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

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