First National Van Lines

Initially, at the time of sale with First National Van Lines, Jordan in Sales told us that the disassembly of our beds and desks was included in our pricing along with professional packaging/furniture padding for our TVs, Monitors, wall art, furniture, and mattresses. Jordan also told us that First National Van Lines was not a Brokerage and does not outsource to other moving companies. This later turned out to be false.

The moving company (Wild Safari Moving) called me the day before our scheduled pickup date (Friday, January 12th) to provide the time of pickup for the 13th. The estimated arrival window we were provided was between 10 am and 12 pm on January 13th. We had to call multiple times to see where the movers were at because it was now 1 pm and no one provided an update. The movers finally arrived around 3 pm.

They arrived in a rental Penske truck with little to no packaging materials. They also didn’t lay down any plastic or protective covering to protect floors/walls from damage. The men showed up without an Allen wrench or basic tools and they asked us to go to the store to buy tools because all of ours were already packed away in the truck. So, we went to Menards and bought some basic tools, and borrowed a screw gun from a family member close by. We ended up having to disassemble our bed frames and desks because there were not enough workers to complete the job in a timely matter (there were only 2 people for a 3 bed 3 bath 1900 sq ft townhome). Total pickup took 6.5 hours to complete. During delivery, we were then told they wouldn’t help us re-assemble our beds because we had done it ourselves and it was a liability. We were pigeonholed in this situation and were forced to do the work ourselves once again late that night.

We called John Allen from First National Van Lines who works in Dispatch immediately to let him know that our belongings were not being properly packaged. He was very quick to dismiss our concerns and told us to “trust the process”.

Like the pickup, there were not enough resources when they arrived for delivery. This time, there was only 1 worker to move in all our belongings. The moving company ended up calling two people locally to help at the last minute; they arrived 3 hours late. Once again, the movers didn’t put down any protective padding for flooring or walls during pickup and delivery. We now have a couple of small dings on the walls of our new home. After watching them drop our dinette table in our doorway and continuously hit the table against our door and walls, I asked them to leave it where it was, and I dismantled it to move it myself.

At the time of delivery, I sent images to Kenny (at Wild Safari Moving) to let him know of the damage and find out where I could submit our claim. Later that day, one of the movers told us that we were being nit-picky about our things being damaged…

It saddens us to see that our brand-new dining table, dining chairs, TV stand, coffee table, side tables, rugs, lamps, computer monitor, and more are now damaged. We decided to spend more money on the moving service in hopes our belongings would be taken care of. However, many of our belongings are now damaged in some form due to the lack of care and packaging materials used by the moving company.

This entire operation was poorly managed, and we did not receive any of the services we paid for and were promised. Moving from Illinois to Nevada started as an exciting new chapter but shortly turned into a very stressful endeavor when dealing with First National Van Lines and Wild Safari Moving.

Two days after I posted my initial review online, I was reached by a third-party mediator to resolve the issue. I was told that both First National Van Lines and Wild Safari Moving had agreed to make the situation right on their end. I agreed to take down my reviews to be civil in the matter.

At first, I was told they rejected any compensation for our damaged belongings and the poor service we received. Today I was just told they would compensate us $1025. I respectfully declined this amount as this doesn’t even cover a fraction of the damages they caused. At this point, we just want to spread awareness about this company because every moment dealing with them has been one lie after another. Don’t waste your time and money on this company.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $9670

I moved from san diego to ohio last summer. it was bar none the worst experience of my life. I pre-paid for the move as well as packing services. on the day of my scheduled move, no one showed up. I called fnvl to inquire about the delay and they did not respond. I emailed and received no response. I did receive a call a day later from a moving company in texas stating that they would be arriving two days later to move my belongings. I explained that I had given notice to my landlords and needed to be moved out of the house by said date. they told me that they would send someone out the following day and if they didn’t arrive to call their 1-800 number. the following day, no one arrived. and no one was at work over the weekend to return my calls.

over the weekend, I purchased moving supplies and packed myself. the following monday, I received a call from a third company stating they would be arriving late to move my belongings.

they arrived and packaged up my belongings, while trying to charge me extra for the boxes. I refused to pay extra and counted my items alongside the estimate. there was fewer items in my possession than originally estimated, however, my estimate was mot adjusted as promised by fnvl.

it took THREE WEEKS for my items to be delivered. when my items were received, the boxes looked as if they had been through a rock tumbler. and a few items had been damaged.

i contacted fnvl and they explained they were no longer liable for any damages.

i posted a negative review on this website and they called me immediately asking me to take the review down. I explained that I simply wanted reimbursed for the
packing and supplies I had pre-paid and reimbursed for the damages. they agreed.

i naively took down my review and never heard from them again. I sent several emails and left voicemails and never received a response.

a few weeks later, I attempted to write another review on this webpage, however, reviews were
not being accepted because someone was attempting to leave multiple reviews from the same ip address. READ: THE POSITIVE REVIEWS ON THIS WEBPAGE ARE BEING LEFT BY THE COMPANY! I have, almost a year later, not received any reimbursement.

this company should be prevented from doing business. PLEASE TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2500

When I contacted FNVL I asked for a visit for volume estimation and they said they have a reliable system for such calculation: the 1st calculation was done and after listing all home goods they brought with an calculated volume that now I understand was very sub-estimated in order engage customer with a lower price.

First estimation was 1550 cu-Ft with a cost of around 8000$. I signed a contract with a rate of 6.24$/cu-ft and made a down payment of 3500$ with order number 3028288.

One week before day of moving the FNVL Quality manager called me to check again all stuff to make sure that truck capacity is the right; and of course recalculating the cost: at first one can thing that difference is around 5-10% but in my case it was 25%, but the cost was increased by 50%, now the cost of moving was 12000$ and I made another down payment of 750$.

One says: ok I think I could make a mistake listing stuff initially but now number should very precise.

They said 2-3 days before moving dispatch will contact to you to reconfirm date, time vehicle capacity: "it never happened", no one called to me neither by email. I tried to contact quality manager (never reply immediately any call), I texted him and also sent him an email: no answer at that moment.

Later (during the night before moving) quality manager contacted to me via text msg saying that he would fix that thing to make it possible moving in the morning of next day: I felt like he was doing a favor to me.

Day of moving came, a truck of 4000cu-ft of a company called Condor moving service showed up; it was not “First National Van line “ which means that FNVL was doing intermediation for the service, it was a company called "Condor Moving Services". That company proceed to pack and load stuff; and surprise : there was not 2000cu-ft but 2950cu-ft: a difference of 1.9 times from original and about 1.5 times of 2nd calculation.

My budget for moving was around 12,000$ and now I had to pay 19,000$ and no flexibility with any volume in truck as said by the seller at the moment of contracting .

Once again I tried to contact quality manager, with no answer and I texted him about the situation (no reply again). Suddenly supervisor told me he won’t charge such percentage as a favor for me and he asked for tips to the guys that packed stuff (at the end of the day I paid same % as tip).

The goods were moved as planned; but since truck had such size (4000 cu-ft), it was impossible to get to new location therefore a shuttle service was needed. The driver called to me to tell me that such extra service would cost other 2500$ for it (as it was stated in original contract with FNVL).

Driver also told me that I could do by myself but he would deliver my stuff without blankets and protection at the place of delivery and I would take the accountability of moving without proper protection and also reassembly stuff at home: I tried to call quality manager and also texted: Never replied.

I had in mind contracting a U-haul truck with professional movers that would cost around 1200-1300$; however T&C 's commented by driver in regards of furniture protection made me take his last option

On the day of delivery I saw exactly I had in mind: driver came with the 1600 cu-ft capacity U-haul truck and 3 helpers that Never had worked with moving goods (3 handyman).

At the end I had to pay 21,814$ for this service which was quite a lot different of initial price and my budget.

Later, I upload a review to different web pages and a FNVL contacted to me to start an arbitration process, then a 3rd parties company "Powellaribtrationgroup" contacted to me to revew the case and work on my behalf. After 7 weeks of wasted time there was no added value, this guy said what I already knew "you have a signed contract and real volume is correct", so Powell artibration group supposly negotitated a rebate but at the end it was a ridicolous amount which I rejected.

Final comments

1-It is understood that the rate of 6.24$ is used to cover small differences (5-10%) of original quotation, but 90% difference is a big mistake and I feel that I overpaid for such service

2-FNVL original Volume estimation is much less than real one, it is done ir Order to sell their service

3-Volume system used by FNVL was not reliable at all since there was a big difference on final volume in regards of origin and 2nd calculation

4-FNVL uses 3rd parties company for the service, they are intermediates and get the money for selling the service

5-FNVL is the worst on communication with customer

6-Quality manager provided poor support when needed

7-The supposed arbritation was a wasted time, I personally felt this guy was like another FNVL employee.

This is my first and last time I use FNVL for transportation of home stuff and I don’t recommend this company for transportation of goods due the way how they sell their service.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $21814

Here's our story. We received a binding quote from First National Van Lines for moving our very small 700 square foot one-bedroom apartment in Philly to a small apt in Brooklyn. Their guaranteed quote was for $2,000.00 including fuel charges. Final bill came to $5,268!!

First National who acted as a mover broker assigned the move to Prudential Van Lines. Prudential used an arbitrary method of assessing the extent to the goods to be moved and only informed us that the invoice would be increasing from the $2,000 binding contractual amount to $5,268.00 AFTER THE GOODS WERE ALREADY LOADED ONTO THEIR TRUCK. In other words, our possessions were held hostage after they loaded the truck and informed us that based on their arbitrary cubic foot measurement, the price would be more than doubling! However, they are required to inform us of an overage PRIOR to moving our possessions onto their truck. They failed to do so.

See Pg 5 from the below government website:

Binding Estimates, US Government Dept of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/sites/fmcsa.dot.gov/files/docs/Rights-and-Responsibilities-2013.pdf

"A binding estimate guarantees that you cannot be required to pay more than the amount on the estimate. However, if you add additional items to your shipment or request additional services, you and your mover may: agree to abide by the original binding estimate, negotiate a new binding estimate or convert the binding estimate into a non-binding estimate . If the mover does not give you a new binding estimate in writing, or agree in writing to convert the binding estimate to a non-binding estimate before your goods are loaded, the original binding estimate is reaffirmed. Under these circumstances, your mover should not charge or collect more than the amount of the original binding estimate at delivery for the quantities and services included in the estimate."

Per the above government policy, the total charge should have been the originally quoted $2,000.

After complaints to First National over the phone and in writing, they informed us that their firm quote was no longer valid since we added more boxes and furniture. But how on earth could the charge for moving a 700 sq foot apartment increase from $2,000 to $5,300?? Obviously, this appears to be some kind of scam. To prove this, we requested a new firm estimate based upon the precise items that were actually moved from Philly to Brooklyn. Guess what? The new estimate came to $2887.11 rather than the $5,268.00 we were charged. In good faith, we offered to pay $2,887.11 but First National's attorney refused to respond to our request.

It gets even better. Per the terms of their contract, in order to dispute the charge, we were required to first pursue this matter through the American Arbitration Association (AAA). We spent $200 to file a case through this organization. Guess what? First National is not even registered with this organization! The AAA requested that First National pay the required fees and register with them in order to proceed with our arbitration case. Guess what? First National never responded to their repeated requests.

So we now find ourselves having to deal with the mover, Prudential Van Lines, who holds our money. We are planning to take them to small claims court in order to recover over $3,000 in overcharges. We will likely take First National to small claims court as well.

Desired Outcome: At a bare minimum, we would like an apology from First National, have them acknowledge that they or the mover they contracted made an egregious error, and refund us $3,268.00 in excess charges.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5268

Do not hire them! They gauge prices and they extort you. Read the BBB complaints!! Also, the ones here.

This company is trying to gauge prices and it is keeping my belongings hostage. This is extortion, and I have filed a police report.

All the complaints are for the same reason, trying to gauge hire prices. Very lack of ethics and professionalism.

The delivery date was set to 04/27/2021 and the driver [NAME EDIT] at number 223-221-2940 told me the amount that I was going to pay, the leftover in my contract. However, once the driver saw that I am just a single woman, he showed up but then the driver enters my complex, even though the leasing office and the Maintenance Manager told them that they had semis coming in multiple times.

He said that I needed to pay an additional fee to get another truck to move my things and put them in my home. This address was given in advance, so they knew where it was and I was told that was no issue.

I called [NAME EDIT] at number 973-381-1077 and she told me that it is the discretion of the driver to choose to enter or not, but I know his discretion is just to charge more money and gauge the prices. This was never disclosed to me.

The driver told me that there are cars in the carport and he didn't want to take a risk, again to gauge the prices. Really? What kind of professional is this?

In my contract, I can see how they hype the prices, and of course, not getting back to me is on purpose so they can charge me a storage fee as well as whatever fees they want to.

After they refused, I called Customer Service and didn't hear anything from them. I was told by the driver that my belongings were put in storage, with no further information. I called the next day and finally someone answer from Customer Service and as she declared, this is an emergency that needs to be taken care of.

Unfortunately, I didn't hear anything else.

I kept calling [NAME EDIT] at 213-974-5017 and I am still not getting any information.

This is why moving companies have such a bad reputation and the movers are considered scammers, they just look for ways to overcharged what is was shown in the estimate.

Now, I don't know where are my belongings, I am sure that they are charging me extra money and on top of that, no one is reaching out back to me to give me more information.

I called on 04/27, 04/28, and spoke with [NAME EDIT] and she said she was contacting the owners and will get back.

I called again on 04/29/2021 and spoke with Barb again and she said she was getting in contact with the owner and then with me again, but still nothing.

04/30- and it is 10 am, I still haven't heard, I have no idea where my belongings are or when will I receive them. Called in the afternoon and no one answered, I left a message, no one got back to me.

Now I have no idea where my things are or in what condition if I ever recover them.

I have contacted LAPD and also Austin PD and filed reports respectively because this is unacceptable, lack of ethics, professionalism, and above all theft and extortion.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2670

This company provided us with a false estimate and even the mover himself stated that our estimate was completely off and that this company should have never quoted us that price for the inventory list that the salesman created. I was told by the actual movers that I must pay $2000 more than what they quoted me for the exact same inventory. I even told the company that I appreciated how genuine they were during the sales process and they took advantage of that. All we asked for was compensation and we were not given that. This company purposely provided a lowballing quote so that I would sign the contract and then jack up the price during pickup. This was not right at all. I was also told by Kristen that this happens all the time and that they have had an estimate result in $10,000 more than what was first quoted. They deserve to get shut down for this. I hope this transaction was worth the reputation of the entire company. Michale will not return my phone calls and Diane hung up on myself and my husband because she was done trying to deal with the situation. Now I am worried that my belongings will be damaged upon arrival. My whole life is in their hands and I trusted them. I just hope and pray I can afford the rest of the move. I am now out of $2000

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4400

They are not very transparent, they are not an actual moving company but a third party broker (even the movers said they were shady af) they tell you what you want to hear before signing the contract (which in typical sales tactics they rush and say only valid for x amount of time so hurry) this does not really give time to do research or read the contract carefully. then say its on you. I was quoted (after a thorough detailed list of what was in my place) ~$4200, a week before the move going over again what i was bringing (eliminating a few items from the original list was quoted an addition amount needed (with another payment deposit) and then when the movers came again another amount 3K more. Between the shitty insurance (was told they are insured and I'm covered, true but only $0.60 on the LBS basically getting $6 for my damage $600 TV) and dont even mention that it would be a good idea to get additional insurance...At this point I'm out close to $6-8K more than what was budgeted for the move and it has been stressful AF to deal with 3 diff companies to get things sorted. Also they delivered someone else's tote to me and since it had my sticker they couldn't take it back so now i have to deal with a full giant tote that isn't mine and their solution is to just donate it. sure let me take time out of my day and use my property to correct your mistake and that poor person is now out close to $2K worth of DVDs and CDs and they wont even try to correct it. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND!!!!!!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8800