Budget Van Lines

The good - My carrier, Sky Van Lines, was very professional and did a great job preparing my goods for moving, and loading them into the truck. (I haven't gotten delivery yet so can't comment on that part.)

The bad - almost nothing went as the Budget person (who was very nice) had told me it would. When I reserved, about 5 days before the start of the 3-day window he said I had to have, he told me I would hear the next day which day the movers would come. I heard nothing. So, two days later, I called and was informed that I would only get 24 hours' notice! This made my schedule-juggling very difficult. If I had known from the outset that I would only get 24 hours' notice, I might not have chosen Budget.

Then I was waiting all day Friday, figuring that if the movers were going to come on Sat. (day 1 of my 3-day pickup window), they would call on Friday to give me the 24 hours' notice. No call. By the end of the day I figured, "OK, then it'll be Sunday or Monday." Then at 7:30 pm I got a call from the drivers asking me if they could come in an hour!! (I said No - there was no way I could be ready then, and that day wasn't even in my 3-day window!) They then said they would come Sat afternoon - so, I got less than 24 hours' notice.

Then when they came, the "shuttle truck" they brought, while still smaller than an 18-wheeler, was much too large for my road. The Budget rep had told me I wouldn't be charged for a shuttle, but I was. Then the movers told me they couldn't take things in contractor bags, everything had to be in boxes - "Weren't you told?" No, I hadn't been. My Budget rep had told me I could select what insurance I wanted on the day of the move - yet, all the carriers offered me was the standard 60 cents a pound. And worst of all, my Budget rep had told me I would be charged by the actual weight of my items (and told me this was a better way to go), but the movers told me that with the smaller truck, I would be charged for the cubic feet, not by weight. I protested, and they said "OK, we'll do it by weight" - but then rather than weighing the truck, they simply used a conversion formula (1 cubic foot - 7 pounds) and "charged me by weight" that way (which of course was not by weight at all.)

To their credit, when I complained, Budget said they would refund me the shuttle charge, and would make sure the truck actually gets weighed. Waiting to see if that will happen. Overall, this was not the worst moving experience, since the movers themselves (Sky Van Lines) really were good. But the problem was definitely with Budget as middleman.

Service cost: $2200

I used Budget Van Lines to move my things from Atlanta, GA to Oakland, California. Budget Van Lines is a moving broker which means that they contract the work and don't have any control over the company that they use. This was quite evident because I called Budget many times about the problems I had with the moving company and they were not able to get in touch with the company nor were they able to help me. Using Budget was a waste of time and unnecessary the next time I will use an actual moving company that doesn't contract to other companies. Budget Van Lines contracted the job to Promovers, Inc and they further contracted the job to another company. From the very beginning I felt like I was being hustled by Promovers, Inc. My items were picked up on 1/20/2017 and delivered on 2/11/2017. During pickup the mover was trying to collect more money from my sister, after several attempts to get more money my sister told him if the price is going to be more, he could stop and we would cancel the service. He called his boss and they agreed with the original price (or so I thought). After they packed my stuff and started the moving process I had to call several times to get a timeline of when my stuff would arrive in Oakland. I was never able to get a timeline but was just told it could take up to 21 days, I later found out that it was 21 business days. It took the entire time for the move. After hearing nothing about a drop off date, Thursday, 2/9/2017 I finally received a call from, Alek, the delivery driver saying he would deliver my items after 11am the next day, Friday 2/10/2017. He also said that I owed $710.00. I told him that I did not owe $710.00 I owed $535.00 because my total price was $1610.00 and it was split into 3 payments. Alek became very rude and said "If you don't have the money you will not get your stuff." He and I went back and forth for a few seconds about the correct price and then I told him let's just agree to disagree and that I will call Budget Van Lines to sort it out. I immediately called BVL relating the problem to them. The Customer Service representative placed me on hold to call Promovers, Inc. but she did not get in touch with anyone so she sent them an email and told me that either she will or the moving company will call to see why the price had increased. No one called me back so I called BVL back on 2/10/17 Friday morning about 7am PST; I wanted to have everything fixed before the driver arrived. I went back and forth with BVL and Promovers trying to find out why the price had increased and no one had told me. After several conversations I was finally told that I took up more cubic feet in the truck and I had more things than I had told them. So the company had increased the price without ever informing me. I stayed home all day Friday waiting on Alek to deliver my furniture. I didn't hear from him and decided to call him at 3pm PST. He told me that he was on his way to Fresno CA and asked what's the latest he can come to drop off my furniture since he and I had been in conflict with each other. I told him he could come to deliver my furniture until about 10-11pm . He told me to call him back around 8-9 pm to see where he was. When I called him back at 8 pm, he told me he was not going to make it and he would deliver to me in the morning between 9-11 am. I told him that was not going to work because I had to work from 7am-7:30pm the next day and that I'd already taken off to be at home all day Friday to wait for him. I also reminded him that he said he had to give me a 24 hour notice before delivery and that telling me at 8 pm that you'd deliver the next morning between 9-11 is not a 24 hour notice. He told that I had better have someone at the house for the delivery or he would put my stuff in storage and I'd have to pay extra money. The next day my sister called to speak with Alek about the delivery time. He was very rude with her and told her that he is not a cable man and that I needed to be there when he gets there and that the only way he would wait for me is if I paid him $1,000. After several attempts to call Promovers, Inc. and getting no answer, my sister was able to get the personal cell number of the operations manager and called and left a message. After calling a second time several hours later and leaving another message the operations manager finally called her back. The operations manager told her that they had contracted the job to another company and that the driver did not work for them so basically they had no control over the driver. The operations manager was finally able to reach an agreement with the driver on a delivery between 6-6:30pm. I had one of my friends meet the delivery driver at my apartment since I didn't get off until 7:30 pm(nursing). The driver called and changed the delivery time to 7-7:30 but arrived at 7:45 and sent me a text saying "step out." I told him my friend was there but he said he would not move anything off the truck until he had his money first. I arrived at my apartment about 10-15 minutes after he did. I was very skeptical about paying for services beforehand but the operation manager told me to just pay him because he will not use him again. Side note: the driver was not only rude but constantly lied to the operations manager. He told him that he arrived at my apartment at 6:30pm but I had a text to prove him wrong. The driver came into my apartment 2 times asking where I wanted my things. I paid him and he started staging things in the lobby. I was waiting in my apartment for him to begin moving my furniture in but realized that it was taking him a long time to come. I decided to go out to see what was going on. The driver had just put everything in the lobby of my apartment and told me that I was going to have to move my things into my apartment myself because from the street to the lobby was 75 feet and that's as far as he had to go although my apartment is on the first floor and very close to the lobby. He said if he went further he'd charge me an additional $140. I asked him why didn't he say something before and why did he come into my apartment 2 times to find out where to put my furniture if he knew he wasn't going to move the furniture in. I also asked him why he hadn't told me that he was only going to put the furniture into the lobby and not move it into my apartment. He didn't have an answer. He was very angry and rude and this was just his way of getting back at me. I had to move the furniture into my apartment myself. Basically I paid for a service that I did not receive. In the end my advice to you is do not use a moving broker like Budget Van Lines, do not use Promovers, Inc., make sure that you have a company come out, look at what you have to move and give you a firm price based on that in a contract, and read all of the details in the contract. This has been a very costly and inconvenient lesson that I've had to learn.

Service cost: $1750

We booked a move for a 1-bedroom apartment from Searcy, AR to Reno, NV including loaders and unloaders. We booked the service and paid our deposit in early November. We chose the 3-day pickup window to be December 17 – 19. On December 15, we received a call, which we assumed would be notification of the delivery date for the trailer. Rather, it was Budget informing us that they couldn’t find someone to pick up our load and that they didn’t think they could get someone there anytime that week. We were shocked that they would do something so unprofessional, especially when we had booked the move well in advance. I would never use or recommend Budget Van Lines!!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1725

I moved from VA to NV and decided to used Budget Van Lines. This is my first time to contact a moving company bcoz I have never moved this far. I spoked with agent Ryan and told him all the stuff I needed to move and he said I would only need 4 feet of space. Ryan explained to me that the truck will come to my apartment and I have 3 business days to load my stuff and 3 business days to unload. The truck came and Budget carrier was Estes SureMove. This carrier was so reliable bcoz they came on time and left on time. The agent said that it will take 6-8 business days to arrive in NV. The Budget customer service agent Dolores McBride was the most helpful person bcoz not only she explained the details on how to load my stuff, she even sent me pictures on how to properly measure the space i'm using. Thank you so much Dolores. Another Budget customer service agent Nate Kenny was also helpful in making the shedule so I can unload my stuff from the truck. The truck arrived in 7 business days. All my stuff came without any damage and I was so pleased. I will definitely recommend Budget Van Lines if you're thinking of moving.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $1236

We contracted with Budget Van Lines in January 2018 to move some household goods from Maryland to Oklahoma. Vikki at Budget made it clear that they would subcontract the job, and also explained that the cost would be determined by weight. She told us the movers would weigh their truck and then weigh it again after loading. We sent Vikki a list of the goods, and she gave us an estimate of the weight. She explained the estimate was high, and that we would get a refund if the actual weight turned out to be less than the estimate.
Based on this advice we packed the load, mostly boxes of clothing and household goods, in a lot of boxes, keeping the box weights low, to facilitate easy handling. A local moving company, contracted by Puma, arrived on January 17 to load the goods. The driver assured me they had just weighed the truck. After loading the goods the driver and helpers commented that the boxes were light and load was light, and we would likely get a refund. The driver also assured us they were going to weigh the truck again on their way back to Laurel MD where the load would be transferred to a large truck. They had me sign a sheaf of papers, without explaining any of it. I asked for copies and they said they would be sent to us.
Between the 17th and the 25th I called Puma Van Lines twice to ask about the load weight. Both times I was told the person I needed to speak with was busy, but would call me back soon. To date they have never done so. We told the person receiving the goods in Oklahoma to be sure to check the load upon arrival, and to be sure to get the load weight from the driver. When she asked for it the driver told her he did not have the weight, and he told her the charge was based on cubic footage, not weight. And of course the amount we were charged was the maximum weight estimate from Vikki at Budget, no refund, or even discussion of one.
Quite obviously, this whole thing was a scam. I spoke with Kelsie at Budget, who told me that I must have signed a paper changing the load from weight-based to cubic footage. Since I never was told what I was signing, nor received the paper copies, I cannot confirm this. Kelsie at Budget told me she would check with Puma about the switch in computing the charge, and call me back. She never has done so, and it has been more than 2 weeks now.
There probably is no legal recourse to the well-played scam by Puma and abetted by Budget. All that I can do now is tell our experiences to everyone we know, and to never contract with either company again. Vikki at Budget touted their reputation for honesty and had me look on-line for verification. That may be true, as far as it goes, but they didn’t support us when we told them about how this scam was played out by Puma. “We just contract with them” I was told, and there was nothing they could do about. If you are considering contracting with either company, we urge you to exercise extreme caution. While their behavior may be technically legal, it is most definitely unethical and a scam.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $2361

On a whim, I decided to try Budget Van Lines. I input my information based on a promise of an immediate quote. As they say, if the service is free, then I'm the product, so I reasonably expected them to re-sell my information. Here is the catch - after giving them my information, the immediate quote may as well have been zero to infinity. Then, predictably, the first of many calls and text messages starting hitting my phone. Each company wanted detailed information, and each request an on-site visit by an estimator. Ask yourself - are you going to let some random company load up the contents of your house, and just drive off? Obviously not - you are going to have to vet each of these companies - check reviews, reputation, BBB, etc. I could easily spend time on Google finding these small movers, vetting them, and soliciting quotes for 2-3 of them. I don't need a broker selling leads for $3 to every mover in the country. Waste of time for me, and a waste of money for their clients (the movers). Avoid these people, just do your own search.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $111

All the things you will read in the reviews here are true:
They are a broker- they do NOT have control over the truck holding your life's possessions.

Everything will go well at first-bc the folks in the Las Vegas office are pretty good- we got great service from Shirleen & help from Dolores.

However- they cannot tell you when the truck will ARRIVE because they have limited contact with the truck. Here in OR, we actually talked to the terminal where they told us, yes, they had our stuff, 10 miles from us, and had drivers but needed the OK from Virginia Virginia told us they needed the OK from NV. Where ever the "delivery rep" was calling us from called us Friday night and said it would be Tues. Which was a bummer bc OUR MOVERS were scheduled for Monday.
And could not reschedule. SO we had to rely on last minute, extra expensive, bad, movers.
Thanks Budget. Never again.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2300

The representative I first dealt with was very personable and friendly. After my things were picked up by the movers they hired, I could not get the same person on the phone again, nor would he answer my email requests. I was promised my furniture would be wrapped and padded. That was not the case. Only two pieces were wrapped and I had to pay an extra $75 for that service. All my other wooden pieces were damaged, scratched and gouged badly. Both of my electric fans were broken. I have yet to receive the certified weight slips, either. I highly doubt the weight for which I was charged and no one at the moving company or Budget Van Lines cares. I feel I was mislead and disrespected once my money was all paid. Next time I move, I'll either sell or burn whatever I can't transport myself. That will save me the aggravation and cost of using a mover.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $2138

This company bills itself as a moving company, but in reality they do nothing for their money. It was all left to us. We made arrangements with the carrier when our stuff sat for 14 days. We spoke with the driver to find you where it was. Shampal Lang, the customer service rep. Never initiated a single call to us, not one. Every effort was by us. So do not be fooled into thinking these people are anything other than a scam. If you get a call fro Shampal at 702-472-8931 hang up an call a real moving company, anyone is better, ANYONE.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4000