United Nation Van Lines

Deceit is built into every element of this company, get you hooked with a low estimate, get a securinty deposit of thousands, get a truck too small for the load, get into your house with crew and boxes and announce that the estimate must be recalculated. This for us increased the cost from about 12k to about 20k. We could take it or leave it, too late for getting the deposit back. This is a mid stream hostage situation. Too committed to timing to start over. Contract is binding on client, but has a list of spaces for the mover to add more costs after getting posession of your stuff, which is illegal. Never on time, said about 7 days to move us, took the max of 17 days, which had us camping out for 2 weeks in a house without furniture. Showed up half a day late on move day. Never on time, very hard to get on the phone, some abusive on the phone,, never call back. Lied about costs of mid stream recalculation saying it was same per unit as the original, but they added a surcharge for everyghing beyond the original estimate, which was their intentional underestimate. They owe us thousands in refund due to this. They broke fine china by putting it flat in the bottom of boxes and putting heavy objects on top, crushing various china platters and cups. They broke plates, platters, glass in the china cabinet and framed pictures, cups, glasses, a clock, the Tiffany lamp, most floor lamps sprung from the base and wobbly, a wall clock, a padded antique rocking chair which they abandonded and did not move, and bent a frying pan, to name a few. We have about 100 pictures of damage which i will try to attach to a subsequent post. The consumer affair web site is a fraud, and that is what led us to this horrible company. They dumped clothes into the wardrobe boxes without hangers, packing suits and good clothes into a mashed mass, and on occasion mixed other stuff in the clothes. They lost the key to the china cabinet, broke some of the glass in that cabinet, and broke the leaded glass Tiffany lampshade, the most valuable object we had, by pressing the edges hard down across a metal pipelike base without padding. Their liablility for a $300 lampshade is $0.60 per pound, so if this weighed 5 pounds and they paid you wou,ld get $3. I paid $175 in the contract for the upright piano which they then refused to move so i eveintually paid them $200 more cash on site to get them to move it. They lease trucks and hire contractors for the work. One individual, who i think was an employee, vandalized our stuff by intentionally packing it to break. This was often by putting large china platters in the bottom of a box and piling pots on top with no padding. They bent a fryng pan. The contract employees usually did a good job, but the prevailing outcome of this move was horrible due to the initial deceit of the first sales contract, and the malign and hostile behaviour or the first supervisor (loading) to set so much of our stuff up for destruction. Stay away from these people, do not believe a word they say, and do not rely on Consumer Affairs as an honest reporter.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $18521

A very careful and experienced team of movers. My huge collection of fragile and breakable glassware was my biggest concern and they handled it with aplomb. Really impressed by the quality of the packing material as well as the way that all the items were packed, complete with waterproofing and impact resistance (bubble wrap inside and outside the boxes). For the amount of effort that they had to put in, the job was done reasonably fast and I think the cost was just right. I would hire this company again. (We were moving from Texas to California).

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6200

I collect antiques and that makes moving a nightmare. I have pretty much been forced to move because of a real estate deal and had to find a very good moving company to handle the transportation for me. I literally spent 6 weeks comparing companies, calling them, and reading reviews. It wasn’t a waste of time because it led me to United Nation Van Lines. They were so wonderful, so absolutely professional that I almost have no words. They actually sent some specialist down with their quote assessor to make sure I got the best service possible. The move was flawless. You have my thanks.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6300

Just the perfect moving experience from the first time we contacted them to the day they delivered all our things and waved goodbye. We hired United Nation Van Lines to move our 3-bedroom house from Baltimore to Palm Bay, FL. They were recommended to us by our friends who move quite often and swear by them. Our experience with United Nation Van Lines matches what they told us – the people are polite, they stick to the timeline they give you, and you can be sure that there are no surprise charges tacked on at the end. I am very happy to have hired them this time and would do so again.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $9600

When we signed the contract with United Nation Van Lines, we were given the option for immediate delivery, which we informed the movers we wanted. This move consisted of pick up in Wisconsin and delivery to North Carolina.

Pick up of our items went as scheduled. However,they charged an additonal$1400 because they "had to repack some boxes to accommodate the cubic footage." We had to pay this amount at the time of the pick up, and our final payment amount has increased as well.

The first available delivery date was 2 days after pick up. Now, over a month later, we do not even have an estimated delivery date.

Our load date has repeatedly been changed. Until our items are loaded (because they have stored them of their own accord), they can't even give us a delivery date.

NEVER at any time has the company returned my calls when a message has been left, or have they ever called with an update when they said they would call.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $15000

I hired United Nation Van Lines to transport my collection of antique clocks from Harrisburg, PA to MT Pleasant, SC. This was the second time I have hired them for such a delicate job. The first was such a success and I did not want to rely on another unknown company. As before, United Nation Van Lines’s assessor came in to appraise the items for insurance, etc. and gave me a fair quote. The movers who would be moving also came and they asked me questions about what to watch out for, etc. to keep each clock safe. On moving day, they followed all my instructions to the letter. My whole collection is now safely in SC, thanks to these wonderful people. Thank you.

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $4200

We don’t usually hire professional movers but my husband was recovering from a pretty major sports injury so we decided to splurge this time. United Nation Van Lines came highly recommended by a couple of our friends who had moved to Baltimore, MD recently. When we called their office, they were very eager to help and explained the procedure and costs to us very clearly. We called up a couple of other movers in the area after that but neither gave us the positive vibes we got from United Nation Van Lines. They lived up to the great impression we had of them when they pulled off the operation without a hitch. 5 stars from us.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $7250

I paid 12,000 for a move from NJ to NY and 6 months storage. They told me they had to pack my furniture due to storage It took them 5 men and 1 and a third truck to move me out. 6 months later they moved me into my NY home with only 2 men and 1 truck. When I asked where was the second truck they told me they fit all my items into the one truck. Well I am missing my clothing, pots and pans, ladders, tool boxes, lamp shades and many many other items. They also damaged beyond repair my dining room table and chairs. Broken TV and damaged desk because they pushed everything together into the truck. I notified them the next day about the missing items. 4 months later they claim they are not responsible because I signed the delivery sheet. The movers will not deliver your items until you sign the sheet. They also were moving us at 10pm in the dark into a home with barely any lights. They told me I should have opened the boxes to see what is missing. I guess they want you to hold the movers there till you open up every single box. This is not my first moving experience but this company is the worst I have ever dealt with. Would not recommend them. I am getting a lawyer to deal with this. Their response is to go thru my home owners. Are they kidding? I have never been so angry and frustrated in my life. Terrible terrible service and don't even try to speak with a manager. They do not exist. I even sent emails requesting phone calls and nothing.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $12000

LOST BOXES AND STOLE ITEMS

United Nation Van Lines "misplaced" several thousand dollars worth of our moving boxes. They did literally the bare minimum to try and find them. They wouldn't even tell us where the warehouses were so we could go look for ourselves.

Additionally, several items were stolen out of boxes that did arrive. It was clear someone opened the boxes, took items out, and then resealed the boxes. United Nation Van Lines didn't really care about this when we told them. It doesn't sound like they believe us even though we have photo evidence and a detailed inventory that is dated so we know what came in and what didn't arrive. They didn't ask for this or even follow up.

This company also has hundreds of fake reviews across this site and others. It's clear they are fake because they are all the same length and follow the exact same format. The reviewers also have random reviews and are clearly not real people.

Avoid this company at all costs.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $5000

DO NOT USE UNITED NATION VAN LINES! RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN. YOU WILL NOT GET VALUE FOR YOUR MONEY!!

We recently made an interstate move (about 450 miles). We had the horrible misfortune of hiring United Nation Van LInes. First, they used a BAIT & SWITCH tactic. The salesperson asked us to identify each and every piece of furniture. When we tried to give him dimensions, he would not wait for us to measure, saying it didn't matter. He would not allow us time to count boxes. When we told him we had forgotten our patio furniture and a barbecue, he didn't want to start the process over, & he said, "They'll be included in the final estimate." Using our list of every other single piece of furniture in our home, he estimated about 2000 cubic feet and a price of around $11,000.

When the delivery people showed up, the cubic feet increased to about 3300 cubic feet, and the price jumped from $11,000 to $18,000. By that time, they already had our deposit of about $2800, which of course was non-refundable. They also had already begun readying our property for transport. So, we felt we had little choice but to continue.

Also, we had been told that the payment on pickup could be made by cashier's check. However, the workers refused to take a cashiers check and demanded cash or postal money order.

During the process, we received a call from Karen, who promised to "be there with us throughout the process." She would help with everything, she assured us.

Not a single person on the delivery team spoke English. They had mechanical translators, which were awkward and inconvenient to use.

The delivery people would not even open the truck until they received the entire cash payment, which we considered unreasonable.

We tried to call Karen (who was going to help us throughout), and her phone just rang and rang, with no option to even leave a voice mail.

We called the Sales number, thinking they would answer on a Friday morning, but--again, no answer. We surmised that our phone numbers had been blocked.

We had clearly marked where each box was to go, with color-coded stickers, but the workers just dropped the boxes wherever they saw fit.

The workers did not put all our furniture & appliances back together as promised by the salesperson. The bed frame (two twins attached together) is missing a piece

When the door had to be taken off, they wanted to unscrew the hinges instead of using the pins in the hinges

They thought the clothing washer was a dishwasher, and they put the washer and dryer in the wrong locations in the laundry room.

Several items were broken--a hanging clothes box was crushed, and a few plastic items (clothes hamper, trash can, etc.) were broken. We have not yet identified damage to valuable property.

There was little care taken in how the property was placed in the truck (light items on top of heavy items, etc.)

When the job was complete (by the company's standards), we asked for a copy of the paperwork they insisted we sign. They refused to give us a copy, and did not want to give us a receipt for the $5880 cash we had paid. Finally, we wrote "Received, $5880" and the boss reluctantly signed that notation.

After all that, when the delivery team clearly knew we were not happy, they asked for a tip, which we obviously did not provide.

DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DO NOT CONSIDER UNITED NATION VAN LINES.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $18000

Punctual, polite and quick workers, all for a premium service that is worthy of praise, and a trustworthy company that sticks to its quotes. I am very happy with the move from Cleveland, OH to Modesto, CA that United Nation Van Lines did for me recently. They were very helpful and that includes everyone from the office support people to the packers and moving crew. It was fantastic to be able to switch off knowing that all your things are in good, safe hands. It was especially great since it was my first time hiring movers. That one experience has made me a fan of United Nation Van Lines!

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $8700

Our experience moving from Austin TX to Central WA turned out to be the most costly ever poor experience for $13000 dollars. Our first estimate which we received and signed on for was $8086. After a phone call to verify date of move, the estimate was increased by $500+. When the movers arrived, the increased the estimate by $3000, when they had packed us up, it was now $13000. Next, when the driver arrived in central WA, he was alone, and he was very rude. He left items which had their pads still enclosed un packed (such as the TV), and refused to help set up items like the queen size bed. His girlfriend arrived, and he was ready to go. He would not give me any documents, I had to take a photo with my phone to serve as a receipt of my final cash payment. The claims for damage and missing items (example of missing = a band saw and a vacuum cleaner) were handled by CSIPROS, a company just as poor as the United Nations Van Lines. They denied all claims, because, wait for "I had no documentation". The company is a very poor operator that borders on criminal fraud in my opinion. At this point, the customer service refuses all calls and does not respond to emails. Simply, they have our money. Job is done.

Move size: 2 Bedroom Home Service cost: $13000

Using them for our out-of-state move from Seattle to San Francisco was one of the worst experiences of my life. I kept a detailed list of all our grievances regarding the move that spans many pages. I'll try my best to summarize here:

• The original quote that they "reel you in on" is predatory — we ended up having to pay thousands above the estimate (despite, ironically, ending up moving fewer items than were listed in our 800 sq ft estimate)

• There were constant delays on their end with poor/little communication

• When the mover finally showed up, the first thing he did was to attempt to change our estimate from 800 to 1200 sq ft — adding an extra $2000. This is despite the fact that when we spoke with two other folks from United Nation Van Lines (the salesperson and the QC person), they said our item list would easily fit in 800 sq ft — the QC person even suggested we had room for more! We ended up being coerced to negotiate it to 1000 sq ft — adding an extra $1000. Our mover said we could dispute this after the move was finished (spoiler alert: we couldn't).

• Rather than actually measuring the space our stuff took up in the truck, the mover pulled out a calculator and showed me a number: 983 sq ft. When I was skeptical about the number and asked for him to measure, he acted in a rush and said that we would remeasure once our stuff was in San Francisco (spoiler alert: he didn't and we were forced to pay).

• Our mover lied about when he would arrive at the destination. After missing the first arrival date (without proper communication), he actually called to tell us he would show up the next morning. He didn't show up. The next day, someone else from United Nation Van Lines called to tell us that our stuff is arriving the following day — a day we had warned the them ahead of time would not work (our new apartment had a strict rule that two tenants could not move in on the same day). They said if we couldn't do that day, we would be charged upwards of another thousand dollars. Their(!) mismanagement and poor timeliness would be the reason why we(!) had to pay.

• One might think: maybe they had a reasonable excuse for these delays? Well, I actually packed up some Apple Airtags in my moving boxes to track where my stuff was. I noticed that one of the delays, which the company did provide a reason for, was a "pitstop" at a CASINO (!!!) for more than 6 hours. This casino was not right off the driving route — it was 12 miles away from the 5 freeway.

• When my mover finally showed up, he came alone in the same truck that he picked up our stuff in. They added an additional $650 fee for a shuttle service in SF because they said that truck would be too big to drive in San Francisco — apparently there were rules against large trucks. However, we didn't get a shuttle, the truck that arrived was the same license plate! So the truck we didn't get charged for in Seattle, we got charged for in SF.

• Because he showed up alone, I, the one paying for movers to move my stuff, had to help carry our heavy items. My back did not feel great the next day... Additionally, our bed frame did not fit in the elevator and he said he didn't have the tools to disassemble it. Rather than helping us figure what to do, he hastily got us to sign the form agreeing that our stuff was received and bolted out. He didn't even unpack a single thing for us — he left it all wrapped in moving blankets and fled.

• As he was leaving, we asked about remeasuring as he had promised. His response: "Deal with the company! I am just the driver! Deal with the company!"

• We tried to deal with the company. Every time we try to speak with them about these issues, it is frustrating, stressful, and hopeless. The claims site they pointed us to does not handle claims of our nature — only claims citing damage. When we tried to speak with a manager about our case, they would not give us a number and said that they would call us. They never did.

PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND AVOID!

Move size: 1 Bedroom Home Service cost: $6945

April 2022 move from Central CA to OKC, OK area. Original estimate was $11k+, while final payment was well over $17k after 3 upcharges. They charge by volume, not by weight, so we found numerous boxes were nearly empty when opened. We had a great deal of damage, some of which they tried to hide from us on delivery. I strongly doubt we will ever see any compensation for the damages unless we sue, and they will probably be out of business/under new ownership by then. Only the leads on pickup and delivery spoke any English. Russian was their common language. The inventory listed only major pieces of furniture and "boxes" with no description of content on the boxes. We have moved many times, including overseas and these guys were the worst. Check BBB, as I think there are some recent warnings.

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $17500

This company is horrid!! They underestimated the load by almost 40% despite the fact they had a video that was done by a reputable moving company (which i should have used). They broke over 40 items, including large flat screen tvs, every floor lamp we owed, and large framed art pieces. The customer service is awful; their claim process is a joke; and on top of that one of their movers stole my family silver (they left the non-silver from the silver chest of drawers). we are suing them.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $19000

This was the worst moving experience ever! The move went from being quoted $11,000 to a whopping $24,000. They will underestimate your move and give you a great price to get you in and then BAM…..shaft you in the end! The first part of my order arrived with no issues. It took 2 1/2 months to receive the rest of my belongings. The dispatch department is the worst ever! You can only talk to customer service and they are overworked and can’t tell you anything because they have to wait for dispatch who never responds. I belongings went from Texas to Maryland then to North Carolina without me even knowing. They don’t help you with anything they don’t give you any information now I need to try and work on claims for the broken items that were shoved, literally shoved into the smallest storage unit. It was not my storage unit, it was one that they had rented to store my items instead of telling me that they were there to deliver them. They made me wait 2 1/2 months to get my items and charged me $24,000 to move from Texas to North Carolina! Worst movie experience ever, worst company ever! Their lack of responding to your phone calls and voicemails is unreal. I would never recommend them even to my worst enemy!

Move size: 3 Bedroom Home Service cost: $24000

BLUF: This company is unprofessional, unresponsive, and overall a terrible value. I have moved more than 10 times in my life as a military member and have experienced it all, from good to bad moves. This move was far and away the very WORST experience moving.

Just a handful of reasons:

1. They refused to do an in-house estimate due to "COVID"....right.

2. Their estimate of my cubic footage of household goods was only 2/3rds of what it ended up being when they (finally) arrived to begin packing. (Original Est: $14,000; Final Cost: $23,000)

3. They charged me a penalty for every additional cubic ft over the estimate......which was the estimate they provided without sending someone to my house to do it or doing it virtually.

4. They showed up very late on Day 1 for packing; 1 pm.....in what world does a moving company show up at 1 pm and stop before 5 pm....complete waste of my time....also his final price for how many cubic feet of goods I had was just a complete guess....he didn't measure anything in the truck at the end of each one of the 3 days it took to pack the truck. When I asked him how he came up with the total cubic footage he literally couldn't give me a coherent response....read: he made it up.

5. I was ensured it would be a 2 day pack and move.....it was 3 days.

6. The packers arrived at my house 4 hours before the driver arrived.....he wouldn't answer his phone or provide me an update......he was driving around trying to find boxes and packing blankets.......all of which I paid for upfront and then a penalty based on having more cubic footage than their little estimate.

7. "Customer service" is a complete farce in this company......too much to go into with this one but they simply don't value it in the least bit.

8. I stood around at my house on Day 2 and Day 3 of the pack/move waiting for the driver and watched the packers leave because he wasn't there......then he couldn't get replacements so it took a day longer than they assured me it would. (I had to change my flight to accommodate the additional move day)

9. I paid to have my stuff in storage for a month, I was told it was in their company warehouse.....that ended up being a self storage unit down the street that all my goods were lazily thrown in there....I had one of the packers show me the location and send me pictures.

10. My goods arrived at my new house 30 days after the date I requested.

11. I had a tv, nice double stroller, and various other goods "Lost".....read: stolen.

12. My nice couches, just about every single lamp shade, and wooden furniture significantly damaged to a point that I have had to replace most of those items.

13. When I reported the "lost" and damaged goods, the "customer service" at this company couldn't have been any less concerned or helpful.

I spent $23,000 from Illinois to Alabama for all of that above.......ridiculous and almost surreal.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.

Move size: 4 Bedroom Home Service cost: $23000