Great American Van Lines

I am a retired Air Force veteran of 21 years and have moved many times in my life. Great American's recent move of my household goods from Hartford CT to Miami was the worst I have ever seen. After showing up an hour late, without sufficient paper to properly wrap our goods, they took nearly 5 hours to pack a 1 bedroom apartment. 3/4 of the way through the move, we spotted one of the crew packing glassware and quality pots and pans without ANY paper at all. When I told the foreman about the problem, he said he'd take care of it. When we spotted another problem, they assured us they had used "enough" wrapping..Sure enough, after receiving our goods, we found numerous items cracked, dented and broken (glassware, lamps, computer, etc). Unfortunately, I trusted their reputation and my memory of all the PROFESSIONAL moving companies I dealt with while in the Air Force and did not buy the additional insurance. Their basic insurance is nearly worthless ($0.60 per pound per item). The final cost was also well above the estimate. The only thing I can say, is that we will surely never use your company again and we will tell anyone we know to do the same.

Service cost: $2817

This move was exceptionally easy. I packed and they picked up! It was as easy as that..no issues with weight, all done by the number of boxes. The amount quoted was the amount due, no hidden charges. The move was stored for 30 days free and when I needed the delivery I just called. All questions were answered when I called, giving me great satisfaction. The service was professional, reliable and the gentlemen I worked with were all honest and considerate. If I need to move again I will certainly use this company and I will recommend Great American Van Lines to others.

Service cost: $954

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! I moved from MA to CO this summer and have never been so taken advantage of!  The movers who picked up my stuff put it in the truck and then informed me the price was going to be over twice as much as the quote, despite the fact the amount of items had not changed.  They then inisted that I needed to pay them $600 out of pocket that wouldn't be reported to the company because, I quote, "If you make me happy, I'll make you happy".  I was terrifed that, being a single female and alone, they would damage my stuff or something terrible would happen.  I then informed the company of this behaviour and they promised a refund and then never spoke with me again.  I have been dealing with this for months and still can't get a resolution.  NEVER NEVER NEVER TRUST THEIR QUOTES OR THEIR PEOPLE.  They are crooks.

Service cost: $3700

I moved on 7/22 /2011 with Great American Van Lines and this was worst experience of my life.I booked the move for 9 -10 AM morning,The screwed my full day and they came by 6 PM in evening,When I called the guys were not giving proper update and the guy on phone told me it happened if u want u can book some other movers we can if we r late meand we are late for 300 dollars move we can not send other truck if scheduled truck is having some issue.They even did not communicated to me about the delay when ever I called they told truck is on the way.We are having a 10 month old Baby with baby it was horrible to manage with the delay and my all other plans delayed because of moving delay. I read the reviews on this site only 1 review was bad all other were good I think all good reviews are by company employees only the bad one is the only correct review,Please please do not move with Great American Van Lines.

Service cost: $325

Nathan at Great American Van Lines is great. Prompt response to my emails and phone calls. And handled my last minute changes no problem. You deal with one person the whole time and that was reassuring. I didn't have any item lost, I will use Great American Van Lines for my future moves. I'm a big fan of giving credit due when customer service is excellent--and Great American Van Lines customer service is top notch. I found a couple places that would ship for slightly cheaper--but you get what you pay for, which is a big consideration when you are talking about all your possessions. And, frankly, some of the other moving companies didn't 'feel' right--I know that is very subjective, but it does come down to trust. I highly recommend Nathan and his crew at Great American Van Lines.

Service cost: $1200

After an extensive search online I came acrros came across great american van lines right of the bet the service was professional and kind .they gave me a quote over the phone after a detail inventory (had a lot of fragile art works)my move was quite  of a big deal for me after living in nyc for 16 years and relocating myself to Los angeles .I had natan to take care all of my concerns as far as every detail of the move and man,,, do they know there stuff!!I thought im going to have some sale person who would give a price quote and a bill and I found a some one who actually understand my needs and worries about the move and how things are going to be done great american  van lines team came at 8:15 as promised and took care of my belonging as there own(after they crated my 34-inch sony tv its look like it could fall of a mountain and stay in one pice)i was so happy to see every thing set up in the truck nice and safe almost like art form .after all was set to go I had constant communication with natan along the way till my the last box was unboxed in my condo in LA  .bottom line  NO SURPRISE CHARGES , NO DAMAGES AND OVER ALL GREAT SERVICE AND SUPER PRO TEAM .

Service cost: $4500

As we had never moved with a full service company before, we were very apprehensive. We did a lot of research online beforehand and got a lot of different quotes.

When I first received a call from Great American, their price was higher than others. When I mentioned that we had received better quotes, Nathan G. offered to match, and I requested the quote in writing.

A few days later, I realized I had left some items off the inventory list. I contacted Nathan to inform him of the items, and asked how that would affect my quote. At that time, he offered to send a FULL TRUCK, just for us, which would go straight from our house to Maryland for $2,000 flat. I made sure that it was a binding quote and asked several times over the phone and in e-mail for him to assure me that no matter what we had, it would go on the truck at no extra charge because this is a flat rate. Everytime I inquired, he assured me that was the case. So, we made the reservation. So far, so good.

Then moving day arrives. The movers (Elvin and Jerome) arrived a few minutes early, took a look at our stuff, and assured us that everything would fit on their truck (which looked sketchy and didn't have any markings on it).

Then, the trickiness started. First, they didn't like the way that we had boxed up stuff and wanted to sell us their boxes (at $20 each) and their tape to use for re-packing. I refused and went to Wal*Mart for more boxes. They insisted they would have to charge me for the tape that they used to tape the blankets on the furniture.

After they had about half of our stuff packed on, they started saying that our quote was only for a 1200 cu. ft. truck, and the one they had driven down was 2000 cu. ft. They insisted that if they filled it up, they would have to charge us extra. But I fortunately got everything in writing through e-mail and was able to show them my binding quote for a FULL TRUCK.

I still had to go back and forth with the company on the phone for several minutes before they agreed to stick to their quote. Also, the moving company failed to inform the moving crew of the piano.

Before they ever started moving anything onto the truck, we were told that we were expected to provied a 15% ($300) tip (this came after I was required to sign a piece of paper saying that they couldn't ask me for a tip- real classy).

On moving day, we were surprised to learn that the ground floor apartment we viewed was not the one we were getting, and it would be a second floor apartment- up three flights of stairs. Additionally, they could not pull the truck right up to the door. Upon learning this, they were very angry and became rather surly.

They told my husband that they could write up the extra distance and stairs officially on the company invoice and we would be charged anywhere from $300-$500 additional, or we could give them the $300 as a tip. We felt that we did not really have a choice, as we needed our stuff and we could not afford the extra either way.

However, the movers made my husband and the friends that had showed up to help us unpack carry most of the boxes up the stairs. All they did was unload the truck and carry up the heavy furniture. Not only that, but it took about 3 hours longer than it should have.

They truly manhandled and damaged an antique wardrobe, and didn't put half of my furniture back together.

The only thing that saved us from being gouged by this company was that I did research, got a binding quote, and made sure to get everything in writing. Despite the positive reviews you will find online, working with this company was a nightmare.

In all, our $2,000 "flat rate" move ended up costing $2,676 including the outrageous tip they demanded and the tape they used to tape blankets onto our furniture.

I WILL NEVER USE THIS COMANY AGAIN, AND YOU SHOULD RUN QUICKLY IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

Service cost: $2076

This is the worst and most dishonest moving company on several criterias.
1. No proper schedule of pickup and delivery, they will keep on rescheduling the dates.
2. The initial quote was cheap but the pickup guy doubled it after he loaded all my stuff in the truck.
3. While delivery, they dumped all my stuff un assembled like my apt was a wherehouse. Eventually I had to spend another few hundred dollars for assembling it.
4. Items missing - when I tried calling them, no one picks up the call (Its been a week I am trying to reach them). Moreover they left someone else's stuff at my door (I think they did the same with my missing stuff as well).
5. Items damaged - Several thigns are broken and are not usable any more.
 
I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone.

Service cost: $2500

Overwhelming greatness


 
I have been looking for the right company to hire for months and ended up choosing Great American Van Lines because of the people around me. They have been insisting that I try this company out and that I wont regret it. Indeed, they were right. I never had any trace of regrets whatsoever with this company. the greatness and service they have given me is simply overwhelming. It does pay off to take a few risks and this is one risk that I was glad I did.

Service cost: $2650

My movers were nice and on time. The main guy was very professional, however one of the other two seemed very angry at being on the job. Many items of furniture were handled roughly, and two broke. One was due to pickup and the other was a broken leg on a desk because the celophane-wrapped the item so tightly that the leg was bent inwards. I filed a damage report before they left and was told they would contact me within the next week to schedule an insurance agent to inspect the damages. That was 20 days agi and I still haven't heard back. I called the company to report my damages to them, specifically and the number they gave me only rings. No on picks up and I cannot leave a message. They gave me another number in which I can leave a message and no one returns the call.  I find that this company is decent at moving, however my move was only 3 miles down the road and resulted in two damaged items. The damage was due to their packing method, not on carelessness whilst moving. What I do feel is attrotious, is their inability to contact me back regarding my damaged items. .

Service cost: $450