Bekins Van Lines

Please run from this company! This has been a horrible experience for our family! We moved from Texas to Florida. On moving day, I took the “team leader” through the house and showed him what to take. There was a pile of things in a separate area. Most was not packed or labeled for moving. They were told not to take these items and verbalized understanding. They did anyway, resulting in many important items being damaged. They also carelessly wrapped and secured our furniture resulting in significant damage to a dresser, desk, and dining table. We had to pay extra for our grand piano to be moved as we were assured it would be packed and transported properly. They lost pieces to it! It isn’t usable until it is fixed. Claims process is horrific, they spend most of their time and energy figuring out how not to take responsibility! It has been 53 days and it still is not resolved. They refuse to give the full value replacement for many of the items that they damaged (We had the Full value replacement option with $0 deductible). On top of that, our contract states all furniture items are to be disassembled and reassembled at delivery destination. Many furniture items such as a full bed frame, entertainment center, and bookshelf were just left in pieces. A plastic bin of screws and furniture pieces were left in our kitchen and we had to figure out what went with what. They are very responsive to get the contract but they do not complete the job and then do not take responsibility. I am trying to prevent another family from having the stressful, expensive, and terrible experience we have had. Bekins website bloviates about their fabulous customer service and their protection programs. It is all a scam. Please, please choose another company for your moving needs!

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $14000

We moved from California to Michigan. I paid extra for insurance. They damaged many items. Please see photos below. The truck driver offered to pay for one broken table and I said no worries I’ll file a claim. I filed a claim and they said they didn’t pack these items. When they did pack these items. Then they came back and said that my items were already damaged. Not only that but they didn’t even box or bag my expensive mattresses. I had custom pieces broken and antiques broken. I knew they would not be able to replace these items so I kindly asked for repairs not replacements. I go nothing but them telling me over and over that they were previously damaged or that they didn’t pack them. I even just asked for the extra $500+ dollars I paid for the insurance back and didn’t get that either. I have made four large moves across country. I have never had an issue with repairs previously. This company is terrible. DONT USE THEM. RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN. Their sales people talk smack about the other companies to get you to feel like they have your best interests at heart. They don’t.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $18052

The entire moving team was fantastic. The estimator and coordinators were very thoughtful. They kept us informed during the whole process. The packing crew, loading crew and unloading crew were fast and efficient. They all worked very, very hard. The best part of the move was our driver. Gary Hunt really eased our minds during this stressful time. He kept us informed of his status during the entire move. He watched over all of our belongings as if they were his own. A really big thanks to everyone on the team for a fantastic moving experience.

Service cost: $8000

I hired Bekins to do full packing, loading, transporting and unloading.

The agent who came to my home to do the initial estimate was knowledgeable and personable and provided a timely estimate. After that, communication was not the best as I had to call and follow up to ensure my dates and times were scheduled and reserved - when I did so, however, replies were typically forthcoming and the customer service agent pleasant.

My driver, Daniel, who also did the packing, loading and unloading (with the aid of an assist at each end), was excellent. He (and his helpers) worked very hard, in the heat of the South, to get everything done in a timely manner. He was personable and, during transit, kept in touch with me to ensure that delivery happened in a timely manner.

Ultimately, I ended up getting my delivery ahead of schedule and the final price was well below the original, not-to-exceed estimate.

Provided their prices remain competitive, I will use Bekins again for my next move.

Service cost: $3300

We hired Bekins for a move from New York to Denver. The actual move process went smoothly - the drivers showed up on time on both ends and unpacked the bags without much fanfare (which is the reason for the single star).

However, during our move process, a bin was never delivered and the driver did not check off the box on the "inventory control sheet." (During the move, the driver and the customer use this sheet to track all items and ensure a complete delivery.) He told me that he would return to the depot to look for the bin. He was not able to locate the bin and instructed that we submit a "tracer" for this bin, which we coordinated with headquarters to do. Accordingly, we never checked off the box for the missing bin.

We did not hear further from headquarters so submitted a dispute letter regarding the missing bin. Several weeks later, we received a notice from the claims department indicating that their records "indicated that everything was delivered." Despite the fact that the box for bin #103 was clearly not checked, we had not filled out our initials in a box on the bottom, so they've relied upon this to attempt to dismiss our claim. The initial block prompt reads: "Were all items delivered?" and even though we did not fill this out with either a "yes" or a "no", they've used this to to dismiss our lost items. See attached claim form. Shame on us for not filling out the bottom left form one way or another but shame on them for assuming that this negated the fact that this overrides the unchecked bin #103 above.

We are obviously disappointed in the outcome and will be following-up with them to hopefully achieve a satisfactory resolution. Regardless, we feel that the company has acted unethically in its dismissal of our claim based on selective information on the inventory control sheet. We are especially dismayed as we paid an extra $250 dollars for insurance.

In total - smooth move day packing and unpacking, but morally dubious and even unethical behavior as we're trying to locate a missing bin.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4275

I recommend that you do not use Bekins Van Lines, or the parent company Wheaton Worldwide Moving, for any move, ever. Our recent move with Bekins, and the subsequent inadequate response to our damage claims has simply been our worst moving experience, ever.

We moved from Ashburn in Northern VA to the Raleigh, NC area. This was a fairly large move, going from a 4,500 sq ft home in Virginia to a 3,300 sq ft home in North Carolina, with storage in between. Timeline: pack, load, and move into 180 days storage in transit in VA was June 16-17, 2016; transition to permanent storage was December 13, 2016; and the final delivery and unpack in Cary, NC was March 29-30, 2017. The estimate for the move was $18,411, including three months storage in transit, but excluding FRVP valuation. Final cost was much higher due to an extra six months of storage and FRVP coverage. (Note: we have no complaint about the cost of the move, just about the damage.)

We got multiple estimates, and we chose Bekins because the salesman assured us that the packers had been with them for many years, were "like family,” and that the storage was climate controlled. They also seemed to be flexible in terms of where and when to store our household goods in order to minimize total costs. This was an out-of-pocket move, not a corporate relo with limited choice, and we chose carefully. But, we chose poorly.

We have moved multiple times before with nationally-known movers (Mayflower, United, Graebel, Allied), as well as local movers, and never had more than a few items damaged or missing. With the Bekins move, the amount of damage was simply astounding. Just documenting the damage to make a claim was not easy — the claim list of 35 items (with item # with short description of item and damage) is four pages long. (There was more, but we just gave up adding to the list after a while.) An addendum with photos to document the damaged items took another 35 pages. We had to FedEx the claim paperwork, because it was too large to send via email.

Some of the highlights (or lowlights) include:
* The storage was *not* climate controlled, and the “like family” packers did a lousy job. The finish on much of our furniture ended up with cracking and crazing due to summer heat, and many items were damaged due to inadequate padding or packing.
* Some of our furniture and boxes were actually flooded in storage, leaving flood water marks on our upholstered furniture, and wooden and metal items damaged and rusted.
* Some guitars and other musical instruments in cartons were also flooded, with the cartons showing clear water damage.
* One of the legs on our pedestal dining table base was broken off, presumably when the table was dropped.
* A glass-topped coffee table, for which we paid special handling, was cracked in several places.
* A digital piano was wrapped so tightly it was damaged.
* Wooden furniture (a hutch, dining table, coffee table, and desk) had the finish rubbed off the edges, or had the top surfaces gouged, due to inadequate padding.
* Several wooden items (hutch, secretary, dining table) had feet or knobs or table edges broken off.
* Many picture frames were damaged due to inadequate packing.
* A lathe and drill press were damaged and are no longer usable.
* A 12-foot fiberglass stepladder was never delivered.
* Roughly 180 cartons were delivered, but only 118 were actually unpacked by Bekins; we paid for a full unpack.

The total amount of our damaged and missing items claim was $28,013, since we paid for full value replacement protection (FVRP) at every stage of this move. Bekins offered just $1,655 as a settlement—a small repair allowance on just five items—amounting to less than 6% of the full replacement value of the damaged items. Not only is this ridiculously small compared to the actual replacement value of our damaged items, it is just a small fraction of the over $5,000 that I paid to Bekins for FVRP coverage. Despite clear photographic documentation of all damage, and despite the fifteen damaged items noted directly on the household inventory, signed by me and the driver at delivery, nearly everything else was simply denied. The flooded and water-damaged sofa and ottoman - denied, no explanation. The dining table with the leg cracked off - denied. Basically, almost everything that was damaged - denied.

I will never use, or recommend that anyone else ever use, Bekins Van Lines or Wheaton Worldwide Moving.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $18411

As I was moving with my employer expenses, and Bekins had a tie up with my employer. Hence I had no other option. I packed my items myself neatly and requested them to deliver in time. The person I contacted after 25 days says that they don't promise any date so I have been asked to wait as they said that items may come between x date to y date(The difference itself is approx 30 days). Any how I was not really concerned about the dare of delivery. Finally one day I received my items missing the below numbered boxes.
I have listed all the box numbers that Bekins assigned for each inventory.
Below is the list of box numbers I am missing item sequence.
BOX 007
BOX 015
BOX 019
BOX 021
BOX 022

After so many followups and 45 days investigation they sent a mail that they have exhausted and found that there is no missing box at all. Means they are indirectly telling me that they did not miss any.

So guys please never ever go with these movers.

And one more thing is that I had to move all my items from the apartment main gate which is 0.4 miles from my apartment in my small car shuttling 10 rounds.
And one more: Whenever I call claims department, Auto response says that they have 0 calls ahead of me but nobody answers the call even after 30 minutes.

Service cost: $3200

I have found Bekins Moving & Storage is unreliable. They advertise "Trust goes a long way". In my case it only went as far as loading my things into one of their moving vans but never delivering due to a fire in the van. I lost all my belongings, including household goods, clothing, documents, and personal items. The fire department says the fire was due to mechanical failure and started near a tire and spread into the van. The driver failed to notice the truck was on fire until it was too late to save my belongings. I had purchased insurance through Bekins to protect my cargo. I was told it was full replacement value protection, but have found out it is really to release Bekins from liability. It will not cover my losses. Bekins is bad for business, they cannot be trusted to deliver. My experience tells me if you NEVER want to see your belongings again hire Bekins.

Service cost: $3581

I hired Bekins for a move from CA to WA, During the transport of my shipment, at least 50% of my items were damaged severely, lost and I will go as far to say, there is clear evidence that they were tampered with and pilfered through.

While an interstate move can be stressful alone, you would hope that you have retained the services of a reputable company. BEKINS or WHEATON, is NOT one of them! They are less than professional, have no obvious training of Customer Service and will offer you NO "FAIR" options when seeking clarity or assistance (beyond their initial baiting of course).

The Director of their Claims Department, Laura Pung actually offers her unique and creative skills in claims handling and Mentoring with a power-point presentation on the internet that actually state "Claims 101: Sorry, but there's nothing in your policy about fair. A fair is where you take a pig to win a prize". Nice.. I still can't believe that Bekins / Wheaton finds this an acceptable presentation or practice, even after such was brought to their attention. You can look-up this presentation up on the internet yourself under Laura Pung, Claim Creativity.. whereby it states "WARNING, Claims Adjuster with an Attitude" (no doubt) and "World's Greatest Claims Adjuster", a typical God like syndrome attitude.

My losses and damages are as a direct result of Bekins GROSS NEGLIGENCE. The last thing that anyone would expect is to deal with a claims department that doesn't regard FAIR in their BUSINESS PRACTICES, based on their own admission! It is my understanding that an Adjuster is required to display "DISCERNMENT", which is a balance of contract enforcement and customers satisfaction. An claim representative has a duty, in good faith, to investigate and resolve claims promptly and "FAIRLY" for an insurer and claimant, not seek ways to deceive or deny provisional coverage in an effort to mitigate their exposures. This is a violation of their FIDUCIARY DUTY!

Bekins has you sign a different Bill of Lading than the one that is listed in their Tariff. BE AWARE, this offers them alternative ways to avoid their liability, it places it "AT THEIR OPTION", not yours as advertised. Bekins will place your shipment in a storage/warehouse and not advise you, as well as lie to you about it. When you ask for specific information on these facilities, such will take months to obtain, if all! They use subcontractors (according to the FMSCA they have a fleet of 1 under their DOT number). They do not tell you that subcontractors will be used, nor will they provide you their information or DOT numbers when asked, despite it is required of them to provide. They will refuse you their damage report(s), forms, operational procedures and investigation information stating that these are all internal documents and a "Breach of Privacy".. for who? Their movers, their warehouse, their sub-contractors, their Agents..? This is actually a Breach of clear entitled disclosure and Fiduciary Duty by way of Bekins denial and actions! This information is to be supplied based on their own Tariff and by the FMSCA and the Federal Department of Transportation.

I have lost thousand based on having my items transported by this company. I have gone directly to the VP of Claims, John Weissert and the CEO Mark Kirschner that will not even give you the courtesy of an explanation or review of your lost and experience, even when you provide proofs.

I have found BEKINS is unreliable or trustworthy. They advertise "Trust goes a long way". BEKINS IS A SCAM company and you should not trust their services. You can search all over the internet in regards to numerous complaints of their SHANTY DECEPTIVE Business dealings. You can find many lawsuits as well, fortunately LOST by Bekins for exactly these reasons. Please do not be fooled, they go under many names, they are partnered with Wheaton as well. BEWARE OF BEKINS, you may experience the same as I. I would NOT recommend this company to anyone!!

Service cost: $5300