Atlantic Van Lines

I will never recommend this company to anyone. They damaged or lost at least 3 of my items. They took well over a month to move my stuff across country. To my own error in judgement, they overcharged me for my load as I was ignorant to the minimum weight charge. So for twice as much as I thought I'd spend, I now have a broken boxspring and bicycle, that took 40 days to arrive.

Also, without any real notice of arrival, I was left trying to coordinate payment to them without paying with credit card as it would cost an additional 3% to charge it. Unfortunately I was out of province for work and only made things more difficult.

Never again.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5000

$10,000 for moving all my furnitures and effects ( we are family of 4 ) from Sherbrooke QC to Kingston ON ( 400 km )

Original quote at $3,000 and final invoice at $10,000. They didn’t want to provide weight ticket and I had to leave mini fridges and 9 boxes behind cause the truck wasn’t big enough.

I went through 5 moves in my life and that last one was the worst. Don’t trust Jen Kirsh,

Sales Representative or Lexi Carter, Sales Representative

NEVER AGAIN

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

Thousands of dollars in damage to my furniture and effects. Literally every item was broken or scuffed in some way. They even broke into our armoire, literally broke the lock and stole the cheap jewelry we put in there. Who steals cheap jewelry!? They were probably hoping we would keep our good stuff in there.

Rude service, especially from the Alberta dispatcher. We waited for 6 hours for the movers to show up, then was told that the movers weren’t going to be there for another 3 days! We were told this after waiting, on the day of, and that was after I called the day before to ensure they were coming. I called home office and they got a truck to come out the next day, but wait there’s more... They then came with a truck too small to fit our stuff and tried to charge us to come back and get the rest of the stuff lol (Probably because dispatch was upset we called home office). Because this happened they voided my 5% military discount. Dispatch was rude and angry after I called home office to get an answer on why they weren’t coming the day they were supposed to. I did this after she told me to suck it up, and that the movers weren’t coming for three days and I was gonna have to “deal with it”!!! The dispatcher then called head office to head off my complaint, the audacity. The movers finished the job on the day dispatch said they would be there, 3 days after the initial pick up date. Likely intentional.

We were out 100’s of dollars for cancelled hotel fees that we booked for our travel to our new home in Ontario. Had to sleep in a hotel for two days in Alberta because they took our bed on the first move day (my wife was pregnant, so I didn’t want her to sleep on the floor). We had to extend our rent and push back our plans.

A lot of hidden fees, the cost started at 1100 ended up paying almost 10, 000$. No joke... The initial form you fill out to get a estimate of the weight for your goods will criminally under quote you, then bam, 1100$ quote turns into 6000$. They will tell you that you will have to fill out another quote that they will send by email and will be more accurate. Mine was sent the day the movers showed up (after I called).

The movers showed up unprepared and I had to go to Uhaul to buy the boxes for them to store my stuff in! They taped everything, so the inside of the fridge and all my appliances and furniture have the brown left over marks from the tape. Everything is either dented or out right broken. I seriously don’t know how they managed to break everything.

Filed a claim for all the broken goods and they wanted to give me 30$ and said if I wanted better service I should have bought better insurance. Really I should of hired a better company, and so should you... All I wanted was to have my stuff moved, is it to hard to ask to not break everything?!

Because the company can only, apparently, move stuff once a month, I had to have them ship to a storage unit or pay them a 450$ storage fee (my house was not ready yet) and pay them 1500$ to unload my stuff! It still cost me an additional 900$ to hire another moving company to move from the storage unit to my house (These movers were amazing by the way).

Do yourself a favour and hire from the bigger more professional companies, any savings or quotes they give are not the real amount you will be charged. These guys should be in jail or out of business, do the World a favour and take your hard earned money to a professional moving company... What a nightmare... Avoid!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6883

Once these clowns have your deposit you are a hostage. They request a list of goods then refer you to "dispatch" to wait for their call. It comes in the day before with a demand for additional funds ($2000) in my case or they won't show. Like you have any choice! They cram your goods in a beat up leased truck with sub contracted help. Once they leave your house, the calls begin. " Your goods are overweight and you have to pay more. Later in the day a second call, again a higher weight guess. They jumped from 8000-10000 to 16000 to 20000 lbs. Then the last call comes. Hooray, you came under the estimate on scale so you only pay for 20000 lbs. And because you are under, no scale documents will be provided. This is only the beginning...Once they are gone with your stuff, they say they don't know where your belongings are or when they will arrive. Again, wait for a "dispatch" call the day before delivery. In our case it took 2 weeks. When their next subcontractors showed up with our goods they demanded $2000 cash on the spot or they would not go up any stairs. We declined. They offloaded as fast as possible leaving about 25 boxes(as pictured) outside. Then left.

We had 2 large screen tvs smashed. About 20 other items well packaged crushed. Broken furniture. Upon reporting it Jenn KIRSH reappears and empathetically writes that their claims specialist Heidi Kleitz will process the claim in 8-10 weeks. And right on schedule after 11 weeks she offers $30 if you sign off on the $1000's of damage.

So, to summarize...

-The free storage came with a $295 charge

-no official weightscale documents or invoices were provided

- no timelines are assured/ they evade the question until they have your goods. Then it is a "dispatch " issue.

- weight estimates were increased 250%

-damages although excessive are adjudicated at 60 cents per pound. So a 20 lb TV is worth $ 12 in compensation(unless you purchase their extra special insurance). They accept no responsibility for their reckless disregard of your valuables.

But wait, there is a $325 deductible so they claim I owe them $233.20 for their negligence! As a sign of their goodwill, they offered me that feelgood comprehensive offer of a $30 refund. Industry leading for sure.

Movers claim they know nothing of Atlantic and just move goods.

-Charged 15% hst on full value for move from Ontario to Nova Scotia + additional 3% for payment by credit card

It's all been said before. Google the CBC Marketplace show on them. Scammers.

Jenn Kirsh and Heidi Kleitz hide from social media. Maybe a touch paranoid?

Corporate address is a strip mall in Scarborough. No office you can visit.

No BBB affiliation.

Shame on me for not doing better research. Others before me had the same experience. This Company needs to come clean and provide honesty and clarity in their operations. Oh wait, they donate a portion of your money to the Children's Wish charity!!! How Corporately responsible of them!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $10500

Unfortunately I didn’t read the reviews first. Calgary to NS, price doubled from what I was quoted to what I actually paid. Atlantic damaged just about every piece of furniture I had, lost a few of my boxes but I gained a few of someone else’s. The best part was , the delivery truck on the NS end was a 53 ‘ semi which decided on his own that he could drive across the neighbours front yard to get to my garage. He was struck for about an hour before getting a tow out, tore the yard all to pieces and said Atlantic would cover the damage. When I contacted Atlantic , they told me my neighbours insurance would have to cover it . This company is the biggest joke out there, I wish I could post pics just to show you what the idiots did to the yard. For god sakes ppl , listen to these reviews, if not mine everyone else’s. I really don’t know how companies like this are allowed to operate.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $9000

Their price kept changing and they kept increasing the weight. They are very careless with your stuff and don’t give a damn if they damage it because they have no intention of paying you the value. I shipped 3 pieces of antique furniture, 10 boxes and 25 bins - furniture arrived broken and almost all the bins were damaged. One box was even ripped open. Very expensive move from Ontario to BC especially when most of it arrived broken and damaged. They asked me to fill out a claim and put the cost of each item - that as a waste of time! They pay you sixty cents a pound and then tell you there is a deductible - total bullshit! To add insult to injury they offered me $20 for the damage to my 200 year old buffet. NEVER EVER AGAIN! They deserve a minus 10 rating.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $2500

CBC Marketplace did a show on this company to inform the world that this company is a scam. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUNsndIL1bg

We unfortunately did not know about this before we hired them. In a nutshell, here is our story. (We kept all emails and we are willing to share if you ask us. lucia.patrick1507@gmail.com).

We hired this company to move from Toronto to Ottawa. I was in communication with Jen Kirsh the sales manager. One of the reasons I hired them is that she wrote to me that all our stuff would be protected with cloth. (A standard practice, but I wanted to make sure that the was no misunderstandings.)

On moving day, the movers were horrible! They would not wear masks even after I informed them that my wife was pregnant. The movers informed me that because my apartment was more than 100 metres away from the truck, I would need to pay an extra 600$ fee, but this could be avoided if I gave them a big tip. I called and spoke to one of the colleagues of Jen Kirsh. She called them and nothing changed. The movers informed me that they are subcontractors and that they don’t care of repercussions as moving companies need them. The movers told me that they won’t tag our stuff as it will not be transferred to another truck or warehouse. It will be driven directly to Ottawa. They also refused to get the last 3 pieces of our stuff in our apartment. I had to get it myself and I saw them load it in the truck. (Mysteriously, those three things, which includes my hockey gear never made it to Ottawa.)

I complained to Jen Kirsh the next day. She said that nothing can be done about the poor service and denied that the movers were subcontractors. She assured me that a different team of movers would be delivering our things in Ottawa. As for the 600$ additional fee, it was in the fine

print, and I should have known. (Which apartment in a 30 story apartment building is located less than a 100 metres from where the truck is parked? Would it not have been ethical to not put that in the fine print and even better to have mentioned this?) If I didn’t pay the remainder 50% of the balance, I would not be getting my stuff.

Our stuff was delivered as planned in a different truck with a different crew of movers. They told me that because I had 6 steps and not 5 from the ground to the door, I would have to pay an additional 600$ fee. (I settled on giving all four movers a 50$ tip to save 200$ in total.)

Except for 1 item, none of our things were wrapped with clothes. The ‘head’ mover, Erol, admitted that this was a scam. He gave me his telephone number after I had asked for it in case I would need to contact him if I wasn’t going to be compensated. I was never able to speak to Jen Kirsh again as she got her calls screened.

The person responsible for claims, Anita Kleitz, never wanted to speak to me on the telephone. She didn’t acknowledge that our things were never wrapped or that things got lost or that our stuff was moved from one truck to another. I received a 70$ compensation for this horrible and dangerous service (The movers in Toronto didn’t want to wear masks.)

If the time I invested in writing to review can avoid someone else from getting scammed, it was worth it. If you have questions, my email address is above.

Oh and of course, I ended up paying more than twice the amount in the quote that was given to me. Shame on them for scamming people. Hopefully the government will regulate this one day.

Patrick

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6500

The current manager JK is dishonest, to start, anytime you call she ain’t available but she instantly replies to emaila.Isn’tit sleethy? Scared to be confronted about what she lies to you via emails. She told me my cargo had left the origin and indeed it left the origin one day before delivery, the delivery driver had a nice talk with me. That’s about the delay of the delivery. Another issue is that all, literally every piece of furniture delivered by the VanLines, was damaged, the worst is the mattress covered in oil and grime, the mattress base, all wardrobes chipped, dented, and scuffed. Stay away from this company at all costs. Better pay more for a more reliable mover than save money(AtlanticVanlines charge hidden fees just so you know)with these unprofessional movers.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2399

Crappy Company. I would not recommend anyone to use this as your mover company. They are just a huge name minting money. Staff is terrible. The movers who came to my appartment was a miserable man. They asked me to buy my own boxes, pack my own stuff and threw, mishandled my stuff. I’ve never had such a poor experience with any Canadian company before. These guys are just horrible and miserable. The mover humiliated, insulted and yelled at me because I complained against him that he Didn’t have enough supplies. I wish I could attach the pictures of how they packed my stuff in grocery bags and my garbage bins. Please don’t fall in their big name look for smaller local company, they will be able to take care of your stuff better.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3800

These people treated our beloved belongings like garbage. We specifically went to U-Haul to get all of our packing materials and boxes so as to have higher quality packing supplies. But that doesn't matter when they throw your things around and stack all your fragile boxes on the bottom of a stacked pile. I've only uploaded a couple of photos but my wife and I have a while album as proof how how much they will care for other people's belongings. They ruined our queen sized mattress even though I bought and wrapped it in a heavy duty cover. It looks like they dragged it behind the truck while moving. It was torn apart and cover in oil stains. The same goes for our bed frame, which was also covered in oil and grease. For the life of me I also don't understand how they managed to break my tiller, they bent the metal frame on it. Nothing it seems was safe from their complete disregard for our belongings. Lamps broken, antique dishes shattered, a wooden chest was turned into kindling, wedding gifts pulverized, etc. The list goes on. But in the end they did offer us compensation after 6 months of back and forth emails for a total of $30 Canadian (After paying them +$11,000 and waiting for the worst pick up and drop off times). If I had to move across three provinces again I would do it myself and save my wife and I the heart break and the sleepless nights of playing "what if we hired a different company". I would never recommend these people to anyone.

Also they will throw in hidden fees like a "canoe handling fee"

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $11000

I moved from Toronto to Alberta. I got my items in a very short period of time. They offered free storage for Upto a month. Nothing was broken. The movers were very delivery with the stuff. They were extremely professional and friendly. They were very quick in loading and unloading. Jen was super supportive through out the process. One of my box was missing and she’s guided me to fill a claim. The overall experience was superbly positive and I’m happy with their service. Thank you Atlantic Van Lines for helping me with the move!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1800

WARNING WARNING. WARNING:

If you are planning a move and you intend to use this company…DO NOT use them. They don’t care about your items. It’s loaded and offloaded so many times, stuff gets a lot of damage. I had so much stuff damaged in my move from Alberta to Ontario and when I put in my claim they would only cover $30. It doesn’t matter that my antique ROLLTOP DESK got smashed, and another antique piece had gouges in it, it doesn’t matter that my cat tree got broken half, it doesn’t matter that I had to go buy a new coffee maker, it doesn’t matter that my dresser is now missing a corner…plus other items…it doesn’t matter that we missed a day in travel, because the movers couldn’t show up on time, plus we had to do their paperwork! No, don’t go with this company. You be better off doing it yourself and renting a U-Haul!!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4800

After browsing a few companies, decided to go with Atlantic based on the low quote. The administration and initial contact was professional and positive, and we were excited for the move. Warning: the quote is based on shipping weight - we shipped double our quoted rate, so the cost also increased.  While the customer service representatives were professional and curteous, we had a different experience entirely with the actual movers. While on time, their inventory list didn't match the tags - 'dressers' were marked as 'mirrors', and the condition wasn't recorded.  Although we had taken care to wrap and protect our furntiture, it still arrived damaged. EVERY SINGLE BOX arrived with pretty severe crushing damage, many with rips, holes, and shredded sides, corners and bottoms. Most of our furniture arrived with severe gashes, chips and scrapes - the movers were pretty rough with the materials.  Ironically, the only items that arrived unscathed were the glass panes. Had we not taken so much effort to protect the furniture, the damage to our belongings would have been severe! This bad experience has made me question using a moving company in the future - I will most definitely not use their service again, and I caution others against it as well. .

Service cost: $1500

The did a very good job, the price was very close to what I was told. I am very happy with the service that they did for me.Everyone was very nice and helpful, I am very happy that the only thing broken was 2 drinking glasses. The did a very good job, the price was very close to what I was told. I am very happy with the service that they did for me.Everyone was very nice and helpful, I am very happy that the only thing broken was 2 drinking glasses.
The ladies in the office always helped me when I called, they helped me fix a good day for the delivery so I could make plans for my childrens school
 
My husband couldn't be there so they took the beds apart for me which was very helpful.  The men were very friendly and caused no problems.

Service cost: $2200

We got a quote and ended up paying double.. They weren't helpful about the amount quoted. Also things were broken. A lot of things and they didn't get replaced because they offered us 50$ and let's be honest.. That won't fix a TV a treadmill a lamp and other items. U have to buy the insurance for them to cover the broken items but if they don't break anything u are out the extra cost plus who knows what they will offer you. Plus they contract out the move so it's technically another company that broke our stuff. We have 2 babies under 2 and would have appreciated them to fix our things instead of offering a ridiculously low amount. And then I asked for her to call me and she wouldn't.. Only email.. Go with another company, spread the word, and don't waste your time and money with these people. 2800 dollars later I'm still pissed.

Service cost: $2800

I can't believe this company has any business left after reading all these reviews. Unfortunately, we didn't do our due diligence either. first they were 3 weeks late with delivery, gave a multitude of excuses for that. Then, overcharged us by 2000 pounds, we had a reweigh to confirm-no apology or reason given for this. Worst of all we had several missing boxes, mostly containing my wife's clothes, and destroyed patio furniture, as well as a bad experience with the owner, Anita, trying to get insurance money. Finally we gave up and put it behind us. We estimate the loss of property at $6000 with no compensation at all. Never gain!

Service cost: $4000

They lost my couch, a recliner and bed rails. Everything else was there but these three items. The movers who dropped off the my stuff were going to give me someone else's couch, I told them that it was not mine; and I didn't want it.

This company offered me 75.00$ (seventy-five dollars) as compensation for its incompetence.

My advice is to shop around for a better company.

Regards Donna

Samantha was the Sales Representative.

Service cost: $2000

Got scammed by this mover first thing said it would be delivered in 10 days ended up being 21 days and then at my constantly calling for delivery.Before delivery they called the quoted price was doubled and wanted payment immediately and I contested the scaling which I originally figured between 1-2000 lbs they came up with 3800 lbs after delivery I had it re-scaled and it was 2085 lbs but now they will not accept my scaling,excuses excuses about the scaling which another shipper gave me on a public scale. Clearly this mover is in the scamming business and you will never get refunded when you pay them before delivery. In my opinion their scaling warehouse is very very fraudulent.

Service cost: $2440

I never post bad reviews and rarely get upset about things but feel that it's important that people know our experience with Atlantic Van Lines. As with many others, can't believe I am only reading the reviews now when I need to post my own. I wouldn't have chosen this company had I taken the time to read the miserable ratings. However, again like many others, was blinded by the low initial estimate. End total was over double the initial quote with no way to prove the scaling/ weight charge. Several, several damaged items- Large and small. Almost $200 in extra packing charges that the movers never asked us about until truck was loaded and they were leaving. So we paid $200 for packing items that in the end were delivered completely damaged (smashed t.v, professional wedding picture frame, etc). For example, charged $50 for "wardrobe" bag for wedding dress which we found at the bottom of a larger box crushed by several tools from garage. Were told 2 weeks until delivery. Repeatedly phoned until finally someone agreed to have our stuff delivered at the end of the third week even though it was sitting in storage less than an hour from our house. We submitted a claim for the damage items (and paid for extra coverage that they later claimed we hadn't) and were told nothing was covered. They claimed that certain items were owner packed which hadn't been so they couldn't compensate us. Outright lied to by this company. Scammed for all this extra packing and no insurance even though you think you are signing for it. On delivery, we had items (large furniture pieces) that didn't belong to us and then had other items dropped off at our doorstep in the middle of the night that they had missed delivering during the initial move. Other than Lucy being a supportive contact person, ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE COMPANY. Save yourself the headache, your possessions and lots of money by NEVER EVER doing business with this company.

Service cost: $6014

Never, never ever under any circumstances use this company.
We were quoted. 26/ pound based on approx. 4000 lbs.
They never came to do a visual inspection of our property, we were never offered an alternative. When the 2 guys showed up, they took one look, sent for a bigger truck and another body. We had spent a great deal of time packing, marking cartons, these guys simply made up garment boxes and throwing our belongings into them. They finally arrived at our new home at 7 pm, unloaded, dropped boxes everywhere, unpacked or setup nothing and took off at 10pm. We are filing complaints with BBB and ontario consumer protection office. They lie about what they deliver and moreover you can't trust whatever they claim the weight of the load is. DO NOT HIRE THESE THEIVES!

Service cost: $2900

Moved household stuff from our vacation home in Florida back to Canada with Atlantic and was pretty impressed with the service. The reviews were mixed but I took the time to speak with the sales rep and met with the office staff personally (Alberta office). I hired them and was very impressed with the response time and attention to details. There were some delays at the border but Atlantic helped solve the issues (as I am not currently in Canada). I was happy as I did not want to spend extra $ to fly to clear the goods. Many thanks to Lucy who answered all of my questions and to Jonathan the driver who called when there were issues.
Total weight of the shipment was 7980 lbs and I was pretty happy with the price that I paid.

Service cost: $3900

I dealt with Toronto office. Communication was spotty but they were much cheaper than everyone else. I should have known.

They arrived 5 hours late at pickup.The drivers asked for a tip. After they left, I noticed they marked everything damaged on the weigh bill (just to get out of taking on any responsibility, I was not moving damaged items). They are good movers - no dents in walls and they moved fast - but the business side is a racket.

They arrived early at drop-off and claimed to not be able to bring a truck in so they wanted an extra $350US to transfer to smaller truck. I had no choice at this point so I negotiated to $150 USD just to make the problem go away. Even though they were simply storing these items in a garage and did not even have to unload or go up stairs, they offered no concessions. I just wanted my stuff at this point and wanted to be done with them.

This company is cheapest but they will give you headaches. Moving is stressful enough, why add to your problems with them? Movers are hard to understand also..and they kept counting the cash I gave and coming up with a different amount.

No idea what shape my items are in or if anything is missing but I fully expect there to be more problems as I unpack.

This company has bad reviews for a reason! Please don't disregard like I did, pay a bit more for your sanity and go with someone else.

Service cost: $4650