The ratings did not remotely match our experience.
We chose International Van Lines after doing substantial research. One of the major reasons was that ConsumerAffairs ranked IVL as its "Best overall" moving company for 2026. We believed we were hiring a large, established national mover with the operational network and customer-service infrastructure to manage an interstate move professionally.
That has not been our experience.
More than a month after our move began, we still do not have all of our belongings.
The process has included repeated price increases from our original quote, damaged furniture, constantly shifting delivery expectations, inadequate staffing, additional charges, poor communication, and almost no meaningful customer-service intervention when things go wrong.
What has been most troubling is how fragmented the operation appears once IVL has your belongings.
In our case, our shipment ended up moving through a third-party operation in Chicago. From the customer side, the process has felt like a chain of outsourced vendors, rotating drivers, and last-minute attempts to find local moving crews near the delivery location.
Repeatedly, that system has failed.
For one delivery, we were told to expect a larger crew. Only two movers arrived to assist the driver.
This week, we were told for roughly four consecutive days that our shipment would arrive. We rearranged our work schedules each day. Each day, the delivery changed.
Then the truck finally arrived during Labor Day weekend.
Again, we had been told there would be a moving crew.
Instead, one man arrived with a tractor-trailer and no crew.
He was left unloading our household belongings essentially one box at a time because the local movers who were supposed to be there did not show up.
I do not blame the driver. If anything, watching one person attempt to unload a major interstate household shipment by himself made the larger operational failure obvious. He was put in an impossible position.
We have also had multiple belongings damaged after weeks in storage and transfers across multiple trucks. The photos attached show only a few of the damaged items.
The financial side has also been extremely frustrating. The price has repeatedly increased from what we originally expected to pay. We were presented with an additional shuttle charge because the delivery truck allegedly could not access our storage facility, and at one point were asked to make additional payment by direct deposit/bank transfer. We had to stop and request written documentation supporting the charge and payment request.
The worst part is the loss of control once the company has virtually everything you own.
Before pickup, you can compare companies and walk away.
After pickup, your furniture, household goods, personal possessions and irreplaceable belongings are somewhere in a transportation network you cannot control. When delivery dates keep changing, prices keep increasing, customer service provides little meaningful help, and you still do not know when the rest of your belongings will arrive, you feel trapped.
That is exactly how this experience has felt.
A complicated interstate move can have problems. One late truck, one damaged item or one scheduling mistake would be understandable.
This has been different.
It has been a repeated breakdown across pricing, communication, scheduling, staffing, delivery, damage, coordination and customer service.
We hired IVL because we thought a professional interstate moving company would manage the logistics.
Instead, we have spent weeks personally trying to coordinate their coordination.
The most frustrating part is that we thought we had protected ourselves by researching carefully and choosing a highly rated company. In retrospect, I wish I had ignored the aggregate rating and spent much more time reading the detailed one-star reviews.
If you are considering IVL, ask exactly who will physically handle your belongings at every stage, whether IVL employees or third parties will perform pickup and delivery, who is responsible for finding the local delivery crew, and what happens if that crew does not show up.
Get every possible charge and payment method in writing.
Then read the lowest-rated reviews very carefully.
I would never hire International Van Lines again, and based on our experience, I cannot recommend them. read more