WESTERN VAN LINES

#1 I explained to the original person I talked to how much stuff I had and was given a price. when the truck arrived I was told they had to adjust the price and I would need to pay it in cash and I would have to leave some thing behind, because there was not enough room on the truck! Then proceeded to put the packed boxes I had into larger boxes which I was no able to count and had ti sign off on the amount of boxes without verifying the amount. And with them placing so many of my already packed boxes into larger boxes the number should have been lower! #2 the driver of the pick up driver was rude and a bully! He would not stop talking so I could ask to speck to his boss, he just threatened to leave! He also barely spoke English and the helpers spoke no English! When it came to the delivery they were boxes to different spots in the house and leaving them in the larger boxes and there was no way to verify the amount of boxes delivered! #3 After I got unpacked I found that some large ticket items were missing. So I filed a claim and several weeks later I heard nothing from them and still have not to this day! I will say the man who did the delivery was very nice and spoke better English. Worst moving experience I have ever had and I have moved a lot!

I used Western Van & Storage because that's what my employer moving package assigned. The pick-up went well and quickly, but not the rest. They were difficult to deal with and late to deliver. They make you sign off on a number of boxes even though you're not involved in the counting process and they put boxes inside of larger boxes, so it's impossible to verify at delivery unless you have hours and even if you find it's off, your only option is to file a claim. With the claim, they are just interested in paying for the missing items and moving on, they are not interested in finding them. I had to follow-up several times just to be told that the "trace" they initiated didn't find my 6 totes of Christmas ornaments. How can they be lost? If delivered to the wrong person, surely someone would have reported it. If lost in WH, wouldn't it eventually be found? Other option is theft. They don't look into it further, they just dismiss it. A year later and I'm still missing a life of memories in those ornaments that can't be replaced. If you're moving, I suggest also getting one U-Haul and putting your most important items in there and driving it yourself. These people do not care about your belongings. They care about the cheapest way to get their job done at the expense of their customers.

Beware of these scammers. They are biggest frauds ever. They took more than 2 months to delivery our stuff and half of our items got damaged and couple of boxes are lost. They don't even care to take our calls for complaints. I am very much frustrated with these people. Here is long story short, I used New City Moving and storage (a delivery broker- who by the way cheated by mentioning that they are not brokers) for a move from Ohio to Connecticut . Western Van Lines was the carrier that completed the job. Inital cost estimate was around 2100 bucks for everything including lifting objects. But on the day of moving, Western Van lines added additional 400 for wrapping, pads to cover big objects like night stands and other items, lifting thread mill, with initial agreement to deliver goods over weekend. But they took 2 months plus to delivery our moving stuff with damages and missing items.

BEWARE! THEY ARE SCAMMERS! DON’T TRUST THEIR WEBSITE REVIEWS! >>> This company apparently operates under Midland Van Lines, Planet Van Lines, Western Van Lines, and Swift Van Lines, and every single one of them have 1-star reviews when you start looking in the right places, stating the same situation that we had…all customers say they got scammed. >>> My mom used this company to move to a different state. 1st, they screwed up her car delivery and they told us the driver canceled on us the DAY OF the car move, and then charged us $600 more in order to get the car out that same day! Apparently, they have pulled this ‘bait and switch’ with others by knowing your back is against the wall at the last minute. We finally went through another company to get the car transported, and they did everything smoothly, but we still had to pay the higher fee bc it was a last minute deal. >>> Then the real scam happened. Midland Van Lines sent my mom an estimate of what it would cost, and after they had everything packed in the back of their van, that’s when all the hidden fees were revealed. We were flying out the next morning, so had no choice but to accept these hidden fees, which added $200 + upon arrival. Strike #1. >>> When my mom originally booked Midland Van Lines to ship her household items, she told them her apartment in the new state wouldn't be ready until 1 1/2 months after her move date. They told her they would hold her things in storage for 30 days for FREE and then charge a small fee until her apartment became available. They said to simply call them 2 weeks prior to when we wanted the items to be shipped. 10 days later, I receive a call from the driver saying that her household items would be delivered the next day! What?! We never called them to tell them to ship the items! When I called the company to find out what happened, Dominique said I signed a contract stating that the delivery date was October 19. Lie #1. She said she had the contract in front of her and she was looking at the exact date- Oct. 19. Lie #2. Then she told me since I signed with that date on it, that my mom would now need to pay for her own storage unit and pay for new movers when her apartment was ready in Dec. When I asked to speak to her supervisor she told me she IS the supervisor. This is how they scam people into thinking they are getting 30 days free storage. I got off the phone and had my sister send me the contract that I "supposedly" signed with the Oct. 19 date on it. Shocker to find the delivery date BLANK! They said originally that it would be left blank since she would be storing items at their facility for a little over 30 days. Then, since they wouldn't answer the phone for me, I had my husband call. She told him the same thing, but when he said we have a copy in our hands and the delivery date is blank, she said she all of the sudden couldn't locate the contract and needed time to look into it. We never heard back from her and they are no longer answering their phones. Strike #2. >>> Next, the driver, Adam, calls me and says, “if you can’t find a storage unit in the next 3 hours, I’m taking your mom’s items to New Jersey and dumping them.” What?! He also told me that it would be an extra fee if the storage unit couldn’t fit an 18 wheeler near our storage unit. When I said, she only has 1 room full of items, and it was packed into a small moving van, he said, “not my problem. I’m shipping multiple items from different people in an 18 wheeler, so either pay extra or you don’t get your stuff.” By this time, my mom, sister and I were all in tears trying to sort through all of this. Strike #3. >>> We scrambled at the last minute and finally found a place. The next day the driver said he would only accept a postal money order, so my sister text him and said, I’m getting a postal # order for $2,2180 (remaining balance) and making it out to Midland Van Lines. He text back “ok”. When he arrived, he said that he worked for a different carrier and she would need to go back and get a postal $ order that had HIS company name on it. She had to drive to 2 different post offices to get that done. Strike #4. >>> Then they said we owed an additional $200 b/c my mom’s apartment was more than 75 ft from where the van was unloading. Seriously? They said they would only accept cash, and when we said we weren’t comfortable paying in cash, the driver said, “I can’t work like this. I’m taking the rest of your mom’s items and driving to Vermont and dumping them there.” I told him I would call the police if he left with her items, which he simply replied, “Call them.” Strike #5. >>> We finally got his boss to accept a payment from Venmo, and they came back and unloaded mom’s items. Later, we noticed an additional charge for a credit card processing fee of $218, and we NEVER used a credit card to pay! When I inquired, they said they would refund us, yet I haven’t heard back, they aren’t answering their phone, and shocker…. No refund. Strike #6. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND WALK AWAY FROM ANY OF THESE COMPANIES WITH THE NAMES I LISTED ABOVE! THEY ARE SCAMMERS AND MADE MY MOM’S MOVE A LIVING HELL!

we started out with negioations with UVL ; asking several questions, about the move, cost, how often our stuff might be moved as it was not being moved right away to our destination. After giving a deposit, then another $12k when they packed our stuff, for a total of over $15k. then the last $6200 when they delivered our household items. After just under 2 months of them storing our items only to find out a few things that were NOT disclosed: 1. our items were stored in 3 different storage units, we were promised 1; this caused for our items to be spread out and possibly scattered and not in "one" place. 2: when we did contact them to let them know our "target" date, they waited over 5 days to let us know BTW, can you sign this piece of paper that lets us know where you are located and the address. This would have been nice to know the day we called them to let us know this information. 3. we were confused the day they came "why" would we sign the contract at the beginning, not knowing if all of our items are in the truck. It didn't make sense to pay the remaining balance not knowing this information. The contract states that all your items are in order and that is why you sign. so why would you sign not knowing this is true?? The driver kept telling us, "if something is missing or broken, you can file a claim and they can file it", "I dont have anything to do with that". A few other things that were bothersome; if you are going to work for a company, learn the language; it was hard at time to talk and communicate with the drivers. Also, know how to drive a truck. The "main driver" of the semi that held our stuff, took approx 2 hours to turn into the drive. In my opinion, he was very inexperienced. Yes, he drove along road to get to our place. Could not get into our drive. I have a video to document this as well as a picture of our driveway. I pulled our 34'-foot 5th wheel with a 21' truck attached. It seems that the semi would have been able to do the same.!!! The driver had originally told us we could check off boxes off "their" checklist, however, the numbering system was used was unreadable and undecipherable, so I was not able to "check off" anything to make sure we had all of our "said" items. But again remember, we signed and paid upfront before they even unloaded. After they left, and days of opening boxes, there were several dishes broken, a small "air compressor, was found to be upside down, and broken and leaking fluid. A "wardrobe" box was upside down and the bottom opened up and 2 small boxes of heavy tools thrown on top. "not everything goes into a house", we asked if they could drive the truck "about" 150 feet to the Shop for a few items that needed to be stored the, there was a"discussion" and they wanted another $450 to this after giving them over $6200 a few hours before. (if you are adding this up, yes we have given over $21k for this move). Overall, I would "NEVER" use Western Van lines again. I cant justify paying over $30k for any mover. We will sell all and then move, IF there is a next time.