Services - Colonial Van Lines
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Our recent moving experience with Colonial Van Lines was highly unsatisfactory and was compounded by the company's claims processes that appear to effectively limit their compensation obligations. The cost for our interstate move of approximately 500 miles ended up at $14,361.67 - more than $3,000 higher than the original quote because of "additional packaging charges." We packed most items ourselves yet the moving crew decided to repack numerous items at their discretion levying an additional charge. The moving crew also did not take care in adequately protecting many expensive furniture items, which were damaged during the move including a cherry work desk, a living room couch and outdoor patio chairs. Prior to the actual move, we paid an additional premium to declare a higher value for our items hoping to protect ourselves from damages during the move. However, the higher coverage value comes with a $1,000 deductible. The damage claims process required extensive information and photographs of the damaged items along with a bill of lading. Based on our calculations the damage to our furniture exceeded several thousand dollars. After carefully following the company's claims procedure, many months later we were offered a "settlement" of $450 with the requirement to sign a full non-disclosure agreement. We expressed our displeasure with the offer but received no further communications with the company. In our view, much of our dissatisfaction could have been avoided with better upfront communications,, particularly on charges for the move. Needless to say, we cannot recommend this company for any interstate moves.

Whatever you do, do NOT use this company to move your belongings. They will lose them, damage them, lie to you about prices, up-charge you, and ghost you. 1. They were weeks late on promised delivery window 2. They moved my belongings 4 times before it arrived to me. (That I know of.) 3. Many, many pieces of furniture has been ruined or broken, including my TV (despite it being in a protected box) 4. They ARE a broker, despite assuring you they aren't (Colonial Van Lines did not pick up or drop off my things, Apex Moving did.) 5. They lost many of my valuable possessions. Boxes, furniture parts, shoes, hardware for my bed, legs to multiple tables, expensive pots and dish ware. All of it is just gone. 6. They added over $600 in fees after pickup, claiming that 17 boxes were used to pack my things (completely false) and when my things were finally delivered, they wouldn't release it all until I agreed to pay the remaining charges that I didn't agree to. (I was given a small discount from the brokered movers of $140 towards the $600). Once we loaded everything, there were only 4 boxes that were used, not the 17 I was charged for. I've been trying to work with the company for over 2 months now with finding my things and receiving compensation for the damages. The manager I was working with was let go and no one called to tell me so I was ghosted for weeks. I keep being told they will reach out to dispatch and that dispatch will get in touch with me to find my things, but dispatch never does. I'm heartbroken that I spent thousands just for this company to lose sentimental items that I cannot replace. Learn from everyone's mistakes on here and just use someone else.

They are a terrible moving company. I moved from LA to CA for work. The delayed my delivery 3x despite giving me a 1 week window since pick up. I was forced to alter my plans in order to wait for their delivery but they kept delaying it. They attempted to discount my final amount, however, I already paid them. Right now, I have $60 that they have yet to send back my way. It's been over 2 months and nothing. I even spoke with their manager, Bruce, who said he'd call me to discuss compensation after they send only ONE mover to deliver my stuff, the truck driver. I had to hire outside movers to help unload my things. I was truly overwhelmed and disappointed by this company and hope you reconsider another.

DO NOT HIRE COLONIAL VAN LINES!!! They do not care about their customers, use shady tactics, nothing they said would happen did, only cared about the money, didn't pickup or deliver as we were told, every person I spoke to read scripted responses for every interaction, additional fees and deposits extorted from me with threats of not delivering if I didn't pay, contracts only protect the movers not the consumer so beware before signing and have an attorney review! This experience was dehumanizing, anxiety attack inducing, highly stressful and very unprofessional! When our things were finally delivered by a third party contracted out by Colonial, our boxes were all crushed, things were broken and dirt and debris caked over everything!!!!!!! They didn't care and don't care and probably will read this and still not care! Nothing short of a full refund on my deposit and a full written apology would come close to making up for the absolute lack of respect for our hard earned money, unprofessional handling of our items and complete failure to execute the move as conveyed. Even after I expressed my severe disappointment and asked to be contacted by management many times nobody from Colonial ever did!

Absolutely awful! Avoid at all costs. They are a broker acting like a mover. They sent my contract to Posh Moving Services of Las Vegas. Disastrous! First, they gave no information as to how long they would take to pickup my stuff. I was all packed at 8am as I was told. They didn't finish until midnight in THE SECOND DAY! I had to sleep on my floor! Second, they gave no notice of when they would deliver, just 30 minutes. Third, there was so much damage! Bookcases destroyed, entertainment center dusted, and boxes marked fragile came crumpled! I'm glad I took out the Full Insurance, but knowing them now, I'll bet they won't pay. Finally, they told me three days ago, they would send me an updated price via Rerates, but they did not. I paid full price to Posh. Get your act together!

I hired Colonial for a move from NJ to Illinois. They assured me that they are not a broker and are the actual Movers. They will tell you that "we have a DOT number and you shouldn't deal with brokers"...They are %100 brokers. I promise a company called APEX Moving will show up at your move. Colonial will be nowhere in site. When Colonial gives you a date on when your belongings will be delivered, make sure to make the date as close as possible. Example: If they say your stuff can be delivered August 4 - 11. Your belongings will come the 11th. It gives them more time to look through your stuff. Since Colonial Van Lines gets their cut as a broker, the first thing APEX will do is try to upcharge you. They tried charging me 2700 to box up my televisions which were supposed to be already included. The driver must get a cut of whatever they upcharge. They were supposed to come to my house with a tractor trailer for moving a 5 bedroom house. They showed up with a box truck. They taped my furniture to the back of the moving truck. They will pack up your belongings onto the truck, than unload your belongings at their facilities, search for any valuables, repack the boxes, than pack up your stuff in a new truck and send it to you. Make that make sense. The worst part, they blatantly stole an 80inch TV from me. One TV just disappeared. They will steal thousands from you and than send you a settlement for a few hundred dollars. That's a great business plan. Steal a lot more than what you are paying out. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!

BEWARE!!!! Do not hire this company for your move!! If I could rate a zero I would. I don't want more people to go through the nightmare we did. We have moved 9 times in the past 26 years, and have never experienced such a horrible moving experience. I don't even think the people who packed our belongings were even movers. They had no idea how to pack. They just put breakables and electronics all together in boxes with no wrapping. They also left our house a mess. Trash everywhere, spit out sunflower seeds on the floors, bottles with sunflower seeds left everywhere, spilt soda on the floor that they walked through and got it sticky everywhere. My husband bought them pizza and they left pizza crusts on the window sills. Not only were many of our belongings broken upon arrival, they forgot a portion of our things at our old residence. Since we moved to a different state, we are now trying to figure out how to get that stuff to us, let alone out of the house we are trying to sell. We have been told many times they were taking care of it, then suddenly they stopped communicating with us, won't pick up any of our phone calls, nor return any of our calls. The movers who picked up our stuff and delivered our stuff never gave us any paperwork or an inventory list. This whole process has been a complete nightmare and I can't believe there are companies who conduct their business like this. So shady!! If you are looking for a moving company, I can't stress enough to stay away from this company!!!
3 years ago
Long post, but read to be prepared for the process. My experience with Colonial Van Lines has been far from satisfactory, and I feel compelled to share my concerns. Firstly, the logistics of the move were a nightmare. The promised arrival time was not met and all items in home were not loaded onto the truck due to poor organization of the vehicle, causing unnecessary delays and inconveniences on my end. This resulted in a chaotic and stressful moving day which didn't end until 11:45 p.m. on May 31st, which was the opposite of what I had expected when I hired their services. The we scheduled to pack one day and load the next, but that did not happen. Secondly, communication throughout this process was severely lacking. It was incredibly frustrating to have limited updates on the status of my move and to have my items handled so many times (home, to truck, to storage, to truck, to storage, to truck, to home). For security of my belongings, I packed a couple AirTags. Phone calls and emails went unanswered for extended periods, leaving me feeling uninformed, anxious about the progress and condition of my belongings. Not to mention, my final invoicing quote changed multiple times within the last month. Ended up paying more than originally invoiced to accept delivery of 15% damaged items and 85% undamaged. Moreover, the condition in which my furniture arrived at the destination was unacceptable and heartbreaking. Several pieces were visibly damaged and not in original packing, and some irreplaceable sentimental items were irreparably harmed and destroyed during the transportation process. Even the movers moving my items into our new home commented on the lack of care and condition of the storage unit where my items had been moved to by Colonial. This has left me deeply distressed and disappointed with the care their team took with my possessions. I believe that a reputable moving company should prioritize effective communication, punctuality, and the safe delivery of its customers' belongings. My experience with Colonial Van Lines has fallen far short of these expectations, and I am left with a sense of regret for choosing their services. I kindly request that you address these issues promptly and provide a resolution to the damage caused to my furniture. Additionally, I believe there is a need for significant improvements their logistics and communication processes to ensure that other customers do not have to endure the frustration and stress that my family and I have experienced. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Christina,…
6 years ago
Where to begin. Okay the "Happy" part. I called to get a quote on moving from Charlotte NC to Hilton Head Island South Carolina. I spoke to a sales rep named Tony Darden. Tony was fantastic at first and answered all my questions and told me he would be my contact through the whole experience. Then the LIES started. I asked if colonial Van lines was a broker and was told by Tony "Great question - no we are not. The movers coming to your house will be employees of Colonial". Not True. I was given a two day window of when the company would show up ... As the days get closer I still didn't have an actual date. A day and a half before the "range" I heard back. I had a day to finish packing. Then the customer service rep switched to a lady by the name of Ashley Moore. What ?? What happened to Tony? That guy never returned one of the five calls I made to him. Okay Ashley now.... Trying to communicate with Ashley it was like banging my head against the wall. It was very difficult to communicate with her. Still is. Ashley did call right when the truck was pulling into the driveway in Hilton head to asked me about the items.... How could I answer when the items were still on the truck. She said she would call me back. Still waiting and I am missing items. The only prompt phone calls I got from this company where when they were calling to collect their money. The actual movers that were brokered in were very nice guys who did a good job. I was a little disappointed though that they did walk into my house without wearing PPE during COVID. But when I put my mask on they did the same. Do not ...do not.... do not use this company! Moving is stressful enough. You don't deserve to be lied to. Hope this helps someone read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
This review violates Yelp's privacy standards a couple times by…
7 years ago
We were contacted by Donna and asked to take down the review and change our rating to a five star review, and in return we would get $400. THIS IS INSULTING!!! $400 does not even begin to cover the damages that were done to our personal property. This company feels that they can just brush off what they did with $400, the amount of damage to our personal property is in the THOUSANDS! I would rather have the satisfaction of letting everyone out there who plan on using them know the truth than get $400. Why would they think the damage to my personal property is only worth $400, we paid thousands to them to ensure they take good care of our stuff. WARNING, to anyone that is considering their service. Take a look at my photos! read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
I sincerely apologize on behalf of Colonial Van Lines for the…
5 years ago
Please read whole review. Only reason our rating is being changed is because of the incredible experience we had with Donna. Donna was able to get us our deposit back that the company originally did not want to give us. She truly cares about her customers. Thank you, Donna! Donna is great. I would give this company a 0 if I could. We scheduled our move well in advanced and spoke with customer service reps the week prior and 2 days before... everything seemed to be Going fine. The day of the move, the movers were suppose to arrive between 8am-12pm. By 2:30pm, they still hasn't shown up. Apparently, since they were not from nyc they did not know how to get around the city and drove around for over 2 hrs. I asked dispatch why we weren't called to help and they said they didn't know. We also couldn't reach our customer service person all day. When the movers finally arrived at 2:30pm, they came upstairs to then go downstairs and I watch them then drive away... I called Dispatch again and finally was told they received a ticket and had to find new parking. They came back 1 hour later and told us they could not do the move and would have to come back tomorrow. We told them to forget it. To add to the frustration, we were told we would have atleast 3 movers and 2 guys showed up looking like they decided to become movers that morning. They had no materials and did not even run through our inventory list with them. I truly hope whoever considers booking this company reads this and reconsiders. Your day will only go from bad to worse working this company. read more
3 years ago
If there was a negative star I would utilize that as my choice. This company is the most unprofessional group ever. From the ignorant, robotic, and inconsiderate group of supervisors, account managers and follow up team to the delivery itself. IF YOU USE THEM YOU WILL REGRET IT. Damages to our belongings, breach of contract, confirmations not fulfilled, bullying attitudes and not giving any consideration to the customer. The sales people are good they tell you what you want to hear. But the product and services provided are the complete opposite. If you want to work with the worse moving company in the business go ahead. Wait til the movers show up and they don't speak English or Spanish for that matter and smell like the slept in a barn of horse manure the night before. They don't care about your items no matter how precious they are to you nor do they care about your mental state and put you through hoops you can't imagine. The contract says they will wrap your furniture and dressers etc. These clowns wrapped nothing. Even a group of 12 year olds could do the job better. Hope you get a full crew we had 2 people to move our 2000+ sq foot home and were quoted 4 (good job sales team) During the unload the movers smelt worse the 2nd day then the first. We even gave them towels to cool off and it was really so they would wipe their hands clean and not mess up any more of our items. Nonetheless, stains all over our unwrapped couches, night stands damaged, and massive nicks taken out of my office desk. They damaged our brand new home we even asked them multiple times to be careful but 2 guys to do the job is ridiculous. Then they act as if they did nothing wrong. But the whole in a brand new wall doesn't bother them. Then they call you a million times asking for feedback but they don't want to hear how you truly feel. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND PAY THE EXTRA FOR A MORE REPUTABLE COMPANY IT IS NOT WORTH THE AGONY AND STRESS IN THE LONG RUN. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Bryan Smythe,…
6 years ago
I did not notice damage to my chest of drawers at the time of delivery, and they denied coverage. The moving company knocked a chunk off the rear foot of the chest of drawers. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Mr. Samodovitz,…
4 years ago
I paid almost $11,000 for this move. The company was hounding my husband and I to pay the balance even before the truck arrived. Our shipment arrived today and two pieces of furniture were completely destroyed and more pieces damaged. Boxes that I packed carefully, crushed, caved in. I am completely beside myself. Do not use this company. I am beyond upset. read more
6 years ago
I am updating my review because Donna of conflict resolution helped me with my complaints. The delays of my move due to the actual company they contract with to do the move of course were still a problem she couldn't fix but she listened and I hope will take them to management. At least she was very helpful. The actual movers themselves would not and will not get more than 2 stars. They only get those stars because the guys were so nice once they were there and the guys that brought my belongings to my new home were also so pleasant and efficient. Thanks Donna for all your concern and your help. read more
7 years ago
UPDATE - Still do not have the rest of my belongings. After thinking that we had come to a resolution, and a few MORE delivery delays...I was promised the rest of my shipment would be here by 7 AM this morning. It is now 8:07 AM and guess what....NO DELIVERY! I was clear with Leon and Donna that delivery had to occur early this morning since I had to go to work. I have had to change my work schedule so many times over the past two months that after today, I may be in jeopardy of losing my job. Donna had asked me to update this review with five stars since we came to a resolution before I received my items. Glad I refused.....and actually, I wish I could take away a few more stars. COLONIAL VAN LINES - WHERE'S MY STUFF!!! read more
7 years ago
We heard back from Colonial Van Lines this week, and after close to a year of discussion, they have shared that they will refund a portion of our moving costs in 2 payments vs spread out over 90 days. It does not cover our losses, etc., however, we want to end this chapter with them and "move on." CVL, Donna in your resolution's department is a treasure and I would give her work and efforts 5+ stars if I could. I can't say enough about her work and efforts--thank you, Donna. She's someone you should not only keep, but use as an example of customer service; problem solving; and perhaps, provide training to your company's staff. She was not nasty or dishonest, she did not threaten or dismiss us and our loss as other staff members did. I was asked, and agreed, to update my post to reflect that we have currently, and hopefully, agreed to a resolution to this matter. I do want to share that they did not make this update a requirement to receive the refund--- as we would not abide by that type of behavior/request. The increase in the star is based solely on Donna's efforts to address this matter. The post will be updated again, to share both the timing of receipt of our refund and if the Colonial Van Lines has indeed, followed through on its word. read more
7 years ago
I heard from the claims department to discuss the issues and sent me forms. The 2 issues were the delayed pickup and missing mattress. I was told they would take care of the delay expenses once everything was paid and then they would review. Now I am told only 1 claim will be reviewed. THIS COMPANY IS A SHAM!!!!! DO NOT USE THEM-THEY ARE UNRELIABLE!!! read more
6 years ago
Our move was terrible. They damaged and broke furniture, glassware and other items. We moved several times and never had such a poor experience. read more
6 years ago
I am very sorry to say, this moving company waited until the day before to advise me they did not have a truck available to move my belongings across country. So at the very last minute, I found myself scrambling to find a new moving company and the worst part was, I had tenants moving into my house so they too had to reschedule. Plus I had to cancel my cleaners and because they were not going to be available for the new move out date, I had to shop around to find someone who could clean my home on a Sunday! The whole debacle cost me an additional $ 5,500.00! I would highly recommend you use another company for moving!!!! read more
3 years ago
My wife dealt with them to get our money back for over a year. As I watched her dealing with Donna at colonial van lines. It reminded me of the used car salesman going and having coffee and a doughnut saying they're talking to their Manager. Pretending that they're on your side. Don't trust this company with your belongings. My wife got nowhere in a whole year of trying to discuss a settlement. They just reimbursed us for overcharging us for the boxes they said that they packed which they didn't!! ( misrepresentation). They severely damaged our $10,000 Stearns and foster mattress that hadn't been properly packed in a box. Then they had the guts to charge us for the boxing all our mattresses which not one was. If we didn't pay, they wouldn't unload our household goods. Hold them in storage at our own expense. Our third load sat for months in storage in New Jersey. The only way that we finally got colonial to put it on a truck was that my my wife was going to call the local authorities for theft. When it arrived either it was broken or things had been stolen. So I'm going on yelp, to to make it known, don't use this company. They outsource their help with no background check. Things come up, stolen or badly damaged. The contract that you sign with them doesn't hold water. Plan on paying 1/3 to 2/3 more in the end. My wife gave them a three star rating because they wouldn't give us our money until she took down the one star. so back at ya, you got your one star back. read more
5 years ago
All of my furniture was damaged. I was sexually harassed by one of the movers. The assigned resolution specialist asked whether I would be willing to change my review in exchange for money. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Good morning Jenny,…
7 years ago
While I have received a "smooth this over" reply here on yelp, it isn't good enough. They only seem to care if the bad reviews are public. This company is bad news. Never using them again. BUYER BEWARE! read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Hello Adela, we apologize for your experience and would like the…
5 years ago
This is the worst moving company I have ever used. They promise and don't deliver. Rude people on the phone constantly interrupt you, overly defensive when you don't agree with them, condescending and just plain mean. They change their prices and nickel and dime you after they have your furniture. They use sub contractors who are not really under their control so if you need to adjust your move out or move in time, you are under the sub's control not Colonial's. Basically, you are subject to the whims of a company you never contracted with. They are a broker not a true moving company. I'll bet the only actual payroll they have is their sales staff. I doubt these bozos even own their own trucks. If you are moving across state lines and need to store your items, you would be better served using another company. And look for a company that is flexible with their timing. We all know how moving demands flexibility. You never know if your new home is going to go through and if you have to adjust the delivery date, these clowns cannot or will not adjust for their customers. Once they have your money and your furniture they own you and can do anything they want including ignore you if the relationship is falling apart due to their own fault. I would say they are about as criminal an outfit as you can have. Run for the hills. DO NOT GIVE THESE PEOPLE YOUR MONEY!! read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Tom,…
7 years ago
Horrible moving experience! I wish Google would have had these more honest reviews before we hired this company. Donna the resolution manager was very kind, but nothing will make up for the terrible customer service they have. Go elsewhere! read more
9 years ago
Colonial Van Lines contacted me in Oct 2015 to take down my review. I refused because I felt they provided extraordinarily poor service and the world needed to know. Colonial Van Lines has continued to contact me since that first phone call, via email and phone, and will not stop. Additionally, today they decided to call my parents. This company harasses, and offers to pay people, to get rid of poor reviews. I would not recommend this company to anyone, given their poor service, and their dishonest business practices. Check out my other reviews if you need a good moving company. read more
5 years ago
I moved from Texas to Colorado with Colonial. I got nonstop calls about my experience and finally spoke with the Director of Customer Relations. I advised of all the damage to my items and was told "sorry but it is quite a process to file a claim". I advised I wanted repayment for all the damage that I am still finding. I was told she would email claim form. Never came. Multiple phone calls and emails and still nothing. Do not use this company if you value your items. read more
Business owner information
Jane T.
Manager
J.S.…
6 years ago
The guy who moved me was great! My only complaint was, I was not informed that there would only be one mover. I was planning to get on the highway the same day, however, the move took all day and I had to wait until the next day to drive. read more
5 years ago
DO NOT USE THESE CROOKS FOR YOUR MOVE - The sales pitch was great. They made you feel as if they really cared about you and your move. Immediately after getting my deposit for over $1000.00, they were unresponsive, late to missing deadlines required by my building, delayed my move, damaged valuable pieces of furniture, delayed in responding to my claim and then told me they would cover $75 worth of damages because I did not buy additional insurance. They are CROOKS!!! DO NOT USE THEM. read more
Business owner information
Jane T.
Manager
Noelle,…
7 years ago
Do not use this company. They are extremely disorganized. I've never written a review before, but they were such a mess I felt inclined to. I hired them months in advance, and set a moving date. Then they called me the day before my scheduled pick up and told me they still didn't have a driver ready. I don't understand with months notice how they could be scrambling last minute for a driver. I called them everyday for three days and no one ever had any new information. If they don't arrive within their two day window, you can cancel and get your deposit back. I cancelled and got a upack last minute. Honestly, this is the way to go. The cost of the upack and local movers was about the same as what colonial van lines was going to charge me. Also, the reason they have some four/five star reviews is because they pay people off for them. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Hello Becca,…
7 years ago
All of the other 1 star reviews are incredibly accurate. They changed the pick-up window without notice, and they took our belongings on 8/7. We were told our delivery would occur between 8/14 and 8/22. I contacted Colonial a number of times once 8/14 came and went, and when I was finally able to get ahold of someone, I was told to not worry about it, the truck was on the way, and no later than 8/22. I told them repeatedly that we had rental furniture that was due back on 8/22, so that date had to be accurate. Colonial said the movers did not provide them paperwork. I was able to speak with the actual movers who denied these claims to the point we conference called Colonial and were put on hold for 23 minutes. Paperwork was magically found. Colonial tried to throw them under the bus! On 8/21, movers said to expect them 8/28-8/31, another week out! At one point we were told the truck "broke down" (sound familiar?) and I reminded them that we had to rent furniture for another month for more than $1,000 due to their nonsense excuses and delays. They had the gall to tell us we never mentioned to them about the rental furniture, but to send them the bill (since we had to renew for another month) and they would have our account rep review in 2-3 days and let us know what they could do. I did tell you- every time I called, because I had to coordinate pickup of the rental furniture with delivery. And we obviously have the email to prove we sent the invoice to you; makes no sense why they would continue to lie. It's 8/27, and now they are saying 9/2?! Currently have no idea when our items will arrive, or where they are. My daily calls elicit unreliable responses as to our delivery window which keeps gets getting pushed out. School has started for my daughter and we had to spend money on new clothes, since our stuff is who knows where and will get here who knows when. Our quote has skyrocketed. The "concierge" who was highly knowledgeable and reeled us in, stopped all communication shortly after we provided the first deposit. Our account manager is non-responsive, and doesn't address any issues when she does reach out. Instead, she provides a false delivery window and then expects to end the call. Also, she took a weeks vacation, and every time I called someone new answered, and said the account manager would get back to me, but never told me she was away on vacation. We were charged $600 for a shuttle upon pick-up, because Paul, from Colonial, doesn't call the city to handle permits. That was my job. Taking it upon myself to call the city, I responded to Paul with a list of questions from the city, but he responded, with a single nonsense sentence. The clock ran out and the shuttle came. They better not charge us for extortionate ridiculous fees upon delivery, as we will certainly take legal action. Asking to speak with a higher-up will result in no-one reaching back out to you, as indicated by other reviewers. This business is predatory. Stay far, far away. I should have just driven the stuff myself. Or, and this is probably the bigger lesson, I should have let another more reputable moving company come do an onsite evaluation. Natasha from Colonial "warned" me that our estimate would go up $2k for an onsite evaluation from these other companies, and so I foolishly went with Colonial. Of course, the reality is, we would have saved $600 for the "shuttle" cost, and that couple thousand dollar fee another company apparently would have charged us, actually showed up on our invoice anyway, hidden as random and unexpected additional fees. Seeing now all of the other yelp reviews, I was foolish to not come to Yelp first before I used this company, but find relief in knowing that I am not going insane, and the service really is this bad. Will be reporting to BBB among others. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Hello Francesco , we apologize for your experience and would like the…
5 years ago
It was a terrible experience. I will never use this company again and I discourage everyone to use it. When they came to pick up our stuff (in Minneapolis), they were very pressed with time and they did everything super fast and they were telling me all the time that they had some other business to do. The movers asked insistently for a tip, which I gave them. Our stuff arrived at our destination home (in Chicago) in a terrible shape. Many things were broken and our couch was totally damaged because they had wrapped it in tape without any cover. We had a damage of at least five thousand dollars and they gave us a compensation of 300 dollars because we had not purchased an insurance. The insurance is for exceptional circumstances, while this was just their own fault. I think this company is fraudulent. DON'T USE THIS COMPANY. They should be sued. read more
5 years ago
We had an awful experience moving from New York to Utah. The estimate is based on weight and we added in ample extra weight to our goods to minimize incurring additional costs due to weight as much as possible. The original estimate given to us was $4518 on 1/13/2021. When we paid the deposit and confirmed the move this was increased to $4976 on 2/8/2021 citing rate increases (This should have been a red flag!). Our pick-up crew consisted of 3 people. The lead member of the crew was extremely unprofessional- sighed and grunted the entire time, opened a window in our apartment without even asking (it was a pretty cold day!), we have 2 cats and said that he's allergic and they can't be in the same apartment (even though they were in a separate room with a closed door!). Obviously, we didn't have any other place to put our cats in a 1 bedroom NYC apartment! The company should discuss allergies with their crew prior to sending them to households and also alert customers beforehand so that arrangements can be made for pets. In addition, our estimate was increased to a whopping $7624 pending final weight! He thought that our refrigerator was very heavy! We already had it accounted in our inventory at an estimate of 315 lbs and it actually only weighs 163 lbs! In addition, they added on $800 for packing. I'm not sure what this consisted of. We already had packing accounted for in the estimate at a cost of $166 (for a 65 inch TV, queen bed, crib, mirror and a painting). We were told that other items will be wrapped in standard blankets at no additional cost and we packed our own boxes. So, really the other extra items they had to pack was a coffee table, side table and a drawer that was made of glass that needed special packaging. However, the cost of $800 for packing these items compared to what was being packed for $166 in the original estimate was completely unreasonable.The other 2 members of the crew were just fine and simply did their jobs.Our delivery window ended on 4/11/2021 (they definitely don't honor this window and mentioned that delays are common!). The delivery kept getting pushed by a couple of days every time I spoke with them. I also spoke with a supervisor who repeated the same info and had nothing new to say. Finally, the delivery came in on 4/21/2021. The company pays $30 per day for delays which is really nothing in comparison to the inconvenience it's causing (our 18 month old baby didn't have his crib).The delivery crew consisted of 2 people. They were definitely not professional or courteous in any way but compared to the 1 person at pick-up was much better. We immediately noticed damaged goods- a book case was completely falling apart and we noticed boxes that had large holes in them. When we started unpacking, it was obvious our boxes had been opened and re-taped (we taped each box around at least 5-6 times so that everything's secure. However, there were many boxed that were opened with 1 round of tape going around and securing the box). We just felt completely violated. We also noticed several missing items- wooden frame of baby lounger, a box of a diffuser set that was opened with nothing inside!, expensive bottles of alcohol my husband received as gifts when he left his job in NY that were in original packaging (well-packed in our boxes and should not have leaked) and several other personal belongings. The carrier’s maximum liability is limited to 60 cents per pound, per article. To date, we have not received the reimbursement for the delay in delivery. I will be sure to add a review with what the company does for our losses and damages which I don't expect to be much at all. Please refrain from using this company for your move. As of 11/1/2021, we have still not received reimbursement for the delay or any payment for claims. The company wants us to increase the review rating in order to approve the payment!!! read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Dholani,…
8 years ago
I was contacted by Colonial Van Lines Public Relations department, I received an apology, asked why I wrote the review I did and what they can do to make it better. I explained to her from the beginning to the end my experience, the lack of communication on Colonial's end, the people they have working for them and the sub contractors used how unprofessional, again she apologize and offered a couple of hundred dollars of a refund. I'm just sorry that it had to come to this, I hoping after the reviews that are received that they bring all their staff in for retraining. And I thank the PB Lady Kraslin for showing concern. read more
Business owner information
AL D.
Manager
Rosalind Thank you for updating your review we believe in customer…
7 years ago
Best I could hope for really- things went fairly smoothly! I was helping my parents downsize in Minnesota and move to another state, so rather stressful for them and me (especially as I live 6 hour drive from where they were and 5 hours from where they were going to). We needed to schedule pick up with a tight window and they were able to accommodate. Phone process to get a quote was quick and quite accurate. Movers for pick up arrived on time, were friendly, fast and efficient. We needed to change the length of storage from 9 months to 6 months. They were able to do and adjusted the price accordingly without issue. What is keeping me from a 5Star is it is very difficult reaching people when you have a question. They promise a call back, but never happens. As we were waiting to get a date for the drop off, it was impossible to reach anyone. All in all, everything arrived dinner and within times we finally got quoted. Some breakage, but that was my parents being stingy in the bubble wrap, so our fault really. I would use them again. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Thanks for the feedback! We appreciate you allowing us to help with…
5 years ago
SCAM COMPANY - DO NOT USE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE We needed to move out of our house very quickly and this was the only company who had availability in the timeframe we needed. We should have known something was wrong when we noticed items we asked to be taken were thrown in the dumpster we had in our driveway at the time. Then we get the call our truck was over estimated weight and we would be charged an extra $800+. We had a few issues with "paperwork" after they picked up our items but our furniture arrived within the delivery window conveniently MISSING priceless (heavy) heirloom furniture. Devastating. It was not at our home and did not make it to the destination. They weighed the truck and then dumped the largest/heaviest items that now "can not be located". The packing list the movers made they were filling out AS THEY WERE UNLOADING. It was barely legible and the 2 men moving our items did not speak English so we weren't able to ask questions about our items until calling Colonial on the phone. And have since received no help just accusatory customer service blaming us. What a nightmare. My elderly mother booked the company and now that I am reading reviews I do not know how this company is still in business. We will do everything we can and file every claim we can to get this scam ring shut down once and for all. read more
5 years ago
THIS IS A SCAM. This is your sign to NOT hire Colonial Van Lines. It's been a month and I've been sleeping on the floor this whole time - literally. We are still waiting for our stuff with no delivery in sight. They're asking for more money to deliver our items and I'm 100% most of it is damaged. I'll repeat, do not work with this scam company! read more
6 years ago
Thanks to Donna in resolutions... she is genuinely sincere, she went above and beyond, doing more than I was looking for. I would highly suggest giving this poor woman a raise.... I can only imagine what she deals with! She handled my concerns with absolute professionalism and sincerity. read more
5 years ago
Colonial has left my husband & I scrambling to find a storage unit at last moment in San Diego during the busiest moving season of the year. My move was scheduled for a time frame between June 19-21 - I specifically asked Lauren Royffe when I should purchase airplane tickets for my family members and I to fly from San Diego, CA to West Palm Beach, Fla. Colonial would be moving not only my house items but two cars as well, she explained that no later than the last day of the Window given to me ( June 21st), I purchased four tickets, one for myself, husband, daughter and dog for June 22nd. The weekend of June 19th I get a call letting me know that now my window of packing and moving has been changed, there are no trucks available to come to my house, then that window comes again, now I am scrabling to cancel airplane tickets plus dealing with my landlord that tells me he will charge me by the day for each day I am staying at our rental home, I called Colonial, explained my expenses due to their inability for a date when movers were coming to pack house items, at this time I cancel one car and send just the other ( which I will get to that story later), they offer me a whole $200 for the expenses I was inquiring due to their lack of commitment. when I couldn't rebook our flights ($821 worth) because I had no date of exchanging to a new one,, plus the $75 per day my landlord is charging me as I stay extra days on property, I found hard to believe the manager & owner of company was not very concerned about the stress this was causing me, I spoke with some empathetic customer service but there was so much they could do besides being empathetic, management were making the decisions. Now I receive an email from Christina Burnette, she is in charge of my account after Lauren informed me she is done with her part of the work,, which is securing deposit and going over household items.. Chritine will be watching over process of moving and will be in contact, I never spoke with her, nor she ever returned any of my calls), I am passed from customer service to customer service as my moving date window changes for the third time without any guarantees, one of our cars is on its way and my house items still not packed and no firm date is set. So, out of panic we scrambled to find a moving truck and storage in san diego, it was so stressful. At the end I canceled our moving with Colonial, they returned back our $3000.00 deposit and I had to look for a new company, because of me trying to move last minute, I had to leave our house items behind in a storage unit- I can not find one moving company that was able at shor tnotice move us, our things will arrive in Florida August 11, 2021... here we are in June! Our car arrived in florida safe, truck driver Adrian ( very professional) was subcontracted by UZ Auto Trans Inc which was subcontracted by Colonial Moving, held my car at delivery site for almost 1 hour because they wanted me to pay in cash for the transport, I told them I was only going to pay by credit card, then they try to threatened me with a 3% fee for using a credit card, I agreed with the extra charge, when they found out I was still going to pay with the credit card with the extra 3% charge they told me that they did not have a way to charge me, continuing to harass me to pay in cash and in the meantime telling the driver that I refused to pay. In the end when I threatened UZ Auto and they saw that I was not going to pay in cash, they all of the sudden found a way to charge my card and release the car, all of this happening while I am on a cross country drive with my entire family and dog during a thunder storm in middle of Texas. You ask me where was Colonial to resolve the issue and abuse with the car delivery? No where to be found! While I was on the phone with the UZ auto Tans owner/manager getting harrased to pay in cash and trying to convince the truck driver that in deed I wanted to pay upon car delivery, I was put on hold by Colonial customer service three times, no one ever came on to help. End of the story, just today I am arriving in the State of Florida, all of our house items still in the storage in San Diego, we had to pack entire house in one day by ourselves, put everything in a uhaul truck into a storage, I lost our airplane tickets. The new company we got told us we are very lucky that Colonial was not in possession of our home goods, there is NEVER a deposit to be given when you book a moving company- never. I have moved before a couple of times using other companies and this is so true, I was never asked to put down a deposit. I should had taking that as a red flag. I have now learn my lesson. We are beyond stressed and tired by the entire fiasco Colonial has caused us. May this be a lesson to all that are thinking of booking this company, Best of luck to all that has had the displeasure to deal with Colonial, as any move can be stressful, this company can make much worse for us all. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Fabiana, we apologize you are not experiencing a good moving…
5 years ago
This company is a constant scam. No one calls you when they're supposed to. I've gotten through by calling 3 or 4 times. WAY TOO EXPENSIVE. Do not trust this company. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Hi Marsha,…
4 years ago
This move did not go as smoothly as I had anticipated. With the assistance of Donna at Colonial Van Lines, together we were able to work through most of the issues I had with the moving company. read more
5 years ago
OMG. I had a horrible experience and so, so much damage from my move from Florida to Michigan. They packed everything but did a terrible job. 1) A large 60" curved screen TV was totally damaged and is unusable 2) Damaged my master headboard by packing thing things together and the nails from one item totally chipped the headboard 3) cracked the mirrored front on a dresser and damaged the door 4) queen master mattress and boxspring were dirty upon arrival 5) twin bed mattress had dirt spots 6) lost hardware for assembling master bedroom set and living room entertainment unit 7) bent the entire front wheel on a women's Schwimm bike (need to replace the whole wheel. Again, they packed everything (so no excuse for damaged items). It took two weeks to deliver and then the driver unpacked everything into the garage, but wasn't able to unpack (ran out of time) and had to come back on a separate day. This is what I expect from backyard movers, not from a company that claims to be professionals. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Greetings, we apologize for this unacceptable moving experience and…
7 years ago
The only reason I am changing my review is becuase of Donna in the resolutions department. She truly does go to bat for each person who comes across her desk. The other person was unwilling to work with us. Donna is excellent and very professional. I still feel that our yard damage should never have been an issue (they have now paid to fix it) and we are getting part of the shuttle fees back. Updating a review that I should have never had to write in the first place if the driver would have been respectful and professional to begin with. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
Hello Stefanie, we apologize for your experience and would like the…
5 years ago
Cannot overstate how horrible this company is. PS they attempted to pay me $75 dollars not to write this review. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. 1) PICK UP: I sat on my porch on pick-up day for 8 hours waiting for them to come. They did not show up nor did they call. The agent that had been assigned to my case did not answer when I called. After hours of calling I was able to get ahold of someone who said "whoops" we probably won't be able to make it for a few more days. They offered no apologies. 2) PRICE: My friend had to cover pick-up as I needed to get on the road. They worked with "Big Dream Movers" who loaded up the truck, locked it, then told my friend she had to sign a new revised Binding estimate (illegal after the truck is loaded) for 2K higher than the last binding estimate we signed. Binding estimate are specifically written so legally you cannot change the price after the truck is loaded. My total was now around 6K. Two weeks later we received a new bill for 9.5K. We responded and followed up several times inquiring about the new price, how is this possible etc. etc. No response was EVER received. Upon delivery the subcontracted company unloaded about about half the truck then turned to me and said "Whoops, you owe us 7.2K" I said I would be paying the company I had the contract with and that was not the final agreed upon price. They called the cops on me when I would not RELOAD the goods already off the truck back into their truck. The cops came and said this was turning into theft on their part. 3) DELIVERY: They promised delivery on no less than 6 different days. I would take afternoons etc. off work, only for the day to come and go with no delivery, and almost worse, no communication or explanation. I cannot overstate how horrible the customer service is from this company. They had trouble telling me where my goods were and intentionally misled me several times. Overall I believe about 40 phone calls and 20 emails went unanswered and unaddressed. They delivered more than a month after picking up my goods. I could go into several other unfathomable details about this company and BIG DREAM MOVERS who they work with, but all I can say is please don't use this company. They are intentionally misleading and caused me and my loved ones extreme financial and emotional distress. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
We apologize for all the negative issues you've encountered with your…
6 years ago
If I could give this company negative stars I would. I hired Colonial at the beginning of July to do a full-service move from NYC to California. They packed up my stuff on the 13th of July. The end of my estimated delivery window is on August 6th, and here we are on August 4th and they FINALLY mustered up the guts to tell me that all my belongings are still on the east coast. One month post-packing and my belongings are STILL ON THE EAST COAST. Somewhere in New Jersey, it seems. They are unable to tell me the name of the storage facility, how secure it is, if its temperature controlled, or when my belongings might actually arrive. Do not use this company. Ever. 8/6 Update: I still don't have any answers, though I did learn that the work was subcontracted to a company called Relo Van (check them out on Yelp - terrible reviews!). I asked for the name of where my belongings were being stores so I could ensure it was secure and temperature controlled, and I was told I had to pay the remainder of my bill before they would tell me that information (which, I am paying them to pack and ship my things to the west coast - extorting me to pay the bill when services have not been delivered is illegal). Mostly they keep giving me the run around, cannot put me in touch with a manager or someone with information or decision making power. Three weeks of getting a total run around, with a few moments of being extorted, and a few minutes of being told I need to understand how hard this is for THEM. 8/13 Update: Still no updates. I was told last week the delay was due to COVID and the trouble actually finding drivers. This is something I very much understand and am sympathetic with. What I don't have tolerance for is the way Colonial kept me in the dark, strung me along, and refused to be transparent with what was going on. Had I known there were backups, I wouldn't have scheduled pack out when I did. I could have waited, with my belongings safely in my apartment. But my moving coordinator at Colonial assured me things would be packed up and moved out. Anyways, last week I was told that this week I should get an update, but it's end of the day Thursday and still no updates on the update. If all my worldly possessions weren't in the balance, this would be comical. I have filed a complaint with the BBB, and will continue to pursue answers, but the emotional stress and anxiety around this is real, and heightened in the middle of COVID. This company lost everything. EVERYTHING. If you are moving, check out a service like Gentle Giant. Colonial Van Lines should not be in business. 8/27 Update: My belongings were finally delivered! After disputing the charges and filing with the BBB, my case wound up on the desk of the woman who dealt with upset customers. She was able to provide me with some answers, and eventually I received a new delivery window. My belongings arrived on August 23rd, delivered by two guys in a small, rented u-haul. They were quite nice, though I'm not sure how much they do this professionally. I was lucky in that the folks who packed out my belongings in NYC did a wonderful job and most things arrived in good condition (a few expensive lamps and bulbs were broken). I wouldn't roll my dice with this company again, but they did end up delivering my belongings. Upgrading this from a one star to a two star rating. read more
After three months of communicating with various agents at the company, I was contacted directly by one of the company's owners, Al. He assisted in resolving my main complaints. I increased it by one star because of the owner's kindness and consideration. Up unto this point, all of my interactions with the company's agents has been unsatisfactory. I truly hope that the company improves on their communication and customer service. read more
6 years ago
This will be my 8th interstate move and I have never in my life seen anything like this. This move was scheduled almost 2 months in advance. Everyone was super communicative right up until the week of our move. The Friday before they called to update our item list. Had no problem taking another $650 for the updates. Told me they would call on Monday to confirm if they'd be here Wednesday or Thursday and give us a time window. Monday, no call. Tuesday, no call. Tuesday afternoon I call to ask for an update and no one calls me back. Multiple calls and emails to 3 people on wednesday I finally get someone on the phone who tells me they don't have a driver for our pickup. They are "trying" and will call back later. Never called back. Spent hours thursday, the last day of our pickup window, trying to get someone on the phone. Same run around, "we don't know." Friday my husband gets on the phone with the guy. They still can't tell us if it's 3 days or 3 weeks until they can have someone here. Guy says he has a call with dispatch and he'll call us back in two hours. Never called. My husband had to leave for work so I am now stuck in a house full of boxes, no food, disassembled furniture, no bed, and 2 70lbs dogs. Oh, and they are sitting on $3500 of our money. read more
Business owner information
Al D.
Manager
I am sorry to hear about the issues we had regarding your pickup…
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Review Highlights - Colonial Van Lines
“It was only because of Donna's efforts that I was able to put the situation in perspective and move on.”
Mentioned in 202 reviews
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5 years ago
Job ID: 1067154-CV-R1 Update: Changing to 5 stars - I spoke with Donna, their resolutions person, and she was incredibly responsive, understanding, and prompt. She was also direct (in a good way!) and managed to resolve all of my issues. I used Colonial Van Lines to move from Minnesota to New York. Discussed with the agent moving timelines and inventory and had set a pickup window of November 26th-28th. I got a phone call on Wednesday November 24th from someone filling in for the agent I'd had letting me know there was some issues and that they would have to change the pickup date to either November 29th or 30th. I had been trying to finalize my plans to get to New York and coordinate it, and I agreed to switch it to the 29th. This was the first issue. Because when I called or spoke with Colonial again (I believe this time it was back to originally assigned agent, although I ended up dealing with 3-4 different agents all throughout the process, which was concerning and part of the problem) they said they saw it was scheduled for the 30th, and had no record that the 29th was mentioned. I had already taken time off from work to deal with this, and so I was less than pleased, but there was little I could do. On the 30th, I kept waiting for the movers. I called Colonial and they said that the window had been pushed from what we had originally discussed and would now be later. When I called back later, the agent said he would check with dispatch and let me know if there was any update. I had already had flights and other plans scheduled at this point, and so I was getting anxious. The agent called back and said that the truck was broken down/stuck in Wisconsin for repairs and that they would try to guarantee something for the next day. I panicked and got upset because they were just dropping this well into the second delivery window period they had mentioned, and because I had already spent quite a bit of money between plane tickets plus the deposit (plus updates to the deposit after double-checking inventory) and so the agent said that their manager had said they'd reimburse the cost involved with me having to adjust my travel plans (and I want to emphasize that they offered that unprompted). They waited until I had called for an update to let me know this. So I adjusted my travel plans (which involved a not-insignificant cost in fees and new plane tickets). The movers showed up the next day, and looked at my items, and added an additional $900 or so to the total quote because it looked like I had a lot of stuff and that it would be heavy, with the caveat that they wouldn't know the final cost until after they got things back to their facility and weighed them (in the end there was no change to the final amount). They proceeded to take items and start loading the truck, and left, and I got a call from the agent later that night confirming that they'd picked things up and confirming the delivery window, and confirming the reimbursement of travel plan changes. The items were delivered by movers a week later. In between that time I had two calls, one with someone in the Colonial finance department and one with a woman who worked for the company they contracted with to do the moving. Both times I mentioned the reimbursement and both times I was told it would need to be discussed with a manager and they would escalate it. The finance person told me that no reimbursement or adjustments would happen until after delivery of my items and after payment. The finance person also said that I was wrong about having incurred additional costs because he reviewed the information and there was $40 less I was charged due to less packing materials used (and completely ignoring that I was discussing the amount of work I had to miss and the costs in changing travel plans) All of the agents I spoke with said they were making notes and would escalate things to the manager. I emailed the agent I originally spoke with about a week after the delivery, who had guaranteed that he was making notes and that things would be escalated to the manager and who had originally told me the manager authorized reimbursement. He said he put in a customer service request to have them speak with me, and that all he saw in the notes was that I had wanted to speak to a manager about late pickup and expenses I had incurred due to lateness I told him I was concerned that that was all that was mentioned in the notes, ,considering the number of people I had spoken with, the guarantees that things were being documented, and that they had offered to reimburse in the first place. I followed up again a week and a half later and was told that the agent had escalated things to customer service and they were responsible for their own correspondence. Late, costly, and incredibly uncommunicative. I am also not asking for much with reimbursement and which THEY offered in the first place, and which is why I didn't just drop it in the first plac read more
2 years ago
You might as well burn everything rather than hire Colonial Van Lines, because you will end up with a pile of damaged items, and they will not take responsibility. If you have no other choice but to hire them, file a Dispute with your Credit Card, as that will be the only way to get any refund on their despicable service. Over $60K in damages as a result of how THEY loaded the truck and stored our items. This is what their Website reads 'professional movers trained by Colonial Van Lines would come to our location, load everything in a professional manner, treat my move with the respect and attention it deserves, because 'our movers know how to pack a truck', and then UNLOAD in any manner in which we requested, and boxes would be placed in any location that we requested, and items dissasembled at pick up would be reassembled at delivery" "we teach and test our moving team to "pack it, stack it, but never crack it" "Before any driver, mover, or packer trains in the field, they must get past the moving instructors at CVLU first". "We teach a strategic approach to loading and unloading your home contents. At CVLU, packers and loaders are taught to look beyond just securing load and consider how the truck will be unloaded on arrival, and, in what order". None of this is true. This was a business move. Before hiring them, during 3 weeks we spoke at length with Moving Coordinator and his Supervisor, everyone understood what was being moved. We hired two containers costing us over $25K. We were concerned about having two moving trucks showing up at the same time, but Moving Coordinator confirmed that truck#1 would pick up "one day", truck #2 would pick up "the next day", and on delivery, truck #1 would deliver on "one day", truck #2 would deliver the "next day". Truck #1 picked up June 8 Truck #2 picked up June 9 and never showed up on June 11, or June 12, or 13, 14, 15, not even the last day of the 'estimated window", June 18 I began calling Colonial Van Lines on June 12 asking the whereabouts of the second truck. They did not know. I called and emailed over 50 times in 5 days, each time they make you feel as if you are bothering them, making things up, or like you misunderstood something, or you did something wrong... so I stopped calling. Truck #2 eventually showed up 4 weeks later. Each day our business was closed, we lost $2K daily in revenues. What happened? Colonial subcontracted my move to Posh Moving, who after loading, drove 3 hours and put all our items in a rat infested warehouse for 4 weeks without my knowledge or consent. All our tools, equipment and merchandise were in a warehouse with temperatures up to 140 degrees, Colonial knew that our merchandise was packed in styrofoam boxes and containers, yet they decided to put all this in a warehouse... and with that excessive heat, the boxes warped, some even disintegrated. when their professional movers 'reloaded' these from the Warehouse to a moving truck, no care or thought was put into that process, because the boxes were thrown into the truck Colonial Van Lines website reads that items disassembled at pick up would be assembled at delivery. Not one fixture or bookcase that was taken apart at pick up was assembled upon delivery. Instead, the movers wanted to charge me extra to put the shelves and fixtures back together. Things that were not disassembled at pick up, were taken apart at the warehouse, and upon delivery, the pieces/parts were nowhere to be found. We ended up with many fixtures/furniture that we cannot reassemble due to missing parts. No 'professional mover' showed up... Truck #1, was a Driver with her brother and three laborers they picked up at Home Depot Truck #2 , The service was NOT performed by Colonial Van Lines using Colonial Van Lines fleet/equipment. It was PICKED UP by two un-vetted pot heads hired by POSH, that were smoking marijuana in my bathroom all day, and loading our boxes into a Ryder Rental truck. Although we informed them NOT to tape or wrap the Styrofoam boxes, they did so anyway. Neither the PICK UP or DELIVERY followed Colonial Van Lines Service Standards as defined on their website. As I ponder on this move, I realize that the issue is that the website is all lies, wishful thinking, and that the Moving Coordinator's task is to get a reservation... get that deposit... sell you on the service.... and then, Colonial does not care at all what happens after the deposit is taken. These are not 'trained movers', these are unvetted laborers, I hired Colonial professionals, and got who knows what... one time workers that have no relationship to Colonial, don't care what happens to the furniture/fixtures/items, they toss, dump, throw boxes, all marked FRAGILE, with no care whatsoever, because they answer to nobody in Colonial. None of these 'movers' were trained by Colonial Van Lines University, and the people that showed up had no clue how to pack a truck, Monkeys could of done a better job! read more
8 years ago
MAY 29, 2018 UPDATE: Our final furniture was received on May 21, 2018. After my reviews and escalations, I was also put in contact with Al who has done all he can to mitigate the situation. We will be receiving $$ back from that we paid to the moving company who proved incapable of delivering timely and without damage. I can say that Colonial has stepped up to try to mitigate the issues arising from these contractor's failings, as well as the internal problems at Colonial. (original review below) This company has been terrible. They happily quoted me a move fee in November 2017 and provided me a pickup window. Colonial directly collected ~30% of the total move fee. Here's what they don't tell you: they do NOT have their own trucks, drivers, and movers. They subcontract with companies in your local region and they have ZERO ability to hold those contractors to any sort of accountability. Colonials preferred company failed to pickup within their window, causing me to go into a new month in the apartment we were to vacate. Extra rent had to be paid- had to reschedule cleaners and carpet cleaning, now to be done w/o my presence since I had to get on the road. Then, they said the pickup drivers were to be at my home within a few hours ... three days in a row. They failed to arrive two days in a row and came very late on the third day. (I had to put my husband on a plane to get to his new job in time since he now wouldn't have time to drive 2,300 miles and arrive as required.) I was told by Colonial (Dona) that despite the late pickup, our delivery window would not change. So, I began my (now solo) drive across the country with 2 cats, a dog, and a very full vehicle late on a Saturday night. 4 days after I had planned to begin the move. I arrived safely and began "roughing it" in our new home. Air mattress, two camp chairs, a folding table, etc. Sufficient for the anticipated couple of weeks w/o the bulk of my household items. The week of our delivery window arrived, Dona at Colonial called to say that "next week" would be when our items actually were delivered. I wasn't happy but I was relieved at least that we should have everything before Christmas and New Year's. However, I subsequently received more follow up calls and then even more calls, each advising of further delays. All the while Dona assured me our items were safely stored in the moving company's warehouse and not, in fact, stolen. Dona at one point requested I pay the remained of the (now discounted) move fee in anticipation of our items being delivered so "the movers don't give you any problems about it". I refused. Said we'd pay once our items actually arrived. They didn't arrive for another 3 WEEKS. In that time, Dona call me again and told me that our items were NOT in the moving company's warehouse. THEY NEVER LEFT UTAH. These movers loaded a truck, left my home, and them got some random storage unit and left my household items -- childhood piano, wedding dress, photo albums, other irreplaceable mementos, along with furniture, kitchen implements, etc. -- all just in some RANDOM STORAGE UNIT in Utah ... So -- the movers and Colonial had been lying for nearly 2 months. February 4, our stuff was delivered. Damages to several items occurred. Additionally, this company who delivered tried to deliver several items that were NOT ours and did not have all items that were ours ... but they *promised* they'd be back in two weeks with my couch and the rails to assemble my bed. They additionally required full payment, no discount. I wasn't going to argue since I wanted my things. Fast forward to today, we still don't have all our things. Colonial has offered to refund 30% of the total move cost but that doesn't begin to cover the extra expenses of living w/o day-to-day items in order to eat in our kitchen, and live normally. I put a post on Twitter and did hear from "upper management" at Colonial. I was promised a call back 1 week later with a resolution. Then they asked me to update/remove my tweets. I declined until I saw real results. The very next day, I received a call from Dona (or original rep) that I should just file a claim for our missing items since she just didn't know when their preferred move contractor could deliver them. That timing is highly coincidental - I declined to update twitter and then they stopped even trying to get me my things. The one week promise from "upper management" expired yesterday. No calls back. No solutions or resolutions offered. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. THEY HAVE BEEN DISHONEST AND DEMONSTRATED AN TOTAL INABILITY TO FULFILL THEIR COMMITMENTS. read more
8 years ago
MAY 29, 2018 UPDATE: Our final furniture was received on May 21, 2018. After my reviews and escalations, I was also put in contact with Al who has done all he can to mitigate the situation. We will be receiving $$ back from that we paid to the moving company who proved incapable of delivering timely and without damage. I can say that Colonial has stepped up to try to mitigate the issues arising from these contractor's failings, as well as the internal problems at Colonial. (original review below) This company has been terrible. They happily quoted me a move fee in November 2017 and provided me a pickup window. Colonial directly collected ~30% of the total move fee. Here's what they don't tell you: they do NOT have their own trucks, drivers, and movers. They subcontract with companies in your local region and they have ZERO ability to hold those contractors to any sort of accountability. Colonials preferred company failed to pickup within their window, causing me to go into a new month in the apartment we were to vacate. Extra rent had to be paid- had to reschedule cleaners and carpet cleaning, now to be done w/o my presence since I had to get on the road. Then, they said the pickup drivers were to be at my home within a few hours ... three days in a row. They failed to arrive two days in a row and came very late on the third day. (I had to put my husband on a plane to get to his new job in time since he now wouldn't have time to drive 2,300 miles and arrive as required.) I was told by Colonial (Dona) that despite the late pickup, our delivery window would not change. So, I began my (now solo) drive across the country with 2 cats, a dog, and a very full vehicle late on a Saturday night. 4 days after I had planned to begin the move. I arrived safely and began "roughing it" in our new home. Air mattress, two camp chairs, a folding table, etc. Sufficient for the anticipated couple of weeks w/o the bulk of my household items. The week of our delivery window arrived, Dona at Colonial called to say that "next week" would be when our items actually were delivered. I wasn't happy but I was relieved at least that we should have everything before Christmas and New Year's. However, I subsequently received more follow up calls and then even more calls, each advising of further delays. All the while Dona assured me our items were safely stored in the moving company's warehouse and not, in fact, stolen. Dona at one point requested I pay the remained of the (now discounted) move fee in anticipation of our items being delivered so "the movers don't give you any problems about it". I refused. Said we'd pay once our items actually arrived. They didn't arrive for another 3 WEEKS. In that time, Dona call me again and told me that our items were NOT in the moving company's warehouse. THEY NEVER LEFT UTAH. These movers loaded a truck, left my home, and them got some random storage unit and left my household items -- childhood piano, wedding dress, photo albums, other irreplaceable mementos, along with furniture, kitchen implements, etc. -- all just in some RANDOM STORAGE UNIT in Utah ... So -- the movers and Colonial had been lying for nearly 2 months. February 4, our stuff was delivered. Damages to several items occurred. Additionally, this company who delivered tried to deliver several items that were NOT ours and did not have all items that were ours ... but they *promised* they'd be back in two weeks with my couch and the rails to assemble my bed. They additionally required full payment, no discount. I wasn't going to argue since I wanted my things. Fast forward to today, we still don't have all our things. Colonial has offered to refund 30% of the total move cost but that doesn't begin to cover the extra expenses of living w/o day-to-day items in order to eat in our kitchen, and live normally. I put a post on Twitter and did hear from "upper management" at Colonial. I was promised a call back 1 week later with a resolution. Then they asked me to update/remove my tweets. I declined until I saw real results. The very next day, I received a call from Dona (or original rep) that I should just file a claim for our missing items since she just didn't know when their preferred move contractor could deliver them. That timing is highly coincidental - I declined to update twitter and then they stopped even trying to get me my things. The one week promise from "upper management" expired yesterday. No calls back. No solutions or resolutions offered. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. THEY HAVE BEEN DISHONEST AND DEMONSTRATED AN TOTAL INABILITY TO FULFILL THEIR COMMITMENTS. read more
8 years ago
MAY 29, 2018 UPDATE: Our final furniture was received on May 21, 2018. After my reviews and escalations, I was also put in contact with Al who has done all he can to mitigate the situation. We will be receiving $$ back from that we paid to the moving company who proved incapable of delivering timely and without damage. I can say that Colonial has stepped up to try to mitigate the issues arising from these contractor's failings, as well as the internal problems at Colonial. (original review below) This company has been terrible. They happily quoted me a move fee in November 2017 and provided me a pickup window. Colonial directly collected ~30% of the total move fee. Here's what they don't tell you: they do NOT have their own trucks, drivers, and movers. They subcontract with companies in your local region and they have ZERO ability to hold those contractors to any sort of accountability. Colonials preferred company failed to pickup within their window, causing me to go into a new month in the apartment we were to vacate. Extra rent had to be paid- had to reschedule cleaners and carpet cleaning, now to be done w/o my presence since I had to get on the road. Then, they said the pickup drivers were to be at my home within a few hours ... three days in a row. They failed to arrive two days in a row and came very late on the third day. (I had to put my husband on a plane to get to his new job in time since he now wouldn't have time to drive 2,300 miles and arrive as required.) I was told by Colonial (Dona) that despite the late pickup, our delivery window would not change. So, I began my (now solo) drive across the country with 2 cats, a dog, and a very full vehicle late on a Saturday night. 4 days after I had planned to begin the move. I arrived safely and began "roughing it" in our new home. Air mattress, two camp chairs, a folding table, etc. Sufficient for the anticipated couple of weeks w/o the bulk of my household items. The week of our delivery window arrived, Dona at Colonial called to say that "next week" would be when our items actually were delivered. I wasn't happy but I was relieved at least that we should have everything before Christmas and New Year's. However, I subsequently received more follow up calls and then even more calls, each advising of further delays. All the while Dona assured me our items were safely stored in the moving company's warehouse and not, in fact, stolen. Dona at one point requested I pay the remained of the (now discounted) move fee in anticipation of our items being delivered so "the movers don't give you any problems about it". I refused. Said we'd pay once our items actually arrived. They didn't arrive for another 3 WEEKS. In that time, Dona call me again and told me that our items were NOT in the moving company's warehouse. THEY NEVER LEFT UTAH. These movers loaded a truck, left my home, and them got some random storage unit and left my household items -- childhood piano, wedding dress, photo albums, other irreplaceable mementos, along with furniture, kitchen implements, etc. -- all just in some RANDOM STORAGE UNIT in Utah ... So -- the movers and Colonial had been lying for nearly 2 months. February 4, our stuff was delivered. Damages to several items occurred. Additionally, this company who delivered tried to deliver several items that were NOT ours and did not have all items that were ours ... but they *promised* they'd be back in two weeks with my couch and the rails to assemble my bed. They additionally required full payment, no discount. I wasn't going to argue since I wanted my things. Fast forward to today, we still don't have all our things. Colonial has offered to refund 30% of the total move cost but that doesn't begin to cover the extra expenses of living w/o day-to-day items in order to eat in our kitchen, and live normally. I put a post on Twitter and did hear from "upper management" at Colonial. I was promised a call back 1 week later with a resolution. Then they asked me to update/remove my tweets. I declined until I saw real results. The very next day, I received a call from Dona (or original rep) that I should just file a claim for our missing items since she just didn't know when their preferred move contractor could deliver them. That timing is highly coincidental - I declined to update twitter and then they stopped even trying to get me my things. The one week promise from "upper management" expired yesterday. No calls back. No solutions or resolutions offered. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. THEY HAVE BEEN DISHONEST AND DEMONSTRATED AN TOTAL INABILITY TO FULFILL THEIR COMMITMENTS. read more
5 years ago
*Editing review after speaking with customer service. They apologized and offered a little $ back to update the review below. tl;dr: Colonial's customer service will degrade terribly once they have your stuff. Communication with customer and within the company is terrible. One of their customer reps tried to straight up con me into paying for 500lbs extra weight that didn't exist and tried to get me to show up at a roadside weigh station for a weigh-in that never happened. After the pick up Colonials service TANKED. They stopped answering calls and replying to messages. I had to update my delivery details and when I called my rep he didn't answer or callback. I called back 3 times and after being hung up on someone finally made it obvious that no one had updated the delivery info. On move in day they only sent 1 person who was unable to get some of the furniture upstairs on his own (I offered to help but he refused). He told me Colonial hadn't notified him of the delivery details I'd provided them weeks ago until 1-2 days before and he wasn't able to find other movers in the area. He was great but the move took almost 4hrs for less than a studio apartments worth of stuff. On pickup they'd disassembled some items and assured me they would put everything back together on delivery but that never happened. Before delivery a rep told me I'd need to pay another $300 for a shuttle since the truck couldn't make it up my street despite the fact that my original rep had viewed the location on google maps and confirmed the truck would fit. They had also insisted I pay for a shuttle for my pick up even though I lived on a wide road that regularly had moving vans parked outside of the neighboring apartment complexes and I had to insist it wasn't necessary (they called a few days later still adding the shuttle cost and I had to tell them AGAIN that I didn't need it). The rep laughed and told me salesmen aren't drivers and don't know what they're talking about but I'd still have to pay. Another huge issue - someone working for this company 100% tried to scam me. A few days after pick up I got a voicemail from someone by the name of Franklyn saying the weight of my move was way over weight and I'd likely need to pay extra. When I talked to a different rep he had no idea what I was referring to and confirmed that the BINDING QUOTE that I'd paid for would prevent that so long as I didn't add anything new to my inventory list (I didn't, and actually had LESS than the original estimate accounted for). Well, he forwarded my call to Franklyn who, along with being rude, cutting me off, and mansplaining the basic logistics of moving (despite me telling him this is my 3rd big move and know how it works), told me my delivery weighed 500lbs more than the estimate included. When I asked about the binding estimate he told me that only worked for deliveries under weight. I laughed and said "so I paid for this and it just means you get to keep my money if you over-estimate but I still have to pay extra if you under-estimate?" He told me that was correct. He said I could meet the movers at the weigh station to see them weigh the delivery myself, I said I'd go because I felt I had to since there was no way this was accurate and he said he'd send info on when/ where but he never did. Later that night a different rep called to confirm my delivery date and when I called them out on all the extra charges this rep told me I wasn't being billed for anything over weight, that I had a binding estimate and COULDN'T be charged more and that there was no other weigh in taking place as Franklyn had told me. I told him to get Colonial to confirm this before I paid for/ signed anything else. He called me back hours later asking if Colonial had called me - he'd spoken to them and asked them to call and confirm no extra weight charges - they never did. He had to text different reps while on the phone with me until he got ahold of someone (who was in the middle of dinner) who finally confirmed there'd be no extra charges for the weight but I might have to pay extra for a shuttle. Either it was a scam or Franklyn was very misinformed, either way the worst move experience I've ever had. read more
11 years ago
Job# 55354503 My moving experience was so bad, I created a yelp account just to warn others. We had issues each step of the way, and once you sign the contract with Colonial good luck getting your representative to return your calls, and don't expect anyone else to try to help you either. We were given a 2 day moving window and told we would find out at least 5 days before our move day, the actual date. We found out the night before at almost closing time, after multiple calls a day for 5 days straight. We booked our move with a binding agreement on weight (based on a visual estimate). Everyone I spoke to except the manager in the booking department told me it was impossible to have a binding estimate based on weight. I'm not sure if other representatives didn't have access to view my contract, or if they just didn't read it. But it's hard to have any confidence in the customer service area, when they can't answer basic questions about your contract. One reason we booked with Colonial was for their insurance. After we booked our move and signed everything, and passed the 5 day window to cancel, we were informed Colonial's company they used for insurance would not cover our move (even though we had been told they would.) Colonial outsourced our move to another company and that company they booked was going to store our belongings in a building without liability coverage. To late to cancel we had to find third party moving insurance on our own. We were told we would be packed and moved in one day (this was to pack everything, but we packed 80% of our things). The day of the move we expected the moving company between 8 and noon. To our surprise a different company showed up on our door step. We had been given a company's name and amount ahead of time for the cashiers check, but apparently they changed the company the day before the move and just didn't inform us. The movers also showed up around 5:30 instead of between 8 and noon. All day as we were awaiting the movers, no one at Colonial could tell me anything except "your representative is on the other line, and she will call you back when she has a chance!" We didn't pack our dishes because we didn't have the special double corrugated dish pack boxes. But to our surprise, the movers didn't bring any dish pack boxes. They just packed the dishes in regular boxes - our belongings are still in storage, but I am nervous to see how our dishes survived. The movers said they would be back the next day by noon, but showed up at 2PM. They said they would be done by 7PM, but finished at 1AM the next morning. The delays by the movers caused us to have to change hotels for our commute to our new location, cancel appointments to see houses, and really cramped the amount of time we had to clean before moving. On top of everything the movers did not use rugs to protect our hardwood floors, dinged and scratched door frames and walls, left packing tape stuck to floors, as well as all the leaves they tracked throughout the entire house. After our horrendous moving experience Colonial Van Lines has been less than willing to work with us. They are still hard to contact, the person we are trying to work with usually has a full voicemail so we can't even leave a message, and doesn't return calls in a timely manner. We have been trying to work towards a resolution with Colonial, but 2 months later, they are offering us $100 and each time we try to address specific issues we had, we are told they will look into it and get back to us. It's already been 2 months, not sure how long it takes to review calls, and contact they company they outsourced to??? Save yourself the headache and additional stress. They don't care what they promised in their contract, and their customer service is amazingly worse than you can imagine. read more
4 years ago
UPDATE 4/24: I am amending my review as Donna from the resolutions department has reached out and worked to resolve my case to my satisfaction. Thank you, Donna! I hired Colonial for my move from Austin, TX to Atlanta, GA for a 1-Bedroom Home at the beginning of April 2023. Quote: I received my total move estimate from sales person Anthony on 3/23 totaling my estimate $3,494.32, I signed the paperwork, paid my deposit of $1,687.18, and agreed to a 2-day pick up window and 10-day delivery window. It seemed straight-forward. Quote: I was advised that Colonial charges for the weight of items and mileage of transportation, as well as the amount of steps that the moving team takes from your home to their moving truck-I have moved many times before and never came across this, but fine. FYI Colonial subcontracts their moving teams with other companies, where they load your items into a truck, unload your items to their warehouse, and re-pack your items into a new truck to your destination-that is why they provide a 10-day delivery date for the arrival to your new home. Days Leading up to the Move: I received a call from Ashley, the moving contact for my account go forward, who prepped me for my move, went over the details, and confirmed my pick-up window. Pick Up on 4/1: The subcontracted moving team of 2 arrived within the pick up window, were very kind, wrapped my items well, and did their due diligence - they were the only positive of this moving experience. In reviewing their ledger before signing off on the pick up (before they are able to move anything) they had updated charges- adding items to the itemized list, moving materials, and long carry (145 feet from home to truck). I was fine with this, as I had expected these charges. What I was not fine with, is their updated quote/ledger charged a $1.48/lb charge for my items vs. a $1.15/lb charge that I was quoted. With estimated weight of the truck being 3,208 lbs/cuft., this significantly increased my quote. According to their new ledger, my estimated charge upon delivery was now $4,474.40 instead of $3,613.22 -which both delivery charges were already higher than my total estimate of $3,494.32. Time In Between Delivery: I could not receive a clear answer regarding expected delivery date in Atlanta - I moved with a suitcase and was eager to have my things again. Apparently there is a breakdown in communication and files are not promptly updated-I did not learn about my delivery date until 24 hours before delivery, when the subcontracted team (the same team from pick up) texted me letting me know. I had called many times leading up to this to try to receive an answer from Colonial who had no idea when my delivery would be and could not pin point a date for me. Ridiculous. Delivery on 4/8: The same team arrived to my new home but had different paperwork in the account from Colonial which did not match their delivery quote - before we could move anything, they were calling Colonial to try to rectify my owed amount. NO ONE FROM COLONIAL WAS WORKING TO HELP THE MOVING TEAM SOLVE THIS! Because they could not get in touch with anyone from Colonial, they advised that they had to charge me $4,603.22 (delivery quote of $4,474.40 + a long distance carry charge of $128.82) in order to offload my items from the truck, and to resolve the misquote that I received with my account manager and resolutions team. The moving team acknowledged that Colonial completely messed up my quote. My initial total move estimate was $3,494.32, I paid a total of $6,290.40 (1.8x my estimate), and I should have paid a total of $5,239.16 (1.5x my estimate). I have been awaiting a call back from James since my delivery on 4/8 (9 working days now) after leaving many voicemails. I just want some communication to understand my review of the rerate-I have receipts. read more
8 years ago
UPDATE to review: I received a phone call from Donna Rose re: my review. She told me she wanted to help reach a satisfactory resolution regarding my move and asked me to give a detailed accounting of both of the situations outlined below. She was professional and empathetic and appeared to be taking detailed notes as I spoke. While I cannot know the outcome of the mover who harassed me, she did stress several times that this behavior was unacceptable to Colonial which I appreciated. Regarding the tripling of my packing costs, she said she would be conferring with her manager and would call me back. I received a call three hours later wherein Donna stated she had spoken to her manager regarding all aspects of my move and she had been authorized to refund me $700, which is basically the additional amount I was charged for packing. I very much appreciate Donna's effort on my behalf and the speed of the resolution to my concerns. I gave them a 3 on Moving.com but am downgrading them due to follow-up contact from them that was less than optimal. 1. I had three conversations with CVL reps regarding what was to be moved. Movers arrived to pick up my items after I was on the road and told my designated sub that the cost of packing was now tripled. Why? I don't know. I was not physically there and could not do a walk through re: their claims. When I asked on the phone the only thing they could point out (and the only item ever mentioned in subsequent phone calls with CVL) was a TV STAND that is approximately 44" high and with a 44" base and two shelves that are 33" and 22", respectively. I was also told by a CVL rep that someone named Roxie had made an adjustment to my account. She then put me on hold and came back to say she couldn't refund me because I agreed to the extra packing. When I AGAIN asked for an explanation of what caused my packing fees to triple, she mentioned the TV stand and nothing else. 2. MeToo experience with the movers. While I know the were a subcontractor, they were acting as reps for CVL at the time. I am a newly single woman who has moved to an entirely new area of the country for work. During the move-in, one of the movers would wait until the other one was gone and then start telling me how beautiful I was. He asked for my phone number so he could "fix my bed". He asked to use the bathroom while the other mover and crew chief were heading downstairs at the end of the move, then came over to put his arm around me, pat my shoulder and ask me for a tip. I did report this to the CVL case manager (who, in her own, was one of the few bright spots I had with CVL in that she listened, made extensive notes and passed the info up the chain). 3. No box count with the crew chief. When I asked about items he would say that everything was there. By the time the move-in was complete I just wanted the harasser to leave because I was feeling distressed and frightened so I signed the form. 4. The most recent call from CVL. A rep called me after I posted my review on Moving.com which includes all the above info (this is the same rep who said their was an adjustment on my account and then never explained it). Her first question out of the gate was if I could change my review to 5 stars. Really? I have listed sexual harassment as an issue and you want me to raise my review stars for you? How incredibly...tone-deaf at the least. While other people may have had better luck and experiences with CVL, I thought this experience should be posted as well so people can have multiple pieces of information to consider when making a decision about what moving company to choose. read more
6 years ago
DO NOT HIRE COLONIAL VANLhired colonial van lines for our move from California to Texas back in November 2020. We paid our deposit, solidified a 48 hour window of time for pickup in January 2021. They advised that 24-48 hours prior to the pickup window, they would call and tell us exactly what day of the window they would be coming. Less than 24 hours prior to contracted pickup window, we still had not heard from them, so I called to inquire as to if they were coming the next day or the day after, as per our contract. The case manager, Jared, advised me that they could not locate a driver and they could no longer adhere to the contracted pickup dates. He asked if there was flexibility in pickup days to which I stated "no" since we sold our house and have to be out so the new owners can move in. I advised him that this was unprofessional, unacceptable, and their ability to not find a driver was not my problem since scheduling people's moves is the exact premise of their business. He put me through to a supervisor, Kenya, who was incredibly rude and offered zero solutions to this problem other than saying they could refund my deposit money or hopefully, maybe, possibly find another driver in 10 or so days! How this company remains in business by screwing families over at the last minute is beyond me. Calling around for backup moving companies this late in the game is going to cost $1000's more, not to mention the stress this has caused on my family. I have a newborn, a toddler, and a 100% disabled veteran husband and the stress this has amounted to is ridiculous. What is the point of signing a contract, paying this company a deposit to secure our moving dates, only to have them say the day before that they can't perform their end of the contract and leave us scrambling? No apologies were provided, nor were any reasonable solutions offered. Essentially I received a "whoops" we can just refund you or we can pick up your stuff weeks from now, but even that they couldn't confirm. This company had months to figure out the dispatch schedule for our job , on the contracted dates, and I find this completely unacceptable and unprofessional and in breach of a contract. Sharon, a customer service manager, emailed me and stated that "sometimes things don't work out" in regards to them bailing on their contractual pickup dates and that she would offer me $150 as well as our deposit back. Again, $150 doesn't begin to cover the extra hoops and monetary inconveniences we had to endure in order to stick to our moving timeline with less than 24 hour notice. She also insinuated that since we had "no flexibility" in our pickup dates that this was now our problem. When you close escrow on a home and have to move out, in order for new owners to move in, there is understandably no flexibility. I'm not sure that Colonial Van lines grasps the concept of moving a family home, since they can just back out of their contractual duties whenever they see fit. Accepting money for a move and then not providing the service is the exact definition of consumer fraud since we paid a deposit to secure our move out date , as well as signing a contract, to ensure a smooth transition to our new home in a different state. I would never recommend this company to anyone who is looking to move. Their customer service is less than acceptable and they will leave you high and dry. **Update- I am increasing this review to 5 stars due to Donna in the resolutions department who was the only person at this company who truly provided excellent customer service , and was able to provide reasonable compensation for our troubles. read more
8 years ago
Hi, This is an update for my previous response. After I submitted the claims form, someone by name Donna Rose from Colonial van lines had called to understand the claim. When I explained the troubled that I had gone through with the move she listened to me patiently and promised that she will talk to her manager and get back with a resolution. She had also mentioned that the management has changed and are working to resolve customer issues. After few days she called me and informed that they are waiving the balance I owed plus they will be issuing a check as a refund for the missing and damaged items. I'm glad that Donna had acted quick and professional to resolve the issue I had been having for sometime now. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This company is all about getting your money. The sales person, after I had the initial quote, kept emailing me every day to remind. Finally, because of the price I chose to sign up with them. She spoke well and told me that she is doing all that is possible to keep my rates low. I didn't have an address for me to receive the items at first. She mentioned that as soon as I find a place, all I have to do is give a call and they will get my stuff. She also went to the extent of saying that if the weight was more than the estimate, they will still honor the agreed price. I should have caught the flaw right there but I missed it. And, I signed the contract. Closer to the move, the account manager calls. She mentioned that once I have a place to move I have to inform her and she will coordinate with the truck and get my stuff. That's when she mentioned that they will have a window within which they will deliver. I said but if I needed it on a specific date, why would I pay for additional days it sat on the storage. She mentioned that I'll only pay for the date I had requested rather than their actual delivery date (I hope they will at least keep this up). The movers came. They were ok. I only wish they hadn't used my plastic wrapper and tapes. The mover told me that they will weight after the pick up and colonial will give me the actual price based on the weight. Ok, I'll at least know the actual price once they weigh. I found my apartment for 9/10 and informed the account manager on 8/27. She had asked me to give two weeks notice so she can work out the time with the truck driver. Today is 9/16(three weeks since I informed), she has no idea where my stuff is and what my final price will be and when my stuff will really make it. They keep telling me that my window to get my stuff starts on 9/10 and ends on 9/22. I don't know why they needed two weeks notice before the start window of that "window" and wonder why the account manager to this minute couldn't get hold of the driver to find where my stuff is and when it will reach me. Someone from colonial called after I took their online survey and told me that their account manager is one of the best and actively working with the driver. The account manager never returns my call or emails. Either the sales team and the delivery team doesn't talk to each other on how they operate or else? Either ways, this is the most horrible moving experience I have ever had. I just hope I get my stuff soon. I'm going to keep calling them up this week. I'll update the review after that. So choose Colonial Van lines if you want to add more to the already stressful move. read more
4 months ago
I cannot recommend Colonial Van Lines after what was, without question, the worst moving experience I have ever had. I hired Colonial Van Lines for an interstate move from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Denver, Colorado, trusting that my belongings would be handled professionally and safely. Instead, Colonial subcontracted the move to APEX Moving Solutions, and the entire process became a nightmare that resulted in extensive damage, missing property, and thousands of dollars in losses. One of my biggest frustrations was the complete lack of transparency and documentation. I repeatedly requested finalized inventory records and copies of signed paperwork but was never provided with complete documentation. Important information regarding valuation coverage and claims procedures was never clearly explained. As a customer, I should have been able to verify what was loaded onto the truck and understand what protections were in place, but I was left largely in the dark. I was told that once the truck was sealed it would not be opened until delivery. However, I tracked my belongings with Apple AirTags and discovered the shipment sitting in Baltimore for several days without explanation. Communication throughout the process was poor and no one could provide meaningful answers. Things only got worse upon delivery. The movers arrived around 1 PM but did not actually begin unloading until hours later. During the delivery process, family members assisting with the move were subjected to arguments and unprofessional behavior from members of the crew. Then came the devastating part: opening boxes and discovering the extent of the damage. A solid wood buffet table valued at approximately $2,500 was destroyed beyond repair. My 75-inch LG QLED television arrived with a puncture and shattered screen, rendering it completely unusable. Personalized wine glasses that held sentimental value were broken. My Giant bicycle suffered severe structural damage. My grill was damaged because heavy tools had apparently been stored inside it, damaging the wheels and gas line. In addition, the movers damaged walls at the pickup location in Virginia and damaged a closet door during delivery in Denver. Even more concerning were the items that simply disappeared. A box spring never arrived, despite its protective cover making it to Denver. An entire Ryobi tool bag containing multiple power tools and batteries vanished. My Subaru Crosstrek crossbars were also missing. Altogether, the losses exceeded $13,000, not including additional repair costs. The most disappointing aspect of this experience has been the feeling that accountability has been absent throughout the process. Customers trust moving companies with virtually everything they own. That trust should be met with professionalism, communication, careful handling, and transparency. Unfortunately, that was not my experience with Colonial Van Lines and the company they chose to subcontract the move to. Based on my experience, I strongly advise anyone considering Colonial Van Lines to do extensive research and think carefully before entrusting them with their belongings. What should have been an exciting move to a new home became a stressful and costly ordeal that I am still attempting to resolve through arbitration. I would never use Colonial Van Lines again, and I cannot recommend them to anyone. read more
6 years ago
NEVER USE COLONIAL VAN LINES!!!! NEVERRRRR!!!!!!!! Read to bottom. I used Colonial Van Lines to move my stuff from a storage unit in New York down to Florida into another storage unit. They didn't have to do any physical packing or I packing. They gave me an expected day and timeframe for the pickup and ended up never showing up. So I took off of work for the day to be there to get them in the storage unit and they didn't show up and my account manager, Jared, was out of the office that day and unable to be reached. Then that following day they said they would show up between 10-2pm, never called to say it would be later. They ended up showing up around 7:45pm. That was just the pick up....I knew we were in for a disaster. Then they lied about the estimate cost and tripled it right away. I never heard back from my original point of contact, Drexel, who said he would be my point of contact the entire time. Complete lie. Then for delivery, they were supposed to show up on a Friday between 10-3...shockingly a no show/no call. So I called my account manager who told me it would be delivered on Sunday between 10-3. Never showed up/never called. The guy physically driving the moving truck, who was a 3rd party company and isn't affiliated with Colonial Van Lines, Calls me on Monday morning and says he never received the address for the delivery, the storage unit number or access code, which I had provided that previous Friday for the original delivery. So I gave him the info directly and he tells me he will be arriving around 4pm for the delivery. It gets better. Jared, my colonial van lines account manager, calls me that same day and tells me my stuff has been delivered the previous day. Then I obviously had to correct him and tell him it was getting delivered that afternoon at 4. They ended up showing up around 7:30. I had my infant with me waiting for almost 2 hours at the storage unit with no call or answer as to where they were. They destroyed a lot of our belongings, my son's crib which is a brand new Pottery Barn crib, is destroyed. They took it apart and cracked all of the wood. When discussing options with the resolutions department, they were offering me $60 for a crib and kept saying I should've expected them to dissemble the crib during the move even though I was told 4 times during the 4 times I went over the inventory list, that they would not be dissembling anything. They actually tried to keep the crib and not give it to us because it was that destroyed. I am beyond upset, frustrated, and shocked by the unprofessional and completely lack of pride this company has. I will never ever use them again and I will make sure people know not to use this company because I don't want anyone going through what we went through. ***Had to update my review to 5 stars in order for the resolutions department to agree to "resolve" my issues and give me money back. Worked with Donna in resolutions. I received a call after I posted the review. Would not give me money owed/negotiated until I agreed to giving them 5 stars on review. So here it is. The moving experience was still a complete nightmare and it makes sense why they hired Donna in resolutions because it's a NEED in their company when the job isn't done well. Just happy this nightmare will be over soon. read more
4 months ago
Colonial Van Lines is the most clown-car, Romper Room operation I have ever dealt with. Run--do not walk--away from this company. For anyone considering hiring them, let me explain exactly how the experience works. First, Colonial is NOT a direct moving company as they present themselves. They are very clearly a middleman broker who collected the money, marked up the price, and then contracted the actual move to an independent moving company that did all the work for a fraction of the payment. Colonial added cost, confusion, and another layer of people to deal with, but no actual value. The entire setup felt like a bait and switch. The communication was abysmal. Their operation seems to run almost entirely on canned emails, scripted talking points, and layers of contacts with random employees. Trying to have a meaningful conversation with anyone was painful. You also get trapped in a ridiculous triangle between Colonial, the contracted mover, and yourself. The two companies seem to have no direct communication. Several times during the move, my Colonial "Moving Coordinator" was calling me--the customer--to ask if I knew the mover's status. Apparently I was coordinating the move for the Moving Coordinator. I lived in a congested city and needed a firm move-out date to secure HOA approval, reserve the loading area, and obtain street permits. They did not disclose until after I was under contract, that they would only provide a vague date range and refused to confirm the actual date until 72 hours beforehand. That 72-hour window fell over a weekend, leaving me scrambling at the last minute to arrange permits and building access. Of course this is for their own scheduling convenience, with no respect for the inconvenience to the customer. Then comes the pricing routine. When you first call, a "Moving Coordinator" walks you through a quick, superficial inventory estimate--usually before you have packed anything or have a realistic sense of what you have. That produces an artificially low number that gets you to sign. Closer to the move, a different person from "Quality Assurance" calls and suddenly discovers that the move will cost substantially more. In my case, the original estimate of 6629 lb later ballooned to 8,344 lbs. The actual documented weight ended up 7100 lbs. Of course no refund or adjustment for the difference, but I'm sure I would have been notified immediately if the weight was higher. The entire process felt deliberately structured to get me under contract with an artificially appealing estimate, then reveal the real price, restrictions, and logistical problems only after I was committed. Colonial was a pointless and poorly coordinated middleman whose main contribution was collecting a substantial markup. Once they had my money, they became evasive, disorganized, and remarkably unhelpful. Save yourself the frustration. Book directly with a reputable moving company that will actually perform the move, communicate with you, and take responsibility for the service you are paying for. read more
6 years ago
Review Update 09/28/2020 Updating the review after speaking with Donna (resolutions manager), who has work amazingly fast to get us the best resolution outcome. It has been a pleasure to work with Donna. Colonial Van Lines provided us with an estimate for an interstate moving that was calculated ONLY on weight, not in volume. We warn the sales agent Mr. Chad C that our items were larger than usual but not heavy. He stated not to worry about since they were going to send an 18-wheeler. On the day of the move a 40 feet truck showed up. We were surprised when our moved was sold to Best Price moving without no one letting us know. we raised our concerns that the truck was going to be to small, and immediately called Colonial Van Lines, who onlyl then told us that the truck was sent based on the cubic weight (but we were sold only on weight not on volume) Mid load, the crew saw that the truck was indeed too small, and left items behind with the promise to pick them up the very next day. It was right then when the nightmare started. Suddenly Colonial Stop answering the phone call, just giving us a call at the end of the day to let us know the goods were going to be picked up the next day. Best Price moving referred us always to Colonial. We had to get rid of numerous items that were on the original packing list in the estimate in order to fit their trucks, again at our financial loss. ONE WEEK later they finally came to pick up the goods. it was a week that we were forced to stay at hotels and have meals in restaurants at our own expense. ONCE they had our goods in their possession they called us to let us know that they were changing the estimate and transforming it to a binding contract without giving us the option of having our household goods weighted at a certified station. Colonial Van Lines forced us to accept it or face more delays. Then the delivery never came. Again Colonial Van lines failed at giving us an estimate on when the goods were going to be delivered. We were assigned multiple Customer Service Managers every day, when they run out of words and excuses they just assign us another person (Mario, Roxanne, Aisha...) We asked several timer to Colonial to provide reasonable accommodation with the only offer from Mrs. Roxanne H of 150 dollars to buy inflatable mattresses so we could "sleep comfortably". Colonial denied every single of our petition and always stated that we needed to place a claim with their claims department. 17 days after the pick up we finally got our items delivered (without Colonial letting us know, in fact they called us to tell us that they did not know when our items were going to be delivered, while we were getting them delivered by a third party company) to our surprise, we learnt that our goods were stored at a warehouse from Best Price Moving for more than a week, without no one going to pick them up. When we got everything delivered, 16 boxes were missing and numerous items were broken. read more
8 years ago
Colonial has reached out to us because of our concerns and lack of satisfaction. We would like to thank Donna Rose for providing a satisfactory resolution to our concerns. We do give 5 stars to the resolution we received. The initial contacts and contract was quite satisfactory, but as the moving process started they altered all arrangements and required thousands more dollars. We moved from PA to WA. Our packing and preparations took months and we updated our list of belonging on the contract as we packed items. We felt comfortable with this mover up until two weeks before our move, when they changed our moving manager two times and forced us to change our pickup date. Since we had sold our house and had a firm closing date, any change in the pickup date was a major issue. However, we did accommodate their request. They said they would compensate us for this change, which cost us anxiety and $200, but after the move was finally over they merely offered us $50 for this change. On the day they showed up to pickup our belongings they required us to sign a totally new and different contract. It didn't matter that we had accurately described and detailed all the items that were to be moved. We had to sign this new contract, adding thousands more in moving costs, or they would walk out the door the day before our house closing date. We were forced to accept this new contract. We were forced to agree that the "binding estimate" in the original contract was superseded by this new contract. Overall it cost us $6400 more than our original contract. We felt that this last minute change was their plan all along, in order to squeeze more money out of us. Our belongings were to be delivered between the 11th and 17th of November. Each day we had to arrange for someone to be available to accept that delivery. But from Nov. 9 through the 15th we were only able to reach a live person at the office twice, and both times they could give us no information on delivery. We left numerous voicemails and emails, but no one would call us back. No one would give us any information. Finally on Nov. 17th one person, the assistant to our move manager, called to say that they would have information on Nov. 19. On that date, two days after all of our belongings were to be delivered; we were told that the delivery would take place the next day. They offered us, after much discussion, a mere $150 for this three day delay. At one point, weeks earlier, we had asked about the cost of delaying our delivery and were told that a three day delay would cost us $3,304. But because THEY delayed delivery three days they merely offered us $150. The overall move cost more than $20,000 so this $150 is less than 1%, not what we consider a fair offer. Overall we feel this company is not trustworthy. We feel that they did not treat us well, they were not responsive to our many phone calls, and they did not provide the service they had contracted to provide. read more
5 years ago
Edit: Changing it to 5 stars after their resolution manager, Donna, reached out and worked to get a resolution in regard to the customer service issues we experienced. Our claim for damages and lost items are separate and still being handled by the claims department, but I appreciate Donna's efforts and commitment to resolve my issue. If I could give this company negative stars, I would. DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY FOR YOUR MOVING NEEDS. EVER. I'll start off by saying they were 3 days late picking up our items which caused us $300 in rent charges which, of course, they won't cover. They never told us we could pay extra to lock in a confirmed date or we certainly would have. The driver was unorganized and did very little work while the two people he had subcontracted locally wrapped and packed everything. Those two did a great job while the driver took multiple breaks. Then the driver left without leaving us a copy of our invoice. We called him immediately to have him come back or to just stop and we would meet him for a copy but he said "no need - I forgot to give it to you but I got this" Whatever that meant.... Our delivery was two days late. When the driver opened the truck, it was immediately apparent our stuff had been unloaded and loaded back on. How many times? Who knows, but it was in total disarray. I asked the driver for a copy of the item breakdown and he literally told me it was too cold to get it. I told him I needed to verify items as they came off the truck and after a staring contest, he rolled his eyes, sighed and got me the forms. I could see why he 1) didn't leave it in the first place and 2) didn't want me to see it. The pages were a mess with many of the listed items illegible. As they unloaded, we found almost every big piece of furniture was damaged. We have a cast iron table base and that was broken in half. Another thing about this cast iron piece - IT WAS MIXED IN WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S STUFF ON THE TRUCK SO THE DRIVER HAD TO UNLOAD THEIR STUFF TO EVEN FIND IT. I should mention here that this driver kept talking about other missing items from other shipments he had picked up and delivered over the past few weeks. So now trying to deal with customer service, supervisors, etc in this company has proven to be nothing short of time wasting. We keep getting the same answers - they are trying to locate our items. I'm pretty sure we are just going to be out our money because we can't seem to get a good answer out of anyone. I'm not sure who to even go to at this point but I just wanted to warn everyone out there that is even remotely considering using these guys....DON'T. I see other reviews here that someone named Donna helped them resolve their similar issues. So Donna - if you're a real person and you're out there, please give us a call. We could sure use some positivity at this point. read more
1 year ago
I was extremely disappointed with the service I received from Colonial Van Lines during my recent move from California to Oregon. While I understood that household moves can involve a degree of logistical complexity, what I experienced was a troubling lack of accountability, transparency, and integrity on the part of Colonial. Shortly after my belongings were picked up, I contacted their customer service department to request a delivery update. To my surprise, I was informed that my items had already been delivered -- which was categorically untrue. This miscommunication was only the beginning of an extremely frustrating process during which I had to consistently initiate follow-up inquiries to obtain even basic information regarding the whereabouts of my shipment. After a full week of repeated outreach on my part, I was informed that my items were in a "climate-controlled warehouse," but no further details regarding location or delivery timeline were provided. It took several additional days -- again initiated by my own follow-ups -- before I was finally told that the warehouse in question was located in Los Angeles according to the customer services manager Hope. Even then, no one could provide a confirmed delivery date, and when one was eventually provided, it was two days beyond the latest date in the original delivery window. When I asked for an explanation for the delay -- particularly in light of the extended period during which I received no meaningful communication -- I was told there was "nothing that could be done" aside from a $30-per-day credit. When my items were finally delivered, I learned that they had never been stored in a warehouse at all. The same agents (Movers operating under their own business name and under Colonial's carrier license) who had picked up my belongings delivered them and informed me that my items had been on the back of their truck the entire time -- I was delayed only because a larger job took precedence over mine. This directly contradicted what I had repeatedly been told by Colonial Van Lines customer service. When I raised this matter with their team, the response was perfunctory at best. I was offered a $150 price adjustment, which does not come close to addressing the inconvenience, stress, and misleading information I endured throughout the process, in addition the extra financial strain that was placed on me. This experience has raised serious concerns about the professionalism and reliability of their company. I expected -- at the very least -- honest communication, timely updates, and responsible handling of my personal belongings. Unfortunately, none of these expectations were met. There was one employee (Tiffany) that expressed her empathy to my situation, but her hands were tied. The company was subpar and dishonest. I would not recommend Colonial to anyone. read more
8 years ago
I'm updating this review for two reasons. They would not settle my dispute unless I changed my one star to a five star and secondly because we did reach a reasonable resolution. The move was still the move from hell and nothing else has changed. We've had success moving from Atlanta to Martha's Vineyard with no issues. And that's 1500 miles to an island with a ferry to consider. So this under 600 mile moved seemed like it should be a breeze to us. That could not be farther from the truth. We looked at Colonial's reviews and they were mixed. People either loved them or hated them. Right now we leaning towards the hate. If they redeem themselves I will revise the review but right now its a solid 1. My issues: They give you a two day window for pick up and promise to let you know 48-72 hours in advance. 72 hours came and went and then 48 and no word. We called and were told they'd get back to us on Monday, which was the day before the estimated pickup. We said hell no! So we pressed and they finally called back and said 9-11am today, Tuesday. It is now 2pm and still no van. The driver called a couple of hours ago to give a "Courtesy" call to let us know they were running three hours behind. At that time we expressed our concerns and he said they would make up the time. In order to stay on track, we moved everything from the second floor to the first. I MEAN EVERYTHING! We broke down all the beds, rolled up all the rugs, shrink wrapped all the antiques, etc. The driver also so said we were the only one on the truck and they may even be able to get there earlier than estimated. Shortly after that call, we received a call from Colonial saying they were told by the agent we requested to be the only ones on the truck. No true. Everyone told us the entire time, based on the size of our load, we would most likely be the only ones on the truck. And the driver confirmed that. But now because we asked the driver about that they said we're going to have to revise the quote. Seriously? They just wanted to make MORE money off of us. Of course all this happens when there is no hope of us cancelling because we wouldn't get our deposit back and they know we would have to wait for another mover to reschedule. So they have us over the proverbial barrel and we have no choice but to continue. Then to top it off they will only commit to a window of 5 days to deliver. How can you plan for a five day window? Another company came out to do an estimate and when it was Colonial's turn to do the a site inspection, they asked for the previous estimate, sent someone out and low and behold they came up with the exact number of pounds. Exact! How in the hell does that happen? I'm sure they just used the previous inspection report. It's just been a nightmare. read more
8 years ago
UPDATE on this review: Five stars for the resolution of my original issue. I had a positive follow-up interaction similar to Peggy P. I had a bad experience that was addressed by the new management. I was contacted by Donna who listened to what happened and empathized with my frustration without getting defensive at all. She didn't rush me or downplay anything I had to say. Donna recognized the stress that I went through and recognized that Colonial should take responsibility. She agreed to compensate me for my bad experience. This move was impressive to me because it was unnecessary. They know that I am not likely to need another move in the short-term, and yet still wanted to make sure that I had a positive impression of the company and its direction under new management. Given that they can't go back in time, this was about as good a gesture as I could have hoped for. I wish them luck in continuing to turn it around and stay focused on customers. Original review: ------------------------------------------------------------ Worst moving experience I have had. Colonial staff were extremely respectful and helpful when making the initial purchase. I booked two months in advance, and was told to not have any concerns about any delays or troubles since it was so far out. But guess what - they never showed up! They called one day before the moving window saying that they might need to find a new driver. That turned into a different story each day, with them repeatedly telling me it might be the next day before I hear any more information. They continually failed to call to update me with information despite desperate pleas. My moving window came and went. They must have promised 5 or 6 different days to call me back with updates. No calls came. And then when I called back at the time they said they'd update me, my contact person was mysteriously busy / unavailable, or the office was closed entirely. They even tried the excuse "not enough people live in Seattle, no there's no truck traffic there". Eventually I was essentially told to book with another moving company. Well that's pretty hard to do on the same day when I needed to be out of town during the window they booked. I had already made plans and arrangements. Now after having booked a different company with some delay in pickup, I have begun my job and my life in a new city in an empty residence with none of the basics. All thanks to Colonial FAILING to live up to their word. As SOON as they thought there might be a delay, they should have taken it upon themselves to fix it, instead of stringing me along for over a WEEK beyond the arranged time, and then just giving up entirely. Trust no one. read more



























