United Van Lines

22 Reviews: Add Review

1. Do not use this company.

   This has been the worst move we have had and we are professionals who have to relocate every five years.   Broken, missing items and square boxes are now round.  The storage facility they use is basically an unorganized mess even according to their claims person.  We paid 2k more to use who we thought was a reputable company only to have about 5700 in damage and missing items. Customer service doesn't care and you must make contacting them your full time job. I don't expect anything from them except learning a valuable lesson about if you want your household goods in shape and all there - do it yourself. United Van Lines is nothing but a rip off and horrible company.  They contracted fine loaders and unloaders but after your things leave your presence, they use a very bad storage company and I think all our things were riffled through and then tossed in a corner based on appearance of the boxes. They are thieves in the Oakland, Ca storage unit and I guess I will look on Ebay for my dining table, kitchen aid, expensive cookbooks, cracked TV and other items they stole. United does not care one bit about your goods or service. They are only there to take your money and that is it. Cross your fingers and hope your stuff arrives and isn't trashed.

2. Not worth the stress.

   Tons of broken items and claims department a total nightmare to deal with. They definitely spend more energy on fighting insured claims than taking care of the items during the move and storage. Claims department originally stated 4-6 weeks to process everything, but I am now 2 months and still not close to being resolved. Claims adjuster assigned to me is rude, clueless and disorganized.  It does not sit well with me when someone questions my personal integrity.  I have all documentation to support my claim and my contact refuses to look at it.  After reading some of these other posts, I am wondering if she is so over worked that she just picks who she wants to help..or perhaps she gets commission off what she prevents the company from paying out?

3. United Van Lines/Sullivan moving review.

   My experience with United Van Lines/Sullivan moving company was BY FAR the WORST experience I have ever encountered with a service provider in my ENTIRE life!! The very worst, and if you would rather not endure the head-ache of their services yourself, I would advise you take heed to my review. First off, at inception of business transaction, they seem to be very service oriented and accommodating that is until they get your business and the contractual agreement between you and the company has been signed. I was initially told that there was a time frame that I would receive my items resulting from a move from CA to VA. The estimators came to my place in CA, surveyed the items to have been shipped, gave me an estimate, and told me that since the total weight amount of my items weighed below the required minimum, that I would be charged just the standard weight. Cool. They then proceeded to tell me that it would take between 5-15 days to receive my shipment from CA to VA (as I arrived to VA before the movers did.). Throughout the process and after my card was charged the service fee, I not once heard from United Van Lines/Sullivan moving, forcing me to have to check in with them intermittently just to simply check the status of the move. Further, when I left messages for my moving coordinator, I never received returned phone calls, forcing me to call, hold, and wait for her to take my calls.  After about a week and a half after being told the length of time it would take to move my items, from the moving coordinator, I was then told (again a week and a half later) that the driver was still in AZ, and making his way to the East Coast?. We are now to day 10 of the process and I was then told that the driver might not arrive to VA until the actual 15th day (as promised by contract) because the truck drivers can only drive so many hours in a day. Fine. We get to the 15th day and I am then told (by the way, by the driver, whom I had spoken to for the VERY FIRST time the day my shipment was to arrive, and never prior, even though the driver told the United Van Line company that he called me on several occasions [not true!]) that  he would not be able to make it by the close of business on the 15th day because when he did the delivery before mine, he didn’t have help unloading the truck and that it took him longer than he thought. This is not my fault, and I should not have had to suffer the consequences of a delay in the delivery of my items because United Van Lines/Sullivan didn’t plan appropriately. Nevertheless, when the driver finally arrived to my address A DAY LATE, he then tells me that he can ‘t unload my items until the next day because he was tired from having to 1.) unload the last delivery by himself 2.) for having to wait to get the truck fixed because of a minor maintenance mishaps (between the commute from his last delivery to mine, and 3.) because he needed more help unloading my things and wouldn’t be able to get the help until the next day, Again, isn’t this something United Van Lines/Sullivan moving should have set up before the driver got to my address? So finally arriving a day LATE after my contractual time frame that was paid for, the mover(s) finally unloaded my items, came in my home, scratched my walls, left SEVERAL broken items in my boxes, set up a couple things and left. I called to make a complaint to my moving coordinator after this tremendous inconvenience, because after all, I had to take time off from work, and sacrifice not having my items when promised to me and having to wait to get them, all to be berated by United Van Lines/Sullivan Moving company and told that there was nothing they could do about this because my load was less than 3,300lbs? They proceeded to tell me that the only way I could file a claim against this matter was if I had a delivery that was the maximum weight amount otherwise, if I wanted to get a lawyer I could do so. Really?! No apology, no partial refund for the tardiness and broken items, nothing. Just rude staff that could care less that their service was less than sufficient. Anyway, my moving coordinator was Dawn Lewis, my estimator was Troy Becker, my driver was David Rivera, and I was berated by a guy in the office I think by the name of Sebastian Brooks. I WILL NEVER EVER USE THIS MOVING COMPANY EVER AGAIN, AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND AGAINST THEM! .

4. Small move but lots broken.

    
   While this was a relatively small move, a lot of things arrived broken or crushed. Our dining room table arrived with a broken leg, a chair had a broken leg and arm, a lamp was broken, all the boxes were crushed. The vault was very poorly packed. The movers put heavy boxes on top of the chair. We had ordered a special box for a tall delicate lamp which they forgot to bring. They wrapped it in blankets and promised to put it in a box at the warehouse. It arrived still just in the blanket and was broken. The Florida company, McCollister's Transportation Group of Sunrise, FL provided very incompetent people to pack the truck. Because this is a United Van Lines Co. they handled the repairs and did repair most everything, however, the repairs were mediocre. After the shock of how much broke, the current rub is that they are refusing to repair the arm of a chair that also had a broken leg. They are saying that because it is an old chair, even though the leg was broken (they repaired that), the dislodged arm wasn't due to mishandling, but age and won't cover that part of the claim. The arm was fine before the move. Clearly the movers were incompetent and yet they keep insisting that the arm of the chair broke because it is old. The claim department is under the larger corporation UniGroup which is United Van Lines and Mayflower. They are the ones who are denying the claim. I'm continuing to address this up the chain of command. What a waste of my time after paying so much money. Very aggravating and frustrating. I would not recommend any of the companies mentioned in this review.
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5. Golden Eagle Moving Services.

   I cannot say enough about how wonderful the California division of this company conducts business. Golden Eagle Moving Services out of Upland CA are simply the BEST! The driver we had, Victor Munoz, was just wonderful. Professional, courteous, prompt, caring and efficient. The load arrived as promised, at the time promised and was unloaded here in Philadelphia with no damage. The crew in Glendora was amazing, I am a glass artist and had 18,000 lbs. of equipment and glass to move. They worked incredibly hard. They were careful and respectful of our items. Here on the Philadelphia side, the crew was not quite as good. They had one surly, lazy kid but the other two were just wonderful. I will absolutely use Allied again as we will be moving within 6 months. (I will just be sure to tell them not to send Mr. Bad Attitude!).

6. Terrible Attitude.

   If you can avoid dealing with these people, try to do so as much as possible.  Here's the experience I had.  While waiting in my car at the downtown property that I manage, a large truck is pulling up so closely beside me to the point where they almost clipped the front end of my car.  I am clearly off to the side, away from anyone so I'm wondering why someone would get so close. Knowing that most of the delivery people are on site to serve one of my residents (moves, furniture delivery, etc.), I get out of my car when they get out of theirs & ask them what I can help them with.  After confirming who they are here for, I mention to the passenger that they came awfully close to my vehicle & the man said "it's all good, she's a good driver."  I didn't think much more of it, and when my assistant manager walked up, I had him get the freight elevator keys and as they are walking off & I'm getting back into my car, the passenger mover tells the female driver in a way of instigation what I said a little earlier and she looked at me and said in a voice full of hate "Did I hit it?!?!  Well then..!" moving her head side to side in a very uncaring, rude manner.  I told her I didn't need to be talked to in that manner and asked if I could get her boss's contact information in which you replied in the same fashion she did earlier "I AM the boss!" and walked away.  I mentioned she would hear about this again as I plan to notify the Better Business Bureau. The other man threw his hands up in the mix as well, so it's evident they work as a team fighting customers, potential customers and building management. If these people act like this, how do you think they are acting when they are in your home?  When you aren't home, do you think they are honest people?  Think about it. .

   

7. Do not use -- Lost precious items.

   Liberty Transportation/United Van Lines has lost two boxes that were most precious to me during my move from NYC to France. They contained notes that my father wrote in the hospital before passing away, and unique family pictures, letters and documents of which we have no copies. Losing these boxes meant losing our father's only memories and has caused profound distress to my siblings and myself. It also means that my children and baby niece will have no trace of who their grandfather was.
   
   The loss of these boxes is the result of a series of mistakes on Liberty Transportation's part, including the following ones:
   
   (1) The container with my belongings was un-sealed and unloaded without authorization before reaching my house and its content transferred into 2 vans, due to an incident with the driver.
   
   (2) The movers did not have an inventory list for me to check off upon delivery and were very much in a hurry to leave, with no time to go through everything with me. They did not know how many items they had delivered and had obviously not counted them.
   
   (3) Some inventory numbers did not correspond to the content of the boxes, which seems to indicate that the inventory was not accurately done in NYC. Boxes from previous moves were not re-packed in Liberty boxes, as they should have been as per regulations in this matter. Some items were broken and pieces left behind in the apartment.
   
   Liberty Transportation and their affiliates in France have both admitted in writing to the facts as listed above. Here is a quote from Liberty Transportation's President: "It is apparent that there was a breakdown of our processes which document the chain of custody of your shipment - both here in the US and also in France". A very worrying statement for customers, obviously.
   
   In addition to these mistakes, Liberty Transportation handled the follow-up of the case in the most careless manner: not responding to emails, not answering to phone calls, not sending the requested information, reporting very poorly on action taken to locate the boxes, etc.
   
   This was my 5th overseas move and I never came across such an unprofessional handling. Keep away.