Atlantic Van Lines

Atlantic Van lines recenetly moved myself and my son home from Halifax to Kawartha lakes, we were really trying to keep the cost low but didn't want to get messed around by a "fly by night company".  We went to one of those estimate websites and filled out the form, I must have gotten 10 responses overnight!  After going through everything and checking everyone out I narrowed down to 4 companies.  I spoke to a aldy named Anita at Atlantic and she put my worries at ease with her patience and understanding of our situation.  The guy who came for the pickup was really nice and parked his big truck right up to the porch, put the ramp on and off they went, in and out in an hour.  We didt have a place to move to right away, so Anita arranged for our stuff to stay at the storage until we were ready.  The delivery was also great, those guys found thier way around the cottage road with only one call for directions (which is pretty amazing in our area filled with fire numbers).  I would highly recommend this company to anyone who needs to make a move on a budget, we only had a few little cheap things broken which we kind of expected in such a long move.  Good Job Atlantic!!

Service cost: $2000

We used Atlantic Van Lines because of their excellent reviews. Not only was our stuff delivered late (4 weeks) but most of what was handled by the professional movers was either damaged or broken. Plus we received somebody else's photographs that have still not been picked up by the company. And there are 10 boxes that are still missing. To add insult to injury, the GM of the company says that if we file a complaint with the better business bureau; "I assure you that if you file a complaintwith the BBB, Atlantic Van Lines will not be able to offer you anything, and the BBB is just a mediator and will not make us pay out anything. You submit a complaint and it is forwarded to us to respond. I assure you that if you do submit a complaint that our response is going to be very simple." How's that for customer service?   .

Service cost: $3700

 Do not hire these guys, at least if you're moving from Edmonton. The service is horrible, the contact is poor, the packing and storage is horrible and damage is high.  1. 7:30AM we got a call that the movers would come between 2 - 4P, they NEVER came or called that day; we followed up and they then came VERY LATE the next day. They almost literally stuffed and tossed the items in with no organization.  2) no matter their promises and the gentle manner of the main office people (Artur and Anita), the move itself was frustrating and NOTHING happened on time.  3) their numbering of our shipments was so bad we thought we were missing 3 boxes; we had only 10 days to unpack everything; they promised to check the warehouse but never called and never did check; 4) there was terrible damage, with holes right through the side of a cabinet, table finishes scraped to bare wood, table tops completely scratched seriuosly damaging a high gloss finish, a dresser with the whole base knocked off and the side looking like it was chewed it was so battered.  There was nothing good about this move except for the fact that the boxes arrived, crushed and dented, a wardrobe box crushed to half its size,but we packed all boxes so the contents were fine.  Rating? punctuality - 0; price - average; timeliness - .5, follow-up - 0, sales people - nice enough, 1.  I actually can't believe that I let them take our stuff..    
Don't use them.  Actually, do whatever it takes to move your things yourself and rent a truck.

Service cost: $1500

This company is terrible.  We were originally quoted for our move $4000, but when we called a week after our pick up to find out the actual price, it was $7000, and our belongings had already been shipped.  We ended up having to pay this amount in order to get our belongings back.  When the delivery truck arrived, we were told we had to sign a paper stating that we had received everything in good shape even before the truck was opened.  When it was opened, we were greeted with destroyed furniture, much of it completely written off, boxes markd "Fragile" were upside down and crushed under heavier boxes, and many boxes and pictures simply never showed up.  This company turned what was an exciting move into a nightmare.  Avoid at all costs.

Service cost: $7000

A big thank you to Atlantic Van Lines for their great service.  I had a small move from St Andrews, NS to Guelph, ON and they offered a great price and amazing service.  My move was not bit but they treated me with the same amount of respect as any other customer.  The sales reps were great.  I had my stuff in storage in their warehouse for about 5 months, and had visited the warehouse.  Facilities were clean and the staff was very helpful.  They let me bring a few items in to add to the stored goods and didn't charge me anything extra.  I had met the office staff and the girls were very nice - I probably know all of their life stories by now..lol
The price was very fair as well, especially for storage.

Service cost: $2190

In my opinion this company did a good job with our long distnace move.  I had a few small items that were damaged, but in general everything that was important to me and my family we recieved in great condition.
The best was that everything did arrive on time.  The last time we moved with another van lines we waived over 4 weeks to recieve our stuff and no communication.  This time it was easy to track our shipment, and we were able to have our possesions back fairly quickly.
 
I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. 
And I would recommend them due to their customer service.
B. Lei.

Service cost: $3987

We moved from Markham, Ontario to edmonton, alberta. Estimated cost by salesman was $4000 and actual invoice value was $9850. Poor estimate by the saleman in spite of actual verification of articles prior to providing an estimate.  When the goods got delivered, many articles were missing including boxes containing expensive items, bedroom sets, etc. Looks like Atlantic Vanlines sub contract delivery to someone and delivery folks service was totally unprofessional. They did damage walls at the time of getting the furnitures in. Above all these hardships, Atlantic Vanlines response to claims were pathetic and totally un professional. It is now more than a year of my move, yet to recieve even a single penny for the lost goods or damaged wall in the house. Worst nightmare for me and my family. Will never recommend this to anyone.

Service cost: $9875

Atlantic Van Lines was the worse company I have ever dealt with. I originally got a quote for a two bedroom with no big appliences for 825 that was with 30 days of free storage and they would wrap my items free, I packed my own boxes. When they got to Ontario 7 days later, they then proceeded to tell my my new price was 2727.40 almost over 3 times more then I was quotes, they had sooo many hidden fees. Less then 30 days after I got a call saying they had my stuff they told me my month of free storage was up. They said the free month started from the day they picked my stuff up even tho they had told me that it would be in a staorage unit for 30 days not in the back of a truck. They wouldn't even tell me where my stuff was until a month after they got here. Worse company ever. Liasr! I would never recommend this copmpany to anyone. RIP OFF!!

Service cost: $2800

WORST COMPANY EVER .. this company has no way to track a shipment, their attitude on lost items is lets wait and see if it shows up. The insurance is a JOKE, you cannot insure individual items only the entire shipment, so any loss is divided by the total weight. They "weigh" your items without you present so no way to verify the weight. We weighed ours as we were packing and there was a 1200 pound difference to their total. They charge you for a reweigh which you also are not present for. On the lost item they settle at 60 cents per pound but they also have a $395 deductible (for what I don't know, they LOST the item). To make matters worse when you agree on the lost item weight, they still charge you for the delivery of that item even though you NEVR get it .  The customer service is abysmal, starts out OK until there is a problem and then Anita the manager is never in the office, nor will she return phone calls.  Our only resolution was disputing the charges with the credit card company, oh yeah, they also charge you a 3% surcharge for using a credit card….. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

Service cost: $2800

Today, when you go home, take a moment to look around your living room. Take a good look at all your furniture, your favorite chair, maybe some pieces are still not fully paid, or maybe some of them have been in the family for a while. Go to your bedroom and do the same. Think about how much money, effort, and time, has taken you and your family to gather all the items that make your home be home.
Now close your eyes, and imagine every single piece of furniture with a visible scratch and, for some, imagine that small pieces of wood have been peeled off. Imagine your lamps with broken shades, or darkened with spots made by an oily substance. Imagine one of your kids bed gone, and the dollhouse that made your daughter happy last Christmas vanish.
That’s the experience I got with Atlantic Van Lines, for over eleven thousand dollars, plus broken and lost items.  
I will begin by saying that I have moved about 22 times in my life. Out of those 22 times, I have hired professional movers only 10 times. Well, make that 9, because the service I got from Atlantic Van Lines has not been professional at all. Here’s why:
On July 15th, 2013 I confirmed my move from Edmonton, AB to Waterloo, ON, scheduled for August 10th. We were excited about hiring, for the first time, a professional service to take care of the move, from packing to delivering. We didn’t know the rules, so we asked at least a couple of times what should be done before the move, with the same answer both times: “nothing, don’t worry about it”.
Friday August 9th: Even though we were told to expect a phone call to setup a time for pickup we didn’t receive a phone call all day. When I called, around 16:00, the answer was “the schedule is not finalized, so by the end of the day you will get a call”.
Saturday August 10th: For some reason (we thought we hired a professional, serious company), we hoped someone would show up. Around 11:00 am, my call was picked up by a person clearly annoyed by my inquiry, saying in a rather rude tone that they would show up between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm. Around 3:00 pm the same person, now even more annoyed and more rude, said they would show up before 5:00, assuring they would have the truck loaded in one or two hours. This person didn’t even asked me who I was, neither looked up anything on a computer; she just brushed me off. Of course nobody showed up. My emails to customer service remain unanswered until now.
Monday August 12th: After a very stressful Sunday, we finally made contact with Atlantic Van Lines. Early in the afternoon they sent somebody to pick up our items. We had to sign the paperwork for our new home, so we were already in Ontario, and were forced to ask friends to be at our place to make sure the movers would take everything. Movers warned immediately about two things: the truck was not large enough to take everything we had, and it would take 10 hours. Atlantic Van Lines did nothing about it, and sure enough, it took 10 hours and some items were left behind. Our friends had to pitch-in packing stuff to make things go faster. Of course I had to get rid of my wines and liquors, because Atlantic Van Lines neglected to let us know they would not take those items, even though we asked more than once if there was something we needed to know. A standard letter would suffice, you would think, but that’s professional thinking, too high level for this company.
Tuesday August 13th: They came back to pickup the rest of our items. The surprise of the day is that when I talked to the manager of Atlantic Van Lines (Lucy), she knew nothing about our case, even though we were told (by Farah) she was aware of everything.
Friday August 30th: Items were delivered at our home, after 17 days (14 in transit, and we were told 5 to 10 days in several occasions). We paid the trucker. What we found later was shocking.
Two broken book cases (broken in half, literally), two missing bicycles (delivered a couple of weeks later), my daughter’s dollhouse missing, one of my kid’s bed missing (also delivered a couple of weeks later, with some damage), more than half or our wine glasses broken (why? Because they packed them underneath pans), things thrown into boxes carelessly, stained boxes with an oily substance, no lamp made it intact, broken adjustable legs of the stove, most of the furniture with visible marks of being hit or mishandled, and the list goes on and on…

I have never seen a display of such unprofessionalism and bad service by a moving company. Clearly the people doing the work are not professional movers. I have seen professional movers before, and these are not it. To be fare, it is not the movers’ fault. These are guys hired and sent to work with no training, no experience, and they are doing what they can to get things done.

Service cost: $11000