Great American Van Lines

Moving is stressful as it is. Moving long distance is a very unpleasant experience. Mirit great American did a great job moving us to FL! It started when I googled companies and was very impressed by their great reviews, I went on their website which was very professional and had a lot of great tips. Called their sale dept and spoke to brian, that was extremely helpful and did a great job explaining me the whole process, did a very accurate item list and gave me a very fair and affordable price. The movers came on time, packed and wrapped everything very carefully and neat and told me that my shipment will arrive 7-10 business days later, I was a bit stressed since I was supposed to arrive the next day to FL and stay for 2 weeks without anything and with 3 little kids. But surprise, 4 days later they called and told me that the truck is on the way and I will get the delivery within the next 48 hours which really happened! Great company, great experience, great job! Don’t hesitate, choose Mirit great American!
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Service cost: $2400

  Before composing this complaint, I read through the majority of the reviews of this company, which were positive & amazingly happy at 99%, and wondered how our family came to have such a blatantly bad and opposite experience. I came to the conclusion that these are fake postings and I defy this company to re-butt our experience.   The crew did come at the promised time, but the initial “quote” of $1500 for moving 1 BR apt size furnishings for a move from Pennsylvania to Texas was thrown right out the door with the first offering of $100 optional charge to pack & wrap a 60 year china cabinet – “otherwise, we cannot guarantee condition on delivery” and the charges kept building from there – by the time the mover had everything in the truck and sat at my dining room table, the tab was now at $2400 with all the tape and wrap they had used and how much room was taken up in the truck, BUT by some miracle, $400 of this increased bill could go away if we “tipped” the crew $200 cash – that moment showed the movers to be cheaters to their own company and in days to come, we understood why – it is now DAY 24 SINCE THAT MAN was at my dining room table and the furniture is finally being delivered tonight – it did not even leave Pennsylvania until 12 days after being packed up at my house….the truck broke down…..after two weeks, we were snipedly told to read the fine print where they have up to 21 business days to deliver without being in violation of the signed contract.  The final bill was reduced by several hundred dollars but it was just a little too late to turn our opinion from bad to good.   So what started as a wonderful new chapter of life with a new job was turned into camping in an empty Texas apt.  on an air mattress with no furnishings, no household items, no personal belongings for 4 weeks – A company that is concerned about their reputation would be calling the customer and assuring them that everything was being done to complete the delivery and minimize discomfort – SADLY, IT WAS LEFT TO US TO CHASE THE COMPANY AND THE RESPONSES WE GOT WERE LESS THAN STELLAR – I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT A COMPANY IS STILL IN BUSINESS AFTER THE LACK OF SERVICE WE RECEIVED, BUT I GUESS THIS ONE IS FOR NOW – DON’T LET IT BE YOUR MISTAKE – WE MADE IT FOR YOU ALREADY  .

Service cost: $1600

I was moving within New Jersey (25 miles), called Great American and was given an hourly quote which was much cheaper than the other companies were charging. Most other companies were charging us additionally for stairs and long carry distance, so I went with Great American. They called me the day before the move to confirm which was great. I was told to expect the movers between 9-11 a.m which I think is a reasonable time slot. On the morning of the move the driver called me at 9:00 a.m letting me know they were on the way to my address to expect them in half hour. The crew was extremely professional, the foreman Steve walked through the house with me and we went room to room identifying all items to be moved. He then directed the other two guys (freddie and a big guy) to begin moving the boxes we had packed while he explained the paperwork to me (tons of signatures) They handled my stuff with care and carefully wrapped my furniture some of which is antique over 100 years old. I was amazed with the speed in which they worked.  Before they left for my new address I asked the lead guy how much tips they usually get for a job like this because I have not moved in over 10 years, his exact words were " we will appreciate whatever you give us". At the new house I had some friends waiting to help as to keep the bill down. They placed my furniture exactly as I wanted and put together my bed and table also. Overall I had a great experience with Great American, especially with Steve and his guys and will not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. There were a couple hidden charges (I was not made aware of these by the salesperson but it was there on the paperwork I had to sign) like paying for tape and for them to pack my tv. There was also a surcharge if I paid by credit card and they charged me the turnpike tolls. Altogether I paid approximately $135.00 more than the quoted amount but I was extremely satisfied with the service. Keep up the great work guys. .

Service cost: $450

Best Crew Great Movers NJ to CA This was my first significant move as I have always lived in the town where I was born. Moves were made with the assistance of friends. I received a job offer requiring a move from NY to San Jose. They gave me one of the best quotes and Dana took the time to explain everything to me the crew from NJ: Rony and two other guys ( sorry memory failed me) were so conscientious and thorough they put me at ease. Dana told me it may take up to 14 days to deliver, but they got it to me in 9 days - delivering on a Sunday. The driver from east to west began reaching out to me by Friday. They delivered everything intact so far! I still have boxes to go through. The delivery guy went above and beyond to open a jammed door on one of my end tables well! This is a company with a lot of integrity on both coasts!! Thank you Great American Van Lines.

Service cost: $3900

Our five bedroom house needed to be fully packed for our next cross country move. David came to our house to give us an onsite estimate. It included a full packing service as well. We had about 5 different companies come out to see, although Great American was not the cheapest, their representative was very professional and gave a better vibe. Out items were delivered to our location quicker than expected. We were not surprised by this as we were given a call by their dispatch department asking if we are ready to accept our shipment. Great service! Recommended to all.

Service cost: $6900

I read the reviews at yp.com and thought I would cancel Moving USA which had an overall one star review and changed to great American which had a 5 star review at that forum even if I had to pay more. It turned out that they were no different. I later on found they had an F grade at the Better Business Bureau site.

I first sent a list of items I wanted moved to them and they came back with an estimate of $1350. I asked specifically whether there would be surprises, whether there would be an increase. Nathan assured me that there would not be because the list was so specific down to the number of sections of the sofa, etc. He also assured me that the shipment would arrive on Friday, 3 days after pick up, and that David did not know about the schedules when he told me that it would not get there until much later..
In any case, Jose arrived with two other guys on Tuesday, the first thing he said that from his experience, my stuffs would be something like 750 cubic feet and not 425 cubic feet like Nathan had estimated. He also said I would have to pay the tolls for coming to pick up and it will be $94. I live in CT and they came in from NJ. I said where were the tolls and how much at each? He said the GW was $38 and some other places adding up to $47. Then he doubled it for going back. I said there were no tolls going back out. He tried to tell me that it was different for trucks than cars and since that made no sense even for [EDIT], he finally cut down the tolls charged to $54. Then when I said that if the shipment was going to cost almost twice as much as the estimate, I don't have to ship it. He then showed me some place on his paper that said if there is a cacellation, they could charge me 20% of the shipment cost. He said something like $400. What I did not realize was that this cancellation fee can only apply only if you had signed the service order with them which I had not. I merely had obtained a non-binding estimate.
I ended leaving out a lot of items from the list, still the shipment came out according to their cubic feet estimate to be $1864. The curious thing now was that he said he could make part of this into tips for the guys and himself. So I paid $264 in cash and he wrote a binding estimate for $1600.
What I wish I had read beforehand was the little booklet by the Department of Transportation that he kept until the end to give me. All moving companies are required by law to give out this booklet to the customers to help them know about their rights. I leaned after the fact that I did not have to pay the 20 percent cancellation fee unless I had signed the service order which I did not sign until that day. I learned that with a non-binding estimate, I have the right to pay no more than 110 percent of that for them to release the goods to me, that with a non-binding estimate, they would have to weigh my shipment and charge according to the weight. Jose had me sign the binding estimate for $1600 that day so with that they no longer had to weigh the shipment and charged me based on cubic feet instead. All of these I did not know. Before Jose got to load, I tried calling Nathan to ask why his estimate was so far off, of course his direct line that used to be answered promptly was no longer answered. The company's line was answered by a woman who told me to contact the dispatcher, Jason or David, who also did not answer. The pattern is clear--they answer the phone prior to getting your business and once that's done, they stop answering. Messages are not returned either.
In the final analysis, I ended up paying twice as much as the estimate since I left out almost a third of the shipment and still ended paying close to $2000 compared to the estimate of $1350 for everything.

The booklet can be read online and it is a must read before you move, not after.
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/protect-your-move


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Service cost: $1864

Please, whatever you do, avoid this company at all costs. If you care about you things, use another company. This is the first and last company I've ever used to move and I only used them because I was already in my new location more than 1000 miles away and they gave me the cheapest rate. They did go to pick up the items on two separate occasions at my pick up location but somewhere along the way they seemed to have lost half of the items they picked up. I fought for 2 yrs with their internal investigation company, CSI, which is a joke in itself and got nowhere. Their thing was, "well someone did sign for it so we are not responsible". My son did sign for the stuff not knowing that things were missing from the delivery as he nor I were present at the pick up location. Once I got in and checked the inventory I realized things were missing, important things at that, desk top computer, TV, play station plus games, important paperwork, out of 2 pairs of stools, I received one side each, etc.. I'm not going to bore you with the particulars. Long story short, they promised a $200 good faith payment if I agreed not to post any negative reviews or contract BBB. I held up my end of the bargain but I never received said $200. Called them about the $200 in 2013, they gave me a number that no one ever answers. Now the time has expired when I can file a claim with BBB but I can still post a review and I'm doing so now. Hope you think twice before using this company. They are liars and thieves and cannot be trusted. They lack integrity, which is very sad.

Service cost: $1076