Royal Van Lines

It ended up as a Moving Company Nightmare. I wish I looked at the rating from various reviews before I booked Royal Van Lines. I only looked at BBB rating which was better than most of companies who offered the similar rates. I had to move to a job in Winnipeg before moving all my household items from Ontario. Once I started my new job, I researched and looked for a moving company that would offer a good rate, good service and the timelines I was looking for. This company advertised all of them plus a good BBB rating. Since I already moved to the new place, I had to travel back to my old house for the pick-up. With my new job I didn’t have vacation time, so I had to ask for a specific date for pick-up to minimize my time off work. Emma, Sales Rep, offered a 2 day frame (Wed/Thu) which I managed to take time off luckily from my job. But, it turned out as the pick-up day approached, they kept moving the dates. Originally the pick up was scheduled on Sept 12 or 13 and then first just a day for the scheduled day on Sep 11 it was rescheduled to Sept 13/14, to Sept 14/15, to Sept 15/16, and then to Sept 16 night. And finally they came on Sept 17 4pm. Even when I was already on the road driving to my old house on Sept 13, I got a message and notified of more changes. It was too late to turn around to restart the trip. Then even when I got there, dates changed again. Eventually I couldn’t stay at my old house till the re-re-re-scheduled date any more, so I had to hire someone to meet the truck. He was waiting for the truck Sept 16, but it didn’t come and had no calls. He called Matthew, Transportation Rep, and was told that someone had forgotten to call him. Matthew told him the truck would come the next day. When the truck finally came, in spite of several reminders I made about our piano handling (required extra $250 charge), the movers didn’t get the note, so they didn’t bring equipment to move the piano. They had to manually carry the piano with help from the person I hired. Also, they didn’t have tools to dismantle furniture, so they borrowed from the hired person. I had extra expenses to take care of like this resulting from these problems plus extra time off and expenses while I had to stay extra days in my old place. Emma says the delay was caused by an extra pick-up in the other area and Matthew explained it was caused by a broken piece on the truck…who’s telling me the truth?? As soon as I started to complain about these troubles, they never returned my calls and emails. I asked Emma to let me talk to the manager, Brock, but I was put on hold and no one ever came back to tell me if he wasn’t available or anything. Finally after many calls, I got to talk to Brock. I explained and asked to make up for all the extra expenses and stress, and I still remember what he said first, ‘Why didn’t you cancel booking with us?’ I couldn’t believe this was coming from some one in a manager position who was supposed to provide good customer service. It was a shock and took a while for me to finally find something to say to him, ‘You are saying I should have cancelled if I complain about your service after the pick up was already done? When the dates started to change I was already on the road and in my old house. It was too late to take back my time off and start calling different companies. Your changing dates caused me lots of stress, extra expenses and work, and I could have lost my new job! Emma gave me the 2 day frame for a pick-up and you kept changing them everyday, but no one ever even apologized to me.’ Then Brock says, Emma never gives a 2 day frame, we always give a 4 day frame. And we only changed the date once.’ They don’t only apologize, but also they don’t admit their faults! It’s so much like a distrustful business dealing with all these company reps. I couldn’t trust any staff from this company. They were so disrespectful to customers and didn’t care about customer’s crucial time. I felt like I was dealing with a Third World Country business by then. I was so worried about the delivery after all these. Before the pick up, Emma had told me that I could pick a date for delivery, but as it turned out (and suspected!) after the pick up, it was changed to a week of ….the 4 day frame again. By then I was feeling sick about the whole thing and regretted I’d booked this company. Especially when they say they don’t unload items at delivery until the customer pays first. I asked to see the invoice ahead of time many times, but again they never sent me the invoice or never replied back. I only got to see the invoice when the truck arrived. I didn’t have a choice, but pay the total amount to get my stuff moved into the house…. They only gave me a day notice for delivery and came 45 minutes late, no apologies again and the amount of discount Brock promised to me wasn’t there on the invoice… There was no contract made at booking, but emailing back and forth. Most of the time things were discussed or talked over the phone, so there wasn’t much of record to go back and prove…They don’t care about trust and providing good customer service, and receiving good feed back from customers to maintain a high reputation and bring more business, although their advertisement talks about how good their service is, I would say please don’t believe the sales phrases they use in their ad: Honest and Quality Service’, ‘We can pick up your goods any day you like, as we have a flexible schedule‘, ‘…ensure that this process is as simple as possible’ (they didn’t have a flexible schedule for me at all, I had to adjust to their schedule!) And, they highlight and try to sell their good BBB rating which I wonder how they managed to get. Emma contacted me with all the information I needed at the beginning and rushed me to book and pay the deposit, but once it’s booked, the communication lines were gone, no call back to my inquiries and no reply back to emails. I’m writing this because I just hope no one else would have to experience extra added stress like I had to go through plus extra cost and dilemma, feeling tricked, a sense of disrespect to our time, moving needs and concerns. Moving is so stressful to start with, no one would want to expect to add extra awful burden to their moving journey. I would never use this company again and never recommend it to other people. It was the worst and most horrible experience I ever had for moving….

Service cost: $2000

Do not use them. They advertise to be ranked A- in Sept 2012 on the BBB. The BBB currently lists them as a C- (less than 3 months later).  The movers did not fully cover or protect the floors. When they packed up our furniture, they used packing materials that were EXTRA charges, but we were never advised. We were never given the right of refusal. They also marked every piece of furniture as scrathced/marked/damage, even when they were new furniture. We had no idea of this until they had loaded up the truck. We were then provided with a itemized list of our furniture indicating that all our furniture was damaged prior to them wrapping them up in blankets and taped up.  They also listed several additional packing materials that state we would be charged for. We said that we were told that there would be no hidden charges and that the contract states that they include all packing materials and special materials to ensure our furniture would be protected in transit.  The movers then LIED and told us, that they just have to list everything they used so that the office inventories what was used and that the office will won't charge us for them. It was the end of the day, it was the last day in our house and we were pressured to initial and sign off for our belongings to be shipped.  What else could we do? Ask them to unload everything and show us everything they indicated as damaged? It was not an option. If our belongings did not leave that day, it would not make it for transit to Vancouver on the next scheduled truck.  We immediately emailed the Sales Manager Emma Oz and informed her of the events that took place.  She said she would look into it.  This is just the beginning of our nightmare.1 week later, I called Emma requesting for an itemized invoice.  I sent several emails and left several voicemails. She finally emailed me back with an amount over $9000. With no explanation of what I was being charged for. She expected me to give her my credit card to charge such a large amount without knowing the details? I called her right away, asking what the charge included. I wanted to know if the $200 deposit I paid had been applied, whether the 5% additional discount she offered was applied. The amount was higher than originally quoted so I had every right to request for an itemized invoice. They would not deliver until I paid. But I refuse to pay until I have all the details. She then emailed me back with an amount that was $400 less, still with no explanation as to the adjustment. Again, I requested for an itemized invoice. She would not give me one and said she will get one to me shortly. By this time, over 4 days had passed.  I again had to call her, had sent several emails.  When I finally spoke to her again she had the audacity to tell me I was being demanding! I told her that I found her to be extremely unprofessional and rude, and that, as a customer, I have every right to request for a detailed invoice.  That is not an unreasonable request. She then sent me a draft invoice, which was not accurate at all. We were being charged for $4 per roll of tape (they used over 30) then over $300 in sofa covers. When I argued about being told all packing materials were to be included. She told me that tape and sofa covers are "additional" packing materials that they charge for. In the end I had to escalate this to the Operations Manager. It did not go well. He told me he would reduce the "additional charges" to $200.  As if he was doing me a favour. I should not even be charged for that at all. He said that he had to charge that as it was what it costs the company. He said he would investigate why the packers/movers told us that we would not be charged and they only indicated the packing materials used for inventory purposes. Long story short, we had to pay the additional $200 because we needed out stuff delivered. But to date, one month AFTER we paid, we do not have a detailed Invoice. We only received an invoice indicating the cost before taxes, tax paid, and total paid. They claim I shipped 14,000 lbs but I have no proof of this, I have requested the scale ticket and still have not received it, it has been over 6 weeks.  I have not received a detailed invoice invoice, listing the shipped weight, or excactly what I was charged for.We have internationally over 4 times, using companies such as Allied, Ridgeway, QMM, and they have all been very professional. I never had issues receiving invoices or being charged for things I should not have been.  I will be complaining to the BBB. I noticed that Royal vanlines have received over 8 complaints in the last 6 weeks.  They are fantastic when they want your business.  Promising great service and responding in a timely manner. But as soon as they have your belongings, they don't care about  being professional or ethical.  The fact that the movers indicated that every piece of furniture they wrapped was either, marked, damaged or scratched is ridiculous. Many of my furniture was new, unused, purchased for the move! They clearly did this to cover themselves so that if I made a claim for furniture damaged when I received them, they won't be held responsible. The liability insurance they offer is a joke. They cover $0.60 for every pound the item weighs. So if your fridge weighs 150 pounds, and they damage it, they will only pay you $90, and that's AFTER you pay a $350 deductible. Many of our furniture was damaged in transit. There is a hole in the dining room buffet. Huge scratches on our masterbedroom bed frame. But it is not worth it to put through a claim. Royal Vanlines provided the lowest quote. But you get what you pay for. Never again will I use Royal Vanlines.  This was the hugest mistake we have ever made. We saved $2000 by using Royal Vanlines over QMM and I am paying more for damages and aggravation by having used Royal Vanlines.

Service cost: $8000

Please be assured each and every review here with a one star rating is absolutely true! First I contacted them for a quote on a two bedroom house. They gave a good quote, not the cheapest but good but I guess I did not research enough. I called to book and the lady (name kept back) said all was good. I talked to a few people who thought it was strange I did not have to give a damage deposit and called the company back since I had not heard from them and no one asked for a deposit. I was told the first person did not 'complete' the booking so it was no longer available the first they would have would be 10 days later, fine. Inconvenient but fine, what could I do. Then they sent a tiny truck that could could not fit even 1/3 my stuff and the driver told me he was expecting a 1 bedroom apartment. He told me he would call dispatch and have another truck sent. What he did not say was it would not be sent that day. Two more weeks and I had to pay another $1250 rent on the house directly because of their error. Finally a Sub-contractor picked up my stuff. I was told but the delivery guys it had been up and down Saskatchewan and Alberta and then sat in Calgary for a few days until another sub-contractor brought it to me. There was not one and I mean not one single box that was not damaged. My 1940s oak dining room table was scratched and gouged. My deceased fathers oak roll top desk was in 3 pieces. When I approached them about the damage I only received emails from the company with no name on it. I can not find out what actual person to discuss this with. They no longer put me through to the lady who originally didn't complete the booking or the one that eventually booked and took my deposit. I was offered $100.00 for my trouble which included me paying their damage deductible. When I complained I was offered $200. I have contacted the BBB and am trying through there but have not had any success. Pay as much as you have to to not use this company. I have had professional companies move my things for the past 7 moves around and across Canada and have NEVER experienced this kind of damage and customer service. I am out the 3500.00 for the move and the 1250.00 for the next months rent because of them. I still have not had my belongings repaired as they probably can not be.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4750

I used www.canada-movers.ca which initiated a series of emails/phone calls from various van lines offering $/lbs. moving rates. Royal Van Lines came in with a higher $/lbs rate than most ($0.95), but by doing a search of moving company reviews and looking at their average score of about 8/10 on Homestars (It seems to have dropped to 7.5 now) and an A- rating on BBB Business Review, I felt confident that this was the company to go with. I had heard very good things about Allied, but their $/lbs rate was about $0.25 more than the promotional discounted rate from Royal, so decided to save about $1,000 by going with Royal. I paid a $200 deposit in early June, booking our move for July 27th. At the end of June I emailed Matthew (the sales representative at Royal Van Lines) of the exact destination address. I received nothing back from him. I believe I then called in to confirm the actual destination address. My memory is foggy as to whether I actually spoke to someone or just left a message, but I thought everything was ok. I also asked how long it would take for delivery, I was told 10-15 days, as I was worried that our stuff would arrive before we made it to Halifax as we were driving across the country in our own vehicles. Leading up to the actual move, I called a few times to confirm everything was going smoothly and to try and get a time of day for our actual pickup. I was told that I would get a call the day before from the actual van line in Calgary that was affiliated with Royal Van Lines (also known as North American Moving). The evening of July 26th, I received a voice mail message saying that I had to call back to confirm that I still needed a pick up on the 27th and that if I didn’t call back, the truck wouldn’t be showing up. That’s a little scary to hear considering that this wasn’t a cross-town move and everything (cleaning our rental house, departing for Halifax) depended on our furniture being picked up as scheduled. I returned the call, I was assured that they would show up mid-morning on the 27th, but they had a very large unload to do before the pick up so, just wait for the call. The movers showed up around 3 pm on the 27th, I wish I could remember the name of the company in Calgary, but Jay Gaudry was the crew boss. They were very nice guys and loaded everything up without incident, quickly. They said it would probably take 10-15 days to get across the country as well. I felt good about everything. A few things to mention about pickup as actually talking with Royal Van Lines regarding what you need to do prior was fairly useless. Essentially, the movers need to see and pack everything. They will arrive with blankets to wrap things in (free of charge), but for loose weird stuff, you will need wardrobe boxes and bags to wrap things up in as trucks and warehouses are very dusty. The trick with this is that you can’t pack the boxes or the movers withdraw any responsibility and will mark anything that you pack on your own as Owner’s risk/Owner Packed/Unknown Condition. The movers will have bags, wardrobe boxes, tape, mirror containers, etc, on hand, but hopefully they have enough (our movers ran out of wardrobe boxes). I arrived in Halifax on the August long weekend and gave Royal Van Lines a call on August 7th (11 days since pick up) to see how things are going and when we would be expecting our shipment to arrive. A note about calling Royal Van Lines, don’t bother using the directory to talk to Customer Service or Dispatch, no one answers. Hit 0 and someone will actually answer, otherwise you just get a voice mail box and no one will return your call. Once I actually talk to a human at Royal Van Lines, I’m told that our shipment hasn’t arrived in Ontario yet and that it missed the truck headed to Halifax, thus the estimated time of delivery is the end of August. I think everyone in Starbucks looked at me when I rather loudly begged her pardon, as I wasn’t sure I was hearing things correctly. Since then I’ve been routinely calling Royal Van Lines just for updates, because they don’t seem to think that I care about my things and am tired of living in an empty house, or that I’ve been sleeping on an air mattress for 4 weeks straight. On August 17th, we received a call from Royal Van Lines to confirm our delivery address. When they actually call you, you get a bit excited, but when you realize they’re just confirming your address that you’ve given them previously and wrote on every single box that went into the truck, you get pretty disenchanted quickly. The following week, I called again to see if there was a set date as I figured the address confirmation meant things were actually in motion, but no, our stuff would be shipping soon and should arrive anytime between August 26th and 29th. Captain’s Log: August 29th; Still no call or sign of life.. So I call again and I’m told that I should see my shipment either tonight (29th) or if it gets too late, tomorrow morning. I’m not holding my breath. My overall impression of this moving company is fairly poor. Customer Service and communication is severely lacking. With cross-Canada moves, I understand that things can happen, transfer points and dates can be missed, pushing the scheduling out, but Royal Van Lines needs to communicate this with their customers. Be forthcoming that the shipment will be late and people will understand, otherwise you’ll just continue to frustrate your customers to the point where they will compose 1,000 words about their experience and post in on the internet so that the next person will be warned. .

Service cost: $4000

I would never use this company again and I would recommend everyone to avoid it. The estimates are far off. There was mold on my furniture when it arrived. There were boxes crushed. There are still 4 boxes missing that I doubt are being looked for. The movers also lost the check I gave them and I was blamed for it. This company has the worst service and I spent almost 90 minutes on hold with them in total the day they dropped my things off. I still have not heard from the claims office.

Service cost: $2000

I would think many times about hiring this company to help you with your move. We were scheduled to leave in early August however were called one day before our scheduled pick up and told that they would be coming only into the 2nd week of August! actually almost into the 3rd! This was a cross country move for my family and I and we had jobs, schools and renters effected by this change. Their commitment was only to serve themselves and unprofessional in its standing. When I asked to speak to the manager he told me if I didn't like the new date then to switch companies. Then Without further though he hung up on me.. The only half decent part of this all was that upon cancelling with them they did send us our deposit back. In hindsight I am happy we cancelled with them last minute as I'm am not sure if this company had the respect for its customers to complete a successful move.. Don't let the 'royal' in 'royal van lines' fool you. There is nothing grand or honourable about them.. Unfortunately we read all these terrible reviews only after but the reviews are written from people who know And by those who feel that is important to tell of their experience..After all we are paying them to do a service and for the amount spend on the coast of moving people's lives, they should take care and give respect to the customers that invest hope, business and trust in them.. Just terrible!!

Service cost: $4000

Lowest price for a reason -- they lie. The salesman was actually helpful at first, but his hands were tied where it was necessary. His truck damaged the storage unit my stuff was in, and they denied it, but I had to pay $226. The move was 24 hours late, with no forewarning, so I waited at an empty apartment for a whole day. They never delivered one of my items but denied I had it (a mirror -- I imagine they broke it and didn't want to admit it). Many of my pieces were scratched. The whole thing cost $300 more than the estimate, and they got around it by saying we could get a flat rate and avoid the scale, but there is no way my stuff weighed as much as they said. I have so little! For Pete's sake, don't go with this company and read reviews BEFORE you book a company!

Service cost: $950

We had two options of pick-up dates, of which they had different delivery dates. We selected the first option for an earlier delivery. Our load didn't arrive until the later delivery date because Royal Van Lines negated to tell us that the first option didn't even travel to our destination city. So our load sat in a truck for an extra two weeks for no reason.
We were quoted ~1000lbs for the load. We were charged for 2300lbs. Our load consisted of 40 boxes of clothing and personal items and 3 dressers. Even overestimating the weight of the dressers at 100lbs each there is no way the boxes averaged 50lbs each. My wife carried all of these boxes down a flight of stairs by herself with no trouble. Some of the boxes were quite small and would have weighed ~lbs. The company that delivered our belongings (not Royal Van Lines) agreed that our load was no were close to 2300lbs. If you want to challenge the weight it costs you $300. So at the rate of 50 cents per pound, the actual weight would have to be over 600lbs less than 2300lbs before we would see any financial gain from challenging the weight. Keep in mind we had no furniture or appliances included in the move!
Matthew A. was calling and emailing constantly until he had our business. After that, he was very difficult to get ahold of on the phone or through email. HINT: go to customer service instead of his direct line. Matthew answers the customer service line in hopes you are a new customer. He doesn't provide any customer service once he has your deposit.
When I asked to speak to his supervisor/manager he would transfer you to a phone extension that wouldn't get answered. I left two voice messages with this supposed manager and never received a return call.
Do not use royal van lines!

Service cost: $1800

I wish there was a '0 stars' option! Moving with Royal Van Lines was a TERRIBLE experience. When the 2 guys turned up to load up our house, it took them HOURS. To load our rather modest 3 bedroom home.. but it may have been the seemingly endless smoke-breaks and rests that they were taking.First, I was told a delivery date of August 23rd, which worked perfectly. Then, due to an accident with one of their trucks, my delivery was rescheduled to August 26th. When my belongings did not arrive by the 28th, I called and asked what was going on. That same pesky truck accident would further delay the delivery of my goods until the first week of September ("maybe Friday, but definitely by Saturday"). Delivery was finally made on September 8th (which, in my books is NOT the first week of September). Many boxes were crushed. Many boxes were punctured. Many items (BBQ, dining chairs, lamp) were broken. A couple of items were not delivered at all. When delivery was finally made, the movers left the entirety of our stuff in the living room of our house. Being pregnant, I'm not about to move heavy boxes up and down stairs..When I asked Royal Van Lines for a discount (because I had to pay an extra month's rent in my short term rental due to their delays), I was told "That's the moving business. No discounts for delays". Awful, awful, awful. I should have paid more and gone with a different company! .

Service cost: $5700