Northern Elite Van Lines

I booked this company for my daughter's move from MD to CO (she also left a review below). I spoke to Zach who did a very good sales job. He wasn't too pushy (no used car salesman vibe) and he took the time to walk me through the DOT website to explain what to look for in evaluating companies. He also told me that they offered up to 2 weeks of free storage if we couldn't take delivery on the original delivery date. I explained to Zach that the pickup would have to be in a small truck because we have a steep, very long, narrow shared driveway, and a large truck would not only not be able to turn around, but the liftgate would bottom out when trying to turn on the driveway off of the road. He assured me this would not be a problem. He also referred me to their Yelp reviews which were quite good. Interestingly, I can no longer find them and I suspect they were taken down for being fake.

The initial estimate was just shy of $2600 with the items I knew were going to be shipped. The pickup was to be either on Mon or Tues. When I finally got a confirmation, I was told that now pickup was going to be on Wed between 12 and 4. They ended up showing up at 6:30 with a very large Penske truck, which surprise, surprise, could not get up the driveway. So after about 45 minutes of trying to figure out how to proceed, which included them suggesting that I would have to pay a "long walk" fee, they finally started working. I confirmed they were not going to charge me a "long walk" fee, and I was told that they were going to cover it. In order to not have them at my house until midnight, I agreed to let them use my car to shuttle boxes up and down the driveway. The mover had boxes on my roof rack and sticking out the hatch unsecured. I didn't watch each time he went up and down the drive, so I'm not sure if anything fell off, but I wouldn't be surprised with how the boxes arrived in CO. So when they finally finished, they told me that the cost was now going to be $4555 because it took more square footage than originally planned. Because it was so late and dark, I made the mistake of not checking the truck to see how they packed it. On retrospect, I'm pretty sure they packed it to take more space in order to cover the cost of the "long walk".

My daughter was supposed to get her keys to the apartment on the 23rd, and the delivery was to arrive between 10-2 on the same day. The leasing office called her the night before to say the apartment wasn't going to be ready until the evening of the 23rd or 24th. I thought this wouldn't be an issue, since Zach told me they offered free storage. When I called the driver, he told me that the free storage was only in NJ and that once our stuff was on the way, we would have to take delivery. Of course, Zach did not explain this to me when he sold it. The morning of the 23rd, we went to the leasing office, and they gave us a few options. We could take another slightly larger apartment at the original lower price or wait til about 5:00 for the apartment my daughter and her friend chose. As her friend was on a plane, she didn't want to choose a new apartment unilaterally, so I called Jennifer at Northern Elite to see if they would wait until 5 to make the delivery. All I can say is that woman must spend her entire day dealing with unhappy customers. As I was trying to explain the problems with our pickup and that I thought it was reasonable to ask for flexibility in return on their end, she kept cutting me off.f She would not provide any kind of customer service, and said we would have to pay a $175 per hour holding fee for every hour they would have to wait to make the delivery. So apparently, it's ok to show up 2.5 hours late with the wrong sized truck and have to use the customer's car with no consequence for them, but when the customer needs some flexibility, they nickel and dime you and treat you like garbage. In the end, my daughter took the other apartment because we refused to pay another dime to this scamming company. When they arrived with the delivery, the very first box that they brought in the apartment was literally falling apart as the mover was carrying it. Luckily, nothing was damaged, but it's evident that it was crushed under heavier boxes. The concept of stacking boxes by weight is apparently beyond them. Given the horror stories of other customers, I consider us lucky that it wasn't worse.

Just to note, there is another company called "Northern" that has horrible Yelp reviews that is now defunct. I wonder if this is the same company under a new name, given the similarities in horror stories. Also, I'm sure there will be a 5 star review put up within a couple of days of this review. Make of that what you will, but in my mind, all 5 star reviews must be fake. DO NOT TRUST THIS COMPANY!!!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4555

I had a long-distance move scheduled for 9/03 or 9/04 with a binding estimate with these dates. I called about the move yesterday (8/31) and it came up in that (separate) conversation that the moving dates had changed to either 9/02 or 9/05 - two dates that I cannot move. When I asked to be refunded my deposit, Chris said " how are you going to find another mover on such a short notice?"...clearly this is what they were relying on and refused to refund the deposit and when I said I was going to file a dispute with the credit card company to get the deposit back he effectively hung up. They absolutely did not honor the dates agreed upon in the binding contract and now I'm left having to find another mover days before a long distance move. Do not use this company.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $2200

Dealing with Zack at first was refreshing. He comes across as very honest, helps you verify good moving companies from bad, and emphasizes how Northern Elite Van Lines is not a broker. Well, that was a complete and utter lie. My move had been sub-contracted out to a moving company that was unauthorized AND had their insurance revoked. I've filed a complaint about this and it's currently being looked into.

He also way way low-balled my estimate, and when the movers showed up, they added another extra $1k onto the charge. It was really deceptive. I would never have gone with this company had I known, but by the time they showed up on the day I needed to go, it was too late. They also charge $75 for every extra stair after the 12th step and every "step" beyond 75 feet from truck to the end destination, which is wild.

Basically: unless you're moving a house full of stuff, it'll save you a lot of grief and cost to move your stuff yourself (or use a POD service) and avoid having to deal with a landscape of movers who seem shady at best. Or, if you have the money for it, go for a big, well established company like Mayflower.

And never trust their initial estimate which is designed to low-ball you into choosing them, unless you absolute know how many boxes you have, their exact sizes, and all your furniture pieces, and can calculate how many cubic sq feet you'll need. Also grill them about any extra potential feels and costs so they won't surprise you with a bunch of nasty additional charges when you are at their mercy.

But most important of all, absolutely stay away from this company.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $3500