AMS Transportation Services Inc.

I will keep this short as we have been 6 months trying to resolve a claim in relation to damaged furniture.
In short:
Movers arrived, one guy in his late 70's and young guy, both who spent the whole time complaining about how bad it is working for AMS.
We gave them the exact address and explained the one way road system at apartment, driver/mover said they were not told about 1 way system and arrived with 80 foot long trailer and blocked road for 3 hours, very irate neighbours and police were called as well, luckily there was a call on radio for all police to attend and they did not return, overall nightmare.
Movers left carpets covered with dirt from snow outside and sidewalk dirt. They were supposed to used temp carpets for wet trolley wheels.
Furniture arrived 2 days later after I took two days off work and flew from Saskatchewan to Ontario to help with the arrival, so I was not there when furniture arrived, Leather furniture was scuffed and tv was missing. Unbelievable.
Seriously do not use this company, Bruce Told me himself claims are ignored!! As for the packing, have a look at the pictures. Also the refused to transport ANY liquid, Zero.
Avoid them at all costs.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3000

They have delivered all my items from Saskatchewan to Boston in couple of weeks, nothing damaged or stolen, all was carefully wrapped, no problems across the border.
I did experience problems others had - one day late for pickup (well things happen on the road), poor communication (they do keep in touch though, just relax), charge money right after pickup and before delivery (strange, but again relax).
We all chose them because the quote was cheap (got mine from Relocation Services Canada), other moving companies were offering 2-3 times more than these guys, so you might as well forget those negative moments.
Overall, they do what they are supposed - deliver goods from point A to point B cheap. In the end, I was pleased, so to do these guys a justice I am giving them excellent rating.

Service cost: $2500

We used this company to transport our furniture from Florida to Collingwood and it was a complete disaster, despite all of the assurances from AMS that they were the best company for the job!

Firstly, on the day of the move they ran over the allocated elevator time at our condo due to their staff arriving 2.5hrs late (a time that AMS had requested to arrive). Our condo tried to charge us an additional $250 for extra elevator time, AMS refused to pay this but luckily I managed to talk the condo management in to not charging me.

AMS then rushed to complete the move out and damaged nearly all of our furniture in the process. Despite assurances that they take great care with property and that everything would be safely wrapped, their staff arrived without enough wrapping blankets. I explicitly said to their staff on numerous occasions that I didn’t want our new white sofa leaving the apartment without it being wrapped, but when I was then trying to deal with the building management to prevent them charging us for the additional elevator time, AMS staff took the sofa to the truck unprotected.

When I realized what was happening, I went down to the truck and caught them dragging our $5000, 8 month old white sofa across the floor of their rental truck unprotected. At this point I tried to call the AMS office numerous times but there was no response. I called dispatch and informed them of what was happening and they seemed as shocked as I was about the situation and said they would speak to the team.. but by that point it was too late.

As expected, on arrival in Toronto all of the furniture was incredibly dirty and / or damaged:

Sofa: our sofa was covered in black dirt, hand prints, damaged fabric. In addition, one part of the sectional was a completely different color to the other. It looked as if it had sustained water damage

Mattress: The mattress arrived covered in dirt and again appears to have significant dirty water damage on one side

Book Shelf: The book shelf has had one complete shelf torn off and another one partially damaged.

Box Spring: The box spring arrived covered in dirt and stained

Headboard: the headboard was covered in dirty finger prints and has damage to one leg and the trim

Chair: one of our chairs arrived with dirty finger prints over one side

Lamps: three of our lights arrived with damage to the shades. The delivery person said that they should have been boxed. They were attached to the lamps when they were collected and it was not mentioned that they needed to be boxed which we would have done there and then with our other boxed items. Instead, AMS staff removed the shades at some point after collection and damaged them in the process or during shipping.

All of our furniture was less than 8 months old and we have receipts for all of the purchases. We submitted a damage claim for $5200 to AMS and after chasing and chasing for 6 months they finally mailed us a check for $19.

Needless to say, we will be taking legal action now. Please do your homework before using this company.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1972

This company dropped my large, oak table while unloading - a mover had to go to the hospital because the ramp had not been properly attached and the table landed partly on him. The man in charge made note on our furniture release forms that the table had been dropped, he then told me that I had to sign each page or they couldn't leave, and that the claims department would accept his note.  I just received a snarky letter with the furniture release forms highlighted where I had signed (and in other spots) informing me that because I had signed for the furniture, I had taken responsibility for the damage. Never use this company or its associated moving service provider - Relocation Services Canada.

Service cost: $8500

In dealing with the broker Relocation Services Canada I got the impression they had the best deal with all transporters and we ended up giving these guys the ok to pick our stuff up in Trois-Rivières, QC and deliver to Kelowna, BC. We paid the broker the upfront down payment and then we were told, pretty much, now deal with the dispatcher, Tina, here's her number. The loading went really well, the guys were fast, professional and courteous. We were told that they would load another shipment on in Ottawa (to Saskatchewan) so we were first on and last off. The broker told and wrote 5 to 15 business days for delivery. AMS told us they would weigh and we needed to pay full amount up front with credit card. We thought it would be a day or two before being weighed but it took over a week to find out what the weigh was. Of course the account receivable lady wanted to be paid but didn't know when the shipment would arrive So she transferred me to the dispatcher Tina who told me 'I'll know next week when it'll arrive'.  After a few messages and 2 WEEKS LATER, I finally got a hold of Tina who admitted my shipment was still in Toronto, on standby, waiting for another shipment to be combined with mine before getting it to me. Of course, the credit card payment had gone through and there is no way they will get this stuff out to me before AN ENTIRE MONTH! When I called the broker to complain, he referred me to the dispatcher, I sent an email and simply got a reply with a link to make a claim. No apology, not a single follow up to let me know the status.. I now have to run after these guys to get my stuff.. A car and almost 10,000 lbs of merchandise. We've been in the Okanagan now for two weeks with a 4 year old daughter who has no bed, not a fork to eat with.. And let's not forget the interview I had with no business suit on hand. I don't know when it'll arrive but do not use these guys, don't even bother to deal with Relocations Services Canada or Global.  A bad. EXPERIENCE from the time they got our money, almost $ 9000..

Service cost: $8700

I used Reloction Services Global, once the deal was done RSG just dropped off the map, I understand that AMS was doing the move but the person who quoted and was eager to earn my business was RSG, would sort of made sense that they'd be my customer service. The biggest problem I had with this tandum was the fact that RSG did specify on the email I got that the movers could take anywhere from 7 to 17 business days but verbally sold me the "fact" that they normally deliver from 5 to 7 days, 10 tops, after the pickup, with that in mind my family and I drove down with 5 day's worth of clothes. 4 weeks later, yes, 4 weeks! and major frustrations afterwards we finally got our stuff. If you do use this company just be aware of the 7-17 business days.

Service cost: $5000

I would highly recommend not using this company. Contractual commitments in regards to delivery pick up and receipt were missed on both counts. Communication with sales and dispatch was poor to non-existent. The exception was when the company was looking for payment. AMS did keep telling me they would keep me informed of what was happening in regards to delivery of goods but never did. They missed every callback promised. Payment policy required full payment before receipt of goods which is contrary to all three former companies that I have utilized in the past. Standard practice with these former companies was nominal deposit; 50% of balance paid when goods picked up;and remaining balance paid when good delivered to home. Lastly the goods were delivered by one driver who was not aware that one item was an antique piano. If my landscapers did not arrived during delivery and had not been willing to assist with getting this item in the house, I am wondering how it would have been delivered. The AMS driver would not have been able to deliver this heavy item on his own. Not a company I would recommend or ever utilize again. .

Service cost: $3660

Lack of professionalism and poor email etiquette. Did not meet agreed upon delivery timeline. Damaged items (water, mold & broken). No acknowledgement of responsibility. Missing items. Delivered another customer's items. Online satellite tracking system (GlobalCom) tool advertised in person and on website is non-existent. Contents moved from boxes into another.

The laundry list of things that went wrong using this company is too long to go over.

AMS worked in tandem with The Relocate Group, aka relocationservicescanada.com or relocategroup.com. Between the various aliases and organization it was impossible to get anyone to take responsibility.

The primary culprits - Jim Dixon (the dispatcher), Wayne (the driver), Russell Gooding (the account manager), Kendra (the service rep).

Service cost: $5000