After leaving reviews here, on consumeraffairs.com and filing a BBB complaint, I finally got a phone call from Donna, the resolutions manager. I told her everything that happened, sent pictures of damages etc. She seems like a genuine person who understood my frustrations. That being said, it is now the 22nd of August and I haven't heard anything after sending her all the information she needed. The last email I got was on the 11th of August. A ton of my things are still in Maryland. I am probably going to have to spend even MORE money to get someone else to get it out here. As it is, I am again, STILL paying for storage and have had to replace things like silverware, vacuum cleaners, medication...the list is endless as to what this is REALLY going to end up costing me. I will keep updating, but as of now...radio silence. Not happy. AT ALL. 8/22/21 - 4:30pm PST update. The Plot Thickens. Our mover, Darrell, just had the audacity to show up unannounced at our front door. We told them months ago, that one box we had received was not ours. (Mr. Gartner if you are out there, we would be happy to get your globe to you.) Darrell said he would be by that afternoon (IN JUNE) to pick it up. He never came by. After speaking with Donna she told me that she would be sending a UPS call tag for that box. Since that was the last information I received from the company's representative I did not give him that box. I don't trust him, I don't know why he thought he could just show up here, but he isn't a UPS call tag so NO. I did however, text him a picture of the box as he requested, because I told him I would. Unlike Colonial, who tells you they are going to do all kinds of things, things you are PAYING THEM FOR and then they don't do them..at all. Unbelievable. Don't send anyone to my door, unannounced. We will not be nearly as pleasant next time. read more

I had to relocate a family member from the Midwest to the Southern part of the US. They helped me coordinate everything from my home in Florida. Customer Service was really good, constant phone communication with each step in the process. When the drivers (polite, friendly, and accommodating) showed up and met me at the house in Indiana, they were on time, and handled all of my mothers possessions with great care. And delivery to her new location went very smoothly. If I'm in need of another relocation for family or myself, I will be using this company. They treated me very well. read more

I was looking for quotes for my upcoming move and came across Colonial Van lines. Ricardo reached out to me. He was good to explain the process well. But I was not ready to move yet due to pending paperwork at my job. He would follow up every few weeks like I requested. Every time I had a delay for my move, he would tell me over and over again, almost rudely that my price would increase as I got closer to the move date. I told him I understood but I was not ready due to various things I was waiting on. Anyway, one day he was extremely rude to me saying I needed to book my move ASAP. as a consumer - I understand that the rate I receive may be higher closer to the move. BUT it is NOT the place of the company rep to force me into anything or talk to me like that. I was extremely angry at this tone and decided to go ahead with a different company just because of his behavior. Their services may be good, but they need to learn to talk to their customers. read more

I will attempt to keep all emotional value from this review forthcoming and if I could I would actually give them the largest negative rating possible. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. My move was simple, 2000lb minimum, 977 miles from Chicago to Dallas. Move date March 27-28 with two windows each day for the truck to arrive, I negotiated a rate and a late rate per day for every day they would arrive late, this was done a month in advance. I also in the negotiation made clear and got in writing their employees would be moving me and that I would not be "farmed" out a third party. I negotiated all of this with the claimed "owner" Collette, who was called in the close the deal. I signed and gave my deposit. Then everything went to S***, both in the world and with this company I know Covid -19 changed things but not interstate transit and I offered in writing and on the phone twice to amend the deal or allow them to cancel, but they were stern with their word that they could honor my contract I was required to give them two days to choose from as long as they gave me back 48 hours' notice on which date they would be using. This didn't happen... The first opportunity to keep to the contract was an epic fail. I got a call from "Best Price Moving" a local Chicago mover who told me at 3 PM they would arrive the next day at 11 AM, less than 24 hours notice and far less than the negotiated 48-hour minimum notice. Nancy who represents the "3rd Party" mover they hired to pick me up said oh we never offer 48 hours notice, and when pressed on the issue about dissatisfaction with Colonial Van Lines and my contract, the response was "we don't work for them, we are a different company they hire us", strike two. The pick up from "Best Price" was on time but came with issues like a separate long-form contract that does not match the contract signed with Colonial and would then potentially void the original contract signed. The terms took an hour to work out over the phone the company would not communicate via email and or in writing so I GPS tagged a few boxes and sent them with the outsourced mover. I made my way to Dallas, then noticed a week later the load had not moved from Chicago, it just sat. Due on the 8th of April by the 5th, I knew it would be late, and I had negotiated late fee by day regarding this. The load finally left on the 6th after multiple calls informing them I was tracking with my Samsung GPS trackers. It finally arrived on the 11th, three days late. The locals also not employees of Colonial Van Lines were nice and got my stuff loaded safely. Colonial Van Lines is not a moving company they are simply a broker who uses better legal language than the next guy. As for my late fee, they will not be honoring that in writing they have offered half the fee which I will refuse and I will see them in court with their contract for a win. They would not budge a centimeter if it were on me, so on behalf of everyone else I am taking them to small claims court and will recoup my late fee as negotiated. ( update they have folded and will honor the late fee but it has yet to be paid ) Lastly, DO NOT TRUST DONA OR COLETTE Move on from this company, now of you are in Chicago, use Best Price Moving ask for Nancy or Mary they were both excellent and trustworthy. Please excuse any typos or grammar errors. read more

WORST SERVICE EVER!!!! my furniture was destroyed. I had to leave my baby's crib and dresser and my bed in the trash after they "moved" my stuff from Atlanta to Miami. My glassware was shattered and my tv's have bumps all over. DO NOT HIRE THEM!!!! ZERO STARS! read more

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They got so many bad reviews that another one would not make any difference any more. I don't know why this company existed, and I don't know why I did not read the reviews and stay away from them. - Actual cost more than three times of the initial estimate. I may have more boxes than estimate. 3 time? No way. - Actual delivery 10 days after the estimated window, after multiple changes - 3.5 hours late even on the actual delivery date - Shady practices by the subcontractors - Cannot reach Colonial by phone. Right, you'll reach their voicemail. read more

Nightmare! Horrible! Stay away!! Every time I thought it couldn't get worse...it did. From start to finish this company raised the bill, didn't know where their driver was, wouldn't take any responsibility for the worst customer service I have experienced. 1. The original quote doubled on the first day when the driver arrived a day early. We had to be out of our apartment so we were now stuck. At this point, we should have fired them and paid for an extra months rent and it would still be less that all the "overages" that are tacked in. 2. Driver couldn't give us a date to expect delivery. We could book a hotel until they were done. 3. They didn't bring enough boxes or tape so they used ours...and still charged us. 4. No more than the driver and packer showed up so it took them 3 days...1 full day was pretty much lost because they didn't arrive until 4pm. 5. The semi broke down so our delivery date moved from one week to two weeks. The driver told us that Colonial wouldn't pay for repairs even on their truck or get a new one until the following week. 6. The delivery date changed 7 times! 7. The customer service at Colonial was unresponsive to and complaint or concern. They usually didn't answer the phone. 8. After waiting two weeks with shifting delivery dates...they finally found the driver and gave us a Sunday delivery but insisted that we pay in full before the truck arrived and because they weren't open on Sunday to take a credit card so we would need to pay the driver in cash 10k. 9. Delivery day we are charged again for having to dolly the boxes because their truck wouldn't go up the driveway...we showed him pictures of the driveway before he left. 10. Let's talk scratches on our freshly stained hardwood floors...I mean gouges. 11. Delivery with two guys starts at 2pm, ends at 9pm Do not use Colonial! Scam and held captive with all your belongings, horrile customer service, and MIA drivers. read more

Wow! What incompetence. This company was inept at converting our belongings to weight we ended up paying 40% more for the move than they estimated. We chose them from three movers & went with them because they started out sounding extremely professional & knowledgeable over the phone. However, their final price was over $800 MORE that that of the highest bidder. One might conclude there was an incident of "bait & switch" that happened here. We were also lead to believe it would be a Colonial truck toting our goods. At NO TIME did they indicate Zip Moving would be the actual hauler. And when Zip showed up at our door, it was 4 PM & they were driving an Enterprise rental truck. While the two movers from Zip were fantastic in dealing with all of our belongings, it took them until 2 AM to get everything on the truck. As Colonial just BROKERED this job, they again showed how amateurish they are by totally disregarding the hours the movers were going to have to work & by ALSO NECESSITATING OUR NEED TO STAND FOR ALL THOSE HOURS AS ALL OUR FURNITURE WAS ON THE TRUCK. And if all of that weren't enough, we have been contacted numerous times over the last three weeks to complete a survey about our experience with Colonial. These people are clueless. My wife finally completed their survey, stating pretty much what I've written here, and now they want her to spend even MORE PRIVATE TIME discussing what she wrote. Yup! CLUELESS. Use them at your own peril. We've heard from Donna who said she was taking care of our interests with Colonial. That was 2-3 days ago. I wonder what has happened. read more

Job # 549030-CV-R2. If you're reading this review, you probably already know these so-called "van line" movers are the bottom feeders of the world that take advantage of its customers' vulnerability by holding their goods hostage. But unfortunately, sometimes these are the only option you've got, given the other moving options are either: 1) really expensive movers that actually do everything by themselves from packing, loading, driving, and unloading; or 2) doing the entire move by yourself. The first option quoted me about 9k, and I couldn't afford the move. The second option was too difficult because I also have a car and had to drive about 1,200 miles. Originally, I had contacted them in mid-December of 2018 to schedule a move from Louisiana to Maryland in mid-January. I'd thought, hey, scheduling a move with a month's notice should suffice. About a year ago, I did the same move, except that it was TO Louisiana. I've used a some random van line company, and they originally quoted me about $1,600. Cool, I said. I ended up spending, grand total: $3,914. After they've come to my place to load the stuff up, they charged every single thing that they did. Taking certain furniture apart, wrapping them in fabric, etc. Understandable, I thought. With the extra stuff that they did at my home, from $1,600 went up to about $2,500. They went up to my second floor to grab one single item added $75. They walked too many steps. $75. The other thing I remember was that if I had $150 up front, the delivery guys can't charge for the "long-carry" - or going more than 75 feet from the truck to unload the stuff. AND, they demanded 20% tip. "Things can be lost, and tipping us helps against that". 20% of the $2,500 was, $500. Their threats could not have been ignored. The delivery guys ended up making excuses and that their truck couldn't fit the driveway, they had to rent a small Uhaul truck that was $500. In-town moves cost like $20 per day, but couldn't argue with them since they had my stuff. Anyway, it wasn't these guys. I thought I'll just pack every single thing myself, and ask plenty of questions and still expect to shell out double the original quote. But guess what? The move out day comes up, and I get a call that they still couldn't locate the movers. Since I scheduled the original move-out date a few days before my lease expired, I begrudgingly accepted, and agreed to change the possible move-out date to the end of the week, giving them 3 more days - Sunday being my absolute latest. Saturday and Sunday, I get no word from them, and on Monday, after I called them, they simply told me that they couldn't find anyone, and asked me again to extend the move date. At that point, I had to run around like a crazy person so that I could stay at the place past the original lease, for a fee. Imagine if I had to move out of the place but had nobody to load the stuff up and all. Well, on Monday, I told them that you find something by Wed, or I'm moving on. Not surprisingly, they didn't find anyone. After I told them I'm moving on, they make it sound as if I'm the one simply cancelling the contract, not them. I'm still trying to get my money back. What I ended up doing was renting a Uhaul truck, hired 2 guys to load the stuff onto the truck, and drove 1,200 miles myself while towing my car. Worst experience ever. You just think these van line movers are the scumbags of the world, but these particular movers simply one-up that expectation, or lack thereof. At least with other movers you do end up getting your stuff, even though they make you pay much more than the quote. But with these guys, they screw you thoroughly left, right, up, down, from everywhere. If you would like to go through such nightmare, by all means, give them a call. If you like changing plans last minute and like putting yourself in difficult situations and test yourself how you handle crisis, please, go ahead. But if you're a normal person like me, do yourself a favor and at least hire someone else. read more

Five days after picking up our things, they still won't give me a delivery date. Just go elsewhere or move it yourself. A twelve hour drive for thousands of dollars shouldn't take a week. If your area is services by a popular moving app that undercuts ten percenter businesses like this, use that. My things are held hostage after paying a king's ransom. read more

DO NOT USE COLONIAL VAN LINES. This is by far the worst moving experience I have ever had. They assigned my move to Cal Van Lines. These movers should not be in business. I was allocated this company through Colonial Van Lines. Firstly, they failed to pack my goods adequately and did not wrap furniture. Next they claimed my things weighed 2,000 lbs over the estimated amount, which I know is not right based on the weight of our things when we moved just one year prior. Then, when my things arrive, most furniture items are smashed and they just left them in the garage for me to deal with. Next, I paid for a partial pack/unpack and the movers decided to NOT put my furniture back together even though I paid for this. They cost be thousands of dollars in replacement costs and hours of lost time. Chose someone else and do not give Colonial Van Lines your business. I will be taking action against them and reporting them to the BBB. read more

Horrible company. Damaged my stuff and held it hostage. Horribly confusing and contradictory communication. I asked for 24 hour notice before pick up and delivery but they showed up with no warning for delivery and then charged us for missing it. They also called me 3 times in the same day stating an entirely different balance owed for the delivery, each time stating a higher amount and acting like I was a crazy person when I told them I had already been called stating a different amount. The final bill was raised even higher due to the weight being above the original limit even though I was told by the movers at pickup that it was going to be way under the limit. Avoid this company, they are worthless scammers. read more

We had a great team working for us, those guys did such a great job. everything arrived in peace, nothing lost or damaged. we feel very happy with our decision of hiring colonial for our out of state move.. read more

We retained Colonial Van Lines to move our (3-bedroom house) belongings from Claremont, CA, to Corvallis, Oregon in late 2020. We contacted them on September 11th. Our belongings were picked up on October 19, 2020, and delivered to Corvallis (in 2 shipments) on January 28, and February 5, 2021. We booked them well ahead of the requested departure and delivery dates. Total cost of the move was $14,984. The overall experience was TERRIBLE. We attribute this primarily to poor leadership by upper management. * Colonial Van Lines (Pompano Beach, FL) DID NOT EVER tell us that they would subcontract the job to United Moving Solutions, Las Vegas, NV. This subcontracting resulted in multiple communications failures, & communications that did occur (such as delivery date/time) often were contradictory. * We indicated we would pay for all breakable dishes/glassware and other kitchen items to be unwrapped and packing items removed at delivery. We asked that all hanging garments be hung in designated closets. AFTER we were informed of our delivery dates in January, 2021, we were told that United Moving Solutions would not provide these services. * Our contract indicated that our "moving coordinator" would provide us with guidance throughout our move. However, after we paid the initial $4270 in September, he never again responded to our emails or calls. * Neither company would confirm dates of pick up or delivery. Instead, they would only give us a 3-DAY window for pickup, and did not confirm that date until the very last minute. Since the movers were taking our beds, that left us with uncertainty and stress to the last minute on where we would sleep every night. * The companies would not confirm date of delivery of our items, instead giving us a 7-DAY window for delivery. As we were housed in an Air BnB in Corvallis, that made it impossible for us to appropriately plan what date the beds would arrive so that we could occupy our new house. * United Moving Solutions packed up all of our belongings on one day (October 19, 2020) and put them all in one truck. They determined shipment weight for appropriate billing. THEN, they insisted that the truck to deliver our belongings in January could not hold all of our belongings, & that they would need to send another truck a week or so later. The delivered our two shipments in trucks rented from Enterprise a week apart. Since they picked up all our stuff, how could they be in the dark about the necessary truck size for delivery? * Packers arrived not wearing masks.. * Packers were polite, and worked quickly. HOWEVER, they left debris on the floors all over our house (empty tape rolls, packing paper, cardboard debris). Unknown to us until after their departure, they completely filled our large "greens" trash bin and recycle bin outside with tape rolls, paper and cardboard debris. We had to empty the greens bin ourselves, since that is only for yard waste. They did not leave our house and property clean.. * The packers did not label most boxes to indicate to which room (kitchen, bedroom, etc.) the boxes should be delivered. On delivery, this left us with dozens and dozens of unlabeled and unopened boxes. * The numbered orange stickers placed on each box or item of furniture were a joke. The packers asked me to sign about 11 pages of Households Goods Descriptive Inventory with 70 item numbers per page. On delivery, nobody checked off these item numbers. I was just asked to sign off on these pages as having been delivered. They were carbon copies & the writing was not legible. Two items (steam iron & porcelain umbrella holder) never made it to our new home. * Legs were broken off of my desk, & there were about 10 broken items. The delivery men said that I could make a claim of $ 0.60 per pound. One broken item, for example, was a $15 champagne flute that weighed much less than a pound. * Payment was a joke. I paid $4270 down on September 11th, and intended to pay another third of the estimate on pickup. However, the UMS crew doing the pickup would not accept payment. I tried several times by email to find out how I should make the second payment, and was always told not to do it. Then, on arrival, United Moving Solutions got all fussy, and said they would not even unload the truck until I processed the second two thirds of payment. By then, I did not trust these companies. I did convince the drivers to open the truck doors to be sure they contained our belongings. I did pay them before unloading, but I should not have been asked to make the final payment until all items were delivered. * The four men (2 for each delivery) that delivered our belongings were courteous, and worked hard. They wore masks. Issues with, for example, the orange stickers are ones that should be the responsibility of management to incorporate into training. * Overall, the entire experience with Colonial Van Lines and United Moving Solutions was TERRIBLE. read more

It would be a risk to use this company. The movers were late to pick up, did not follow our instructions, and took off face coverings inside our home. Valuable items were not packed properly and ultimately were damaged on arrival. A two-week window of delivery was provided and they failed to meet it. Our furnishings arrived 41 days after pick-up and 19 days after the final day promised on the contract. The company required a deposit before they would pick-up and the remaining balance 24 hours before they would deliver, despite their failure to meet their commitments. During the delayed moving process, false information was given and there was no compassion or customer service for the inconvenience caused by the company's failure to meet the contract. This is the worst experience for me in the ten moves I have made with large moving companies. read more

Worst moving company ever. Yeah they may be the cheapest but you get what you pay for. This company subcontracts to other moving companies and are just the middle man. We waited over 2 weeks for our stuff for a truck to come South. When we tried to call Monica, our 3rd rep in this interaction, as it got closer she ignored our call until she had news to report back. Not acceptable after waiting 2 weeks, even if she had no news for us. Then on the day of delivery our truck was delayed for some reason and didn't get to us until 8 pm. Monica called at 2 (the time it was supposed to be here) to confirm and when it wasn't called the other company. By the time they got here the mover was badgering my husband why we had people calling him 3 times about our delivery. Excuse me?? We've waited 2 weeks for this and then you think it's our problem you got called out for not doing your job? Pay the extra money and use a reputable company that will pick up and deliver with at least a half smile on the days you want with customer service that's responsive. The one silver lining is that the guys picking our stuff up were super nice and professional. **Update: We received a call a few days later from Donna who wanted to hear what happened and find a resolution, which was nice. She talked to her boss and offered us a $200 credit (on an almost $2500 job, for context) if we signed something and sent a screenshot with our updated 5 star review. Looks like I won't be getting my credit because I refuse to give this company 5 stars and don't appreciate being bribed into doing so. If you see a 5 star review, take it with a grain of salt. They might have had the same thing happen. read more

Never use Colonial Van Lines. They jump on your moving request, promise excellent service and FAIL. Do not be taken in. There are plenty of other reputable carriers. Colonial Van Lines selected an "agent" to service our move and promptly dropped the ball. The agent, American Movers, were 2 college students with no moving experience. Wrong from start to finish. Wrong size truck, overestimated and overcharged weight, no packing expertise, damaged all furniture. Only refunded overage AFTER we hired a lawyer. Colonial hid behind American, their own "agent", shouldering NONE of the responsibility. In the end, again after we hired the lawyer, Colonial offered us $800 for the furniture damage in EXCHANGE for our silence. We did not accept. Never use Colonial Van Lines. read more

Colonial Van Lines - This is the disaster that greeted us when they opened the doors to our moving van. - Movers Near Me - Pompano Beach, Florida

Once they see your negative review you can expect a call from Donna or Leon or someone else from Colonial Van Lines saying they need to "discuss the resolutions process" with you but... Beware of their "Resolution Process"!!! Colonial Van Lines saw my original review and started contacting me and my husband about it. Even though I sent several emails requesting a written explanation they would never say what the specific issue was that they were calling about. I finally called Colonial Van Lines several times inquiring about our claim and after Colonial Van Lines mentioned my review I asked what does my review have to do with receiving my claims settlement money? Colonial Van Lines told me that since we were receiving an amount higher than what we should have gotten per the contract that means that Colonial Van Lines has resolved all my issues and I should remove or update (improve) my review. One of their customer service representatives in the claims department actually confirmed that Colonial Van Lines was "waiting on confirmation that my review had been updated or removed before payment would be sent." That particular stipulation was not in the "Full and Final Settlement Agreement" that we signed and sent to Colonial Van Lines but now apparently Colonial Van Lines wants to change and add new contingencies to their claims and resolution agreements. I told them to send us a new written agreement that included this stipulation of removing or upgrading my review but they have not. I just spoke with Colonial Van Lines representatives yesterday and the poor customer service continues. Someone named Al got on the phone yelling at me, saying "There is no settlement"; "my company is done with you" and when I asked his last name he said "don't worry about who this is" and then proceeded to hang up on me! Seriously this is how they treat a client that paid nearly $15,000 for a move! read more

I recently hired this moving company to move my daughter from Arizona to Virginia. I discussed with the agent that we were limited with our time and needed to move the following weekend. He assured me this would not be a problem. We discussed the estimate and he quoted me a price. He gave the dates which were a Saturday with Sunday as a back up. My daughter called the agent to pay the deposit and confirm the dates. Well, needless to say, that Saturday came and went with no movers. Then Sunday came and went with no movers. I was informed on Monday that they still did not have a truck or driver. I gave them till the end of Monday to show up, which they did not. Eventually I had to rent a Penske truck and move her myself. During the whole process I was told several excuses. "We are in the transportation business, we can't predict or garuntee anything". I was told that someone would call me back in 15 minutes only to wait an hour with no return call. When I would call back, the person I needed to talk to was at lunch, they would be back in 5 minutes. I called back an hour later and they kept hanging up on me. My daughter reported them to our bank and has since received her deposit back. Prior to getting her deposit back, they told her they wouldn't give it back until the bad review that was place on Facebook was removed. She did not place the review on Facebook and has no control over what other people post!! Not sure how this company stays in business. I would stay as far away from them as you could. It was just 1 nightmare after another. I understand if you can't do the job, just tell me that. Don't give me the run around and then act like it is my fault when you fault on your own contract. read more

Donna from the resolutions department and I have reached an agreement. I am changing the review to 5 stars as agreed but I still stand by what I said about the service from Colonial. read more

Moving is never fun, and can be one of the most stressful events that you'll probably ever do, but when we recently moved from Southern California to Columbus Ohio, Colonial Van Lines made it a lot less stressful experience. Colonial Van Lines was on spot with the quote, on time for the pick up and delivery. Everyone we interacted with was friendly and professional, a truly enjoyable experience. read more

The fact that this company says it's a mover should not be allowed!!! That is a lie. They don't move anything except your money into their pockets and then contract someone else to do the work! God forbid anything goes wrong because you will NEVER hear back from them or see any of your hard earned money again!!! Attached are how the contractor they used packed my 83 year old mothers house up to move her from Alabama to Florida. DO NOT use these frauds!!!! You have been warned!!!! Everything was damaged and broken!!! read more

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DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY OR TRUST THEIR ESTIMATES. THEY MORE THAN DOUBLED (2.275x) THE COST ($8748.75) FROM THE ORIGINAL ESTIMATE ($3845.49) to move a one bedroom + office with only 17 pieces of furniture and mostly prepacked boxes. They are a broker and contract out the moving to Easy Relocation, LLC that scams you even more. They would not deliver the furniture unless i paid higher than agreed and then DOUBLE CHARGED ME ON MY CREDIT CARD ($4506.08 + $6853.41 = $11.413.49). Easy Relocation, LLC would not deliver the boxes unless i signed to pay the higher amount ($6853.41) even though their invoice explicitly said "If the agent is asking for you to pay any balance above the balance due amount [$4506.08] please contact our office at 1-800-970-7498". The Colonial Van Line office does not answer the call when you call that number and does not offer a hotline to reach a human when the deliveries arrive. After showing the agent the invoice text that explicitly states the amount and arguing for half an hour, he told the movers to charge me 2x ($4506.08 and $6853.41). The charge for the boxes went from $400 estimated to $921 because they choose unnecessarily more expensive boxes, & use lots of paper so that they can charge 2-3x more for packing. While unpacking, I noticed that Easy Relocation uses 8 of most expensive boxes $36 (Dish pack - does not include any dish racks inside) that are 28 x 18 x 18 inches high to pack corning/plastic dishes and bowls (that stack up only 16 inches high on my shelf) and 8 glasses. The rest are just unbreakable food boxes/bags, utensils still in the wooden holder, pots and pans still in boxes that do not need giant expensive dishpack boxes. They took apart a small lamp (that should just be wrapped in a blanket and put the tiny lampshade into a $16 (24 x 18 x 18) box or just a pillow and a blanket into another same sized box. They charge 3 x $27 per mirror pack even though I do not have any mirrors. They increased the charge by changing the weight of the truck and Easy Relocation LLC would switch the truck enroute and calculate based on the lighter PRE-LOADING EMPTY truck weight 15,120 lbs. Due to my objection that I did not see them weigh the original truck, Colonial Van Lines advised me to meet the truck at a weigh station 55 minutes away in the middle of the Everglades before unloading and after unloading. While there, I saw them weigh the truck, then the truck disappeared and the driver showed up to hand me a slip a random yellow CAT Scale paper at 23,560 lbs. The paper does not show the license plate of the truck or the time of weighing. Then when they finished unloading, the movers said they were stopping for dinner en route and that they would meet me at the weigh station. When I arrived, the mover was just getting food at the weight station (LIED that they were stopping en route) and just shoved another yellow paper at me and drove away. I was not given the opportunity to witness the actual weighing of the truck. The EMPTY POST-LOADING Truck was 17,620 (coincidentally EXACTLY 2500 lbs more than the original LIGHTER truck which was the basis of the final cost they quoted me = bigger weight difference between FULL & EMPTY truck = twice the cost). Given that they chose that weigh station & truck stop specifically and without license plate number or time stamp, I have no way of knowing which truck they weighed. Even though the truck was parked across the street from the entrance to the apartment (less than 75 feet), they charged me extra $450 for "shuttle" claiming that their truck could not park on my street. I live next to a construction area in which semi-trucks park there all the time. They count the distance to the elevator, distance while riding up elevator & walk 3 doors down the hall to the apartment to add "Long Carry" so they can charge extra $350. Don't even get me started on their arrival. For pickup, they were supposed to arrive between 10-12 Noon on Dec 25 & they did not arrive until several hours later. For delivery, they were supposed to arrive by 8-10am, then they delayed the arrival at 10-12 Noon, & didn't arrive until 3:30pm at the weigh station. When I mentioned that arriving 3.5 hours late is not acceptable customer service, the agent said that customer service does not involve arriving on time. I was told by Jared at Colonial Van Lines when I saw post-pickup charges on Jan 7 that "Finance department" would call me. It's been a week & no one from Finance called me. After Jan 10 delivery, I mentioned to Jared on Jan 11 and Tabatha Hannah, Director of Customer Relations when I gave her 2 star review on Jan 12 that no one has called me from "Finance department" & she said they need 24 hours. Deion "Escalation Supervisor" called me later & agreed that it is unprofessional to double charge my credit card. He said he would investigate & we agreed Jan 13 followup call. His line goes straight to voicemail for Jan 13 and 14. read more

STAY AWAY!!! Awful they talk a good game( Melissa Sontag). They broker out to Cal Van Lines. Look up " CAL VAN LINES". My furniture as yet to show up and they surpassed the deadline. I moved from CA to WI on August 8 and it's Aug 26 still no furniture Garbage!! Don't choose Colonial. Ryan Z. read more

I would not recommend Colonial Van Lines to anyone. This was my 5th time to relocate and to use moving companies, and Colonial Van Lines was by far the worst one. Their overall service level as a moving company was extremely poor and it was not worth the money paid. 1. Delivery window is 9 days: It got narrowed down to 2 days only 5 days before, and it was finally fixed 48 hours before the actual date. It added more expenses such as our hotel and storage fee, but it was not their concern. 2. Extra costs were not communicated until last minute: +$1500 (about 20% more) for my case, if I wanted to get the delivery on a specific date, despite the fact the delivery address was given 3 weeks in advance. 3. $500 was added because of accessibility of the delivery address, which they did not tell me until 5 days before delivery. Nor was I asked about the accessibility of the location. 4. Extremely poor customer service: I have not experienced this level of poor customer service. My account manager was very rude and disrespectful. The information she shared was often not correct (window of shipper arrival, timing of setting delivery date, final weight, final bill amount, etc...). It seemed the account manager was a messenger with no power. In addition, she was not trying to help. The attitude was "this is what it is", instead of "how can I help?" She did not share necessary information timely. Instead, I had to keep reaching out. Through this process, she never apologized but tried to put the blame on me, the customer. At one point, I talked to her manager, but she was the same way. 5. Poor packing job: based on our past experiences, it should only take 1.5 days at most for packing and loading with the stuff we have. It took a full 3 days. They were simply very disorganized. read more

WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!! DO NOT USE!! This is the worst moving company I have ever worked with! DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY WITH THEM! I was told my stuff would get picked up, they couldn't wait for a COI from my building and tried to cancel my order 2 days without pick up! Now they cant find a truck to actually move my stuff after i have paid them! The support is useless. Do yourself a favor and find a different company. These guys are NOT reliable and their support is terrible! Just a note - I had Donna from their customer support finally reach out to me AFTER i left my first bad review of them. Within 30 minutes actually. She was nice but tried to bribe me by offering $200 to either remove my review or give them 2 more stars. I REFUSED!! I did get my deposit back which is the bare minimum they should of done. YOU CAN KEEP THE $200, I WOULD RATHER MAKE SURE NO ONE GOES THROUGH THS EXPERIENCE THE WAY I DID! read more

I called Colonial to help with my move from Arizona to Arkansas. I had a few hiccups along the way. I was on a time schedule and there were a few delays in my move. I expressed my concerns to Colonial. The resolutions manager reached out to me and was extremely helpful and addressed my issues. I am satisfied with the results. read more

One of the worst moving experiences I ever had. The asset manager Monica was very unprofessional and it took her over a week to check on how our move went. I was assured that my whole house would be packed up on the first day but the movers showed up at 3:30pm. My home was two stories with a full attic and two car garage. By 9:30 pm that night only the first floor was packed. They showed up at 8:00 am the next day. I expressed to Monica that my wife and I with two pets needed to leave by the early afternoon for our 5 hour drive to Virginia. The last day of packing and loading took forever. I sent me wife ahead to Virginia with one pet at 3:00 pm. The packer said that all my stuff may not fit in the truck. At around 9:00 pm I told them to put all the boxes in the garage and shut the door when they were finished. Then I left for Virginia and arrived at 1:30 am. I was called by Colonial at around 4:00 pm that day and told them I was not happy with the service. Before the move I was given conflicting times of when the movers would arrive. Originally it was between the 16-19 Jan. Then a the scheduler Mike called and told me the movers would arrive the morning of the 17th. Monica called later and said late afternoon on the 18th. When I told her about the conflicting timeline she told me to disregard what the scheduler said. When I asked her to reconfirm she did not contact me for 24 hours and seemed irritated with me. They placed blame on us for having more than they expected. We took photos of our large item that needed dissembling and gave them a very good estimate of our items room by room. In hind sight they should have sent an estimator to our house. Our last move went real well with Hilldrup because they sent someone to our house and the quote was very close to the estimate. Later I contacted their management about our complaints and they told me I would receive a refund of some of the money for our inconvenience. Three weeks later our assets manager Monica told us we would receive a $50 refund. The refund was ridiculous since we were told our whole house would be packed by the first day and day two would be loading only. We were told we could easily meet our travel timeline. So to sum this up don't believe what they say and don't expect any customer service. Moving is very stressful and they added a large amount of undue stress to start our move. They should be ashamed of themselves. read more

This company is terrible. They take your deposit after having a signed contract but never show up the day they are supposed to as written in said contract. Its clearly a scheme. Lead to me hiring a different moving company the day of which was clearly very expensive. Please do not use this moving company. And no thanks for reaching out to me. I think I'll just contact the FMCSA instead read more

I originally booked my move with Colonial Van Lines' Relocation Division. After booking I found a US Government website www.protectyourmove.gov. Most of the red flags the government site lists were present with Colonial Van Lines. I called to cancel my move and the salesman, Michael Go*ld, immediately turned into a total jerk. He transferred me to a supervisor and the guy tried all different types of angles to get me to stay with them. I told him I wanted to cancel. He then told me that he could issue a refund and it would take 10-14 days. I emailed them the other day after I got my last credit card statement with no sign of a refund. They responded saying it takes 30 business days. I have since filed a dispute with the credit card company. Before you do anything with any moving company check the website above, the BBB and Yelp. The www.protectyourmove.gov website has a search for the movers DOT number in addition to other information. The moving industry is plagued by scammers and is an excellent example of buyer beware. read more

*Update* I reached out to Resolution Manager Donna to help me come to a resolution with Colonial Van Lines. I had a variety of issues with the move, but she fought and advocated for me. I have full confidence in Colonial's checks and balances system, and knowing I have Donna in my corner, would use, and refer, Colonial for any move in the future. Thank you Donna for all your hard work, and for your quick and thorough response. And thank you Colonial, for allowing Donna to work on behalf of the customer. It really shows you do care about the customer. read more

Went with the Consumer Reports recommendation for Colonial. Huge mistake: Colonial has lost nearly $6,000 worth of items, including my wedding and engagement photos, military equipment, and thousands of dollars worth of clothes, shoes, my wife's purses, and more. It's taken months to even get Colonial to call me back, and they have failed to provide an answer as to even who moved my items; please note that Colonial is not actually a moving company, just a clearing house - they don't actually do anything. The movers, when they arrived, mixed up two rolls of stickers: they numbered some items incorrectly and of course the items were lost in transit. After dozens of calls and emails about my missing items, Colonial has finally offered to pay me... $250. Obviously this is an insult of epic proportions. Do not trust these people to do their job, don't trust them with your stuff, and don't trust them to make good on their obligations as a business; this is obviously a scam and the dirtbags in charge could care less. Disgusting, unamerican, despicable, unethical, immoral. read more

After the below review I was surprisingly contacted by Colonial Van Lines to resolve the below issues and a resolution has been reached. They are under new management so hopefully this solves any problems moving forward. ---------------- Job No. 55377369-CO If you make the move with Colonial Van Lines be sure to take a week off of work because their delivery estimates are a joke. The movers were scheduled to pick up my items between 6AM - 9AM last Wednesday, 12/30. 9AM passed and I reached out to my driver who then informed me that he would be there at noon, 1PM rolled around and I reached out again. He gave me no time estimate as "he was too scared to put a time on his arrival." The movers then arrived at 4PM that day and loaded the truck. He informed me that Sunday, 1/3, would be the latest for delivery. Sunday rolled around and I reached out to the driver every hour. There was no response and I was left in the dark. I finally made contact with Colonial on Monday afternoon, after taking a day off work in the event that they may be there Monday. I received a new time window of Wednesday between 8AM - 12PM. Wednesday rolled around and still no delivery. I called again and received a new time window of 7PM that night. 7PM passed and once again the time was changed, they would now arrive Thursday, 1/7, between 7AM - 9AM. Well it is now 11:30AM, I still have no idea where my driver is and my phone calls to the truck company keep going to voicemail. While I am being reimbursed $30 a day they are late, I have lost 3 vacation days of work and 3 days of pay. How they have come up with the valuation of $30 a day is beyond me. I have requested to speak with their manager; however, I have not received a call and doubt I will as I am sure they deal with multiple complaints a day. All in all, they have wasted my time and money. Now; hopefully, IF and WHEN the moving truck does show up with my stuff let's hope it's not damaged. I would consider going elsewhere because the cost and stress of a simple move will add up. You've been warned. read more

Moving can be overwhelming, especially coast to coast. Being able to reach cordial and patient customer service is again a challenge. After speaking with the folks at Colonial , I knew that I found a service that was indeed, service. Mina, helping with her patience and knowledge never took my anxiously lightly and made me feel heard. You will not regret their service. read more

Terrible experience with Colonial van lines. I would not recommend them to anyone. The process seems very easy to get a quote but then everything after that is a huge hassle. We had a lot of hidden fees that were not explained at the onset and then when explained at delivery, it differed from what they explained at pickup. When getting a quote, know that the cost will likely be thousands higher because of their weight estimates, hidden fees (long distance walking and heavy items for example). Logistically, it was a mess. We were told that we would have two windows of pickup, a Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. Then we got a call that pickup would be Sunday night. We had to push hard to get that Sunday pickup to change and was told by our account manager that we needed to be flexible because they have a business to run. Upon delivery, we were told 3 - 6pm. The movers didn't get to our apartment until 5:45pm and didn't start moving anything in until 6:15. There was no communication along the way. Every person that I've spoken to has not been helpful. It seems like they just want your money and they don't want to do right by the customers. I would sincerely avoid working with Colonial. Logistics are a mess, account managers aren't helpful and put the company over the customer and many broken items or missing items. read more

Colonial Van Lines is unprofessional and incompetent. They do not care about your time, family, or belongings. The movers who showed up over four hours late proceeded to have a loud fight in the driveway and failed to pack the whole house as they were contracted to do. Do not trust them or give them your money. read more

NOT OFF TO A GOOD START Colonial Van Lines! The movers were supposed to have showed up today to start packing up and no one showed. Colonial Van Lines did not even reach out to me and let me know that nobody was showing up. (Not to mention the fact that I have to be out of my apartment in 4 days) Called customer service to try and find out what was going on, after being hung up on few times, setting on hold for a couple of hours finally go to talk to a rep. So, now the customer service rep has informed me that they do not have a driver or anybody to pack my things. I have had this move book for over 6 months. They can not even guarantee me that the move will be completed in the time line given. This is ridiculous, the communication has been awful! The only time I hear from Colonial Van Lines is when I call them.. More to come as move progresses! read more

I was recently contacted by new management for colonial van lines. I have to say, they appear to have turned a new leaf. I truly appreciate their reaching out to make things right. I feel very much better, and they are making efforts to compensate for lost materials, broken materials, and lost time. I certainly believe that their new business model is going to change the way they treat customers and would consider using them again in the future. I am happy with their efforts to make things right. read more

This is an update dated 20 October 2015 with 3 stars: -Colonial Van Lines has since contacted us to help resolve the numerous issues we had in moving from California to Missouri. -They have done significantly more to help in the last two weeks. It seems they would like to help any customers that had a bad experience through their company prior to their new staff. Their new staff is quite helpful and eager to resolve the matter to our satisfaction, it is much appreciated. -As of today, the issue should be resolved by 23 October, at which point I will add more points for them. Original post rated one star read more

If i could put negative stars i would. Stay away from this "company." I booked a move with this company SEVERAL weeks in advance. When I got a quote from Demitria, i was told i would be charged 57 cents per pound. When i booked the move I was told it was 59 cents a pound. 2 cents may not seem like a big deal, but in light of all the other "promises" below.... it says a lot about this company. In addition, I was assured by Demitria that it would be a Colonial Van Lines Semi in my driveway and they do not "broker" their moves to other carriers (like many other moving companies do). I booked the move on Thursday, needing to be out of my home by Sunday. Demitria assured me this would happen as they had enough time to get my move done by then. I was told I would be contacted on the Tuesday before the Thursday move as to a window when the movers would be arriving. On Tuesday, another person called and said they could not find a Colonial Truck in my area but would "work on it" and would call me back by the end of Tuesday or first thing on Wednesday morning with the time window. I HAD TO CALL Colonial at 1:00 pm Wednesday and all they told me was they were still working on it. I again told Colonial that i must be out of my house on Sunday, She assured me this would happen and she would continue to "work on it." On Thursday afternoon, she called and said Colonial reached out to "one of their partners" and he would be at my place next Tuesday to pick up. I told her it was unacceptable for both the time frame and the fact that I was told a Colonial Van Semi would be doing my move and not some other "partner." She said they didn't have a Colonial Truck in the area (despite having over THREE WEEKS to figure the logistics) and this was my only choice. I cancelled the move with Colonial and demanded all of my deposit to be refunded, which Colonial did a couple days later. Then I had to get a self moving truck, load it at the last minute with the help of friends. Drove the truck to my destination, then had to buy a one-way plane ticket back to my old town to pick up my truck and drive it to my new home (700 miles). Thanks for nothing Colonial. And don't bother contacting me either with a insulting offer so i will edit my review. read more