Canadian Van Lines

Avoid this company at all costs. I booked CVL for moving 1 bedroom apartment from Sudbury to Calgary:

- They delayed their move three times, and every time they had a new excuse.

- Took some advance payment and informed earlier that the remaining would be paid at the time of delivery in Calgary. But then later asked for 100% payment when they came with the truck in Sudbury and threatened to not take stuff if I didn't pay up. Of course, the advance would be non-refundable in that case.

- I interacted with Rachel White, and she was very rude and unprofessional, and knew nothing about customer service. She was pleasant before I paid advanced money.

- I had a little more luggage than estimated. They refused to take any additional stuff even though there was plenty of room in the truck. After a lot of requests, they finally agreed with premium charges. In the end, I ended up paying three times more than the initial estimate.

They are frauds. Avoid this company.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6000

Almost a year ago we hired this company to move our stuff from Canada to US. After 3 months listing to their lies and tolerating their unprofessional behavior we decided to rent a U-HAUL to bring our stuff ourselves. They promised to refund us in a month but after nine months they haven't honored their promises yet.

If you are planning to hire a mover stay away from this company.
This company is nothing but fraud and is run by one person from his living room. All addresses they have on their web sites are fake. I have personally check their Manitoba office; it doesn't exist. There are several legal cases against them in BC court (check this link: https://justice.gov.bc.ca/cso/esearch/civil/partySearch.do); type in "Canadian Van lines" in the "search box" you will see a list of allegations. Also if you search for "Coronation Van line" you'll see more. (You can see the list of court cases in the attachment).This company used to operate under the "Coronation Van line" before 2014. Because of flatulent practice and so many allegations they have changed the name of company. But their bank accounts is still under the old name.
They may offer you better deal than other movers, but they'll take your money and will never do the job. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!

Service cost: $5500

We recently used the CANADIAN NATIONAL VAN LINES for moving to Ontario.

Prior to actually finalizing the deal, everything went smooth. We determined the pick up date and movers came early.

We showed what needed to be loaded. We've packed a lot of boxes, but we're not completely finished packing. Movers started to put stuff into empty boxes to get everything loaded. They were rushing and not paying attention. I've advised to take it easy on certain items and they were good for a small period of time. Movers had many blankets to wrap around TVs and other items. However, when moving furniture the floor (Laminate) got scratched and the entrance door dented, they didn't seem to care about it.

Prior to booking, we were informed that it would take 7-12 days from the pick up date, so we booked the flight closer to the promised date, however, it took 3 weeks for items to arrive. We tried to get our items sooner and they accommodated us for the whole one-day, so we (single mom with 2 children and 1 baby) lived without our items (especially baby stuff) for some time.

At 5 pm (1 hour before their office closing time), we get a call saying we have to pay (eTranfer, cash or bank draft) the full amount in order to get our items unloaded the next day. We tried, but weren't able to e-Transfer the whole amount due to its daily allowable limitations. We tried to do a second e-Transfer the following day, but it didn't go as banks allow a certain limit to be transferred within 24hrs. We did not know this. I believe it depends on a bank account type.

Anyways, the movers came the next day a requested for the outstanding amount to be paid and to sign that all boxes are in good condition prior to unloading. We were advised, if movers wait more than 15 min, they would charge a waiting fee and that the rest to be paid immediately.

When finished unloading, the furniture was damaged, somehow the couch got a sharpie markings on it (was wrapped in plastic by movers when picked up), a big aquarium was broken (glass shattered, the box had big letters on it glass, fragile), some dishes were shattered, boxes looked like they were thrown around and had holes in them. We picked up brand new boxes and some used boxes, but made sure there were no holes in them prior to packing. 2 glass doors of our wardrobe went missing. The office chair wheels were missing. One box (number 78) was missing.

To this date we still haven't seen the invoice from this company.

We weren't expecting this type of service from a "Supposedly well establish company".

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4200

First off I'd like to say that when a professional moving company relies on customers to provide a list of "everything" they need moved so they can come up with an estimate is not professional at all. Why should the customer be responsible for an accurate estimate? So further to this, a truck landed around 4 pm to load our things. Our move is from Calgary to New Brunswick. They soon discovered that everything would not fit. I got a call from Canadian Van Lines that evening apologizing and saying they would send another truck early the next morning as possession of the house by the new owners was 12 noon. Next day, 10:00 am, still no one. I called Rachel (who I have been dealing with). She could not guarantee someone before 2:00 pm and she would be considering this a "second" move so I had to pay another $1000 down before they showed up. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, so I had to pay. I was crying by this time out of shear frustration. This was Friday before the July long weekend. The new owners were kind enough to postpone the possession to 4:00 pm., which meant we could not get payment until Tuesday and we were leaving for NB the next day. When the second truck showed up, the movers were huffy because they had to work in the heat. They tried to leave things behind and would have if I didn't stay on top of them (not little things either, more like a bed, dresser). Finally they left. Fast forward to mid- August. We finally got the call that they were going to be pulling up in a 50' tractor trailer. This move went from approx. $6500 to $13K. I packed everything very tightly and well wrapped, yet somehow mirrors, dishes (and good ones) were broke. They even broke a 6" square leg off a new couch and right now I have two blocks of wood under it. My (also new) office chair had the material scraped off the edges. The boxes were damp and some had mud on them. I was so disappointed. I didn't even go with their insurance as I had to sign a paper before they left saying that a claim had a $450 deductible for the chance of a 60% return. I was sick to my stomach. The movers in NB were very good though and understanding. I believe Diego and Jordan were their names. The whole experience was awful to say the least. Moving isn't fun at the best of times. Oh yes, I was also told when the movers arrived that if I had one more step (from my 6, I believe) going into the house, each time they brought something in the house it would cost an extra $750. I nearly collapsed. Luckily for us, this wasn't an issue for them. Be very careful with this company. They don't have your back when you need them most.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $13000

  Make sure you are aware that this is NOT the same company as the Great Canadian Van Lines which is a reputable solid moving company.  Canadian Van Lines appear to be basically one person (in each location) working out of their garage I think with no credentials whatsoever in this industry.  Their website lists an erroneous address in Langley and we couldn't find a business licence for them in BC.  When we attempted to contact their "customer service" we learned their phone system is primarily a voicemail router and we never did get a call back from them.  The dispatcher (James) was very poor at communicating about our delivery and basically we were finally told they were holding our goods until we agreed to pay IN FULL BEFORE they would deliver to the final destination which delayed the delivery by 2 full days costing us money and time.  The drivers (independent contractors) told us later that they were being held up intentionally until final payment was received.  We never disputed the final payment, just wasn't aware it was all due up front! A practice not common in the moving industry according to many sources.  After many debates over this, we agreed to pay in full in order for them to deliver our goods, and when we asked for them to send us an invoice showing the final amount owing they argued they didn’t need to do that as we would get a FINAL invoice showing the payment amount.  I don’t know about you, but I’m not keen about allowing someone to charge our credit card without knowing the amount.  After more arguing, James finally did email an invoice and we got everything processed.  Of course by this time the drivers had been re-routed for other work and hence the delay.  They finally showed up at 11pm, 2 days late.   It pays to research these companies before agreeing to anything, as there are seemingly many horror stories out there, and nobody to regulate them.  Pick one with a solid reputation, been around awhile and has a good BBB rating.     .

Service cost: $1100

Do not use this company. It's just one guy james working from home. He will never give you a straight answer and they will never call you back. You can call any number from any province and guess what you get james. We booked with them, they asked for half up front (reasonable I thought) then when the day came to move. They did not show, no call no nothing. So I called, was told truck broke down would be there in the afternoon. Afternoon came and went. Called again, James said they couldn't make it but would be there for sure the next morning, even verified with an email. Next morning came, once again they didn't show. No call or anything. So called again said they would be there in the afternoon. Never showed. So I had to rent a uhaul and pay some guys. I called countless times to get my money back. They sent me an email saying they would pay by specific date and time. It came and went, I don't know how many times I was told I would get a refund. Over 100 phones calls and countless emails, bbb, canadian fraud protection, demand letter, etc. Now I am taking them to small claims court, which they don't plan on showing. So if you like your hard earned money or your belongings. STAY AWAY.

Service cost: $2200

Found the company on the Internet, customer service had a pleasant tone, they gave me options pertaining my relocation from WINNIPEG to Chestermere. I opted fur the is jig service, which was very carefully taken care of, the guys were very courteous and respectful. The following day they returned to move my contents, no problems there. My delivery took 3 days and arrived between on time, which aided my elevator booking. I have now had time to unpack, and everything is as it was. No breakages. I am a satisfied customer, and would certainly recommend.

Service cost: $4250

This is the update of my review on Dec 2, 2015.

I removed my posting because they promised to pay my money back in January 2016. Since they broke their promise and did not refund me, I re-upload my review in Feb. This week they called me and threaten me that they were going to sue me. Not only they have taken my money and didn’t do the delivery, but they are asking for loss of revenue because of my review about them. Please be careful and don’t be trapped by these unprofessional people. Read other people reviews to see what kind of company it is. This company doesn’t have a physical location, trucks or any employees. All the addresses in different provinces you see on their web-site are fake. Phone numbers are also fake and all are diverted to one person, James! Be careful for your own sake!

Dec 2, 2015 posting
We are taking this unprofessional moving company to court. We hired them in July 2015 to move our belonging from Canada to U.S. and pay them fully upfront. After lying to us for 3 months about when they would do the shipment, last month we decided to do the moving ourselves by renting a U-HAUL truck. They promised to refund us within a week in Oct 2015. But after a month they haven't done that. We have retained a lawyer and are taking them to court. This company is run by James, a professional liar, and two more people who tell you lie about everything. If you heard the name of Stephan and Greg, run and don't trust them either. They don't do the service and steal your money. They always ask for upfront payment and once they have your money them won't return your calls. If someone want to know more about these people I am willing to share my experience with about this company.
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Service cost: $5500

We are taking this unprofessional moving company to court. We hired them in July 2015 to move our belonging from Canada to U.S. and pay them fully upfront. After lying to us for 3 months about when they would do the shipment, last month we decided to do the moving ourselves by renting a U-HAUL truck. They promised to refund us within a week in Oct 2015. But after a month they haven't done that. We have retained a lawyer and are taking them to court. This company is run by James, a professional liar, and two more people who tell you lie about everything. If you heard the name of Stephan and Greg, run and don't trust them either. They don't do the service and steal your money. They always ask for upfront payment and once they have your money them won't return your calls. If someone want to know more about these people I am willing to share my experience with about this company.

Service cost: $5500

Just happened to see these reviews which brought back memories of my experience with them in 2014 and my complaint filed with the BBB. I contracted Canadian Van lines on October 17 to pick up and Deliver the contents of my fathers house from Digby N.S to St, Catharines Ontario, I was debited a credit card down payment of 1600 dollars. The intent was to make delivery of these goods within a reasonable amount of time and was told initially within 12 days.It is now November 23rd and I have not received the goods or been told where they are being held . I have yet to receive a firm deliver date. Unknown to me at the time of pickup the company subcontracted a secondary firm to collect the goods in Digby after arriving 4 hours late and supposedly transport the goods to their Lively Road warehouse in Sackville for a later pick up to ST.Catharines. This company through a three way phone conversations to Canadian Van lines and I threatened to sell these goods for failure of payment for their portion of the move. According to Canadian Van lines this was apparently resolved by the two parties. I have been given numerous excuses as to why this delivery has been made by many parties in the company who all claim to be managers or directors of the company. These range from illness of the drivers to breakdowns of the vehicles, I have also been promised compensation for the delay. I have not been able to confirm the location of the goods as they have told me they were in their Lively Road location in Sackvile . After sending a representative to the facility to meet their agent who they assured me would be there he found no one at all. The representative was able to contact the initial mover via a phone number at the site who could only say that he had the goods and they were "safe" but was not willing to disclose the location of the warehouse. As of this moment I am again waiting on another call "tomorrow"to confirm another supposed delivery date. . This ended up to be over year and only after I paid the holding company to move my goods without any additional compensation or reconciliation from Canadian Van lines. Much of the goods were damaged due to storage and handling. The company" is a sham!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4000

I had an awful experience with Canadian Vanlines a few months ago. The owner who claims to be David Hammond is an absolute joke. I am just wondering if anyone else had a similar experience. 
MY stuff were picked up late, they were never delivered and after weeks of chasing this guy down I found out my whole life was sitting in a storage somewhere in Manitoba. I had to arrange another company to pick up my stuff. I can't believe this guy still has a business running in Canada.

Service cost: $5000

Note: This is update of my review from August 20, which I removed in order to send this updated version.
 
Winnipeg - NewWest moving, 1 bdr.
 
6 different promised dates of delivery, 1.5 months of delay (for the moment), still waiting in an empty apartment, without essentials. 
Constant promises, all types of lies (including even most impudent ones), they never call back on their initiative, and don't pick up phone, even hanging it up on us. If you deal with this company, you will hear "You are so annoying", "Don't bother me", "I'm so busy, I have a lot of customers.. [hang up]" and (most recent and hopefully the last talk) "You make me sick" in reply to questions like "Where is our stuff?" and "You didn't pay for my storage, when?". I'm pretty sure in our most recent talk I also heard something about quality of my language (which is far from perfect, and I realize that; we are newcomers).
 
BTW, most recent talk was about taking our stuff back because we surely cancelled Canadian Van Lines services. This people can't even cancel their service without issues and offences. My friend cancelled their services as well (after she saw what happens to us), and she also recieved offensive email.
 
Don't think a good attitude will help - I'm a really patient and polite person, and the only thing I ever wanted to know was the truth. We waited and made advances for them, and I even advised them to my friend (silly of me), but they don't appreciate it at all. 
 
Then, we sent them a large friendly email, where we warned them that we are going to police because we lost our stuff and money, and kindly asked them to undertake something before this last resort, but they didn't react on this email at all. Before sending reviews we also opened a BBB case and waited for reaction from Canadian Van Lines. But nothing happened again. And only after all our tries to reach them I sent this review.
 
I'm really outraged with all this attitude, despite the fact I'm a calm person.
 
About other positive reviews: after all this 1.5 months of nightmare we have all reasons to think that this reviews sometimes fake, and sometimes actually written to subcontractors, which Canadian Van Lines hires. They don't have any relation to Canadian Van Lines itself and quality of their services. We also had such subcontractor, who picked up our stuff in order to deliver it to the storage on Canadian Van Lines's behalf, and we are happy about this subcontractor's service quality, but Canadian Van Lines has nothing in common with this subcontractor.
 
Don't believe in James's (or maybe even Greg's - he tells lies too) stories about their 150 movings per year (most of which are allegedly successful, and only few are not), and about their 47 drivers across Canada. If it were the truth, we would already have our belongings with us.
 
Claim is already opened. Still waiting for our money back.
 
Stay away from this company!
 
UPD:
After this review, I was threatened by James that if I won'te remove it, he will send negative reviews about my business (I'm a Graphic Designer). He also wrote me (quote) that "I swear to God I will never send u a cent." and "I said. U will not get a cent.". So he is not going to send us our money back, and is going to sue me for share my negative experience with this company.

Service cost: $2100

When they first came to visit my 80 year old mom, they were very thorough and gave her a verbal estimate, followed by a couple of days later by a written estimate. When they came to pack on a Saturday, they did an excellent packing job and then returned on Monday to move it all. My mom's cat freaked out (cuz that's the way the cat rolls) and the movers were really super nice and helpful to help settle the cat and get her out of harms way.The move went really smoothly. They showed up on time, it took the amount of time they estimated, nothing got broken, the movers were really good about moving furniture to where my mom wanted it, one of the movers took a lot of care to get my mom's bed set up, etc. My mom even ended up paying a few hundred dollars less than the estimate because she did some packing up front.She would use them again and was treated more than fairly - very nicely.

Service cost: $3400

This company saved at the very last minute, I was let down by another company who failed to show. My neighbour  Canadian Van Lines, the customer service responded very well, they price matched the other company which was very ethical of them.
They deployed a nearby team, who I must say were absolutely brilliant, they packed my 4 bedroom Calgary townhouse within 4 hours.
My contents were delivered to Salmon Arm the next day, offloaded, nothing broken.
Definitely recommend. Thanks to James, Carolyn, Greg, Martin and ?

Service cost: $3600

Moved from Swift Current to Winnipeg,firstly I received a competitive quote then added the material and packing service, the communication from the customer service was good and detailed. I was very happy about that. The movers came a little early, they were very nice and polite and run me through the procedure. they began packing at 8am, non stop till 5pm. Came back the following day to do the loading. The furniture was treated very well, shrink wrap and blanketed. Two days as promised I received my contents in Winnipeg. Bought them pizza and drinks as they offloaded. Overall my move went very well and have already recommended the company to a friend and family member. Thanks for everything.-Claire Shultz.

Service cost: $5400

This may be premature, however, I am not finding Canadian Van Lines on line, nor are any of their phone numbers that I can currently find listed in service (1-800-997-5898; 204-201-0591 Winnipeg; 604-648-8661 Vancouver; Coronation Van Lines has two numbers that two of the numbers listed are assigned to an individual now and 604-336-7546 is not in service). Could this actually be the end of this company that owes so many people and businesses great amounts of money?..That have lied and deceived so many people?..That operate as unfair as a business possible could?!! I certainly hope so and I hope that my efforts over the past 15 months, and the efforts of so many others, have all contributed to James Mahama and Bakari Usseni and their business, Canadian Van Lines, collapsing! You reap what you sow!!

Service cost: $6000

These guys are scammers and liarss. We moved with them July 2015. They were late picking up by 12 hours then they wanted 2000 more claiming we understated how much they were moving even though they were given a full detailed list of what was being moved. It took them 6 weeks to deliver our stuff from brandon to medicine hat. It was only delivered after our son paid their one man off ice a visit. He was told to leave and was threatened with physical violence by Jamie Johnson the same idiot that I had been dealing with. After a 45 minute conversation on the ph with my son which was not pleasant to say the least they finally realized it would be in their best interest to deliver our stuff. Our things were finally delivered all damaged to the tune of $50,000. Their office in largely was located at a used furniture auction warehouse where likely much off the furniture that they didn't deliver to customers were likely auctioned off. These people need to be investigated and charged with fraud. None of their offices listed on their website exist. They are all phoney. These guys should be put out of business. Not one item that they delivered was wrapped everything was thrown in drawers with clothes dumped out. Not one peice of furniture came undamaged. Our insurance company basically wrote everything off nothing was salvageable. These people are disgusting crooks and should be avoided at all costs.

Service cost: $5000

We moved with this company in July of 2015 they gave us a firm quote and then upon arrival which was 12 hours late jacked up my price claiming I lied about my contents by 2000.00. They had the exact boxes and items when quoted on the move. My furniture arrived from Brandon to Medicine Hat 6 weeks later only after many phone calls and threats of legal action. They blew a tire in Swift Current and had the balls toncall me and ask me to pay for the repairs. When they first arrived at my place they backed into my complex and broke an axel on their trailer where they loaded my belongings onto. They toke that trailer to a repair place where it’s at for six weeks. They had refused to pay for the repair bill with the owner meanwhile all my content s sat unlocked in a unsecured lot for six weeks. When my furniture finally arrived I had to arrange for other people to help me unload since only the driver came with the truck. When he opened the trailer everything looked liked they just had thrown things in nothing was packed properly nothing was wrapped furniture was gouged our TVs smashed custom made furniture totally destroyed it was a move from hell. I got the owner Jamie on the line and he just laughs at me and says good luck with getting a claim out of him because he canceled my insurance that I had with the move. Thankfully I had great home insurance with TD. My son went to their office in Aldergrove and what he found there was that they were located in a place where they sell used furniture so I personally believe that a lot of people’s stuff ended up their. A lot of our stuff that we had never arrived so I believe they took things they wanted tools were missing. Had I not persisted likely all of my stuff they would have kept.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5500