Suntrust Van Lines

Sun Trust follows an interesting business model based on the Christopher Nolan film "The Prestige." The transaction takes place over three distinct acts: the Pledge, the Turn, and the Prestige.

The Pledge is pretty obvious. Someone warm and friendly gives you a suspiciously low estimate to move all your life's belongings for you. It's very convincing because it comes with a NO HIDDEN COSTS (their all-caps, not mine) guarantee.

In my case, the warm and friendly representative was Natalie, and I did my best to probe her on this guarantee. "Is there ANYTHING that could cause the charge to be higher than this estimae other than if I go over our agreed-upon square footage?" I asked. The answer was no. I couldn't find the catch! So I signed the papers, gave my credit card information, and then the magic began: Natalie disappeared, never to be heard from again.

The next stage, the Turn, occurs when they arrive for pickup. Suddenly you learn the many inventive ways the document you signed can me reinterpreted to allow for new charges above and beyond what you were guaranteed in the NO HIDDEN FEES estimate. In my case it was over $800 for packing material they insisted upon above and beyond what I had already provided, and $300 for stairs that I had told them about prior to the estimate, but which wasn't included in it.

It's a great lesson in how the trappings of society are by and large imaginary, and when a company has you utterly by the gonads—as in, you need to be moved out of your apartment by the end of the day and there's no time to hire anyone else—the notion of honesty or integrity disappears.

But as Michael Caine intones in the movie, "making something disappear isn't enough. You have to bring it BACK." The tension of the final act is amplified by Sun Trust drawing it out. In my case, they did not complete the delivery for well over a month. Long enough to forget what life with possessions is like. It's like being homeless in your own home.

I ruined the surprise a bit by calling Sun Trust to find out when my stuff would arrive, and threatening legal action when they refused to answer the phone. It wasn't a bluff—I had been talking with a lawyer, who let me know some surprising facts, like how legally Sun Trust could keep my things for 90 days (or, 78 more than their longest estimate) before I could do anything about it. Until then, they could continue to sit in a warehouse in Miami while Sun Trust waited for enough westbound business to make the trip worth their time.

When the Prestige arrives, it's a little underwhelming.

The possessions reappear different from before, sure. Some stuff is broken, with a laughably low reimbursement offer that is barely worth the ink you would exhaust filling out a form.

Other things are missing, but after 5 weeks without possessions, who can really remember what was packed and what was left by the curb? Their notes aren't really detailed enough to know for sure. I thought I had a floor lamp that I really liked, but maybe it was all a dream from sleeping on the carpet of a dark room, wondering what it would look like when illuminated.

And sure, there are last-minute fees that are icing on the cake. In my case, a shuttle fee because the movers they outsourced to couldn't fit their truck in my new apartment complex. It seemed like the sort of thing Natalie might have mentioned when I asked about anything that might come up, but not only was Natalie gone, Sun Trust was, too. The goons who delivered my stuff were contracted out and didn't give one fig what was said back when I was giving my money to some other group of goons, ages ago.

But after all the slight of hand you've already been through, it lacks punch. Maybe replace my family photos with photoshopped duplicates where everyone has tiny eyes and snaggle teeth? Cover my furniture in itching powder? Deliver a video of using my cookware as a toilet but only after I've made a few meals with it?

The treatment I received on the phone while I waited for them to deliver the possessions that they accepted money in agreement to deliver was pretty rough, the sort of disorienting runaround that feels vaguely like you're a detective in a movie trying to break a massive shadow conspiracy. It left me expecting something with real punch, not just the bar-none worst service I've ever received from a business full of greedy con artists.

Have some showmanship, Sun Trust.

Service cost: $5000

Suntrust Van Lines provided us with a wonderful moving experience. Our move took place in August and was consisted of a 3 bedroom home 9500 lbs and two vehicles transported from Florida State to Los-Angeles, California.Our family was very pleased with the service of the moving staff that serviced our move as well as the gentlemen that handled the transportation of our cars. I have had a few moves mostly international and would rate Suntrust van lines right at the top of best US moving companies.     The employee Marc was very friendly and he updated me on every move they made.We are very pleased at Suntrust Van Lines. Thanks a lot.

Service cost: $1326

This company is a piece of crap. They were so nice and friendly while on the phone trying to get our business. The pick up crew was really nice as well. That is where it ended. Lie after lie. They quoted us a certain amount of cubic feet. They said we had double that. They refused to deliver to our door and made us drive over and hour and a half to get our stuff. Then almost every item was damaged. They lied about contracting a third party for the move. The driver threatened to leave our stuff on the side of the road and cursed at us. We had to rent a Uhaul to pick up our stuff and we had half as much cubic feet than we paid for. Dispatch will NEVER return phone calls.
These other reviews are clearly fake. There is no way anyone could have a good experience with them. The third party company even wished me lucky trying to get a claim for my damaged items. Once this company gets enough bad reviews they will just change their name again.

Service cost: $3800

Beat my expectations! Humberto, Hans & Joe were amazing. Very professional team from start to finish. Suntrust is the moving company to hire. I received lots of quotes and spam from other companies. By spam I was told to not use a broker and to not use Suntrust but I trusted my gut and research and was not let down. One suggestion I would make to anyone moving is to know approximately how much space your belongings is going to take on the truck with any moving company. You are always asked to complete a items list but it does not ask you how big your items are, this is key to getting an accurate quote. Suntrust gave the best quote based off the information I provided but I did not provide the size of my items nor did they ask so my move was more than the initial over the phone quote because I took up more space than estimated on the truck. Nothing was damaged, everything was delivered and unpacked by professionals.

Service cost: $3000

My boyfriend and I contracted with Suntrust to move our stuff from Atlanta, GA to San Francisco, CA in June 2013. We had literally the worst moving experience anyone has ever had and I am now on a mission to protect others from this terrible company. The following is a list of issues we had with them:  1) FAKE QUOTES & HIDDEN FEES: They initially quoted us $1800 and after loading our stuff the quote jumped to $3765. Prior to selecting them, I gave them an unbelievably thorough list of our belongings, so clearly they just underestimated size to get our business. - Extra ridiculous costs included $226 for packing tape. Keep in mind we packed everything ourselves, but in wrapping our 1 bedroom apartment's furniture with blankets they somehow needed that much tape. We were not warned that they were charging us for the tape until it was too late. 2) FALSE DELIVERY CLAIMS: We we're quoted 7-10 days to drop off our stuff and it took them 6 weeks. In the interim they lied to use, avoided our calls, and made completely insane excuses. Finally, we had to get a lawyer involved to ensure our stuff would get on a truck. During this time we lived on an air mattress and spent $1000's on living expenses and eating out. 3) UNAUTHORIZED STORAGE: I signed a contract stating that I did NOT want storage and yet, Suntrust took our stuff to their storage facility in Miami (the opposite direction of SF) and held it for over 5 weeks. 4) RIDICULOUS & EXPENSIVE CHARGES: We paid $150 extra for two flights of stairs in the original contract. When the movers arrived to drop off our stuff they informed us that we actually had 8 flights of stairs and that it would be an additional $375 if we wanted them to deliver the stuff, because they deem a 'flight' to be 7 stairs. We live on the 3rd floor with stairs that are average height. It was just one more way to scam us. We ended up having them drop the stuff in the lobby and hired two guys on Craigslist to move it up stairs for $50 total. 5) BROKEN FURNITURE: MOST of our furniture (which they packed) arrived damaged. We had corners missing from our wood furniture, wheels missing from chairs and torn leather. Every box was smashed, but thankfully I packed well and we only lost a couple of dishes. 6) SUSPICIOUSLY 'LOST' Item: After unpacking our stuff we realized the only box missing was an extremely expensive stereo that was packed in the original box. We tried calling to resolve the issue, but they avoided our calls, lied and made more excuses. One rep actually told me she thought our box was stolen and that we should just file a claim. The basic insurance they give you would reimburse us about $12 for the box even though the stereo was worth around $800. After the CEO avoided my calls for two weeks he finally tried to say we never had that box and that we were scamming him. When I said that his company was incompetent and either stole or lost the box he hung up on me. How professional! 7) WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE: Overall this company has THE WORST customer service of any business I have ever experienced. They will lie to you, avoid you, make up insane excuses for why they don't call you back or have anyone that can help, steal your stuff, break your stuff, yell at you, hang up on you, charge you WAY more than you originally were quoted, and hold your stuff hostage for weeks. DO NOT USE THEM OR BELIEVE ANYTHING THEY SAY. We worked with an attorney in the moving industry and the actual movers on the drop off day and both said Suntrust is the worst moving company of all.

Service cost: $3765

All moving company’s websites are very similar  to each other and that makes it very difficult to choose the right one, I never give a way my phone or cell-phone when I need to get an estimate! But accidently I gave Suntrust Van Lines my cell-phone number. I realized that only after I got a phone call from Natalie…I’m so happy she called me, otherwise I most likely would have hired some other company.Natalie was so professional over the phone, and the quote she gave us was very detailed and very fair.I decided to hire them, Tina (my wife) decided to take over and called Natalie million times just to let her know how they have to be very careful with her family’s old dining set and not to forget to show up on time… (I’m just happy they didn’t drop us!)So finally, we moved about 2700 miles from FL to CA, Tina was there waiting for the crew to arrive in CA (which they did, on time), after all, everything went perfectly well and I can join my family in our new home.Every business can have few complaints, so I don’t really mind if the ratio is about 3/10,  that only shows that they are real, this company exceeded all of our expectations in every aspect, professionalism, pricing, communication.

Service cost: $250

This is the worst company ever. Do not have an agreement with them to move! I got an estimate and date to be either 29 - 30 July as move date. The changed to date to 26 and instead of 5 days to pack I had 2 days to pack. I did not sleep for 2 nights and completed packing the whole house. On 26th when truck did not arrive I called them and said move cannot happen and next date is 31st. This was very rude of them because I was sitting with 40 boxes in front of me and not knowing what to do. I have my flight on 31st  and I said that is not what was agreed but they are very adamant and said cannot change. I said I have booked my flights and hotel dates.  It's a headache to move with them and I am not sure what can be done now. I had to cancel the contract and get a new mover! This is the worst company ever. Do not move with them! Worst!

Service cost: $1100

I am very  mixed about writing this review.  Although the furniture was not damaged in the move, many things went wrong.  First, the only reason I booked this company was because in they said the furniture would be delivered by June 11th.  My son was moving out to LA from Miami and starting a new job on the 13th-so it was perfect. It was picked up on June 2, 2013.  Ie ended up being approximately $500 more than the original estimate. Well, June 11 came and went- so did many days after that.  My son was sleeping on the floor- he finally went out to buy an air mattress as well as professional clothes since they were all packed in wardrobes in the moving van. More expenses that were not budgeted! My husband ended up driving to the warehouse up in North Miami to speak with a person, since no one would return our phone calls.  We kept getting promised that it was leaving Tuesday, then Thursday, etc. It finally left Miami.  Was told it would be delivered on Tuesday the 25th. My son asked to leave work early and they never came. They arrived on the 26th but couldn't unload because his furniture was in the front of the van and other moves were in front of it.  Why they went to him first is unclear to me.  They went back that evening with only one mover and wanted my son to help unload! The other mover was trying to get a flat fixed.  Again, strange and they weren't going to deduct this from the balance of the bill.  My son refused and made another moving date. They charged us $250 for a shuttle truck which was not used in the delivery, but they did refund the money so I was happy they followed through.  I would caution anyone using this company. .

Service cost: $2000