International Van Lines

International Van Lines (IVL) is NOT a moving company it registered as a broker on the Department of Transportation website (dot.gov). This means that the company will get a contract for your business and immediate sell it to another company.

IVL will obtain the sign contract, after receiving the contract and the large deposit. IVL’s concerns with you as a customer end. The company contracted by IVL increased the price by $1,200.00. Any concerns or question from the customer will NOT be addressed.

Worse than the increase in the “binding estimate”/contract quote, is the total lack of customer service. IVL has no process in place to address customer complaints or concerns, the company is slow responding to emails and returning phone calls. The arrogance of the employees is unbelievable, why should they care they have your money and your belongings.

Overall BEWARE, I would not recommend this company. Based solely on the lack of integrity in business practice, appearing as a mover when you are a broker and the poor customer service. If I could have rated the company a zero, I would have.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7302

We did virtual walkthroughs with four different moving companies and decided to go with the most expensive and the highest reviewed company (International Van Lines). They were scheduled to move us out of the house on a Sunday and guaranteed us they would arrive by no later than Monday morning. After Sunday and Monday morning passed we received no word from anyone in the company when and if they would still be arriving; finally, we received a call that night that they would be there Tuesday morning and that the delays were due to a truck axle breaking (although this was never communicated until now). Pressed for time due to the threat of not being able to close on our house, we took their word that they would be there on time and able to move us out before the closing process. Due to their lack of communication and transparency we were unable in such short notice to obtain the service of another moving company. Early Tuesday morning there was no sign of the movers showing up until we got a call closer to the afternoon letting us know they were on their way and there was traffic from another major city over an hour away holding them up. After a chronic lack of communication and every excuse in the book thrown at us, finally the movers arrived in the afternoon on Tuesday. The first thing they did when they came to the house was inform us that they typically receive a 5-10% cash tip, something we usually honor but have never been presented with in such a manner before. A few minutes later they informed us that instead of the $11,000 price that was given during the virtual walkthrough they later told us the price was now $20,000. We did not hide the amount of items we had, in fact we already personally moved 20% of our belongings and furniture. The manager had the gall to tell us this after being three days late and not contacting us appropriately putting us in a very awkward position with the closing and walkthrough of our house happening in mere hours. After a stressful afternoon we had to go to the bank in order to fulfill the new demands given to us. After all the delays, excuses, and utter lack of communication they had the gall to present us with this information as they were packing our belongings into the truck full well knowing we had no other option due to their lack of transparency. While the workers were very hard working, fast and efficient, at this point due to the delays they were not done in time for the closing and walkthrough and thousands of dollars was withheld by the buyers of our previous home while our property was still in the household with the movers, fortunately we were still able to close on the house. Further delays happened when some of the trucks left to go to other households to move and they were lost for hours trying to return back and find the location they were previously at that day. After everything was packed into the trucks and the movers left they informed us they would not personally be taking our property to our destination but we would maybe get it by Friday (three days later). When they left and we moved to a new location we were contacted by the owners of our previous home to tell us that the movers forgot to pack drawers and drawers of silverware and appliances that they were directly told multiple times to pack. Fortunately the new owners were understanding and a family member personally picked up these items and drove them tens of hours across the coast to our new residence. The movers also were not aware that we could understand the language they were communicating in, multiple times they were heard making disparaging comments towards us and scheming about getting us to sign a new contract as soon as possible. It has been twelve days and hundreds of phone calls to every number we had available with not a single return call, voicemail, or message to update us where our missing property is. Finally after the twelfth day we called the number for an estimation on a move and got to speak to a representative that was not only unprofessional and unable to explain what was happening, but hung up on us when we told us about our experience. The only information she was able to tell us is that the company was backed up and our belongings have not even left the state. At this point we are evaluating every option to proceed. But after dozens of cross country and international moves our family has experienced, we have never had an experience this terrible. This moving company as far as I can tell is not interested in giving reasonable expectations to customers or fulfilling their duty to deliver goods safely. We will never use this company again or recommend it to anyone we know that values transparent and realistic pricing, punctuality, basic professional behavior, packing and transporting your belongings on time, or the basic decency of communicating issues on the timeline of the move.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $20000

We hired IVL for my move from Minnesota to California in August due to its good review. Big mistake!

- The movers came one day later than what's promised.

- I was charged $7000 more than the original quote (~100% more) on the day of moving, even though the list of items I provided was pretty accurate.

- Various miscellaneous charges: packing fees, material fee, stairs. I emailed IVL specifically about these fees before the move and I was told there was no such additional fees.

- Two missing boxes. One missing glass table top and a broken TV that I paid extra for IVL to do a special handling.

- A number of damaged items, scratches on furniture.

- Talked to both IVL and the actual carriers. Nobody was willing to take the responsibility.

Stop using IVL!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $14000

DO NOT USE INTERNATIONAL VAN LINES. We had an absolutely horrific experience with this company. They were great and easy to work with on the front end—that’s how they get you in. We used them to move our belongings across several states and also stored our belongings with them. We were moving during COVID and searching for a home was more difficult than anticipated so we ended up storing our things with them for 5 months. This was our primary mistake. DO NOT USE THEM FOR STORAGE. Once it was time to move, they gave us an insane time window (we gave a preferred date. They “tried” for that date but stated it could be up to 21 days after that!!!!). Our stuff arrived over a week after our preferred time even though I called and spoke to someone at the company who said they should be able to get it to us on our preferred date. My experience is that everyone at that company will say what you want to hear to get you off the phone.

When our stuff arrived is when the real problems began. Notably, several of our belongings were not on the truck, including our big screen television, a very expensive family heirloom rug, one of our dining chairs (can’t have a set with one missing), several of my son’s toys, our patio chairs, and a few other things I can’t even remember right now. Obviously we were very upset and worried our things had been stolen. Though they worked to return our things, their communication was abysmal. The moving coordinator, who was the only person I could get to respond to me, was horrifically rude to me on multiple occasions. He didn’t let me know what was happening (when stuff was arriving, what steps they were taking to retrieve our things) and other staff simply ignored me. I had multiple messages be ignored. When I escalated things to speak to their complaints department, they were initially great (as with all of my experiences with this horrible company), but then went on to ignore me and leave messages unanswered too. They did return our TV and rug (most important things to me), but naturally our television arrived broken. They hid behind procedures and red tape saying I signed such and such so they weren’t liable and “just fill out the claim paperwork.” So our TV was just broken and we were not reimbursed enough money to be able to replace it. They never found our dining chair (which makes our dining set now unusable so more $$$$) or patio furniture or some of my son’s toys. They claim to have gone to lengths to find these items, but only communicated the steps they took after I was so angry and upset about what was happening, it did not help to hear they had called customers on the route to see if they had my things. Why not tell me that you were doing this from the start? It would have helped my experience to know what they were doing to help, and I only learned what they were doing after I complained and harassed people to respond to me. It shouldn’t be this difficult to communicate with people.

I waited to complete my review until I was done with the claims process. I haven’t even mentioned all of the belongings they broke in the move. Needless to say, after we spent over 5 figures with this company, they reimbursed us $700. That won’t even replace the TV with a comparable one much less the dining set or fix any of the things that were broken (my grandmother’s China cabinet for one). The claims department attempted to be reasonable but they also dropped the ball in communication. Letting emails go unanswered, saying things would be complete the next day and then not responding for 11 days, etc. I felt like a piece of trash during all of my interactions with them. They do not care about their customers and just want to get your money and get rid of you. I cannot beg you enough DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. It was an incredibly awful experience. No one should cry because of how someone at a moving company speaks to them. No one.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $11000

We hired IVL based on their great reviews . They didn’t tell us they hired Road runner Transit (NJ) who has a terrible rating. Was over a day late without notice, not prepared to pack us even though we prepaid for packing. Damaged over 1/2 of the things they moved. Mixed up items that werent ours and refused to pick up these things without charging us because they said they didn't care, and doubled the original estimate with no explanation. IVL has ignored our request for explanation or reimbursement. The movers threw a fit when we tried to correct the way they were packing super fragile items, after we started assisting to wrap these items. Everything we packed arrived in piece except for the boxes they crushed. They even broke a piano which we paid a lot of money to move. We think they must have hired these guys off the street as they were clueless how to pack the many fragile items that were listed in the move list to start with. They made us sign documents before they left our house with no backup to the information including additional cost and then held our furnishings for ransom when we disputed the doubling of charges even though we had fewer items than originally listed. They dont return any calls and if a third party mover had not contacted us to say they had a piano left on their truck that wasn't part of their packing list.,(In a totally different city), our piano would have been lost. We were moving my 89 year old mom cross country which was very stressfull for all to begin with. She downsized a lot to make this move so to have the few things she did want to take to move into a 600 sq ft living space be destroyed is heartbreaking.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $11000

What began as an exciting and happy experience quickly turned into something awful. From the actual scheduling of loading the truck we should have seen the warning signs. This mover did come in with the lowest quote, and the assessor was friendly. However, they only contacted us at 6 pm the night before their scheduled arrive. It was then they informed us we needed $7000 up front to begin the move and personal checks were not accepted. We didn't have time to get to the bank ahead of their arrival. The truck they brought was not big enough for the job so they had to do the move over 2 days. The 1st day, they put a huge scratch in our dining room floor (which they denied saying it was there when they arrived), that would end up costing us $500 to fix. They overflowed our toilet in the downstairs bathroom and did not say anything. Simply shut the door, and left; as the dirty toilet water leaked through the ceiling onto the carpet in the basement of my newly sold home. This required more money as I had to have the carpet cleaned and disinfected to remove the smell.

While the movers that returned the next day were hard workers, they did not care much about my belongings. I watched as they banged things together, hit items off my walls (leaving marks), and showed more concern over finishing than being careful with my things.

When we requested our items to be delivered to our new home, we were told they had up to 21 days to deliver from our requested date; we waited 2 weeks in our new home without any of our belongings. The moving van showed up without movers. The original scheduled moving crew was a NO SHOW...so, the driver took to Facebook. They hired a rogue Facebook moving crew to unload the truck. While 3 of them unloaded the truck, 1 of them was walking through the house surveilling the situation. There were many items broken and significantly damaged, that cannot be replaced. My son's bed frame was destroyed. My grandmother's china closet (Bassett furniture) deeply and irreparably scratched in multiple places just to name a few items. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS THEY STOLE $5000 cash FROM MY HOUSE. They rifled through our closets and drawers and stole my son's hard earned cash for college; including, money from my husband's wallet. We filed a police report and immediately called the IVL. The company informed us that since we cannot prove the amount of money taken, they would only return the money we had given the movers as a tip.

When they asked the driver about the incident, he LIED. He told them he had searched the guys before they left the premises and he knew they hadn't taken anything. They were long gone before we even realized anything was missing. I almost feel as though the driver was in on the whole thing.

We now are fearful that this group of guys may try to return to our house since they know everything we have in the house; after all, they unloaded all of our belongings off the truck.

I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS COMPANY TO ANYONE. BUYER BEWARE!

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $20000

Five stars for being the worst moving company we could’ve used. I’ll have to come back and add to my review when I have the energy but I needed to just make note to hopefully help anyone looking into a moving company. This was our 3rd cross country move in the past 2 years and it has been absolutely horrific. Customer service, communication, cost of additional prices, quality of packing our items, and then offering unpacking service only to subcontract out the job to a company who didn’t do unpacking. This company is absolute dog shit and I would never even consider using them even if someone paid me to. If you value your belongings, sanity, and appreciate good communication, reliable customer service, and assurance that your stuff is well cared for .. do NOT hire IVL.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $25000

They are up front and friendly when you contact them. The estimate they gave was way under the actual cost. They "broker" out the move, if you are not in a state where they have trucks. The pickup was just ok, they showed up in a rental truck. It took almost four weeks to get our stuff. The cost was very high, too much for what we had. The communication from the company was not very good. Some of the boxes were damaged. When the items were delivered you could tell they just wanted to get their money and leave. Shop around, you can do much better!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $10300