Bekins Van Lines

We were moving our 4 bedroom/ 3 bath from Wisconsin to Florida. We were quoted a guaranteed delivery date of a Monday We did not end up getting our belongings til the following Saturday.5 days LATER! I had flown into Floriday with my 2 kids with nothing but a baby bag and the clothes on our back. Bekins, offered to reimburse us 50% of what we spent to live for 5 days, we didn't have the extra money to buy everything we needed. I would never use Bekins again!! Do not use them, they lie and do not care!

Service cost: $7000

We chose Bekins as we were sold on their sales woman's insistence that our move would be safest with a company of national scale. To further safeguard ourselves, we paid for full insurance protection for our belongings. In reality, Bekins failed to deliver our belongings in the promised window - they were several days late. When the van arrived, we did not get professional movers but workers from a local labor ready office. The so-called movers had NO MOVING EXPERIENCE nor were they BACKGROUND checked. Furniture was not assembled properly, boxes were not left in the rooms they were marked for, furniture was damaged, walls were damaged, floors were damaged. Several boxes were NEVER DELIVERED. There were LOTS OF BROKEN ITEMS in the shipment. When we filed the claim, we were told that the additional insurance had NO IMPACT as boxes packed by ourselves were NOT COVERED (this was of course NEVER MENTIONED to us when we paid almost $1,000 for the additional insurance). In the end, we spent several months trying to get the company to pay for our damages. It was an unpleasant process where the claims adjuster in the end denied most of our claims for reasons that were totally made up (they claimed that we did not keep the boxes the damaged items arrived in when indeed we did). They also refused any responsibility for our lost items. May this be a warning to others who seek out a more expensive national moving company to protect themselves. In reality, Bekins used non-professionals to move our belongings. We were NOT at all protected.

Service cost: $7883

I contracted for Door to Door delivery, I specified that my move not go to storage.  I had a CONFIRMED 3 day window, I didn't hear from the driver and customer service said the driver had 2 moves and That my Move would go to Storage.. The pick-up personnel wrapped and covered my furniture.  When the furniture arrived, Everything was unwrapped, thrown around.  Everything ARRIVED SCRATCHED, DENTED AND DAMAGED.  I've called customer service to have an Insurance Adjuster come out to see in what condition my furniture is in. Customer service has brushed me off and has been rude. I would Never use Bekins again, Nor Recommend Bekins to anyone. Once they have your money, They do Not Care about the people that puts them in business.

Service cost: $2013

We moved across country from Texas to Washington DC. At the time of signing the contract, we were told we would find out the delivery date a couple days before the pick up date or at the latest the day of pick up.  Bekins said they had a 10 day window to deliver the items.  They delivered within that window but only gave us 4 days notice for delivery date.  We needed to reserve the loading dock at the apartment complex ahead of time. We found out late Tuesday of a Saturday delivery in DC.  They planned to deliver our items on a Saturday, busiest day for moving, the dock was already booked and not available for our move.  The earliest we could reserve the dock was Tuesday morning.  So Bekins had to store our stuff, but their warehouse doesn't accept deliveries on Saturday. So the stuff stayed on the truck until Monday. They off loaded our things on Monday, stored them overnight, then delivered them the next morning. They charged us an additional $836 for one night's storage and delivery. IF THEY HAD TOLD US OF THE DELIVERY DATE WHEN THEY PROMISED ORIGINALLY, we could have reserved the dock and would not have had to pay the additional $836.00.  After I complained about their procedure I was told that it was my responsibility to have the dock available to the movers for the full 10 day window..something that is impossible to do.
I'm very disappointed in the move with Bekins.  If I had known the outcome ahead of time, I would have gone with a different company.  BE CAREFUL ON CROSS COUNTRY MOVES,  get all the possible costs estimated ahead of time EVEN if they say it most likely will not happen, have them tell you ahead of time so you will know up front your possible total cost.

Service cost: $3853

Bekins/Wheaton Van Lines uses sub standard packing companies. In fact, two items were left on my lawn, one vanished and a small group of items were left in my former home. Even though they advertise daily loadings from New Jersey to Nevada (where I now live), Bekins/Wheaton refuses to go back and finish the job. Items were transported in two trucks which arrived at my Las Vegas residence over two weeks apart. The people in their claims department were extremely rude, completely unhelpful and never in a rush to return a phone call. The actual movers did a great job, but the other employees I dealt with were awful. If you are making a long distance move, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere!

Service cost: $13000

My advice is to choose another company for your move. From the start of our move in Maryland the driver was disorganized, unhelpful and the local guys contracted to help him kept telling us he didn't know what he was doing. Fast forward 7 days and on the other end in Palm Springs CA he showed up and promptly broke the glass front of a $5000 antique bookcase. As the rest of the furniture came off the truck the damage piled up. All 5 antique pieces had some damage. Local guys that did the heavy lifting said the truck was not packed properly, with some of the pieces not even wrapped. As with all business, it's in the people, and we were assigned someone that should not be doing this job. Sorry Bekins, but you have to be responsible for your people. A very bad unnerving experience. Beware.

Service cost: $13000

My nightmare is still on going. I started the move the Monday before thanksgiving. Was told that my load was small and would have to be combined with another. 2 Loads have come from California to where I now live yet my stuff was not on either van. It took 6 plus phone calls and begging to get them to return 1 phone call and tell me that they are not going to meet the December 15 last day window on their own darn contract.This company is so incompetent they can't even honor what they put in writing. The actual cost also ended up being way more than quoted. will never use them again.

Service cost: $3800

I hired Bekins in October 2017 to move me from CA to CO. I made the selection based on three estimates I got including Allied and United. Even though they were by far the most expensive of the three, the salesman that came to my house took his time going over what had to be moved which gave me gave me assurance that they would do the best job. There was two very important things I quizzed him about multiple times. One being if the move would be directly from my current house to my new house. I was told yes that it would. The other being the moving of my classic Triumph motorcycle without damage. I was assured that nothing would happen. I wanted a direct move because of all the horror stories I had read about what happens to house contents when they are transferred to a warehouse, they sit there, and then they’re reloaded again. I also have firsthand knowledge of what happens having worked in logistics for years. I was given assurances over and over on both accounts. When I asked what assurance I could have in addition to his word, I was told that I should buy the zero deductible insurance with full replacement, the delivery delay penalty, and increase the estimated value of the contents to cover the motorcycle. When I made my selection, I bit the bullet and paid the additional $500 to buy the additional coverage. So far so good right? WRONG! On the day before the move is scheduled I get an email informing me that they have not found a driver yet and they will be picking up the load and taking it to their warehouse until they can find a driver. I immediately start calling the sales rep who won’t pick up my calls or return my voice messages. I email the move coordinator and the sales rep stating my concern about the multiple handling that will be taking place and ask to increase the total value of the household to $45K and add an additional $15K just for the motorcycle. In addition, I filled out and submit an “Items of Extraordinary Value Inventory Form” for the motorcycle. While everything is being loaded I provide as much specific direction as I can to the foreman on the handling of the motorcycle and ask him to make sure that he helps when its being reloaded from the warehouse. First of all, even though I was given a 3 day delivery window, my load was delivered 15 days late and I think that happened only due to my constant bugging Bekins because I was living on a blowup mattress and two plastic crates. When the load was finally delivered, there were a number of items visibly damaged like crushed boxes, broken tables, ripped items etc. I was asked to sign a delivery acceptance for the motorcycle and told they couldn’t leave the it unless the document was signed. I did a visual inspection on the spot and signed the paperwork to spare more handling of the motorcycle. I contacted the move manager in IN about the damages and I was told I had 9 months to file a claim. Following that, I discovered additional damage, some of the shrink wrapped items were opened and items missing that were inside, and the worst of all, when I put gas back in the motorcycle and went to start it, it began dumping gas everywhere. I filed as complete and thorough a claim as I could, followed up on all the requests for additional information, estimates, etc. After that, the process has turned into a living nightmare. I was reimbursed for only some of the items with some of them at reduced costs (what happened to zero deductible full replacement?). Some of the items were not covered at all and I was told there was no proof they were shipped in the first place (essentially calling me liar) despite my explaining that these were items from the opened shrink wrapped packages. I went out of my way to locate an independent mechanic rather than going directly to a Triumph dealership which would not only charge an arm and a leg but would cost several hundred dollars in transport charges because the motorcycle is not rideable in its current condition. And despite me providing a statement of the potential damage and estimate from that mechanic for the motorcycle, I was told that there’s no proof the fuel leak was caused in the move (again calling me a liar), and that I took too long to file the claim (what happened to 9 months?), and that there was no proof the motorcycle worked when it was picked up (again calling me a liar), and that I didn’t provide any information the damage happened due to mishandling (LOL seriously?). I provided emails supporting everything I said, I was told, and took place, and my repeated and frantic protests to the last minute change in plans that the move wasn’t going to be picked up and delivered directly. Oh and also the claims management staff apparently doesn’t care a dissatisfied customer will be reviewing the company online in a negative light and costing the company many, many times more in lost revenue than the few hundred bucks to fix the problem.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4500

E hired Bekins based on their good faith estimate for our move. This estimate was given in our home after a thorough inspection of our possessions. Bekins sent 2 people to pack our 5 bedroom home, one of whom changed daily and was often their FIRST DAY ON THE JOB. THE PACKING WAS SHODDY AND THEY STAYED AT OUR HOME TILL 11PM the night before the move. STILL DID NOT REALLY COMPLETE THE JOB. The loaders and my family were still packing the morning the truck arrived.

Upon arrival at our new home we were told that the amount would be 40 PERCENT MORE and that we had to pay at least 10 percent of that ON THE SPOT or our items would not be unloaded. I contacted Bekins for weeks trying to resolve this financial dispute, and when I finally received a callback, they said since it is not a binding estimate we had to pay what they claimed we owed. I have spent months in dispute with them only to end up paying almost 30 percent more than quoted. DO NOT HIRE THIS COMPANY. THEY ENGAGE IN DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES AND YOU WILL HAVE NO RECOURSE OTHER THAN A LAWSUIT. Save yourself the hassle and lies and find a reputable mover.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $13000

We have done four major moves cross country in my lifetime we have used several large corporations with very little issue. This last move we chose BEKINS to move from Miami to Los Angeles. This is been the worst experience from start to finish. Not only were they not able to have enough room on one truck for all of our items, we had to wait for a second delivery truck to come a week later with our remaining belongings. During the course of the move several things were damaged including a spin bike, two floor lamps etc.. But the most alarming thing is I had over $24,000 worth of high-end watches and jewelry stolen from me. When I asked to have a list of all the names and contact information for the police report the moving company was not able to provide all the names of the people that were in my home. They allowed illegal Packers and movers in my home. It's very unsettling knowing that the people have not had background checks done and were able to steal my items without the company knowing who these people are without being able to track them. Total invasion of my privacy and security of my family. These people could probably come back at any given time to my home to rob or harm us. I made a police report and filed a claim with the moving company and all they want to do is settle for $445. This is absolutely ridiculous and it doesn't stop here! How can a major cooperation allow people into your home without credentials? Not acceptable. Not legal. Not ethical.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $24000