Canadian National Van Lines

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. I had such an awful experience with Canadian National Van Lines. This company is a joke, they have no communication with you and when you do finally get an answer from them if half truths and one tiny bit of information at a time. They over quoted me by 500 LBS to what my actual delivery weighed. But of course they do not tell you their min charge before they have all your belongings already loaded on the truck when its too late to dispute anything. They then held my stuff in storage and had no communication with me, then charged me to hold my stuff in storage. Total scam. Save your self money & stress and go with another company.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3555

We are seniors and looking for a move for a fair price. I contacted a few inter provincial moving companies for quotes and this company offerred me the most reasonable cost. I chose them because in the beginning I was told there was no extra cost and they would provide 30 days free storage. Well when the drivers arrived they charged $75 extra to bring items from the basement. Worst of all upon delivery there was a warehouse charge and the drivers wanted $300 extra to move furnitures upstairs and into the basement because each staircase has two tiers. We were utterly shocked and did not have enough cash on hand so we only paid them to move some furnitures to the basement and have our neighbors to help us out in getting few bedroom furnitures upstaie because the drivers would not do it unless we pay the 150 extra.

I complained to the company and they will not refund any stair fee but reluctantly refunded me the warehouse fee which they should not have charged me in the first place.

Please be aware if you have stairs in your old or new home make sure you prepare extra cash or you will be held hostages like we were. Utterly disppointed. That is $75 per stair or $150 per two tiered stair if each tier is more than 5 steps I remember. What a rip off.
I will not recommend this company NO WAY.

Move size: Partial Move Service cost: $2000

We were moving from BC-NS everything at first went smooth. They came and got our stuff early and were very nice. The horror story started about 3 weeks into the move. The original price was around 2000 based on our weight. They send us an invoice saying it weighted a 1000lb more then it did. (We weighed it ahead of time to make sure we wouldn’t be scammed) after telling them this they “re-weighed” it and realized they had included there moving equipment in the weight and dropped the price back down.

Then, as stated in an email they sent me, the delivery was suppose to be between oct 14-23. When it didn’t arrive I called. They said I must have misunderstood and it would actually be a week later. Super rude lady

The icing on the cake. They said they would come between 1-1:30. They were 5 hours late.

Just overall rude and annoying.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2400

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