Bekins Van Lines

We had a corporate move cross country with Bekins. Avoid Bekins if you can. If something goes wrong, as sometimes things do, they do a terrible job of correcting it. I've had interstate moves with professional companies before and while it's always a headache I've never had anything like this experience with Bekins. I have been left to conclude they are an unethical and incompetent company.


For us, when the driver was a day late and Bekins didn't do anything about it besides giving us contact info for a series of people who were in theory "helping" fix it but none seemed to have any idea what was actually going on or who was doing what, I was concerned. But then the driver showed up and I became much, much more concerned. Rather than supervise the idiot kids packing the truck he chain-smoked, dumped his butts and garbage all over our property and spent his time following me around and trying to make conversation with me
His topic of conversation soon moved to a focus on how he hates (insert racial epithet for Latinos) and they shouldn't be let in the country. Why he thought I'd be interested in his opinions I have no idea; I was trying to keep an eye on the idiots moving my stuff since clearly he was not. We finally got the truck loaded and he left. I picked up and discarded the cigarette butts, drink containers, and empty cigarette pack they'd tossed on the driveway and lawn so the new owners wouldn't have to. Disgusting.


We didn't hear from the driver (fine with us!) until he got lost during the move. Then he called me repeatedly to get directions, despite my pointing out as I didn't live there yet I didn't know the area at all. Why he didn't get a GPS or call his company I have no idea. Our new road is winding so they planned to offload remotely and then drive in multiple trips in a smaller truck. Again, my husband and I are not living at the new house, are brand new to the area and don't know it at all. This time the driver called my husband repeatedly to ask where in the area of our new house he could park his truck to offload it and whether various spots were suitable for him to get in and out in his giant truck. As though my husband (who is not a truck driver!) would have any idea.


The delivery was like the pickup but worse. This time the driver didn't use racial epithets for Latinos. That might sound like an improvement but instead he related to my husband how he thinks "The (racial epithet for African Americans) are okay". He expanded on this point, again, shockingly, using the same racial epithet and then went on to talk about how he thinks Donald Trump is great (sure, not appropriate conversation but he's certainly entitled to his opinion. Again, why he felt compelled to share it I have no idea). He went on to talk about how he killed someone breaking into his house when he "snapped their neck". Next he moved back to Mr. Trump and that he agreed to keep all those Muslim immigrants out since you can't trust them.


Of course, my husband is actually a Muslim immigrant so this moved the situation from horribly racist and offensive into frankly threatening. It wasn't helped by the other mover who discussed his love for guns and he thinks we should all be carrying them with us, especially in this area. But, finally, they left and we hoped we would never have to deal with Bekins again. No such luck. When we finally got everything sorted out it was clear we had extensive damage to our furniture and that many items were just gone, despite being checked off on the list by the scary driver.


This is the worst part. I know mistakes and errors happen even in the best company. That said, I think you can get a real sense of how good a company really is by how they handle it when they know something has gone wrong. This is where Bekins the company completely failed us. I added up my damaged and lost goods and came up with over $10,000. I documented all the values and the damage but Bekins basically said, "too bad." They sent some guy out to "document" the damage and estimate repairs. I do not understand how he thought he could evaluate damage when he never got within ten feet of the pieces of furniture and only looked from one side as our items all had damage on multiple sides. Maybe his goal for the repair was to look good enough from more than ten feet away? I have no idea. I've included a photo of just one of the damaged items - this is a headboard that had deep scratches like this on front AND back plus dents and scrapes on the edges. I have no idea what they did to damage all the sides - and I have multiple pieces that look like this.


The final insult from Bekins came when they offered me less than 25% in compensation and said it was my fault for not stopping the move when things were going badly and not realizing the driver had stolen (oops, I mean misplaced) my items despite his documenting them as all delivered on the paperwork. Sure, he "misplaced" an extension ladder. Right. We'd reported to Bekins about the driver early on - it should have been so clear to them that this guy was a mess and either pulled him off or done something to protect us. Instead, when the predictable damage and losses were identified Bekins denied it and said it was our fault. They suggested when the driver was inappropriate and incompetent we should have said "wait, nasty bigoted scary man! You aren't doing a good job! Let me call the corporate Bekins office several thousand miles away to have instructions on how to deal with this." Nice. This is a man who talked about carrying guns with him and killing people. And I'm supposed to do what? Unreal. Further, when I pointed out to our Bekins representative that there is no cell phone service at the property he said we still should have called (I guess using our magical phones).


Later the driver admitted to falsifying the paperwork but Bekins still didn't care and said the problems (oh, I mean the "challenges" - that's what Bekins will call having a racist driver who steals and damages your belongings) with the move were our problem, not theirs.


I have asked my Bekins representative at least four times to let me know how Bekins has dealt with the behavior of the driver, including stealing items, damaging property, falsifying paperwork, and using bigoted and racist language. Our representative would just say he'd "look into it" but as far as I can tell no actions were ever taken, leaving me with the conclusion Bekins has no trouble with any of their employees actions or racist behavior. Not a company I want to support!


Because of the lousy service my corporation has dropped them as a preferred moving service. Stay far, far away from Bekins. If there is ANYTHING that goes wrong, they will abandon you and there will be nothing you can do about it.

Service cost: $12000

I moved from WA state to Ohio ($29,000). Half the crew didn't show and I had to leave the day before they even finished as I had prepaid all my hotel reservations. The overflow delivery was 3 weeks later. Several expensive antiques were damaged. I documented and took pictures of broken/shattered items. I did not receive any reimbursement on 'high value' stickers boxes as there is a disclaimer which reads, "all items containing the contents listed above have been opened and I certify and acknowledge receipt of the above items .. and arrived safely in same condition as at origin." WHAT A SCAM! I would never recommend this company. Totally disgusted with their ripoff tactics. My $4400 claim resulted in a $1293 reimbursement.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $28000

If you would like to pay someone to steal your valuables, hire Bekins. We hired them to move our household items from California to Ohio. The price was competitive, but it turns out they make up for it by stealing your valuables. They delivered our things to a storage facility where it sat for at least a week before they reloaded it onto another truck before actually transporting to Ohio. Our boxes were probably stored in a damp facility because some of the boxes were damp upon arrival. Our stuff was delivered almost 2 weeks late and several boxes appeared to have been damaged and/or opened and resealed with their tape. A couple of large furniture were damaged and several valuables were missing, including a digital video camera, two Nikon binoculars, and other computer peripherals. They claimed that the boxes were already damaged when they picked them up at the storage facility, blaming the other guys. Ultimately, no one would claim responsibility for the damaged and stolen items. DO NOT USE BEKINS! I would give them negative stars if that was possible.

Service cost: $1000

I received an advertisement in my department mailbox for Bekins Physician Relocation Program.  I contacted the company and soon heard (by text message)  from one of their salesmen, Trevor.  I made an appointment for Trevor to visit my home in order to provide an estimate.  We discussed times that worked best with my schedule and despite this, Trevor insisted on coming at a time that was more convenient for him, making it necessary for me to leave work early to meet with him.  He looked around, asked a few questions and told me that I would hear from an office representative Anna Gannas in several days.  One week went by and I didn't hear from her.  I contacted her and left a voicemail on her direct line.  Another week went by and still no response from Anna Gannas.  I called again and left another message.  When another week went by and I still hadn't heard from her, I contacted Trevor.  His response.."Hmmm, let me look into it."  That was a month ago and still no response from either of them.  This is a very unprofessional company and I wouldn't recommend them at all.  The moving cost of $1.00 above was only entered because I had to enter a dollar value for the review to post.  Since neither the salesman who came to my home or the office representative ever contacted me with their quote, I could not provide that information.  All information in this review is otherwise true.

Service cost: $1000

Josef Schober, our salesman appeared honest, more than the other salesmen we met. So we contracted at a high moving price with him after two or three meetings. During all these meetings he never once told us that an entirely different moving company would pick up our belongings. He simply omitted this very important fact. We thought we contracted with Bekins, a fairly well reputed  company. On our moving day we had a bad surprise! Wheaton Movers showed up, with a long. long list a bad reviews on the internet. The worst, in fact. It turned out that Wheaton and Bekins had merged, a fact that was never told to us. The Wheaton truck was owned by a guy from Trinidad. The truck had 9 (NINE) doors. Other people had reported that Wheaton had stolen much of their belongings, or broken them. I don't know if it was the same truck. but a red light went on. I went immediately to Home Depot and bought my own locks, the strongest I could find and put them on the doors, when the loading was finally finished after two days. The owner objected very strongly to my keeping the keys to the doors, but I did, despite the objections. A chain saw would hav been needed to open these locks. I oversaw al lthe loading and made sure that items were shrink-wrapped and/or blanketed properly, despite their protests. It is due to these precautions that our belongings arrived here intact and nothing was missing. I caution everyone strongly about Bekins and/or Weaton, furthermore the salesman made many mistakes in our furniture count etc, and had to come back three times to make the corrections, or would have overcharged us.      .

Service cost: $15

I was impressed by the salesman and the fact that the franchise with which I was dealing had offices in the DC area and Sarasota, FL.  The packers showed up on time and did an excellent job loading our belongings. The excellent service stopped there. Communication was non existent, and despite the fact that they had several weeks notice, I believe that they made no attempt to schedule the long distance haul until they actually had our stuff on the truck. As a result, I write this on a lawn chair in an empty house in Florida, my delivery promised seven days late!  Although I have finally established communication with Bekins customer service department, they appear helpless. It seems when you move interstate  you are at the mercy of the truck drivers and the company has no idea what is happening. It is no fun living in an empty house with a diabetic dog and two cats. Thank goodness my wife packed food for them and some essentials for us in the car in which we drove down.  I have no advice for readers except prepare for the worst!

Service cost: $8800

We used Bekins Moving & Storage [Van Lines], associated with Wheaton Moving Company, for a small move from Arizona to Illinois.  The representative was experienced and knowledgeable and gave a reasonable quote.  The moving personnel handled our items with care and worked quickly.  A painting was boxed for very little extra cost (about $25)  The mattress was put in a carton.  The delivery was within the time frame (earlier than expected) and they put all the boxes in all the different rooms for us. The washer and dryer were handled with care, as was everything else.   I didn't have to worry about being overcharged or having our items held "hostage" because we paid with a credit card.  We paid a little less than we were quoted. Would highly recommend Bekins for a worry-free move!

Service cost: $1500

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE company. Crew arrived 2 hours late. Stated they were stopped by the CHP. Movers looked like they were picked up at the local Home Depot. Dressed in dirty clothes looked they had slept in. They were supposed to shrink wrap all upholstered furniture. First thing I had to stop them as they started loading my chairs with no protection. Finally ran out of shrink wrap because they were using it on appliances instead of upholstered items. Ruined a $2,000 area rug as it was all rippled when unloaded. After filing a claim it took 3 months to get a response and then refused to take responsibility even though we had purchased additional insurance. I would never use this company and would never recommend them to anyone. You can be sure I tell all of our friends who are moving of our experience.

Service cost: $3417

Let me begin by saying the movers/drivers were professional and did a great job!  I commend them for working so hard in the 105 degree Phoenix heat. 
The bad news however is that I had a horrible time dealing with a last minute price increase due to *extra* labor costs on a Do Not Exceed quote.  Bekins tried adding a $500 charge for a local carrier truck since the semi could not get into our cul de sac. When I refused based on the quote the sales rep provided to me they said they would only charge $250 but the movers would carry everything up the street manually rather then getting a shuttle.  I was told however that the charge would try and be waived due to the quote stating Do Not Exceed. 
I played a constant game of talking to my sales rep, the local dispatch office in Tucson and corporate in Indy.  
After one month of going back and forth, getting an invoice that didn't even add up to what they had been telling me I was being charged for I finally got a partial refund on my $250 up charge. 
It is too bad that the folks at Bekins who sit behind their desks can't work as professionally as those who do all the heavy lifting and driving across country.

Service cost: $5000