Aaronson Van Lines

4 Reviews: Add Review

1. Easy and simply done.

   I have moved several times in my day, but this was the first
   time I hired a mover to do the work for me. Now that I have a family to look
   after I knew I needed to bring in someone in the know to get this done for me,
   mostly considering this is the furthest I have ever moved in my lifetime.
   Shopping for a mover was sort of like bashing my head against a wall several
   times. Moving salesmen are pretty ruthless. It ended up coming down to my
   personal needs which involved quite a bit more than just moving my furniture. I
   have a baby grand piano that has been in my family for many years, an SUV, and
   a truck, a four wheeler, among other outdoor toys, and a Harley all coming
   along for the ride. I reserved with this company because there was no calling
   around. They did the calling around for me. When my moving day came everything
   went really smooth. The company they hired for us to move our furniture were
   really great. They taped their own rugs over my carpets so they didn’t leave
   behind a mess. They even covered my walls with blankets as to not scratch
   anything. It was service like I had never seen before. I never realized how
   much goes into moving furniture, but wow, it is quite a skill. The movers were
   great, and everything arrived safely. My motorcycle and cars also arrived
   without a scratch. On top of it all when my move was all said and done I had
   electronic receipts in my email waiting for me so I could forward them along to
   my work to get reimbursed. Easy and simply done.

2. Excellent Service.

   So, when I had to move essentially across the country (from Oregon to FLORIDA), I was gobsmacked by the sheer number of decisions I had to make in a very short timeline. BUT, one decision I am super glad I made is that I happened to take the recommendation of my former employer and used Aaronson for moving. Now, I have some unusual items, like a pinball machine, musical instruments, antiques, etc, but these guys made me feel at ease from the get-go. They had my items protected and packed so efficiently that it took up like 2/3 of the space once loaded that the same items did the last time I moved. This allowed me to bring a bit more furniture than I had planned! Bonus! The staff were clean and professional. Also, as someone who moves a lot, I am always prepared for damage here or a delay there, but these guys DELIVERED ON TIME, despite the bad weather patterns happening in various states along the way. For the value of my peace of mind, and for not adding to the stress of my move, and for performing the precise services requested at a reasonable rate with no surprises, I give 5 stars, and I will use them again!

3. Criminals.

   Summary: they took my money, and a truck never came.
   I contracted Aaronson Van Lines on 05/06/2015 for my family's relocation from the Cleveland, OH area to the Orlando, FL area. We went through the whole estimate process, where they explained to me that their estimate would be a maximum, "guaranteed no to exceed" limit, so they grossly overestimated the weight of my items that were to be shipped. Originally, I had asked for a pick-up date of 07/30-08/31. They contacted me again, offering me a $300 discount if I would take a cancellation that they had of 07/27-07/28. I took the offer. I signed the estimate for 4,384 pounds-at a cost of $2,635.61.
   They made it very clear that if I weighed less, I paid less.
   I paid a deposit of $600 to "lock in" the date and rate, and thought all was well.
   On 07/23/2015, I received a call from Aaronson to double-check my items. I informed them that I had since purchased a cubby storage bin. I also told them that if it made any difference whatsoever, I had no problem leaving the $35 K-Mart item behind, even though I was still well under their overestimation. He told me to go through the rest of the list, and he'd call me back in 10 minutes.
   When he called back, my husband answered the phone, and was informed that the truck had "no room for all of [our] new items", and that not only would a new truck have to be contracted, but they would have to send us a new estimate to accommodate all of the "extra weight".
   I very quickly received a new estimate, which added 1,100 pounds (and $1200) to our original estimate-and changed the pickup dates to 07/25-07/31.
   I told them that that was outrageous. I was well under the original weight, and (since I had absolutely no reason to doubt the original pickup date in the ELEVEN weeks since I signed) had already made arrangements to be out of my current apartment by 07/29.
   The guy from Aaronson told us that if they came to pick up our stuff, and it didn't fit because of our "additional items", that the movers would leave our belongings on the side of the road.
   My husband looked them up online, and we found a report from a woman who claimed that they did the exact same thing to her, and she was required to pay the FULL estimate amount for delivery-with no weight receipts presented to her.
   We decided not to sign.
   When I refused to sign the new agreement, we went through a series of unpleasant phone calls to and from Aaronson Van Lines before a Customer Service Manager took over the case, and told us that we would stick to the original agreement as planned, and that she would personally take care of the arrangements from now on. I was assured that Glass City Movers would be there to pick up my belongings as scheduled.
   We went to Lowe's and picked up exactly the boxes I was allowed in the estimate. We also borrowed a large package scale, so that we could weigh our items ourselves.
   We had everything packed and weighed by Sunday, 07/26/2015. Our items weighed in at 2,963 pounds.
   The next morning (day 1 of the expected pick up date), I recieved an email from Aaronson confirming our pickup for 07/30-07/31.
   I immediately called them, and Dana, the "Customer Service" manager said that she "thought [we] were okay with those dates". I reminded her that we had agreed on the original estimate-the dates that I recieved a discount to fill, made arrangements around, and paid $600 to reserve. She then told me that even though we were sticking to the original agreement, she still was "sure" that we had agreed to the later dates.
   This was unacceptable. I told her that I had paid to have a truck at my door on 07/27 or 07/28, and that if there wasn't going to be one I expected my money back. She told me that she could refund my deposit, minus 20% of the estimated total cost. $527. Out of $600.
   I stated that that was ridiculous. Then she said that she was positive that if she "put this on [her] supervisor's desk, he's not going to approve a full refund." I asked her to let me speak to her supervisor. She told me that he would have to call me back.
   He never did.
   I did, however, receive a call from 8 Mile Road Movers about an hour later-confirming my pickup. I explained to him the situation, and told him my actual weight.
   He said that the soonest that he could have a driver to me was the 28th. I agreed, and made arrangements.
   About two hours later, I received another call, this time from Glass City Movers, to confirm my pickup for the 30th-31st. I explained the situation to him, and told him that it had already been taken care of.
   The morning of the 27th, I received another call from Aaronson, where the guy spoke for two minutes straight as soon as I answered the phone. I told him that I knew that I was already going to be screwed out of my money-that I had found the report online. He argued with me for a few minutes about whether I had actually read the report or not, before telling me that the woman who wrote it was "drunk when the drivers showed up" and kicked the movers out of the house. There were more details, but it was inconsequential. I told him that no one from his company was ever allowed to call me again, and that all correspondence would have to be done through email.
   Finally, the morning of the 29th arrived, and Aaronson sent me an email requiring me to pay them $287.81 before the driver would come. I emailed back and forth with them before finally getting a call from the driver telling me that they would be arriving between 4-5pm that day.
   Shortly after, I got another call from the dispatch from 8 Mile Road Movers telling me that Aaronson had changed the terms on them at the last minute.
   This is when I found out that Aaronson Van Lines had promised $2,056.24 (the full estimate amount, less my $600 deposit) from me upon pickup of my belongings in Ohio.
   Nothing about weight, nothing about rates. A flat amount. Then, they sent him a message telling him that the moving company would only be getting $1,769.43 upon pickup.
   (This number is the exactly the $2,056.24-$287.81). They were ripping off the mover too. This was their first, and last-as he said-time dealing with Aaronson Van Lines.
   I explained to him that this was an amount based on me having 4,384 pounds..and that since I was under, there's no way I'm paying the full amount. He told me that he would make a few phone calls, and get back to me.
   5 p.m. came and went, and still no truck.
   I called the dispatch (multiple times), I called the driver (multiple times), and then I finally called Aaronson. No return calls.
   We were supposed to be out by now. We have now had to make a last minute rental of a Budget truck, which is costing us about $1,800. Plus fuel for the truck, and we are out lots of money. We are now two days late leaving the old apartment, and have had zero time to make arrangements for someone to help us load and unload the rental truck.
   In short, I paid them hundreds of dollars to make an already stressful event nearly unbearable.
   I am taking the time to leave this review-which I will leave on every site possible-to hopefully prevent them from stealing anyone else's money.
   We are seeking legal action for reimbursement and refund. This is disgraceful, and extremely inconvenient. We have been living out of a suitcase for the last three days, and I have two small boys who have had to suffer right along with us. They should be ashamed of themselves.

4. Aaronson Van Lines negligence- Failure to deliver service.

         I closed on the sale of my house in Niceville, FL on June 18, 2015. the sale required that the house be vacated by 11:00 am on June 18, 2015. I hired Aaronson Van Lines (AVL), on May 2, 2015, to move her household goods by June 17, 2015. AVL agreed to the time requirement, to accomplish the move out job on June 16 to June 17, and that time was of the essence, per AVL's job order, "ETA Load Date June 16 - June17" ETA, estimated time of arrival, the time when a plane, ship etc is expected to arrive should refer to a point in time, not a range of time the use of ETA here, must therefore refer to a minimum and maximum point in  time there is no point in time indicated, there is no grace period indicated to pack, move and store my items for 30 days AVL did not perform their duties by the end of the day on June 17, due to multiple logistical problems AVL's initial subcontractor, Americawide, en-route determined that the June 17deadline could not be met AVL then subcontracted, after 5p on June 17, with Economy Moving systems to pack, in anticipation of American Wide arriving the next day, June 18, to complete the move.  Too late to meet the 11:00am June 18 deadline. AVL called me after 5pm on June 17; AVL stated that AVL could not comply with the terms of their job order, and AVL could not complete the move until the morning of June 18. Peter Aaronson and Americawide were rude and demeaning on the phone. I had made partial payments to  AVL for packing and moving an initial deposit on 5/2/15 of $600, and a premove partial payment on 6/16/15 for $1,011.69. I then, hired Economy to complete the job, because she had no confidence that AVL could deliver, even the next day, as promised, and had to pay for the same service a second time, $3,300 directly to Economy to pack and move me to meet the terms of her house sale, I realized that AVL would not be completing the job order, was forced to hire, on an ad hoc basis, a replacement mover, Economy Moving Systems, and because of the disruption caused by AVL, I incurred extraordinary expenses.