American Van Lines

Criminal Enterprise!
My stuff was already packed, shipped, and held in storage by another company with integrity that was unable to ship it on my behalf because they don't do national moves while I went to school. All AVL had to do was move it and unload it! They hired a 3rd party without informing me! They inflated the weight of my shipment by almost double and ransomed my property until I paid up! I have the weight ticket of my property before it went into storage! I have proof and they will pay for attempting to scam a disabled veteran!

Report them to the Better Business Bureau of your state! Report them to the American Movers and Shippers Association! Report them to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration! Report them to your Chamber of Commerce! Report them to your District Attorney's Office! I have already done this. I am working filing a small claims suit and if that doesn't work I'll be hiring an attorney!

WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT USE AMERICAN VAN LINES ...I chose American Van Lines to move my belongings from Ft. Lauderdale, Fl to Houston, Tx. Everything was picked up on August 4, 2010 to be delivered by Aug 9, 2010. Some of my belongings were delivered on Aug 16th, with most of that delivery damaged...tables broken, lamp shades crushed, boxes marked fragile were had furniture stacked on top of them in the truck when it was delivered to me. When I tried to take pictures of the way the truck was packed, the driver actually pushed me away to keep me from taking the pictures. The second shipment of goods arrived in good condition. When I inquired about the claim process, I was given several different versions of how to do that, none of which appears to be anything they actually use. The goods damaged were family heirlooms, very expensive furniture, etc. To this date, there are items of furniture that have never been delivered. I filed my claim, giving all the documentation that they required. The estimate to repair my furniture was $12, 500.00. I received an agreement to settle the claim for less than $600 from American Van Lines. Obviously, I am going to take them to court.

WORST MOVING EXPERIENCE - DO NOT USE. I scheduled a move from California to Michigan. My sales/moving coordinator is Bobby Diaz. When I first called he quoted a price $300 lower than the actual contract that was sent. He then becomes conveniently unavailable once the moving disaster begins. My furniture was picked-up in CA on Saturday November 12th (which was a coordination nightmare). The dispatchers were rude and the movers showed up 9 hours late. Although irritating, I was still keeping positive about them. It's now Saturday December 3rd and I've yet to recieve my furniture. It was supposed to be delivered no later then Saturday November 26th. I've called everyday, when someone does answer they're horribly rude and not helpful. They tell me they don't know when my furntiture is going to arrive, because the driver doesn't have a phone so they can't get in contact with him! Then they tell me he'll be here on Friday December 2nd, so I take the day off from work and he doesn't show. I call the customer service department and they are unapologetic and don't know anything. They tell me "maybe he fell asleep". However, they do know that the driver "forgot" to weigh my furniture when it was picked up in CA, so if he should ever drop it off, I'll be charged the full estimate (even though they promised they'd call me 48 hours in advance of the delivery date with the actual weight and remaining amount due). It's now Saturday December 3rd and I still haven't seen my furniture. I called again this morning and they still haven't spoken with the driver, they have no idea where he's at and told me just to keep waiting at my new place for as long as it takes! UNBELIEVABLE! They will be hearing from a lawyer.

Had American Van Lines make our long distance move from Ohio to California...BIG MISTAKE! Please do not use this company if you value your property. We paid 1500.00 exta money to have our items arrive to our condo in CA on July 1, 2012. They arrived on July 9th...thank goodness for family that let us stay with them or we would have racked up some hefty hotel bills. When it did arrive the movers did not put items in boxes in the room designated on the box. They put everything in the garage and we had to move it (we are senior citizens so this was no easy task as we had no help) . Many of our items were broken, dishes, lamps, shelving, tv stand, an expensive area rug was folded instead of roll and is now ruined. All in all a very disappointing move. We sold so many items so we would not have to pay so much to move and it still cost a fortune. We were extremly displeased with this company and hope you will look else where if you need a long distance mover.

This one is a no brainer. We spent over 90 minutes on the phone with the slick salesman/"estimator" for American Van Lines and he explained that we were going to get GREAT SAVINGS based on sharing the move with another customer on a big 55 foot trailer. He continuously assured us that he was OVERESTIMATING the weight and the cost of the move and that it was going to DEFINITELY BE LESS. He then said that he would base his estimate on them packing everything and that everything that we packed on our own would create ADDITIONAL SAVINGS.
The actual cost of the move came out 43% higher than the estimate. Everything he told us was a lie. When we called him he told us to hold on a minute and switched us over to customer service. He wouldn't ever talk to us again.
When we complained, we were told that it was JUST AN ESTIMATE. When I asked them to review the calls they had recorded between us an the slimey salesman, they said that after reviewing them, they felt there had not been any misrepresentation.
I have never felt more financially taken advantage of in my life. How can any company get away with this?

I hired american van lines to move me from Miami, Fl to Phoenix, Arizona. I was quoted about 1700.00 and some change and was told (and it sounded like) they provided the best, fastest service around, plus the price was the most affordable I had been quoted. I quoted with other moving companies as well as PODS and renting a truck and moving myself. WHAT A NIGHTMARE. They arrived at my apartment and quickly wanted me to sign up for insurance (another couple of hundred) because them moving your belongings doesn't mean they will be careful and take care of your precious items, THEY DON'T GIVE A CRAP. Not only did they not tell me about that "additional" insurance, they almost took a month to deliver my items (they picked them up on the 10th of Sept and I received my belongings early last week). When my items were delivered, a lamp I had, which I bought at ARANGO in Miami, Fl and it cost me 250.00 was broken, an hour glass piece that I owned that was over 13 years old was broken.. the boxes were all mangled and they handled them very roughly. AWFUL company, AWFUL service. NEVER AGAIN. I will make sure EVERYONE I know knows about the horror's of hiring american van lines.

Do NOT use this company. The worst movers, the worst customer service ever. The Ft. Lauderdale, FL office is filled with nasty, rude agents who do not care about your schedule and raise their prices two and three times. Be warned. They lie, they cheat you, they hold your furniture hostage and deliver it when they feel like it. The movers were eight hours late picking up my furniture. They had the wrong address even though I emailed them my address weeks in advance. They took four hours to load my furniture, denied their manager ever said he would wrap my glass objects, and held me up from getting to my new place. They told me they would deliver my stuff on Friday. Then they said no, Sunday. I told them my association does not allow Sunday deliveries. Their response? "Too bad, that's when it's coming." Indira threatened to tell the drivers to leave my furniture in my front yard. I was overcharged by $1, 600 by these rip-off artists.

Never use this company! Initially, they are very professional on the phone while trying to earn your business. However, once you leave a deposit of $200 you're told that the only payment they accept at pick up and delivery is cash or postal money order. If you cancel your order they charge you another $350 for doing so.
The people who came to pick up our furniture were great! All furniture wrapped carefully, etc. We packed our own boxes. At that point we find out that this truck won't drive our things from Florida to North Carolina, but will drop off our things in Jacksonville, FL, at which point our things will be transferred to an 18-wheel truck for the rest of the journey, which took 8 days. When our things arrived, many of the boxes were bent and crushed. The furniture sustained no damage. The movers were supposed to take back with them all the packing they used for our furniture, however, as we discovered later, they left some cardboard and bubble wrap behind which we have to take to the dump and pay for.
I place the blame on the personnel who work in the office for not being up front while trying to solicit our business. The movers themselves do the best they can, but it appears that there is a lack of training on how to handle the shipment in a more careful manner.

HORRIBLE! This company is a bunch of theives! And the people moving your stuff are picked up at local labor yards! They looked like they were homeless! Quote one thing, then on day of move tell you that it will be more money. Then add additional charges while your furniture is in transit and hold your stuff hostge until you pay it. Arrogant, ignorant staff! Nice as can be when they give you a quote, then horrible after that. Furniture arrived damage, boxes marked as fragile were CRUSHED and all items inside broken. And delivered 2 weeks after promised delivery date. Save yourseld a lot of headaches and pay more to book with a reputable company! AVOID THIS COMPANY!

This was one of the worse experiences I have ever had with a business. First after signing the initial contract they were impossible to reach. Then two weeks before the move they left a message for me to contact them ASAP. I called that day several times and the next day several times leaving at least one message a day, but couldn't get contacted until a weekend 4 days later. American van lines then contracted me out to Allstate relocation (if you ask them they didn't contract it out, the two companies are associated...). Allstate had no contract with me so they had no incentive to show up on time. After being delayed two hours at a time 6 am all the way as late as 10pm for 2 ½ days they showed up. On that last day I got hit with several penalties by my landlord for staying past my scheduled move out. Had Allstate or American van lines given me a more than 2 hours notice of delays I could have worked with my landlord, but I had no idea when they would show up. The scheduling manager, Alex, was incredibly rude to me on the phone every time I called. When Allstate did show up they came with their own contract that I had to sign before they would load. The contract was based upon space allotment instead of weight; however, I couldn’t contact American van lines since they showed up after business hours. When they were ready to leave at 10:00pm they slapped me with another contract for a third company to deliver my furniture. American Van lines verbally told me during my initial negotiations that my stuff would never be transferred from the truck it was loaded into and the same truck would deliver my items. At 10:00 at night who do you call? When I reached my new home the delivery was a nightmare. The people were incredibly rude. Their goal was to unload my items in 20 minutes. They unloaded my furniture to the sidewalk and tried to smartly sell me the furniture wraps for $10 a piece so they could leave them on the sidewalk. They outright told me they didn’t want to assemble the furniture even though that was part of my contract. They also stacked as many boxes as they could on their dollies and started running. The individual tripped and all the boxes went flying. When we told him he needed to calm down he got furious with me. The same individual got agitated when I wanted to inventory my items prior to signing the delivery sheet. Two out of the three individuals who delivered my furniture and boxes talked about the entire time they were in my presence.

Very rude very foul mouth very racist seem to be on drugs there can smelled like drugs and all Brandon dates wa his name

Our team apologizes for failing to meet your expectations and reported displeasure with your overall interaction with American Van Lines Relocation Division. We value you and your shared feedback and it will definitely assist in our current efforts of improvement to our company entirely. As the information you have provided us with is insufficient to locate your account, we urge you to contact our office so that we can fully address your concerns. Please call us at [protected], providing us with your name and the job # number that was assigned to you by your booking representative.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

American Van Lines Relocation Division.

American Van Lines is NOT a moving company. AVL is a "moving service, " which hires BROKERS to take customers' money, and then the AVL BROKERS hire a shoddy moving company.
"moving service"...see AVL website.
North American Van Lines...supposedly the same owner.

your first mistake is leaving stuff off the moving list. that extra hutch you may have 'forgot' about in the garage turns out to be 150lbs. at lets say .59/lb is $88.50. these movers are contracted and need every penny they can get. now leaving 1000lbs of furniture off the list is taking money out of their pocket if they go ahead and throw it into their truck, which is a payment in it self. be truthful and include everything you want moved. each piece has an average weight. when they do your estimate its an average weight. 1500 to move your 3000lbs of stuff about 400miles? not to mention the labor of pad wrapping and loading and unloading? your an idiot. but hey there's always those craigslist movers...good luck filing a claim with them. also all American van lines trucks are labeled American van lines. if a plain white truck shows up then its not American van lines. maybe north American van lines which is a totally different company. or again those craigslist guys.

I am in the middle of having the same nightmare experience with Amereica Van lines. I am so stressed out because I'm getting the run around about the arrival of my furniture and they've charges me an extra 500 dollars. Be warned, these people are all nice and accommodating until they get their deposit, then they can't be bothered with you. I'm hoping I get my stuff Monday, and then I'm reporting them to the BBB.

I am in the process right now of going through what you have already gone through. Nothing but attitude and screw you after they get the deposit. I waited for days to get a time that the movers would be there. My things also were being moved out of storage. My belongings are in Denver, CO and I'm in Georgia. I had to depend on my sister to meet them there. RUDE people. I originally booked with Don Otis. Then like you Jake Pentaloski (sp) from Quality Control called. I told him I wasn't signing the contract as I had questions and that's when things got nasty. I called one of the higher ups, James Willens and it has been a nighmare ever since. The drivers were over two and a half hours past the 2 -4 PM pickup time and then want to get nasty with my sister. I paid $1281 deposit and the subcontractor told my sister to pay 10% down. She told them I'd already done that and they still wanted money, which she did not give them. Lord knows if I'll see my belongings. All this could have been prevented with a few follow up calls to ensure the move went smoothly. You have to continually call them and then they've got your money so they just don't care. I am having surgery on the 21st. I also am on a fixed income and already the sub contractor told my sister the small boxes had to be put in large boxes or I'd be charged for each box. I never agreed to that. I was told it went by weight. My stress level is sky high. NEVER USE THIS COMPANY. You call for an estimate and they force you into giving up your money and signing that contract and it sure isn't in the customer's favor. I just pray I get my belongings as it was packed in a U'haul type truck. VERY UNPROFESSIONAL.

American Van Lines is a scam company! We, too, looked on line for a mover to move our furniture only two hours away. We knew we could not move ourselves as we were once able to do as in our youth. Before we made a decision, Mike contacted us several times to reassure us their company would be our best and most economic choice. Basically, we chose American Van Lines because of their follow through before we had even made our decision. We exchanged several e-mails with questions regarding supplies, do's and don'ts of moving, hidden costs, etc. We have an e-mail from Mike confirming everything that was discussed at the price we discussed. On Friday, three young sub-contractors in a plain white truck came to our home. Before they even got started the foreman asked for signatures and confirmation of payment to be rendered at the end of the move. When we acknowledge payment of our agreed upon amount, the young gentleman stated we would be charged extra travel time because of our distance and estimated our move would be an additional unknown amount. No one in their right mind would sign for an unknown amount. We contacted Mike and Mike once again stated the amount agreed upon was the bottom line. After several minutes of discussion with the young contractors, the foreman stated they go through this with American Van Lines each and every time they are contracted to move someone. Long story short... we had to move ourselves. Our realtor was there and the contractor suggested to her that she never recommend American Van Lines. He said they lie and cheat. He estimated when they only get to move about one out of every nine customers American Van Lines sends to them because the company has not been truthful with its customers. When we attempted to resolve the matter with Mike, he was conveniently unavailble. We asked to speak with the manager and were told the manager was not available. We asked for a number where we could contact him and were told angrily "I am not giving you that information". The contractors contacted the office manager and the office manager asked to speak with us. While on the telephone the office manager tried to negotiate the price by saying they could do the move for an additional $300. When we turned down the offier, we were told we would be charged a $375.00 cancellation fee. We informed the office manager of American Van Lines that he did not have authority to place $375 on our charge card, he said it did not matter he was doing it. As soon as the telephone call ended, we immediately contacted our credit card company, and sure enough, American Van Lines had already billed us! The credit card company placed the charge in pending and the amount is being disputed! Our move to our new home was absolutely the worst experience we have ever encountered - all because of one unethical company - AMERICAN VAN LINES.

They told me the same thing and the price kept going up and now i am 400 lbs under the price and beign charged more money than my contract. they told me that if i do not pay they will not deliver my goods. They have 3 days to make a 3 day trip to get me my supplies on time. It has been a nightmare. THey are charging me all of these hidden fees. And the guy Tom who setup everything is no longer at the extension he gave me so he pro. chagned his extension so I could not call and talk to him

My recommendation is NOT to even call American Van Lines for ANYTHING... They are liars who miss represent themselves to get the sale. I had told Mike Mowatt the very first day I contacted them I did not feel comfortable making the decision so quickly - my first contact made by phone with him was 4/19. I never signed any documents until 4/27/10 but they put a charge of $565.88 on April 19. That should have been my first clue they were miss leading at best. On Friday 4/27/10 I signed the paperwork and agreed on a pick up date of 5/3/10 Monday. On April 30, 2010 Josh calls because he wants to insure my moves goes smoothly - no he contacted me to get more money and another set of documents signed with the price going up a lot. I had not been contacted by anyone since to let me know when my pickup would actually be until Monday 5/3/10 the day I was to have my stuff picked up from my storage unit. Finally got a call from a Tammy with relocation services to inform me the truck would there between 4:00 - 6:00 and that the driver would call me about an hour before arrival. I stayed at my storage unit until 6: 00 the gate to the storage unit closes then. I received my first of nasty phone calls from the driver about 6:45 demanding I come back or I would forfeit my deposit of $1, 289.66 in ADDITION to paying another $250.00 for something. As I am back in route to meet these folks I get 3 text messages with threats and the ever so sarcastic remarks from cell phone # [protected] " Maam i am just reminding you that you are defaulting our contract and your deposit and you have a way to enter the premises with or without the code" I received the first one at 7:00 pm another one from the same number at 7:08 "Ok you have a nice day and your deposit has now been incontempt and the contract has been violated thank you have a great day" I am driving in my car to meet these people that had no consideration of my time and to be sending threatening texts to me while driving back to meet them I was so angry I could have spit nails. Since it was after 6:00 and ALL American Van lines employees had gone home for the day the only folks I could deal with were the actual company AVL subcontracted the work too... The ones sending the texts. My blood pressure was through the roof to put it mildly. At 7:15 I sent the 260 a text asking him to call never did. I finally make it back it's well after 7:20 at this point. I arrived to a PENSKE rental truck with 3 men who were as upset as I was... Then a storm rolled in and all the men and Tammy from relocation services insisted I let them load my stuff in the RAIN onto a PENSKE rental truck to be delivered to there location then the stuff would be again moved off the PENSKE rental truck into one of theirs upon arrival. I would not let them load until the rain stopped since most my stuff is wood and in boxes that lead to more anger from the guys. Once we started loading the truck the guys were ok they did try to assist with how I wanted my stuff dispersed once it arrives to my location. However I did not feel good about all my stuff being taken in a PENSKE truck and unloaded and loaded again since that is when stuff normally is miss placed or broken. I hired movers that I thought would use a semi as I was told by Josh from AVL the day I had to be charged almost double of what the original estimate was that was not such a problem since I had forgotten about some items and wanted to make sure they had room on the semi since other households would also be loaded on the same truck. So my entire afternoon from 4:00 to 9:25 was spent dealing with getting my truck loaded. Today when I called to find out when the delivery of stuff would be the only answer I got was it will be between 5/5 - 5/14/2010. I questioned Mike about the extended dates and his response was that something horrible would have to happen for the delivery date not to be within the first couple days. This has just been the pick up part I'm still waiting for the other shoe to stomp me on my delivery. I will keep you posted... I wish I would have read the review prior to hiring this company. It's been a hard and expensive lesson to learn but one I will not forget soon. One other thing that rubbed me the wrong way was Tammy from relocation services the one who arrange the PENSKE rental truck called me Tuesday morning hoping I think that my mind would some how feel differently about the situation last night. She had the nerve to say to me I think you are confused, no not confused just angry. Then the phone went dead when she did not hear what she wanted to hear. I will write how the delivery goes when it happens. Take care consumer and I hope this helps you avoid the same kind of treatment.

you signed papers against your will? lol what is this world coming to you're pathetic

Read what Mark Hopkins said. Add to that: they underestimate the fees about 40%-50%, they did a very poor job packing, they won't return calls, the president/owner won't return calls. If you read these reviews and you still use them, well, you were warned.

American Van Lines East movers extortionist! These guys moved me from St. Cloud Fl to Harvard MA. 6 years ago and i'm still furious - All nice until they drive away with your life long belongings, kidnapped and held for ransom. Showed up in Harvard - with my goods packed like sardines in a can. Could not get the truck up the drive way - which I had told them that from the beginning but no not a problem these drivers re good. - I had to rent a UHAUL to go from a parking lot a mile away and then had to help the two old injured guys move the stuff from the trailer to the UHAUL and then into the house. The driver was a real A##, he just say in his truck. Worst Company i have ever dealt with in my life.

AVL has called me aback and negotiated an amicable settlement.

Company tried to give me items that were not mine, did not offer me insurance on my goods, did not properly unload or inventory items upon delivery, driver used profane language, and Company refused to arbitrate with me regarding damaged and lost items.

Amazing how AVL DOES NOT FULFULL any of their extraordinary website claims and the initial claims by phone personnel!

Now AVL customer service is going to come back with ANOTHER "cut & paste" blah, blah, blah apology filled with redundant excuses!

QUESTIONS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE:
1. Why do you NOT ASSIST customers DURING their crises, which are a direct result of AVL?
2. Why do the sales reps., supervisors, brokers, and moving co-ordinatiors ALWAYS tell customers that they cannot do anything for them DURING the crises?
3. Why does all the same above put customers on hold indefinitely and/or tell them that they will call customers back., but they do not call back?

We had a similar experience and feel that this company uses fraudulent business practices.