Canadian National Van Lines

NEVER AGAIN! Worst moving company. They low balled our first quote so we chose them. Then after we signed, our rate went up by 1100$. The guys arrived on our moving date and just seemed more concerned about how many boxes of theirs they could use to jack up our bill. We weren't aware we had to pack up our couch cushions etc. They dropped a few of our boxes but it wasn't until we got our things to calgary the extent of the damage. They broke our tv, speakers, boxes were crushed. We submitted a claim, it took 6 weeks and we are getting $35 for ALL of the things they broke.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2800

Last November ,we moved from Vancouver BC to Quebec city , The guys shown up and help us packed the garage and other stuff that we haven't pack up yet. As soon as our stuff was in the van and counted the number of boxes, they ve got me to sign on the list ..
I basically sign that everything happening to my stuff while "they" are handling it ,is at my own RISK .
Abigail Bain is the woman with dealt with. It took a month before we received our stuff. 3 Turkish guys dropped off our stuff . the boxes were all smashed ,everthing that was not solid metal was broken, cracked or scratched, from TVs to dishes, looks like all boxes that we wrote "fragile" on them were looking like they ve been kicked around by a professional soccer team, trust me.. Im NOT exaggerating .. They ve told us that it wasn't there fault, they were just the drivers and our stuff as been handled in a few hangers.. They ve politely told us ,looking a bit sorry for us too ,to fill up a claim and the company will take care of us .
It was very hard to deal with them. They were never there to answer and went they did they were misleading us to another person . Finally we did sent all the pictures and details on all the broken items to the right person " Ellie Newman" She came back with a 95$ to cover for all the damage they have done .. It is more around 19000$ worth of damage .
Our total bill for this moving nightmare ( 10000$ ).

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $10000

I paid for a move from BC to NS.

When the furniture arrived in NS, the boxes were damaged/dirty/distorted/holes, my furniture was dragged/scratched and they had written on my personal belongings with permanent marker!

And then to top it all off, their employee publicly urinated at the location!! Touching his private part and then proceeded to touch more furniture!! Disgusting!

When I tried to resolve issue with the company they would not help and only asked that I fill out a claim form.

AVOID THIS COMPANY

I have proceeded with a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. I am also pursuing court action.

What disgusting behaviour. Unprofessional company.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2200

Thieves , Rude , Liars you name it , the worst company I’ve ever dealt with. They literally Ruins my things , they agreed on a price and then put me in the corner 2 hours after the pickup and ended up paying double. They delivered my stuff missing and open boxes. Furniture is ruined . Tried to discuss with the driver he acted as a mad person and left my things at the garage as they needed extra money to drop off upstairs excusing that it’s more than 100 ft long. It’s a company run by a Gang. Avoid Avoid Avoid!!!

Move size: Studio Service cost: $1300

My move: from Vancouver to Calgary, during covid restrictions.

MOVERS: very rude and pushy about tips. Not attentive.

- The movers said they would be at our storage facility sometime between 10am – 4pm. This is a huge window for me to sit and wait at. Then, they don’t even show up until 4:45pm. I had to phone them multiple times to see if they were still coming and they were rude each time saying they already told me they were coming. Not once did they give me any more of a specific time frame to expect them.

- Tried to pack my soft-shell guitar upside down into a wardrobe box with metal bars and tools (I took the guitar out of the equation and home with me to move myself)

- They put our decorative mirror in same box as free dumbbell weights (it cracked)

- Were very hussy about not receiving a tip upon pick up. I was not prepared to tip the loaders, as we expected the people who loaded our belongings to be the same people who drive and unload them in Calgary – we planned to tip them after the safe arrival of our belongings. (THEY ARE NOT THE SAME PEOPLE to load/drive and unload your things).

- The movers who unloaded our belongings gave us extra stuff – things that probably belonged to another person’s move, or junk that they just didn’t want on their truck anymore. (more garbage for us to hold onto until the claim was dealt with)

- During covid times, none of the movers were cautious or respectful enough to wear masks around us.

CNVL STAFF: email contacts seem polite and usually respond fairly quickly to email.

- However, they would not put us in direct contact with the claims department; they insisted on acting as a stepping stone. The claims department takes average of 8-10 weeks to respond (which is way too long to be holding on to all the damaged/garbage items that were delivered to us)

- It took longer than 10 weeks, and multiple follow up emails with CNVL to get any reply from the claims department. From that, the total amount of money offered back to us for ALL the damages was a mere total of $50. This is nothing compared to the full damage cost of all.

They broke everything:

- Newly refurbished dresser has massive dent and multiple scratches across top and sides

- 2x ikea kallax shelves (1 brand new) now missing sides and show scratches INSIDE the shelving areas.

- Glass mirror shattered

- Leather sofa shows large indent and scratches along top surface of pillow. This was BRAND NEW!

- a broken glass mirror, part of a steamer and several bed sheets that do not belong to us were delivered

OVERALL: if you MUST use this company, I recommend:

- Don’t let them pack anything for you. Pack it all yourself.

- Be present and supervise everything they touch. Don’t let them slide your leather sofa on cement from the door to the truck.

- Take lots of before and after photos. Cover your butt.

- They will fill a FORM when loading the truck, stating how many boxes/shelves/items etc and give it a number code. Make sure you know what code they are using!

o They used the same code for ALL of our things, saying EVERYTHING WAS ALREADY DENTED AND SCRATCHED. This was a lie. This lie cost us a lot when filing our claim form. Most of our furniture we were moving because they were brand new. Lots arrived with scratches and dents, etc. If they were in the condition they arrived in before we moved we would have chucked them out or sell them cheap in a garage sale rather than move them. They were completely destroyed.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3000

I wish I would not have to be doing this review, but I am giving one start, because I cannot go any lower than that. I hired their services, including packing. It was a three bedroom house. Initially they have a competitive package, not necessarely the cheapest, but competitive. In the day of the moving (for the big 3 bedroom house) a truck showed up, with ONE guy to do all the packing and loading. I immediately called them, and they told me that one person could do it. The guy started at 8 am and ended at 10 pm. I obviously helped him a bit with the loading, while I was looking after my toddler. The packing was obviously poorly done. They do not offer you a date for the moving, instead they provide a wide window of time and you have to find a way to arrange your schedule (which I am not going to complain, because it was said beforehand and I accepted). For the receiving is the same, a wide window of time, that makes it challenging for you to organize the receiving.

All the good stuffs happened came when I received my things. Among the extensive list of damaged goods I can highlight two LED TV's, one TV stand, one dresser drawer. The best part is that I was offered a CA$ 30 compensation and after complaining, it was raised to CA$ 50, while my losses exceeded CA$ 2000. They have their terms for insurance, however, nothing justify how poorly the packing was done and how inappropriate the handling was. Run away from them, even if you have to pay more to another company.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $13000

Gave it one star because there's no zero option.

A recent move from Comox to Edmonton resulted in thousands of dollars in damages, questions about how they occurred and a less than acceptable response from the company.

I understand that accidents happen and items get damaged from time to time, but that's not what happened in my case. The extent of the damage to so many different items shows, at minimum, complete incompetence and willful neglect on the part of Canadian National Van lines and their staff, or perhaps the deliberate destruction of customer property by those same staff. Neither scenario reflects well on Canadian National Van Lines and should be a deterrent to anyone looking to hire a mover.

We ended up with a ripped mattress, footprints on the furniture, shredded table edges from being dragged, spilled food on the table because it had been used, food stains on the mattress cover, crushed and broken totes and the family heirlooms they contained.

How are they not embarrassed? Just brutal.

They wanted a claim form filled out immediately but now are trying to tell me it could take 10 weeks to hear back. That isn't going to happen.

Do not under any circumstances hire this company to move anything of any value. And warn your friends from coast to coast. After reading some of the reviews, it seems the destruction of property is business as usual for this company and low-balling the compensation offered to their victims is considered just a cost of doing business.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $1700