome, but I can not stress enough how difficult this has been for our family. read more

This is a horrible company. They made such amazing promises to us and broke almost every single one of them. Firstly they lied when they CONFIRMED when the movers would come which threw off our entire schedule forcing us to get a hotel with a newborn and two cats. The movers themselves, outsourced which we were told wouldn't be a thing, were soooooooooo unprofessional. They complained about packing things we had specified, complained how heavy our mattress was, and overall were aggressive. They also smoked in the bed of the truck amongst all my furniture, and caused numerous other damages with their mishandling of our items. I've never had a more stressful move. This company is also refusing to give us the compensation we are asking for. If you don't prefer stress and like your things do not use this company. read more

Do not use this company! Please contact a direct mover that actually does the move. Colonial is a broker that hires an actual moving company to perform the service and takes a cut of the charge. Find a direct mover that will actually perform the service, save yourself time, money, and aggravation. They are disconnected from the move once it begins (and even before, in my case) and will offer no useful customer service since they are no longer in control of the move. read more

In short: We didn't think we were ever going to see our car again. Don't trust this company! They forgot about the job, we had to call them multiple times daily for a week to get traction, they never followed up when they said they would, they didn't reply to any emails, were over a week late on the pickup/delivery, and conveniently forgot about reimbursing us. In full: We used Colonial Vans to transport our car and move our stuff and booked them more than a month in advance. The day before the first day of the 3-day window when they were supposed to pick up the car, they called about the move of our house stuff. We asked about the status of the car which was the first time our account manager had heard of it. The account manager promised to follow up by the morning of the following day. The afternoon of the following day rolls around and no call. We call them. They don't have an update, say they're going to call dispatch and follow up that day. They didn't follow up. The next day, which is the last day of the 3-day window, we call and demand answers. They once again say they're going to call dispatch but we know by then that they're blowing smoke so assume that our car will not be picked up. We were moving out of state but somehow were able to arrange the car to be stored somewhere where it would be safe for a month. We finally get in touch with management and they were at least able to tell us they've been having issues with car transports and it might take up to a month. The manager tried to get us to cancel the contract so they wouldn't have to deal with us anymore but we declined as prices had gone up elsewhere. At this point our move date has arrived and we don't have time to call them everyday to ask for updates. Over a week goes by and we finally get a call that they have found someone. The price for the transporter was more than our contract price but Colonial Vans promised to reimburse the difference. At this point I knew not to trust them so I started to record our conversations in case we needed to take legal action. Our car gets dropped off almost 2 weeks late and we pay the transporter their price. A few days go by and while we received the customer satisfaction email, we hear nothing about the reimbursement. We call them again and they promise to have a manager follow up about the reimbursement. We are still waiting to hear back on the reimbursement and are considering reporting this company to the Better Business Bureau. read more

Thanks to Donna at Colonial Van Lines helping work through some issues with the move, I i'm giving a five star rating. The individuals that came to do the work were outstanding and hard-working! Salt of the Earth/good people. read more

Colonial Van Lines promised a lot but delivered nothing. They lied about the pickup date as well as the delivery date and blamed the weather, other customers, drivers, payment and street street size. They refused to call back and failed to provide updates. Their empty promises and refusal to keep me updated cost me 5 extra days in a hotel as well as an extra day on my lease. Worse is I planned this move around daily treatment and follow up care for cancer and they really don't care their how their delays impact my care. Real horrible company. read more

Worst moving experience of my life, and I have had MANY! Broken big screen TV! Art boxes were promised--and paid for--for my collection. The silver and gold leaf frames had tape stuck to them. The tape was holding the old bits and pieces of scrap dog food boxes, etc! When the tape came off, so did the gold and silver leaf! Rude, crude unreliable "moving team"! Every--and I mean EVERY piece of furniture was chipped, scratched, dinged, dented, and smudged with black smears! No pads used! Antique family heirlooms tossed in boxes with NO WRAPPING WHATSOEVER! I reached out to Donna who was recommended as the representative who would get me results. NO RESOLUTION! I had to call the police as the "lead" mover refused to unload my possessions! The local firemen and the policemen moved things into the house! It was a nightmare. read more

Be careful with this company. I paid about $2500 more than the initially quoted price. There were some people from the company calling me afterwards saying that they will look into it but there was no follow up at all. Very unprofessional company. Stay away at any cost. read more

Publicpublished review 6/5/22 This company operates unethically. First, they purposely under estimate the moving cost ... then they send an 'expert' to revise the moving cost with on-site estimate. Then they hook you in with lies .. lie after lie. First they lie about the schedule, when you will be packed and loaded, when you will be delivered. Then they lie about the cost .. which they know to be low. Then you are hooked, signed a contract, and you find out the actual cost. Then the schedules .. more lies .. they know they can't make these schedules, and you will want to rely on them, but the schedules will all be blown. Bottom line: lies about cost, lies about service .. This company is dispicable and runs a scam. You will pay much much more than the contract amount. Every part of the schedule will be missed. Avoid this miserable company. read more

If I could give negative stars I would. EVERY box was packed without thought (like an open bag of flour with our children's toys) and many things broken. I had things organized into logical organization and they caused chaos. I was also intimidated by the man packing our items when I asked him to do basic things, like wrap a picture in bubble wrap, which he refused to do. They threw Christmas ornaments loose in a box that were previously organized, bent our antique bicycles and so much more. Thens of thousands of dollars in damage and after a year of battling it with ridiculous paperwork, we got a check for $450. From the start, everything was unfounded (like they pack our items so well) ...staff turnover is ridiculous. Their actions should be criminal. read more

Horrible company to work with. They ruined furniture, over charged us for the weight we had moved, and are now on the brink of going beyond a 120 day deadline to process our claim on all the damages. I would NEVER recommend this company to anyone!!!! read more

Updating my review to reflect my experience after having worked with Donna to resolve my claim. read more

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Absolutely horrible experience with this company. Not only was their service miserable but the movers they hired for us stole valuables from us. Stay far far away from them. The customer service resolution department (our direct contact was with Donna) did a very good job working with our complaints and we have resolved our issues with them. read more

Even though we scheduled our move two months in advance, we couldn't get an actual date for pick up of our household goods, but rather a time window of three days. Of course, the movers came the last day of the window, and had to come back the next day, not at the scheduled time, but an hour late. Every piece of furniture, whether an antique or brand new, was marked on their sheets, of which I never received a copy, as broken/scratched. We were given a 5 day window for delivery, and the movers arrived 4 days past the window. Most of our furniture will now need to be refinished, repaired, if possible, or just thrown out. Many of our boxes and crates were crushed and destroyed. Broken dishes, missing tools and equipment, and some items came so mangled and broken, they will need to be to discarded. In all the cross country moves I've made, this is the first time so many items were broken beyond repair. read more

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My newly pregnant wife and I moved from Austin, TX to Atlanta, GA and made a BIG MISTAKE paying up to $5k using Colonial Van Lines. Here's the story... Our move was scheduled months in advance and our pickup date was originally June 17. On the evening of June 15 we hear that our pickup date is being moved up to June 16 at 8am... We had to scramble to get our boxes fully packed and ready for loading a full day sooner and had barely any notice after months of planning. This also meant we had to spend an extra night sleeping on the floor before our planned departure. We assumed this earlier date would mean our stuff would arrive on the earlier side of our June 17- June 30 drop-off window. We were sadly very very wrong... After arriving in Atlanta at our empty home, my wife and I anxiously waited for updates on the drop-off date. Countless calls and unhelpful hours wasted trying to get ahold of someone, and we still had no update after a week of sleeping on the floor in an empty house. It is now JULY 6 (over 3 WEEKS LATER) and we still have ZERO UPDATES on when our stuff will arrive. We are well outside the already generous, and ridiculous 2 week window they estimated for delivery. When we finally do make contact with a representative the response is always, "unfortunately Dispatch does not have a projected delivery time yet"... After 3 weeks of sleeping on the floor or debating paying $200+ a night in a hotel, countless unhelpful customer managers and representatives, and still no update we are TRULY FED UP... AVOID COLONIAL VAN LINES AT ALL COST. There must be some sort of lawsuit for emotional distress for my pregnant wife... assuming our stuff ever arrives... UPDATE: It is July 7th and still NO DELIVERY NEWS read more

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY, they are the WORST moving company that I have ever experienced! Hands down! The full reason they are top ranked is because if you have an issue and they give you a small credit back they make you sign a non-disparaging agreement which means you cannot tell anyone how bad the experience was or they can sue you. The $200 credit they offered me was a slap in the face. My son was moving a studio apartment from Massachusetts to DC/Virginia. I was talked into this company by their sales rep, Zachary Velez. I was going to go with First National Van that was $300 cheaper but Colonial convinced me paying $2700 would get my sons furniture their safer and faster. Boy was that wrong. It was an 8 hour drive from one apartment to the other. My sales rep told me they would likely do it in two days at the longest it would arrive on Saturday. Wrong again, it took 8 days! To start the day of the move the driver called my son and told him he would be there in one hour. One hour and forty-five minutes later the driver showed up by HIMSELF! He kept telling my son that another person was on their way but no none ever showed up. He took numerous smoke breaks. It took this guy hours and hours to move everything from the studio apartment to the truck. My son and I called Colonial everyday, multiple times no one ever updated us. When I would call my sales rep he would transfer me to dispatch and they would RUDELY tell me that they had no update or that someone would call back. I cannot even count how many times they told me that someone would call to update and never did. A lot times the rep or dispatch or customer service would say they called me but got no answer. Which is ridiculous, this is 2023 I have an iphone if they truly called they could have left a message. Bottom line, they never called. When you are moving into a city apartment you have to reserve the elevators and unloading area. Colonial also charges if their drivers have to walk more than 75 feet to unload. So we needed to know when they were arriving. Eight days after they picked up my sons stuff they arrived at the new apartment. The truck that contained my sons stuff had been towed. At least that is what East Coast Van lines (that Colonial had hired) told my son. A top manager, Aaron Seusaran from Colonial offered to give me a $200 credit if I would sign a non-disparaging agreement toward Colonial. Aaron also refused to give me his last name, He told me it was company policy but my rep Zachary Velez told me that was not true. Aaron also told me that it was planned to only have one mover pick up my sons stuff which was also not true because Zachary, my sales rep told me there should have been two movers. I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND GOING WITH ANY OTHER MOVING COMPANY OTHER THAN COLONIAL. THEY ARE A DISASTER OF A COMPANY! read more

As part of a settlement with Donna at Colonial, I agreed to write a balanced three-star review. Readers who don't feel like plodding through my whole review should know that while the folks at Colonial are unfailingly pleasant and reasonable, they often subcontract out to other movers, who may or may not be pleasant and reasonable. Ours at Cal Van Lines were not. And when push came to shove, Cal Van Lines called the shots. Move-in day was horrific, mostly because of poor communication from Cal Van Lines. Although I had been told that the driver would accept a credit card upon delivery, at the last minute Cal Van Lines insisted on the terms of the contract: cash or money order. They insisted on that before they would even begin unloading. Given more notice, I would have been able to get either. Having just come to town, I had no local bank. I wasted time around town; eventually I had to rely on an old friend to bring me a stack of Benjamins, which I counted out to the driver on the street like a drug dealer (in full view of my new neighbors). The result of this is that they did not begin unloading until 1 pm. And they had to leave at 5 pm because the curbside parking permit ended then. Much of the damage detailed below is a direct result of that rush. The stress of this was enormous, especially for someone who had heart surgery last year. My advice: If they promise you can pay in any way other than cash or money order, get it in writing. And have cash or money order on hand just in case. Reading reviews of this and other moving companies, one encounters more woe than I experienced. Nothing was lost in my move. More than half of my stuff arrived undamaged. I didn't have a heart attack. And I have been promised a settlement: $318 from Cal Van Lines for damages plus $300 from Colonial. Lower ratings should be reserved for more serious loss. Further details: From the start, at every opportunity, I made clear the necessity of having advance notice of the move-in date. Our condominium building only allows one move per day (in or out). It requires notice so that they can put pads on the elevator. And the city requires a $120 permit for reserving space on the curb for a moving van. After several weeks of waiting, I finally reached someone who gave me a date. I arranged for elevator pads and the curb permit and sat in the empty condo, only to be told they would come a day later. I had to reapply for the parking permit and the city had to change the signs. Another last-minute stressor: I was told there would be an extra charge for transferring the furniture to a shuttle (which turned out to be a U-Haul truck). I overheard one of the movers saying they had also transferred the load to a third truck in Bakersfield. All this moving from truck to truck no doubt led to some of the damage. I was absolutely honest with Colonial's Thomas Smith about the items we were moving. I left nothing out. In fact, a refrigerator that was part of the original estimate was not moved (we decided to leave it in California). And yet, the cost based on weight went up. I have never worked at a circus. I can't tell the weight of things by looking at them. I leave that to professionals. When the estimate was made, Colonial should have determined whether or not a shuttle van would be necessary and should have included that in the promised price. Colonial and Cal are moving companies; they should understand that getting a money order in a town where one has not yet had time to open a bank account is difficult. If you're going to insist on that method of payment, you need to give the customer considerable notice. Fortunately, we had a friend in town who heard of our dilemma and brought us cash; the driver accepted that. But half the day was gone. They started unloading at 1 pm. That wasted time led to a rushed delivery. The chrome trim on the elevator was knocked off. Our front door was dented. Debris was left in the common areas. Items - like our bikes, our bed, our bookcases - that had been taken apart by the movers at some point were not put back together. Heavy items were banged around. Beyond the aggravation is the consideration of time. Is the customer's time worth anything? There is the wasted day sitting and waiting in the empty condo, and all the time fixing broken stuff. A few pieces of china were broken and arrived in a box that had a hole punched in the side; there was no compensation for this because it was "packed by owner." A treasured chest of drawers that has been in the family for 150 years was split on the side. There were marks on the wood floor. A small table was gouged. A bookcase was wrecked (no compensation here because it was fiberboard - read the small print in your contract). There were various chips and dents. In their haste to leave when the clock struck five, the movers left debris in various common areas of the condo building. Not a great experience. But it could have been worse. read more

Update: I'm editing my review back to 1 star since it is morally reprehensible for Colonial Van Lines to extort good or even neutral reviews for money. I don't need $430 that bad. They will only refund money when you sign an NDA, edit online reviews, and retract complaints with the BBB. If they're not getting sued all the time, they should be. View their BBB complaints that they couldn't buy off here: https://www.bbb.org/us/fl/pompano-beach/profile/moving-companies/colonial-van-lines-inc-0633-90045426/complaints File an easy BBB complaint here: https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started Edit: I'm editing this to 3 stars because I was told I need to do that in order to have money refunded to me. Donna, the resolutions manager is currently working with me to resolve this issue. I will update if and when I receive my refund. There were only two moving companies that could service my area..I should have went with the other one. This is by far the worst customer service experience I have ever had. When you pay a company tens of thousands of dollars for a service you would expect them to be punctual and respectful. That is not the case with Colonial Van Lines. If you're reading this review, PLEASE DO NOT BOOK A MOVE WITH COLONIAL VAN LINES. I'll just copy and paste my Better Business Bureau complaint for more details: I was lied to multiple times during my interactions with Colonial Van Lines and I paid for services they did not provide. January 31, 2020 I had a follow up initial sales call with James C. with Colonial Van Lines. He detailed the moving process and how Colonial Van Lines could help us move from Oregon to Iowa. He explained how the process would not take long and how teams of people would load and unload items quickly. I agreed to work with Colonial Van Lines and was switched to Latoya A. as an account manager. My estimated cost then went from $8,274.25 to $10,966.40 with little explanation other than estimated weight increase despite them taking a detailed inventory of my belongings before the initial estimate. Latoya lied to me about pick up date and pushed the pickup date back with little notice (calling 6 pm the night before to they won't be there tomorrow). Our belongings were finally packed on March 7, 2020, not the 3rd or 4th as James C. told me would happen but technically within their unreasonable pickup window. Latoya told me she "was not obligated to tell me where my belongings are" after the truck with our belongings sat in Oregon from March 7, 2020 to March 14, 2020. This individual argued with me for 28 minutes because I asked her to do her job and find my things. During the week that the truck sat in Oregon, Latoya lied and speculated that it must be on the way and stopping at other jobs. I was told I did not book an "exclusive truck" and this is the reason why it sat there. I was not offered an "exclusive truck" and did not know that existed. I knew what James C. told me would happen. I believe their sales tactics are deceptive and dishonest. I would not have booked this service had I been told the truth that everything I own would sit in a truck for a week before it moved anywhere--A WEEK! Only ONE person showed up to pack up a 4 bedroom house, this took 16+ hours and caused my husband to be late to signing on our new home in Iowa. My husband and family members did the majority of the packing that I paid for Colonial Van Lines to compete. Jared B and his boss Roxanne H agreed to refund me $430 for poor service at pickup. I did not think this was enough but agreed so that I could be done with the issue. It is now April 22, 2020 and I have not received that money back. Instead Roxanne is now telling me that amount is a "mistake" and she can only give me $200. I would like that full amount I was promised of $430. Quite frankly, I believe I am owed the $1,789.60 they charged me for packing since my family did the majority of the work. In actuality, they ended up charging me more for packing than their original estimates. I had to pay even more than estimated for a service I DID NOT RECEIVE--insane. In what world does a customer have an issue, the company agrees to a specific amount in compensation, then one month later they say oh nevermind we made a mistake and told you the wrong amount? That does not change the fact that that resolution is what I agreed to and what I expect you to stand by even if someone in your terrible company made a "mistake". Their MO is definitely 'make everything so difficult and technically within in the contract that the customer just gives up'. They finally showed up in Iowa on March 17, 2020--a week after we signed on our new home. Only two people unloaded a whole 4 bedroom house. I have damaged items that I am attempting to resolve with the Colonial Van Lines claims department. Thus far nothing has been resolved and I fear this will also be a nightmare for me. read more

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I moved from IL to NC in January, 2024. I was initially skeptical about using this company because the reviews were quite concerning. The gentleman named Drexel was reassuring, consistently following up and I eventually signed up. Apart from a few issues with miscommunication and sometimes calls/emails not being returned, I had a very good experience overall. The driver, Jean and the guys who loaded at origin and the one who unloaded at destination were very professional, helpful and did a great job! I have now finally unpacked my boxes and there was hardly any damage to my stuff. Their prices are comparable with other companies. The default insurance coverage is really low at .60cents per pound, but there was the option to buy full coverage which I did not. Thankfully, I had no damage to report. My overall experience was a good one and I am pleased with the services. I'd like to give a shout out to Drexel, Bridghet, and Jean who are the Colonial Van lines staff that I worked with during my move. read more

I wanted to update my last review since it took six months for someone to respond here, let alone, hear from this company the worst "company of professional moving business" the quotes are because that's a joke, personally since submitting my claims paperwork and photos to the "claims office". Any review above 1 star, is fake don't be fooled, every other review is true, honest real, from real people who has really used and was ripped off by colonial. Save yourself heartache and heartbreak DO NOT contact this company unless your belongings doesn't mean anything to you and you can do without them either not showing up for months or broken when finally delivered, missing items that you WILL BE CHARGED EXTRA FOR and definitely costing three times more than originally quoted and extortion if delivered. where's my resolution? i'm sure he'll freeze over before there is any. I posted pictures of the missing and broken items, As well as garbage filled boxes that their movers packed themselves for me instead of taking what I had already boxed and went over repeatedly as to what items were supposed to be picked up and delivered and again being charged extra for extra weight and never receiving a follow up from the claims department let alone resolution which for me would be a refund they need to refund all of us half of the money in fact how about just the extra money that you charged us on top of, you know the extortion money for delivery of our belongings. this company is a fraudulent fraud fake moving companies who deserve to be raided and busted for being fake fraudulent movers read more

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They sell a good product over the phone, but their estimator was about #5000 too light, they sent too small of a truck. They will charge me for the actual weight. (That's sometimes called a "bait and switch"). After they finally picked up the stuff they didn't move it out of their warehouse for.... who knows? it's been in the warehouse for a week and a half with no idea when it's going to start the journey to our new house. They totally blew through the original estimated delivery window with no idea when the stuff will come. UPDATE: Now, 33 days after their subcontractor packed our stuff, it has still not left the warehouse in New Jersey. My family has lived in our empty house in Colorado for an entire month. Colonial's dispatchers have changed their "estimated delivery window" 3 times, and have not given a new one. They say they'll compensate us for the inconvenience, but have not said how, since they ruined a month of our family's summer. Do not use this company. read more

I would not recommend this company to anyone, as a matter of fact I would tell everyone to stay far away. Let's begin at calling to schedule the move. The salesman, Carlston, said that he would be with us from the very beginning to when our items showed up and would even follow up after. I think he meant he would be with us until he has our deposit. On the day of pickup, they arrived 4 hours after they were scheduled too, leaving us to drive late into the night to make it to our first stop of the cross country road trip. At the day of pickup, we now have a new representative reaching out to us, Bridghet. Where did Carlston go? Now let's fast forward 5 days to the first day of the drop off window(12/19/2023). We didn't hear anything from the company as to where our items were. Since it was cross country, I wasn't expecting our items that fast anyways. On 12/23/2023 we received a call that our items would be delivered on 12/27 or 12/28. On 12/27 WE had to reach out to the company to find out where our items were. We were assured by Bridghet that our items would 100% be delivered on 12/28. On 12/28 we called again and found out that our items were still on the road and wouldn't be delivered until 12/31. Why weren't we informed sooner? Management states it's because they just found out on the morning of 12/28, but management could not answer why there was a lack of communication in finding out the delivery date before the date of delivery. Overall terrible company and on the day of delivery, we find out they're a BROKER. Even the deliver driver said he would never do business with Colonial Van Lines again. Save your stress and find another company that actually communicates with you. After this review was posted on Google and BBB, I have been contacted by the resolution manager, Donna, who has offered compensation outside of the damaged goods. But she asked if I would update the rating to a 5 based on her service. So the company is paying people off to have a high rating. Don't fall for the scam that this company is doing. read more

Complete and utter disaster - avoid at all cost! Where to begin... The first thing to note is that this company is a brokerage firm, where they contract through different local moving companies on each end of the move. The communication between Colonial and the movers who picked up our things in MN, as well as the movers who dropped our things in Vegas was clearly disconnected leading to a lot of frustration on both ends. It took 3 full weeks from the day they arrived in MN to when they dropped our things in Las Vegas. FYI, if they are past their moving window they only reimburse $30/day, meaning them being 7 days late only amounted to $210. We had a lot of uncertainty at every step of the way. When Colonial finally called to confirm a pickup time in MN they advised it would be the next day between 10AM-2PM. About 40 minutes later the local movers called to say they'd be at our house in 30 minutes. We simply were not ready and had to talk to both parties numerous times to confirm they'd arrive the next day at 7AM. However that slight inconvenience was nothing compared to the drop off. I called almost every day asking for an ETA in the last week of the move since they were so late. When we finally received an ETA that Friday, advising they would be there Saturday morning. We waited around all day/night Saturday and no one ever came. I called Colonial about 6 times and they kept saying they were trying to contact the movers but they should still be there. Complete waste of a Saturday. They finally ended up coming on Tuesday (3 hours past the window given on Monday). The movers were the worst I have seen where we had to really watch them to try to get them to bring boxes/furniture into the correct rooms and they kept trying to dump them all downstairs in the living room so they could leave. Finally, as an FYI they estimate based on your items approximate weight. Meaning even if your inventory list is 100% accurate you still may be charged more if their system weight per item doesn't align to your things. We ended up adding 4 medium boxes, a step stool, and two dining room chairs and were charged $1.5K more. When I called to complain they said, "oh that was just an estimate." At the end of the day, only medium damage to our things (I didn't even bother submitting for reimbursement because I never want to talk to this company again). Don't book with them unless you're happy signing up for a lot of uncertainty and headache. read more

Movers showed up nearly two weeks later than last day of estimated window. This was after they showed up at 9:30 PM to actually collect the items (2 hours later than when they said they would be there). Then when I did get my items they were damages due to the poor packing and I imagine, overly long time in a truck. Communication was terrible, at one point reaching out to us to see if "we had heard from the movers" (the handed off the work to Ortiz Movers). Then when I received the bill they neglected to take the proper amount off the bill for the actual days missed. I had to call it out and have them correct it. I will never use this company or Ortiz again. I will tell anyone who listens to not use them. I have documentation for all of this. read more

Most of my things have finally arrived in one piece and the nightmare is over. Ann e boyer is a slick little con artist who will try to sell this company as reliable. Don't believe a word she says. Lost a box with priceless art made by my deceased grandfather. Most of the boxes even though they were packed and reinforced very well arrived torn apart. broken valuables that are too light to be worth spending any more hours of my life talking to the claims department. They outsource the move to other companies. they blow up your phone until your belongings are on whatever bozos they have outsourced the job to's truck and then you are lucky to get an update ever again. the guys they outsourced the job to stank of weed and had me signing someone elses paperwork on pickup. overall the worst experience i have ever had with any company ever. avoid at all costs read more

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH COLONIAL VAN LINES! The president of Colonial Van Lines is Aldo DiSorbo (https://www.linkedin.com/in/disorboaldo/), who has been taking advantage of customers for at least 25 years. In 1997, the state of Florida banned him from the moving and storage industry for three years for "using tactics such as low-ball bidding to draw in customers and then raising the prices -- sometimes holding the consumers' goods hostage." He ignored that ban and was sentence to jail in 2000, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel (https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2000-06-09-0006090259-story.html). SUMMARY: Colonial's employees are only helpful and efficient until they get your money. Then they will stop returning phone calls, miss pickup and delivery dates and completely ghost you for weeks. When your stuff finally arrives weeks later, your things will be damaged, scratched or smashed; they will demand more money than you owe just to take your items off the truck and they will promise refunds but never deliver. DETAILS: My partner and I arranged a move from Connecticut to Florida in May. Colonial didn't arrive on the pick-up date. Two days later a company we'd never heard of showed up -- BCM Relocation of Clifton, NJ! Colonial had assured us repeatedly that they did not use subcontractors so this was a red flag but we had to get our furniture to Florida so we let them load up our stuff. I wish I'd used a GPS monitor to track the location of our furniture. We arrived at our new house in Florida on June 12. We were told that the moving truck would arrive in Florida on June 13-14. They truck did not show up. Nobody from Colonial or BCM would return our phone calls or emails. We were frantic! We had no idea where our things were or who had them. We had an empty house and a couple of changes of clothes - that's it. We had to buy pillows, dishes, cutlery, pots, pans, etc. We were rudely told by Colonial that they legally had until June 19 to deliver our belongings. Colonial blamed BCM for the delay (although they lied to use about not using subcontractors). BCM said their truck broke down in New Jersey and they didn't have another one. Side note: One of the reasons we hired Colonial was because they're based in Florida and our rep told us "we have trucks running up and down the East Coast all the time." Our belongings finally arrived on July 4 - 20 DAYS LATE! They were delivered by a third company we'd never heard of, Seamless Moving. The driver was elderly and in poor health and could not unload the truck. He required me to pay more than I owed according to the Colonial paperwork in my hand but I honestly wanted to get my things and be done with the situation so I paid what he asked. I had to wait about 2.5 hours for two men to arrive and they did the unloading while the elderly, sick Seamless driver napped in his cab. Unbeknownst to me, they'd been hired the night before and had never worked with Colonial / BCM / Seamless but they worked hard so I tipped them and thanked them. When I finally got to look at all of my belongings, I could see that many of the items were scratched - not surface scratches but deep, irreparable scratches - and a large lamp was shattered. We have called and emailed Donna at Colonial asking for our refund. She agreed via email that either Colonial or BCM owed us $364.52 (though by our accounting it's more like $450 and that doesn't include the expenses we incurred as a result of having to buy dishes, pillows, etc. while Colonial and BCM held our things hostage, or the damages to our items) but Colonial and BCM have ghosted us again. Neither one will respond to us and neither one has refunded our money. read more

Showed up a day late, mis-estimated the space we needed in the truck and had to leave stuff behind. The truck started leaking after a light rain. Week late delivering. Everything was stuffed carelessly in really large, mislabeled boxes. Both leads complained about the company. Items broken. Got a phone call from them that promised to address the issues but never heard back. $30k cross country move that cost me thousands more in headache and lost / damaged items. DO NOT use Colonial!!! read more

TERRIBLE moving company. Still eating after over two weeks for even an update on when my things will get here. NOTHING. My back is starting to hurt from sleeping on an air mattress and standing to work since I don't have any chairs. I need my work from home desk. I would never suggest using this company. It is not standard to wait this long, plenty of my colleagues have had to move and no one has had this experience. I'm so extremely frustrated. And they have the nerve to call to go over the price which has also gone up multiple times. At this point I have no idea when I'll get my things. Neither do they apparently. Terrible service. 0/10 would never recommend. Heed to the warning. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE. read more

If you want to pay $9500 for you items to be damaged, then boy do I have the company for you. To summarize: 1) They do not care for their trucks so if it rains, your stuff will likely get water damaged 2) They only honor claims within 3-4 months if your items are damaged. They do this by weigh (60 cents per pound) unless you purchase insurance. I was encouraged by the pickup driver to not purchase insurance and wow do I regret it. 3) They will attempt to come outside of the delivery window and will charge extra if you are not packed (even if they come outside of the dates they tell you). This happened to be both on pickup and delivery. 4) It is very hard to find claims information 5) They will try to double charge you. My bill was $3000 more than it should have been on delivery day. It was a mistake I had to fight, and at the time I was being PRESSURED into authorizing my credit card. They apply pressure and give you short deadlines so you don't catch their mistakes until it is too late. DON'T SIGN ANYTHING UNTIL YOU ACTUALLY READ IT 6) Delivery drivers are very, very, very rude. One called me a bitch to his movers in Spanish for not packing all of my items (even though they came a day early). The other driver I had lied about the damage to my items to Colonial and tried to convince me the water damage was my fault by saying "my furniture just wasn't meant to be moved" 7) Some of the movers were awesome people. Others vomited in my house on delivery day. 8) Lastly- I wasn't presented with any documents to physically sign upon delivery. The driver did not record anything about the water damage. The driver did not document the items that were delivered either. Some of my things were also lost in the move, so now that I am trying to file a claim, I have no way to "prove" this loss, as colonial requires pictures of items for claims. I was once again pressured into signing an electronic copy of the contract after the delivery driver already left, and was encouraged to sign it as soon as possible without recording any of the lost or damaged items, in spite of the fact that the form itself states to record any losses or damage. To be clear- the form says to record this information, but you are forced to sign it electronically and are not given any space to record the losses when signing. I had to ask multiple times for the contract to allow space for me to type in what happened. I moved about a year ago with a small moving company and didn't have any of these issues. So there are better companies out there. Please, save yourself read more

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