International Van Lines

We moved our family in October 2022 from California to south Texas. IVL provided a “guaranteed quote” of about $15K to move our 4 bedroom home. Even though we reduced our inventory by one refrigerator after the quote, they increased the price on pickup day by nearly 50%! It was a holiday, so they forced us to go to a local store and purchase about a dozen money orders to make up the difference. Otherwise they would leave without picking up our goods in the home we had just sold. The driver told us that this underestimation is commonplace with their sales people!

When they delivered our shipment to or new Texas home, they added an additional $1800 on the day of delivery and made us get a cashiers check before they would unload. They then declined to do an inventory of delivered items and quickly left the area. We subsequently discovered they had failed to deliver several boxes including irreplaceable family photos.

They damaged multiple furniture items due to sloppy packing and handling. IVL Sales had confirmed before we decided to go with them that insurance coverage was 60 cents per pound multiplied times the total weight of our shipment to cover damage. That was a blatant misrepresentation even though we asked for clarification and confirmation of our understanding during the discussion. They then informed us that they would only pay 60 cents per pound of damaged items. The coverage is worthless. We also received a box that was clearly tagged for another shipment. They quickly whisked it away without any documentation or discussion. That is probably what happened to our missing boxes.

We selected them in part because the sales person represented that they could be flexible on our delivery date, but it would be timely based on our needs. That was certainly not the case. They were drifting toward missing the outer limit of their maximum delivery guarantee of no more than 20 business days beyond the request date, even though I told their sales person that I would go with another carrier if it took more than 10 days beyond our request date. We spent many hours on the phone with customer service and escalated to operations management attempting to get them to comply with their own delivery window. We believe they had simply forgotten us and would have been extremely delayed if we had not invested the 20-30 hours negotiating with them.

Although customer service reps were professional and cordial, management was abusive. They were likewise abusive when we filed these complaints to the Better Business Bureau. They ridiculed us and offered no compensation for all of these errors on their part.

We advise you take any other carrier over IVL. We have never experienced such poor and abusive customer service.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $22000

International Van Lines is the worst company I have ever done business with in my entire life, to the point where their disastrous handling of my move was genuinely traumatic for me, and I haven’t been able to write this review until now, six months later. It’s still hard.

Short version: They lied about the timeline, refused to tell me when my stuff was arriving once they had our money, delivered it a month late, lost and destroyed a substantial amount of belongings, and then created an intentionally impossible to complete claims process so that we couldn’t even make a claim on the damage.

Long version: International Van Lines was hired to move my belongings from California to Massachusetts, with a delivery date of November 15th. We arranged to have the stuff picked up on October 30th, and the sales representative assured us that it rarely took more than a week to arrive.

The first sign of trouble was when the contracted movers showed up and had a bunch of terms that were not in the original moving contract with IVL, including that they weren’t liable for damage to various types of furniture; this despite the fact that the moving company is owned by IVL. We were forced to either accept the new terms or lose half of the substantial ($6000+) cost of the move.

Once they had the stuff, IVL suddenly changed their tune, refusing to confirm they would deliver on the 15th as agreed, and insisting that was an “estimate” and they had up to 30 days to deliver after that. The contract specified that they would “make every possible effort” to deliver on the 15th, but they did not even pretend to try. My stuff did not depart California until November 26th, 11 days after it was supposed to arrive; International Van Lines still refused to provide an estimate for delivery when the truck left. I had moved on the 14th and was forced to reside in an empty apartment for weeks, even as I started a new job. When I asked them what had happened, they said “Nothing has failed” and it was all going according to plan, in direct breach of the contract.

My stuff ultimately did not arrive until Friday, December 9th, and we were given only 48 hours notice (with the driver calling us from Virginia and asking where our stuff was going, apparently not even being told the delivery destination!) The stuff that arrived was a disaster; frames that they had specifically promised to wrap were unprotected and damaged, backs of shelving ripped, a handmade table with a shattered base and internal damage that ultimately cost $300 to fix (and would have been another $200+ for all the scratches), a broken TV stand, etc. The stickers they used to keep track of which boxes were which had fallen off, so they had no system to determine what actually arrived; multiple boxes were missing, and the items were never recovered.

The movers then damaged both the couch and the bedframe assembling them, and did not inform me; I would only discover later when the bed started collapsing with me in it, and I found twisted metal because they hadn’t bothered to install any of the support screws and struts. Meanwhile, the futon was not only misassembled such that it was unusable as a futon, but they stripped the bolts; we can’t fix it, and we’ll have to destroy it in order to get it out of the apartment.

Finally, they outsourced the claims process to a company that built an intentionally impossible process: websites that only showed one part of the process at a time, and wouldn’t save your work, requiring hours and hours of form-filling and forcing you to restart, combined with asking increasingly absurd questions (like the purchase date for every item); the alternate was mailing in a package, which other reviews all attested they would pretend to not receive so they wouldn’t have to pay out a claim. We were not able to make any claims on the damaged and missing items, despite me spending a good 6 hours on the claims process before realizing it was futile.

I have never felt so victimized. I deeply regret doing business with International Van Lines, and to this day - six months later - am finding new damage and missing items from the move.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6139

Recently arranged move from NC to FL handled by Justin Davis who assured us that our goods would move directly to warehouse in FL so we could precisely specify delivery date to seasonal home. Justin told me he would be available if any issues, very friendly. However, on move day we were told goods would be stored in NC with 30 day delivery window and Justin refused to answer my calls and texts after giving me his cell number. His assistant was not helpful. It took weeks to locate our goods and get them delivered. In addition, despite giving them a precise description of our belongings, and actually measuring all the boxes, the movers tried to charge us more than the estimate. Unlike all other movers, International goes by volume (which their trucker "estimates" vs weight which all other companies use and which can be precisely determined. Only after much complaining was I able to avoid an overcharge, which I think is their standard operating procedure. The packing and move itself was good, or I wouild have given one star. I would avoid ths company and use one that goes by weight, and has better customer service. Justin Davis was completely disingenuous in our dealings.,

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5000

This was the absolute worst moving experience I’ve ever had. Why? Let me count the ways.

- never answered the phone

- price changed constantly

- didn’t come on the scheduled date for the move

- cost increased by the hour

- never communicated about delivery date

- furniture was destroyed - antique sideboard, table, nested tables, rocking chair, etc…

- offered $100 compensation

Truly, the worst moving experience of my life. I CAN NOT RECOMMEND this company. Do NOT hire them.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $15000

I hired IVL to move my mother across country. The sales person was on top of his game and very receptive to calls, texts and emails. The estimate was provided by doing a video of each room and announcing which items in each room would ship along with my estimate of how many boxes I would be self packing. The inventory changed many times but when we had a final list the price of the move was estimated and the date I needed those items at the new location was picked. Never was I told we won't make your date until after the bill of lading was signed..then I was told it could be 2-21 business days later. The movers showed up a day after promised. Surprised me that they were packing onto a truck and moving the load to another city to go on another truck. They also increased my cubic feet by 100 and charged for additional packaging that brought my new price, and out of pocket that day, up another $1000. They did a great job packing but during all of this I could not get a single call back or text from anyone who HAD been so reachable one day earlier. They left with our load on that Friday and my mother left to drive across country the next day. Then nothing. No word from anyone. A few days later when I finally got the one good employee to answer, they hadn't even left the trucking ccompany.I was told to be patient that dispatch had a lead on our load and would contact me. They NEVER did. A few days later on a Saturday night a driver calls to tell us he has our load and will be delivering the next day...a SSunday..to a retirement community with locked gates. Surprise. The company/ dispatch still hasn't even contacted us that our load has left. The driver showed up Sunday at 2pm (not the 8am he had said) did a great job unloading our move but surprise...he couldn't park close enough to the building so another $300 in cash was required. About the time they are unloading the move I got a text from some new person at IVL letting me know we'd be hearing soon from dispatch. Ha. Never heard another word from the company. Everything arrived in good condition but my angst during that week was sky high...one contact would have been so helpful. Had our money. Quit communicating.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6300

After researching out-of-state moving companies for weeks, we found International Van Lines on a few websites and rated it well. I was not looking for a cheap moving quote but a moving company I could trust to finish the job in time. I was pressed for time because I started a new job and had a very specific request. The movers arrived on time, packed my three-bedroom house, and moved my stuff from Brooklyn, NY, to Dallas in a few days. The delivery of my goods was smooth. They set up all of our furniture room by room and assembled whatever they needed to. I proceeded to go through everything and confirmed that nothing was missing or damaged. I would also like to thank the staff at IVL; Michelle, Daisja, and Jason were key players in getting everything put together, and they were very pleasant to work with. I have never worked with a moving company before, but I would recommend IVL. They made things easier for our family and relieved some of our stress and worries about moving to a new state. They get a good review from me, my future business, and a recommendation.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000

We did a detailed list of items to be moved including measurements, room moved from, moved to and description of items. We self packed, each box was labeled and had bright green duct tape on the box. There were 28 of an estimated 35 boxes and 31 pieces of furniture and one 48x60 boxed painting. We had a good up front quote with a not earlier than date and somewhat "fluid" not later than promised delivery date. Load was great with care for furniture, walls and efficiency - great experience. Items went from Savannah to Jacksonville awaiting "bundling" for a load to the midwest (Omaha destination.) It sat for 10 days awaiting a full truck (as expected.) The truck left Jax on 12/22 and proceeded west. We were notified 12/23 by the driver he was enroute. He texted on 12/24 that he would arrive between 4-6 pm. He arrived at 6:45 and proceeded to unload with the help of local persons. The driver refused to move until he was paid, additional money was added for the two steps past the contract letter of twelve steps ($150) and I signed the content manifest before anything was touched. Clearly - the body language and 7pm Christmas eve was not a time to argue. Unloading was ok but the three items that went to the basement required at least two reminders (wanted my $150 worth.) They got ready to leave but the bed in the master was not assembled and the mattress was in the kitchen. I told the driver assembly was his job - I helped with assembly and movement of the mattress since he had let the workers go. Job was done by 9 pm, just in time for Santa to find our new address. The workers were friendly - the driver was surly and rude. We lost two small boxes and one end table - driver said it was not on the truck. In the end two boxes of pottery and garage tools were replaced and the end table is on our shopping list. This is the nature of small moves today - pickup, bundle, you are at the mercy of the delivery driver - and be ready. We put an apple air tag in two of our boxes - they arrived in the boxes - but nice to track your stuff. Names withheld but available.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6000

The good things first: they started packing on a Sunday - which is unusual. And the team had a nice attitude. But it was a team of three people who weren't native speakers, and there were a lot of language and communication issues.

The team used oversized cardboard boxes (originally for hanging clothes) to pack the majority of our household - barely wrapped. Many items were easily damaged. For our clothes, they didn't have the necessary rails to hang them - we were able to keep them from folding and stacking them in these large boxes - delicate shirts and blouses on the bottom of the box, heavy jackets and coats on top. After they got "alternative rails", we caught them stuffing vacuum cleaners, tools and so on under the hanging clothes - so that the clothes were crumpled and stuffed.

There was little to no labeling on the boxes. If they were, the only information outside the box was the room in which the box was packed. But due to the size of the boxes, they filled up the remaining space with things from other rooms. To prevent the items from falling apart, they used parcel tape instead of adhesive film, which can be removed without leaving any residue and is gentle on delicate surfaces - and which is or should be standard with removal companies.

The fee was to be paid in 3 installments: the first installment after signing the contract, the second before packing, the third before unloading! And that is unbelievable! They even refused to open the truck. We had no chance to see if it was our household they were going to deliver!

After delivery, we noticed a lot of minor damage not only to the packed items, but also to our furniture, refrigerators (which were not protected by blankets or anything) and so on. When I called customer service, I received rude responses, no sign of apology or understanding. Instead, I was "asked" to make an insurance claim by sending in extensive documentation and at least 2 estimates from professional companies!!!! Seriously? Hundreds of pictures of scratches and dents? And what company comes out to fix all this minor damage? In the end you might get a small amount - if there was no deductible - but the scratches and dents are still there! And IVL didn't have the guts to at least apologize for the non/semi-professional work they billed as a professional!

And at the very end, they refused to pick up the packaging material. We had to take the three truckloads to the dumpster ourselves.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000