Canadian National Van Lines

I had a similar experience to some of the other users with damage and an extremely low payout. They offer $.60 per pound for damage of the contents, but what isn’t explained is that it is per piece, so if you have a $3000 piece of furniture they outright damage or destroy, that weighs 60lbs, you get a paltry $36.

They were 6 weeks to get my belongings across the country after telling me it would be about 3 weeks. They lost pieces of my patio set and that took and additional 6 weeks to get. They took 8 weeks to process my damage claim and came back with $55 for about $10k worth of damages.

Ellie constantly referred to their coverage, but that doesn’t help the fact the movers take zero care when handling your belongings. I witnessed our custom table being drug along the floor of the trailer. I yelled for the guy to stop and lift it, but he just responded with “no English”. I feel that a word like stop should be understood from a safety stand point.

Either way, my experience was painful and while I am aware that most companies don’t have a shining reputation, I would hunt for another one when looking for a cross country mover.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7500

We moved from Calgary AB to Fredericton NB in June 2019 and we hired Canadian National Van Lines for the long distance move. Fearing our items would be damaged or lost from the move, we already sold almost all of our furniture and were left with only the basics and must-haves, as we plan to buy new at our new destination, yet we still paid almost $8,000 for the move - see below for the possible reason of this price.

On moving day, movers arrived and they were fine. However, somewhere between the time these movers left our house to warehouses, loading on and off trucks, many of our stuff arrived broken. Boxes smashed and crushed. 3 out of the 4 dressers were broken, vacuum cleaner suction tube ripped, dial knob of pressure washer came off, side of queen mattress completely ripped open despite we used 4mm storage bag as protection, (you can imagine how your stuff were thrown and tossed like garbage!), lamp shade cracked, so on so forth .. We for sure filed a complaint with CNVL as all damages added up to approximately $1,100. After almost 2 months, we were told that as a courtesy, they would refund us $50, as we were advised of the $0.60 per pound per article insurance policy. Courtney of CNVL who dealt with us, could have mentioned this or even this policy was embedded somewhere in the fine print, but seriously, damages like these caused by a supposedly reputable and reliable BBB-rated A+ moving company is simply UNACCEPTABLE! The $50 offer was an insult of which we declined.

Other than the unacceptable handling of our stuff, after paying the $8,000, we also never got a receipt, e-transfer records from my phone were the only records of payment. We were also never told nor there were any proof of what the actual weight of our stuff was! When asked, Courtney just said our actual load was "within the estimate" so everything was good. All they used to calculate how much they'd charge was from an "estimate form". They emailed us the form prior to the move and we filled out the form "the best we can" and they'll ESTIMATE how much the move will weigh as well as how much space it will take up. This estimate form is useful but god knows this is also how they'll charge you, even when this form is nowhere near being comprehensive!! They warn you to better over-estimate as if the actual load is heavier than the estimated, not only you'll be surcharged but they also have the right to refuse the move due to insufficient space reserved! Therefore, the reality is that we made sure everything was accounted for and plus some just to be safe and we ended up paying the estimated amount even when the actual load was wayyyy lower?! But who knows? as they won't tell you the actual weight!! Such ethics!! This estimate form is nowhere near comprehensive coz not only many items were not included on this form, for many items that were on the form, the form does not specify details such as the size and material. e.g. the form says "shelf" - how many tiers are these shelves? Are they made of plastic or industrial super heavy metal frame?? What if the form uses metal as calculation while ours are only plastic? Using such a form to determine how much you pay and NOT the actual weight is a SCAM!!

Last but not least, when the stuff arrived at our destination, even all boxes were labelled UP or DOWN, movers said they were too busy and wouldn't have time to deliver boxes to any where other than the living room / kitchen, even we have a bi-level home, where you either go up or go down the stairs right after you enter the house. It's the same distance going UP or DOWN. Boxes were piled up in the living room and kitchen where by the time they left, we couldn't open the fridge.

A picture says a thousand words, photos of some of the damages uploaded here - https://www.flickr.com/gp/185046174@N06/4U0250.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000

We moved with this company twice. The first time was great. The second time was awful. They almost forgot to come pack and pick our items up on our move day. If I had not called to re-confirm the day before they would not have shown up. Will try to manipulate you into paying with a credit card so they can get the 3% processing fee. When I called my bank to confirm what they were saying about my payment options they said CNVL was incorrect, but CNVL continued to argue with me. Two days before delivery they called to tell me they didn't have a truck in the area so had to delay by 2 days and left us scrambling for 2 additional nights in a hotel. The day before my delivery they added another surprise $650 onto our bill for "steps" which apparently they say is a cost buried in the fine print of the contract. They do not believe it is their responsiblity to educate their customers on all costs or ask questions in advance to make sure they have all info needed for giving an accurate cost. Then they will argue with you how wonderful they are with customer service. Never again will I use them.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $12500

We moved with this company twice. The first time was great. The second time was a complete nightmare.
1. They almost forgot to come pack and pick our items up on our move day. If I had not called to re-confirm the day before they would not have shown up.
2. Will try to manipulate you into paying with a credit card so they can get the 3% processing fee. When I called my bank to confirm what they were saying about my payment options they said CNVL was incorrect. But Courtney at CNVL continued to argue with me in order to get the addition ~$300 they would have gotten in credit card processing (and I am sure they are paying a fraction of that to the credit card company and pocketing the rest, I have worked on several of these deals with credit card companies on behalf of my company in the past so I know how this works)
3. Two days before delivery they called to tell me they didn't have a truck in the area so had to delay by 2 days and left us scrambling for 2 additional nights in a hotel.
4. The day before my delivery they added another surprise $650 onto our bill for "steps" which apparently they say is a cost buried in the fine print of the contract. They do not believe it is their responsibility to educate their customers on all costs or ask questions in advance to make sure they have all the info needed for giving an accurate cost.
5. On the day of delivery, they tried to charge an additional $850 because they miscalculated the number of steps the day before. We were so mad at this point we had them leave our stuff on the sidewalk and didn't pay them the additional $650 or $850. My hubby is a champ doing it all himself because they are a scam of a company.

Then they will argue with you how wonderful they are with customer service. It's pretty hysterical to listen to Courtney talk about how wonderful of a customer service agent she is when she can't communicate the basics of pricing to her customers. They appear to be competitively priced, but in the end, they are not for all the insane "fine print" items they do their best to keep you from discovering until it is too late.

Never again will I be a victim of theirs and I recommend that you are not either.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $12500

This company lied to me directly and repeatedly, and tried to overcharge me by thousands of dollars.

I hired Canadian National Van Lines to move my belongings from Vancouver to Ottawa. The company tried to fraudulently overcharge me by roughly $2,400 (charging me over $6,000 on a move that should have cost less than $4,000). They did this through various lies and deceptive practices. It's clear that these lies are part of the company's regular business operations. As a separate matter, the company also damaged or destroyed many of my belongings, for which I am pursuing a resolution through civil litigation. The first way they tried to over charge me by roughly $2,050 was by claiming that my belonging weighed roughly %50 more than their initial estimate, 6,000 lbs instead of 4,000 lbs. They did not provide any evidence for this, but expected me to pay an extra $2,050 for the extra weight.

The truck that showed up to pack my things was already half full of other people's belongings, so I was suspicious about how they weighed only my items. I asked for a weigh receipt indicating the weight of my belongings and confirmation that they had some way to separate the weight of my items from everyone else's. They changed their story on me several times, and after about 25 emails back and forth, they suddenly "realized" that my belongings actually came in under the estimated weight. Still, with no weigh receipt (which they are required to provide in most provinces). Clearly they had never weighed anything.

The next dirty trick was an "error" in the sum total I owed. There were charges for packing, shipping, storage, a stair fee and taxes. Yet somehow, when all these items were added together, the total they listed was about $190 more than that actual, mathematical total of the # listed. I confronted them about this, and it still took several emails for them to list the correct addition. They kept just dismissing the fact that they were outright trying to deceive me.

Finally, after all this, I became suspicious of every line in the bill, so on a hunch, I checked that they applied the correct tax rate. Of course they had over charged me on that too, by about $75. I asked them several times, what percentage rate they used for calculating the tax, and if they were using a different province's sales tax. They either refused to answer, or were as vague as possible. Finally, after many more emails back and forth, they corrected their "mistake". By this point, I had exchanged over 90 emails with the company, just to get them to charge me the honest amount we had agreed to.

Of course, many of my items arrived damaged or destroyed. They caused several thousand dollars worth of damage to my stuff, through objectively negligent packing and handling. I made a claim for about $1,300. After ignoring me, or telling me I had never actually made a claim (actually) for 6 months, they offered me $50. I am currently pursuing them in civil court on this matter.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4220

Avoid this company at all costs! Check out reviews at mymovingreviews.com (not their site which is nothing but positive) and see that over 85% of reviews have to deal with lost and damaged furniture and the "GENEROUS" $40-$50 compensation offered.Check with BBB Edmonton and Service Alberta as well.

Make sure you have additional insurance and make sure you get a weight cost from a 3rd party. CNVL gives estimates and does not confirm actual weight. SCAM! Better still, get a different company!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4500

Let me begin by saying, I am very disappointed in the service, or better yet lack thereof, of this company. Take it from me who have had a most recent experience with them. They did not stand by their promise and commitment of care, service to their customers or attention to detail as they claim. My boxes were mostly broken. I had multiple items with scratches and dents. My brand new bed set had so many scratches and dent on it, it was heartbreaking. As you will see by the photos, my items were not wrapped properly for transportation. They were not handled with any care or finess by the movers; instead they seem to have been thrown around.

This is a summary of my sad reality and experience with this company:

-Delivery men unprofessional in attire, discourteous, and outright disrespectful of my property, the apartment I was renting and me. Dressed in sandals and broken down shoes with an undesirable body odour.

-Missing item that I am being told will not be replaced since the deductible value is more than the cost of the item based on weight. Interesting!

-Multiple broken items

-Non-functional microwave with a missing leg and inner plate. Also told it cannot be replaced because its value is less than the deductible.

-Offered less than the value of any single item damaged or lost as compensation.

Now, the choice is ultimately yours. A word to the wise is sufficient. Personally, I will never use this company again or refer them to anyone- not even my worst enemy.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $900

I used Canadian National Van Lines to move across provinces and ended up paying hundreds of dollars in hidden fees that I was not told about (not over the phone, not in writing) prior to receiving my bill. For example, their quote stated "Service Quote Includes: Door-to-Door Loading and Off Loading Services and Labour Included", however, I was charged an extra $150 because they brought my boxes up stairs to my second floor apartment. An employee had called me the day prior to say my delivery was arriving, and had asked for a description of my home. At this point, I told them it was the second floor. They asked if there were stairs and how many. They did not tell me that they were asking this detail in order to charge me a fee. I was not told about this fee until after they had brought the boxes up and I given my bill, otherwise, I would have certainly declined and brought the boxes upstairs myself. They have refused to refund the fee. Other fees were also charged that I was not told about in time to decline or choose a different moving company (e.g., $150 because they had to park their 18-wheeler 150 meters from my front door, and other smaller fees).

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $1295

This is a continuation to my last review (you'll find it above).

I first needed to dispute their service within the company (BBB would not allow the complaint until I first disputed within the company). So, I submitted a claim form that the company had asked me to complete. I also provided clear photos of each item.

I was given 6-12 weeks for the office to complete the form. At 16 weeks I had not heard from the company, so I reminded them. The company immediately returned the claim form, but more than half of the items I had claimed were missing. I tried to dispute with the company, but the employee continued to ignore my questions and refused to provide me with their weight calculations and references.

He also would not pass the dispute onto another stage

Or to another employee since he had been the one to sign off on their claim. I feel to remove bias, I should have been dealing with a different employee. It was just email back and forth, with him ignoring every question.

I am now having to proceed further.

BUYERS BEWARE -.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2500

Absolutely the worst moving company going. They say they charge per pound yet they don't weigh your items or provide you proof. They then over charge you.

But it gets worse, when they arrive at your destination they make up more fictional charges. And will not off load your items until you pay them more money.

But they are not holding your stuff hostage, because if you don't pay the extra fake charges, you can always choose to have your items off loaded and left by the side of the highway.

These people are criminals, stay far far away from their services.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000

We moved from BC to MB. On our way they informed us that they under charged us and blamed it in " new staff"?They never sent us the government weigh bill with the new weight, it went from 8500 to 14000 lbs? Funny the truck that picked up our things only had a max weight of 10000 lbs and it wasn't full either then i asked the mover if we were over 10000 and he said no? When the truck arrived the damage we incredible 10 g in damages or stolen items, boxes crushed or upsides down. I was told you have 10 days to go through your things to make a claim. I asked for a claim form and it was so small u couldn't even write in the column. They said 8 to 10 weeks before a decision but i called a lawyer as well to deal with it.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $9500

The move took well over a month from pickup to final delivery. Boxes were obviously poorly stored for an extended period in Toronto and Edmonton and arrived in Grande Prairie in poor condition. Two boxes containing personal collectibles never arrived. I was able to itemize many of the missing items. However, CNVL offered $30 as compensation. Interesting to hear the same story with other customers. Definitely not recommend this company. Customer ends up paying for their negligence.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $2498

I had started my journey for moving from Edmonton to Scarborough, ON and searching moving company on google and started reading the reviews and found one good review for this company and finalized to go with this company. I have got very excellent and awesome service from whole team and they make my moving very smoothly. They are very careful about customer. All the crew members in Edmonton and Scarborough was excellent. I missed my one bag but they responded very quickly and delivered next day, the best part was I got a called on next day and the Reps was saying that she found my bag and someone will contact from delivery team to deliver you but that Reps was off on that day but she cares a lot of customers. Price was also awesome.

Finally I will say that they are awesome team from top to bottom and they really cares the customer. I will highly recommend the people to trust on this company and get moving services from this company, I have already given the contact number to some of my friends who were looking for movers.

Thanks and appreciated again

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1500

The Move: Victoria BC to Saint JohnNB

Date of Pick up: Aug 8

Date of Arrival: Sept 18

The Good: Phone staff were always reachable, polite and well spoken. The movers on both ends were great. Good people, hard-working and helpful.

All our stuff arrived. Nothing lost. A cabinet was dropped upon arrival, one box was very wet on the outside. Anything made of wood that we didn't wrap such as stools, table, were nicked, scraped, bruised etc.

The BAD:

We were led to believe early on that our things would arrive at the beginning of September. As we were driving across the country it was difficult to time the ETA of the moving truck. It sat in BC over a week before shipping out and it stayed in Toronto over 8 days. We would be given updates such as " your stuff will leave Toronto between Sept 9 and the 15th and it will take between 3 and 8 days to get there".

Stair Charge: Watch out for this. You are charged for the number of exterior stairs the movers have to climb. We were told $450 for the house in Saint John. Then it went up to $850 - we called and begged them to reduce that charge citing that the movers could enter the house via the garage and use interior stairs instead. They reduced the price to $550. On the pickup, the movers went up to the second floor to get our boxes and furniture. We expected the same at the destination - that they would bring boxes upstairs. The movers however, said they would only bring boxes to one central place on the main floor. That is not written in the contract and not once during our 'stair' discussion was it mentioned. We had dozens of boxes to get to the second floor. We are seniors and we weren't ready for that. This deliberate omission is just deceitful. We have a ground and main level and a second floor, but everything was brought into the living room. AND TO TOP IT OFF, THEY DID NOT USE THE STAIRS. The loading door was placed in front of the stairs and they laid down ramps to the top of the stairs so they pretty well walked into the house. We paid $550 extra for that.

It's very expensive and stressful. They get your money upfront and you just have to pray it works out. Terrible business.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $14000

The level of service from Canadian National Van Lines Company truly astonished me. Their online booking was quick and simple. Communication was stellar. On moving day, their team showed up prepared like clockwork. Everything was labelled properly and protected exceptionally well. Not a single scratch or scuff occurred either. I will absolutely recommend Canadian National Van Lines Company for anyone IN NEED OF QUICK AND METICULOUS MOVING SERVICES. Highly recommended.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4800

Great service. Canadian National Van Lines Company was INVALUABLE in facilitating my move in less budget. From creatively consolidating multiple shipments into one whole container load to providing extra packing materials pro, this team went above and beyond. Special thanks to Mr. Jami who hand-wrapped my beloved collection of vintage maps and graphics, arriving without a single crease after traveling halfway around the city! Canadian National Van Lines, Company truly embodies service, affordability and care.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4750

I chose to give Canadian National Van Lines Movers a try after reading so many positive reviews about them and realizing that I needed a speedy relocation for my second house. I knew I was in good hands the moment I spoke with Mr. John from Canadian National Van Lines Movers. Throughout this relocation, every person I talked with had outstanding communication and customer service abilities. I am quite grateful for the speedy response. To anyone who wants the job done correctly the first time, I heartily suggest them.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5000

Great service, My move involved a complex schedule with two locations Alberta city and BC city. Canadian National Van Lines Company, Team handled it flawlessly. They expertly coordinated the pick-up and drop-off of each item, ensuring everything arrived at the right place on time. Their communication was exceptional, keeping me informed every step of the way. Canadian National Van Lines Company unwavering teamwork and commitment to flawless execution made my complex move a resounding success.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4900