Proud American Vanlines

Smooth talking Larry quoted me a low ball amount after a full video review of my house contents. On moving day, three of the most disrespectful men showed up and doubled the quote (so smooth, rehearsed, and scripted). Between the three, one was using my bathroom every 15 minutes doing who knows what. Delivery was painstakingly long, 30+ days. My furniture actually sat in the truck 20 miles from my house because the driver didn't have anyone to help him unload. ?? STAY AWAY FROM THIS BROKER!!!!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $15000

What should have been a simple and quick move from Arizona to California MORE THAN DOUBLED in price from the estimate and Exceeded the time frame by which they said they'd deliver by more than two weeks. They based their estimate on cubic footage, sent a truck that was basically a long cargo van for a 5 bed, 3 bath house, told me I only had HALF the van reserved and get the other half of the truck the price went from 10k to 23k. Even with that, I had to leave behind a master bedroom suite.TheypickeduponNov6stillnofurnitureandit'sDec6th. ABSOLUTELY AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS.

Move size: 4+ Bedroom Home Service cost: $23000

This was possibly the worst business transaction I’ve ever been involved with, moving or otherwise. I gave one star because the scale didn’t allow lower. A zero or negative rating would be justified. I came very close to taking legal action against the company. Had I known how close I would come to taking legal action against Proud American Vanlines (PAV), I would’ve documented better, but for the sake of a negative review, my recollections should suffice.

It started when I first submitted a request for bids online in late October 2021. PAV responded immediately (literally within minutes) via phone late at night, a sign that I initially interpreted positively to mean responsive customer service. We went through an EXHASTIVE inventory of everything in my studio apartment. I provided pictures of every room and every closet. Again, I interpreted this as a sign of diligence and thoroughness.
After a day or so of questions and answers and sending pictures, I received a quote, put down a 40% deposit, and was given a three day time window in which the move would occur. I was told that the movers would call a week before to confirm the inventory and then again three days before the actual move to confirm the exact time. When the one week window was broached, I called to inquire why I had not been contacted yet. Then I was informed that I would be called WITHIN one week of the move—not one week before—a potentially big difference. Then I was called not three days before the move, but the day before. I tried to tell the gentleman that I thought I would be given three days notice. He got curt with me and hung up. I called the number on the caller ID and got a voice mail in Spanish, which I don’t speak. I called PAV customer service to explain the situation and confirm the time, and then I scrambled to pack since I was initially expecting three days notice.

When the movers came (December 17, 2021), they informed me that the move would cost $2,000 more than initially quoted. Since I had exhaustively accounted for everything in my apartment, there shouldn’t have been any surprises about the final inventory. They even tried to tell me that my bookcases were “non-standard.” As a bibliophile with a 1,000+ book library who used to build bookcases with my grandpa, a master carpenter, I found that explanation preposterous. Regardless, I was on a timeline and didn’t have much choice but to pay. The movers were hurried and left a trail of furniture parts and other belongings in the hallway while they were moving. When I admonished them to be more careful, they didn’t speak English. They requested a tip and then sneered at what I gave them as insufficient. As we parted, I confirmed my cell phone, delivery destination, and final payment amount, $1260, which was different from the initial quote of $1278, but it was close and less, so I didn’t complain.

On December 23, 2021, I got a phone call followed by an email from PAV. They were urgently trying to contact me. I called them back and was informed that my belongings were “enroute,” a word that I’d hear a lot of in the coming weeks. Since PAV picked up my belongings the previous week, I expected it to be in transit by then, but didn’t understand the urgency in contacting me: We wanted to hurry up and tell you that we have nothing new to report!

When I finally arrived at my new place on the agreed upon move-in date, December 29, 2021, I contacted PAV to inquire as to where my belongings were. I was told that the truck was in Dallas and would arrive in the next few days. The following week, I called again. This time, the truck was “enroute” and would arrive in the next few days. Then, within an hour, the estimate was updated for the following week.
At some point during that exchange, the final quote changed back to the original quote, $1278. The differences between the first quote and the last weren’t material, but it showed that the “team” within PAV wasn’t diligent, or communicating, or both.

The end of the following week arrived and I again contacted PAV. They said that the truck was again delayed. I told them that I was at the end of my rope and laid some ground rules: My belongings would be delivered the following week. I’d give the movers a money order for $1,278—as per our agreement--and if there were any additional delays or charges, I’d call the sheriff, my attorney, the Better Business Bureau, and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. PAV acknowledged that they understood and that there wouldn’t be any additional surprises.

The following week, PAV assigned someone to personally track my case. She informed me that the driver of the truck had Covid and that they were looking for an alternative driver. I was happy to be getting what seemed like timely, accurate information--for a change--and accepted the reason. A few days later I was told that my belongings would be delivered THAT DAY and that I was going to incur an additional charge because the driver wasn’t able to get in touch with me. Not only had I been assured that there would be ZERO additional surprises, but I’d RECONFIRMED my cell number when the movers picked up my belongings and I hadn’t been contacted on my cell phone, so he was clearly either incompetent or simply trying to extort more money out of me. I called PAV fuming and to its credit they took care of the issue and I didn’t incur any additional charges.

When the movers arrived, there were only two of them, a light crew for all my gym equipment and books. I helped them considerably, or else they might never have finished, and tipped them well. They had to carry several heavy boxes up a flight of stairs. The initial movers over-packed the boxes since there were no stairs in the first move and why should they care? It was going to be someone else’s problem at the final destination. Also, the movers didn’t reassemble my furniture, as promised. They were told that they weren’t informed that they’d be responsible for reassembly and they had another move to do. Why would they have been informed? There hadn’t been any effective teamwork or communication to this point; why did I expect anything to suddenly change?

To PAV’s credit, they negotiated with the movers to reimburse me $150 for their failure to reassemble my furniture. When I inspected my belongings, several items were damaged. When I went to reassemble my furniture, several parts were lost. On my wire shelves, fully one-quarter of the necessary plastic sheaves to secure the shelves were missing. One or two parts I could understand, but one-fourth of them? Also, they lost my ironing board.

In short, PAV failed to deliver on price, time, and service. They were three weeks late, endlessly surprising me along the way with false time estimates followed by surprise arrivals. They blindsided me with $2,000 in charges and tried to blindside me with more. Finally, they damaged several of my belongings, lost others, and failed to reassemble my furniture, as promised.

Not only do I not recommend PAV, I consider it a criminal enterprise that shouldn’t be allowed to exist. They give you a low ball estimate to secure your bid, then farm it out to the lowest-cost movers, who in turn try to extort more money out of you with surprise charges. Then on the back-end they over-promise with their delivery estimates and then get you your belongings just in time to not run afoul of the thirty-day Federally mandated arrival window. Then your stuff arrives with no warning, over-packed, damaged, and disassembled.

PAV doesn’t deserve your business. They don’t deserve to be in business.

Move size: Studio Service cost: $6000