International Van Lines

Moving as a whole is already a very stressful task. I've contacted International Van Lines in hopes that they will be able to alleviate some of that stress off my hands. What I got instead was probably one of the poorest customer service experiences yet. As a sales person myself, I was appalled at how everything was handled. Let me break down the events pre to post move:

Pre move:

- My account manager Justin Davis was super responsive, provided my quote, and was able to work with me on getting my quote lowered by a few hundred bucks.

- He initially stated that since my 1br apt contained the minimum weight, he was able to get me the best price.

- He checked out my apartment locations on Google Maps to ensure an 18 wheeler truck was able to drive and park on my streets with ease to avoid the very expensive shuttle (uHaul) surcharge. He was able to confirm that both my streets (current and new addresses) were able to meet this criteria.

- I wanted my items to be delivered as close to the date I get my new keys so he informed me that IVL was going need to pick up my items 10 days out. I agreed.

During move:

- After paying the $699 booking fee, Justin immediately passed me down to another Account Manager Lisa.

- After connecting with Lisa, she surprisingly informed me that Cubic footage, not my total inventory weight.

- Moving closer to my scheduled move-out, Lisa then passes me on to another Account Manager, Karen.

- Karen was able to confirm my move date & inventory. I ultimately needed to add and remove some inventory after confirmation. I was able to do the former but not the latter due to my latter request being after hours. Annoying but it is what it is.

Move day:

- I received a call from the moving crew providing me their ETA. They came up to my building with an 18 wheeler.

- Upon being handed paperwork, I was surprised to see completely different paperwork from another moving company. I asked the movers why that was & was informed that they were hired out by "Phoenix Moving". They had no clue who/what International Van Lines were.

- After some confusion. Karen then informs me that they hire out brokers to perform moves. A rather LARGE detail that was never mentioned to me by any of my 3 account managers.

- The movers were very professional and friendly however they did not wear face masks at all. Very concerning during a pandemic.

- Fast forward to 1 week later, A new IVL contact now informs me that my stuff is actually scheduled to arrive from 2-21 business days. Another large details that my account managers failed to tell me.

- Karen is now completely unresponsive. She no longer replies to emails or voicemails.

- 2 weeks later I get an email from the brokerage movers IVL hired informing me that my stuff is on the way.

- About 24hrs within my delivery date, I get a call from the broker/dispatch telling me that a shuttle will be required.

- After about 3hrs I get another call from the truck driver giving me a completely different shuttle quote from dispatch. He also provides me a myriad of excuses as to why he needed a shuttle to take my items to my street. From not feeling comfortable driving a big rig in my street, to looking at Google Maps and telling me that it's illegal to drive trucks through my street (I'm not sure how one gets that info from Google Maps). I pretty much had no choice but to agree with the shuttle because my items were pretty much at their mercy at this point.

- 1 day later my driver arrives with the uHaul he has rented with 2 additional movers, one of whom does not wear a mask. They open up the uHaul and to my shock, almost all of my boxes are completely bent out of shape. He insures me even though the boxes are in horrible shape, my items are probably safe (thankfully they were). The move-in itself took about 2hrs. The movers & the drivers were good at their jobs save for the 1 mover that did not wear a mask.

Post move:

- I was fortunate almost all my items we're not damaged. A file cabinet and a floor lamp were damaged.

- I attempted again to call and email my original Account Manager Justin in attempts to get some things cleared out with no luck. I was completely ghosted by them.

- I then get a call from a IVL's claim specialist informing that I would probably not get my money back for the shuttle if I were to write them bad reviews on public forums. She also informed me that it was my fault I did not carefully read the terms even though there was so much misinformation from my multiple account managers. She also asked me why I was complaining about the damaged boxes when the contents were intact.. What?

I apologize for the long-drawn out review but I really want to warn people before choosing IVL. Read other review sites very carefully, while I don't doubt many have had very satisfactory experiences with them, a lot of the positive reviews appear to be fake as they are written in the same format/style. I do not recommended IVL at all.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2800

If I could give them a minus 5, I would! They treat you great until you book. Then they don't want to talk to you. They brokered out our move which we didn't know until the night before. A two day load took 4. Good thing the people that bought our home were kind, because moving still taking place after closing!

The amount of damage is unbelievable. Two desks destroyed. Furniture with gouges, tools bent, bins broken, mirrors broken; Grandmothers clock broken. I can't write the extent of what they did to our belongings! They were rude! They were manipulative! They are the worst of the worst!! Run from IVL! Run fast! I can't get to a person to even file a claim for the damage! They raised the price mid way through the move out. They literally stopped packing and were directed to go outside and wait by the foreman of the crew! Until we agreed to pay, they were done! It was like our belongings being held hostage.

AWFUL business!! Can't stress this enough! R&M Transportation, the ones they brokered to, destroyed our belongings!

Worst experience! Don't use!! Run away from them!!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $16000

I’m not one to leave reviews, but as a business owner it was important to leave some feedback regarding my experience with IVL. Most people will stop what they’re doing to write negative comments, but I’m one to understand that leaving positive feedback equals the playing field. Anyhow my move was from Monterey, CA to Manassas, VA. We moved a 4 bedroom home with 2 cars. Their cost was in line, but the main reason I chose them was based on my comfort level. My rep Justin was upfront and honest and put me at ease. IVL showed up in a nice truck and went to work. We had a total of 6 movers shoe packed everything and was very efficient. It was a straight delivery and everything arrived on time. We had a couple of minor damages, but we filed a claim with insurance and they took care of it. My experience with IVL was positive and I would use them again. My suggestions are to always purchase additional insurance, be very clear with what you’re looking for and always ask for worst case scenarios. Moving is not fun and you should always plan for the worst.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7585

TLDR: For the sake of your sanity do NOT use this company. Its not worth it. It’s been a year since our move and we are still traumatized.

Longer version:

We deeply regret our choice of International Van Lines for our cross country move from Maryland to LA. After doing a large amount of research on various companies, we choose IVL for their positive reviews, rate, and initial organized interactions. However multiple concerning things occurred which would make us not recommend IVL to any customer.

1) On the day of our move, a large sum of cash was stolen from our home; this had been partially hidden in our “to travel with us” items and labeled as separate from the items to pack. We later found the cash missing and confronted the moving foreman, who spoke to his assistants, one of whom subsequently returned the cash to us. This was with Big Boy Movers who IVL had contracted with.

2) The delivery plan/dates were not clearly verbalized to us which let to a huge miscommunication and living on air mattresses for 3 weeks. We were told by IVL that it takes 21+ days to move across the country, so we needed to pick a delivery estimated date after that. Our items were picked up July 9th, so we choose 8/10 as an ideal estimate. Apparently this date is actually the “First Available Delivery” date, and the company actually promises delivery in 2-21 business days AFTER this date. This led to us arriving at our new destination and not having our items arrive for an additional 2 weeks after August 10th. It may have been in the fine print (which is our fault for not clearly reviewing the dozens of pages), but we are not familiar with moving lingo, and out of common courtesy this concept could have been much better communicated.

3) In our move from the east coast to the west coast, we learned that after our pick up on 7/9 our goods sat in a warehouse for 3 weeks, and the trailer didn’t even LEAVE the east coast until after our arrival in LA and in fact left the east coast on our “First Available Delivery Date.” The logical assumption was that while we drove across the country, our goods would be making the same approximate trip. Why wouldn’t the company even attempt to arrange transport for our goods during this time frame? This was when we became the most frustrated - on our arrival in LA after 3 weeks of driving only to learn that our goods were just leaving the east coast.

4) Communication was unbelievable abysmal. During our 3 week cross country trip we made multiple phone calls, left messages, and sent emails to request a status update in order to plan and obtain necessary LA permits, with absolutely zero response. The current pandemic has led to difficulties everywhere, but if it has led to staffing shortages then the company should take on fewer jobs in order to maintain the best standards.

5) When our truck driver arrived and realized the distance between the truck and the front door of our apartment he repeatedly made his disgust vocally clear. He repeated over and over aggressively “I hate these long distances, I hate it.” We obviously couldn’t do anything about the location of our apartment and paid the extra fee for the distance, so we shouldn’t be made to feel rude and belittled simply because of our apartment location.

6) This hardly seems noteworthy given everything, but our initial estimate was more than doubled after the movers arrived in person. We somewhat expected this as it seems to be a common issue with moving companies in general, but it was a fair amount of sticker shock.

7) Multiple items were damaged in the delivery process. One leg of a coffee table was completely ripped off, due to improper packing (no packing) the speed knob on the $600 Kitchen Aid was broken rendering the Kitchen Aid unusable, champagne glasses were dumped upside down into a larger box with zero paper/padding, 3/4 of our wooden furniture head nicks/scuffs/scratches including a large scratch on top of a coffee table, and our fragile Christmas ornaments were packed in a box with two 25 pound dumbbells. Several bottles of kitchen oil were packed by the movers (we were told liquids would not be packed due to leaking risk) and subsequently leaked during the journey, getting all over our kitchen items and saturating some of the nearby clothing boxes. Unfortunately we’d opted only for the basic insurance, and the company emailed us they would reimburse us $76 for >$500 worth of damage; it’s been over 12 months since our move and still no check for reimbursement.

In summary, please do not use IVL. We remain frustrated in our choice and will never use them or recommend them again.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8000

If you have anything of value, DO NOT book this moving company. Quote in no way reflects how much they are going to charge you. Showed up to my house the day before closing and charged thousands of dollars more than the original quote. Packers were smoking weed in our basement during the first 10 mins of packing. Boxes were not organized and items dumped in large boxes with zero care. Items in storage for a month and when delivered found that we were missing very expensive items that were strategically left off of the inventory list. Furniture pieces also broken upon delivery. We have been dismissed over and over again to try to find our items. We did not buy the over priced insurance which would have been just as much as our actual move. This company is complete trash. These five star reviews are planted. Zero possibility that they received stellar service from these crooks. Terrible experience and recommend going anywhere else but here for your move. Save yourself the pain and money. Awful.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $16000

Bait and Switch

Misrepresentation

Neglect

DO NOT EVER, UNDER AND CIRCUMSTANCES HIRE THIS COMPANY!!!

International Van Lines has two DOT numbers and a parent company names Ocean Star ... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Over $3700+ in damaged items upon delivery

The story is too long to leave on a review in whole.

Here are the facts

Quoted 4-5 day delivery - it took almost a month

We had a weeks worth of clothing and an air mattress!

Promised it would be handled in house by IVL - subbed the job out and didn't tell us

Subbed company Y&O Moving consulting increased our quoted price by 40%

Promised it would go straight to our new location - the subbed out company moved our things into a warehouse in LA.

Sales person who made all the promises went radio silent once the contract was signed.

Unmasked movers

I am shocked that this company is still in business. The damage was so bad the movers themselves were in shock.

Our boxes were crushed/ wet/ damaged, and then re tapped back together.

Our boxes were opened/ rifled through and then crushed down to a make extra space.

My daughters clothing was gone through and repackaged! It showed up with her little dresses taped to the OUTSIDE of the box.

Broken glasses/ dishes/ shredder/ large mirror/ pots/ workout bench/ dining bench/ dining server ... the list goes on and on.

During our move in the mover tried to flush paper towels down the toilet which over flowed into our basement.

My husband had to step in and start moving things to keep the process going.

Items were not reassembled as promised per the contract.

When I called the Compliance Manager I was not listened to, yelled at, threatened to be hung up on and then told to get an attorney.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $12000

I really wish I had read these reviews before going with international van lines. Now that I’ve, I can 100% vouch for all these reviews. They are this horrible. I don’t see how they are even still in business. We moved from Virginia to Texas and the whole moving experience was nothing short of a worst nightmare. The only time they are nice and prompt and helpful is until you sign the contract. After that, you will not even get a email response from them. And yes, they are a broker company and outsource your job to the worst possible movers out there. There is no communication and leave you stressed until the move date. And yes the binding estimate is a joke. They charged us $9,000 over the estimate. What a rip off. And the damages that were made is ridiculous, just to mention a few, they literally ripped apart my daughter’s huge wooden brand new toy kitchen set. They did not mind to break the pieces and packed them all in a big box. Did not assemble it back obviously. And they broke our expensive sofa in half, literally two halves. I’ve no idea how they could manage to do it. And broke our zgallerie study desk and scratched the breakfast table and our front Mahogany door and lost a couple of step ladders and many more. And the worst is yet to come, they have a company who settles their claims and this is a joke. They make you do so much paperwork that if you spent all that time working for someone you could actually make more money than the settlement claim check they give you at the end. I was outraged seeing the check, which was a stupid $86 amount for all these plus many more damages they have done. The whole experience is a nightmare. Please believe these reviews and never ever go with international van lines.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $18400

They brokered our move, even when they said they would not. They did so at the last minute, so we were pressured to use this other company. They over-charged and have provided no help. Now that we know, we will never use a company like this again. They will quote you whatever they need to get your money and then deal you off. They will not respond or help. Our move has been a disaster. Do not fall for the positive reviews they have clearly paid someone to write or cover up the accurate experiences of people who have used by them.

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

Our move with International Van Lines was one of the most horrible experiences we have ever had in our life. Desiring a stress-free move & willing to pay for first class service, we paid 16K for an experience from …. Reviews from national publications indicated that IVL was rated as the top provider of movers. I personally suspect that those ratings were (fill in the blank).

Our move from Kansas City was scheduled for a Sunday morning promising that a truck would show up between 9 to 11. At 10 minutes to 11 one driver showed up with a truck that was ¾ full with someone else’s property. Asking where the other staff was, we were told they were on their way but were in somewhere called Tulsa, Oklahoma. Things got worse from there. Instead of IVL using their own trucks and staff they subbed out our move to hired contractors from Chicago who hired local labor pool workers. They did not have enough proper wrapping materials that we paid for. They took two days to load where they told us they would load our belongings in 6 to 8 hours. We had to abandon our $1,400 gun safe that they assured us on 3 conversations that there would be no issues in getting it loaded. Due to the delay in moving we had to spend extra hotel expenses and time on the road. We had a number of items damaged due to improper wrapping. In order to compensate for our issues, IVL did make an adjustment of our bill in the amount of $1,350.00. So, considering our losses we were out an additional $270.00 and untold stress. I would not recommend IVL for anyone considering a “professional” mover.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $16500

First of all, they are NOT a moving company...they are a broker. They hired a 3rd party mover to load our belongings, who then reloaded onto a 4th party tractor trailer for transport. The 3rd party did not provide an updated estimate based on site inspection BEFORE wrapping and loading as per contract. Instead they wrapped and loaded just more than half our belongings, then told us we would need to pay roughly $6000 over the original al $10,000 estimate. WhenI reached out to IVL to voice my displeasure they were nowhere to be found. Ken Sachs was my agent and he went into hiding after IVL received my initial payment, which is basically their cut. My bbelongings arrived with numerous items damaged beyond repair. My leather reclining sofa was trashed, as were a wood TV stand, coffee table, end table and night stand...not to mention a dozen or so statues and figurines. The guy who headed the loading effort shook me down for a $100 tip per man for 7 hours of work. He also repackaged items I to larger boxes as they charge by bulk. Then the 4th party transport driver showed up with one helper, not the three I was promised. Said he went by Home Depot to try to pick up more workers....really??? Me, my son-in-law, and his buddy were moving stuff all day...including unloading by hand truck right from the inside of the truck which is a huge liability issue. And to top it all off, we had to call an exterminator as our belongings were ingested due to their sitting in a tractor trailer with several loads from other people. All the while IVL is nowhere to be found. Worst moving experience by far. Stay away from this company, and liars like Ken Sachs.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $15717