Orion Van Lines

First, know that Orion Van Lines is the same company as Verizon Van Lines. This review applies, then, to both; The Florida Better Business Bureau considers that Verizon is the same company as Orion and so do I.
I contracted with Nicole Staci in May of 2012 to move my 2 bedroom household from Brooklyn, NY to Madison, WI. I was quoted $2600. I paid a deposit of $750 and was told the dispatcher (Kevin Scott) would contact me the week of the move with a final date for the pickup, which was scheduled for either July 30th or 31st. At this point, all seemed good. The price was about 40% less than local NYC moving companies and Orion had (I thought) an available truck. Nicole Staci grew up in the neighborhood where I was living and I felt like I could trust this person/company.
Kevin Scott contacted me the in the last week of July to confirm that the truck would arrive on the morning of July 31st. I was told to have some cash and a cashere's check made out to some other company and that I was to give this to the dirver at the completion of the move. RED FLAG! Why would I not pay the balance to Orion?
The day before the move, the truck driver never calls as he is supposed to. I call Kevin Scott and am told not to worry. The next morning, July 31, moving day, nothing. The driver never calls and never arrives. I call Kevin Scott again. I'm told that the truck broke down (Georgia?) and apparently no one in the truck had a working cell phone. Again, I'm told not to worry. I called Nicole Staci and she also tells me not to worry. I need to be out of my apartment as another tenant is moving in.. I'm worried.
My landlord graciously calls the new tenant and asks if there is any way I can remain in the apartment another 24hours. Fortunately, he is out of town on business and agrees. Kevin Scott arranges for another drive to pick us up the next day and move our belongings to WI. At 5pm, Kevin Scott calls to inform me that this new driver was just picked up by the DOT for driving over his allotted hours.. he's not coming. Kevin Scott was flummoxed. He gave me no options and suggested my family (spouse and 8 year old) stay with friends or relatives until he could find a new driver. He didn't seem to understand that I had an obligation get my 900 cubic feet of belongings out of that NYC apartment. Really?
In a mad scramble, I rented the last 17 foot u-haul truck in Brooklyn. I hired 5 men at 19.95 per hour each to load my truck and I drove that truck the 960 miles to Wisconsin. The move cost me over $4000. Two weeks after I arrived in WI, I received a check from Verizon Van Lines in the amount of my deposit without so much as a note of apology. 
I have filed a complaint with the Florida Better Business Bureau (BBB Case #90168306). Kevin Scott's initial response was that his contract stipulates that he's not responsible for anything (I'm paraphrasing) and that he actually has a 30 day window to pick up and deliver, regardless of what's been scheduled. Seriously?! I understand having this in a contract to protect yourself, but to hide behind that and have NO sense of customer service is unforgivable to me.
The Florida Better Business Bureau has receive no response to my second response to Kevin Scott. The deadline for him to reply for his company has passed and the BBB has labeled my complaint as "UNRESOLVED." In other words, Kevin Scott and his company just don't care.
I do not consider Orion Van Lines to be a moving company in the sense that they have movers and trucks at their immediate disposal and in direct employ. I believe that this is, rather, some Craigslist style operation where Kevin Scott subcontracts, outsources jobs to independent drivers and you get what you get. Orion's customer service is only good until there is a problem and they demonstrated to me that they are not prepared at all to deal with problems should they arise.
Bottom line.. look elsewhere if you need a company who is able to navigate issues and fulfill their obligations. Look for a company who won't hide behind the small print of their contract.  .

Service cost: $2600

 
We completed a move using Orion van lines last month and were asked by our agent if we would share our thoughts on the service provided.
 
 
 
From the beginning we were very comfortable with our contact at Orion Nicole; she was very thorough and upfront regarding pricing and services and took great care in extracting all the information to ensure that our quite was accurate and that we would not be in for any discrepancies at the end.
 
 
 
The movers were clean, friendly and component in the service provided, they took care in preparing and shipping our items with no damages to speak of. I consider myself to be a strong judge of character and found Orion van lines to be an excellent choice.
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Service cost: $7100

I called and got a quote from Nicole on a Friday afternoon.  She told me To lock in that quote, I could put a down payment of $400.00 down on a $2000.00 quote, which I did. She did not tell me that it would not be totally refundable if I did not book with Orion.  My move month was over 2 months into the future, so there was nothing last minute about this  Over the weekend my son offered to move me using a rental truck, which would save me money and time.  Moving companies tell you it can take up to 2 weeks to get your belongings, so 2 weeks in a hotel will just add to your total cost.  Some reviews I read of Orion said it took a month.  So, bright and early Monday morning, I called Nicole and told her I would not be booking my move with them as my son had offered to move me, and I would like my deposit refunded.  She immediately became rude and said manangement would "have to review the situation".  Becoming alarmed, I asked what she meant and without a word she transferred me to Kevin.  He was very abrasive and arrogant and told me there would be a fee for cancelling my scheduled move.  I explained that I had not scheduled anything, I had not even given Nicole a date other than the month of my move.  He continued in a bullying manner to lecture me that they were going to charge a "processing fee" for running my deposit through Visa and then there would be a" management review" to determine what would happen next.  I objected to this and became insistent that I be credited my deposit, after all, I had not booked anything, I merely placed a deposit to lock in the estimate ( in rretrospect, that was a VERY foolish thing to do).  The Visa processing fee which he insisted he had to recover, was almost 25% of my deposit.  Visa charges 2-3% max to process a charge.  We continued back and forth and ultimately he hung up on me.  I immediately called my bank, who is investigating this transaction, because I was not sure I would get any money back.  Just this morning, 2 weeks after this mess started, I received a $300.00 credit - Orion kept 25% of my deposit.  I believe the only reason I got anything back was because  my bank contacted them .  I am hoping my bank will recover the 25% withheld.  BEWARE OG ORION VAN LINES!

Service cost: $2000

 
We used Orion van lines to do our long distance move from Columbia South Carolina to San Diego California in June of this year. I wanted to offer our thoughts on what a good job they did with our move and how satisfied we were with the service rendered.
 
 
 
 
 
The movers who completed our move did a super job to say the least- they were clean and quick too the point. The truck was able to get up close to our home and was fairly new. All our large items were wrapped neatly and placed on the truck in a timely and orderly fashion. When time came for delivery the guys arrived around 9:30 am and unloaded everything in to their appropriate rooms then reassembled our bedroom furniture. Orion was very organized and provided professional service.   
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Service cost: $5900

We hired Orion Van Lines in the fall of 2013 to move us from Minnesota to Seattle. One thing we learned was that Orion is a broker, and hires moving companies to do the actual moves, Best Price Moving in our case.
 
The crew showed up days late, and when they finally got there, they worked a couple of hours, and then the leader left for 24 hours because of the Sabbath, putting us further behind.
 
The movers packed our possessions in the truck in a very rough fashion. We had a number of things damaged in the move, and they only pay for what things weigh, not what items are actually worth. There was at least $1000 in damage, but received only a $117 settlement.
 
They had a poor inventory system, which was totally ignored during the unload. We’re not sure if all of our things made it or not. And for the unload, they hired helpers from Craigslist - guys they had never met, and might or might not have been criminals. 
 
In summary, Orion Van Lines and Best Price Moving and Storage did a terrible job with my move and I would never recommend them.

Service cost: $6880

The salesman at Orion was good, Erik gave a good quote.  But the other movers did show up on time and everything was great except at the end they said their large truck would not fit in the condo community we were moving into and they would need to charge us extra to transfer to a smaller truck.  Since they had our destination address for 2 months until pick up, they should have known about the truck size and not had to gun us for more money. This is unacceptable and I would never use them again as these hidden charges are the worst!  .

Service cost: $450

If you are looking for a good moving company Orion van lines is the way to go in our experience. We moved a 3 bedroom home from FL to WA in October using Orion movers and we are very happy that we did. The gentlemen were pleasant and took good care of our items wrapping everything in moving blankets so we would have no scratches on our furniture.    They gave us an estimate that in the end came in $185.00 under the quote, needless to say this was a pleasant surprise. I wish I would have known about Orion for our last move as their pricing was $975.00 less for the same move with better service!     .

Service cost: $7400